obama need says. make no mistake. he needs martin o'malley and arbour mikulski back in the u.s. senate. join me in welcoming martin o'malley and barbara [cheers and applause] >> hello, everybody.

i am senator barbara mikulski. i am your united states senator and i want to keep on being your united states senator so i can stand with you and say with president obama in his message of hope, change, and opportunity. it is wonderful to be here at the least eight. -- it is wonderful to be here at bowie state. and to be here in the great state of maryland. it is a high honor and a great

privilege that president obama is joining us today. i am with him in some new ways -- in so many ways. i want you to hear today the message he speaks every single day. it is a message that you want to hear and we need to do something about it. hope, opportunity, and change. [cheers and applause. ] -- [cheers and applause] there is another party out there that wants to silence us. we will not be silenced. we need jobs in this country. we will continue to speak up for the working class and middle class here in the united states of america. in order to do that, we need to stand up and have brought and -- and have a barack

barack obama. when he came to washington and to the white house, one of the very first bills we got through, we work hand in hand, up close and personal, the billy ledbetter bill, saying that women should get equal pay for equal work and there is no doubt about it. we work with president obama to pass the stimulus bill, to create jobs in maryland, to create jobs in the united states of america. we worked to create those jobs. but i wish you were with us when we talk with the president often, quietly or privately. one of the great passions he has is a special freedom, a freedom

not necessarily found written in the constitution, but is written in the hearts of every single american. it is that freedom to achieve all that you are and all that you can be. and this is why president obama works with the members of congress to create access to higher education so that you can follow your own dream. president obama, martin o'malley, in maryland and in washington, working with the general assembly, we want you to know that we are on your side. for every mother and father that works three jobs to send your kids to college, we hear you. for every grandmother that saves money in a little jar to send her grandchild to a better life, we need you to know that we are with you. to every boy or girl, man and

woman, working, sometimes to judge the three jobs to be able to come to the way, to come to the university of maryland, to be able to go to any school, we are on your side. but for those of you who want to believe it and freedom of -- we want to give tax breaks to send kids to college. that is the difference. so we worked to extend programs, to extend an educational opportunities so that you could be able to do that. and we did it working together, your team maryland and congress did it. your governor doesn't. i want you to know that i died. -- your governor does its. i wanted to know that i do it.

i do my job not for my job, but for you can have a job. for me, this election is not about this election. it is about the next generation. i ask you, send me back to the united states senate. i need you to stand up for me. me.eed you to stand with myria and i will stand up for you and work for you every single day. >[cheers and applause] i work with these great men and women paula's stage. i know -- men and women on this stage. i know governor o'malley. he helped me get started in the united states senate. we had a lot of great night talks, often about many issues. but when it came down to martin o'malley, it was always about

the people. it is always about you, mothers and fathers wanting to have their children have a better life. it is always about you. wanted to know that every single day in every single way martin o'malley does think about you. that is why he froze tuition for three years in a row. i would hope you would think that is a big help. but i want you to know there's no doubt in my mind and i hope no doubt in your mind that the governor martin o'malley is always on your side. if you want a governor on your side, who will always be at your side, let's reelect martin o'malley and let's have a big shout out to welcome him to the podium now. [cheers and applause] >> you guys look so good. [cheers and applause]

the osu -- bsu. ford not backed. -- forward not back. [chanting] we are excited to have it president of the united states for obama here with us on this stage. i want to thank president niki burnham and all the students here at bowie state university for hosting us and i want to thank god for the beautiful weather. i also want to thank maryland congressional delegation who worked so hard for all of us. thank you men and women, one and all.

and i want to thank you for everything you are about to do to reelect the hardest working women to the u.s. senate in america, our u.s. senator barbara mikulski. [cheers and applause] and thank you governor and lieutenant brown -- gov. lieutenant brown. [cheers and applause] he is the highest elected official who has served a tour of duty in iraq. we salute you. [cheers and applause] and i thank you for everything that you have done, to move our state for in these difficult times. mr. president, who is about to come on next -- [cheers and applause] we welcome you to the great state of maryland, the original land of the free and the home of

.he brave an in the toughest of times, our president barack obama has given us a very decisive leadership that we needed at a critically important time when our country was about to go into the second great depression, barack obama and his colleagues in the united states congress enacted the recovery and reinvestment act and save us from going into the second great depression as we move forward. [cheers and applause] there are about 15,000 people whose jobs are owed either directly or indirectly here in maryland to that recovery and reinvestment act decision. he continues to move forward. the last fellow took eight years to drive our economy into a ditch. and now they wonder why any mortal human being cannot make it right again in 18 months. i am proud of our president and i am proud of his decisive

leadership. mr. president, we stand with you in maryland. [cheers and applause] he is working hard in every way, bringing a broad band to a recount in our state, bringing our troops home from abroad. barack obama is leading us for were [cheers and applause] . two years ago, barack obama said to america, "yes, we can." mr. president, together, we are creating jobs again in maryland, 33,000 net new jobs this year. it is our best year since the year 2000. we move forward. [cheers and applause] president obama chalice states to raise the top, to give our children a world-class education. maryland competed and we won. mr. president, we are moving forward with our schools thank you to you.

[cheers and applause] we are transforming our economy and we are also in the toughest of times the only state to go four years ago without an increase to college tuition because we move forward and not back. while other states have shoved him vulnerable people of health care rolls, you and i together have extended health care coverage to 203,000 maryland is who did not have it before. half of them are poor children. why is that? because, in maryland, we move forward, not back. we have driven violent crime together with the support of our present and renewed cops grant and law-enforcement grants and grants to prevent violence against women. we have driven crime down to its lowest level since 1975 because we move forward and not back. mr. president, we thank you. we thank you for leading us

forward in this important time and we thank you for coming to maryland in this important battle. we need each and everyone of you. in times of economic change, forces of fear rise up to four suspects. i am running against their former governor who says he is running in order a big maryland back. [boos] what he really means is he wants backwards. back wordand he wants to take us back to the days when he vetoed even a modest increase in the minimum wage. [boos] he wants to take us back to the policies of george bush and his friend to drive the economy into the ditch. [boos] no, in this battle for america's future and in the battle for her children's future, mr. president

knows that we stand with you and we want to move maryland forward. do we not? [cheers and applause] my friends, i still believe in a revolutionary maryland. i still believe as frederick douglass believe that we are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed. i still believe in the republic of lincoln and the community roosevelt. and i believe that our best days are still ahead of us if only maryland will step up, stand with their president, and lead the way. because they can take pac managers say. they can take back virginia. but they cannot take -- because they can take back new jersey. they can take back virginia. but they cannot take back maryland because we are moving toward. [cheers and applause] it is my great honor to present to you the president of united's

states of america barack obama. [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] >> hello, bowie. [cheers and applause] it is good to see you all. [chanting] >> thank you. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] thank you. thank you, bsu. thank you so much. it is good to be back in maryland. it is an honor to be standing here with one of the best governors in the united states america, martin o'malley.

it is great to be with someone who has always had my back, your congressmen and our majority leader steny hoyer. he is in the house. i am proud to be here with your outstanding senator barbara mikulski and ben cardin. some of your outstanding congressman, kris van holland and the ledger comings and don edwards and -- i am proud to be here with lt. gov. anthony brown. anthony [cheers and applause] -- anthony and i went to law school together. he looks younger than me, though. [laughter] he does not have as much gray hair. i want to thank the president of bowie state, nick

burnham. thank you so much for your hospitality. [applause] let me say up front if you words about martin. here's a man who made tough choices in tough times. to move maryland forward. his rock-solid support for public education has made maryland schools the best in america two years in a row. but that is in america. [cheers and applause] it is not the best on the east coast. it is not the best of the mid- atlantic states. it is the best in america. his innovative policies helped drive violent crime down to its lowest level since 1975. his smart leadership helped turn around chesapeake bay. thank you to the decisions he made along with my good friends

in virginia, the blue crab population is up 60% over last year. that is good news to folks who make their living on the day and it is good news for folks who like a good eating. so martin has been a great governor. he has been a great governor for a great state. that is why i hope you are fired up in these last few weeks. [cheers and applause] i hope you are ready to fight for martin so he can keep fighting for you. there is an election coming up that will say a lot about the future. your future and the future of this country. i love you back. [cheers and applause]

but i want to talk about this election now. [laughter] i do love you, though. [laughter] two years ago, you defied the conventional wisdom in washington. you remember. they said you cannot overcome the cynicism of our politics. you cannot overcome the power of the special-interest. you cannot make progress on the big challenges of our time. you cannot elect an african- american with a funny name. they said, no, you can add. >> yes, we can. >> excuse me, what did you say? >> yes, we can. >> you said, yes we can. >> yes, we can. [chanting]

>> here is the thing. here's the trick. i know everybody here remembers the inauguration. it was cold and everybody had a great time and be on sale was sitting in an bonheur and everybody. this was great. -- and beyonce was singing and bono and everybody. this was great. it gave us the chance to make things happen. it made you shareholders in the mission of rebuilding our country and reclaiming our future. i am back today, two years later, because the success of that mission is at stake.

