beautiful tragic island for united states having little idea what to expect on the other side of the ocean but hoping to find survival there. in the galleys of the ships that left, the irish government posted bulletins with a heading, advice to irish immigrants. the posters read in part, in the united states wealth is not idolized but there's no degradation connected with labor. in the remote parts of america industrious youth may look down upon and he may expect to raise himgs in the world by labor. i sometimes find myself wondering if the irish government official who wrote those words over 150 years ago had a better grasp on the essence of america than do some u.s. government officials today. decades after the great hunger had subsided, a poor 9-year-old's father scraped together another money from working in idaho silver mines to bring the boy and his mother and

six brothers and r sisters from ireland to america. at ellis island sean patrick gillespie became john patrick gillespie. in the grits neighborhoods of north philadelphia he became known as jack. he served his adopted country in world war ii earning two purple heart, a bronze star, a bronze star with oak leaf cluser and aa siller star in some of the bloodiest fighting in the european theater. he worked as a janitor with his wife, connie. he bought a mom and pop grocery store and saved enough nomoney life every irishman's dream. he bought his own bar. jack -- [ applause ] jack and connie gillespie made their six children the first on either side of the father, the first generation to ever attend college. i'm one of those children, the son of an irish i am grant who came here illegally, worked hard

and made a better life for himself and his family and helped make the world a safer, better place. jack gillespie was born in irish but he died a great american, and i am proud to be the son of that immigrant. [ applause ] we don't want america to become more like the places people have been leaving for centuries to come here to get away from. places with currencies ruined by too much government debt, economies choked by too much government intervention, and happiness stifled by too little personal freedom. we want to continue to welcome people who want to come here to work hard and worship freely and become great americans because that makes america so great. i want to thank fred and norm and doug and jenny and all of those involved in the hispanic leadership network for the work and the american action network

and the american action forum for the work you do to convey conservative principles especially to those voters so receptive to hear the message. i want to thank all of you for being here today to support those efforts. god bless you and god bless america, and thanks for letting me be here with you today. >> thank you. >> without a step out from behind the podium, and we have time for some questions or advice or suggestions. we would welcome those. yes. i'm sorry. we have a microphone moving around. >> do you know the laws in the state of florida have changed to registered voters, and you have to register your organization in tallahassee for you to have permission to register voters? do you know that? >> i am not familiar with it. >> it makes it more difficult now to register voters. >> yeah.

i'm for -- i believe that -- there's a lot of effort going on this front to not only identify latino voters who share our values and would vote for conservative candidates who believe in free markets and free people. we also need to identify and register those voters. i think that those who have a liberal perspective have done a much better job of identifying potential liberal voters than we have done at identifying potential conservative voters in the hispanic community. i'm not familiar with the florida state law, but whatever the law is, i do think that those of us who believe in conservative principles have to do a better job of registering hispanics who share our point of view. >> mr. gillespie, thank you, first of all. to brablg it down, essentially right now you speak to the

choir. i think everyone in this room knows exactly where you're coming from and what you told us. we understand it very well. how do we get that message to other dmunts, because once you leave miami, once you go north of miami, republicans, conservative hispanics have trouble explaining why they're conservative and how do we get that message to the angelo community so they realize the reality of the census and everything you've been saying? >> i think there's a growing awareness there. i sense it. i can feel it in meetings that i attend and groups i participate in. row sar row is here and she's active on efforts to try not to elect officials but spread that word. that's part of the point as i said for us to have elected latinos who share our view. it gives them a greater platform to get that message out. i'm a big believer in con seven trick circles, and it starts

here where there's preaching to the choir that's done. i think it helps to talk about how we best talk about these issues in a way that does resonate. we've been doing -- i mentioned resurge he not re"pittsburgh sports tonight" repub. we have an ongoing hispanic pront. he did the most recent survey, and we have a steady stream of data regarding hispanic voters. we do focus groups and try to discern how best to talk about these issues. one of the things that we learned and one of the reasons i mentioned the crushing debt is because in the latino community with latino voters there's a greater sensitivity because somewhere their family has a history of countries where inflation and wrecked currencies was a result of excessive debt and spending. it resonates there. it's one of the things we learned. it's an ongoing project. we have to push it out in con seven trick circles, but it

starts in meetings like this one here today.concentric circles, starts in meetings like this one here today. >> we were told when they were pushing for the affordable health care act that we had to, as a nation, come together and insure the 30 to 40 million uninsured in this country, of which part of that, i believe, was the illegal immigrants of this country. how do you think that this obama care is going to impact our future, if it stays, and if it's not repealed? i know that mr. coleman -- >> snoenator coleman, yes.

