wednesday, the senate finance committee works on a u.s. trade bill, including fast track trade promotion authority, which would give the president leeway in negotiating international trade deals. live coverage begins at 10:45 eastern time on cspan 3. here are a few book festivals we are covering this spring on book tv. this weekend, we will be in maryland state capital foray knap list book festival. hearing from authors like alberto gonzales and james rise en. middle of may, we will cover the gaithersburg book festival.

then we close out may at book expo america in new york city where the publishing industry show cases upcoming books. first week of june, live for the chicago tribune printers row lit fest. that's this spring on cspan2's book tv. jennifer lawless is the coauthor of the book "running from office, why young americans are turned off to politics." on washington journal we talked to her about involvement of young people in politics. this is 45 minutes. >> our guest, co-author of a book "running from office why young americans are turned off to politics." jennifer lawless joins us. good morning. >> good morning. >> why is the turnoff happening? >> there are several reasons, but ultimately because politics

are ugly, there's hyper partisanship stalemate young people want to go save communities think about every option rather than running for office. >> is that because they're not exposed to politics or there's not interest from them to get into politics? >> it is interesting. for a long time there was a sense young americans were just tuned out. what we find in the book based on a survey of 4200 high school and college students is that they're tuned out for a reason because they're turned off. minimal exposure they get from families, school, media, makes them so hypersensitive to the most negative aspects of politics that they would like nothing more to do than not find it in their lives. >> in fact, you asked a question that ended up as a couple of graphs. we will have you explain it as far as giving young people choices, what they would rather do, business owner, teacher mayor of small town, both cases mayor of small town didn't turn

out well. >> people are more in inclined to go go into business than be the mayor. same when we turn to elite professions, law or business executive or member of congress, member of congress fairs worse than others young people that want a high level of career success want that outside the realm of politics. >> charts go on to say being mayor of small town to some police officer was better, military was better than that, journalist was better than that, and then salesperson, professional athlete, secretary, mechanic. >> right. the only thing less desirable had to do with specific trade interests. if you want to be plumber or mechanic, you have to go to a specific school get a trade kind of degree. basically any broad range profession we think about

encouraging our kids to get involved in faired better than local, state or congressional office holder. >> in fact you talked to young people asked them what would their parents think if they entered politics. what was the reaction? >> the reaction was very politically correct, kids tended to say my parents would be supportive of anything i want to do but wouldn't want me to do that. >> because? >> because it is ugly, because politicians lack ethics, because politics is not a way to get things done. time and time again in the surveys and when we interviewed about 115 of these young people for long periods of time, what kept coming out over and over again was the idea their parents would want more for them and want them to have a more meaningful experience, more meaningful life. >> a lot is based on perception. what's the largest shaper of that parents or other factors? >> family socialization is one of the biggest predictors of political interest, civic engagement and political ambition and running for office,

but not only family. those messages are reinforced from teachers who don't encourage them to run for office, coaches that don't encourage them to run for office, and the media, and political satire or pundits reinforcing the most negative aspects of the political arena. >> our guest will talk about young people and their perception of politics if they'll enter politics and related topics. running from office is the book, why young americans are turned off to politics. jennifer lawless. talk to her on one of four lines. those general ages you talked to when you came up with the book? >> 2100 13 to 17-year-olds and

we found college students were more likely to consider running for office. 89% of the next generation has already ruled it out as an incredibly unattractive endeavor. >> when you talk to them is it a straight paper survey they're filling, interview? how did you come up with finding the people you talked to in this book? >> it is both. the survey the 4200 high school and college students was online survey of a national random sample. we supplemented that with about 115 45 minute to one hour phone interviews with these kids. the phone interviews were geared to allow us to understand in more depth the reasons behind the overall lack of interest in running for office. >> what were some of them when you talked to them, what other things struck you as far as perception of politics, whether they would go into politics or not. >> one of the striking findings had to do with a disconnect between what they think a good

leader is like and what they think politicians are like. students time and again told us they thought they were cooperative, that they were able to get along well with others that they were good problem solvers, and there was no place in the political arena for those skills. then they would reference the gridlock, the stalemate government shutdown and highlight these are the problems that they don't think politicians are taking seriously. >> when you talk to them are they shaped by specific leaders going back to president bush, president clinton, president obama, who shapes them most and what are the reactions to leaders. >> we asked about first political memories, for some it was bill clinton but those memories were the monica lewinsky scandal and a president waving his finger saying i did not have sexual relations with that woman which turned out to be a lie. for others, george bush, tends to be misleading the american people about weapons of mass destruction. regardless of clinton or bush,

first memories tend to be deeply embedded in things that aren't true. >> president obama focused a lot of earlier campaigns on young people. did he have any role in shaping perceptions? the numbers tell a different story, but what was his role as far as perception of politics are concerned? >> well, people who actually admire political figures are more inclined to say they would be interested in running for office. numbers are still overall quite low. but ones that admire a president, for example in this case barack obama, are more likely to say they would be willing to run. there's a race out there, african-americans more than white students say they admire obama and as a result they were slightly more inclined to be interested in running for office. >> jennifer lawless co-author of running from office why young americans are turned off to politics. first call from woodstock illinois. independent line. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. thank you. i am calling because at the time when i went to school lord of

the flies was required reading and i consider it to be essential reading. we had ted cruz recently refer to that book and use it as a way to describe the political venue. in my opinion, it is important to also consider that bill clinton, considering whether or not ted cruz could be the jack mayor of politics, and ask the title of the book "lord of the flies" refers to beal is he bub. when you had him on, interviewing jessica stern asking what to do about isis the suggestion was that young people could contribute through their savvy and electronics. i wanted to ask through the venue of "lord of the flies" the

translation for that name is beal se bub. >> take the idea of electronics seems like young people are receiving information particularly about politics through different means than their parents are previous generations. what are you finding? >> the irony is that accessing political information is easier now than it has ever been with simple touch of any device, you can get any kind of political information you would be interested in getting. that means the raw material is there for young people to learn more about the political system and to engage it. the problem is what they find they don't like and then they stop looking. so i think we have an opportunity here to engage this generation in the way they like to communicate, in the way they like to access news but in doing so we have to be creative because left to their own devices, they're using devices for anything other than political news. >> best way of engagement would be what? >> we in the book propose a series of solutions we think could help generate political ambition. and one is to let people think

that politics could be useful. we have a situation now where young people and adults alike tend to view politics through a national lens. they look at the functional aspects of what they see in washington and assume it translates. fact of the matter is we have more than 500,000 elected offices, and the overwhelming majority of people that occupy those offices are not involved in gridlock not egotists not doing it out of self interest and i don't think most federal officials are either, but if we can sort of go around federal politics and let people know how to solve problems in their communities, and all the things that running for office could help them address i think we would be off to a good start. >> joe is from maryland independent line. go ahead. >> yes, miss lawless. i don't know doing your research, one of the things i keep hearing from younger people is the appearance of lack of integrity. and you've seen all of the scandals with members of

congress and so forth. there was one other issue that came up a number of years ago. first of all, the president has to put when he becomes elected all of his investments in a blind trust. however, members of congress are not required to do so. yet they probably had more influence over rules regulations and so forth than the president does and a bill was introduced by a senator to do that. and yet it was voted down one vote for it the rest voted against it. and i don't understand why we can't have members of congress be held to the same standard as the president and therefore not have the influence over making decisions or rules and regulations that will favor certain companies or industries where they then can go and invest and reep some reward from that. i am curious to your reaction to

that. thank you. >> i think we reached a point in time where most people can identify problems with the way the political system works problems with the fact that it is the elected officials who are then responsible for generating the kind of reform required to change their behavior. the good news for the purposes of young people is that their general disgust and distaste is not linked to many specific policies, it is not linked to specific actions or bills it is a general more of a sense that people that are in washington are not interested in doing good and solving the country's problems. so i think that one of the things we can do is call on elected officials to realize that there are these long term implications of their behavior. they can't sometimy everything and not pay the price. that extends to all realms of politics, doesn't matter what issue we are dealing with not getting anything done and suggesting that obstructionism

is a real policy option i think is turning people off. >> east dublin georgia maurice is next. democrat line. >> caller: good morning. >> go ahead. >> caller: it is entirely too hard to get on this program, trying to get on for years. but that's an aside. i haven't read your book but hope to do so in the future i don't know the solutions you are proposing. what i come away with and the president talked about mandatory voting. that would be something that would go a significant amount of the way toward getting people involved obviously but mandatory voting in association with public financing of campaigns and other elements that would bring people to the process, get them in and get them more involved would filter down to the local level and obviously get young people more involved in the process. so what say you about those particular proposals? >> i certainly don't think there's any down side to

