say publicly about sestak. there is a curious dynamic here. it became clear before the may 18 democratic primary election that sestak was starting to close the gap. people were asking specter if he would endorse him if he was victorious and he said that he would support whoever the democratic nominee was. joe sestak, on the other hand, repeatedly said that he couldn't imagine a scenario in which he would lose to specter, so he couldn't address the question of whether he would have endorsed specter if he had won the democratic primary. i got to think that's something that arlen specter remembers. . volved in this race. ouviewers saw the president there yesterday. the vice president has been the state many times. what will happen over the next few weeks? will they continue to visit the state?

>> yeah, i think you'll hear them quite a bit. president obama and vice president biden very popularn philadelphia. i think you'll see them here. you may see biden in things like scranton and pittsburgh where he's also very popular. it's an interesting sort of balancing act for joe sestak because he rejected the white house's and treaties to get out of the race. they wanted him threeve arlen specter in the primaries. reject that had. rein and then he won and then -- he ran and then he won and he's trying to make great political hay around that around the campaign trail sort of declaring himself an independent democratic stepping up to his party which in this year with the anti-incurvency fervor, that's a pretty good hessage. so it's dicey to both be the guy who stood up to your party

but then also held and embraced the party in a political rally such as they had in philadelphia. host: the republican candidate in this race, pat toomy, has been ahead by -- toomy, has been ahe by seven points. what will be fort right, upfront and center in the next couple weeks in this race? >> the thing that jumps out most to me is the question of the undecided voter and whether they just stay home on the election day. the -- our latest "daily news" and franklin poll shows that the undecided vote in the toomey and sestak race, it was 39%. if you look at the likely voters, it's 32%. that's a full third of the electorate that are undecided after a great deal of advertising and a great deal of media attention. this is -- this is a national race that's getting a great deal of attention. and the fact that a full

one-third of the voters still don't know how they're going to vote suggests to me a real scenario that they windp staying home. host: one final thing here. will the two square off in a debate? when and where? >> there are -- the's a debate in philadelphia. there's another debate scheduled in pittsburgh i believe there's a talk of a third debate. i know they definitely have one scheduled at the national constitution center here in philadelphia next week and then there's also -- they are going to follow that a couple days later with a debate in local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look at the closely contested house races

leading up to this year's midterm elections. ♪ >> how you doing? >> bless you. >> hopw are you? thank you. i need your help on november 2. >> when you get there, do what you know to do. >> i will come back and keep talking to you. you can look at that a couple of ways. sometimes no is a good thing. no one stimulus and so on. the party of know, know what is in the bill before you vote on it. we have 26 counties and is made up of the delta on the eastern side and the ozarks on the

western part. it is a stark contrast in general. socio-economic status, this is one of the poorest districts in the united states. the folks are good hard-working arkansans. they provide a good living for their family. just hard-working people, good people. >> voters in the first district vote conservatively at the national level. they will elect democrats pretty solidly minus a few pockets. there has not been a republican elected since reconstruction. the primary candidates in the first congressional district are republican rick crawford who is a radio broadcaster with a bit of a media empire that crosses the agricultural span and chad

causey is the retiring congressman. you got the quintessential guy who understands washington and how works and what is going on in the district against a first time republican candidate who understands the bread-and-butter issues of the district, which are primarily agriculture. >> if you ask for up and down votes on the big issues that have been dominating the american political agenda this last year, health care, the stimulus, cap and trade, car checks, some of those issues, you will find in total agreement on those issues. how much of that is how they truly feel about the issues is debatable. that is definitely the message they are sending to voters. >> this race is about people. not about me or my opponent. not about the national parties.

it is the values that people in arkansas have. and what they want to see and the person that will fight for them regardless of party. it is about sending someone to washington with conservative values. i share those values. >> where i do see differences is chad causey has a more experienced and deeper working knowledge of some of the big projects that are going on. crawford has a broader populist appeal. i will go up there and oppose some of these big agenda items that you are telling me are opposite to the wishes of the voters. i think you would see him being the type of member of congress. >> what folks are looking ouat s a citizen legislature that has

been here and made contributions here and is not entrenched in washington. not a bureaucrat, not one of the political elite. i want to make sure that everyone in this district has the opportunities i have had. >> the first congressional district is one that everyone will feel like a coin toss. way ofyour bsest deciding. you will not hear either one identified by party affiliation. it will be by name. i will not be surprised if the 50. [unintelligible] it could be that close. >> c-span's local content

vehicles are traveling the country. as we look at some of the most closely contested house races. for more information on what the local content vehicles are into this election season, visit our web site, c-span.org/lcv. >> cq politics reports nearly 95% of house seats held by republicans are safe for will have little contest. they say that three-fourths of the house seats held by democrats are safe. you can see coverage of key house races online. including candid did advance and campaign ads. speaker pelosi has more than 25 fundraisers this month in eight states. she has raised more than $50 million for the democratic national campaign committee. our coverage of campaign 2010 continues in a few moments with

political strategists looking at how the campaign is progressing. more debates including the candidates for u.s. senate in kentucky followed by the candidates for senate in indiana. you hear the candidates running for governor in michigan. >> a couple of live events to tell you about tomorrow morning. the hot line hosts a discussion on the midterm elections with members of the house and senate democratic and republican campaign committees. after that, at 9:00 eastern, the atlantic council hosts a forum on u.s.-europe missile defense. live on c-span3. the c-span network to provide coverage on politics, and american history. available for you on television, radio, on line, and social media networking. fidler content any time through

the c-span video library. we take c-span on the road with our digital bus and local content vehicle. it is washington your way. the c-span networks. now available in more than 100 million homes. greeted by cable, provided as a public service. >> a look at how the election is progressing. this is one hour. continues. host: our sunday roundtable we want to welcome sherry, a blogger for the hill newspaper, republican stratjidge, and maria, democratic strategist. thank you for being with us. let's begin with a new study that came out this past week saying that hispanics more likely to vote for democrats but maybe less likely to go to the polls. the enthusiasm gap that we've been hearing about. >> i think what's happening is not a whole lot different than what's happening with the overall community in terms of democrats and the quote/unquote enthusiasm gap. i think right now is when

democrats as well as latino democrats are starting to realize that there is an election, that it is important, that there is a lot at stake. and democrats across the board from president obama on down to every candidate who is running in a district where latinos can make the difference are going to underscore the key differences between the parties. and for latinos, there is a lot at stake not just from the standpoint of economic policies in terms of if the republicans do take over congress it's going to mean going back to the same failed economic policies that put us on the brink of the second great depression. but in terms of the latino community, it also means understanding who has been with the latino community from the very beginning in terms of immigration and any other issues that is important to the latino community. it's been democrats, the white house. republicans have completely turned their back on the community, betrayed the community. in fact, the language that has been used in the debate has been very anti-hispanic and

