elections? what will get -- what does it look like leading up to the elections? what will it look like? >> i do not think we see anything substantive happen. it will be interesting. democrats want to continue to seem like they're working. republicans want to seem like they're working and start campaigning. eventually, that pressure will be the one that shut this thing down. >> what about bills to fund the federal government? >> it does look like there will be getting to them. be getting to them. -- like they will be getting to them. they will go home. a lot of business will get pushed to laming back, and --

to lame duck, like the tax cuts. i just do not think much good will be done between now and then. >> they face the situation of the lame duck and a great change in congress. what does that do? >> the one thing that will get done is a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through whenever they get back from rolling back. the lame duck can be interesting depending on who is more disappointed. if republicans do not take the house, particularly, if they fall much shorter than people expect in the senate, i think you have something of an ambling democratic caucus, particularly people who are leaving and the people who have lost. likel probably see things the child nutrition bill and things like that that will get done. but the issue of tax extensions

will come back. there will be discussion that we will get some kind of climate or environmental bill. if, however, republicans win, we see this great table setting for the next term. >> thank you for being here. >> for all of the people in the book, there are many mistakes that they might have made in their lives. but moving from the south was not one of them. >> nearly 6 million african- americans migrated from the south. tonight, pulitzer prize winner isabel wilkerson. >> you don't get to choose the .embers whe all you get to choose is what you do when it does.

>> neck clegg defends his decision to form a coalition. that is tonight at 9:00 p.m. on c-span. >> newt gingrich was first elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1978. he served as speaker of the house from 1995 to 1999. since leaving congress, he has written more than 20 books and it is an analyst on the fox news channel. our conversation with newt gingrich includes his early years in congress, his tenure as speaker, his relationship with president clinton, his views on the obama administration and the midterm election, his conversion to catholicism, and the gop presidential race. this is about 40 minutes.

>> we have to figure out how to dramatically shrink the cost and size of government. those will be very big challenges for us as a country. >> you used the word "ratko" in describing this president -- "radical" in describing as president. why? >> is far more the most radical president. his administration represents a huge growth in government, a massive increase in the government control of your life, acquiring every

transaction of $600 or more in a way that is an amazing intrusion in our lives. a financial reform bill that radically centralizes power in washington, d.c. a dramatic increase in the president and the power of of washington over a whole range of activities and our live, a desire to control our entire energy supply by controlling carbon. when you go down the list, is by far and away the most washington-centered and most dramatically different agenda in american history. frankly, is fundamentally different from what he campaigned on when he ran. >> you worked with this administration and this president on one issue -- education. >> the issue of charter schools, the president has done the right thing. i have worked with secretary duncan and reverend sharpton. we argue that parents have every right to know how their child is

doing and how the school is doing and they have their right to put their child in a charter school if they think that is better for their child's future. >> the times are different, but are the challenges any different today than what we have faced in the last century? >> this is probably the greatest collective challenge to the american system since the 1850's. i think the combination of having to fundamentally reform our economic structures to compete with china and india, the need to dramatically shrink the cost of government and the size of government, the school board, city council, county commission, state and federal, and the need to understand it, identify, and defeat radical islamists, all of that simultaneously while we are embracing democratic values, the notion of the work ethic, the right to dream big dreams, but

you have to work hard to go out and make those dreams come true -- all those things combined represent one of the most complex challenges in american history. maybe you could take the combination of the depression and world war ii. these challenges are occurring simultaneously. >> if you could find the debate where we were in 1994, as you were having your eye on the house representatives, which is similar and what is different from 2010? first, let's go back to 1994. >> it is very different. this is a much more radical administration and clinton was. the time is much worse. job-killing policies, whether they are big bureaucracy or big litigation or big taxes, the kind of policies that weaken the auction and real spirit and the desire to create new jobs, we are now at 9.5% unemployment. this is the highest terms of unemployment since the great depression.

even the obama administration support says that we will not see full employment before 2016. that is an amazingly gloomy report for an administration. it would suggest that they should dramatically change their policies to move toward job creation instead of killing jobs. and fact, they do not seem to get the message at the white house and they continue to kill jobs. that is probably the economic challenge, the one that is mostly undermining the administration and the one that they're having the hardest time coming to grips with. they do not want to talk about radical islamists. it is hard to understand how their security strategy is going to work if they do not know who their mma -- to their enemy is.

he may be better campaigner than he is a president. he may be a better celebrity than he is a chief executive. he may be more attractive as a speech-maker than he is as a commander-in-chief. my sense is that they do not have a very good grip on how to get things done. that is what they have mishandled the bp will problem in the gulf. i think that is why they had a difficult time handling the economy. i think that is why they failed to handle the border where people want to see the border controls. when you look at implementation, they seem to have a very real crisis of confidence. he is a good speech-maker, but i am not sure that he is very effective. a president does not like a senator. a senator is for speaking and voting. the president gets things done. >> whether people looking for in any president? >> they want someone who shares

their values, the president is tough enough for the job, and that the president has a vision of where they want america to go that is comparable to your vision and he can get us there. president eisenhower and president reagan were successful because they could get done with a sow to do. -- what they set out to do. it is not a political office. it is not a speech-making office. it is a job of executing policy. what has been very discouraging as the gap in the obama administration between words and achievements. at times, literally they do not understand. when the administration established a moratorium on deepwater drilling in louisiana, these big rigs can move and now you have seen one of the rigs take hundreds of