encouraging more people to get involved in the political process, whether by voting or engaging in otherwise. what i can tell you is regardless of levels of voter turnout, it seems that the extent too much today's young people are not interested in running for office is much greater than it has been in the past. there haven't been national surveys of young people's political ambition, so we can't do a direct comparison, but when you look at whether young people of today versus kids in the '70s and '80s talked to their parents about politics talked to friends about politics, follow the news online we see substantial decreases. they're not far less likely than they were to vote. i think it is more than encouraging people to vote i think it is making them realize they have to be invested beyond casting a ballot. >> expand on this. this point in your book, survey saying political activity with parents, other than watching election coverage next activity was went to vote with parents. >> that's good news because

parents obviously are instilling the importance of casting a ballot. but that seems to be where it ends. parents tell their kids and we heard it in interviews that's the way you express your voice in a democracy but that's where they stop short of them suggesting that their kids get involved in politics. for example only about 2% of the people we survey said their parents alike regularly encourage them to run for office. >> texas, republican line joyce up next for our guest jennifer lawless. go ahead. >> caller: yes good morning. i know that my granddaughter is not interested in politics at all. she's a freshman this year at college. she did vote so that's true they are voting, but when i try to talk to her about real issues that will effect her directly or even my grandson who is in high

school, they have absolutely no interest. it is like it is not part of their life now not relative to them. she's trying to get through her exams, which she's doing very well, but being interested in what is going to effect them in the future doesn't seem to be part of what they're trying to make them understand. what they do in the senate is going to effect them the laws that come in. they need to know. and i think we are losing them before they ever get to college because they're not being taught what they need to know about politics and about the judicial system and the executive branch and legislative branch and how important this is to them our country was founded on these things. if they don't take an interest in it they could lose it all.

>> sorry caller go ahead. >> so we found about 25% of young people we surveyed and interviewed fall into the category that the caller described, whether blatantly just no interest whatsoever. the others have decided against being interested because they're so appalled by what it is that they see. the good news is that if you take a government class in high school, if you take a political science or government class in college, you're more likely to be tuned in and more tuned in you are more likely to see the positive and negative aspects of politics. so to the extent we can encourage teachers and professors to integrate into classes even those that are not about politics some aspect of politics, that could potentially go a long way. >> we have numbers on the screen. don't forget a line for those of you ages 18 to 32. weigh in specifically on the thoughts on politics and running for politics.

fort lauderdale, florida, jack go ahead. >> caller: miss lawless your book sounds very interesting but i think it is being very naive. i think you should be really pushing for the younger generation to vote in this country. i tell you why. i have traveled all over the world. do you realize the countries that are so jealous of the united states because of the democracy type of government that we have in the united states. i was over in russia when gorbachev was in charge. i was in china and i had a driver and interpreter driver had to put his hand on the horn to move the people on bicycles. they treated me with so much respect. what's happened to focus on your book, if you're not out there pushing the young people to go out and vote then our country is going to be ready for some

type of dickertateor ship. you and the young people are being so naive very, very, naive. this is a democracy, this country was set up as a democracy because we were ruled by the english. and we have been a democracy ever since and we are one of the greatest countries in the world because of that. so i think that you people instead of being so naive should get out there and push younger people, because if they don't get involved god help the united states. and thank you very much. >> i think people should vote. i think young people should vote. the problem is that there are already a lot of civic engagement organizations and a lot of groups that are focusing on the franchise and making sure young people are taking advantage of it. now, their records are obviously mixed but there are a lot of efforts to encourage people to cast a ballot. those efforts tend to stop there. what we want to do in this book is call attention to the fact that there are a half million elected offices in this country and if we don't get the best and

brightest to at least consider running for them, we are going to have additional problems as we move into the future. >> connor from pensacola, florida. >> caller: hi, jennifer. my name is connor. i just want to comment. you talk about how you need to get young people into politics and i agree but myself being a fairly young person in well, there's general discontent with the type of people in d.c. now, seems like a lot of people don't want to touch it like plutonium. hillary clinton accepting money from foreign nationals, people we don't know. if i accepted money in the military from foreign national i would lose my security clearance, i would be fired. what kind of message does that send when we are trying to elect someone like that to lead our country. that's i think the root of the problem. people don't want to touch that.

>> to some extent that's true. one of the biggest barriers we found to young people's interest in running for office had to do with their views of politicians. we found negative traits and negative characteristics were more likely than positive ones to be what they associated with elected leaders and candidates and in part this is because that which is negative or unusual or controversial garners so much media attention that if you're only perusing channels, only looking at headlines it is unlikely you're reading much about political success. so encouraging people to be more interested in politics can go a long way. as they flip through the channels, as they turn those pages, they may come upon something that's somewhat positive. >> you make the case that aside from studies, extracurricular activities makeup a large part of a young person's time, when it comes to those activities and being ranked, you have a chart saying student government is 18% of those registered with you guys. that followed by debate team 12%, college democrats or

republicans at 12%. seems like in the world of extracurricular activities politics is not winning out either. >> that's exactly right. it is not winning out no matter how you look at it talking to parents, friends, extracurricular activities websites you look at things you watch on tv. one interesting thing in that figure is that the most prominent activity has to do with some kind of community service, which suggests that young people really do care about their communities, they really do care about the country, they do care about the world and they want to make it better, it is just that they don't think of politics as a venue by which to do that. that's the challenge we have to face. >> nathan in st. louis missouri, you're next on the line for those ages 18 to 30. go ahead. >> caller: yes, sir, i am 23. and i think this is a very serious issue that needs to be brought up more often. i know most my friends, not even younger people but a lot of older people i know don't like talking about politics. i think one of the big issues is

television and entertainment and most people don't understand to have a feeling about what's going on. as far as people not liking what's going on and not wanting to get involved, i remember a quote saying that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing so i think people really need to get involved. >> it is really difficult to find portrayals of politics as a noble profession and we don't talk only about polls suggesting parents don't feel this way orchids don't feel this way. if you look at popular culture, it is also not the norm. i grew up in the 1980s and i was obsessed with michael j. fox's

character, having normal debates about politics at the kitchen table. now politics rarely makes its way into any television show not about politics. you have "house of cards" and "scandal" and it is not an option in the mainstream. >> bloomington, illinois. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. how are you this morning? >> you're on go ahead. >> caller: i would like to make a couple of comments. i am 81 years old. i raised 12 children. i have 39 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. and we talk politics every election. i mean, we get together more often than not, but they're scattered all over the united states, but when they get home, it is usually politics.

and i was raised a democrat. i am still a democrat. but half my family is republican, which i have no qualms with. we get a good voice between the people. what i am saying is we need term limits. and we also need to get big money out of the politics so these people, younger generation from 18 to 32 will get a grasp of what the world is all about when it comes to politics. i don't understand why we have to spend a billion dollars to elect a president and have all of this money coming in for no reason whatsoever because if we had term limits, the younger generation could get in there and get rid of the old people that are fighting us, trying to build this country. >> william when you talk to your kids at election time, is

it just during the election season or is it a long time discussion you have with them about politics? >> caller: it is yearlong. we get on the phone sometimes when they have an election like down in north carolina or something and they would call me and ask me what i think. we will talk about it on the phone. we go to arizona flagstaff, and believe me sometimes it gets pretty heated but we talk about the elections all over, even in kentucky. >> got you. thank you. >> i think there are a lot of political reforms that could potentially encourage more people to think about running for office. as far as term limits are concerned, we have elections every two years. if we could get more people to run for office, the elections could serve as term limits. but what's important and the argument we are trying to make in the book is that young people who are not that well versed about politics who don't

necessarily know the specifics about different policies are still not at all interested in running for office that's because of a broader sense that it is not a way to get things done or to solve problems and not noble. so that's the challenge i think. it is not about specific changes to the system, which certainly couldn't hurt but it is about casting a wider net, letting young people realize that electoral office is a root to solve problems that are on the horizon. >> angela from huntsville, alabama, you are next. go ahead. angela from huntsville, good morning. >> caller: yeah, i'm here, i'm sorry. one reason why i think that my generation doesn't do anything is because we were raised with technology so we are kind of spoiled and take credit for other people's work. we don't go out and actually search for the information and we don't actually do anything. so like why would anybody go out

to change the world you know, and then on top of that i don't know, i am so sick like if you say something on facebook in this generation okay, about politics or religion you're demonized for it. everyone in this generation will turn around and chastise you, throw you to the wolves. it is like they don't want you talking about it, you know what i'm saying? socially shunned and all kinds of things if you just start speaking the truth and start trying to stand up for what's right or what you believe in. that's how we were founded. it just takes one person to stand up for what they believe in and what's right. and i just don't understand why our generation can't stand up and do what's right and do what's right for the nation and for our children and for the future. thanks. bye. >> well 50% of this generation