very racist. >> one theory is that the republicans are going to the polls. in all the polling that is been conducted you know who is going to get there. but as the president tries to rally the base, that could up the ante and increase in turnout on election day what we're not seeing in the polls right now. and the president doing his second of four addresses today in philadelphia. does that worry you? >> no. i think everybody to sta expected the gap to start closing. it's working somewhat but the base is not happy with him. doy want to take issue with something with regard to the hispanic community. this is something george w. bush did very well with in texas. they're not enthused about the democrats. when we're talking about immigration i think we need to be clear. with regard to illegal entrance, illegal immigration. leel immigrants do not

necessarily go along with the notion that we should grant amnesty. so i think that community can still be up for grabs and there's a reason why they're not enthused and that's because the democrats haven't won them over. with regard to democratic voters in general, or at least the base, we've seen the president go out there and use very devicive language. democrats know that they can't get a lot of those independents and undecideds right now are probably not going to break for them. the only thing they can do is go to those folks who turned out in 2008 and get them enthused. they have to get likely voters out of registered voters. it sounds simple because it's a simple idea but it's extraordinarily difficult. it's a real uphill climb. the president has not been able to get these folks enthused when he was just elected two years ago and they're ready to sit home now, that's a big problem for him not just now, not just next month but in 2012. >> let's look at the

unemployment numbers. now, it is 14.8 million. the gallup organization out with a poll this week saying the unemployment rate is actually closer to 10.1% across the country. in states like michigan it's 13, 14% and among college students, the unemployment rate is 16%. >> absolutely. there's no question that that is the biggest obstacle, the biggest problem facing not just democrats but any person who is running for elected office today. it is the unemployment rate. it is the jobs issue. there's no question about that. the first one who will acknowledge that is president obama himself. he will also say that everything that this white house and the democrats have put in place has been to try to put us on the path to a recovery, given the extremely huge disaster and economic hole that we were in when the president took office. we were losing 850,000 jobs a

month, steve, when the president took office. that was less than two years ago. we have now seen the nine consecutive months of private sector job creation. are we where we need to be? absolutely not. but the hole was so incredibly huge, we are still climbing out of it. but there is no question that what democrats have put in place have put us on the that road to recovery. we need to do more. >> there is one word that george willis used this morning. the word is overreaching. >> in fact, if you look and sherry talked about his liberal base, the liberal base is not as happy as they could be with him because a lot of folks think he didn't reach enough. a lot of folks think that the economic recovery act didn't work as well as it should because it wasn't big enough so there is a lot of i think anxiety out there in terms of the economic situation, but there is no question an

economist will tell you, economists from across the political spectrum that the economic recovery act really did help if in really slowing that catastrophe that we were facing when president obama took office. but there's no question we need to do more. >> part of that economic recovery act came with the tarp program. tim geithner has a piece this morning in the "washington post," he points out that tarp was created by a conservative president with the support of republicans in congress and now it's being used against this president. is that fair? >> i think everything is fair in politics. look, we're talking about the entire package that this president and the democratic congress is responsible for. and you e inherit what you inherit. nobody comes with a clean slate when they take over congress or becomes the president. i think there's some liberals who are angry with the president for not doing enough. i think there's a real confidence gap. i think it has to do with competency. i think if this president is challenged by someone in his

own party in 12i in the primary, it's -- 2012 it's not going to be from the left from an ideological position. i think it's going to be from a competency position. when you have an economic team promising no more than 8% unemployment and now we're over 10%, there's a psychological impact as well as just the joblessness impact. so i think the president has a real problem. you're going to have democrats that are going to lose in november who probably think they shouldn't have. and the white house said we'll are just casualties that happen in every mid term. but just like in war, the public can only withstand, only tolerate so many casualties. i think it's possible that because of some of the democrats that are going to be losing, because of the problem with the president, -- they may agree with him ideologically, but they don't trust him to get it done, they don't trust his team. he went out there and shoved through obama care which was absolutely huge, unprecedented

to do something that massive that affects every american and do it without any republican support whatsoever. and he didn't do the politics first. the polls were against him. he didn't go out there and sell it but he forced his rank and file democrats in congress to walk the plank and vote for it. now many of them are going to lose as a result. so i think the anger will be on his lack of ability to lead and to sell his program. not necessarily because they think that he didn't do enough. . . one recent

report, right here in illinois, this senate race have outspent the senate race 2/1 funded and advised by karl. so the question to the people of illinois. are you going to let special interests come to this state and tell us who our senator should be? >> they joined yesterday saying

this may not be true. the "new york times" also writing about this. guest: here's the problem, steve. because we will never know host: specifically about the gps? >> there are several groups that are spending millions on behalf of conservative candidates to try to beat the opponents. it's something that's unprecedented and came from the supreme court citizens united. i think what this says to the american people, you now have corporations, billions and billions of dollars that have the same exact voice as one american voter. that's not real democracy in my eyes. everyone should be very concerned about this. to me, it's aback lash to

standing up against wall street. the credit card companies and credit card reform. what the obama administration did standing with gulf coast residents. it's kind of like the empire strikes back >> obama never campaigned when mccain outspent him. >> you can't compare the money spent by outside groups. he discouraged the outside spending. it's completely different. you know exactly who's donating to the obama campaign and to the committees. when you have these shadow parties and groups, it's completely fair whoever wants to give money to them. we will never know >> i think the reason the democrats are backing off. their hands aren't clean.