we have a lot at stake right now. on november 2, i will need you just as fired up as you were in 2008. [cheers and applause] i just want to go down to memory lane of the last 20 months so we understand where we have been and what we have to do and where we are going. after that last election, it was my hope that we could pull people together, democrats and republicans. we had to confront the worst economic crisis since the great depression. it was the worst by far in most of our lifetimes. although we are proud to be democrats, we are proud to be americans. we want to bring everybody together. i know there are plenty of republicans who feel the same way in this country. but, unfortunately, when we arrived in washington, the republicans in congress had a

different idea. they knew it would take more than a couple of years to climb out of this unbelievable recession that they had created. they knew that, by the time the midterms rolled around, people would still be out of worked, that people would still be frustrated, and they figured that, if we just sat on the sidelines and opposed every idea, every compromise that i offer, if they spend all their time attacking democrats instead of attacking problems, somehow, they would prosper at the polls. so they spent the last 20 months saying no. even the policies that they supported in the past, no to middle-class tax cuts, no to

help to small businesses, no to a by partisan deficit reduction commission that they had once sponsored. i said yes. they said no. i am pretty sure that if i said the sky was blue, they would say no. if i said there were fish in the sea, they would say no. uc, their calculation was, if obama fails, then we win. [boos] that was their calculation. they might have found that political games would get them through an election, but i knew it would not get america through our crisis. so i made a different choice. instead of playing politics, i took whatever steps were necessary to stop an economic freefall. [cheers and applause]

i did what we needed to do, even if it was not popular, even if it was not easy. because you did not elect me to do what was easy. you did not elect me to spend the day looking at the polls. you elected me to do what was right. that is why you elected me. [cheers and applause] 20 months later, we no longer face the possibility of a second depression. our economy is growing again. the private sector jobs have grown eight months in a row. thank you to martin o'malley is leadership, maryland has been over 33,000 jobs since january, the start of a year since 2000. that was the last time democrats

were in charge. [cheers and applause] there are 3 million americans would not be working today if it were not for the economic plan we put in place. but the truth is we still have a long way to go. we all know that. the whole we were in was so deep. they're still millions of americans without work. there are still millions of families that can barely pay the bills or making mortgage. middle-class families who are struggling even before the crisis hit, they're now just treading water. of course, people are frustrated. people are impatient with the pace of change. they want things to move quicker. i understand that. i am impatient, too. but the other side, they do not have an answer. all they have decided to do is ride that frustration and that anger all the way to the ballot

box. right now, you have pundits saying that the other party supporters are more excited. they are saying they will turn out in higher levels. they say all of you who have worked so hard into thousand eight may not be as pump up, might not be as energized, you might not care as much. you might be willing to let the other folks who love for the economy in shambles go back to washington and go back to annapolis. maryland, i think the pundits are wrong. but it is that you to prove them wrong. do not make me look bad now. [laughter] i am betting on you, not on them. but it is up to you to defy the conventional wisdom. it is up to show the pundits that you care to much to let

this country fall backwards. you want it to keep moving forward. you are ready to fight for our future. so make no mistake. this election is a choice. and that choice cannot be more clear. think about it. this is not as if candidates of the other party were offering new ideas. they did not go and meditate and say, boy, we really messed up. that is not what happened. it is not as if they changed their agenda since the last time when they were in washington. the chairman of one of the campaign committee'ss promised that if republicans took congress, they would follow the exact same agenda as the previous administration. [boos] and we know what that agenda

was. been there, done that. they said that they would cut taxes mostly for millionaires and billionaires. then they will cut regulation for special interests. they will cut back on investments in education and clean energy and research and technology. if we just put a blind face on the market place and let corporations play by their own roles and leave everybody else to fend for themselves. then america will grow and prosper. this young lady said been there, done that. there is a problem with their approach. we tried it and it did not work. it did not work for middle-class families who saw their income fall by 5% when they were in power. middle income fell. do not take my word for it. that is "the wall street journal." everything from health care to

college tuition went up when they were in charge. job growth, when they were in charge, was slower than any time since world war ii. think about that. they were not creating jobs. they went around -- they want to go all around and talk about jobs now? they had eight years. they took a record surplus left by president bill clinton and came back with a record deficit by the time i took office. now they're talking about deficit reduction. we saw what you had to do with the deficit. it did not work. it did not work when there was a free-for-all on wall street. it led to a crisis that we're still dealing with today. i do not want to litigate the past. i just do not want to relive the past. i do not want to go through that

mess again. [cheers and applause] that is the philosophy the other side wants to bring to washington if they win in november. that is the philosophy that morton's opponent espouses. reap -- that martin's opponent espouses. they gave it a new name, the pledge to america. but it is the same thing they have been doing for years. [cheers and applause] the same old stuff. i want everybody to take a look at this pledge to america. they put it out with great fanfare, but nobody is talking about it. let's examine their pledge. for starters, it turns out that

the pledge was actually written in part by a former lobbyist for a id and exxonmobil. for -- for aig and exxonmobil. [boos] they are centerpiece, other big idea is a $700 billion tax cut for the wealthiest 2% of america. [boos] that is their big idea. how many folks make more than two hundred $50,000 a year? a show of hands. -- more than two hundred $50,000 -- more than $250,000 a year? a show of hands. for the rest of you, their ideas

are not much. these are the folks who want to lecture us on fiscal responsibility. they want to borrow $700 billion and then they want to give up tax cuts worth on average of $100,000 to millionaires and billionaires. [boos] when u.s. the more they will get the $7 million, they do not -- when you ask them where they will get the $700 billion, they do not know. i guess they will get it from china. [laughter] when you look at the pledge to america, it turns out they want to cut education by 20%. [boos] that is a cut that would reduce financial aid to 8 million college students, including a whole bunch of college students right here bsu. [boos]

i want to focus on this for a minute. here in maryland, you important al important education is to our economy, how ported to this to our future. martin o'malley knows that, too. his opponent raise college tuition in the state by 40% when he was in charge. this was at a time when the economy was doing better. now, even in the toughest of times, over the last two years, martin o'malley froze state tuition and kept the cost of the school and other state schools affordable for maryland families. thank you to his unprecedented investment in maryland's education, as i said before, you have been ranked the best in public schools the last two years in a row. that is what martin o'malley does. he walks the walk, not just talks the talk. but we cannot maintain this progress if our opponents have

their way. at a time when education of our country's citizens is one of the biggest predictors of economic success, they think is more important to give tax breaks for folks who do not need them and were not asking for them than to invest in our young people. i want to ask my republicans to answer the question. do you think china is cutting back on education right now? do you think south korea is making it harder for its citizens to get a college education? those countries are not playing for second place. guess what, the united states does not play for the second place. we play for first place. [cheers and applause] we make investments in you. as long as i am your present and as long as he martin o'malley as your governor -- as long as i am your president and as long as martin o'malley is your

governor, we will continue to fight for you. [cheers and applause] morton, me -- martin, me, barbara, the rest of these folks, we have an idea of what the next two years should look like and it is rooted in our belief of how this country was built. we know that government does not have the answer to our problems. governments main role was to be giving jobs. thein o'malley has reduced size of government in this state. in the words of the first republican president, abraham lincoln, we understand that government should do for the people that they cannot do

better for themselves. [cheers and applause] i think we may have had some be faint down here. if we have the paramedics, right here up front. everybody is pointing at her appeared they will be all right. you just need to make sure to give them some space. if somebody has a bottle of water, you might want to get it to them. look, we believe in a country that rewards hard work and responsibility. we believe in a country where we look after one another, where we say, "i am my brother's keeper. i am sister's keeper." that is the america i know. that is the country that martin cares about. that is what this election is about. instead of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, we want to make permanent the

tax breaks for middle america because you know deserve a break. instead of tax breaks for companies to ship jobs overseas, we want tax breaks for companies that invest right here in america, american manufacturers and american clean energy companies. i do not want wind turbines and electric cars made in europe and bizeasia. i want the made right here by workers of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> usa! usa! [chanting] >> in stead of cutting education, cutting student aid, we want to make permanent our new college tax credits. it is worth $10,000 in tuition relief for every young person going to four years of college.

that means you, bowie state. we will fight to keep the reforms we made to the student loan system. thank you to those reforms, tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that would have gone to big banks are now going to where they should, to students like you. if the other side wins, they will try their hardest to give free rein back to the insurance companies and the credit card companies and the wall street banks that we're finally holding accountable. we cannot let them do that. we cannot go back to the days of tax payer-funded bailout or where credit card companies can jack up your rights for no reason. we cannot go back to the days when insurance companies could drop your coverage because you're sick. we need to keep employees that says, if you're looking for a job or have one that does not offer you coverage, you should be able to stay on your parent'' policy until your 26 years old.

[cheers and applause] that is the choice in this election. that is what is at stake right now. for maryland, it comes down to this. there are a lot of folks running in the other party, a lot of them are the same people that spent the last decade driving this economy into a ditch. for the last 20 months, me and martin and steny and barbara, all of these folks, we have gone down into the ditch, put on our booths. we were down there where was hot. we were sweating. we are down there pushing, pushing, pushing on the cart. every once in awhile, we look up to see the republicans standing there. they're just standing there fanning themselves. [laughter] sipping on a slippery. [laughter] -- slipping on a slerpy.