does want to improve the world right? they do want to make the world a better place. i do think there's something to be said about the way they interact with each other, and something that came up in the interviews that's consistent with what we just heard which is that people want to stay away from it because they don't want to fight with their friends generate disagreement, potentially get into con flilkting situations. that in part is linked to the way we see politics operating in washington, d.c. the notion of a civil, normal conversation where two people with different positions come together and have a conversation and walk away still respecting each other is not normal. so i think young people have decided that that must be the way that talking about politics exists and they opt not to do it as well. >> in fact, you have a chart in the book about discussions that young people have with their friends at the top school, followed by music, food politics dead last in this

conversation. >> dead last under everything else. and current events ranked a little higher but we thought initially that was good news. when we asked them what they thought about current events they mentioned the latest kardashian marriage, the latest taylor swift song. for this generation current events are not political events. >> isn't it interesting that pop culture wins out over politics. >> it is not, but that pop culture define that as a current event. i think they equate current events and politics more. here they say i am talking about what's going on they're not talking about what's going on in washington or the government or in their community. >> connie from brooklyn. >> caller: good morning. i find her very interesting and i have to agree with a lot of her comments. i have seven grandkids, they do

get involved in politics. the school encourages it. i retired at 70 not wanting to, but found myself more involved in politics because it is on my doorstep as far as running into certain situations. and the younger generation hasn't been, except for student loans, the younger generation hasn't really been pulled into the cons of politics. but i tell you one thing the hill does not give a good example to our young people. i think that's another reason they're turned off. there's so much fighting between the parties that they're thinking well, i want to do something, but they're fighting with each other and it is not a very good example to give the younger people. now, the older people kind of understand but the older people

also came from a different generation where we had less television, grew up with less television, we grew up with hearing more talking more. and i think kids are under pressure today to get like my one granddaughter she's great in homework but they work her she comes home, she does her homework, eats supper does homework, goes to bed. they pressure them so much with schooling that they don't really get involved with politics on tv or read about politics. they have so much else going on and i don't mean entertainment with this group, i mean there are seriously young people out there that want to do something except that the government doesn't give them a good example. >> we have to let the guest respond. >> so it is true they don't get the good example but i am a little reluctant to conclude

that most children are like your grandchildren. we asked them how they spend their day, how they spend their weeks and what they do and you know 97% of young people play video games on a regular basis. about that percentage of people in the sample said they watched at least two hours of tv every day. the average young person sends about 90 texts a day. they have plenty of time to communicate and plenty of access to information. it is our responsibility to make sure that they have incentives to access that political information but i don't think they're not interested in running for office because they're too busy with school work. let that be the biggest problem. >> would it make a difference if younger candidates ran for a high level what you see for the twikds presidential race, marco rubio and the types? >> i think inspiring candidates matter. inspiring candidates you can trust. not sure the age is relevant. as i mentioned earlier if you are a young person and there's a politician that you admire

you're more likely to say this is something you would consider doing in the future. now, we asked only about four candidates at the time the survey was fall of 2012. we asked about barack obama hillary clinton, mitt romney and sarah palin. and barack obama was the only candidate that inspired any substantial amount of confidence in young people. he is not particularly young. so i think a new model of politician, somebody that's reaching out to young people in particular, can play an important role but i don't think that person necessarily needs to be in their 30s. >> here's the responses that the guest spoke about. barack obama weighing in, and mitt romney and sarah palin also included in this mix from the book "running from office why young americans are turned off to politics." the co-author jennifer lawless is joining us to talk about the issues. donny, democrat line, you're next. >> caller: i have an idea that

might help fix all this. i would like to add my 12-year-old boy. what if we took the best and brightest from college and had them serve in the senate and congress we elect the president, but it truly would be service by the people, for the people, and they'd get paid a decent wage while in there like 50 or $60,000 and after their four years of service in the congress and senate, they get their college paid for, then go into the private sector. >> that's an interesting idea. we propose an idea not quite that but somewhat similar. so we have the peace corps, we've mer core, teach for america which generally rewards young people for giving back to their communities. there's no comparable national service program that rewards political service and so one of the things we propose is a national political service plan where if young people are willing to step up and in their

communities work in political way and potentially meet politicians who could inspire them to run for office that might be a way to generate a core of people who would ultimately be interested in running. i don't think we are in a situation to compel people to run or serve and there are lots of constitutional barriers there as well. but certainly encouraging more people to think about it and provide incentives would go a long way. right now you can get into a very good college knowing virtually nothing about the way the political system works. we saw community service and volunteering skyrocket when that became required or highly encouraged because college admissions officers liked it. if we could somehow get college admissions officers to put a premium on young people understanding the way the u.s. government works i think we would probably see increased incentives for young people to get engaged that way. >> steven from grand rapids michigan. independent line. go ahead. >> caller: i was wondering if

your book did a poll on a group of people that are in the belief that it is too convoluted it is too -- there's too much going on too much of the bad. we are too much of -- it is never going to happen. >> we did not uncover that broad sentiment. what we found in general was that people had such negative ideas about the way that business actually gets done whether it be because of behind the scenes deals or self interest among politicians that's not congruent with self interest of constituents, that it is not a way they want to solve problems. not necessarily as revolutionary as what you may have just

described but certainly a negative since of i wouldn't want to have to engage in that kind of behavior to make things happen. >> that was steven. this is ed from washington, d.c. democrat's line. >> caller: good morning. how are you? >> fine, thanks go ahead. >> caller: i am concerned about our young people participating in politics. going around, trying to encourage people to get involved in politics and what is going on today, [ inaudible ] i want to make a note that i think cspan -- some of your guests [ inaudible ] and encourages hate mongers.

you get to the microphone and ask their opinion, there's too much media, it is turning the people off. you get to the rural areas you hear a noise maker. they don't believe in fact checking. they believe in saying negative things about our president and president barack obama -- young people are getting effected by that when they see this going, they don't want to be part of this. they want to become involved in politics but don't know how. and i think you need to encourage that on cspan and your guest, i want to buy your book. i think that's what you do. you have things we want to promote in our church and schools, try to get young people involved. i think it is very important. please try to focus on that. >> reminder we open our mikes to a lot of different political

perspective. jennifer lawrence go ahead. jennifer lawless. >> i'll take jennifer lawrence. i haven't looked at cspan demographics, but my hunch is it is not mostly young people watching. that's the case across the board. the problem is not what one show or pundit or network is doing. with the 24 hour news cycle, whenever you turn on the tv or internet, it takes about three seconds before you find something saying something incredibly negative. even if 97% of coverage is positive and glowing, it is very easy given the 24 hour news cycle for people to access the most negative tidbits, then they take on a new cycle of their own. part of the challenge is encouraging people to be more politically interested and having them watch more. we found if you're able to get through the muck you find positive things, too. it is just you have to have more staying power to get to that

point. >> one more call. thomas in berlin, wisconsin. independent line. go ahead. >> good morning. listen my point is this. the age group that you researched from high school to early college, if they're basing their negative aspects of politics on ethics and morals they've only begun to scratch the surface of their own personal ethics and moral base. i was around in the '50 the '50s, '60s, '70s, spent time in california in the '60s and '70s. that generation i was worried, these people will be running the country, that was a troubling thought then and look what's happened. so you have to be between the ages -- i have six sons two daughters, between the age of 26 and 32, they kind of start to level out and develop a better sense because they've been

around long enough seen enough. so there's a time frame here. so younger generations haven't changed from rock and roll has to go to who knows what happened in the '80s but it is an age group. so you might want to consider that when you do these surveys that they simply haven't been around long enough to develop a good sense of ethics and morals from that standpoint. thank you. i'll take my answer off the air. >> thanks thomas. >> first studies suggest that the career aspirations of people 15 or 16 map very well onto things they actually do in their 30s. so although it is not perfect if you write off as potential career something when you're a teenager chances are it doesn't come back on the radar screen later in life. the other thing i would note, richard fox and i did surveys of potential candidates the last 15 years. these are adults that work in professions likely to lead to political careers, and although

they're somewhat more interested in running for office than the young people, we uncovered a gender gap there. and gender gap is the same size there as among high school and college students which suggests again that attitudes toward running for office are very sticky and once you decide not to do it it is hard to change it. >> the book "running from office", thank you very much. >> thank you. >> on the next washington journal, house foreign affairs committee member from wisconsin has the latest on the number of foreign policy challenges including the proposed nuclear deal with iranian the situation in yemen and combatting isis. then michael capuano talks about dodd trang as it approaches the fifth anniversary.