jobs to egypt. because of political instability in the united states, they will move to calm go and drill off of africa. literally, -- they will move to and drill off of africa. once they move, they will stay where they're going for five years or six years. >> people look at congress and say this town is dysfunctional. they say that republicans blamed the obama administration for not going far enough, to bridge the divide. democrats have said -- republicans have said that they will oppose you on every front. is that a fair assessment? >> if you look at the breakdown of lyndon johnson's majority over vietnam, civil rights, the free speech movement, the

student council culture, inflation, and all the different problems that were drowning him. if you look at nixon through ford threw carter, people, by 1980, had concluded that the presidency could not get the job done. then ronald reagan came in and change that whole attitude. -- and changed that whole attitude. it takes strong and consistent leadership in the white house. it takes a president who is congruent with the american people. if reagan and fdr and lincoln all understood this perfectly -- if the american people want to go in a certain direction and the president is willing to leave them in that direction, the pressure they can bring to bear on the congress virtually guarantees achievement. if, on the other hand, the president wants to go in a direction the country does not want to go or the president is a

weak leader, then the system does not work well. the founding fathers designed the system to be a machine so inefficient that not even a dictator can force it to work. what is fascinating about obama's said he clearly lost popular support by last -- about obama is that he clearly lost popular support by last august. kennedy'slost 10teddy seat in massachusetts, they ran the bill through. they ran a huge energy tax increase through the house. no one had read it because it had a 300-some page amendment. they could like that through the

senate. -- they could not get that through the senate. >> let me put a hypothetical on the table. president gingrich's president and you have a majority in the house or the senate. how you deal with that? >> you do not rule on the evening of your viewers with democrats by pursuing that hypothetical. >> what would a republican president for gingrich in the white house do? >> we wanted to balance the federal budget. we wanted to reform welfare. clinton had barely favor those. we entered into negotiations for 45 straight days. we sat across the room arguing

out the details. you have to have a willingness to reach across, not to placate, not to appease, but to have honest conversations. when we passed welfare reform, half of the democratic caucus was with us and half of it was against it. when we passed the balanced budget, we had a substantial democratic party vote on it. we did not happen -- that did not happen because we had nice breeze to get together. it happened because the american people said back home, "i want you to balance the budget." there is a terrific book by thomas evans called "the education of ronald reagan." reagan worked for eight years at

general electric. in the process, he learned a great deal about talking to people and communicating key ideas. reagan used to always say was to turn up the lights for the american people. the heat onturn oup congress. the executive needs to know what america needs to '60s, how do you communicated to the american people so they decide -- needs to succeed, how do you communicate it to the american people so they decide they wanted, and had you put pressure on congress to do it? they would come back at something again and again and be very patient. the pressure back home it unavoidable. the problem for obama's that, the more people that come understood his bill, the more they oppose it. he filed a lawsuit against arizona.

60% of the country is for arizona. you cannot turn up the light back home when people say do not do that. i think that is where obama has had a huge problem. >> the debt and the deficit is approaching $14 trillion. can you reduce it without increasing taxes? even if you cut government spending? >> i do not want to sound like i am old. but once upon a time, we balance the federal budget for four consecutive years. we paid up $405 billion in debt. it was the only time since the 1920's where we had four straight years of a balanced budget. we cut taxes to increase economic growth. the key tool is simple. we stop spending. in the four years i was

speaker, we had 1.29% increase in spending. that is the lowest rate of increase since calvin coolidge in the 1920's. if u.s. we could you get to a balanced budget, absolutely -- if you asked me could you get to a balanced budget, absolutely. would you like to have lower taxes and less government or higher taxes and more government? my guess is that 80% to 50% will pay lower taxes and less government. >> what did you learn from your mistakes? >> it was very sobering. the first elected republican speaker in 40 years, the first one reelected since 1928, i really underestimated how big the jobless. i had been the republican minority whip. i would jump from minority whip

to speaker overnight. it was the biggest one-party increase in history. i enter estimated how big it was. at times i made mistakes that were just a function of misunderstanding. >> such as? >> when you are a minority whip that has not been in office for more than 40 is, you have to yell to get attention. if you're a minority speaker, if you whisper, you get more attention than when you were young. i did not learn to be careful about my words. i did not learn to be cautious about what we had to get done. in ways, we were self- destructive. if he could relive it, there are clearly boundaries i would have set on things we did and how we operated that were, on

retrospect, wrong. i did not understand the context of this new job. >> do regret leaving the speakership in 1998? >> no. i have lost the ability to fight for reform. i gave a speech at cobb county in january 1998 abdicating a very bold net cycle of reform. there was a book called "the pact" where they all agreed that clinton and i had developed a strategy on medicare, on social security, on health care reform, and balancing the budget and we had big bold series of reforms. the monica lewinsky can go blowup. it was clear that -- campbell

-- the monica lewinsky candle blew up. by the fall of 1998, they just period of being quiet. that is not what i was doing. that is not one was. leading and having the last 12 years -- leaving and having the last 12 years to look at transformation and to write books and make movies has helped me grow in a big way. >> regardless of the party or the individual, what it buys would you give any future speaker of the house? -- what advice would you give any future speaker of the house? >> you are not the leader of your party. you are the leader of the house.

my father was a career soldier in the army. i take very seriously this idea of serving your country. by opening speech was bringing the two parties to get, about working together on things. the speaker has to be the speaker of the house and leader of their party in that order. that is very important. second, you want to understand where your members want to go, but you also have a general vision of where you want to go. the speaker is potentially a very capable leader. if you look at how strong pelosi has been, whether you like her or do not like her, she is a very powerful and effective speaker. she has changed the house and change the outcome by the power of her personality. >> has a speaker come to you and ask you, "what would you do in the situation?"