[laughter] we said, come on down here and help. they said no. so we just kept pushing. finally, we got the card on level ground. [cheers and applause] this cart is a little beat up. because they drove it into the ditch. it has some dense and it needs a tuneup, but it is -- it has some dents and it needs a tuneup, but it is planning in the right direction. we look to the future and look over our shoulder and what we see? it is the republicans. they say, "we want the keys back." and we said, "you cannot have the keys that because you do not know how to drive." we will give you a ride if you

want. but you have to sit in the back seat. [cheers and applause] we will take you to prosperity, but you have to sit in the backseat. because you do not know how to drive. have you ever noticed, when you get into your car, what you do? d.u put it in t when you want to go backwards, what you do? you put in r. that is no coincidence. [cheers and applause] but it is up to you to make sure they do not get the keys back. the other side sees a chance to get back in the driver's seat. by the way, thank you to a recent supreme court decision, they are being helped this year like we have never seen before by special interest groups that

are spending a limited amounts of money on the attack ads. they do not disclose who are behind them because of the supreme court law. they do not have to disclose who is behind it. it could be the oil companies, the insurance industry, wall street. you do not know. the floodgates are open. almost everyone of these independent organizations is run by republican operatives. they are posing as a nonprofit, non-political groups. they have names like "americans for prosperity" or "the committee for truth in politics " or "bonds for motherhood." [laughter] actually, that last one i made up. [laughter] there was a recent report that, in recent weeks, conservative groups like this have outspent

democratic groups 7-1. there is another one here they got a little hot. let him sit down. do we have another bottle of water? if we could get another bottle of water up here and a medic appear? -- a medic up here? [cheers and applause] next time you guys come out here, make sure you drink something and it's something before you are standing here, especially when you have a bunch of politicians talking. [laughter] but i want you to understand this because this is important. it is estimated that democratic groups are being outspent 7-1. in the indiana senate race, it is nearly six-one. in a house race there, a conservative group has spent nearly as much as both parties combined. in colorado, they are

outspending the democratic party nearly two-one. in missouri, republican senate committee has not spent a dime, but outside groups have dropped $2 million of negative ads to help the republican candidate. just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations. [boos] so groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence american elections. and they will not tell you where the money comes from. so this is not just a threat to democrats. all republicans should be concerned. all independents should be concerned. this is a threat to our democracy. american citizens should know who is trying to sway their elections. [cheers and applause] if we just stand by and allow the special interests to silence anybody who has the guts to stand up to them, our country is

going to be a very different place. here is the bottom line. we will need to work even harder in this election. we will need to fight their millions of dollars with millions of voices. everybody here who is ready to finish what we started in 2008, if everybody's who fought in 2008 shows up on november 2, i am confident we will win. [cheers and applause] what the other side is counting on is that, this time around, you will stay home. they are counting on your silence. they are counting on in asia. they are counting on your apathy, especially young people. they do not think that you will come out and vote.

they're thinking, obama is not on the ballot. they will not come out and vote. maryland, you have to show them .rong sho show washington one more time. change happens from the bottom up. change happens because of you. i know times are tough. and i know we are a long way from the hope and excitement we had election night and all inauguration day. we knew it would be hard. i said it was going to be hard. change has always been hard. from the first days of our nation, every time the americans tried to bring about real meaningful change, we faced setbacks and disappointments. from the founding of this country -- george washington experienced setbacks. we have had to face fear and

doubt. harriet tubman had fear and doubt. but, as americans, we have always move forward. we have always kept fighting. we have always remember that, in the united states of america, our destiny is not written for us. it is written by as. that is how we got through war. that is how we got through depression. that is what civil rights workers understood. that is why we have women's rights and workers' rights. that is what is being tested right now. [cheers and applause] and if we have the courage to keep moving toward, even in the face of difficulty. even in the face of uncertainty, i guarantee you, if all of you are out there knocking on doors and making phone calls and voting for martin o'malley and barbara mikulski and the rest of the democratic ticket, then we will not just win this election. we will make sure that the american dream is alive and well for future generations. thank you, everybody.

god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪

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>> some campaign used -- made whitman, the california republican candidate for governor has spent a record number of money on her campaign so far. the former ebay ceo spent $19 million of her own money in the race. former gov. jerry brown has spent about $11 million. he did not face any serious primary challenger. now we will talk with someone with the public policy advocacy group moveon.org.

director. ms. hoeing -- ms. ho combmbings ue, where is moveon targeting specific races? guest: well, what we've seen our members real focused on is trying to turn this political climate that do senators and that do representatives who have been there fighting their good fight to pass legislation are not the ones that suffer so we've got a short list of what we call our progressive heroes which are the folks that if everything else goes wrong we want to make sure we have their back because they've been there for us. but broadly we are very focus on the ground game. we know that that's the way that progressives and democrats can win in 2010 and making sure that we retain speakership in the house and majority in the senate. host: so who are your heroes in the senate that you are working

for? senator feingold? guest: senator feingold and senator boxer, the ones our members voted on. host: i believe that it was "the hill" that senator feingold has refused outside money. has he refused your $5,000? guest: no, those are direct small donor funds for him. he has not refused it nor should he because these are american voters giving at rates at $25 and $30. my understanding is historically senator feingold has refused outside ad spending as he -- well he should. host: moveon.org was all over the news in 2008 and 2006. we haven't heard that much about you this year.

is it because in your view the tea parties have sucked a lot of the media oxygen away from the moveons or has your fundraising and enthusiasm been down? guest: no, actually we're seeing exactly the same kind of rates of our members willing to get engaged and give money as we did in 2006, our presidential election years are always a bit higher. i think what we've seen is the rise of noisy minority who has certainly, you know, been screaming pretty loud in opposition to everything that's happening in washington. our members have been working in the past two years to help pass progressive legislation, to help get the health care bill passed and the financial regulations bill. host: one in "the wall street journal" in his column is the headline "obama pulls down his party" and he goes through a couple specific races. russ feingold down by eight or

nine points in most polling. michael bennett, senator benett down in colorado. are you facing the same types with your other progressive heroes? guest: well, i think what we're seeing right now is certainly our members and other members of the progressive base actually reckoning with the fact that now that we've seen what it looks like to have control of both chambers of congress to have control of the white house, there's some problems that run deeper than others. i know "the washington post" had a huge issue this morning about lobbying. core americans are very put off, alienated by the idea that lobbyists run washington. and that's a problem that predates obama but it hasn't gone away. what we're seeing is around the country progressives willing to engage in races where those elected representatives fought that fight and are fighting to

stand up to corporate interests, are fighting to reform government. so it actually works for middle-class america again. host: did the citizens united case help or hurt moveon.org as an outside group? guest: well, i mean, i think it hurts our democracy. quite honestly. question are an independent pack. we cannot take donations over $5,000 from any single individual. we only have a handful of those. and we disclose with the s.e.c. any donor over $5,000. what we've seen with citizens united is our dollars don't go as far because we have people like the coke brothers able to come in and pour billions -- well, millions into an election when the outside, right-wing outside front groups are intending on spending $400 million, the couple million that we plan to spend doesn't go as far in the air war. i think it's a huge mistake to measure enthusiasm based on who can buy more ads because that's

like saying democracy's for sale to the highest bidder. host: ilyse hogue is our guest. she's with moveon.org. she's the political advocacy director, communications director. 202 is the area code. talking about progressives and 2010. 202-737-0001 for republicans. 202-737-0002 for democrats. and 202-628-0205 for all others. sorry about that. allow 30 days between your calls. you can send a tweet, twitter.com/cspanwj. sarah in tucson, arizona, on our democrats' line. you are first up with ilyse hogue. caller: hi. i'm actually a moveon member. i have been a moveon member for a few years. i really appreciate moveon, what it does. you really care about equality. you deserve equal rights.

i just really appreciate that. my question for you actually ties into the last segment because i'm so disgusted by people that use religion to hate. i just want to know what you think about margie phelps and people who use religion and use politics and use the laws to hate orse. host: ilyse. guest: i want to thank you for hearing from you guys. i couldn't agree more. i mean, i think that one of the things that makes our country great is that all speech is protected and at the same time there is a necessary -- in order to live in a civil society we have to have the ability to actually respond to our communities around this one. they're saying what you're doing no matter how legal it is is destructive to the fabric of our community and we really don't want to have it. host: you have an ad playing up

in new hampshire where there's a senate race going on. we want to show that ad and tell us why this ad is being put out. >> you can judge a person by the company they keep. well, senate candidate kelly is getting $1 million worth of help from the chamber of congress, a group recently accused of tax fraud for diverting money meant for charity toward their partisan agenda. tax breaks for the wealthy, denying americans better health care and cutting jobs for tichers and first responders all to benefit their millionaires friends on wall street. if kelly is on their side, do you think she'd be on yours? >> not responsible for the content of this advertisement. >> we actually ran that ad a couple weeks ago but we had no idea at the time how impressionate it may be. a report has come out in the last two days that shows that not only has the chamber lobbied for corporate tax breaks to ship jobs overseas but in fact now it appears they've been taking money from

foreign corporations and foreign governments and potentially funding their $75 million of attack adess against people like russ feingold and in fact not only is that not un-american and the kind of activity we're seeing in the wake of citizens united that's so disruptive to our democracy but in fact it may be illegal. so the purpose of this ad was and will continue to be that if candidates like kelly ayotte or ron johnson or any of the other beneficiaries of the largess of the chamber are willing to accept that help to win the election, who are these folks going to owe their votes to? we see more corporate tax breaks and more jobs overseas and to benefit the economies of the foreign corporations giving money to the chamber. it is not good for our democracy. it's not good for the american middle class. host: well, another ad by representative joe wilson, republican of south carolina, who's running for re-election, that discusses moveon.org.