and michael farrell on the effectiveness of cyber security. those conversations and your calls, tweets and e-mails show is live at 745 a.m. eastern on cspan. in 2003, new york times reporter judith miller wrote several stories on lead up to the invasion of iraq and weapons of mass destruction. in an effort to reveal her source, vice president chief of staff scooter libby was found in contempt of court and jailed for 85 days. sunday on q and a, she talks about her time in jail and her new book "the story." >> i was in jail because i refused to reveal the identity of a source whom i thought did not want his identity revealed. in our business as you know brian, protecting sources is the life blood of independent journalism. and i really felt that unless

the people that i routinely spoke to who had access to classified information unless they could trust me to protect them, my sources would dry up and eventually i would just be writing what the government wanted you to write. so i felt this was a question of principle that i didn't have much choice. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on cspan q and a. at a recent summit of new hampshire republican party party leaders and presidential hopefuls talked about the 2016 election cycle. here is some of that summit, beginning with new hampshire senator kelly ayotte. we will also hear from real estate mowingal donald trump and george pataki and jim gilmore. this is an hour and a half. [ applause ]

>> thank you all. thank you. i want to thank dan ennis for that more than kind introduction. i have to say it is wonderful to see all of you here today. i see so many friends in this room and to those of you that aren't from new hampshire, welcome to the live free or die state. we take our politics very very seriously and it is just a great day to see such a turnout for the first ever first in the nation national republican leadership summit. and it is an honor see my colleague, congressman begin tee here, thanks for your work and for being a great partner. i also want to thank all of you who made this possible. but the leader of our party,

jennifer horn, for her steady, faithful leadership, for the hard work she has done to bring this summit together today, and i am so glad to have her leadership for the republican party. yes, thank you to jennifer. i also want to you know, let's give -- this is not easy to put a conference like this together. i happen to have an enjoyable moment in the back with the staff of crown plaza. we talked about what it means to be a mom and multi tasking and all of that. i want to reach out to the staff here helping and serving us today and say thank you for doing this. we appreciate what you do. [ applause ] [ applause ] as i look at all of you today i think this is a testament to the unique role that new hampshire plays in the presidential process.

we are celebrating 100 year of first in the nation primary. and daniel webster once said in the mountains of new hampshire god makes men. well i would like to add to that that in new hampshire we pick presidents. and one of the things why new hampshire is so important, and we are seeing it with this summit today everyone gets a fair shot and we take seriously our responsibility to ask the hard questions. to go to the town halls. to really find out what these candidates stand for, and what their vision is for the united states of america, and what they're going to do to turn this country around from the failed policies of barack obama and where we have been over the last six or seven years. [ applause ] here's what i want to make sure.

i want to make sure that whoever wins this presidential nomination to represent the republican party, shares our common sense values here in new hampshire, our love of liberty in new hampshire, our commitment to our men and women in uniform, and our commitment to building a brighter future for not only everyone in this room, but my children, your children and our grandchildren. [ applause ] now u know today you've already heard from a number of the candidates. you're going hear after me from many more candidates including into the evening. so what i thought i would talk

to you about today, many of you know i serve on the armed services committee. i serve on the homeland security committee. and from my perspective, as your senator, i think one of the most important issues and challenges facing our next president is how to keep america safe. we need a commander in chief -- [ applause ] -- a commander in chief who is going to ensure that america leads in a way that keeps this country safe radical islamic terrorists who would seek to harm us, who would ensure that instead of where we are now, our enemies around the world understand that you should not mess with the united states of america. [ applause ] and that our friends understand that we are a reliable friend,

that we will stand with you and together. but today, where we are, i think we all understand that that's not what is happening under the current administration. in fact, president obama promised when he ran for president in 2008 that he would restore america's standing in the world. but does anyone in this room believe that we are safer today than when barack obama took office? no. unfortunately, i don't either. sadly, the obvious answer is no. in fact, the lack of american leadership under this president has made the world more dangerous. and you just have to take look around the world. in the middle east, isis has seized territory in iraq and syria to establish an islamic caliphate. nothing is too brutal or barbaric for this terrorist group. we've seen how they have

tormented, tortured, raped, killed christians for what they believe in. we're also seeing the resurgence of al qaeda and affiliated groups in yemen libya and other areas around the world. you might recall that last fall, just this past fall, the president cited yemen as an example of success in terms of the administration's counterterrorism strategy. can you imagine? yemen a success model. i'd hate to see what failure looks like. in the united states senate last spring i saw what was happening in yemen. in fact i introduced an amendment in the defense authorization to ensure that we would not transfer any of the dangerous terrorists held at guantanamo to yemen and i got

that amendment passed in the defense authorization. but at the last minute in the committee of conversation, because the administration did not want it in there because they still hoped they could transfer terrorists from guantanamo to yemen they got it stripped out. could you imagine transferring dangerous terrorists from guantanamo to yemen? but that's exactly the types of moves this administration is making. trying to empty guantanamo with what we have left there with some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. and if you look at where we are with a country like yemen right now, most recently, the united states closed its embassy, withdrew all its personnel, and guess who we can thank for that. iran. the very country that we are negotiating with right now over their nuclear program because they've actually funded some of the groups on the ground that caused our people to have to evacuate from yemen and are

causing some of the chaos in yemen that is further 'em bolding al qaeda in the peninsula, the most dangerous part of the al qaeda that has its designed to attack the united states of america. this week, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula seized a civilian airport there. earlier, they overran and looted a military base in western yemen and it goes on and on and on. and if you need any further evidence of how detached this administration is from the reality of what we're facing around the world, look at what the president said just a few months ago in his state of the union address. we're not talking about last year, we're talking about a few months ago when he declared the shadow of crisis has passed. how can anyone, much less the

leader of the free world, believe that the global security situation that we're facing today, that the shadow of crisis has passed. as i said earlier, as i look around the world, our allies abandoned and our adversaries feel emboldened. that's no many apparent than when it comes to what is happening right now with these negotiations with iran. look at our closest and most reliable ally in the middle east. israel. israel at this moment, the administration has spent more time criticizing the leader of israel and israel's legitimate concerns about iran, that it has being critical of the things that the iranian regime has done to sponsor terrorism around the world. now, that truly is a disconnect.

we should stand strong with our strong friend israel in the middle east. [ applause ] one of the most important issues coming up in the united states senate, and i believe it could be the most important national security issue that i will work on in my time in the senate is this issue of the agreement with iran. this would represent the most important international arms control agreement since the end of the cold war. and that's the administration trying to do with it? to tell the american people their elected representatives, people like me, who are elected by the people of new hampshire, that we should butt out. butt out on this agreement. that we should not have any say in what happens on your behalf

with this agreement. what we know about the potential deal, and the more we know, we understand exactly why the administration is trying to prevent congress from weighing in on this agreement. because frankly, the deal stinks. [ applause ] we started out these negotiations, rightly so, to make sure that iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, to make sure that iran, a country that has said it wants to wipe israel off the map, that has called us the great satan, would not have a nuclear weapon. but where we have end up when the framework announced by this administration is in a totally different place.

we've gone from ending their program as the starting point to now we're managing it, we're managing the scope of it and allowing iran the capability to a nuclear bomb. that is unacceptable when it comes to the security of the united states of america and of the world. and that's why -- [ applause ] and that's why i say to you that as we return to the united states senate, i believe this is one of the more important security issues that i will work on on your behalf because without security, we cannot have prosperity. without security, we cannot have freedom. and it is the number one responsibility of our government to ensure our freedom and prosperity.

so i take this responsibility very seriously. it's not just that we are unfortunately in a position where we can negotiate over the scope of their capability rather than ending their capability, but it's also what's been left off the table in this agreement. iran is sponsoring terrorism around the world. they're sponsoring the houthis in yemen that are destabilizing that country and hurting our interest. they're sponsoring groups like hezbollah that terrorize individuals. they are sponsoring the murderous assad regime. and yet, none of that is being discussed in these negotiations. iran is building an intercontinental ballistic muscle or icbm. do you know why they are doing that? so they could hit the east coast

of this country. yet that is not on the table in these discussions. their missile program is not being discussed in these discussions. iran, what they want is more money. we have strong economic sanctions in place right now. we have them in a position where oil prices are low and we have them in a position where, frankly, they need sanctions relief, and what do we do? we give them concession after concession after concession. well, i say this. if the president of the united states is not going to negotiate an agreement that ends their program -- and by the way, one, that ensures that iran can never have a nuclear bomb, then it is up to the united states senate, it is up to the congress to make sure that we get a voice in this agreement and that we make sure that the country is protected and that iran does not get a nuclear weapon.