it's really, really hard to lobby those charges when you have an awful lot of special-interest money. when you look at the stimulus spending and what money was given. i think it's no surprise they are starting to back off. they can complain about the money being. the obama campaign has lots and lots of money. that's the last thing the republicans want to look like. the american people have a problem with washington spending their money. you have a lot of self-made millionaires. the whole business man or business woman image has been negative. now you have american saying

that if you have someone that knows how to make money. that's what kind of person we need. instead of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks with our tax dollars. promising only 8% unemployment which you point out has gone up and up. i think they have a real problem with credibility and stop complaining giving money to republicans. the last thing they want is people looking their own campaign. >> sherry jacobus and maria cardona >> good morning. can you hear me? host: we sure can. >>caller: i am calling to say i think the democrats are on the positive side. i see a lot of fear tactics

happening. so i say, open alive. yes we can. we shall succeed. it never works. it never works. so keep hope alive, maria. >> i love rita. >> republicans in 2011 who will control the house? republicans or democrats? >> i think democrats will still have control. i think republicans have completely overturned their hand. they started talking about taking control of the house. now each if they get within one seat of taking control of the house and senate, it's going to be seen as a failure on their part. they have talked about it so much. they really now have to deliver. there's no question and it's not a news flash that democrats were

going to lose seats. we knew this less than two years ago. we took a lot of seats in 2006 and 2007 which were in conservative districts. we know there's going to be a handful the seats that will shift over to republican hands. the news here is, i think the republicans have over played their hands. to make sure the environment, the money, the message goes perfect on election day. it's too much to hope on their part. i think democrats at the end of the day are going to continue to focus on this message of it's a clear choice. stand with workers and the middle class or you stand with the wealthiest individuals and the big corporations who all they want to go is ship jobs overseas and return to the failed economic policies of the

republicans. >> the democrats will lose and we will all be blue dogs. congressman talking about the job situation we were discussing a moment ago. >> the greatest rep to job creation in our country is the flawed idea that we can tax, spend and borrow our way to government. people are stubbornly devoted to the idea of spending and borrowing. for the past four year, they have been controlling our congress. from the white house to capital hill. 500 miles away from here in washington, the spending bench is going on that threatens our

economy. we are gripped by uncertainty. under obama and speaker pelosi, washington has been throwing everything at them but the kitchen sink. first it was a stimulus. a few months later, came the threat of a new energy tax when they called cap-and-trade. then obama care. and people work requirements. >> congressman john boehner. what's going to happen in the house? >> i am going to agree with maria, you have republicans getting too enthusiastic thinking this is done. this is a print. these last few weeks, republicans have to turn out and keep widening that enthusiasm gap.

host: what's the margin? >> i'm going to say 60 seats. i'm going to be really optimistic. you have five possible seats for the senate. the republicans need to win four of them. i think we will out of all of them. i think everything is very, very close. sharon is ahead slightly. illinois, west virginia. john racy pulling ahead by a pretty wide margin. california we are down just a little bit. the big question is the senate. the house, people need to be enthused. i wrote this in my column. i am a blogger and a columnist. i wrote this, republicans need to be careful. they are doing very, very well. the wind is at their backs.

i don't think boehner is doing that. but the republicans are excited. i think the margins are going to be great. on friday. there was a gallup poll that says 54% are republicans. and only 40% were calling themselves republicans. to give you an idea what's going on outside of washington beltway that our genius pollsters are finding. host: if you don't get the senate, people will be looking at delaware. chris coons is up 19 points. their first debate we will cover. her campaign has become a p

paritiy. >> i think it definitely has changed how the republicans's numbers might line up. the focus on christine o'donnell and it might make the republicans take the senate. she was the winner of the republican primary and not doing well there clearly. because of the extreme -- media on her and her campaign. we're missing the larger point of the republicans that are doing so well in the fact that you have charlie cook for that. he has 12 democrats incumbents, usually when they are doing not so well in the polls. you consider them a toss up. you put them in the lean republican column can. there's a lot of big things

happening out there. to focus on christine o'donnell. if it weren't for the parities, would they focus on anyone else? >> i have one question for christine o'donnell. are you a good witch or a bad witch. >> the point sherry bring us up is a good point. democrats need to focus on the substance of this. snl aside and the cheap shot i took a side. that's something democrats will continue to focus on. this is not 1994. this is not a race where the republicans are seen in such a better light than democrats. if you look at polls where democrats versus republicans, democrats don't have high

numbers. but republicans have very low numbers. the committees have done a great job raising money. they are doing hand to hand combat in really speaking to the needs and the interest of each of their constituents and making this about a clear choice. if you want to go with the failed republican policies they will put in place again. it's interesting that john boehner talks about wanting to be for small businesses. this white house and democrats have passed 16 tax cuts for small businesses. the latest which was just signed by obama backed by almost 0 republicans. they have a credibility issue when it comes to financial issues as well. they were handed a huge surplus when george bush came into

office. that's a choice we're willing to take to the american people and that's a choice i think we can win. host: we're talking to maria cardona and sherry jacobs. americans won't be caught flat food-footed. >>caller: when you put that up from nbc. why don't you say they're a direct operative. put your chart and you will see what was there since 2000. the democrats left us there. she doesn't say anything when the outside started, she never said anything about thank

>> thank you. bob. host: sherry, >> thank you. i think the outside money is an interesting issue. another thing. maria keeps talking about the failed republican economic policies. i think that's a line that voters aren't really listening to that much. right now, these are the democrats economic policies. we have a democrat president and the democrats have had the congress. we have this unemployment it's dissenting, you have republican tea party candidates who basically all they have to say is i will rein in spending and vote to cut the bush tax cuts or keep other things going for taxes. i will vote for taxes. i will will repeal obama care. this is why you have democrat after democrat after democrat not even admitting in their over ads they are democrats.

not linking themselves to president obama are or they voted for obama care. they are being rejected now by the electorate. so democrats at this point are grasping at straws. trying to sound like republicans and win over tea party voters. i think they are desperate. they very having trouble even doing that. >> following up with no republican will dare to cross the aisle.

>> christine o'donnell was not new. she benefitted from obviously the tea party movement and outside support from tea parties outside of the state. what i do think that is going to happen. you will have a lot of democrats that will want to work with republicans. the tea party issues and why there are so many trying to get the voters, the issues are not the social issues. although a lot of your tea parties are social candidates. they want to repeal obama care and tax cuts that help job creation and small businesses. i think what you're going to have a congress, republican-lead congress, that once they get over the feelings of the election. i think speaker boehner will bea

able to get a lot of republicans. the focus is on economic policy which draws in a lot of people. you don't have to have that line drawn in the sand. >> chris has joe biden as the worst week in washington in part because of the rumor was that shot down of hillary clinton runs with barack obama. you worked for then-senate hillary clinton and some of the comments joe biden has made. and the two of them are appearing in philadelphia and later this week in delaware to campaign for chris coons. you called this story, "cable cat nip". >> i did. it's something people in your world love to talk about. there's no truth to that rumor. the white house said so. secretary clinton has said so.