>> i think everybody who has been speaker has a mutual respect for everybody else who has been speaker. tip o'neill said to me years ago that someday i would understand why you had to be a very strong speaker. i told him how much i had respected the job he did. i think he is right. just as the president's understand other presidents, speakers understand the challenges, the problems, how to manage the house and work with the executive branch, things that are common to that job that have no counterparts in the american system. >> you two did not always get along. >> no. this may be a better analogy, but, in some ways, politics at the -- this may be a bad analogy, but, in some ways,

politics at that stage is like being in the super bowl. everyone is determined to get what they want. it does not mean that you have to hate each other. you may be on different teams. you look at the game planning think that guy made a great catch or a good hit. dick gephardt used to describe this beautifully. he would always say when he was the democratic leader that politics was how we sublimate civil war. politics is about dreams, power, resources, values, and we all have to recognize that we're trying to manage civility within a process of enormous tension. i think that he had it right. you have to recognize that any of us who offer ourselves for public life are taking on one of the highest and more challenging roles as citizenship. we have to try to find a way of

to live up to that vision of a self-governing republic. >> in this current media environment, how is that complicated? >> it has always been like this. jefferson and hamilton all paid for a newspaper to sabotage the other. washington almost did not run for a second presidency because papers were criticizing martha for having high tea. this is a rough-and-tumble business. it has always been a rough-and- tumble business. we now twitter what we used to send people around with pamphlets in saloons in the by country. we now tweet and we facebook and we youtube and we do 101

different things. it is the same thing. it is humans communicating to humans. some of it is noble. some of it is wonderfully romantic. and some of it is disgusting. >> from your perspective, framed the debate in 2010. what will voters decide? >> i think there are four big things that will identify september and october. how do you create jobs versus killing jobs? it will be very difficult for them as a job-killing party. the democrats have to have a simple and straightforward model. the second big test will be controlling spending versus raising taxes. if you look at chris christi, the most interesting governor in

america today, he has tackled the head on how to shrink government. information technology was the first of bubble. housing was the second bubble in 2007. wall street was the third bubble. government will be the fourth bubble. athens, greece just cut their budget by 11%. california is out of money. new york is out of money. i think you will see tremendous pressure to cut spending. the democrats answer will be to raise taxes. the republican answer will be smaller government. you have mcdaniel, tim pawlenty, bobby jindal, alley barber -- they have all been cutting spending rather than raising taxes. issue will behird yea

the lame duck. i think that people will have a totally illegitimate lame-duck session. they will go home and not come back. i think people distrust pelosi, read, and obama. the final question is how do you protect america? i have day movie coming out calling up -- called "america at risk. 31 years after the iranian attack on our embassy in 1979, we still have not come to grips honestly with the challenge of radical islamists and the degree to which they would destroy our civilization. this administration will might even use the right language to describe them. this will be a major question

that comes up this fall. are you prepared to defend america? are you prepared to tell the truth about our enemies? are you prepared to control the border? i think those are all serious questions. >> you already said you will make an announcement or decision sometime early next year about 2012. what questions leading up to that will newt gingrich ask himself as to whether or not you want to run for president? >> we talk about this now. first, is their duty. my father's 27 years in the infantry taught me that there are times when you do what you have to do because it is the right thing to do for the country. when you look at the crossroads we are at and competing with china and india with 9.5% unemployment and enemies who want to destroy us and a nationally elite, could i make a

contribution as a citizen just by the active running and articulating those values and those ideas? second, as a practical matter, can we gather the resources to run? i am too old to have been too many things out there to be a joke. -- i am too old to go out there and be a joke. we have two daughters and we will talk about moving forward and if so, how. we're taking steps. i own some small companies and head up a political action group. we're taking steps so that if the answer is yes, we would be in a position in february or march to move away our companies

and focus on running. how do not think about it too deeply until after the election. the job now should be maximizing the victory this fall not worrying about 2012. >> how would you approach a campaign? what would your thinking be? what would your message be? >> the model i would must be attracted to would be lincoln in 1858 running for the senate. we're faced with such enormous problems that the current political system has no way of describing them. the current at the serial talk- show, 140 characters in a does not carry the complexity.

that was a model of what i think the campaign should look like in that it is fairly comprehensive, it is very substantive. it is designed to make a fundamental point about change in a very deep way from the current model of talking about terrorism, which is an activity, to talking about radical islamists -- that is a fundamental argument. one of the things the president obama has done that may turn out to be at good for america at is that he has forced us to think about who we are in a way we were not doing. my daughter writes a weekly column and she wrote a couple of months ago we had voted for someone who wanted to change what we believed. president obama wants to have a

redistribution of wealth by politicians. i want to have creation of wealth by individuals who work hard. he wants to have a much bigger government with much bigger bureaucracy. i think the time has come to implement the 10th amendment and return power to the states. return power back to local communities, get it out to local counties and local schools. these are very fundamental choices. if they do end up running, how would run a campaign that would be a c-span model campaign. you have a genuine dialogue, genuine open discussion, not so much looking at teleprompter but genuine conversation about fundamental principles or with those principles leave the -- lead into genuine policies.