[ applause ] that is why i have been proud to lead the effort to ensure that we pass legislation to give congress a say on whether the toughest economic sanctions are lifted against iran before any agreement is agreed to and gets in place for this country. and that's what this fight is about as we return to the united states senate. and i plan to fight with all my being to ensure that our constitutional role is fulfilled. that as your elected representative, that we have a voice to make sure that this administration does not continue to enter a bad deal. a good deal with iran would be a blessing, but where we are right now, from what i have heard, would be a nightmare for this

country. so i want to thank all of you for what you're doing, because this iran situation is not the only challenge that we're facing. because as i look at other countries around the world, just look what russia did this week. russia this week, over our objections, lifted its ban on the sale of surface to air missiles to iran. how does -- what does this signal? that iran is going to continue to get support from countries like russia and china. and so stopping and ensuring that they are not able to get a nuclear bomb, that they are not able to have the money that sanctions relief would give them, what do you think they're going to do with this money? they're going to support more terrorism, unfortunately. it's so, so critical.

and this presidential election, when it comes to our leadership in the world, could not be more important. we need a president who is clear-eyed about the role of the commander in chief. we need a president that is going to ensure that america's role in the world is one that causes our adversaries not to want to mess with the united states of america and causes our friends to understand that we will stand with them. we need a president who is going ensure that america remains safe. and i will tell you this. as we look at what's happening, where does secretary clinton stand when it comes to russia? she was the one who pressed the reset button. when i look at what's happening, where does secretary clinton stand when it comes to this iran

deal. she was one of the architects of the president's foreign policy. so the distinctions in this election between our candidate, whoever we pick, and if their candidate is going to be secretary clinton, could not be more clear or more important. because if america is not safe and we do not have a commander in chief who stands strong to protect this country, then we can't have anything else. so, i ask you to work as hard as you can in this election to make sure that we elect a republican president in 2016. we've got to make it happen. [ applause ] i will work alongside you in those efforts, i will work hand in hand with you, because this is not one that we can leave anything behind. i know now we're going through our nominating process.

i hope you will ask each of our candidates what their view is of what it means to be commander in chief. i hope that you will ask each of our candidates what their vision is for how we can ensure a stronger, more prosperous america. i hope you will ask each of our candidates how are they going to ensure that america doesn't get swallowed by its own debt. and finally, i hope you'll ask most importantly, each of our candidates how do you plan to beat hillary clinton and make sure that we win this election? so, i thank you for having me here today and let's go out and win this election in 2016. [ applause ]

♪ thank you very much. i greatly appreciate it. an amazing place and a fantastic crowd. so when was the last time you've seen our country win at anything. we don't win anymore. whether it's isis or whether it's china with our trade agreements. no matter what it is it seems that we don't seem to have it. we make five-to-one deals. we get bergdahl they get killers that are now leaders that are all back fighting us. these are the kind of deals we make. the nuclear deal is a disaster. this is going to lead to nuclear proliferation all over. you're going to be nukes. you're going to have people fighting like hell to get them

because we have people in there that are incompetent or we have something worse going on. i happen to think they're incompetent. you look at what's happening everywhere in your country. our real unemployment rate. you know that's not 5.6. it's really probably 19% to 21%. when i'm building builds every time i go to a job when people know i'm there, i have hundreds of people at the street they want to see me. they want to come in and be part of it. they want to know can they get a job. that's not 5% and 5.6%. the real number is astronomical. you look at what's going with various things that our country is doing and then you hear politicians and all you hear is all talk no action. and i'm actually disappointed with a lot of the republican politicians. i'm a conservative republican. but you hear something whether

it's obamacare, which is a disaster which has to be repealed and replaced whether it's -- [ applause ] whether it's we're going to cut social security because that's what they're saying. every republican wants to do a big number on social security, they want to do it on medicare, they want to do it on medicaid and we can't do that. and i's not fair to the people that have been paying in for years and now all of sudden they want to be cut because the republicans and the democrats don't know how to bring jobs back to our country. if i run and if i win, i will bring jobs back believe me. we'll bring them back in china where they're ripping us like you've never seen. you know china just did a big cut on their currency. they're knocking the hell -- they're manipulating it to a

level they've never done before. nobody thought they ould do it or get away with it again and they're doing it. and it's taking tremendous business away from the u.s. and what they're doing is they're making it impossible for our companies to compete. impossible. a friend of mine -- and as you know japan is back there doing the devaluations -- a terrific guy, a great contractor. he's an excavator. and he went out and called me the other day. he's very upset. i said what's wrur problem? he said i just put in a huge order for ka mizzou tractors. i said why did you that? he said because japan has so strongly devalued the yen, so strongly that it's impossible for caterpillar to compete. and he was very, very sad. and he's going to have now ka

mat zus big problem. another friend of mine, great guy, manufacturer, you know, they talk about free trade. there's no free trade. free trade is good if you have smart people on your side. but it's a disaster if you have stupid people or incompetent people which is what we have. so a friend of mine, big manufacturer, he goes out and he's trying to get business with china and he calls me and goes, it's impossible. i can't get my product into china. and they want to charge a huge surtax. it's going to be massive, like 42%. i said does the world know this? what china is doing is incredible. what's mexico that's the new china, is doing to this country at the border where it's like a sif, people pouring across. what mexico is doing is outray

juice that we don't do something about it. [ applause ] and mexico is not our friend. now ford motor just announced a $2.5 billion plant in mexico. how does that help us? they make the cars, they employ mexicans, they make the cars and send them over to our country, no tax no nothing. that means we're not going to make those cars in our country. two weeks ago front page of "the wall street journal," big story on mexico taking a billion dollar car plant out of tennessee. it was going to go to tennessee, big german company was going to go to tennessee and then out of the blue mexico swiped it took it, gave them all sorts of things and now it's being built in mexico. more people employed. and then they treat us like garbage at the border. they laugh at us. they laugh at us. so mexico, you have to be very careful where because mexico is

treating us like a bunch of babies because we're led by people that trueryly don't know what they're doing. they're rank amateurs -- [ applause ] >> they're rank amateurs and i will say this. whether it's benghazi whether it's irs whether it's any of the many things that you see that are going wrong with our country, the executive orders are an outrage. we have a president that can't lead. he said the hell with it. i'm not going to do this anymore. i want to rest and do other things. this guy played hundreds of rounds of golf. i shouldn't complain. i own golf courses all over the world. i shouldn't angry at him. it's good. except it's not good because he should be doing other things. but he signs executive orders because he's given up. he can't convince anybody to do anything so he's given up and he signs on immigration and on

other things. you have not seen the last of them. we have a court system that's pretty messy. it takes a long time. he figures i'll be out of office by the time this stuff is solved and it's a real, real problem. so i know you have people running. and i've done really nicely in the polls when they put me in polls. but everybody is thinking, trump's not running. why would he run. they think vi a wonderful life a wonderful country. why would i do that. they think he's having a good time. this is not fun. believe me i love you people pep i'm not having a great time. it's great but i'm not having a great time. i could think of many other things where i could have a great time. i love my company. i have a terrific time running it. but i have children that can take over and i have executives that are great and they can run that company. and i will tell you politicians are never going to solve the

problems we have because the problems we have are so deep seeded and they're so intractable that a politician doesn't have a clue. for instance, you've heard a lot of people oef the last few days, nobody is talking about china taking our jobs. nobody. nobody is talking about our jobs leaving this country. outside of nursing homes, we're not going to have any jobs in this country. we're not going to have anything. i know how to bring it back and i know the people to do it. i wrote the book "the art of the deal" said to be the number one selling business book of all time. great book. most of you have read it. that's why you're here. you're wealthy people. i want 10%. but we have people that have to read the book because they don't understand. and when they honor the heads of china and they give them balls in the white house and they put up a tent because they don't have a ball ram, it's crazy,

offered them a ballroom, over $100 million. i called david axle rod, i said david, you have all of the heads of state and people from china and you're in a crummy tent that i guarantee they paid more money to put u up on that lawn, i said i will build free now, because it's the white house we have land marcing little things that i do a lot of it, old post office i'm doing a lot of different things. i renovated grand central terminal. i said we'll go out and get the best five architects american architects by the way, only american architects and i said we'll have five proposals and i will build you an incredible ballroom for the white house. cost me over $100 million, minimum 100. and i will build you the most beautiful ballroom you've ever seen. we're all going to decide which

is the most appropriate one and it will be beautiful. and i'm going to build it and it will be a great thing for the country. you won't have to use tents anymore. not that we should be honoring the people from china because they do nothing but rip us off. but let's just use them as an example. so i said i'll spend over $100 million, whatever it costs, i'm going to build it free of charge, no charge nothing. you're going to pick the one you like. i never heard from him. never called back. actually he liked the idea then i never heard from him. that's emblem mattic of the way our country is. that's the way it is going to be for the way it's going to be for a long time if we keep having politicians in there. just to finish and i'm going to do a couple of questions. but if i decide to run, and i think i'm going to surprise a lot of people a lot of people, if i decide to run, and if i win, i think we'll have a great