i think vice president biden has done a great job and what the white house has done for voters. what the democrats need to do in terms of making sure they get to their base voters. when you put the two together and have a stark choice of making sure you rein in the insurance companies. the affordable care act now holds insurance companies accountable. they cannot now take way your insurance because you get sick. children can now get covered. these are kicking in that democrats are running ads on this and many more. then you have all of the other reforms that democrats have done

in terms of standing up for the middle class and working families. giving them the largest middle class tax cut in a generation. again, that is a fight we're willing to have. had you compare everything that democrats have done for student loans. making sure college is affordable for 8 million students. making sure our young people are ready for college. all of these things are i think so that would be repealed and says so in the repeal of the republicans. it's fighting for the working class families or fighting for the top one % of wealthy individuals. >> the college students aren't going to have jobs when they get out. the jobless rage is huge. the long-term unemployment rate, that's where we haven't been there are for 75 years. people out of work for six

months or more. that's where the roots are very deep. we do have a democrat in the white house. it's a policy. we don't know what our taxes are going to be in january. because the democrat-lead congress failed to address we don't have a budget. they know there's an angry electorate. nancy pelosi is frozen. every policy they have instituted has failed. the unemployment rate is down. >> obama care was not sold to the american people. you know what? this is a democracy. people are going to vote at the polls and largely with their voting is obama care. those are the facts on the ground. and it's so simple and the american people understand it. they want repeal. that's what candidates are running on. they wouldn't be runing on it.

that's the big issue out there. host: have some more coffee. >> it would be spending. it is jobs. every poll will tell you that. right now, while i don't think american people like politicians. they don't like washington, congress, democrats, republicans. but when they are forced to look at it, right now, they like the candidates talking about repeals obama care. cutting taxes, spending, shrinking government and having an atmosphere where small businesses can create jobs and get the government off your back. >> the new religion they have on spending, we wouldn't be in this whole to begin with. >> it's a new religion. gone -- began george bush handed

obama this deficit. this election cycle, if americans want to continue on that road to recovery, they need to support their democratic candidates. only fighting for one % of wealthy who don't need a hundred thousand dollar tax cut. >> the overall debt is approaching $14 trillion. >> that's the other problem we have seen. republicanss have been absolutely absent from trying to help democrats solve any sort of big issue in this country. they have been the party of pure obstructionism. the party of no. they have no new ideas. no new solutions to offer >> weekly standard has this cover story. don't call her ma'am, call her senator. we will take a look at this in

just a moment. sherry ja -- jacobus and maria cardona. john is joining us. >>caller: thank you. i am a veteran and small business owner. the democrats have control of the house and senate two years prior to this presidential election and after they took office, i watched gas prices spike. the flood of illegal immigrants taking our jobs. it has drove me so far right, i have to look left to see reagan. there's no way i could support a democratic candidate. and i'm not going to do any hiring. i own a small business. i am a veteran.

i am not going to hire until in economy has stabilizes. i would rather go hungry than to bum off my neighbors. the only thing they're doing is encourages food stamps, welfare, extended unemployment. let them have a job. this is not america. where is our pride? host: ron, what is your business by the way in >>caller: say >> host: i'm sorry. >>caller: it's a carpet, hard wood, we install floors. it's construction. and i have other friends in the construction business. they build houses. they have lost, literally lost their jobs to illegals. host: thanks. one other thing, the social

security recipients will not get's cost of living increase because inflation is at 0 percent. this is now two years in a row. guest: clearly, this is a huge problem. we need to get together in a bipartisan way. republicans have not been serious about that. ever since obama took office. their whole mantra has been to see him fail. they have been very clear about that. that's not the way to govern or find solutions. what i would say to the american people. i'm sorry to hear the sentiments of the last caller, but clearly what republicans have done is sell a bill of goods to the american people that's basically no. it's full of negativism. it's full of obstructionism. they have no new ideas. no new solutions and frankly.

they are more than a bit hypocri hypocritical. >> congress got nasty. i will not try play sociologist. look at the growing incidence of bullying. the internet to smear ones we don't like and the popular shows people are fired or voted off island. she's seen a huge change just in the last couple of years. how do you fix it? guest: i don't know how you fix it except let the americans vote for the candidates they want. in terms of it being divisive.

we have a president who, i don't think by and large, they don't realize how far left he was. we are not quite prepared to go as far and again he pushes them with obama care. they didn't want to. if you recall, when congress was getting ready to go on break, the democrats, the leadership, wanted to keep them in town and force on healthcare. the last thing they wanted was these democrats to go home and hear from these folks. that's exactly what happened. then these democratic members would come back. they were squirrely about voting for this. we haven't made the sale. harry reed and barack obama and nancy pelosi forced them to do. if that's what makes the senate

testy, so be it. this is democracy. it's not supposed to be pretty. that might be true. the internet, we have blogging. we have these reality shows. that i don't many of them. i would say they are not necessarily based on reality. there might be a perception that's what's happening. i think it's a smaller percentage of the population engaging and a more civil debate. >> absolutely. i do have to take up one exception. liberalist agenda. he has governed down the middle. that's the reason the liberal

democratses aren't so in love with him. the fact of the matter, what he has done first and formost. put working families first. small businesses first at the expense of republicans saying no and republicans instructing and absolutely refusing to come to the table to talk about how we solve the biggest problems. i believe it's that obstructionism and this whole myth of obama being a socialist. all that has really gone towards poisoning the kind of discourse here in washington. there's no question about that. when president obama took office, he really, he tried over and over and over again after being slapped down several times

to be bipartisan in the way he did business. he tried to bring republicans to the table. >> when it comes to healthcare -- >> 218 republican amendments how can you say that's not bipartisan. >> this is what in part -- >> suzanne said during the last two years, the republican party has been shut out even in the senate when is an open debate. procedural tactics have been used to prevent debate. guest: the republicans are paying a huge price. amount of democrats are very angry with this. that's a problem republicans do

have answers. >> carlos is going to be angry, he's on the republican line from texas. >>caller: will good morning. my comment is directed toward maria. what makes you say the hispanic community is against republicans. what have you done for the hispanic community to give them a step up? not a hand up. but a hand up? what have democrats done for us lately. i don't see anything. i'm a republican. and i don't see any real action being done to help things in the hispanic community. the rhetoric about democrats, i don't buy into it and i think it's that kind of rhetoric this keep this is community in limbo in the political world. because we really don't know who supports us. >> i can tell you, carlos, the

hispanic community overwhelmingly supports president obama by 65%. i will tell you why. clearly he has been on the side of latino community. he has been on the side of creating jobs for latino community. giving 9 million latinos before the affordable care act did not have health insurance. he has given the women latinos equal pay. given latino students an opportunity to get an education in this country by pell grants

and the biggest tax cuts and importantly, pushing if day one. immigration reform. not only have they advocated and run away from this when just three years ago, we had 23 republicans to count on to help us solve this incredible problem of immigration reform in this country. we now have 11 of those republicans still in the senate and 0, 0 have decided to step up to the plate to help not just the american people, but to carlos 'point. by the way. comprehensive immigration reform is something the majority of the americans want. >> we have 10% unemployment. it's about jobs. when we talk about immigration reform. what happens years ago.

