[inaudible conversations]

>> hello. i am with that american democracy and welcome to today's symposium on building human democratic majorities big ideas for a big party. typically the hostile power ever decided to invade they should come early in the morning. [laughter] but we filled in and we are all here so thank you very much. this is the washington debut of mid- american democracy formed in the aftermath of the 2016 debacle and its mission is to provide a platform of the democratic party with the problem solvers and those said they can win elections in

tough places in america that is highly competitive in the red and purple zones. we find particularly in washington that the pragmatic democrats there is a lot of infinite one -- infrastructure to amplify the progressive friends and those on the other side. there is a lot of money. and with a problem-solving wing as i think it is drowned out by passionate partisan and one of the key functions is to provide a platform for pragmatic democrats as a home base and support network for the democratic leaders but also candidates. and then to expand the party so we can compete and win everywhere in america. excuse me.

i cannot find it on the program there is a postelection map that i hope never to see again in my life to see this reds lash map here and there with the blue. it doesn't have to be this way we have been competitive we have to do that again. the simplest way to understand is to abolish this is maps we never have to look at it again. but around the country red and purple states we are listening to democratic leaders and candidates in her man though and denver and des moines. and we have a lot to learn from the democrats out there fighting and in competitive

places with an army of well-paid consultants. but the fresh thinking and through the washington establishment mostly the grievances of victimhood not to the economic hopes and aspirations and also to centralize even more which today is the least level of government and then the interest and identity groups that leave too many americans feeling excluded. so do democracy is it's time to think strategically not ideologically. we are out of power in washington and most of the states. to look at the sectarian

debates who is or who isn't a true progressive. and then to take advantage of the midterm opportunities is a big-time strategy to moderates and independents and a pretty significant chunk of republican voters. so bringing new majorities or candidates to win more elections. that is the only way to stop them from attacking the supreme court with their activists and working people and healthcare coverage and waging trade wars to attack the economy and along lines of race and class and to alienate our closest allies.

while those dictators at the vanity summer that the opposition is not enough we cannot build majorities to resistance. big ideas that inspires public confidence of the democrats ability to have inclusive prosperity with the civic unity and with our platform that you have all got big ideas for change that we could define as the alternative to the right wing populism and to the strange new democratic socialism. so now i will just close with this we are in rancorous times in american politics and usually pessimistic over our country those that are hungry and ready for the

forward-looking blueprint to build new prosperity in this digital economy not trying to resurrect the old but to have unmatched assets of natural resources and human scientific prowess and entrepreneurial risk-taking and the pragmatic leadership are all of the strengths and a revival of the can-do spirit. we can parlay the strengths. so that is the new democracy mission and why we are here. before i turn the program over to the governor i just want to say two things. the program is a conversation.

we will try to get in as much as we can with the time constraints so we ask everybody to practice introductory minimalism a lot of our guests will not get the lavish introductions they deserve today in the interest to keep things moving but i am grateful to our friends who are new democracy leaders and blue dog leaders in the senate. they have really stepped up you will see them rising leadership of the party. so first gratitude for you to come out and second things to you for coming and we hope you will stay involved in this effort because we need to build a real network here.

so with that i will turn it over to my good friend with the introductory minimalism i will not say a lot about it except he is one of the founders of new democracy and without his help and encouragement and guidance we would not be here so thank you for everything. >> good morning everybody. [applause] thank you. i am thrilled to see the senator walk into the room because my job is introduce him in a few minutes but i know i don't have to fill the time until he gets here. [laughter] i.c.e. i don't do this much anymore. when you are out of the country beaches are not as long so i am glad and you should be glad. but i do want to think will do

has been like a dog with a bone when it comes to promoting the politics that the people in the country are so hungry for and i had the opportunity to attend the kickoff event in orlando and in denver and the level of energy out in the country and the level of talent for mayors and state legislatures and members of congress and others , is incredible. we have so much strength across the country it is something important and valuable for us to build on. that is important because there are very understandable reasons that people are anxious and desperate about this coming election. it sounds like what we hear every election it is the most important election of our lives. but this one, it is people are

so desperate to take back a chamber or two to win back the governor seats in the state legislatures all across the country. even if we acknowledge different campaigns will look different across the country just think about alexandria and cortez those are different candidates. i really do believe the conversation taking place here today is as important as any conversation taking place in our party across the country because while it is true the hard-core democrats are sufficiently engaged to vote out of animosity to the president and his republican enablers there isn't enough to win these big elections what we really have to do is that yes we do have to mobilize our base but also convince a lot of them and even some

republicans we have an inspiring vision for the country that are late leadership can make that vision real if we are responsible about it that is our strength. new democracy has long been leaders with ideas that will lead to real and sustainable economic growth and to also ensure the values of that growth are shared more broadly. that is a winning platform not only for the election cycle but for the good of the country. that is what new democracy is all about. we are ready to believe we can also help the party so with massive investments of education and skill developments helping the constituents transform our lives that helps our country and our people and the same is true when we show enlightened

leadership with the private sector in the academic sector and not-for-profit sector can lead to new startup activity across the state that also helps the party that helps the country and the list goes on. so we enjoy today from other elected officials will be hearing from them and we are grateful to you for your service and i have an opportunity now to introduce one of them. meeting in 1888 campaign for the u.s. senate one of the least successful campaigns ever anywhere. [laughter] in fact causing me to take a leave of absence to work on the campaign and the partner in charge told me he was watching the results that night is that yours was the first one called in the entire country. [laughter] i'm sure that had to do with the help that i provided.

he is beloved in delaware for good reason. he is brilliant and no question. you know it when you hear it but also lady only in the senate? with a law degree and divinity degree from yale and got to work for bishop tutu and then came back to work with the coalition on the streets. he has learned not just in the classroom but so much by doing and listening to people and getting to know how the things in washington affect the outcome of that is every

single day and a great father with three wonderful kids who are going off to college next year he has also has been a dog with a bone with the important issues particularly around manufacturing. which doesn't get a lot of spotlight. a lot of issues that people don't really want to engage in he is more than willing but we have seen the difference in delaware as a result of his leadership with manufacturing very clearly he started the manufacturing jobs for america initiative the manufacturing sector leading to research and development to give easier

access to credit for small startup businesses and with an effort manufacturing usa. number of institutes across the country he has always believed the government cannot do it by itself so to bring the public and private sector and the not-for-profit sector and as these pop up across the country right next to the university of delaware it is really exciting and i will close with this this particular institute is rising right now on the site of the former chrysler plant where for 50 years the kids that we grew up with, this was one of the great places in delaware

without a college degree to earn a middle-class job and in 2008 chrysler closed that plant so now science and technology advanced research campus rise including the several hundred thousand square foot institute for bio manufacturing and it would not have happened with him in similar stories could be told across the country. it has been a delight to watch him take washington by storm he has earned such respect in the short period of time that we are fortunate you are here. [applause] >> thank you and good morning also to new democracy where are we going? i don't know about you but when i watch tv in the morning

or turn on my phone to look at the latest news alerts and speaking to the room half a heads are down because there is a tweet from president i am often asking myself is this our america? and where are we going? to have a simple but important conversation about our directions and what i think is our common shared view that if we as a democratic party are going to move from a minority at every level that is dedicated to a resistance to majority capable of governing and we have to move from grievance to optimism and with that anxiety characterized and instead delivering ideas and practical solutions that respect to meet the need of millions of americans for

someone they thought would shake it up and now are shaken and left wondering who will help move us forward? exactly for that reason we are gathered this morning because of his remarkable record of leadership i am so grateful. jack and carla were wonderful talented governor and first lady of delaware, what it was about that campaign? we actually left the failed campaign and went into the private sector. jack into telecom and after a few years of education went into manufacturing a decade later we came back to delaware and ran to office to serve our state and that institute that i get to see literally every morning and every night taking the amtrak to washington is inspiring and a challenge and source of optimis optimism.