chance, a great chance i will make this country great again. believe me. and no politician is going to do it. that i can tell you with surety. so with all of the people you're listening to you can forget it. because politicians are all talk they're no action. i've dealt with them all my life. it's really easy to make money against politicians. believe me. and we will make that country great again. let's have a couple of questions. go ahead. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. yes, ma'am. sure. we have a mic for you. go ahead. >> i just like to know if you think you can beat hillary clinton. >> i do. i know hillary very well. i do. i can beat her and i think most other people will not. i'll be honest with you, i like

mitt romney, he's a nice person. but i was very disappointed in the per dpor mance of mitt romney, the last month, month and a half he disappeared. i called said why aren't you in the rain shaking hands with governors? why aren't you doing it? and he said well, blah blah blah, and he didn't do it. he failed. and obama, give him credit, he was on jay leno, david letterman, ever show, every show. and mitt romney wasn't. i remember sean hannity was telling me he said i can't get romney on the show. sean is a positive force. how can you not get him on the show. but he couldn't get him on the show. i was very disappointed in mitt romney. something happened. in sports they call it, they choke. some people choke. that's why when mitt was thinking about running people said he's not going to run.

i said really? if you're not going to run you're sitting home watching television. i was very strong. i didn't want him toe run because he choked and you can't allow that to happen again. if i got the nomination, i would put up a fight like nobody has ever put it because we've got to save the country. our country is in deep trouble. we owe $18 trillion. it's going to soon be $22 trillion. when it hits $24 trillion, that's the magic number. that's called the point of no return. a couple of you folks from the wharton school of finance i see you nodding. you understand. $24 trillion is the point of no return. it's going to be very hard to come back. and with hillary it's basically formore years of obama and you cannot allow it to happen again. thank you. yes. >> hi, mr. trump. >> hi.

>> i guess the question i have is obviously you don't care much for politicians. >> not too much. i do. i like them. i make a fortune off politicians. they're easy. >> i understand. but if you're going the look for a running mate where would you look for a running mate? >> sadly i'd probably pick a politician. but hopefully i'll be around. >> and in your cabinet i'm assuming that you would go with businessmen like yourself? >> it's actually a great question. we have people negotiating for us that are diplomats and people that don't know how to negotiate. we have people that don't have a clue. and the other night -- i must say. carolyn kennedy, i saw her or "60 minutes" and it was an amazing piece. they said how did you get the job. she said i was looking for something and i went to the white house and asked, do you have anything? they said how would you like to have to be the ambassador to

japan. he said really? could i do that? they said yeah, how would you like that. i'm not knocking her. she's nice. she's a good friend. ivanka likes her. my daughter likes her. she's nice. but she's not talented at what you have to do. and i see all of the people from japan, i know some of them. i've dealt with these people for a long time. biggest banks of the world are in my building. i deal with the chinese. i made a fortune against china. i say against not with. against. hundreds of millions of dollars. i see all of these guys and on '60 minutes" they're pushing her around. then she talks about trade. she doesn't know about trade. what i would do, to answer your question, i go to wall street. i know all of the killers on wall street. i know the great ones, i know the ones that are highly

overrated and some are great and some are terrible by the way, but some are overrated. but i know all of the great deal people. believe me i know them. and i know the bad ones. but i know the best. and some of them are names you've never heard of. and i would get these guys to go negotiate. i would say you've got china make a good deal. china doesn't have a chance. this isn't is carolyn. these are the best. we have the best in the world. we don't use them. we don't use our best, brightest or sharpest and it's a big, big problem. and just so you know, with countries like china and others especially with the asian countries, this isn't based on niceness, it's not based on they have a wonderful personality or they gave campaign contributions and therefore they got a job, which is the way most of it

happens quite frankly. in those countries they take the smartest the one who is winning and that's what we have to deal with. we can't have these babies that don't have a clue negotiating deals. we have all of the cards against china and other countries because without us they would have a depression the likes of which you've never seen. believe me. we have the cards. we just have people that don't know that we have the cards. it's like how do you cut up a sanction and then go into a negotiation with iran. what you do is double and triple the negotiations. that's why they're laughing at us. they go back dance in the streets and this guy has become a hero. everything we said is a lie. none of this stuff is going to happen. if somebody did that to me i said you know what, maybe you're right. i can't believe that they're so brazen. that go in, i'd say, you're fired. but this guy -- thank you.

that's very nice. thank you. but how do you do that? how do you negotiate with people that make a deal and then they do that? terrible. okay. another question then we'll call it quits. yes, sir. go ahead. go ahead. >> several years ago you were going to build a restaurant down at jones beach in new york. >> right. >> and our wonderful governor gave you a miserable miserable time. >> right. well, he was okay. but do ahead. >> i understand why you pulled out of that deal. but what concerns me is there were a lot of people on the island who were fighting for you. >> they always wanted it. >> but after hurricane irene and -- >> hurricane sandy. >> between the two of them. >> right. >> quite clearly the basement of that building would have been -- >> i think it would have been good. i'll tell you what happened. i was going to do it all set to do construction. and hurricane sandy came along and wiped out jones beach, wiped it out. where you weren't allowing cars

and you know the whole thing. and frankly my insurance company offered me a deal that i couldn't refuse. they offered me a deal, i said that's pretty good. that's better than i could do if i build it. why should i build it. does that make sense? i'm not a big fan of what's going on with the fracking and all of the things they're screwing up in new york. but when hurricane sandy came along i decided not to do it because jones beach was wiped out and it still hasn't recovered. we'll do one more question go ahead, sir. nice looking guy. go ahead, scream it. thank you. that's what i want to hear. thank you. i couldn't have asked for a better question. ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. i really appreciate your enthusiasm, the crowd. you're terrific. we're going to make this crowd great again. thank you very much.

thank you. thank you. [ applause ] ♪ thank you peter. peter's not just a broadcaster here in new hampshire. he's new hampshire broadcaster of the year, so congratulations to you for that. and i am also joined by my beloved wife and mother of our four children libby. thank you for being here with me this morning. [ applause ] and thank you all for being here.

you are the activists from across this state and across the country who are going to make sure that we reclaim the white house in 2016 for the people in america. so, thank you all for being here. as hillary runs across the country in her converted van, hiding from people, running from the press, only answering staged questions from people across america, we are going to take questions from normal citizens from across new hampshire. so we opened it up on twitter and facebook and youtube and said send us a question and we'll try to get to it this morning. i guess you have a lot of those questions. let's go. questions from new hampshire, >> to show you they're laet

legit, there are they are. first question, ted dawson of new hampshire said what are you thoughts on turn limits at all levels of government starting at the top and working down? >> i guess there's some support for term limits out here. let me tell you, i think term limits are absolutely critical. when this country was created we didn't have a concept of a separate class of politicians who are different from the american people. who belongs to washington, spend 45 years in public office and when they're done, sick around as a lobbyist. the politicians are supposed to be us, they're supposed to reflect the people of america and term limits, making sure people don't go there for their entire career is a part of this, but peter, it's not just that reform alone. what happens in washington today is it's an insider's game. and to be honest, it doesn't matter which part is in control. we need to change a number of

things to reform how washington does business. yes, term limits. but also, if congress passes a law lake obamacare and says it's a good law, it's going apply to every american and community across this country, it should apply to them as well. congress and members of their staff should be required to live under the laws that they passed. by the way, under harry reid and the democrats for six years, the senate never passed a budget. they didn't do their job. what happens if you don't do your job? you don't get paid. they should pass a law saying when there is no budget adopted by congress they don't get paid until that budget is passed as well. [ applause ] but by far to me, the most important reform is to break the stranglehold lobbyists have on washington.

when you get elected, you play the game and you know within six months, you don't ever go back home. you're elected from new hampshire, nevada, new york, new mexico. if you don't run again or win, you don't go home. you stay in washington and become a lobbyist. today, there are over 400 former members of congress who are registered lobbyists in washington, d.c. the first law i will propose, you serve one day in congress, the house of senate, there is a lifetime ban on ever being a lobbyist in washington, d.c. go home. go back to the people who sent you there. and represent them. so, peter, couple of reforms, all right? >> second question. from andrew hemmingway of manchester. and i'm sure you've heard this one before. you know the name? okay. we haven't heard the answer. what did you learn from september 11th?