>> senator coleman made a remark saying he didn't believe obama care could be repealed in its entirety. do you believe that's true, and how is it important in retrospect to get every part of it repealed? >> well, i'm not familiar with what exactly senator coleman said. he's a friend and i have great respect for him. i share my view. i believe that obama care can be wree peeled, and it must be repealed. the fact is that the democrats were able to pass if with a simple majority in the united states senate. there was not a 60-vote rule that applied to enacting obama care. by my reckons that means there doesn't need to be a 60-vote margin to repeal obama care. we could do it under the same rules we enacted it. i believe also swrel 51 republican senators in the united states senate next januaryth. i believe every one of them will vote to do so, and i think it's imperative. the fact is there's a dangerous precedent here.

this regulation of nonactivity. if you can -- if the federal government is powerful enough to say -- not say we're going to regulate what you do when you spend money but we're going to regulate you not spending money. today it might be health care. next time it might be green energy. if you don't buy green energy, we make you buy green energy. that way seo liolyndra wouldn't gone out of business maybe. there's no holds barred and no limitations on the federal government going forward. from a more specific perspective it's clear the effect that this bill is having on job creation. a lot of small business owners in particular are leary of hi hiring. we see people are losing coverage. a friend of mine is a car dealer in harrisburg, pennsylvania. my best friend i grew up with

him. when the bill was moving through the congress, he called me and said i did the math on this. he has 73 employees. they have a 30/70 split on their health care cost on the premiums. he didded calculations and it would be cheaper for me to pay the surtax and dump my employees off the private insurance into the government program than to continue to pay the health care. they have it all wrong and haven't done the math right. i said they've done the math exactly right. that's what you're supposed to do. they're just pretending it's not the case, but that's what they want, to migrate people into a single payor system. we've seen how that works in other countries. from in terms of individual liberty and term was quality of health care and in terms of job creation, it is a unbelievably bad bill, and it needs to be repealed root and branch pulled out of the code.

yes, sir. >> i'm from new mexico. hispanics are a diverse group, as you know. how do you tailor a message that connects and speaks to such a diverse group of people? >> that's a really good point. one of the things we did, we had the most recent survey of florida hispanic voters. we did a survey in september i think it was of hispanic voters in new mexico and colorado and hispanic voters in flo. not monolithic. there was always a sense that catholic vote is a swing vote, which it is. no president has been elected without catholics in it country, since eisenhower was able to do it in 1956. ever since then, wherever the majority of the catholic vote goes, the white house goes. it's not a monolithic vote.

there's german origin catholics in the great lakes region and irish catholics like me. he was born in 1961 the son of a irishman, the year john f. kennedy was sworn in in new jersey the son of an irish immigrant. they stamped democrat on my birth certificate, which is the case with a lot of business panic voters today. i israeled over time those weren't my values, and i think that's what we're seeing today. we have to communicate to the different segment of the hispanic electorate differently. business panic hispanic voters in new mexico are more conservative. susanna martinez is at 65% approval rating in new mexico. we can get the votes. but you're right. the truth is elections are about targeting votes and targeting message and microtargeting. so, you know, radio ads in new

mexico maybe different than radio ads in miami. facebook ads in new mexico may be different than facebook ads in colorado. it would be a mistake to assume that we shouldn't be targeting. that said, there are universal principles and values that appeal across not only hispanic of different ethnic origin but across every ethnicity in america whether it's african-american, asian-american or irish american like myself. yes, ma'am. i'm miaking the mike guy work a little bit here. >> good afternoon. my name is eza actually, my first president that i had the privilege to vote was ronald reagan, which i have that and i know that no one will ever come out as wonderful as he was for us. i am a puerto rican. we have 400 -- 4 million puerto ricans in the united states, but