we both grew up in and around the area and there are thousands of high quality uaw jobs at the chrysler plant to anchor entire neighborhoods when it was torn down it was heartbreaking. we lost the gm plant in the chrysler plant and steel mills and oil refineries but as governor he refused to engage in politics and got the oil refinery reopened and the foundation for the new research institute and this whole new campus going to make those investments to make it possible for a new fuel centered manufacturing business to be on that side not just r&d just actual manufacturing. he led our state sustained a aaa bond rating as a pragmatic leader and reduced

unemployment to put us into great footing he championed the employment of people disabilities and death as the chair to be one of those practical capable state and local leaders inspires our whole country. thank you for what you have done and also to be so engaged today into be a part of this important discussion which i view the beginning of an important debate of the democratic party going into 2018 and 2020. less than four months away from an election having a lasting impact with the country moving forward only have to look at the supreme court pick or tariff trade war with the closest allies or the disconcerting behavior at the nato summit to recognize how big the stakes are. we heard those predictions of

a list of compelling candidates but there are far too many in the party that are just sitting and waiting to wash over us and restore us or are engaging in a relentless race to the left that we are serious and capable of governing again it demands vision and you have an honest conversation where the democratic party is because after the 2015 election spending far too much time shocked and acting and pretending as if we are not in the weakest plan it has been electorally 1920. if we are not honest with ourselves how we got there that we will not have a clear vision how to stop, which will regain our majorities to put the country on a better path. while many of us find the presidents conduct alarming or

reprehensible and know policies are doing lasting damage i will remind you more than 40% of voters on average and a working majority in those key midwestern states we need to learn how to win back whether michigan or wisconsin or ohio approve of what he is doing. we have to take a step back and face the fact democrats are at historic lows of representation in the state house and here in congress and all over the country to recognize the local leaders and mayors and county executives and those who really are successfully innovative and effective governments and ask how we can start winning again. one of the biggest reasons we are at that current low has nothing to do with policy. because frankly few just talk about what is long-established policy on healthcare and taxes and energy and the environment broadly speaking the general

public agrees with us but we are not breaking through because they don't hear us. like it or not millions of americans including those we are trying to win over to trust us again feel the party is condescending and detached from their real struggles and it is dismissive of the lies and traditions of middle america putting their faith i have heard from far too many the democratic party is literally soulless and judgmental so in the way that builds on policies that we believe will make the country stronger to improve america's lives but also communicate we are not just offering what is cooked up in washington policy papers but we will listen to them what they will care about with genuine concerns and then fight them and offer real solutions.

how we do that is to remake the image of our party and that shows the faultlines between those who have run and are running again for president and those on the left to take a different direction. that is why this conversation which is beginning here is so important because we are in the middle of a serious discussion with the democratic party will stand for and going forward. first of all even if we disagree let's give the party credit for doing something we are not doing to reaching out tapping into the deep motivating passions of energies in this country passionate moderate is not a sensible phrase in one of our challenges is to recognize that all the energy and passion isn't on the left that is where most of the engagement is happening.

if you look at our policy platform, we are also committed to have more equal and just and inclusive america where everyone can succeed but there is a big difference in tone. when the country today with millions of people are a degree or upset and feel like washington has no sense of their lives and looking for bold and unconventional leaders wanting to tell them something different or new, anything to shake up the status quo and might have a chance of improving their lives. look at what president trump has successfully ran on. jobs. just because he said so. cheaper and better healthcare for everyone. how? because he said so. country without criminals because all we really need is a wall and mexico will pay for it. these were wild eyed proposals

a brand of populism a mix of reassurance and nativism but a disjointed wish list from imposing tariffs that we claimed would solve trade imbalances which somehow he said would make us safer which you know isn't true and undeliverable that the ideas are harmful to competitiveness and our standing in the world but trump was willing to be able to tap into real fears and concerns and succeeded in convincing millions of americans he had an answer for them so that makes it all the more important with these policies and messages that we actually believe in and fight for and know to be true the democratic party has to offer bold ideas that will work and that we can deliver on.

we have begun that job to layout the process that is substantive and thoughtful. some members of the party i fear are taking the easy route and sec road to propose ideas like free college or free healthcare just because we say so in a fat isn't enough guarantee jobs for everyone because we say so. but that doesn't feel like the democratic party that has stood up and fought for to provide real solutions to working families for decades does it appeal to the people? does it convince anyone? especially those deeply skeptical that we can be the responsible governing party? i would argue it does the opposite. we want to move from a party committed to resistance that regains the majority and

capable of we have to act like it. i understand the strategy of racing farther left in the talking heads social media chaos world and extreme rhetoric. it stands out and get you more followers and likes and tweets that it doesn't make us responsible. it doesn't make that rhetoric a good thing for the country or the party. giving a quick look back at the end of the 2016 election just to make a point. what was our strategy in the last closing six weeks the democratic message as best as i can discern was look at this guy he is crazy he is unfit he is unstable look at how crazy he is. but running against trump adopting his tone and style will not win back in 2010 i

got into the race to run against centrist former governor and spent six months in the uphill race against a very well known and respected candidate and then in the shocker mid-september he lost to a fringe candidate named christine. lucky me. [laughter] a fringe tea party candidate who almost no one saw coming. two weeks later after that primary i was on a nationally televised debate hosted by cnn unexpectedly in the run-up a lot of people advised me all you have to do is point out how nuts she is. but my mother and former vice president my mom was ahead of corporate hr and said respect your voters.

in election is a job interview and nobody ever got hired by spending the entire job interview to say look how crazy she is like how incompetent he is you are only hired you say why you deserve the job and what you will do if hired. trust that your voters know the difference and at the end of the day we have to face the fact that simply running against somebody or offering impractical pie in the sky solutions will work and really just and for something americans can believe in or hold on to and get them to engage and vote. the next two years is just a race to offer increasingly realistic proposals to rally those who are already with us it will be difficult for us to make a credible case to govern again and easier and easier to mock and marginalize. if you want to win back the red states and be competitive in purple states we have to show up and listen and make

the case for democratic party and racing to the left. that is why new democracies work is so important. we have to offer bold proposals to real challenges like college affordability, prescription drugs and individual savings and health insurance rates. pro- worker and pro- employee to show there is a difference between radical and bold we can make healthcare affordable without having to say we will make it free we can be bold to say we will fix the disastrous immigration policy without abolishing eyesore protect our environment without attacking the energy industries many families rely on for a paycheck and manufacturing relies on and guess what? we can be bold to say we are willing to work with responsible republicans to get

that done. i have worked in this divided senate across the iowa with bipartisan republicans to get bills passed and strengthen the economy in the strength of manufacturing of r&d and intellectual property and competitiveness although i am not suggesting anybody run to strengthen taxes. [laughter] i do think knowing what we are talking about with the proposal how to bring back manufacturing at this empty and vacant sites and those whose lives were jarred and disjointed by the chrysler plant is a key piece of having a credible path forward. that is how we make progress and why is so important new democracy is laid out this compelling platform it was a great starting point for policy ideas that matter from harnessing american talent and innovation to keeping markets

open in the economy growing to encouraging a new wave of manufacturing startup even in rural communities to modernize immigration laws. also stop insulting the closest allies to the global rule based order like nato that built our prosperity over seven decades i hope the message you take away from today as we don't to be radical to be inspiring. the american people want to be part of a party that welcomes them and hears them and no one judges them that they are respected but also inspired by our optimism and belief of the solutions to put forward this is a time to put real ideas forward in principle and in fact to show the american people we are optimist and up to the task. thank you be 17. [applause]

spin i thank you very much senator. what an inspiring statement of what we are about and with those marching orders that is a terrific way to present that. thank you very much it really does set the table for the debate in a very vivid way. moving right along thank you again. if we do our jobs every stay in the country would be like delaware. so now before we get into the ideas we want to talk about political challenges which is a geographical challenge when you look at this map over the last ten years we have seen

our party lose ground in the midwest so lose control of congress and the white house in the state legislatures. it is essential for us to think about how we reverse that slide with the critical battleground regions with several people to talk about that with the former secretary of agriculture tom hill sack and our colleague and we will talk about aspects of this challenge. i just want to say one other thing about the congresswoman she is a rising star in the house to represent the illinois 17 of those districts that trump one in 2016 held by the democrats she is at ground zero. but the party has asked her to

get into the attitudes of democrats and voters in general of the midwest really it is a focus group of elected democrats who are struggling to win and those who are succeeding and they have a lot of support. >> just one correction i put that report together and i will tell you why. i represent a district in downstate illinois and that means i am not from chicago and in the state of illinois we have 102 counties and only one of them is cook county. we have 18 members of our delegation and 11 of whom are democrats and all of those members of congress are from

chicagoland except for me. so if you can picture the state of illinois it is pretty big and just the entire northwest corner which i represent the rest is all surrounded by republican members of congress i represent 7000 square miles in 14 counties most of them are rural but in some cases like in donald trump over by the mississippi river by burlington iowa. the entire population is only 6000 people. what we have seen happen is that democrats are writing off places like that. in henderson county donald trump run -- one by almost 30-point then i went all 14 counties we saw an 18-point

swing from president obama in 2012 to what president trump one by in 201618 points that was the entire congressional district one out of five voters voted for donald trump. so what ended up happening is my colleague said you are one of a dozen democrats who was elected in the district that donald trump one, how did you do that? so as a result my colleagues elected me to be one of the cochairs of policy communications among the democratic caucus. i only bring that up in this setting because when you are at the leadership table of the democratic caucus in the house of representatives there is one election room there is one midwesterner everybody is coastal one person comes from

a rural district. i am entirely world and one person who comes from a district that donald trump one. so what i so appreciate about the democratic caucus is we value diversity of every sort except what i just mentioned that geographic diversity with the approach to politics it is okay to work across the aisle. it is okay to make sure we focus every single day relentlessly on the bread-and-butter issues that people back home talk about. when donald trump made the statement at the end of the campaign it was directed toward an african-american audience what you got to lose? people in district like mine i can tell you that resonated with them because just like

chris coons was talking about or the governor, we had more than our fair share to send all of the jobs to mexico or companies that were bought out to send everyone to china. companies like robertshaw that makes these water gadget to go in dishwashers we have seen more than our fair share of that the average family income of the family for his $45000. what we do as democrats? if you listen to senator coons i think he nailed it. show up. you use these two things and i think it is something a lot of politicians have a hard time doing for me it is much more natural to listen more than i

talk because most of my career i was a newspaper reporter i did that 17 years. but you know any good reporter you ask follow-up questions then you listen. the reason i did this report from the heartland if you google let it is the first thing that comes up it is a 52 page report but read the whole thing just read the executive summary and then breakouts of all eight midwestern states and what has happened with these 1000 seats we have lost most of those are in the midwest the governor seats, state legislatures and congressional seats almost 1000 seats.