reagan made his career in a speech for barry goldwater and came back and remade his career in 1975 after the great losses in 1974. then he came back and having lost gerald ford, relaunched again giving a speech at the convention. you see these things. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall -- that is part of the bigger speech. and yet, in some way he's staged his entire campaign on one line, he said that he paid for the microphone.

one can seconds and change someone from bush to reagan. you never know. i lost in 1974 and 1976, and then i helped organize national campaigns and was involved with many presidential campaigns in my career. you can understand that is the business. you don't know which days going to be someone with a video camera or cellphones that captures you looking foolish. adlai stevenson waiting to get a haircut with a hole in his shoe, and a photographer takes that picture, and it becomes symbolic of an absent minded professor at as opposed to general eisenhower, at the

confident military commander. another moment where carter was out in the fish pond at his farm and a rabbit jump in the water, and he understood rural life, he understood that may be .apibid it's trying to get on to the vote, he knows that it could be diseased, and he tries to push it away with an oar. the ap photographer on a weekend assignment, he does not expect to cover anything, it gets this picture of carter trying to push away the rabbit. some 80 edit the -- a p editor decides to caption at the attack of the killer rabbit. it's one more of those moments

where you thought, how could this happen? anyone who thinks that you can go into the campaign, control all the events, enact it into some sort of roller-coaster where you can survivor not. >> if you enter the race, he would bring intellectual leadership to the republican party, it said. >> when he said that on chris wallace's program. he would give my -- the gingrich, the howard dean canada. we both like ideas, he is a medical doctor. i'm a historian. we like debating. i think part of us is fund -- i

have a similar relationship with robert reischauer. we like bouncing things off of each other like ideas. >> your president in 2013. explain how you would structure the white house. which you surround yourself with? what kind of administration would you want to have? >> that's a very subtle and important question. i've gone back, reading a lot about lincoln. he comes into a very tiny government and has to fight the civil war. his background as an administrator is that he has been all lawyer. lincoln had the advantage that he was the only true genius to

was the president and his learning curve was unbelievable. it is clear that government these days is dysfunctional. it does not work. it starts with your possession of the white house. i will tell you one story that bothers me. i was very fortunate to spend 20 years in the legislative branch. the bush administration was very generous and allowed me to work as a volunteer in defense, in state, intelligence, and health issues. i got to be inside the executive branch. i had a number of senior cabinet officers who said that having a 28-year-old staff person call and instruct them on what they're doing, and in several cases people who have been governors of major states, is a fundamental imbalance of power. it seems to me you want to have a working cabinet that actually

reports directly to the president. go back to lincoln -- he only clerks,lark's -- two it may affect the part of a solution. it means that there is too much of a buffer between the president and the people who should be executing policy. one of the things that people should look at is, do we need of fundamental reorganization of the executive branch that makes it very clear who is in charge and gives them real power and then reports to the president in a way that is a much more aggressive in directly manage system than the current. this is a -- this is not a comment on president obama. there has been an evolution into this overly layered system, probably starting with nixon. you have almost 40 years now of

continual increase in the size of the white house staff and control factor which then makes the rest of the government dramatically less affected. >> can you do that? jean and i do not know. it strikes me that people have done it in the past and done very well in the past. >> where you go for ideas, information? >> howard dean. i go everywhere. i listen to everybody. i read three widely and i have a very good friend who scans the internet and send me between 1 and 200 e-mails the days. he tries to into it what i should say. ever where rico for american solutions, we have a t party meeting for an hour-and-a-half, we have a small business meeting, and i listen to people widely. most of our meetings involve listening to what different companies and hospitals are doing.

i think you have to learn -- if you're going to try to teach, you have to spend an immense amount of time learning. otherwise you cannot teach. i don't think there's a single leader who is not try to understand how you communicate this to the american people for their permission. and if you got the permission, how would you implemented? that requires listening to an amazing range of people. >> the me conclude with a couple of personal questions. your legal name is mcpherson. >> mine mother was married to a macpherson and they got to forced. and my stepfather, he had been adopted and thought that i ought to be adopted. and so i have the same last name as my parents. when i was 5, i became mute

being rich -- newt gingrich. you can never explain the true pronunciation in georgia. >> you recently converted to catholicism. what does that process. -- walk us through that process. >> the basilica of the national -- it is a beautiful church. i got in the habit of killing and limit travel around world, i would go to mass. gradually over an eight year period, i think they became absorbed into the church and then decided they must be catholic. it was not a decision to become catholic and then go to church. in the process, it was coming to understand the power of the eucharist in the catholic

tradition, the body and blood of christ, and the importance and central that the place in the mass, and in second was being allowed as a spouse to be at the basilica of when the pope came two years ago just having the chance to see the pope and to think about his slogan for that trip, which was, christ our hope, and deciding that that was exactly right. i have been amazingly welcomed into the church. i understand why people would walk up and say, welcome home. it has been a very profound and very comforting experience. >> what the state and religion mean to new gingrich? >> i have always had a deep faith. i've always had a deep faith in god and believe in good and evil. it does that to my mother's

mother. i originally -- for example, have almost parade before every speech. d to me is an ever-present part of life. he is the center of the fine reflects meeting. >> thank you for your time. >> sees bans local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look it stuck closely contested house races leading up to this november's midterm elections. during a swing from arkansas, but up with the campaign 2010 bus tour as it came to little rock. to get what we're doing here is welcoming the republican national committee travelling around the country on a bus, travelling to over 100 cities to

promote the fire pelosi message. this is part of the agenda which is ruining this country, ruined our economy, and costs skyrocketing unemployment and people are tired of it. we're going around making sure that people are aware of the damage that the pelosi-reid- obama message has done. [horn honking] [applause] >> and little rock, how are you?