in puerto rico 85% or more, they do get out and vote, which is as naum cal compared with the numbers they go out in florida. i have been involved in the political arena in florida for over 20 years. i have seen the numbers because i run a precinct too. the issue we have is that florida and the republican party has not taken an effort to focus on those puerto ricans that come from the island and can vote immediately here while my brothers and sisters cannot do it in puerto rico. now, if we can get something very clear when our puerto ricans come in to florida or the united states, which would be love the god, passion for our country, and devotion for our family. of course, the entrepreneurial heart that lives in all of us

since we were very young. i think that the republican party and i have been saying this for years have lost an opportunity. right now we could send four puerto rican conservatives to washington, d.c. they have not been focused. we have tampa and orlando. i think it's a disservice, because here we have puerto ricans in the island and my family given energy and love and attention to everyone, especially my brothers and sisters from cube bachlt our island is the krajdz for many of them that they today are the leaders of this great nation. yet, we don't have one puerto rican that represents our 4 million puerto ricans here and 3.8 million in puerto rico in washington, d.c. how can we make that a big change? >> that's a great question, and i would say by the way, elizabeth, the point you made about the appeal it to puerto rican voters is true of cuban

american voters, mexican-american voters, ecuadorian american voters and nicaraguan american voters. we need to appeal to all of them. the puerto rican population is big in the united states, and i think we have to do a better job. traditionally it's been cedec as seeing it as a democratic voting bloc. i don't think we should cede any votes to the democrats. we should take our message into the puerto rican xhunlt like the cuban american community and others, and that would increase our share of the puerto rican vote. the governor is here this morning. talk about a rising star, and he's fantastic. i think he will help us. i know he came -- i volunteered to be general chairman of bob mcdonald's campaign of virginia. we campaigned very hard for hispanic voters in virginia. he was a big asset in that

regard. i think with him to my point about having elected officials that people can identify with, that's a big part of, i think, our ability. i wouldn't -- i'm not in charge of the convention or have a former role. i wouldn't be surprised to see him speak somewhere in tampa in august. yes, sir. >> hi, my name is kurt and i'm u.s. army retired. i serve in the special forces infantry in airborne, and i consider myself an american patriot. we have a problem with that we need to ensure equality, one equal american citizenship for all. we have american veterans fighting today that can't vote for their president, and they're from the u.s. territory of puerto rico. we have to get this straight. puerto rico under the constitution is a u.s.

territory, so my question is, what can the republican party do? because the puerto rico question is two, a group vote on a status question and an individual rights vote? so the republican party is the consent of the government, and we should not have a tyranny of a majority over a minority. what can we do to bring more awareness? what can the republican party say we're going to be for one equal american zicitizenship unr the american flag no matter where you reside? remember, it's aa complex issue. what can we do to do that? >> i'm very familiar. it's a very complex issue. thaw for your service to our country, first of all. the fact is as you know in the republican party platform for years there's been a position that supports statehood for puerto rico or the vote for

statehood for puerto rico, but it's a complicated issue in puerto rico as well as you know. i'm not prepared to give an answer to that today. what i'm prepared to do is say ingt it's an important question and one we need to focus on and have an answer for. the truth is i don't feel like i can give an answer is revealing in terms of what republican strategists and others are in terms of a message on that. it probably needs to move up, and i'm going to do a little bit of research on it. imt not comfortable stating a position here, because i don't know enough about it, other than the past hiflt of the republican party's platform on it.i wi get. yes, ma'am. >> last question. >> last question. okay. >> thank you, welcome, and as a former elected official in a community that's not predominantly hispanic, the

space center, brevard county, i think you had mentioned in regards to what in regards to w can do, of course i'm from the bush era, so carl rowe did an j hispanic community. i think even those of us who are united states citizens, elected officials, god, family and country, but yet when we hear the rhetoric of our party, it hurts us because then when we try to get other hispanics to become republicans and they hear that rhetoric, it makes our job even harder. and i think that -- folks are shaking their head -- by you being here and sharing that, it means a lot to us, so i just want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because not only do we want to hear hispanics saying it but we want to hear from hiss pnon-hispanic

spoke so eloquently. so i want to say thank you on behalf of all of us, we need more folks to go ahead and speak who are respect active ive of y gillespie and you, mr. bush. so not a question, but more saying thank you. >> thank you for that. thank you. [ applause ] >> you know, i do think as senator rubio said this morning, those of us in leadership positions do need to be more forthright and vocal of saying this rhetoric sometimes crosses a line. i would say this. i would venture to guess that for one conservative voice out there, it sounds a little like nails on a chalkboard in terms of the language that's used around the area of immigration.