i wanted to find out who was doing it right? we talked to 72 democrats more at the local level and i called them survivors because these are people who could navigate this and the tough swing districts. what did they do to be successful and the secret to their success and it is spelled out in the report. we narrowed it down to four. our democratic brand we have a brand issue with our party and we can all play a part to improve that. it's difficult. but that is something we have to work on together to improve the brand of the democratic

party focus endlessly on the jobs in the economy there is so many issues that divide us in our country and you know what they are. i don't ever go into a room to start with those issues that divide. somebody asked you a question about somebody of course is a member of congress i answer them honestly and in a try to get back to the topic what people care about. to reconnect with voters and senators spoke about that very well to show up it is listening and using what we learn from people to help guide our policies to make sure they do reflect what people back on want us to focus on then adapt our campaign. when he ran for governor the most campaign in the state of

iowa instead of adapting the campaigns through the rural area for a rural state and basically when you go doorknocking, if you are in the republican household you have your packet they don't notice if you walk right past their house. sometimes they are gettable voters or if they voted republican in the past that you just forget these people so what is adapting the campaign may be small newspaper ads. i can tell you the congressional candidate most enough numeral radio or newspaper ads anymore that is even considering things like that.

and before i turn it over secretary bill sacca speaking next we have a wonderful duty this november the best crop of candidates in the tough swing districts that i have ever seen in my political career. we have people who fit their districts like a glove and that is the secret. candidates do matter campaigns matter showing up matters that the caliber of candidates really do matter secretary bill sack and i were talking we have analysis running in easter i will write across the mississippi river coming from a blue-collar family 28 years old she would have been the youngest woman ever elected to the u.s. house at 28 years

old. jesse remarkable candidate. we are excited about her another person to call out that i think running one of the most unique campaigns a woman named elizabeth from michigan. former cia officer, served three tour in iraq never has run for anything in iraq and made this because she was so motivated by the direction our country is going that she decides to run. michigan winters are not exactly mild she already has the field operations up and running last winter and her people knocking on doors she calls it snow boots on the ground. [laughter] but instead of knocking doors and getting literature to

whoever answers, her people were asking those what is on your mind what you want from your congressman what you want to see happen in washington? so her campaign knows what they care about and can adjust what she talks about. she realize that potholes in the state of michigan are a big deal. so when i went to campaign for her a few weeks ago she had a go pro in the window driving around and talking about how bad the roads are and she starts to name the potholes because they are so brutal one was named alcatraz you could get in but you could not get out. [laughter] she is running a hyper local

campaign as a congressional candidate and that is my advice. all politics is local remember that again to treat these campaigns that same way. and also those in southern illinois those who have a great shot even out of central iowa those tremendous candidates there are 70 swing districts in this country democrats have to pick up 23 to win the majority we have 72 open seats so that gives you an idea when the seat is open it is a better opportunity among those that are running 15 veterans that are the most phenomenal people watch the av mcgrath video out of kentucky just amazing amazing veterans

and human beings are among the 15 and a record number of women which i'm very proud to say 27 women right now are the nominees and their party. [applause] you have every opportunity to win back the house that the secret is if we win it back my think we can how far do the pendulum swing? if we let it go this way to the point of hanging on. i don't want to risk this for one cycle i want to make meaningful changes to last more than two years so those who have the potential to swing to get things done but yesterday in the new york times the headline is the center is sexier than you

think so onward to victory. thank you very much 17 and i thank you very much congresswoman. secretary phil's back for the c-span audience take it away. >> i got up this morning i did not have breakfast on the little irritable i will get right to the point. jack you are a great governor congresswoman you are terrific for our party. i hope you have the opportunity to be in leadership for a long time. so i say nice things about the people here and now get right to my point. you cannot affect change unless you govern. you cannot govern unless you win. you cannot win unless you talk to those voters it is that simple.

think about the four democratic presidents we have had in the last 50 years. johnson raised in small town. carter. recent small town. bill clinton raised in a small town. barack obama, raised by his mom. they all understood and have in their dna a connection to the world america. so as a party we operate at our peril if we decide to ignore the 15% of of america that lives in rural communities. 15% is is roughly the equivalent of the hispanic population roughly equivalent to african-american population and would never ever or should we ever consider ignoring those populations. why would we ignore the rural population? if you want to be president or a governor or a senator or state legislature or a member of congress you have to speak

to the rural folks. i have four things i want to share with you this morning to reinforce the message you cannot just give lip service you physically have to be there you have to go to the rural communities to spend some time there barack obama spent 89 days in iowa when he campaigned for the presidency. you have to talk up the rural folks not talk down to them. our party has a tendency to talk down to false. who are these people they provide the food that we consume every single person in this audience today is allowed to be someone who doesn't have to produce their own food because you delegated that responsibility to several hundred thousand incredibly dedicated hard-working families. they are the people who control a good deal of the water we consume where the power that we use all-america

place for where cities who want to get away from it all where did they go? hunt and fish and hike and bike? also disproportionately send their sons and daughters into the military. they raise the kids with a value of service and the importance of service. so talk them up. don't talk down. build them up. understand the emotion that occurs in small town america. in my lifetime people who live in small town america with my age they have seen the manufacturing plant leave. they have seen the impact on the business district as it gets boarded up. they see the merger of their school system with the arch rifle down the road because they cannot afford to small schools. they see the elimination of

healthcare services because they cannot afford to take care out the doctor than most of all they see their sons and daughters and grandkids leave. understand hollowing out that they have felt and speak to it. speak to it. understand our party is the party of hope but whenever we talk about hope we talk about the people at the bottom of the ladder and encouraging them with our help and assistance to rise up the ladder but understand many of the people in small towns have been at the top of the ladder. they have lost something it isn't about giving them hope and opportunity for things they have never had before which is a much as yourself then to basically they we will restore you what was trumps

statement? we will make america great again that says to those who have come down the ladder we will put you back on top. how do we do that? we have to have a plan. not a program but a plan that essentially says to all of those people enroll america we will be your partner not that we have the solution or the answer or impose a government program in your town but work with you to rebuild this economy and support production agriculture to understand the importance of exports not all trade is that if you are a farmer you depend on trade seminar party speaks of trade as if it were all bad, farmers interpret that they don't get my life. figure out a more nuanced way to talk about trade to recognize the benefits and guarantee with all the tariffs

going on now you have a receptive audience if you develop nuanced conversation. the regional food systems so pulled out opportunity for the small producer to develop their own market not based on a commodity or global pricing system that encourages technology give them an opportunity to be entrepreneurial and bring entrepreneurship back into small communities. conservation. not just better oil and cleaner water but recreational opportunity that comes with better soil and the opportunity to attract capital into the construction companies to develop the ecosystem markets with individuals to invest in conservation to get that environmental results that

satisfies their responsibility or social responsibility they believe they should have. bring manufacturing back today a 390 billion-dollar industry and employs 4 million people small manufacturing facilities and communities and develop programs and policies to encourage that type of economy. . . . . >> the truck drivers are transitioned in a way that does not leave them frustrated and angry.