here's his ad. >> i'm joe wilson and i approve this message. >> i'm major general joe livingston, when i hear what moveon.org said about general petraeus, my blood is going. as a fellow marine, i hope that rob miller will do the right thing and return that money. that is what courage and honor are all about. guest: yeah. it's fascinating to me. i know there has been lots of disagreement about that headline historically, but the idea that somebody wants to bring up a three-year-old ad when we're facing unprecedented unemployment in our generation, when people are worried about how they're going to pay their electricity bill at the end of the month, i just don't think it's ever been -- it's never been a winning strategy. and certainly not now when most americans really want to hear

how their lives are going to get better. host: was there a debate within moveon.org about using that headline in your ad? guest: i think -- of course, retroactively, i think there is debates everywhere. but, you know, we do think while reasonable people can certainly disagree with the headline, the point was, still an incredibly important one to make and it opened up what we were doing in iraq. host: and next call from north carolina. republican line. caller: good morning. i'd just like to say that i don't think everybody out here is enthusiastic about the progressives and i think we can see what the progressives being in charge have done for this country. and i believe that she said the noisy majority. i believe the noisy minority will become the noisy majority

at election time this year. i have looked on moveon.org's fage and i believe that any involvement with moveon.org has contributed to the downfall in our educational system. they do not stand for what this country was founded on. and if i see anybody that's associated with moveon.org i certainly wouldn't vote for them. thank you. host: ms. hogue. guest: we do not have any association with the n.e.a. or than being allies in the progressive movement. i don't disagree with the caller that voters are angry. i think what's incumbent upon voters right now is to recognize that what we are facing is actually the culmination of 20 years of corporate influence in washington. bush-cheney had an open-door policy for the oil companies. that is what resulted in the

b.p. spill is their ability to cut corners and cut safety regulations. that the wall street implotion did not happen overnight. it was the result of a dismantling of safety regulations for consumers that we got to reinstate. you know, i understand that's not happening as fast as some people want but we did actually pass some comprehensive regulatory reform bill that we've seen in decades and so we have more to do. certainly there are some democrats in congress that are culpable of being too close to lobbyists and we need to call them out. that's what moveon did against our primaries against lance lincoln and against steven lynch up in boston. but what we do know is that republican rule is part of what got us into this problem. and that we will see the sort of complete merger of the republican party and the corporate interests that have penned $400 million that got them elected which will not be

good for the middle class. host: well, you brought up the arkansas situation. blanche lincoln is down 10 to 15 points to congressman boozeman. is that your goal? i mean, it looks in that case that a republican's going to get elected. guest: certainly looked that way even before the primary was mounted. it did not appear that senator lincoln had a chance to win and, in fact, americans for job security, which is exactly one of these post-citizens united agreed. for the first time ever they ran an ad in a democratic primary against bill holtzer because they saw the writing on the hall, they know if he won he would have a better chance of taking that race and keeping that seat for democrats than lincoln had. it's unfortunate but that's what progressives were trying to avoid by helping holter win the nomination. host: university farc,

illinois. democrat. guest: good morning, ms. -- caller: good morning, ms. hogue. guest: good morning. caller: i want to make a statement. the right-ring fanatics want to bring up religion, i wish a statement can be made that, how can anyone tell a grown person, whether they are religious or not, who he or she cannot marry? how can they have a right to tell a grown person who he or she cannot marry? and not only use religion -- why don't they adhere to those things, not simply the ones that talk about homosexuality? host: what about the issue of same-sex marriage, is that an issue important to your membership? guest: yeah, it stands firmly behind the idea that civil rights are fundamentally

american and should be extended to every single american. . except when it comes to their idea of what a morally just one is. i grew up in texas. i am a texan. host: how did you get involved in politics? guest: i started getting involved in politics generally straight out of college purin austin, texas. it was an early introduction. i was working on a local clean water initiative. and what we saw on is that the

large development container was actually a subsidiary of one of the largest chemical and real- estate companies in the world. i learned very early the danger of allowing corporate interest to interfere. if undercut what local citizens want their life to be like. host: the next call comes from virginia, on the republican line. caller: the the morning, and thank god for free-speech. it has been a great morning. and a quick question -- what is it like to work for george soros? can you give us some reflection on his character? we get a lot of biased reporting, but you know better than most. if you could let some of us know what type of man he is?

guest: i never met him, but he did support move on for a short time in the to doesn't solar -- since 2004, of their records show that we did not receive support from him since that time. host: it has been reported that george soros has really cut down on his contributions to progressive groups of this era. guest: the big story was that he was staying out of the election. that he is continuing to fund work along the lines of what he is focused on, which i think is clean energy. and some of that type of stuff. host: but concerning the enthusiasm level on the progressive side? guest: i have had the case may.

i think the article not only decided it -- traditionally a large donor -- i think hoping to sit this one now. i think that falls into the same trap of measuring enthusiasm dollar per dollar, which we think is not only bad analysis, but not really the democratic way to measure it. when we have 5 million members getting involved, when we have people even in times of economic struggle still giving $20 or $25 because that is what they can afford, that is significant. it is significant enthusiasm. a shows that the middle class in america, not necessarily those who can afford to give millions at a time, but the middle class know exactly what is at stake. they are giving $25 when they can scarcely afford it.

because they recognize in order to provide jobs for the middle- class and to stabilize the economy, we need to maintain democratic majority and a congress. the republicans will only work for their corporate millionaire friends. host: the next phone call comes from des moines. caller: your conversation about george soros got me thinking about another question. could c-span do a little homework and report back to us about how much money you think he has donated to the liberal, progressive, and democratic candidates and causes since the beginning of say 2000? host: there several groups out there who have that information. the center for responsive politics. you can go to their website, and also the son might foundation. the fcc records.

guest: there is a blog post -- from zero beensecrets.com just outlined what george soros has given. caller: hello, i wanted to tell you that i live in a small town in arkansas. as far as many of us are concerned, moveon.org lost all credibility when they went against john kerry and what about all those negative ads about how his medals and service to the u.s. was no good because of one medal. they took a bonafide euro and turned him into nothing. host: juanita, hold on. guest: that was a right wing

hate group. it was ed gillespie who is now defending some groups we see doing attack ads now. no, we were very supportive of john kerry and members bet lots of time tried to help him get elected. host: does that help? caller: it does in some way, but moveon.org did support that. host: i have to call you out on that one -- is 100% inaccurate. they were not on the side. what is your next point? caller: if blanche lincoln does not become, does not get reelected, it will be because of her vote that she made on the obama health care. host: who did you support in the

primary? caller: which primary? host: in your democratic senatorial primary. caller: i supported blanche lincoln. guest: we believe part of the problem with blanche lincoln was she spent so much time fighting the good fight for the health insurance companies and watering down the health insurance legislation that people saw her as a leader of making the bill in effect. lots of news has come out showing that americans who are healthcare voters, 3-1, support the democrats. host: there is a report that the tea party movement has energized democrats? guest: it is probably true. first of all, we're just getting closer to the election. and when they look around, it

they see some pretty seriously stark options. there is an enormous fight in the republican party about the tea party that advocates extreme views on social issues for most americans want to maintain control of their own lives. then you have republican leadership that is in lockstep with corporate america, with the chamber of commerce, with americans for prosperity which are the oil and gas billionaires'. as the choices come into focus and become more stark, it is not just progressive, but all of the voters who are saying that they need to start paying attention and be sad. when they look around, it is scary. they think they ought to get involved and do their part. host: the next call comes from ohio. caller: i find it fascinating

that she was willing to give barack obama and his -- in these 20 months, and moveon.org just obliterated in the first few days -- they were very angry at george bush on a regular basis. i believe there were not willing to give him a chance because i think they believed he was driving us into a ditch. ideology tends not only to drive the tea party the net but also liberal groups such as moveon.org but i honestly believe that moveon.org as more of a do-gooder group that tends to want to do good but nothing but bad tends to come from it. host: ilyse hogue?

guest: i think it is not done true that we were very concerned when george bush got elected that he would take the country in the wrong direction. and i think that many americans would agree that our deficit, and our involvement in two wars -- now think that joe stiglitz has said have cost as $6 trillion while the economy at home suffers. that was the wrong choice for our country. we stand with members in saying that it was. the last 20 months have been interesting. there have been times where we have disagreed with this administration and have not shied away from telling them. but overall we have made progress on that our members' core concerns with healthcare, and reining in wall street, and making sure the middle class america has a fair chance. host: coming up in five minutes,

ambassador ryan crocker --the ninth anniversary of the afghanistan war. caller: good morning. i need to make two points. first of all, i am flabbergasted at america. you know what? if people think two party candi- there's no way they're going to washington. their genders will be pushed. all those representatives and senators who have been there a long time -- it does not work like that. because you have an agenda -- you all are really being fooled if you think that they're going up there with the idea that they would change washington. president obama, he went.

and i know that he thought lots of things would change. got in saw that when he di there, things he could not accomplish right away. guest: i think that the caller is correct -- change takes a long time. especially when people are right to a culture in washington that has developed over decades that says that lobbies deal every day and deals are cut in the back rooms. it is that dynamic that alienates many voters. we need more people wanting to come and change things. we need more people wanted to stand up to corporate interests , and work for their constituents to rebuild the middle class. that may not happen in the next two years, but if we don't keep bringing them to washington, we will never restore the credibility and confidence.

host: what is your biggest fear about the election 2010? guest: that it will turn more voters off. democracy is a marathon, not a sprint. my hope is that we see some people who have been calling out the culture of corruption in the washington, d.c. get rewarded and be elected to congress. host: tennessee, judy, a republican. caller: how about the million dollars that bp which is british petroleum gave to obama and oprah, and warren buffett, and george soros, and all the unions? now it is time they take credit for the money that they gave when they're talking about other people being able to done it. we all ought to have equal rights to the no, not just rich democrats. an article said that obama is tied to western.

he is getting money from everywhere. this commission on debt -- he is tied to wall street, and this article. he said that the president only zero points commissions, when he is too cowardly to make decisions. doesn't he have 17 commissions going on now? guest: she is correct that the culture of corruption extends across both parties. we have seen president obama limit lobbyist contributions more than any president. but we still have a long way to go. host: the last call comes from virginia, tim. caller: thanks. i wanted to make a comment on what i think is driving some of these more vocal movements, such as the tea party. and how that mindset can be

given to reactions against the more extremist-type movements. think there is a certain amount of emotional response. the people who are speaking in appealing to the people are able to tap into. sometimes that emotional response is devoid of rational thinking. on the other side, the rational people who are hearing what your guest is saying really need to listen to her. and tap into the rational side, and moved to action. host: we are out of time and will have to leave it there. guest: i think he just gave me a nice compliment. but what we want is for everyone to get involved in the

elections. democracy works best when all americans are involved. take it back from the highest bidder -- the corporations. go to movoveon.org and [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tomorrow nights, the first wisconsin a debate between candidates. the debate is being hosted by the wisconsin broadcasters association. >> we provide coverage of politics, public affairs, and nonfiction books and american history. it is all available to you online and on social media networking sites find our

continent any time to the c-span video library. we take c-span on the road with our local content vehicle. it is washington your way. is now available in more than 100 million homes. for >> now carl levin brings the committee report. this is 30 minutes. >> this is the result of a bipartisan yearlong senate armed services committee. it describes a number of private security contractors.