hanging in there? fire pelosi, right? bye-bye, blanche! [laughter] good to see everybody. is the hanging in there? that is the goal. >> how are you, sir? >> i am doing well. how was it going, buddy?

doing all right? excellent. [laughter] exactly, good to see you. excellent, excellent. good to be with you. how's it going, buddy? staying out of trouble? we appreciate your effort. however body doing? how're you? how was she doing? absolutely. give her my best. i know how that is. i hope she is doing well. thank you. how was it going? thank you so much. how's it going. >> we represent arkansans, conservative leaders and conservative republicans everywhere. i want you to give him a

rousing arkansas welcome, the chairman of the republican national committee, would you welcome chairman michael steele? >> the work that we have to tune out is of such great importance. it revolves around candidates and recalls around ideas and issues. at the end of the day, it is going to be people, it is going to be each one of you, and the little man or the great amount that you do between now and election day. the reason we're out here trying to build up to make sure that people are engaged in listening because we of a great time for the american people. the cry is simply, enough. at what point you think that $13 trillion of debt is too much? 1.3 trillion dollars is too much. how much burden do we expect a

baby born today to carry in their lifetime? right now it is about $55,000. that is what we're talking about. that is what this fight we are engaged in is about. thank you all very much. get to work. [inaudible] >> are you worried that it will spoil any gains? >> let me be clear. i am tired of the backbiting and the nitpicking within our own ranks. i don't think it is one to spoil us unless we allow it to eat up on us and take control of our efforts. the focus for me right now is whether we're talking in delaware or anyone else in the country, we have nominees that are in very competitive races, who stand a very good chance of winning. i refuse to allow anyone or anything to stand in the way of

that. the goal of this party is to wind, whether it is to pick of -- get a congressional seat or a gubernatorial seat, whatever does, we're putting our best team out there. we have enormous -- an enormous burden of candidates that are running. we have come a long way. i'm just not happy with those who want to sit back and unreason and all four are candidates. no one is perfect and no one is paid to be. all they're doing is putting their best foot forward in the primary be as competitive as they can. let the people decide who is going to win, not some people in an ivory tower in d.c. picking and choosing. let's start focus on winning and supporting those who have been nominated. then we can worry about all that other stuff. >> who you blame for the

backbiting? ginnie anyone out there complaining. anyone out there nitpicking. on trying to avoid getting on that's abbas. everyone knows they are. the reality of it is, let's focus as a party for the first time since 2004, we are winning. it has taken a lot of work by this chairman, the republican national committee under my leadership, our national committee around the country, to get us to this point. that is our mission that is our focus. >> less. very clear. in arkansas, conservatives are unified. they want change in washington. >> absolutely. [inaudible] >> have you heard otherwise?

as the "new york times" done an audit of the rnc? we will have more than enough money, trust me. keep in mind we have done things all little different. we did not play by the old rules where you sit there and stockpile of cash so that we can present to the "new york times" all of our cash on hand. we invested over $20 million starting late last fall and early this year in the victory centers like this. when i took the risk of saying, if you want to look at the cash on hand, we have no money, which have contacted 15 million voters since we spent the money, not two weeks ago, but 10 months ago. that is a big difference between winning and losing. you can go the old school way if you want. you can put all the money into a

basket and let it sit there and then back to people on how much money you have. but you're not helping to get the candidates in the state collected. you're not organizing the volunteers that you need to win. if the people in washington want to appease those who track does this, i decided to do things differently. i have the faith in the leadership to say this is what you need for victory. spend it. put on the streets. the democrats are bragging about contacting 400,000 voters. we have already contacted 15 million. i am very proud of that. we will have more than enough to carry gas for november and make sure that we turn out our vote and get our voters to the polls. we want to take you inside and let you see how the brain trust really works. come on and.

welcome to our little fire pelosi haven. it is really started from my conversation in the past year or so out around the country. the people are saying that no one is listening to us. when you tell us congressman this that? i decided working with our team, we need to go back out and the just a bold representation of the frustration of the american people. their desire to bring about their kind of change. a colleague of mine said, we just need to put you on a bus and sinew across america. boom, here we are. this is one step of many steps that we've taken this year to reach engage with the voters, brings a new ideas to the table. it really showcases are

candida's. we have had incredible talent in canada's this year. is exciting to see them -- it is exciting to see them emerged and become the governors that they are, knowing that before that moment, it's tremendous to see how their leadership takes off and watch what happens after this november with the crew that we have coming at a local level and the national. >> how did you decide on where you would be going? >> once we decided that you're going to go to all 48 contiguous states, question was what route to retake were to go south or north first? to people who were part of the management team for the bus put it all together and started mapping it. most importantly, and this is the fun part, we called up the state parties and said the

chairman is coming to your state around this time, what do you want him to do? the bus is here for them. this is really a work in office. hesitancy come with computers, which the printers, we are required -- wireless. it is a great space. we have our pressure off right here. this is the press shop. this is our media shop, right here. this right here, this is the grilling pad here. this is where the staff acts up and i have to grow them. gott to come on and, we've the captain's chairs for the lieutenant governor in the chair earlier today. he and night at the chapel little bit. and the response we're getting. we were at an event and we came back out, this was on the boss.