>> finally, we need to understand part of the frustration and anxiety occurring is the pace of change is so rapid it has accelerated beyond our institutional capacity to manage change. our governments are too slow. it takes too long to do things. we are now in a competition with our friends in china who are going to suggest they have an alternative way of governing that is more practical, quicker, and more effective. it is an absolute competition. if we do not reform our government and understand the need for quicker decision-maki decision-making, more streamlined processes, we could lose that competition. so, i hope our party understands

and importance of speaking to and about rule communities, i'm convinced that if we do we can have electoral success. we can win races which allows us to look at districts in a more fair and inclusive way. we can have a cadre of individuals trying to be the next governor of the state, like jack, or the next congresswoman like sherry. for the next senator like chris. then, we would have a terrific opportunity to take back the white house. with someone who can speak not just to a group of silos, population, but to all of america. i will leave you with this, as bad as the situation appears, make no mistake, you cannot beat something with nothing. donald trump is something. you cannot beat something with nothing. our party better understand the necessity of having a universal message.

that is my message to you today. [applause] >> thank you. what you just heard was a version of a speech he gave at the heartland retreat, although i would democrats last october. with that kind of guidance, we can would reach these voters. i want to bring in harrison, he was one of the deans of the strategy and pulling in washington. he's also someone who specializes in electing democrats and has worked out in the tough train. harrison i have worked together on a campaign and 84 trying to get jesse helms out of the senate. now, i guess it would be somewhere in the middle.

harrison, please take it away. >> i want to endorse almost everything i have heard this morning. i grew up in a small town like this secretary mentioned it was so small it had drivers education sex education in the same car. what i wanted to talk about was a little bit about before you get to these great candidates who i have voted for for almost 30 years, you have to get through the stereotype that people have of the party, whether a woman, banker, teachinteacher, african-americar most importantly, a democratic, you have to get through that stereotype before people can analyze who you are what your policies are. one of the big challenges we

have today is there is a huge gap between the reality of democratic voters in the impression people have of democrats. i wanted to talk about that a little bit, the confusion is between activist and voters on the one hand, and among the activist and leaders there's confusion between the people who are the most representative and the ones where the loudest. and the ones in this case who are the most outrageous store in taichung. there is an assumption that is what democrats are. there's many reasons, not just because of fox news, we do it a lot to ourselves. i wanted to share with you some recent polling. i will randomly pick two states,

and look at people who will be participating in the nominating process in iowa and the primary in new hampshire and asked questions about the democratic party. we're talking to democrats. we asked them, would you like the democratic party to be more liberal, to pursue traditional approaches of the democratic party, would you rather the democratic party focus on new ideas and innovations? among iowa caucus voters, participants and new hampshire primary voters, about 30% think the parties should either be more liberal, or take the traditional democratic approach, a majority of both, a wide majority think the democratic party should focus on new ideas and innovation, regardless of ideology.

that is number one, huge misunderstanding that democrats want the party to be more liberal, that is not true, or to go backwards. second, when you are looking in terms of what you want in the next presidential candidate, you want somebody who will be a fighter, for progressive ideas or someone who works in a bipartisan manner, almost 2 - 1, democratic nomination of the first two states want somebody who will work in a bipartisan manner to get things done. as opposed to simply advanced causes. also, the same thing type of thing, would you prefer a candidate for president who energizes liberal voters are somebody who appeals to middle-of-the-road voters. again, it was about 35 - 60

prefer somebody who want to middle-of-the-road voter. in a number of fundamental ways, people have a misimpression of the democratic party. without i a lot of that is blamg ourselves. you can see it in terms of policy issues. i wanted to mention one issue which is trade. we gave people three choices. two choices which a lot. we ask, do you think trade has been harmful like nafta and so far, have they been harmful, beneficial, or beneficial but not enough has been done to people who have been hurt. overwhelmingly more than half of the voters think trade has been beneficial, but we have not done enough to help people who have

been hurt. the bipolar reality of these arguments that we have both within the party and with republicans hurt us because many times it is that what should makes a difference. people ask me what it is i do for a living, i tell them i am a pollster. i have explained to them there is no regulation in this business. it is one that any fool can get into and a lot have it. i hope i have prove that i am not one of those. [applause] >> thank you. those are fascinating data points. they illuminates a perception gap that is enormous in washington between when it comes to defining the base of the democratic party, in washington

you get the sense it is progressive activist groups and some of the interest groups in the party. and they are driving hard to the left, what you described is a rank-and-file who voted in these key early primaries that have different views. i want to bring in paul, paul is the author of an important -- how democrats make energy and climate change winning campaign issues. it argues that we've stumbled along the politics but there is an opportunity to stop doing that and make it work if we can get this right. so over two. >> thank you for being here. in in the spirit of the governor and governor bill sack and senator coons, i want in on this conversation with you and ask a

question, how did america elect a president who denies climate change and thinks : is the future, how did that happen? >> i think it happened because the democratic party does not have a serious brand around to the incredible advanced energy boom that has been the brightest spot in the american economy in the last ten years. i do not know why our nominee, secretary clinton did not embrace shale gas and those midwestern swing states and contrast that incredibly positive economic and environmental story that helped us reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12% under president obama. we have to recognize that for most americans, energy is an

economic issue, whether it's those that produce shale oil and gas and rural districts around the country, or those that benefited from the lower prices that these commodities have given us. under president obama, oil production in the united states are 74%, the largest growth in history. that was incredibly important for the economy. it lowered the price of oil globally by half. it also reduced our import of oil from 60 - 30%. what an incredible success. i did not hear that during the campaign. let's look at shale gas, under president obama shall gas growth was 34%, an incredible benefit to write payers, businesses, lowering the cost of electricity

throughout the united states. we did not really seem to come up during the campaign. i think we have to embrace this incredible energy revolution, shale and gas is a part of it. a lot of it has a part to do with what democrats are on the lead on, this includes renewable energy and energy efficiency, energy storage, carbon capture, a range of technologies that are transforming america into i believe a world superpower on energy. in fact, democratic policies through our national laboratories which we have champion for decades has led to these advances. yet, we do not seem to embrace it. i worked on climate change for 25 years. i deeply care about climate change. it is one of the most important issues facing the country in the world. until we start talking about

energy and economic terms and insecurity term second, we do not get a hearing on climate change. climate change is going to cost us a bundle. the storms another related natural disasters that were exacerbated by climate change in 2017 alone cost taxpayers $130 billion. the total cost of over $300 billion and almost 400 lives lost. that did not include the puerto rico lives lost that was almost 5000 people. these are really life-and-death issues, but so is the provision of affordable energy to people who are living paycheck to

paycheck. we are the party that has solutions on energy and climate change. we can have energy abundance and climate protection together. we know how to do this. under barack obama we had 400 million new energy jobs in the united states we have the technology, in fact to reduce greenhouse gas gas emissions by 90% by midcentury i think we have the technologies right now to do that. that would include keeping our nuclear fleet which is more than 60% of the emissions today. it would capture the carbon and use it to have brand-new products. it would involve growing our

incredible solar and wind resources and the cost has gone down 70% in the last decade. we have the technologies to to the problem and be a global leader. but we have to talk about it in a way that most americans understand it. if we want to expand this we have got to become the party of economics for average people. [applause] >> thank you very much. that's a tremendously important message in the great primary battle in 2016 we almost had the democratic platform to prevent cracking this coming from certain parts of the

environmental world a demand that might make sense if we thought this was helping her climate challenge, as points out it's quite the opposite. it has helped create in energy mix that gets her carbon emissions down. in the contested territory of rural america this is a jobs issue. production jobs is what everybody's talking about. we have just a few minutes left, i want things to go to the wider panel into our audience folks, who may have a question or comment that they would like to add. and if you want to jump into this, one thing i want to get back, because you're pulling the voters that really matter in the early days of it so fascinating.

what is the top issue was top of mine for the voters. >> the big thing democrats need to do is stop the damage. a sort of job on this stopping trump. the second thing they're interested in is how to have a bill, how to build a meaningful community. people think they're not nearly as selfish as either national party acts like. people tend to think inappropriate terms they think about the broader community and they want to build a better education system, they want to build a better healthcare system, they want to build a

better economy. if there's one thing that unifies democrats, it's the sense that we are falling behind in terms of the ability to provide for our families and our communities. >> thank you. i have a tough question for folks in quitting time. but they're gone, we talk a lot about economics this morning and about people falling down the economic ladder and how democrats need to speak to those who have suffered downward mobility and that's an important challenge specially those who want a more optimistic message. but to the large extent it is the heartland reaction against democrats with cultural concerns and to what extent's it is with

economic concern. >> i think the big challenge is that people do not really hear what were proposing and a lot of these areas. they get turned off by the national image of democrats. it is hard for a democratic candidate to be her. we worked on the independent expenditure campaign that helped doug jones in alabama. i can tell you, i have no doubt that democrats will defeat every sexual predator we run against, but it was hard, i worked for the last two democratic governors, it is awfully hard to get heard as a democrat. for people to even take your ideas seriously.