they are linked to murder, kidnapping, bribery and i coalition activities. it describes the failures of some security contractors to adequately that, train, and a equip their employees. it discusses personnel using drugs, and being issued and serviceable weapons and living there guard posts unmans. our reliance has all too often empowered -- quite the meeting is being recorded. >> let me start over again.

there is some evidence that they've worked against our coalition forces, creating the very threat that they are hired to combat. these contractors threatened the security of our troops and risked the success of our mission. that is the assessment and that the commander of regional command shared me when i visited afghanistan. according to the division, there were 26,000 private security contractor personnel operating in afghanistan on u.s. government. almost all of those personnel

are afghans and armed. the investigation was bipartisan. owlet to thank his staff for their work. the support -- report that we are releasing today includes an extensive discussion of two department of defense security contracts. the first is the air force contract that began in the spring of 2007 and was performed at the airbase by private security company. they are a subsidiary of a

british company called g4s. investigation revealed that a revised on a series of war lords to provide men for the guard force. the company called those warlords mr. pink, mr. white, mr. white 2 -- they were given from a reservoir dogs movie. they provided guards for farminfarmer group sister compa. they were implicated in murder and bribery. they were found to this as large amount of ammunition.

they were in league with the talent them. mr. white 2 5 was actually killed in an aug. 2008 raid by u.s. and afghan forces on the caliban meeting. this is someone new has been paid with u.s. taxpayer dollars. the second contract discussed was performed by a company called eod technology. eodt is registered as a foreign corporation in tennessee. they relied on powerbrokers to supply men for their force. those men included the following.

one individual said it played both sides. it is both suspected of being an agent of a hostile foreign government and has been involved in killing, including interpreters working with the u.s. military. a second individual said they recruited personnel from the telegram. there were also identified as a foreign government. we must shut off the spigot of u.s. dollars flowing into the pockets of war lords and power brokers who act contrary to our interests and to contribute to the correction and weakened the support of the afghan people. in addition, they look at

documents associated with more than 125 other department of defense security contracts. they are conducting weapons training. we uncovered evidence of a security company owner and arrested for ties to say terrorists organization. we made many conclusions. these are in our report. the proliferation of private security personnel and afghanistan is inconsistent with a counter insurgency strategy.

conclusion number two, these are the formal conclusions of our committee. afghan war lords operating as providers to security contractors have acted against u.s. and afghan government interest. the adequately that comet train, and supervise a armed security personnel. these are not abstract issues. bay of of the security of our own troops as low as the success of our mission. in february of this year, a squad of u.s. marines were out on parole.

it came under fire, killing a young marine lance corporal. once is the the marines detained the men who fired at them. it turned out to be a security guard working for an afghan company. they later said they had not been trained to use their weapons. one said he and not even fired a rifle since the 1980's when the russians occupied afghanistan. tragically, and they were working for a u.s. military contract. it is not a risk that any of us are willing to take. in july, my staff agreed to the investigations findings to the task forces for them they have

been charged with looking into practices the run contrasts. we sent the draft report to the department of defense in july. we are very grateful to secretary gates for their support the route this investigation. it tells the department of defense understand the nature of the problems associated with contracting in afghanistan. to their credit, our military leaders are working hard to get a handle on contacting.

the department has taken some important steps back toward addressing some of these problems. the task forces are up and running. general petraeus issued guidance on the use of contractors and other steps such urbane taken by the department of defense that are outlined in the october -- october 5 letter to me. it is critical that not only our department and their commanders take action that the government take action. president karzai has called it an impediment to the growth of afghanistan's police force. in recent days we have seen reports that president karzai

has begun to move to dispense and security firms. i would caution the what we need is a realistic plan not just a phase of security contractors but to integrate the thousands of armed men who work for them after their being vetted into the afghan security forces. we do not want to leave thousands of unemployed armed men out on the street. i want to emphasize a point which had been raised by some. most of the contractors that work for the united states and coalition governments are honest, hard-working people that support the mission and what our effort to succeed. investigation clearly

demonstrates that we need to change the way we do business to make sure that those of the honest people who want our the people we've want to work with. we were talking about arms security contractors. it states that militias operating outside the host nation "can often be obstacles to ending a long-term threat to law and order." when he lives in command, he told our committee that private security contractors r. "just not right for a country that is

growing. general petraeus has cautioned that when we spent on attracting funds quickly and with in physician oversight it is likely that some of the funds will and intentionally fuel corruption, finance and surgeons, strengthen criminal patroness networks and undermine our efforts in afghanistan. our investigation turned of strong evidence to thesupport that. the success of our mission depends on us facing this problem and fixing it promptly. contacting has to be the

business. it cannot be left to lower level personnel. this is something which will make it more difficult for us to succeed which is a strategic and tragic mistake in needs to be corrected. our commanders in the field knows that. caretaking strong steps to change this situation. general petraeus has issued a directive that will make a major change in this situation so we will no longer be using taxpayer funds to pay for contractors to do now veett their personnel properly.

this is a matter of tremendous importance to the success of our mission. i am very grateful to secretary cape spread them -- secretary gates. they have worked with us and been totally cooperative and supportive. when we briefed the task forces, they indicated our work is going to be a great assistance to them. the folks we have talked to are very appreciative of our work. we laid out various ways in unintentionallys

play into the hands of our enemy. that is what this report is aimed at stopping. i will not open it up to questions. >> is your goal to change the process in which these people are hired? is it to reduce the numbers? >> my guess is that they agree with you but it is not practical. is it possible to do what the united states is doing in afghanistan without the contractors? >> there are many to many. i think secretary gates knows that. we have to change the way in which they are hired. both things need to have them. they need to provide security. they are part of a group that is

coordinated by a, overseen by the end directed by authorities. it cannot be running around loose. we have got to shift from the use of people who are basically working at the suggestion of are recommended by strong men and private personnel. we have got to shift into the control of either legitimate contractors or the afghan government. we have to move them. do you need security? of course. you cannot have security that produces in security. that is what has happened. we've got to reduce the number of privately organized and recommended personnel to

undermine our own mission by sloppiness in addition to reducing the numbers. we have to vett them properly. >> what do you plan to do? are you going to hold hearings? is anything legislatively can do? >> we are working with the dod. they are supportive of what we are doing. they are determined. he sees this as a major problem. private security guards had to be under the control of the afghan government. we are working now with the

department of defense. we have read to them. we have reached the task force on this material. not just our findings but in terms of the detail. it gives examples of how private security forces have undermined our mission so they can try to address the specific types of problems which exist. >> this is a private protection racket. people get paid to reduce the attacks. if you disrupt that the impact of these warlords, do not you chris making security worse? >>. do not you risk making security

worse? >> they had huge risks that are unacceptable. the question is, how the reduce that risk? the decision as to whether not to utilize a warlord has got to be made at the highest level. it cannot be made casually by some lower in the chain of command. there will be times when our top-level people are going to want to take some risks and utilize people that are not ideal but which are the best that we can do. that decision cannot be made casually. it cannot be made at a low level. if that decision is made, it has

to be made by somebody who is at a top command position. >> i feel like it is deja vu all over again. you said the correction in the front in criminal activity was rampant. he moved to correct that. why has that not been overlain on this situation? why are we seeing it recurs again? >> this is afghanistan. they face different types of situations then they faced in iraq. that is a short answer.

the remedies will be different country to country. they may be different province to province. >> how much responsibility do you think congress has in this role in terms of pressing for quick results in afghanistan? >> the pressure that we are putting on -- when you say congress i do not know who you are speaking of -- i believe strongly that the president's decision to have a time to begin to reduce our troops is a vitally important decision. it is the right decision i happen to support that position. i does give a speech on that the

other day. it is on my web site if you want reasons on why if my think that is important. i am not sure if that is the time line the you are referring to. there may be some who want to get out of afghanistan. >> on the u.s. forces to move quickly to bank progress quickly in which case that may encourage it. >> it is internal. it is not congressional pressure. i am not sure it the desire to succeed as quickly as he can is something that congress composes.

if you are talking specifically about setting that date by the president to begin reduction of forces, and one not go into that. >> have you briefed the findings of this report to the department of state? are you aware that it has been selected to be part of the worldwide services contract. >> fishing port has been briefed to the department of defense and has been shared by them. >> do you think it is appropriate for them to hold the contracts? >> i've been that is a decision that has to be made after looking at all of the evidence relating to their subcontractors. that evidence can be described by my staff rather than by me.

that gets into the kind of detail they should consider. >> pang people who shoot at us seems like a serious scandal. do you think anyone should be held accountable? >> you think someone should be held accountable? i think those during illegal activity should be held accountable. >> this is second time at least in afghanistan that they have been engaged in activity that has undermined it. should they be allowed to withhold another contract? >> i think the prior activity

should be considered by contracting officers as to whether they are not give this. i would be highly skeptical of giving contracts to companies of either been negligent are reckless in terms of who they hire to do their work. i went the skeptical of any contract that had engaged in carrying out its previous contract.

the animation that is essential to that decision is laid out in this report. >> this risk is going on today. you talk about contracts and 2008 in 2009. the risk to our strategy is going on right now. >> there are contracts that are still under way. there are contract about to be awarded. if awarded, the people who will not implement a contract with continue to risk. there contracts that are

being implemented today. the risk exists today. it is also important to emphasize the commanders. they are dissatisfied our commanders in the department are dissatisfied. i spoke with general petraeus. he is committed to changeing the status quo and afghanistan. i have a lot of confidence for the a.m.m seuss do what they say they will do. i appreciate their acceptance of

what we have done here. there are some agencies and people that might resist this kind of report. they had taken on the responsibility themselves. these contracts if there given to people who do not implement them properly craig drove risks for our mission and troops. i will put my confidence into secretary gates in general petraeus to do what they say they are going to do.