>> i'd say there's two important lessons from september 11th. the first is that islamic terror is real. and we should call it by its name. and we should also recognize that the fact there are bases and training camps are thousands of miles overseas don't mean we're safe in new york or new hampshire. and we have to be proactive and aggressive in going after them over there before they have the chance to attack us here again. that's lesson number one. [ applause ] but there's another lesson as well. and for all the sadness and sorrow i feel when i go to lower manhattan or think of september 11th, there was an outpouring of american strength i've never seen in my lifetime. there was a sense that we had been attacked as americans. we weren't republicans or democrats, black or white, young or old, northerners or southerners

southerners, we were americans. and i saw america come together and i saw people from every corner of the country coming to help us rebuild, reclaim and soar to higher heights and that to me is the lesson of september 11th. when we put aside the superficial differences that seem so important, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. and we have got to sense again the belief we're all in this together, we have a common destiny, future, seize it and make the 21st century america's greatest century. [ applause ] sfl. >> next question, are you running for president? >> there's a lot of cameras here. i have to be careful what i say. >> no, just between you and me. >> all right. in that case. you know, i kid when i go around new hampshire. this is my eighth trip since september. every four years, there's the

olympics, the world cup and pataki shows up thinking about running for president and that seems to be true. but in all seriousness, peter, this time, things are different. i look at what's happening in the world and i have never seen the world in my lifetime as in flames as it is today. i've never seen the overseized threat. leading from behind does not work. they are smarter than we are. they have to tell us how to live our lives. and to me, the need to change the direction of this country's government the need the take back washington to reduce its size, its cost, its intrusive intrusiveness has never been greater. so i can tell you i'm much more inclined to run this time than ever before. [ applause ] >> and i get a little emotional here. let me roam around a little bit too, peter. go ahead.

>> during the course of the week. i saw this at the radio station one morning. you introduced a new commercial from we the people, not washington. and i don't know if everybody has seen it. right now we're going to show you the commercial >> defeating islamic terrorists. growing the economy. these are the issues that matter most. instead, we're debating social issues like abortion and gay rights. they're a distraction and will only help elect hillary. after eight years of obama style socialism, we need to shrink government, not let big government tell us how to live our lives. log on. learn more. >> very nice. >> thank you, peter. [ applause ] >> here's the part i like. i get to play richard dawson. your people had put together what's called the lightning round.

sort i know this may be difficult, short answers. very brief. >> let me set down for this one. i don't know what's coming up here. >> favorite president. >> i love reagan. >> short. >> abraham lincoln because he brought the promise of american freedom to everyone. >> last book you read. >> "the traitor's wife." i know it's obscure but it was written by our daughter number five on the best seller lest. [ applause ] and if i said any other book i could probably not go home next week. >> here's where you're going to alienate some people. >> i'm good at that. >> iphone blackberry or android. >> iphone. and i don't have a server in the basement.

>> "game of thrones," "house of cards" or "orange is the new black." >> our kids love "game of thrones". i go with "house of cards." anything that makes washington look worse than it is is something i'm in favor of. >> wine or beer? >> both. during the day, beer, at night, wine. >> taco bell or, is this chipotle? >> actually libby and i went to chipotle yesterday. she didn't wear sunglasses. i wasn't in disguise. we said hello to everybody and i left a tip. >> wow. [ applause ] my mother was a waitress and she is still going strong. >> that leads us to the next one. home server or office server? >> whatever it's connected to, i don't know, but i'm sure nsa does.

>> favorite new hampshire talk show host. who snuck that in? >> it's got to be peter. you know, there's no question about it. so far. >> wasn't a lot of wiggle room there, governor. cats or dogs? >> dogs. we have two. >> worst moment in your public life. >> i could talk about poll, but that's, in all seriousness, i will never forget this moment. it was three days after september 11th. and president bush come to ground zero and given an inspirational talk and afterwards, we went up to meet with the families of those who, at that point, were still missing. thousands of them. and the tears in those family members, the mothers and the fathers and the husbands and the wives, and the saddest part, though, was they still had hope.

and i remember a woman showing me pictures of her daughter and saying, she knew every tunnel down there because she worked there and i know she's alive somewhere below ground. and in my heart, i knew that she had died, but i just, none of us could bring ourselves to dash that little remnant of hope they still had in their hearts. so there were a lot of tears, it was a terrible day. it was a very sad day. one i will never forget and one where i hope americans never forget the sadness of when we do not do everything in our power to protect our safety. [ applause ] >> let's go 180. your best moment in public life. >> i could say being right on behind first base when the yankees beat the red sox, but that would get, that would get everybody, that would get

everybody -- i would never, ever say anything like that. what was i possibly thinking. i do have to tell you. >> wow. >> one moment i will never forget. one great moment. while i was governor, pope john paul ii came to america and came to new york and i met him at ground zero. the next morning he had a sunrise mass in central park. and i remember so well sitting the front, libby and i were there. our kids were there. our youngest child was sitting in our lap. and it was a misty morning and you could barely see and the entire park was covered in mist. and pope john paul comes out to do the mass and the sun comes up and the midst parts and it was just the most magical moment and one that i know we will always cherish and one that i will just never forget having a smile and a good feeling in my heart. >> ready to go back to work? more questions from people? >> sure. that's why we're here.

>> keith karlsson of cheshire county. said obamacare just keeps getting worse. we know that the cadillac tax problem is coming. have you considered the health care compact as the solution as nine states have said? >> you know, i don't think there is one solution. first of all, you start by repealing obamacare. and it is the worst law, it is the worst law of my lifetime. and i think, though, even if the democrats had read it before they passed it, they still would have rammed it through because that's how they believe. it is the worst law of my lifetime and part of the problem is it's one size fits all. washington is going to dictate to every community, every family, every state, how they run their health care system. that's not america. when i was governor, we put in place very good health care policies using the market and patient centric proposals. and we created programs for low income adults working to get quality health care. we put in place programs for

entrepreneurs and small business people who couldn't pool together to get quality, affordable health care, provided by the private sector but supported by the state. and when i left, we had millions more who had been uninsured covered in a market based system. so, states can do that. we should allow consumers to purchase across state lines. we should get rid of the junk negligence lawsuits that drive up the cost of medicine and is strictly the only reason that hasn't happened is because the democratic politicians are in the pockets of the trial lawyers. we have to put that aside and do what's right for the people and not the politicians. so there are solutions, market based solutions that states under our institution should have the right to decide themselves what they choose to do. >> all right. if you'll watch the screen we have a video question now. governor. >> hi, mark from new hampshire. i've served our country for the

last 12 years. i'm a veteran. and unfortunately, it seems like we're slipping backward. how would you handle iran, isis, and the threats in the middle east? >> you know, first of all, as i said earlier, you have to recognize that it is not just random acts of violence. it is islamic terror that we are being challenged by in the 21st century. the first thing i would do is rebuild our military. we should not have a military -- [ applause ] we should not have a military smaller than it was before world war ii when the world is as dangerous as it is today. we should make it more powerful, not because we want to use it but so that we don't have to use it. and it is clear what works. ronald reagan had an expression, peace through strength. right now we have chaos through

weakness. our allies need to trust or word. we need to stand with them, will it's israel or egypt as our partner. and our enemies must be afraid of us. by the way, thank for your service. there are no finer people than the men and women who put on the uniform to defend our country and our freedom. [ applause ] >> i'm particularly proud because libby and i have two sons. both of them went into the service. one was a marine nunt in an bar for a year. the other got back with a tenth mountain division that afghanistan in september. we're proud of them. of everything who has put the uniform on. i'm going to take 30 seconds. any people who have served in the military here, please raise your hands and let us give you a round of applause for what you have done to protect our freedom. god bless you. [ applause ]

thank you. and just one other thought. for give me, peter. our government is so big, we talk about companies being too big to fail, ours is too big to succeed. it is so big it can't do its two most important things provide for our security and provide a safety net for those who have risked their lives. we have to do far better with our veterans benefits. if we have the opportunity, we are going to make sure veterans get the health care and support they deserve in this country. >> continuing our multimedia presentation, we have an audio question now from ann marie banfield. >> governor pataki, parents around the country are mobilizing against common core in their school districts. however, the obama agenda to redesign public education goes beyond common core standards to reshaping public education from a liberal arts model to a workforce development model. parents in new hampshire never asked for this and as it's being

implemented in our schools, we are starting to see real problems. as president, how would you work to return local control back to the parents, board members and educators? >> i think that's a very important question to every parent here and really to every american. first of all, i think common core is a horrible idea. [ applause ] it is something that, it is -- it is exactly like obamacare. you have a bunch of people sitting in a far away place in washington who think they are smarter than we are who are going to dictate to every community in this country how they educate their child. that's not america. so common core should go. and the more important thing, we have to scale back the department of education dramatically. it is too big. like the rest of the government. too big, too powerful and too intrusive. education has always been a state-controlled issue. i am a believer that the best government is the government closest to the people.