because we have created such a negative stereotype, so many times it is not described in many of you probably remember the best thing you can have them politics is a fool for an opponent. we have the biggest one ever. so, i think trump is going to defined the national political scene and how democrats can offer an alternative is what's the matter most. people have a thousand reasons to be against donald trump. the question is going to be, do they think the democrat can survive the alternative. >> this is just in response to paul's comments on energy, i think it was fascinating. since on an economist as an

economist we do write about that a lot. it's interesting what paul had talked about in some of the other congress folks was that thinking about the party with economics with the average person including energy. what we have looked at with the economics of energy, we used a in the 70s for an increase said dollar increase in it dollars gas it took to consumer spending would be severe. you have to look at it in a different way. i also think when you look at the geography of the maps now when you look at it today the increase in the dollar of gas

will heard at the gas pump but you also have to recognize that u.s. now is the largest energy producer in the world. i believe we have surpassed saudi arabia. so, that means it also creates jobs and jobs are in middle america. that is something that i do not think it's recommended recognize. i thought that was interesting. >> thank you. i want to make two quick comments, these standards have improved pocketbooks of americans without them realizing it may have been pushed by democrats.

the fuel economy that your car gets today versus the 1970s was triple, it is due to rise almost twice again, the trump administration is proposing rolling back the standards even though the auto companies do not want them to. what that amounts to is attacks on the american people. we need to talk about these issues in economic terms. rolling back fuel economy standards is going to make that cost more. rolling back other efficiency standards will make electricity cost more. for the 50% of americans who live paycheck to paycheck, it's a big deal. but with the cat efficiency and climate we need to look at it in terms of the pocketbook kitchen table economics. >> thank you. unfortunately my job is to be the mussolini of new democracy to make the trains run on time. we want to hear from the mayor next, brief introductions, we want to big introductions but we are pleased and proud to have

the mayor join us. it's a good time for me to advertise one of the planks for the new democratic platform which calls for them to go local. think about how to remove more power in decisions and resources to mayors. the mayors are the stars of our federal system. they are the ones who are turning in a record of innovation, rebuilding our economy and social fabric from the ground up. we went down and talked about the remarkable change in economic situation there. both of these mayors are the forefront of that revolution. i also want to say that he just

left to fabulous terms in new orleans and gave a model speech which you probably heard of. it went viral about the federal monument controversy. they can front history and i commend that speech it's an eloquent statement and it hit home. so thank you so much for joining us. [applause] >> i think all of you for having me. i'm from louisiana so we know about swamps, to say hey to marianne landrieu's. in the back. she's going to talk about education in the future so i will leave that to her. mayor, it's nice to see you.

we are working hard to take our rightful place in america. we haven't been given are due yet but we are going to get there. i don't know why you asked me to come talk to. i'm unemployed i am out of excuses. i was thrilled to be able to get out of the house and come talk to for a minute about some of the issues facing the country. i don't pretend to speak to the national democratic party, i'm only giving you some sensor perspective about how for the last eight years we were able to get some things done in the state and city, sometimes with the help of washington, d.c. most times without their help. to the issue will spoke about earlier, about how to really

find best examples and this is your phrase of laboratories of democracy and change in cities as well, i want to begin by simply been understood by people, you cannot govern if you cannot win elections. because you do not have the power to do it. you cannot win elections if one extreme is responding to the other extreme. if you did win the election and were able to govern, you would not be able to get anything done if you cannot find common sense solutions to problems. nothing seems to be working there seems to be moving. i'm not in expert on congress. i don't think many people are. but i would venture to say the

public doesn't understand how congress does not work. i bet that if on monday speaker ryan put an immigration bill on the floor of the house and suspended a rule and let 435 elected members have an all-out debate, with everybody offering amendments, by the end of the week the mill will of the american people would be done. if the next week he did infrastructure i think we come up with an infrastructure package. because of institutional rules right now the american people don't even get what they're entitled to which is a full and open debate. cities do not work that way. states don't work that way. james can tell you that we don't have the luxury of talking about things for too long. there's a reason for it. the incentive is to talk less and do more. the reason that's real is because we live in the communities we work.

the decisions we make it the ground right away. and if we did not get our jobs done, the lights were gone, the police would show up, and you would get thrown out of office in a heartbeat. the incentives that exist right now seem to be upside down. that is why washington, d.c. is frustrating the rest of the country. the other message is that we live in different worlds. if the reflection on cnn, fox and msnbc are accurate about the way washington thinks about itself and how divided everybody is into red, blue, urban, and rolled and we live in different worlds. in the cities we govern that is not our experience.

it is not our experience that people are not talking to each other. in the world that we live in, there are people who are seeking and finding common ground because they depend on each other. they know one connected to without the other. so without being simplistic, you know this to be true, if you see common ground, if you want a solution to the problem and the incentive is to make something work as opposed to win or be the leader or do whatever folks do, that is what will happen. right now i believe the president is taking the country in the wrong direction. he is not the cause of this, although he is exacerbating it. he is simply and certainly a symptom of this notion that stay divided we will be better. or if you win, and ordered to do

that i have to lose. that's not our experience. if everybody's at the table then we win. the reason is simple. none of us have everything we need to get everything done. you actually have to reach out to other people. as a mayor when i listen to the washington, d.c. theory of life that in order to win as a democrat you have to be antibusiness or you have to be anti- energy or in a certain way about infrastructure than i listen to the other side and say you have to be all for it. the thing that helped us rebuild the city of new orleans, besides the wonderful gratitude of the people of this country was making sure everybody was at the table talking about ways they

can take responsibility and realize opportunity. the second was that there is no ideological way to what were trying to do. we want to be informed by good values and common sense. the order of the day was to find an answer to the problem. mary will talk about this later, generally speaking in louisiana we had a school system that was not working. it had to be fixed. in new orleans we had to find a new way of educating our children. the debate was not at the time about should we be prounion, antiunion. the answer was what is the best model that kids can learn. what is the answer that surrounds that given the circumstances when were dealing with the criminal justice system. the issue wasn't whether you're soft or hard on crime.

the issue was how do you keep the community safe and can you be tough and smart at the same time. isn't it wise to make sure people who are in jail for moderate offenses would it be better if you found a pathway back to the city and retrained and put them in jobs, how do you break down the barriers, if mayors were left to deal with immigration reform, you can contradict this if you want, but if you gave us the job of coming up with a package of immigration reform that is 65% of the country would support based on the polling data, i think we can put mayors in the room and within a short time we can come up with a solution that if tested 65% of the people would support. because we understand give-and-take in figuring out you have to be tough and smart at the same time.

in new orleans on this is true in oklahoma city is true in arizona run by democratic and republican owners that there's leaders being creative i'm ways to solve old problems. if you view the world through the and think of what matter, safety and security moment education matter having systems all matter, you're also dealing with innovation and automation and how we have to completely redesign our city to be able to receive what's coming our way in terms of vehicles when they won't have drivers in them. there's all things that were thinking about going forward. essentially the only way we can be successful is to reach out to

people and asked them to be involved in it. and secondly because we don't have enough resources to make sure everybody is putting into the pot. as a political matter, i happen to agree with the gentleman that spoke a minute before, you cannot be somebody with nobody, you can't read a message, with no message at all. i am here to testify to what i have seen as the secret sauce of success across america in the cities. that is strong leaders, not only in the government sector but in the not-for-profit sector, give everybody a big tent everybody has a place at the table, nobody gets excommunicated, everybody is invited in and then lock the doors kids we are not leaving until we figure out the answer.

no more going on vacation and getting paid of the lights are not coming on. i see my wonderful friend, david who has worked with me as lieutenant governor. thinking about new ways to innovate, even for those of us who agree in government, i believe it has a massive and important act to play. all things being considered, we prefer the federal government to be involved if the government is not going to show up we would much prefer for there to be a relationship between the government to solve problems that need to be solved. that's true whether you're talking about agriculture, housing, or whatever. if you're not going to show up we want you to get stuff done. be that as it may, even those of us if you believe in government, government has to work well. the nuts and bolts that have to

be efficient and effective, you have to cut out waste, fraud, abuse, you have to reduce regulations that don't make sense and that are obsolete, you need to make sure you're keeping the ones that are protecting the health and safety of the country. should never say i'm against reducing regulation without thinking really hard about what that really means. when i became mayor i became a city that was on the verge of bank and crip seat. i could've taken it into bankruptcy i was advised not to. they said it's really easy to get in and it's hard to get out. that resonated with me because i knew i had a hard job i cut 22% hard dollars, bone and muscle and marrow out of our government. think about that number on the federal level, i don't think there's ever been a cut that's ever been that much less not a cutting growth.