>> then checked with the government of afghanistan. >> have these findings been shared? >> i am not sure who all they have shared it with. i'm sure it'll be by them or by s. burda -- aus them are. by >> our campaign coverage continues. when a moment from a debate for ohio's governor. after that, a third governors'

debate. this one is from the state of georgia. >> tomorrow morning on "watch, intend"journal -- on "washington journal" bob woodward talks about his book. mark calabria discusses reports a mortgage. legatees. -- part of a mortgage irregularities. they hosted a discussion on ways to protect children's privacy online. live coverage tomorrow at 10:00 eastern on c-span. >> most generals have grain is on the battlefield.

arguably, it is as much as what he did between battles. >> sunday, part two of our interview with ron on his biography. it is the first large-scale single volume of our president. >> these politicians who left a legacy of debt are still in denial about the disaster they created. . .

a special presentation, this is 2010 debate sponsored by the ohio youth paper organization, coalition of eight newspapers in ohio. live at the university of toledo. here is your moderator.

let's meet your candidates and welcome ted strickland, current governor of ohio, former member of the u.s. house of representatives. governor, good to have you back in northwest ohio. and we welcome in the republican candidate of governor, john kasich. before we get started tonight and a sincere thank you to the ohio newspaper organization for putting this all together. some of the members are serving as panelists as we come to you live from the university of toledo and we are familiar with jim. gail is here. and on the panel tonight in asking questions qu is dennis and michael douglas, there are many but we have the important

one. each candidate and their staff have agreed to the rules and regulations. let's review those briefly and let's get into it. we will begin with a three-minute opening statement. candidates will have 90 seconds to answer the question toward the end of our hour together, we have set aside time and each candidate will be allowed a two-minute closing statement. governor strickland will go first and time now to start with our opening statements.

ohio and america has been hit hard by a national recession that was not made of our own making caused by two things, mismanagement in the washington d.c. and mismanagement in wall street. i have moved our state forward and this is what i have done. i balanced two budgets while cutting taxes. we have cut the state income 17% since 2005. most of that since i have been governor. we have given senior citizens who own homes in ohio a large property tax cut by expanding the homestead exemption. let me say that as a state senator, my opponent tried to eliminate the state -- homestead exemption by co-sponsoring legislation that would have raised taxes on ohio seniors. i have been trying to cut taxes on seniors. he tried to raise taxes on

seniors. but we have done other things. we have invested in energy. ohio has a major energy initiative. we will have the largest solar farm beast east of the -- built east of the rocky mountains. the solar industry and biofuel industries are exploding in ohio and jobs are being created as a result. but we have frozen college television and invested in -- tuition and invested in k.-12 education and the federal reserve out of pittsburgh says we have the sixth growing state in america. my opponent has a record. he was a congressman. he was a wall street congressman because as a congressman he voted for nafta and give china special trade status, sending thousands and thousands of jobs out of ohio, he tried to

privatize social security. why did he want to do that? wall street wanted him to. when he left congress, they rewarded him with a big job on wall street. representing the largest bankruptcy in american history. thousands of people of ohio lost their life savings as a result of lehman and any opponent walked away with a $400,000. this is a choice between two people and two value systems. wall street value systems which believes in outsourcing our jobs. ohio values which believes in pulling together to work together to build this state for the common good. >> thank you very much. mr. kasich, time for an opening statement from you. >> i traveled a -- throughout

the state and i talked to a lot of people and some downright scared. over the last four years since ted strickland has been governor, there are 41 states that have outperformed us. we are the 4 nd state in ohio. we have rising poverty and homelessness and we also have had rising taxes. i was in washington, ladies and gentlemen and i spent 10 years of my life fighting to balance the federal budget. you know why? don't put things off for tomorrow that you need to do today and do not mortgage your children's future because you are going to be selfish. if we can make government more effective and reduce taxes and return power back to the states i believe we could create economic prosperity. in 1995, i became the chairman of the budget committee and i

have been building a team and continue to build a team to balance that federal budget. then the day finally arrived in 1997, building that team and becoming the chief architect of the balanced budget proposal, we were able to balance the budget for the first time and paid down half a trillion of the federal national debt. we also cut taxes on risk taking, investment and drug creation and we helped families and went from trillions in the hole to trillions in the black and we were creating jobs. america's economy was never ever stronger. i have been left and took 10 years out and understand why people are nervous about politicians. fortunately i have a record of what i was able to do to bring prosperity to this state, not to talk about it down the road but actually do it. i have returned to public life for this reason, if we can make

government more effective and efficient and if we can reduce taxes to make this state more competitive and take the six-foot pile of codes and regulations that hamper and strangle our small business people, we could be more successful. if we can train for 21st century jobs, we can get it done. the small business community has endorsed john kasich and mary taylor. they said kasich is the man we need to move us. shrinking government, cutting taxes, returning power to local people, making the regulatory environment pro-growth, retraining our people, that's a big part of the ticket. i need your help to be governor and then to join my team to restore the greatness of our

state. >> we now start the question portion of our debate. i have the honor tonight of asking the first question. a coin toss determined who will receive that question and the question goes to you mr. kasich. we are here in toledo. we are proud that we have emerged as a leader in the solar industry and this school is a large part of that, an industry working hard to secure standards requiring utilities to find a quart of their power from renewable and advanced sources by 2025. what is it i have heard recently, would you preserve that standard if elected governor? >> the one thing you don't want government to impose mandates that can result in higher utility costs for our citizens and you don't want to put the businesses in a position where they cannot be competitive. you read "the toledo blade" and

lost 15 factories to indiana, maryland, tennessee, because we were not competitive. alternative energy, it's fantastic and one of the things we ought to do and university of toledo deserves credit for the effort they have made and we are thrilled about first solar. ohio needs not just one industry and one focus on an industry that is relatively small, we need a portfolio of businesses and strengthen manufacturing and leader in america in advanced manufacturing. we need to push information technology. we need to push financial services. we need to be in a position to work with the university of toledo and so many of the fine schools around this state to promote development in medical technology. we need to promote agriculture. it's a portfolio of businesses, because the people of ohio are diverse, we have to have a diverse economy. so if we have trouble in one area, we are not in a position

where the ship gets sunk. we have stood still. these industries is for a diverse ohio. >> identifying the core strengths of the major cities of our state and investing in those core strengths. but energy is one of those core strengths and we were happy to make this region the solar hub. the fact is that my opponent did say he would consider getting rid of the standard, the 25 by 25 standard that is resulting in massive investments being made in ohio. as i said in my opening statement, we just announced this week that we're going to be building in ohio the largest solar farm east of the rocky mountains. it will create 600 jobs in ohio. we are going to be the first state to deploy wind out in lake

eerie. six turbines have been ordered from ge that will lead to a massive wind farm out in lake erie. and here in ohio, we are seeing the solar industry provide jobs. when the congressman implied that he would consider getting rid of this standard, he obviously did not know that we have a cap, 3% cap that will keep costs from exploding. but he ought to know what he's talking about before he makes a statement about something as important as the wind and the energy, the solar policy that we have in our state. >> you have lost 397,000 jobs since you have been the governor. you promised to turn ohio around. we have the 11th hour promises. c.e.o.'s say we are the 44th best state to locate a business

in. 43 other states are leading. cnbc says we are 38. we are not competitive because you have raised taxes and think your administration understands how to promote entrepreneurship. >> thank you very much. jim with a question for governor strickland. >> a recent poll found that most people of ohio want specific answers how you would deal with the potential shortfall estimated to be in the billions. schools, libraries, social services and universities that could be under the knife want to know. name two areas of the budget where you would either raise revenue or cut the budget and what would be off the table when it comes to cuts? >> we are facing a major budget crisis and it's the result of this recession. the recession as i said in my opening statement was not caused

by the people of ohio, but by wall street and the nen nan begans that took place that. we aren't going to eliminate our state income tax, a tax that provides 46% of our total state revenue. i have balanced two budgets without raising taxes and i have done that by making tough choices. some of the agencies of state government that i'm responsible for are operating with about 70% of what they had received in past budgets. so, jim, i will set priorities as i have. education will remain a priority. the basic essential services that our people will have will remain priorities. i am willing to make cuts. we have 5,000 fewer state employees now than when i became governor. that was tough to do. that represents 7% of our total

state workforce. but i will make the cuts that are necessary to carey out my constitutional responsibility and that is my responsibility. >> we were looking for specifics. he secured ties with tobacco that was to provide a stream of revenue and spend it all in four. used stimulus dollars to operate the government and raised taxes. he raised taxes in the last budget. he can say he dvent raise taxes, he did. we are the seventh highest taxed state. what it gets down to is this, if you do not have a state where you can lower the cost of doing business and the article that pointed out that over in indiana their costs are lower. if you are a small business

person, you are searching for low costs. that means you can't be raising taxes when you are already one of the highest tax states. that's why businesses are losing and we lost 397,000 jobs. i will not raise taxes. and i have a history of budget cutting and history of reforming and history of restoring and providing tax cuts and simplifying the operations of government. when i was chairman of that budget committee and we got that budget agreement done on a bipartisan basis, america was so strong financially. that experience will work right here. less government, lower taxes, commonsense regulations, trained workers, that is the answer. but i will not raise taxes and he absolutely will. >> well, what you have done congressman is outsource jobs. you have signed off on out

sourcing ohio jobs to china. you were a board member of a company in lorraine county and signed off to send hundreds of jobs to china. that's a part of your record that the people of ohio need to know about. >> next question comes from gail beck and will be addressed to mr. kasich. >> the current budget, governor strickland and the general assembly agreed to put off for two years a planned state income tax cut to individuals and small businesses. with the budget problems, you just said you won't raise taxes, can you promise that the people of ohio will take effect as promised? >> if you have a restaurant and no customers, you don't raise prices. if you have a restaurant and don't have customers, you lower prices at the same time you lower your overhead, change the

menu. it's the same thing with ohio. when you are one of the highest tax states, you have to move aggressively to bring down those rates that punish small business and chase our best entrepreneurs out of this state and i will also tell you if you want to be run around and bash companies, it doesn't send a lot. we have more employees after the action we took and it's the second largest business in lorraine county. these are the kind of distortions i have to listen to for about a year. gail, back to the point, we need to make this government more effective, more efficient and need to reduce the tax take and run ohio from the bottom up and not the top down. spending in the general revenue fund is going to increase by