i know i do and senator bush does and others. the media is going to put the microphone in front of those who have the least appeal to those swing voters. that is the nature of the world in which we live. i used to vote. i was a republican press secretary for many years for dick army, for haley barber and others. i used to say i don't believe in reincarnation, but if i did, i would want to come back as a democrat press secretary. that's an easy life. you write it, they say it, they follow it, no question. the media is going to follow and amplify anyone who they see as being damaging to the conservative principles for which we stand. and that means those of us who share the approach we're talking about here today have to double our efforts to get our message out and make sure that we're spreading that word everywhere we can. so you're kind to share your

kind remarks, and i appreciate it very much, and again, i thank all of you for being here today and have a great rest of your conference. thank you. [ applause ] >> okay. wow. i think none of us had any doubt that we have that power. it's amazing and so exciting where our community is at. today's conference marks a new chapter in our outreach efforts. for the first time, we'll be holding breakout sessions on folks becoming better activists. an important part of being an activist is communication. please tell us what you thought of the conference today by commenting on hln's facebook page or joining the conversation on twitter at hash tag hln 12. we will shortly begin our breakout sessions. we have a stellar group of experts leading the different trainin

trainings, so we hope you'll stick around. all the grassroots advocacy training remain here, and that's jeb bush, maureen encino, and the director of spanish leadership network. those joining the media training will move to grand ballroom a, and that is with former u.s. treasurer and syndicated columnist reuben avereid. and ballroom c, policies that strengthen america, that's doug holtz eken, our president of the american action forum, former congressman lincoln ballard and paul conway. i hope you enjoy the breakout

sessions this afternoon. before we break, please indulge me with one more minute of your attention. i would like to, on behalf of spanish leadership network and its entire staff and team of cl collaborators would like to thank each and every one of you for this conference. we hope you enjoyed the day, we hope you stay for the breakout sessions. and again, on behalf of myself, it's been a pleasure to do this once again. thank you all for being here. i think we made history today. [ spoke spanish ] [ applause ]

cspan's road to the white house on the political trail takes you live to the candidates. >> you're going to find a massive opportunity for exchange and trade. if i'm president of the united states, one of the first things i will do in my first 100 days is begin an economic initiative of drawing latin american businesses and american

businesses closer together. this is a massive opportunity not just of charity but of opportunity. it will help lift both parts of the world. this is about building a new grand coalition of americans who come together because they want to create a country where we unleash the spirit of the american people and rebuild the country that we love. that is what 2012 is all about. [ applause ] >> mayor white is 105 years old. >> good to see you, sir. >> he's the leader in puerto rico. you're very kind. thank you. you're very kind. >> tomorrow night watch our coverage of florida's primary results with candidate speeches and your reactions by phone, facebook and twitter. tonight on the communicators,

fcc's clyburn and robert mcdowell as they tour the communicators in las vegas. the communicators, tonight at 8:00 eastern on cspan 2. and tomorrow on washington journal, florida republican political strategist sally bradshaw will discuss her state's primary and who she expects to win. then more about tomorrow's primary with editor and chief reid wilson. he'll also look ahead to primaries in february and march. after that, stewart powell on the future of nasa and how space policy issues are being discussed this election cycle. plus your e-mails, phone calls and tweets. washington journal airs live every day at 7:00 a.m. live on our companion network cspan. also, the senate select committee holds its intelligence hearing with james clapper, director of national

intelligence, david petraeus, cia, ronald burgess, jr., dia, robert mueller and karen wagner, home land security, and matthew olsen, national counterterrorism. the home land security department is doing the best it can to secure the borders under current law. she spoke and took questions at the national press club for an hour. good afternoon. and welcome to the national press club. my name is teresa warner and i'm the 105th president of the naal