-- this was on the windshield. another alabama voter wants to fire pelosi. that is the type of response we're getting up there. >> what is life on the road like? >> it is actually, to be honest, very monotonous. you were just driving from one place to the other. it is not like you have got stops every 20 minutes or half hour. you have long stretches. that part of that you get used to but it is a chance to work. that is where we do a lot of the work and e-mail and phone calls and things like that. just because i am out here, i've got my files that i need. in constant communication with the chairman around the country on issues pertaining to their states. take aget a nap, to break, particularly after a long

day. we have several days were we have had six or seven events back to back. that can be draining some of you coming you crash a little bit as you're driving to the next city overnight. which is a lot of fun. but it is relaxing. i must admit, a great space to work then, and at the end of it, we will get off the bus and the voters vote and you hope you have accomplished the mission. >> the pledge the house leaders came up with, is that going to be part of the strategy? >> it is policy that will go across the entire breadth of the party. as i mentioned tonight, to margaret. , we remind them that we now have a legislative agenda that has been set up by the legislative leadership. i think it is a very important

to strike with the american people. instead of investing in jobs and investing in the wealth creators of the company, they villified them, they did not work with republicans, they called us the party of note. it is a great little tag line but it is meaningless. unemployment is still a 9.6%, the debt is $1.30 trillion. it is mindboggling what has not been done. the republican party has spent the years listening to america, calling into small towns and march 10. i think that they have come up with a working agenda when they hopefully become the leadership in the house and the senate. then they can move the country in a positive direction, investing in small businesses, lowering the taxes, getting big

government regulations off the backs of the people and the like. >> c-span's local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look as some of the closely contested races leading up to the midterm elections. for more information on what local content vehicles arrive to this election season, visit our web site, c-span.org/lcv. >> the headline in a news heckscher newspaper, "mitt romney says that obama has declared war became the candidates spoke yesterday at the new hampshire gop convention. the union leader story goes on to say, mr. romney sound like

the 2012 candidate most political observers expect him to be. up next, his weekend remarks. he is introduced by the party chair, john sununu, the former new hampshire governor. this is 25 minutes. >> i have one more introduction to make. as you know, i am not only partial to the governor's, and especially partial to republican governors, and i really, really, really have a lot of respect for former republican governors. [laughter] i am about to introduce governor mitt romney. [applause] a lot of people think of mitt romney as the former governor of

massachusetts, as the gentleman who went out and save the olympics in utah, as a great candidate in the republican primaries in 2008. but i have gotten to know governor romney s but i do is that all the parades -- as the man who is at all the brits, who every time the party came to him for a fund raiser was there. he is gone not only for major candidates for -- but for our state senate candidates and house candidates, and has been a good friend to the new hampshire gop. i know that he is still a resident in massachusetts. but we have really adopted him a little bit because he is truly all summer up and a new hampshire town. feel free to drop in and visit him.

ladies and gentlemen, anne's husband, mitt romney, a great republican. >> thank you, thank you. i brought my sweetheart with me. do you anything you want to say? >> i think john just made a very generous offer. the place is open. [laughter] it is a beautiful state. a lot of people do not know, we know how much we love this

state. i just have to say one thing. john sununu, how unbelievable has he been for this party? but there is something else, there is something in the air. and there is something in the air -- the republicans are going to win big in november. i'm so excited. and then we all know how much work you have to do once you get there. thank you so much. >> she should just go on and on. that is the better way to go. it is an honor to be here and be so recognized by you and by gov. sununu. it is not always the case by the way that i recognized and given such a warm welcome. i was just in new work flying to boston, and i was in the waiting area, and i recognize the i was

possibly recognize, and i was reading the newspaper being discreet, and her shriek, and i looked up. a chinese exchange student was pointing at me. she have on a cowboy hat and a cowboy boots. i knew she was not a tax and because for cowboy -- her pants were tucked into were bids. she said, you are john kerry! [laughter] so i held up my newspaper and said, i sure am, i'm john kerry, exactly. but i have to tell you, i can be clueless. anne and i went off to beijing to see the olympics there and watch our athletes. i went to one of my favorite events, women's beach volleyball. [laughter] anne insists that we do that.

i came in late and sat for the fun. and i notice some americans in the audience had recognized us and taken out their cameras. and then i saw some chinese pointing at us and taking our picture. and i thought, my campaign touch people around the world. and i said, it uses up straight. they are taking a picture. i turn around, discourages -- and there is kobe bryant sitting behind this. i sure know where i am today and it is good to be with you and be welcomed at this john lynch farewell party. isn't that nice? [applause] i do not think they knew -- their numbers have been going down fast. their numbers have gone down the chute faster than a jet blew flight attendant.

they are only going to get worse. soon we're going to be saying hello to a governor john stevens, to senator kelly ayotte, to congressman charlie bass, and a congressman frank guinta. by the way, from will borrow -- wolfboro we saw a great campaign waged by one candidate. it brought a lot of energy and new ideas to the campaign and showed the kind of character and commitment to republican principles by getting behind kelly ayotte and being united and make sure that we bring republican values back to

washington. thank you so much. talking about uncommon leadership and character and commitment, how about gov. john sununu coming back and being without parallel an extraordinary chairman of the republican party? john, thank you. look at them getting up for you, john. what a guy. four more years, john, exactly right. i will tell you. the pundits are predicting a big

victory for us in november, as it should be. it is amazing to see how much has changed in just two years. two years ago they were singing a different team. we were frankly listening to their tune and a lot of us were on our heels. a commentator at ms in b.c. were talking about his legs tingling with the new leadership. remember time magazine had a picture of our republican elephant on the cover, endangered species? and the president was so confident that he was able to fit in 40 rounds of golf in his first two years. we're probably better off if he is getting advice from his caddy rather than his economic advisor. [applause] i cannot predict the scale of the big three we're going to say, but i can predict that there is going to be a repudiation of the liberalism in washington. there are a lot of reasons for that.