9.7%. every citizen could only hope and pray they could get a 9.7% raise. >> i'm going to ask the fact checkers to check what the congressman just said because it isn't accurate. but the fact is we did face $851 million shortfall. i froze the taxes at that current level. what my opponent says he would have done would have cut 851 million out of our colleges and out of our k-12 education system. that would have been devastating to our kids and our schools. i wasn't willing to do it but he was. when we cut funding for higher education, tuition is going to go up and cost more to educate.

if we cut taxation as he wants to do by eliminating our state income tax. what he is suggesting will result in property taxes being increased. there is no doubt about it. you can't spend money you don't have and can't educate kids if you don't have resources and eliminate our state resources, folks at the local level will pay more. >> rebuttal. >> governor, you have been asleep at the wheel. when you came out of the box didn't you promise what you said you would have done to turn ohio around, you would have dealt but instead what you did is you raised spending. talked about the fact that you got rid of 5,000 workers and hired 4,000 people back. you raised taxes. people are paying more because you changed the law and denied

them a tax cut. >> dennis is here with a question for governor strickland. >> public employee pension systems are seeking legislative changes. some proposed changes that would ask them to accept concessions or ask taxpayers to pay more. how would you make the system sound for the long-term? and how would you address the practice of some school district employees and elected officials double dipping and returning to the same job to receive both pension check and regular pay check. >> i have great trouble with double dipping and we need transparency. that's why i have said that i believe the records that the major newspapers in our state have called for should be made public as long as individual information is protected. and i'm led to believe that that

is possible. and so i urge transparency. i'm troubled by double dipping. it's being abused and that needs to be addressed. this public pension system needs to be solvent. and in order to make it solvent, we have to call people together, all parties together and they have to come together and work in good faith. simply arguing or fighting will not solve the problem. it must be solved. it can be solved. i don't want to lower the standards of public benefits and retirement benefits for anyone. but it is absolutely necessary that we recognize the fiscal condition of our public pension systems and come together and work to find a reasonable solution. i believe those solutions can be found, but i repeat, not by arguing or screaming at each other, only by working together in good faith will we solve this problem.

>> first of all, the double dipping has to be reviewed and secondly, you have to have a sound pension system. i do want to say when i was down in the congress, they tried to dump the retirement system into social security, i fought that and told them if you do it, i will stop this bill from being able to pass. we have to do it and reform it. i will tell you what taxpayers are concerned about. when you went into the government, you were assured of some more benefits. but the tradeoff was you didn't get paid as much. what the people in the public sector say to me, hey, i have no pension, 401 delnch k pension and i don't have the job security. as we work to solve this problem, we must make sure that we don't create more inequity where a person who is working

every day is supporting someone in the public sector and has to be real give and take here and i think the people of ohio are getting concerned about the potential of a giant tab being put on them as they work in the private sector, but we have to be careful and have to protect people who are retired and people who are getting close to retirement that this system must be made sound. >> i think it's relevant to know that as a member of lehman brothers, my opponent went to our public pension systems and tried to get them to invest with lehman and says he wasn't successful but when they went our public pension systems lost over $480 million. solvency is important and we need to make sure that the investments that are made are sound investments. >> michael douglas has a

question for mr. kasich. >> you said if you are elected, governor strickland new evidence-based program will be gone and you will put more money into the classroom. what specific education model would you support? how will you pay for it while eliminating the deficit and what role will property taxes play in that model? >> the problem of the governor's model is not paid for. he said if i don't have it fixed, there will be a failure. what we have done in the program is mandate a bhole lot of unfunded programs on to local schools. i had a superintendent that i met with a couple of days ago who said this program is devastating and you can find that the evidence-based model hasn't been successful. what do i talk about? when you are 46th in america

inputting dollars in the classroom, you have taken power away from teachers and resources we must make ohio number one in terms of dollars in the classroom. we are 9th in overhead red tape, buildings and administrators. if we can get dollars in the classroom and repeal a lot of the unfunded mandates that school say hamper them and we can get in the business of promoting shared services so that schools work with one another, you have some counties with six school districts, you don't need six superintendents. we need to operate the schools more like a business, set them free, get dollars in the classroom and have school choice which gives people an opportunity to see what excites kids and that can be transferred into the public school and you will have a much lower toned

debate. >> my opponent doesn't understand there are no unfunded mandates in the evidence-based model. it is designed to drive money into the classroom. when i became governor, education ranked ohio 27th in the nation and now say our schools are 5th in the nation and number one in the midwest. our goal must be to make our schools number one in america. we competed with 46 other states for race to the top resources and one of 12 states that one $400 million that will be coming to ohio to improve our schools and enrich the education of our children. the model that i adopted will be phased in over time, but it is structurally constitutional, i believe, because we have carved out the major elements that constitute a quality education for our kids and committed to

funding those elements. let me say this, we take the burden off the local property taxpayer. when i became governor, state provided 48% of the cost of education and our budget is 52% and when my model is phased in the state of ohio will have assumed 61% of the total cost and will give relief. rfer the governor's education -- the governor's education program is over the rainbow. it's like taking the family car and there is no gas in the car and doesn't push dollars in the classroom but prescribes so many items that a local school has to comply with and don't have the money. dollars in the classroom, shared services, repeal unfunded mandates, school choice, it will

empower students. >> we are going to stay with michael but change targets. this goes to governor strickland. >> you issued an executive order barring any state government office from signing a contract other countries. you touted the insourcing of jobs to ohio. you criticized your opponent supporting trade agreements that cost ohio jobs but yet you championed jobs driven by those same trade agreements and favor exports but not imports, insourcing, but not outsourcing. is this realistic or fair trade?

>> trade must work in both

>> let's go over to mr. kasich. >> ohio has lost five times as many jobs to other states. the reason we are losing jobs is we are not competitive. the governor himself, himself shipped stimulus money to texas and that was sent to outsource a coal fitter to el salvador and voted twice to provide free trade to china and i don't know how you can say you didn't raise taxes and that you didn't vote for a trade deal. if we want to develop a trade war, we'll destroy agriculture in ohio. farmers don't want that to happen. in terms of my position on trade, fair trade, not free trade. i helped to get a protection

back in the early part of this century. the steel companies needed a breather and needed to be able to get their act together and i worked with two of the major steel companies in america with their c.e.o.'s and got the status put in place. ronald reagan protected harley davidson. it's fair trade and not free trade. this administration is not doing enough to prevent them from manipulating their currency. i think we need to have the governor start calling the president and tell him to get on the ball so we have fair trade and not just being ripped off by people who manipulate the currency. >> welcome to my world, congressman. i have been arguing about china's manipulation of their currency for years. and our democratic friends in the congress. the house is passing a bill that

makes that possible. if we could get your republican friends in the senate to go along, we will have dealt china the kind of lesson they have needed to learn from us because they have been manipulating their currency, costing us hundreds of thousands of jobs as a result. >> dennis. >> in the youngstown area we have seen the development works in action securing production of the chevrolet crmp obalt and another new product for the gm plant. how would your plan to privatize economic development had done a better job? >> it's the same department of development that sat on their hands and lost 397,000 jobs and didn't have a permanent director of the department of development for seven months that's like going to war and not having a

general in charge. i want people who understand the language of the job creators and people who can move at the speed of light and find financing and find markets and connect people with people all over this country and all over this globe. i believe that our universities are a tremendous opportunity to commercialize items. we started to do a little bit but we are in the starting stage tell you open up the research and development of our universities, we would be doing far better. the bottom line is, if you believe that bureaucracy can move at the speed of business, then you wouldn't support jobs ohio. if you think we need to get a group of people who can go in the toughest places in this state and remove barriers and work with companies in this state to be stronger and expand and then ultimately to search the country for other opportunities to bring jobs to this state, we can't keep doing

what we're doing. again, we are 41 other states in america have outperformed us and it's because we have been too slow. >> if my opponent and his friends had had their way, their likely would have been no surviving auto industry in america. i was over at lordstown the other day when the new car came off the line. the first one was a red one, second was white and third was blue. made in ohio. the stamping done in parma. wonderful car, 4,00 people are working at that plant, three sifts a day and you say the stimulus should not have been passed. the stimulus and the decision to save the auto industry made the

auto industry possible. $650 million is being invested in youngestown and wouldn't have been -- youngstown and wouldn't have been without the stimulus. 8.5 million jobs were lost and most of those were lost during the bush administration. we have taken action to stabilize this action. the freefall and all you and your friends want to do is criticize and say no. no. while we have been working here in ohio to create jobs. you were working on wall street to outsource jobs. people of ohio can tell the difference between the two of us. >> it's like a broken record, you have to get over that. but what youngstown showed this is a potential for manufacturing. folks, we have performed worst than 41 other states since this

guy has been the governor. unemployment is 10.1%. poverty is rising and homelessness is rising. we need to have a job creating environment and culture in this state and we can get it done. no, we ought to be number one. >> gail's question will be directed to governor strickland. >> the recession and the foreclosure crisis have made life for many ohio cities that were struggling with crime the loss of employers, deteriorating infrastructure and dekaying neighborhoods. in addition to encouraging job growth, how specifically would you help ohio's struggling cities? >> well, ohio cities obviously economy and we can't have a strong state without having

strong, healthy cities and that's one of the reasons we developed ohio hubs and our cities have individual characters and the toledo area is affiliated with the great industry, solar industry, sunlight and that's why we have designated this area as the solar hub in ohio. but we're going around ohio doing the same thing. in crin cincinnati, the marketing hub. over in cleveland where the biomedical and the medical industry is so important, we are designating that as the biomedical hub. and we believe these investments in these hub areas will result in the local economies growing and thriving.