they were talking about doing amnesty and protecting the borders. the american people, the american people spoke up loud and clear and said we first want to take up securing our borders. i think it's a little bit of an insult to assume that everybody of spanish heritage focuses on what to do about illegal immigration. there are people that came here and work hard to be here. i have a sister-in-law in that situation. you have to be honest about the situation. the fact is, when you have 10% unemployment. this president promised it would stay at 8%. that's what this election is about. steven, from indiana on the democrats line. >>caller: morning.

sherry needs to get her facts right, because like on the taxes, we are paying less taxes now that we ever had. and on illegal immigrants, if they get these stupid employers who are employing and arrest them and put them in jail. the illegal immigrants will stay in mexico because they don't have jobs. >> i think the illegal immigration issue is more complicated than that. i think employers need to be accountant. with regard to taxes. come new years eve, no one knows what our taxes are going to be. are they going to extend the bush tax cuts or play class ware

fare. we only want to extend the tax cuts for some. not those rich republicans. i am glad we live in a country to become rich and provide jobs. i would like to see policies that promote that rather than playing in this heavy class war fare game. when you don't have it, you get mad at the people that have it. when you start doing well or your friends and family start doing well, you see the positive. we are the greatest country in the world. host: front page of the l.a. times. a deficit that could reach $19 billion in california. full of bickers and posturing. in a modern maze of calling it just an absolute mess out there. there's a piece in the" new

republic". of course. this campaign getting attention. we talked to the head of emily's list about a comment that was degoratory. here's part of the comment >> what's the ramification when words like this are used in the public forum? >> they just shouldn't be used by anywhere period. it's just not where democracy is. it's unfortunate to hear in any place. >> beyond this program, are you extending to speak out against the word? >> i will make it clear it's inappropriate. we have a lot to do to focus on our incumbent woman. that's clearly where we're going to keep our focus. >> we won't repeat the word.

>> it's in the path. it's unfortunate. host: with respect to race? guest: i think the impact would be showing meg whitman and her response. she's a big girl. will she's a successful woman. this is something that makes brown look bad. host: jerry brown has spent about $45 million. the race is dead even or jerry brown is up 3 or 4 percentage points. >> you know what i think it is? this is just my hunch. people kind of are, they kind of like these self-made

millionair millionaires. the fact this is a woman that doesn't have her money from marrying into it or being born into a wealthy family. these the real deal. she did it herself. i think that kind of makes a difference. these going to control huge budgets. we need somebody who knows what they're doing in the business. i think that has a lot to do with how well she's doing host don't call her ma'am. call her senate. right now. barbara boxer is slightly ahead in the polls. >> i will say a couple things about california. i think going into this, everything thought meg whitman was going to be a fantastic candidate. that's definitely true. but the fact of the matter is, after spending $140 million on this race. californians look at this and say, she's trying to buy this

race. they don't like that. yes. jerry brown has been a known -- and has had baggage. for people with real ideas and real solutions for california which has been in desire straights for a long time. somebody who, it's a state that has been in a lot of trouble. if somebody has come in with real solutions and real public policy campaign as opposed to trying to buy the senate with $120 million. i think california voters would will have taken a second look. i think she's in trouble. host: tim cane needs to be replaced. she's a fantastic defender of principles. >> i have been promoted. host: here's the profile of tim cane. marry is joining us from mar

low, oklahoma. >>caller: good morning steve. can you hear me? host: we sure can. >>caller: i am 97 years old. i wanted to tell these two girls. they don't know what black is all about yet. let me tell america too. what i was born in 1923, came up through all the depressions. we have got a beautiful, beautiful world. and it's worth conserving. it's worth saving. but we're going to have to get rid of people with diarrhea of the mouth. get rid of trash. we're going to have to get rid of people that don't know what they're talking about. they are raised on welfare. that's all they know is welfare. and let me tell you some little jokes while i'm on here, please. and they're nice.

the old indian said. democrats cut off the top of their blanky, sewed it on the bottom and told people it was the same length. foot longer. i will tell you what, i'm a proud republican. i live and die republican because i don't have diarrhea of the mouth. i don't lie, i don't steal. i don't get out here and want the government to feed me. i do not and have never been on welfare my entire life. we are going to have to return back and we're going to have to let a lot of people die, which is, this here president will do. he's going to let a lot of them die. he's not concerned with anything but obama and his family. obama is an enemy to america and you mark it down. host: strong words.

thank you for the call. guest: obviously, i do not grow with the caller. she talked about having grown up in the depression and i will go become to the main message that democrats are going to talk to their constituents. they have put in place a clear path to economic recovery in this country. after having been on the brink of a second great depression. the economic recovery act did bring us back from that great depression. it would have been a lot worse if they had not been put in place. following that, everything that democrats and this president has done has been to fight for the middle class. the republicans have fought for the wealthy and the huge corporations who are spending millions of dollars to get rid of democrats. >> you know, more bad news for

democrats is that projections now is joblessness continues at this rate. it will be 2020 by the time we have any kind of a recovery. that's the pretty bad news. the rhetoric right now. it's not working for the democrats. we are three weeks out from the elections. it's about spending, cutting taxes. longer than that to see the democratic congress. i hope republicans stay the course and go out there and stay on message. i think it's working for them >> from loretta that said. whitman spending over 140 million people. she could have done more with her money. >> it's her money. i think if she's governor. she will be able to help a lot more people in california. i'm sure she gives a lot to

charity. this is a successful woman. it's a race in california. just as president obama spent unprecedented amounts. this is a self-made woman. in that regard. i would have a lot of confidence in her. i think california have confidence in her when you look at what she did with ebay and the dire straight that is california is in right now. she might be just what the doctor ordered at this point in time. >> can i say one comment. sherry talks about the amount of money president obama spent. yes. because he had donors in an unprecedented number. they were donors who were so excited. they gave to the campaign >> a lot of special interest >> but you know who those people are. >> and we know--