first, the abject failure of the president's first two years in office. he was elected primarily to get this economy going again and he has failed in doing that. you recall, he spends a lot of time talking about inheriting the recession, and he did. but that was the reason we campaigned so hard saying it was not the time for on-the-job training for president of united states. frankly, had he had experience in the real world, the economic world, the world of small business and big business, or had his advisers had that experience, they would know that the first three rules of any turnaround situation our focus, focus, and focus. instead of focusing on the economy in getting people back to work, he used the economy as a cover to put in place his liberal agenda. he went to work on his takeover of health care, capping trade bill, changing the relationship between business and labor, and

he failed in turning around our economy. and the american people are disappointed and angry. and it is not just the party, but independents, democrats, and republicans alike, we are all unhappy of what has happened with this president. interesting, about a year ago, i began to get some hope that maybe he understood the makes he made in his -- the mistakes he made in his first year. he convened a jobs summit and brought in some business leaders, small and large companies, any said roughly these words -- the government does not create jobs. only the private sector can do that. but government can create the conditions that encourage a small business to create jobs i am not sure that it was in the teleprompter but it was right on. and that was exactly true. and then i look to see what he had done and did what he'd do

actually encourage businesses to grow or cause them such uncertainty and concern that the absolute ball back or to mark raising taxes on small business? it does not encourage small business to grow. taking a tax on dividends from 15% to 39% did not encourage people to invest in the future. having a takeover by the federal government of what is fundamentally a state responsibility, health care, was a huge mistake and would cause anyone in the field to pull back. [applause] his cap and trade, or cash and tax bill, it would raise the amount of energy by an undetermined amount. how can you invest, not knowing what the cost of energy would be? he settled on a nationwide campaign to vilify one job creator after another, whether

was the finance years or bankers are bond investors, whether it was doctors are people of the medical insurance business, people who but the company meetings and las vegas -- the role of vilified. and what was most disturbing the trillion dollar deficit. for the next 10 years, trillion dollar deficits every year? people who are thinking about investing and hiring new people have asked themselves, while the dollar be worth down the road if this president implement policies that put that many dollars out there and barrault's that much money? f. russell, the small business community, big businesses pulled back. he did exactly the right -- what was opposite to get this economy going. he proves something ronald reagan said about liberals. it is not that liberals are ignorant, it is what they know is wrong. [applause]

his policies and his actions were the most anti-growth, anti investment, anti jobs policies we have seen in our times. we've had the government declared war on poverty, declare war on drugs -- this is the first time i recall that -- this is the first time i can recall the government declaring war on private investment. we're going to change that this november. [applause] and the economy is going to get better, by the way. it always does. it will get better. it will come back more slowly than it could have had the president taken the right direction. what he should and, once the focus on the economy and put his liberal agenda aside. number two was to create incentives that would get the private sector hiring and growing. number three would have been to make sure that we take all of the action necessary to get this

economy boosted and energized by showing the american people that we have leadership that understands how the economy works. if what happened which markey put in place a stimulus that did not really do what it was supposed to do. you left -- his 8% employment level grew to 10%. instead of reducing government employment like the germans did, they added 127,000 new jobs to their stimulus. we lost 2.7 million private- sector jobs. all told, the number of people no longer looking for work or out of work is 15 million, and the people to reach from washington, dc to los angeles and back to washington, d.c. it is a travesty. he should of focused on getting the job done. who would guess that we will look at the carter years as the good old days? [laughter] [applause] we spend our time appropriately

on what has happened here. recognize that he has made a number of errors in this administration in foreign- policy. you probably recognize that. he said he was going to carry out this policy of engagement. remember, with iraq and north korea? house that work out a? north korea has tested a nuclear device, and sunk a south korean ship? and iran on to insurgents, it has been arming against us in afghanistan, and iran is moving toward their nuclear program. russia sat across from a set a table and has been asking for years for their number one objective, and that is to room our missile defense sites, our plans for those sites in poland. and as president gave them their number one objective treaty should not have done that. he got nothing in return.

how can you have a leader of the free world to does not understand the basics of negotiating to make sure that your protect american interests first and defend ourselves against rogue nuclear powers? and so for these reasons and a lot more, you'll see changes november. and the pundits are going to look at this and say, it happens all the time. republicans get some seats, democrats kit the seed, it goes back and forth. there is something different this time. there's plenty of reason for anger and disappointment and there's a lot on both sides of the house the look of this administration. they see the failures. but there's something more fundamental going on. something more profound and summer. the american people are recognizing this is administration and the liberals generally do not understand what

it is the mix of america -- what is it that makes america america. they ran for office saying that it would fundamentally change the way washington works. they misled us. what they're trying to do is fundamentally change the way america works. but explain what i mean. a little story you will. i have mentioned this before. christmastime, are shopping with my grandkids at wal-mart. i do not shop for anne at walmart, but i do for my grandkids. i look to run the stor -- i looked around the store and it reminded me of sam walton. i never met him but i read about him and i heard reports about his character. if people said that he loved low, low prices on anything someone might want to buy. he was not really organized. he was more impetuous, and make