in an effort to do that people said you believe in -- but i also believed in balance budgets and long-term fizzles security. i also had a big fight with the union about her firefighters pension fund that was going to bankrupt the city after we got out of this and people said you're crazy, wire are you fading. i said i represent everybody in the city. if the city is not financially sound that the next mayor in the next city council will not have the opportunity to make choices between good and better options. that's a terrible place to be. democrats have lost the reputation of being people who really think about the pocketbooks. people want to feel like they have an opportunity, they want to make sure they are not going to get hurt and at the same

time, they are open to the issues that the democratic party pushes on social issues. they know that the country that discriminates against people based on race, creed, color and country of origin is not who we are, they know that. and not all the people who support donald trump fall into the category of being racist. the people who are in the middle, notwithstanding the fact that they don't like that and also we understand pocketbook issues, they don't think that we sue them. some candidates actually do not go to see them, mary landrieu 14 terms in the united states senate, a democrat in a very red state. one of the reason she ran is because she went to every parish in the state, even the one she knew were gonna show up one way,

i won because i went to every parish. the calculation is not don't go there because you cannot leave the calculation is if you go there you might get 35%. if you don't go there you're going to get 20, that 15% differential was the difference between winning and losing plus a little bit. in some instances we forget in the politics of it that there are people who live all over the place, all are different, all have a of you an opinion, they all want to be seen and heard. one of the lessons of the last election and many years before which i'm not sure we completely understand, is that people notwithstanding the fact that we are militarily secure, although we have contagions across the world, even though the stock market is high and on employment

as low people are still feeling alienated their grievances that exist. our challenge is to make people feel included but you have to see them first and acknowledge them. then you have to recognize that irrespective they are all really smart. there's good folks that never went to high school that have good common sense that will out judge those of us who went to ivy league schools. that sense of entitlement and permeates them. so without trying to give a dissertation about trying to get elected, i think president clinton was correct, addition is better than subtraction if you

don't show up and ask, they're going to tell you know, the second thing is we have to be able to win by not being extreme. i would resist the urge for the democratic party to tilt heavily to the left. sometimes we been to the right and left, sometimes we lose her mind, and have a moment which is what were having now, i think that we have to recognize that were in a dangerous and dark place. i recognize that president trump, why he may be contributing to this, he is a symptoms as much as a cause, we have to ask how we got into a place where we made the decision we made. people made that because they were hurting and they didn't have a way out. whether they would make the same choice again or not is up in the air. i can only tell you that his view of america it's dark, it is not correct. it is not the one i experience every day as mayor of the city of new orleans. the people of louisiana are

wonderful, they show up at ceremonies, they go to church together, we sometimes have 500,000 strong, the entire community is there and everybody is enjoying themselves. you know americans are brought around a common ground. given an opportunity the better angels among us. that is what will happen. you have to invite them in and recognize there there. then you have to remind them that on the ground where they know each other great things are getting done, they'll improve educational opportunities, though fix run-of-the-mill problems, and they will make them feel safe and secure. at the end of the day, if they feel like they have an investment to make it and you asked them to assume responsibility, more often than

not they generally show up as has been done in the history of the country. i do agree that you will find an answer to a lot of the nations problems in the cities and towns run by strong leaders who know how to bring people together. that is the prescription for a future. thank you for having me. [applause] >> thank you. that was terrific. we will move along and start drilling down on the economic question, how can this party really command the heights of the bread-and-butter issues and start to speak to people in the midwest and elsewhere that we haven't reached on this. i cannot think of anything better to kick this off then congressman tim ryan. tim represents the faith district of ohio, that is northeastern ohio, that is a

ground center and the story of job loss and in the story of working-class voters ship and coming to this president, unfortunately i think he is thinking hard about trying to get our party and how to be the party of jobs in progress and hope again. and not just the party of class resentment and telling people there's nothing they can do because the economy is rigged. without further a do, thank you. >> thank you. i have the mayor left but i wanted to thank him for his comments on leadership. it's over at any gave one of the best speeches. we cannot really solve any of

these problems unless fully understand where we were and where we want to go. as will said, i represented district in northeast ohio that includes youngstown. we have a day we remember in our communities, september 19, 1977. we refer to that day is black monday. that was the day that the operation was immediately closed down. 5000 jobs immediately went away. over the course of the few years' 40000 manufacturing jobs, 400 and economic investment, it hollowed out our community. we remember the stories, when i

talked to my mother-in-law about the story in this particular day, i remember bringing it up and she said, i'll never forget that day, i'll never forget bobby, my father alone, and ho home, dirty, dusty and lunchpail in hand, they had just borrowed $4000 from my father-in-law's parents to get a new house. they had two little girls, he kept saying to himself and to his wife, i have no idea what we're going to do, and the issue were talking about today is that what happened on that day was 30 years ago, that has happened over and over again in communities all across the

united states. we have yet to solve this problem. that's why this conference in conversation is so important about what we're going to do to solve these major economic problems that we have in the country. the context that we have to talk about his democrats it is what is the global landscape like. we have two that was stated in the latest national defense strategy, we have 2p competitors, we have russia and china, russia has a weaker hand but they plant well, they're messing with us all the time, we hear about them messing with us every single day, we have china who is a more direct economic competitor, what we are seeing from china is an effort,

military, economic and political on how to overtake the economy in the military and the politics of the united states. it is part of government their building bases in the south china sea. they said they would not militarize them and they are. their building bases in africa, they're ready to build another one, they are locking in long-term raw material contracts in africa getting poor countries on the hook controlling those countries, so they can supply their industrial machines back at home. they have us strategy called one belt, one road will there will make a very aggressive pitch throughout asia, they have a

maiden china 2025 program in which they are continuing to build out the manufacturing base in china, they have a five-year plan, they have a 15 year plan, they have a fifty-year plan and hundred year plan. and the united states is operating in a 24 hour news cycle. twenty-four hour plan. day-to-day, tactical. no big strategy, meanwhile, what happened to bob at u.s. sheet and tube and other families 40 years ago, our systems had continued to erode and collapse. the systems are broken and not serving the people anymore. we can go through an economic system that has gross inequali

inequality, criminal justice system expenses, we have a health care system this prince two and half times the money and we get the worst results. we have an agricultural system that puts algae blooms in the great lakes, and we have warnings that come and say you can only eat one or two fish per month out of the streams and rivers and i'm not the sharpest knife but if you tell me not see whether one or two fish out of a river, i'm not sure why i want efficient in that river, we have a food system that is broken, we have half the country now has either diabetes or prediabetes. these systems are broke,

obviously the immigration system is broken so, we have an obligation here, today to put an agenda together that will rebuild the united states, i think we have got to get out of this, who's left, his right, who center, the global economy and technology has blown away any preconceived labels that we think we have. i think that is part of the reason we cannot solve these problems, were trying to put them in boxes that don't exist anymore, we need all hands on deck, we need a strong, robust and efficient noble government that is willing to make the bold investment that needs to be made. we need an efficient, compassionate and smart private sector that will work with these

public-private partnerships that the mayor said, every deal we make where were locating a business, it's the port authority comments using new market tax credit and state government, sometimes federal government its workforce training in the community college and local college, is people coming together to make this happen. we can do it but we have got to create the next reiteration of the american economy. i'll tell you one story, we did a tour, we called it the comeback cities tour a few months back, we got 13 venture capitalists on a bus from silicon valley, and we took him

to five towns, we took him to youngstown ohio, we took them to detroit, michigan, flint michigan, and south bend indiana. the whole idea is that 80% of venture capital goes to three states, you know what they are, california, massachusetts and new york, nine persons goes to women and only 1% goes to african-americans. so, we wanted to close the divide, nobody on the bus was saying who's a democrat and republican in libertarian, as we have some libertarians in silicon valley. and it was about connecting capital to communities to those who need private investment, they need roads and bridges and schools that are affordable, but they also need private investment.

private companies who hire are people, so, we have to come together and figure out what the strategy is. this panel and conferences critically important. one less story, periodically as you know we will do random visits in our congressional district. a few weeks ago i was in youngstown. i had a local councilman taking me around and i just drive through the neighborhood and see what's going on, he took me to woman's house, it was in the worst neighborhood in youngstown, he took me to a woman's house her name was mrs. duke, mrs. duke did not know we are common, she comes around the back of the house and

she has a spray bottle in her hand. she was spraying for ants in her home. we are in the worst neighborhood and their dilapidated homes, there's crime, opiate problems, and mrs. duke is spraying for ants, her house is meticulous, the grass is cut, her son comes from around the corner and he has paint on his arm, he was on back pain in the door. he had white pain on his arm. we go to her house and sit there and it's the middle of summer, hot but the house was impeccable on the inside, old marble fireplace, mantel and we talked and she was talking about how she was trying to get the neighborhood fixed up and it was in heaven the success she wanted, so she thought about moving and she had her son go

out and look for her to sell her house. to know how much she could give for her house? $4000. all the smart people say move to where the jobs are. for in her sign going to move to silicon valley with $4000 in their pocket? she is trapped. there are people in our country that are trapped. i will tell you, you can have the philosophical discussions and all the rest we have in washington, but if we don't figure out a way how to help the mrs. duke's of the world of her son to have opportunity, jobs, investment, and economic security and healthcare, this country is not going anywhere. that is our responsibility.

that is our job. to figure that out. and to put the preconceived notions of the past behind us. but elevate the conversation. let's find some common ground so we can get to higher ground. there is a mountain right there. we need to climb it. we need to join hands, find out what we agree on, recognize it is going to be capitalism in a strong progressive government that will make this happen. we can do it. but, we have got to be together. or, we are not getting up the mountain. i have been using this lately because i think it makes me feel good. someone said to mohammed ali, hey champ, i saw you and i saw the fight where you got knocked down. mohammed ali said, i have never been knocked down. never once. he said i'm either up or i'm

getting up. and america, is getting up. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you congressman. now we want to go to the challenges set before us. how will we job new job creation? new investment to the places that are distressed and left behind. . .