so leave education to the local schools, the district schools, the states, and let the education department get information on best practices that they can distribute, but not try to tell our schools and our parents how our children are educated in america. period. [ applause ] >> turn to the screens. another video question from stephen. >> hey, grandpa, it's me, steven. i have a question. how can we beat hillary? we need superhero. >> love those young republicans. >> that's our grandson, steven, that lives outside austin, texas. his father is the one who was the marine lieutenant in anbar and to be honest, i don't think steven thought of that question by himself. i think his parents kind of put him up to that. but we don't need batman or

spider-man to beat hillary. all we have to do are two things. first of all, ask her what she's accomplished. whether it's benghazi, libya, the reset with russia or pulling out of iraq, her record of achievement is zero. you can understand why she destroyed those e-mails. i'd be embarrassed, too, if anybody has a chance to see them. but more importantly, we have to have a positive agenda as to how we can grow america's economy, create more jobs strengthen our defenses, take control of our borders so we know people come here legally. and for the right reasons. and have, an agenda that the american people can look look at and say yes, that will make this country better. she doesn't have a growth agenda. she doesn't have a positive agenda. she's going to try to frighten people. we're against the middle class,

against women, we're against gays we're against immigrants. we're against workers. they frighten people. our job is quite simply to inspire people. that's what republicans have always done. that's what we will continue to seek to do and we will beat hillary, and, more importantly, win the future for america. [ applause ] >> in the time we have left, governor, we have a video question from reeve. >> hi, i'm reve from extor, new hampshire. governor, do you think there's hope for the future? >> it's sad that a young person is asking that question. this is america. we may be horribly disappointed in washington and our government, and i know i am, but we're still america. and i have to tell her, being born at this time in this century, country, is something where you should look to the future with unlimited optimism. this is america and we're americans and the best has always been ahead of us.

if people doubt that today -- and i've heard that question across new hampshire. what are we going to do? is tomorrow going to be okay? all we have to do is fix washington.broken. our people are not broken. our states are not broken. washington is. get it out of our lives. reduce its size. reduce the tax burden. repeal things like obamacare. make the politicians understand they are not our masters they are our servants. we shouldn't have to do what they tell us. they should have to do what we tell them. we get that back to where america is we reclaim the tenth amendment, power's not specifically granted to washington or left to the state and the people. empower the people. the answer is we are going to see the 21st century as america's next century the greatest century, and you just heard from my grandson, steven, steven, you're an american, be proud, you're going to have a better life than you could have

possibly dream of because of this great country. thank you. god bless you. it's been terrific being with you this morning. enjoyed it very much. i hope to see you again and again. thank you. [ applause ] >> peter, thank you. that was terrific. thank you. [ applause ] >> well, good afternoon everybody. it's wonderful to see everybody here. i'm glad that i'm on time. i was afraid i was going to be a little late because i was frantically upstairs going through all my e-mails seeing which ones i wanted to delete and get rid of, and -- but i got that done, and so here i am. i'm delighted to be here. i want to thank the new hampshire party for putting this on and making it available as a forum for all of us. ladies and gentlemen, i'm here to talk to you about the challenges that face the united states and what we need to do

about it. that's why i've come down to see you today. i'm going to tell you what the two challenges are. number of one, i do not agree that the economy is in good shape in this country. i believe it must become our mission to restore the economy to get people working again to get jobs going again in this country. that's the main thing that we have to do right now. second, i want to address the challenge we're seeing of international relations. now, the president says that the economy's just fine. everything's okay. unemployment's down and so on like that. i don't accept this ladies and gentlemen. this is not true. it is not true that the economy is going very well. the labor participation rate in the country is the lowest it's maybe been ever in this country. we have 27 million almost 28 million people in the country working part time that want to work full time.

we have 6.5 million people in the country who want to get a job and can't get a job. 48% of recent studies showed 48 j % of the college graduates do not require a bachelor's degree. we don't have a robust recovery. everyone agrees, republican democrat, liberal, conservative we believe wages are stagnant in the country. we're not seeing the kind of quality of life growth that america deserves. this is the fundamental problem that we have to face in america today. we have to address it, and it must be our mission to restore the economy and come back out of this recession. now, that means we have to have a return, ladies and gentlemen to that tried and true free enterprise system in the united states of america. that's what we have to have. that means that we have to have investment in this country. we have to begin to grow this country. create more growth and more revenue and more excitement and more opportunities.

ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have a tough time doing that, and here's why. president obama does not believe in america. [ applause ] he doesn't. he doesn't believe in the america that i believe in. that you believe in. he does not believe in america of opportunity of growth of excitement, and new careers and new chances to have a better job and to have more money. what we see right now, right now is that laws have now been passed, that take capital gains and raise the taxes on capital gains. as a matter of fact, it's been raised from a 16 %, 15% rate to a 26% rate. that's a 75% increase in capital gains. why do we care? we're all rich people, why do we care? is that what they say? it's because the higher you increase those taxes, less investment you get. we're running a deliberate policy right now to not have investment in this country.

dividends dividends, the same thing, increases on taxes on dividends, making goggone sure people do not invest because they do not get as much out of dividends. we see right now that businesses that want to put something into their businesses and want to hire people, you don't hire people to stand around. you hire people to have computers and work on them and be productive. right now they are recapturing the money that's been extended and made longer, and finally, obamacare. obamacare is a problem ladies and gentlemen, because it forces people to buy something they don't want and puts a government owned system and operated system in place. that's true. but the other problem with it is it's antigrowth and intended to be antigrowth. you know that there is a penalty on people today that buy good health care, cadillac type of bram, and they charge a penalty on that. do you know that right now that obama care does not apply to a company unless you go over 49 employees, which means now

companies all across the country are making sure they are not going to go above 49 employees. that means growth is stifled with obamacare and obamacare must be ended, and we have to replace it with a real good health care system in this country. [ applause ] >> i have a plan working carefully with the nonfederal government i'm working on. every candidate says we have to grow the economy. everybody wants to be a candidate. well, we have to grow the economy. we know how to do it. i know how to do it. the plan that i have is this. we're going to change the tax code and create a three level system of 10 15, and 25% and that is going to mean a tax cut across the board for all working americans. that's the first thing that we're going to do. now, i've done this in virginia. when i was elected governor of virginia, i ran on cutting the erroneous car tax in virginia

and four years years as governor, we did, putting more money into the pockets of men and women. i'm not talking out the halt here. i know what to do. we need to rid the crony capitalism, credits and deductions in the tax code today to get the rate down to charge on corporate activity small and large business to 15%. that's what we need to do. you hear people tell you that we are in a global economy? well, i can assure you it's true. the only difference is our people who are in engaged in commercial activity in the united states pay 35% tax rates, the highest in the world. so we have to compete with companies from england or germany or china or other places across the world where they play lower tax rates and we are not competitive. that has to change. finally, ladies and gentlemen, in order to preserve the ability for people with small businesses and small farms to pass their

labor of their work down to their children, we need to eliminate the death tax in america today once and for all. [ applause ] did this is put together, it grows the economy at 5% growth. we have hundreds of thousands of new jobs for people to have the opportunity to really move forward. why is that nobody's talking about tax cuts across the board? i don't understand it. this is what works. in 19 61, john f. kennedy reduced taxes across the board. the economy grew. in 1981 ronald reagan reduced the taxes across the board. the economy grew. this has got to be the mission that we have to do. secondly, the world crisis. ladies and gentlemen, we've got a problem today. that is we're charged by russia,

my old friends, the russians as you may or may not know i'm a united states army veteran in the intelligence community in europe during the cold war, and now the russians are back. they are pushing against us because they perceive american weakness and uncertainty. the iranians. determined to get our nuclear weapons. if they get that nuclear weapon it will upset all of the balances and everything that's going on in the middle east. i don't know whether this agreement is going to do the job. i should have would not like to see us in a war with iran but this is a serious challenge that we're seeing. now, the challenge of the new terrorism. ladies and gentlemen, i chaired the national commission on homeland security for the united states for five years. three years we did our reports and warned of the danger, and next thing we know, the 9/11 attack happened. i was the governor of virginia during the 9/11 attack. i actually became a war governor at that point. and we need a new foreign policy

that will project american strength, not american uncertainty. not a policy that says we're going to invade first, use american power and try to remake countries around the world without being able to foresee the consequences but also not a policy like we're seeing with president obama today that says pull back, pull back pull back. sending that kind of message of uncertainty and disengagement from the world today. it is a neoisolationist policy and that is not the policy that protects the united states of america. there must be a new foreign policy in the country. [ applause ] [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, president obama does not believe in america, the america i believe. >> or the america you believe in.in a country that's a force for