>> i think all the special interests that pay on behalf of republicans. >> because that was not his personal money. that was money that donors to gave to obama. >> meg whitman is not using special interests. i think in this particular case. self-made woman who knows how to get this done. i do give her the edge. she doesn't have special interests pulling strings. host: is that also hurting meg whitman? guest: i don't think so. we saw her if the mcchain

campaign. i don't think people link her to anybody else. she is seen and viewed as her own person ken from florida. >>caller:. during the bush administration. we passed a pharmaceutical bill that was a windfall for the companies. i have patients who have to choose between food and medicine. some of them have been yet to be able to get out of their dough nut hole. they kept the chinese off our budget. it was a surplus when clinton was in and turned into this incredible deficit. i would like to point out if i may. all of these family values

people like senator enson who was involved in an affair and the senator who visits with prostitute and of course, larry craig and all of these people, foley and of course, sanford ask sin of south carolina. all of these people are claiming family values. if i may make so bold. this is the mantra of the republican party, nobody ever got poor under estimating the intelligence of the american public host: thanks for the call. >> some of the ethic have been very difficult. one of the things that's a real problem. they have put off these ethics trials, for democratics until

the lame duck session. this looks like something they don't want to deal with. they have had ethices violation. i think it's about the economy. host: in the early point. the obama voters wanted a refund. i am going to end on that note. i want to share one of moments from saturday night live as they took aim of the president. >> delaware republican senate candidate christine o'donnell claims unfair coverage in the media. we used two tricks. record and play. while speaking at a women's conference. president obama's speech was

interrupted when his seal fell off two years early. >> it's simple that voters can make this november. either you vote for continuing to get us out of this economic hole that the republicans drove us into. the democrats have put us on a clear path to recovery. standing with the middle class and working-class families or vote with the republicans who will go back to the same failed economic policies that will only stand up for the big companies. oil and wall street and credit card companies. all who whom have done their dammest >> republicans are going to cut spending. we are spending too much money. if we don't, the voters will vote us out in two years.

we will repeal obama care and we will try and get these, this unemployment number down and make them again. >> we will reduce spending it matters. host: sherry >> our coverage of campaign 2010 continues over the next four hours with the base for u.s. senate and governor. first, it is the senate candidates in kentucky followed by the senate candidates in indiana and that is followed by candidates in michigan and new hampshire. each of those debates is one hour. >> on washington journal tomorrow morning, a look at efforts by state attorneys general. our guests will be in the

attorney general greg zoeller. we will also be joined by representative chris van horn. and others will talk about their efforts to help the parties find common ground. our guests will be republican john porter of illinois and david skaggs of colorado. washington journal is live on c- span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> kentucky's u.s. senate candidates jack conway and rand paul debated at northern kentucky university on monday evening. dr. paul is an ophthalmologist supported by the tea party. they are running to replace rep jim bunning for the bill clinton rep -- campaign for mr. conway on monday and vice-presidential nominee sarah palin campaign for

rand paul last month. this is one hour. >> live, from the concert hall on the campus of northern kentucky university, this is the 2010 kentucky u.s. senate debate. wednesday evening everyone. i and clyde gray, walking need to the campus of northern kentucky university. for the next hour, i will be moderating tonight's debate between democrat jack conway and republican rand paul. we will bring the candidates out in just a few moments, but first, a little bit about them. >> jack conway is a democrat. he is 41 years old. he has a bachelor of arts degree but to university and is a graduate of the george washington university law school. he has worked as a legislative aide and counsel for the house banking committee as well as for

former kentucky gov. paul patton. he also practiced law in louisville and disco owner of a thoroughbred race horse. in 2007, he was elected kentucky attorney general, an office that he holds today. he and his wife have been married for four years. they have one daughter and lived in little. republican rand paul is 47 years old. he attended baylor university and earned a medical degree. he is an ophthalmologist in private practice. he is also chairman and founder of kentucky taxpayers united. dr. paul has not held political office. he and his wife kelly have been married for 20 years. they have three sons and live in bowling green. >> the audience here has been instructed to remain completely silent with one exception, and that is right now when they join

me in welcoming jack conway and rand paul. [applause] >> questioning the candidates tonight is our panel of journalists. they are scott reynolds, amanda from the kentucky enquirer, and mr. key from nine news. the debate will be carried out under a format and rules on agreed to by the campaigns. here they are. each candidate will have two minutes to deliver an opening statement. then, the questioning began. each cat will get a 92nd response for each question with

the first candidate having 30 seconds for rebuttal. all questions will be at the moderator's discretion. eachnd it will receive 30 seconds for a response. each and it will then get two minutes a piece for a closing statement. -- each candidate will then get two minutes a piece for a closing statement. >> is up to me to strictly enforce time limits, a job which i relish. the order of the opening statements as well as the questions has been determined by a coin flip prior to tonight's debate. mr. conway is first. you now have two minutes for your opening statement. >> thank you, clyde. thank you to the northern kentucky chamber andorthern kentucky univ. for hosting this debate. this election for the united states senate presents a fundamental choice betwe what is right for kentucky and what is wrong for kentucky.

as attorney general, i have taken on e position of crime and drugs. rand paul has said that drugs are not a pressing issue and that nonviolent actions should never be criminalize. rand paul is wrong. as attorney general, i have tried to stand up for our seniors when they have been skimmed or abused. rand paul supports a $2,000 deductible that our seniors cannot afford. as attorney general, i have taken on pharmaceutical companies when they lied to us about prescription pill prices. i have taken on the oil companies when the gouged us at the top. rand paul is not believed that those companies should be held accountable whatsoever. in fact, he has even said that going after british petroleum is an american. rand paul is wrong. what concerns me the most is that rand paul has said that we haven't followed the constitution in this country since 1937.

that date was not selected at random. that is the year that the u.s. supreme court upheld the constitutionality of social security. i do not know whether he thinks that social security is constitutional, but he has also questied medicare. he questions medical -- minimum- wage laws. he has questioned the americans with disabilities act. he has question fundamental provisions of the civil rights act of 1964. he has questioned worker safety prection even federal mine safety protections. rand paul would undo all the we have fought for since the great depression. rand paul is wrong, fundamentally wrong. count on me to protect kentucky. this is a choice between white and wrong. mr. paul, you now have two minutes. >> i am a physician, not a politician. i haveeen married for 20 years and i have three teenage boys that are with me today. i decided to run for office

because i became concerned about the mounting debt. i became concerned because the republicans were doubling the debt and the democrats came into power and they tripled the debt. i became concerned because of the rise in spending. the government became the answer for everything. i became concerned that president obama's agenda would support entitlement programs. i became concerned that president obama's agenda was to raise taxes in the middle of a recession. i became concerned that president obama's agenda to bring cap and trade to kentucky would be disastrous for kentucky. it would cost us tens of thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands of jobs. our vision for the country and america is so much different than their vision. president obama's vision is that government is the answer to every economic bill, to every social ill.