>> and to see them ranging in age from 25 or 60 to go back and study with algebra two is the big separator. they knew they could do better but they need somebody to help them give a hand. you are absolutely right the government working with the academic hector certainly the private sector so thank you for starting us off. we have a great panel and what we will do is go around and start with the representative if you could keep your comments brief we are trying to create a conversation and

great to see you again. >> it is great to be here and also to be with my colleagues. i am a congressman from the city of philadelphia and also the philadelphia suburbs in montgomery county. philadelphia is emblematic of what is happening nationwide. it is the best of times and the worst of times. speaking nationally with unemployment at a remarkable low some economists believe full employment but to be in

the 90 or the same thing with the economy coming out of the deepest recession since the 30s in and eight or 90 or in a strong economic expansion so by all those measures people should be quite happy and they are doing well but at the same time for other pockets of my city and state and other pockets in the country the fact of the matter is things were better 30 and 50 years ago. so the question is especially for democrat and the centerleft party worldwide, what do we do in this new economy creating this debt so if we have a higher education or certain skills maybe not members of congress but to have opportunities today or than ever before with higher

pay that yet for those like my parents of a high school education, no college there are fewer job opportunities for less pay in parts of philadelphia or youngstown ohio and in parts of this country. to me that is the key challenge for us and with the democratic party because just to end it with this, if we as democrats don't come up with positive solutions, there will be other voices as we saw in 2016 to come up with other explanations of people to blame to solve these complicated questions to blame the immigrants or the others. so i believe we cannot do this ground we must lead the way to solve this problem to make sure those who live in the

area that have been left behind can fully participate. thank you. [applause] so a quick follow-up, what is the single idea you hear being discussed? been there is several and i feel this is the low hanging fruit i am still so surprised the trump administration has not pursued and that is a real infrastructure plan. i don't mean something that says 1.5 trillion really it is $200 million with unreasonable leverage assumption but if you were to take democrats and mainstream suburban republicans and come together on a real infrastructure plan that we need according to the american international council

we are rated between a c- and a d with the state of infrastructure roads and bridges and rail but also in terms of the water lines that most of those were from the 19th century and it would put an incredibly high number of people back to work. so i feel that is the low hanging fruit that could immediately help people but in terms of longer-term and in part of the blue-collar caucus talking to folks from amazon about the ways in which the jobs they are creating today actually to create blue-collar workers and how we bring that to those pockets left behind. that is a little bit longer-term but this is in the policy area.

>> so to work on infrastructure think the grade of a d+ at least we are passing. so you also pointed out a few things in terms of where i wanted to start off since i covered the u.s. economy it is a little better we are seeing jobs going up on average now over the last 12 months people are spending a bit more. but to take a step back to put that into perspective where we are right now. first when we talk about 3% growth rate in part that is with that fiscal stimulus tied to the bipartisan budget agreement. that is still rather low

talking about the year after the recession would end and over recovery of the period that you see from 4% so it is still rather low. and while we do expect to see improvement from fiscal spending but where we see that productivity generation and the growth. what we are worried about and what we see for growth we are looking at growth slowing down at the potential growth rate of one or 2% in just a few years that is one percentage point lower than 15 years ago. now when we talk about jobs the labor participation rate is at or near a 40 year low. that is in part tied to retirees about three quarters

of that is retirees in the workforce but even those that are still just starting at this but they are not coming back that is a long process. but there are other factors as well that you mentioned unemployment rates frequently 8% but that hides the fact that there are so many people leaving not just retirees but people who have given up looking. and we actually see that even at 3.8% unemployment rate we think that hides the flak in the market labor participation is out of 40 year low but we expect to see the unemployment rate could drop even further. because we see so many people leaving the workforce and there is one other worry that we have for this group as we talk about this basically

people of age that are no longer working. look at men between the ages of 25 and 54, they have dropped out a few of them are coming back. as the economy get stronger but compared to check the numbers to stay closer to 95% in the workforce that has dropped significantly since then. and what are the reasons why? trade, globalization, automatio automation, technological change and also we see this that they were entering the workforce at a rapid pace from the 70s through the '90s and see them moving as well and what are the concerns there with

the time off penalties? because that is the lion share of family care and another thing i want to point to is what is happening with business job coordination and business starts? in those firms that bring employment and job creation and what we see so far from the government data is we have seen no business formation recover those numbers do not show that's what we have seen it fell and was cut in half from the high-end 2005 and 2004 and 2004 to the low of 2009. though the figures are annualized to about 70000.

by 2017 and to be slightly recovered i would love to have that conversation if banks are tightening lending so young for numbers cannot get the loan or are they squeezed by student loans? is there question of the bigger firms getting bigger and bigger? is that a chokehold on the economic activity going forward? these are the questions i would have going forward and i will stop there. >> i will keep it brief. talk about the economy and the question first of all my background is not political. i am a researcher strategist so that is my perspective not to confuse me with a policy expert but there is an overlap

between politically the right path as democrats or legislative path for the country. first of all what is the problem we are trying to solve? there is a lot of anxiety and good things taking place in consumer confidence is very high. but there is still a lot of anxiety because you have technological change and competition that keeps people on egg shells but also there are real problems if you scratch the surface almost no american will tell you who have an administration that is basically putting the healthcare system under assault and that creates a great deal of anxiety. that really has been one of the most impressive accomplishments of the trump administration the obama administration could not sell the public and could not get geordie support but the trump administration send a clear

message they intend to take it away then support finally flips now more in favor than opposed. that goes to how people make decisions in a political context that people will weigh what they might lose more than what they might gain. the initial healthcare is pure politics but the consequences of threatening people's healthcare healthcare is front and center. pensions are one talk about planning for their own funeral that they have to deal with this issue but nobody wants to talk about it that is how pensions work it is pushed to the surface so are we prepared to have that conversation because very few people are ready to. so what's our goal? that we would alleviate anxiety and to keep people in the state of anxiety we don't ever win the debate over who

can create a scarier picture of the future. how do we alleviate anxiety? talking about black monday because corporations have left the community jobs have left. one thing that should be easy but is hard for us to do is to recognize that picture is a negative picture it is the opposite positive picture where companies move. also doing research in places like ohio that success looks like having big employers in our community. why is that? if that is what people wanted you would say have a guaranteed income we are one of the only countries if you ask people tell me about yourself they will say what they do because that is central to our identity as americans. we work hard with the system if you work hard you will see

the benefits that has been under assault if you look at the polling confidence has come down even within the democratic party it is 61% they still believe if you work hard you can get ahead it is a central component of the economy when you try to solve the problem do it in a way that rewards hard work because that is so essential to who we are that leads to companies coming in and places an emphasis on good jobs with people skills that them do what they are good at and then have people sitting on the sidelines who used to be able to do good things with their skills and now feel the skills have gone away i'm on the sidelines but i don't have an opportunity. so finally we all know that we struggle with the idea what is the republican message everybody would tell me a variation lower taxes and

lower regulation get out of the way. so the last part which is just get out of the way you are tapping into something which is what makes our economy successful if you get out of the way we have a system that emphasizes freedom freedom of money and thought and ideas for the next great thing. if we don't spoil that system the next great thing will happen here. last night i did research that was before a lot of companies like under armour even became online there are better examples of people literally starting something in their garage. that is a key ingredient to success. but the other is with low taxes and low regulation they say get out of the way, democrats have a better argument we refuse to articulate and i don't understand why the better argument which is the real key to the economy is our people

and our skilled workers and quality of the workforce. if we emphasize making sure people have training and if you make sure if you want to go to college you can do that to. those are two different things with two different segments of the economy for a long time we only talked about one and not the other but to say quality of the workforce is our key strength is a much more powerful idea than to say the key strength is low taxes and low regulation. ultimately politics is a choice if you offer that choice we have a better hand but for whatever reason we don't usually articulate that we throw training in a speech like an afterthought like lincoln said the poor idea in a smaller ideas i'd -- emanate so it the poor idea is there are people are the key strength to this economy if we have that debate it also gives