we are doing other things. we are putting resources into our resources and doing that through our department of transportation and trying to build an infrastructure that will create economic vitality and growth and investing in rail. the north baltimore facility is one example. >> thank you, governor. mr. kasich. >> i was privileged to receive the endorsement of "the cleveland plain dealer" and they said we need to move things and what we have is not working. and they are concerned about the state of our cities and they know what it gets down to is to create economic growth. we have a lot of great assets in our state. if you look at cleveland, university hospital. we have the cleveland clinic right here and university of toledo. the anderson, owens, corning.

but haven't been leveraged or talk to one another or open up our laboratories and university systems to create 21st century jobs. entrepreneurship is the key. look, the reason why they said we want john kasich is because they have a sense we will get off the dime and get moving. the ohio chamber of commerce endorsed my candidacy for cover and first time they have endorsed in 117 years and the small business community came out early, why? everyone is saying the same thing. four more years of tax and spend and regulate will not work. and we need to set people free, entrepreneurs free to create jobs and that is what our program is all about. >> well what do i say about

their endorsement of my opponent. they said we are endorsing him with trepidation. but, quite frankly it isn't important what the newspapers say about us but what our ideasr our plans, how much we care about ohio and what our histories are. my history has been working for jobs in ohio. your history has been as an outsourcer. >> jim, your question will be directed to mr. kasich. >> last year, dramatic change in ohio's landscape. governor strickland has tried to add slot machines at race tracks. should ohio expand gambling to deal with its budget problems and where would you draw the line? >> i'm the first person who is running for governor that is not

oppose todd gambler. my nopet said he was against it only to flip throp. i won't take a position on that. i'm concerned that we are going to get ourselves in a position where we could erode our culture and put our kids in jeopardy. we have to be careful about this. i'm aware that people want to leave this state and go to other place is and spend their money. it has to be a consideration of ours. but the deals that be have been struck so far are not good for ohio. we have casinos in the state of ohio doesn't get its fair share. the state of ohio out to get its fair share and if we move forward and i stress if we move forward, it has to be done in a comprehensive way that is fundamentally protecting the culture of our great state. our citizens are having mixed feelings and we will spend some

time thinking about and if we decide to move forward to design a program that will protect our families and also provide the resources to the state of ohio. but i have not made a determination. >> expansion of gambling, where do you draw the line? >> the people voted to establish casinos. that was the will of the people. it is not something i supported, but the people have spoken and so our responsibility right now is to make sure that as gambling is instituted, it is done in a way that protects the local communities where people of high integrity are chosen to oversee the operations and make sure that crime and other sorted elements that sometimes are associated with gambling activity are prevented from coming to our cities. the fact is that ohio does have

budget problems and although i had always been an opponent of gambling, i don't think it's a good economic policy, quite frankly, but i felt that the v.p.l.'s at race track were the least harmful approaches. adult venue and so on. my responsibility as governor will have the responsibility of making sure that the commission that oversees the operation of these casinos is made up of people of high quality who will do a good job. >> i would agree with the governor on that. i think we've got to get people with the highest character. but before we go any farther to expand this program and particularly to expand it to fill a budget hole and the problem is we haven't dealt with

our costs. jim, one more time, i have not made up my mind, but if we move forward, we'll get our share at the state of ohio. but look, the jury is still out. >> we get back to jim, another question from jim, but direct it to governor strickland. >> the people of ohio do not vote for lieutenant governors but yours would be next in line to succeed you. >> my running mate is here frr columbus, ohio. let me tell you something. she was born to a single teenaged mother and worked hard and went to college at ohio university and then attended the ohio state law school. at a very young age, she decided to run for judge and ran for the common pleas court in franklin

county. she defeated a seated republican judge when she was 32 years of age and served on that court and developed an amazing reputation. she was wise, effective, compassionate, caring and she was recruited away from that position to go to nationwide children's hospital in columbus, to start a grassroots organization to be an add vow cast si for children and their families, prime mearl abused and troubled kids and built that into a 400-person operation with $30 million a year budget. she is hugely qualified. she is hugely respected. and she will make a great governor if it is ever necessary for me to vay indicate the

office. >> lieutenant governors. >> mary ta ymp lor is here. she is a mom. mary is the wife of a small business person, so she understands the problems that small business people have to go through. she was a c.p.a. for 16 years. a lot of people think the answer is term limits, but what we need is people who have been in business and understand how to create jobs and people have had political experience. that's the formula to me that really makes sense for driving ohio and driving our united states government that has been out of control lately in a better direction. mary was also a state representative. the boys down there tried to put a lot of pressure on mary. republicans were doing it and she said no way, no how. stripped her from her committee

assignment and didn't bat an eye. i had that pressure applied to me. she stood up and was strong and ran for state awed ter and only republican elected and done a fantastic job of auditing the problems of this state. in fact, if she had been listend to a little bit more by a lot of people, it would have paid off. i'm proud she is my running mate, she is terrific and qualified to do anything. thanks for asking. i don't have a single negative thing to say. >> well, i guess we are both fortunate to have talented women as our running mates, but i think my opponent's running mate shares his ideas regarding outsourcing of jobs. she stood besides mr. kasich and boasted that as a c.p.a., she encouraged people to leave ohio

and go to florida or some other state in order to avoid paying ohio taxes. >> you are watching the ohio governor debate. we are glad you are watching. time flies when you are having fun. we don't have time for another question. our two candidates, one of whom will be elected 26 days from now to lead this state in the next four years have been given two minutes to reach out to you the voters of ohio to tell you why they are the person that should lead this state. the order was approved earlier. governor strickland, you will lead off. >> i want to thank the people of this great state for giving me the privilege of serving in the governor's office. before that, i served in the congress. before i went to congress, i went to a senior citizen center in pike county, ohio and i

bought a plaqe that had a scripture. what is required of us, to do justice, to love kindness and walk humbly with my god. i took it to my office in washington and it's in my office because those lay out how a person and certainly someone in public office should try to live their lives, to do justice, to try to do the right thing, love kindness and care about other people and walk humbly knowing that none of us get through this life on our own. we are interdependent and need each other. that's the spirit evidence as a congressman and governor and that's the spirit i will keep with me and in the governor's office if you give me the privilege of continuing to lead this great state over the next four years.

thank you for watching this debate. i ask you for your support in this election season and i promise you that i will serve you the best of my ability. thank you very much. >> governor strickland, thanks for being here tonight. now mr. kasich. >> are we better off today than four years ago. i like ted strickland. i'm not running against ted strickland but running to create jobs, and restore the great legacy. we want our kids to go to college and graduate and stay here. we want them to have great and exciting opportunities so they can find their god-given destinies. we don't want to travel all over the country to see our grand kids. when i look at ohio, it saddens me with the massive

unemployment, rising poverty, rising homelessness, but ohio is going to be great again. all we have to do is shine it up and use that great formula. setting people free. we need to create jobs. we need to pull people together. the thing about this and over the course of my lifetime, my mother said, johnny raise the bar and bring people together. over the course of my career, i was able to do some amazing things by building a team and working with people on the other side of the aisle. with the assets we have in the state, most notbly the people, the physical assets that we have, with the brain trust that we have in ohio, if we can just right the conditions, if we can just improve the atmosphere, ohio will be the greatest state in america. my goal, to make ohio in the top 10 of places where businesses and people want to come. you know what?

it can happen. it's all out there, ladies and gentlemen. short of the wheel, i want to climb this mountain to make ohio great again and i would like you to climb it with me. i would appreciate your support and hope we can get your vote. >> thank you for joining us tonight to both of you. i want to thank our panel tonight and the ohio newspaper organization. jim and gail. dennis from youngstown and michael douglas. gentlemen, to both of you, the idea of public service, what a high, high calling what we have to walk through and get through isn't attractive. thank you for serving the people of our state and may i add and a lot of the supporters, this may be the best behaved debate audience i have ever encountered

but i promised you, it's your time tonight to say thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, gentlemen. >> reminder to all of you who are watching at home as we wind things down, whether it is early voting, or 13 hours on election day, november 2 is the first tuesday in november. these gentlemen, not a hand they won't shake or a baby they won't

kiss. now it's up to you to get involved. let your opinions get heard. get out and vote. thank you for joining us. four more years! four more years! four more years! [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> tomorrow night, the first general election between wisconsin's u.s. senate candidates, senator feingold and republican johnson. the debate is being hosted by the wisconsin broadcast ters association and taking place in

milwaukee. we will have live coverage at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span networks, they provide coverage of politics, public affairs, nonfiction books and american history available on television, radio, online and social media networking sites and find our content on c-span's video library and we have our digital bus and content vehicle bringing resources to your community. washington your way. c-span networks, created by cable, provided as a public service. >> enter student cam video documentation, washington, d.c. through my lens. tell us about events or topics that helped you understand the role of the federal government in your life or community. include more than one point of

view along with c-span programming. down load your video by january 20, 2011 and you will have a chance to win the grand prize. the competition is open to all students grades 6-12. for details, go online to studentcam.org. >> democrat rory reid and democrat brian sandoval face each other next. rory reid is chairman of clark county commission. brian sandoval is a former u.s. district judge. the debate is hosted by the nevada broadcaster's association and moderated by rich fox.

>> good evening and welcome to the 2010 nevada gubernatorial debate sponsored by the nevada broadcasters association. tonight's debate is being carried by 40 television stations reaching out to every corner and every community throughout the state. it is the mission of the nevada broadcasters association to be the eyes and ears of nevada's television and radio station. tonight our goal is to get specific positions from the candidates so that voters will