our answer is, as ronald reagan said, the government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. i believe in the individual. i believe in you. i believe in individual to open doors. i do not -- onto penurious -- business owners. our national defense and social security, those are things that government will do. let's keep it to a minimum. let's recognize that we are running out of money. as we run out of money, we have to have solutions and we cannot simply stick our head in the sand and say that we will keep passing out checks because that is what we are supposed to do. thank you very much to allow me to come to this debate. >> we will get to the questioning now. we begin with scott reynolds. he will have the first question tonight and it goes to mr. conway. >> before all the political,

something a little more personal. mr. paul, you have no political experience and you have radical ideas. for mr. conway, it may be the opposite. here comes another smooth talking lawyer that wants to climb that lock -- that ladder and become a career politician. can you tell us why pple should give you their vote as a candidate? >> scott, thank you for the question. this race is not about me. this race is not about dr. paul. it is about the people of kentucky. they are hurting right now. in a way that i have never seen in my lifetime. families are being ripped apart. they are worried about whether or n they can educate their kids or keep their jobs. i remember talking to a hardware store owner on the campaign trail who told me that his hardware store is paid for but

he has been turned down for a loan of 22 times in the past 18 months. 15 years ago, 90% of what he had on his shelves was made in america and now 95% is made overseas. i think about the elderly woman who looked at me and said she was an in -- a retired bank teller and lives on a fixed income. she cannot afford a $2,000 deductible. i think about the mothers who have cried on my shoulders as i travel for eastern kentucky that have told me how their daughters overdosed on oxycontin. is about people. it is about who would put kentucky first. i am asking for your vote for the united states senate because i want to put kentucky first. i have earned your trust and it is about people. it is not about me. >> my apologies, mr. paul, you now have 90 seconds. >> i think that my greatest attribute is that i never have

held office. people who have never been in the business world that do not know how to run a business do not know how to meet payroll. i think that being an ounce after -- an outsider is a wonderful actor do. so often, we develop such bland candidates because they talk in circles and they do not present solutions for the demagogue the issues. i think people are ready for solutions. our country faces grave problems. they want somebody that will discuss these issues and the other free to present solutions. when people say that this could be extreme, i say that what is extremas what is going on in washington. a $2 trillion deficit is extre. hundreds of billions of dollars in interest is extreme. if interest rates rise 4% to 6%, interest will consume the

budget. we must elect people who will tackle these problems, not people who will simply demagogue them, take things out of context and run on something that is not real or not true. i am proud of being an outsider and i am proud of the things that i stand for. term limits, balanced budget amendment, this hardly sounds very extreme. >> mr. paul, thank you. mr. conway, you have 30 seconds for a bottle. >> dr. paul says that he is for term limits. he is for term limits, but he told a reporter that he would not apply them to himself. i would say that dr. paul's position on the civil rights act of 1964, i think that is extreme. saying that he wants to do away with the americans wit disabilies act, that affects

the disabled veterans, i think that is extreme to say that soldiers -- i think that is extreme. >> our next question goes to amanda of the kentucky inquirer. >> mr. paul and mr. conway, both of you have said that you are concerned about the federal deficit and that we need to reduce speing. will you tell me three specific ways you would cut spending if you're elected? >> mr. paul, your response. >> first, we need a balanced budget andment to force them to. both sides have pved themselves and work -- untrustworthy. we will be forced to make the -- difficult decisions. in kentucky, we have a balanced budget amendmentnd we have to make decisions. that is what we need. the second thing is we need a compromise between republic tens and democrats that republicans and democrats. we cannot make entitlements off limits. we cannot make discretionary

spending off limits. the entire budget has to be looked at if we are serious about balancing the budget. we have unspent tarp items and unspent stimulus items. we have $100 billion and accounted for. the list goes on and on. we spent 2.6illion last year studying why pigs stink. the earmarks are outstanding. do not give me three, did a thousand that we can list. the waste goes on and on. we hav to start the real cost the will part of the insert is that they have been undependable. they have declared everything an emergency. within three weeks, everything was an emergency. rules will help the system. we need rules that say you have to balance the budget by law. >> mr. conway, you have 30 seconds. >> rand paul's solution will not

help us in the short run. to pass a constitutional amendment, it will take years to pass. we have to get about the business of balancing the budget. this is an area where rand paul talks the talk, but he has not walked the walk. as attorney general, i balance my budget eight times in the past few years. rand paul ys that he is going to balance the entire federal budget next year. he is just not going to tell anybody how he will do it this year. if you balance the federal budget next year, you will end up cutting 40% in spending. if you receive social security benefits, your average benefit might go from something like a lot hundred dollars down to $700. -- like $1,100 down to $700. with the proposals i am talking about. i am talking about allowing medicare to purchase in bulk, to negotiate prices just let

medicaid and the v.a. can. we need to attack medicare fraud. i support closing these offshore tax loopholes and special interest provisions that allow us to ift our jobs overseas to places like china. we could save $130 billion there. i support a bipartisan debt commission. those are five specific steps righthere. >> mr. conway. thank you. mr. paul, you have 30 seconds or bottle. >> if you are serious on balancing the budget, you have to set rules. the rule goes a long way. 32 states have a balanced budget amendment. we do not know whether it takes or five years. if the country is up in arms and es for this, we could pass it. we could pass it like we pass term limits on the president. we passed it relatively eily in the early 1950's. in regards to term limits, he is

against term limits completely. i am for mandatory term limits. >> all right, mr. paul, thank you very much. >> amanda, you have a follow-up question. >> can you be more specific about what cs are needed in spending to help balance the budget? >> we mentioned $200 billion left over in the top fund. -- tarp fund. we should make private workers . we spent $120,000 for the average federal worker. let's bring that in line with private pay. let's try it the federal work force. i think there is an enormous amount of solutions. >> all right, thank you. mr. conway, you get 30 seconds to follow what -- to follow up. >> i am looking for the

specifics on balancing the budget. he supports a $2,000 deductible for medicare. that seems callous to me. he has called social security a ponzi scheme and will seek to privatize it. i will never balance the budget on the backs of our seniors. >> tom now has a question for mr. conway. >> farmers throughout the commonweth are concerned abt changes coming in the estate tax or the death tax on january 1 with the million- dollar exemption. with aiculture so important to -- to the kentucky economy, what can you say to kentucky farmers about this issue? what i understand the commonwealth of kentucky very well and i understand that we have 80,000 farms in the commonwealth of kentucky. i am a kentucky democrat. i have broken with my party when