democrats a strong platform. >> thank you. senator comes representative ryan they all mentioned manufacturing and that is not a surprise in fact the collapse of manufacturing is still wound and most of the country people complain about their share of income but it turns out most of that is because of the manufacturing jobs and wages. the number of factories that have closed since 2035% are not there anymore. it is a visible symbol of

neglect and pain that people see everyday. so we believe manufacturing is a key component of prosperity. and as will said earlier we are talking about resurrecting ring --dash the economy but a systematic plan with local advanced manufacturing startups to create 1 million jobs around the country include outside the largest cities to build a democratic majority with these ideas and counterintuitively, what we believe is digitization is not a way to destroy jobs but create jobs including jobs for people without a college education. this is not doing the old stuff but creating and making

custom clothing or custom furniture but does not have to be shipped 10,000 miles. there there is no reason why we should be doing this except we haven't actually invested in the next wave of advanced manufacturing. so we talk about a program of investment with a different to create online manufacturing platform to provide services small startups and manufacturing startups across the country to address your question, rnd, not just in tech and bioscience but to create new material to help bolster manufacturing. lowering the entry fee for new entrepreneurs. how do you start a company?

what asset do you have to the newest technology? we are in the unfortunate position trump has started a trade war that no one really wants and it will hurt everyone but it creates an opportunity with the creation of a whole new wave of manufacturing startups that can drive us into the 21st century to create jobs around the country. thanks. >> and we have someone who is actually out employing people. >> i am very proud to be here. i think i am the only entrepreneur on the panel giving a talk today. and in our own modest way we are an extension or an example of the entrepreneurship talking about a few moments ago my garage was a storm room

new haven i focused on education and technology businesses and within 16 years he had 350,000 students go from college to graduate school and helped another 20000 in the last three years and also in kansas city missouri we have 1000 preschoolers we have helped thousands of kids in kansas city missouri get that headstart to help them through their path. but as pat -- #of our accomplishments with a couple thousand people it is only a small part of the solution we need to come up with. we are helping those that are already on the good side of

that economic spectrum to improve their lives. so more than half make six figures per here and that is intestate that does not address the problems we have in rural missouri where my mom is from or those in the distressed part of the areas where i grew up kansas city missouri school district. so i am proud but that will not get us there with the solutions but i hope what we talk about today of what is scalable to those left behind to echo what we have heard so now tripled the number of working age men's of all races who are not working. in 2011i had a chance to spend a few minutes with former president clinton and he said something at the time was

extraordinary but we are here grappling with it still the only demographic group in this country that doesn't believe that future will be better than the present he said as white males without a college degree and at that moment that kid from hope arkansas we were surrounded by hollywood elite and said and he the he said i don't think they appreciate that the way you and i do. i am not sure sec. clinton appreciated that as much as she should have as well to be frank but we still have not totally address that. infrastructure is a pathway there but i don't know if we can transition a truck driver into coding jobs as much as i would like that but i still

think there are opportunities. i don't want to eat up any more of my time but if we dig into this i do have more ideas to help create scalable job creation for those who don't at higher level of education. >> list of those real quick. >> great. geographic job creation programs for the government can be helpful have been proven to work i encourage you to look at what howard university has done targeting poor geographic areas and continue to pour money into healthcare. some of the problems we have with people out of work with a high suicide rate and in the south leads to a health crisis that is an opportunity to create jobs for mental health professionals and with infrastructure we mentioned that but we did not mention it helps a broad swath.

there will be tens or hundreds of thousands of construction workers with middle-class jobs like innovators like henry ford those that spend their time in california to change the landscape. and finally training programs that really do work to help people get that education that allows them to get jobs one of the largest employers in the kansas city area there is currently a disconnection between community college what they are teaching to help their graduates immediately get jobs. they would love to hire locally they have to go these broad expensive searches on a superhigh growth trajectory that seems like an easy fix.

>> thank you. we have six minutes i want to open this up. i've promised i'm committed to turn this over to representative at 1140. please. feedback i am from georgetown i want to pick up exactly his focus on jobs and skills and i want to focus exactly with a few comments. two thirds of the americans don't get the four-year college degree. we need a skill creation system for them but at the same time focusing on the employer's and the jobs and the quality of the jobs we cannot pretend all employers are creating good jobs and some of them are minimizing the labor cost and some can compete so the job of the

democratic party to offer a set of policies to improve the quality of workers and skills and from what they are creating. i know time short but a few ideas how to do that it isn't job creating the community college are those institutions that create that ladder into the four-year birthday need to be more responsive to the job market right now they are short on incentives. they are not rewarded for that so i have proposed a race to the top for community colleges to provide more resources to strengthen the incentives of these institutions to create more partnerships like healthcare and advanced manufacturing and parts of the service sector so on the

employer side with low road employment it is for a higher jobs fun to work with employers and reward them for investing in career labs to create apprenticeships i imagine will hear about that later and engage in profit sharing. some of this is financial incentives and tax credits sun's technical assistance a lot of that is the bully pulpit i think the democratic party mayors and governors and representatives in congress need to embrace employment and there is a lot of ways to do that but you need to talk seriously about lifelong learning. and to have a system of lifelong learning prepared for that. certainly people in the underserved regions to

subsidize jobs to lower the barriers they have whether criminal or addictions even those that lacked the family leave it doesn't help people with paid family leave so there is a long agenda of labor markets. >> can i just add really quick we need to talk about all of this in the context of competition to strengthen our economy. we get and the itemized list for free college but whatever we come up with, this all fees into the worker and the skilled workforce and will enhance startups because

people will start up they don't have healthcare or student debt. so we need to talk about this in the context of growing the economy and competing with china and come together with a checklist. >> to close out the question. i cannot tell you how many times i have heard the version of the story that chad told about the employer wants to hire locally but somehow the high schools and community colleges are not producing what they want. why are they talking to those institutions and working with them? what is wrong there? >> in places with good governors they are. it is a very serious question. and literally. i could give you a bunch of examples delaware is not known

as aircraft space but we have about 1000 jobs repairing airplane parts so literally we sat down with the employers in the community college and local schools to say what will it take the state put up a little money the community colleges we still need to do more but that conversation has to take place with all parties. one more item on the table as an issue that goes to what was talked about regarding the anxiety of the worker we did not talk about what is a threat or opportunity of artificial intelligence as it penetrates more deeply into the economy? it is a huge issue and finally , you will hear a lot about

the move away from hiring based on college degrees but based on skill. i think employers are seeing the need for that and a lot of american families say it doesn't make any sense to pay $60000 per year for a college education that does not lead to anything. so i really do believe in that movement now moving away from the degree and what is based on skill so now thank you to our panelist. [applause] >> i am hopeful employers will turn to skill rather than college degree. but i have not seen that yet and that is the number one concern we have that those certificates or other skills

are not being awarded in the business sector so i really do hope. >> to make a comment and so talk about turnout with workforce participation among the demographic groups which are part of the electorate as the congressman is aware of overall turnout, and that overall turnout and with the subgroup of that with the

republican electorate. then to provide a narrative with african-americans so in this survey 50% of african-americans in columbus didn't think there was a difference between the democratic president or the republican president. they voted but we are not communicating to our constituencies to a plan that will make a difference in their life that lead to diminished turnout as one

example and we have to put a realistic agenda together and then go communicate we have to go to west virginia and kentucky. if we want to really represent everybody to provide opportunity to everybody then show up in youngstown ohio and care and drive everything else. >> i think there is a realignment coming after the debacle we are in right now but we better be prepared and ready to be cared about those who were left behind that bill clinton talked about the white men and the black families who are caught up in the criminal justice system that have a much more negative experience

there is only 330 million people in united states they can lose hundreds of millions of potential workers we cannot afford to lose anybody so we have to get this right. >> and then dispense all the time i have investigators. there is a report coming soon and he suggested there was a videotape coming so that generates more immediate interest. let's see what he has to say guess what? it never comes out. and then he find someone that people come out to say we think donald trump is lying.

i'm just looking into it. so anybody that pops up his loser or crazy or a hack if he can find a target to scapegoat with the us versus them fight it creates that dynamic. >> then finally he declares victory like the press conference at the trump hotel everybody come in with a major announcement we thought it might be a brand-new hotel barack obama is a citizen i cleared it up for hillary clinton started that i finished it. victory.

good afternoon. today a grand jury returned an indictment presented by the special counsel's office. the charges 12 russian military officers by name to conspire to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. eleven defendants are charged with conspire to hack into computers, steel documents, and release those documents with the intent to interfere in the election.