it happen kind of guy. he cut to a store and the stores just like sam. low, low prices on everything from tires to toothpaste, but it is not highly organized and late duchess of. it is kind of helter-skelter. it is not what the targets store, where all the files are straight like a swiss would have organized it. it's more like sam walton. i began thinking about other businesses where i've gone and shot or know something about it and how much they reflect this character and personality of the founder. microsoft is a lot like bill gates, at least what i have read about him, and apple computers is more like steve jobs. when i was a boy, i met wall disney. he bent down ask me how i was enjoying my experience and his theme park. my dad and some other dolls were there. i recognize that this was a i love taking care of little kids and entertaining them and sparking their imaginations. you go to disneyland or does the world today, is like the

physical legacy of walt disney himself. it is still the imagination that he once brought to it. it reflects what disney. there are other examples. think about burgeoned atlantic region virgin -- virgin atlantic airways, it is edgy and irreverent just like its founder. they tend to reflect the people who founded them and build them. it is also true of countries. who we are as a nation perplex the character of the people who founded this nation. and you go back and think about -- the very first columnist. imagine what kind of person was said, i'm going to put behind my family, my friends, homes, and the security of my life in europe, and i'm going to get on the lip -- a little ship, uncertain whether there will be food for the winter, and certain of the climate, and certain of

the natives, whether they will be hostile to me to not -- that kind of person had to love liberty and pioneering and innovating. can you imagine the kind of person who would've done that? that is from whom this nation's print. and in the founders to read that relation and he crafted the constitution, they made the same kind of trade. the could have followed the path of security and confidence. following the crowd, or perhaps establishing a government that would be so large it would tell us what to do and how to do with and who would get what. instead, they said, we're going to let the american people all the dreams of their own hearts. and by virtue of making that decision, this land became the world's land of opportunity. everybody in the world wanted to be a pioneer, seeking opportunity, they came here. that is who we are. that made america, america. what is happening today in the

washington is that there are people that believe that instead of people making the right choices for the lives, government should. government can guide the lives of the people better, taking got healthcare better, the economy better, he can choose the technologies we ought to pursue in the future -- the government knows best. they're trying to gather something for themselves that they could never have gathered in the free economy, power and control of the american people. they would extinguish and smother the very spirit that has made america america, the love of liberty, the love of freedom, the willingness to take risk and pioneer and create, the derring-do of the american spirit. and we will not let them. [applause]

>> they spent time in their first days in office the one around the world apologizing for america. >> boo! >> disappointing, disheartening. you think about this country, you think about the sacrifice that has been made by the sons and daughters of this land, the blood shed to help free millions of people from tyranny and to bring freedom to them. you think also about our free enterprise system. the economic vitality that we brought not only to ourselves but to other people. even the chinese are copying part of it today. and our model of free enterprise and free trade, billions of people are being lifted out of poverty.

there is no reason to apologize for the united states of america. [applause] let me tell you one experience that underscores my confidence and our future. i know sometimes that we listen to reports of challenges in different parts of the world, and we wonder what the future holds. i tell you -- if you meet other individuals and talk to them one-on-one and have experience with americans, you learn about what is in our heart and spirit that i described is alive and well. at the end of my term as governor, i got the chance to go to afghanistan and iraq. i was invited by the department of defense to go over there to

meet with members of the massachusetts national guard. they flew us there and then they'd take this from base to base. i would meet 10 or 12 soldiers in each of the basis that i saw. after it your business, i had the idea -- white -- if you want to call your spouse when i get home, take out a piece of paper, write dan your name and number, and when i get home, i will give them a call. when i left, at about 63 pieces of paper. i thought, and will take awhile to make all those calls, have all of those conversations. i got home the night before memorial day. we drove up to the lake. on the morning, but for the kids got up and we went out on the like, i thought i would bang out three or four calls to get started. i started making calls. on the third call, the woman who answered said, i thought that might be calling. [laughter]

and i said, what you mean you thought it might be me? she said, you made a couple of calls this morning in the wireless e-mail their husbands in the theater and said you had called. and then they e-mailed their bodies saying that you're calling and they e-mailed us to say to expect your call. [applause] so i called 63 homes on memorial day. [laughter] i tell you, it was something i was nervous about. this was before it was clear that the surge had worked. some of our liberal friends in washington said we had failed in iraq, that we have lost. i was worried that all loving spouse would say, why is my sweetheart still they're in harm's way? why can you bring them on line now?

what is wrong with america? that is what i expected. in 63 calls, not one complaint, not one. [applause] and at the end of each call, i would say roughly these words, on behalf of the nation and on behalf of the commonwealth of massachusetts, i want to express my appreciation to you and your family for the sacrifice you were making and for the sacrifice your loved one is making. and they would either interrupt me or wait until i was finished and in every case save roughly these words, no, governor, it is an honor to make a sacrifice for this great country. [applause] this is what is in the hearts of the american people. this is what gives me confidence

in our future. it is what gives us confidence that america will be the land of the brave in the home of the freed. it is these heroes prove in liberating strive to love their country. it gives me confidence in this great future. it is the energy and passion alive here today. it is this. over all america that says we're going to keep the american dream alive and well. if we're going to make the changes necessary to maintain the spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity, and one thing that never -- that people will never forget, keeping america the land of liberty and the hope of the earth. thank you, guys. great to be with you. thank you. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]