a profit. i have taken on the pharmaceutical companies. i have taken on oil companies. on the issue of taxes, i am not like typical democrats. i have said that in a time of recession, it is not a time to raise xes. s.t's extend the bush tax c small family farms and small businesses throughout the commonwealth of kentucky need to have some assurance from the federal tax code that they can pass down a family business or passed out a family farm to the next generation. -- passed down a family farm to the next generation. farmers want to know that the department of agriculture will them. my opponent has said that he favors abolishing the federal department of agriculture. if you abolish the federal department of agriculture, you abolish a sustainable for a comedy from your to your --

system will economy from year to year. rand paul is trying to pull one over on you. three-quarters of the farm bill goes to school nutrition programs for it that is 500,000 kentucky kids on free and reduced lunches in public schools. i am not for that. >> mr. paul, you now have 90 seconds. >> is hard to find out what his position on the tax. he was for them before he was against them before he was for them. he came out and told the press that he was for bringing back the death tax. he was for bringing back the estate tax. he was one to have a few exemptions and it would not be quite as bad as what we have before, but he believed in the concept of bringing back the death tax. in a major paper in our state, he told them that he was for letting theajority of the bush tax cuts expire. i have no earthly idea what his real position is.

kentucky cannot stand to have this kind of ambivalence. you need to know where people stand. i have taken a pledge to permanently repeal the death tax, not for a year, or two years, but permanently repeal it because i do not believe you should tax people simply for the act of dying in regard to all of the other allegations, all of these imaginary positions come forward. getting rid of t department of agriculture is not my position. i never said that. these positions come up because he wants to run against something but he does not want to run and talk about president obama. he does not want to talk about his support for president obama and all of president obama's initiatives. that is what this election is about and he is trying to run away from it. >> mr. conway, you have 30 seconds for the bottle. >> not only is rand paul -- in

2002, supported president bush's tax cuts and i am for extending them now. i am not for extending the special interest provisions. the tax cuts that send our jobs overseas. i know that he wants to talk about president obama, but he is want to have to say that a bunch to catch up. just a reminder, we are encouraging you to remain silent so that this process can proceed unimpeded. >> scott has the next question for mr. paul. >> mr. paul, congress has done -- has tried to make it easier for businesses to get loans to purchase equipment. i talked to a couple of business owners that said that they do not want the loans. they are not buying the equipment right now. they are worried about taxes and

added regulations on their businesses. what is going to get the unemployment rate back down to the 5% and 6% level? >> the first thing that we have to realize is that we're doing the wrong things. it has been called an uncertainty premium. they passed a bank regulation bill, which jack is for, with 533 regulations on kentucky banks. the banks that failed were fannie mae, freddie mac and bad policy by the federal reserve. they hate all of these regulaons on banks. that is making it harder to get a loan. obamacare, 2500 pages. nancy pelosi says that we can read it after it is passed. how appalling. once it is passed, it is not done for.

they will write thousands of more pages of regulations. regulations cost businesses $1 trillion. youonder why businesses go overseas. we tax them to death and we regulate them to death. we have the most business on friendly association have ever had. this election will be about do you want someone to support this president and his plan or do you want someone who will support the market place. support the individual. support capitalism. support freedom. that is how we get jobs. send less money to washington and keep more in kentucky. >> mr. conway, your response. >> this election is not about president obama. at this election is about jack conway versus rand paul. do you want somne that understands that our disabled but -- what our disabled vets need?

rand paul is wrong on a lot of issues and he was just wrong here again. he said that no banks failed in kentucky. that is not true. on top of that, a number of them got tarp funds. there was not enough accountability in not for me. when they say to give us money and give us money, there is no accountability and you cannot look at the bonuses that they took. that is outrageous. here is what happened, scott. the government bailed out a bunch of big banks on wall street. they came down real hard on our small community banks. it is the $200,000 loans that the small community bank makes thats the leline to people like my friend, the hardware store owner. the thing that is troubling about rand paul is that he does not seem to understand the concept of accountability.

it is ok to have bailouts, but those banks that were too big to fail have gotten even bigger and nowand paul does not believe in holding them accountable and he does not believe in preventing abuses in the future and he does not believe -- >> mr. conway, i am sorry but i have to interrupt. mr. paul? what do you know who the chief law enforcement officer is in kentucky? drugs are a bad problem in our state. they are getting worse. he has been raking in so much caaign cash in california, he has not been able to do his job. methamphetamine labs have doubled. prescripti drug abuse is up. we have five counties where the average person in the county has for narcotics prescriptions. >> mr. paul, i will have to interrupt you as well. >> command as the next queion -- amanda has the next question.

>> kentuckians have benefited from a local voice in jim bunning who secured funding for northern kentucky university where we are tonight. if elected, how would you work to protect northern kentucky's interests? would you be an advocate for nku? >> i think he for the question. before i address it, i want to point out that the allegation that dr. paul just made about methamphetamine labs going up, that is disrespectful to the kentucky state police. they are the ones that have the ability to go after methamphetame labs. one of his friends try to put up an ad with those allegations and to stations have to pull it down because it was proven to be false. now to your question, i le coming to northe kentucky.

i love the spirit of the people out here. i have a dozen members of your cincinnati bengals that have formed beagles -- for a special group. -- formed a special group. i always try to get behind northern kentucky. while working as an aide in gov. patten's office, i helped write the higher education law that gave status to northern kentucky university. we have to look at this issue. there is a lot of infrastructure at the airport. if you honor me by electing me as the next united states senator, i will come up with ideas to try to get more traffic to that airport. we have to make certain that it is safe to cross that bridge. >> mr. paul, you have 90 seconds. >> i would advocate for bridges

for northern kentucky and level anwherever we need them. for roads wherever we need them. i will not simply promise that here is the money and there are no conditions for it that is our problem. do we want someone who simply will pander? re it is, here is the money, there are no consequences. there are consequenceso having a $2 trillion debt. this needs to be within the confines of a balanced budget and not to be earmarked process. the earmarked process has been a stay on our history. people stick things on in the dead of night that are unrelated to the bills. mr. smith gave a lot of money to a representative. that is the kind of thing that the taxpayers are upset with. they want more accountability. when things go through the committee process, we will ask what the cost benefit analysis is.

we will ask when was the bridge last repaired. we will make rational decisions on rebuilding our infrastructure. yocannot do that if you are in favor of a trillion dollar stimulus. if y are in favor of a $1 trillion health care plan, that is money that we do not have to fix bridges. you can't beie in the sky with everyone. you need someone who will have an adult conversation. >> thank you, mr. paul. mr conway, your bottle. >> this issue, like so many others, is about standing up for northern kentucky. i would std up for northern kentucky, central kentucky and eastern kentucky. i am looking for statistics where prescription lls went down.

my opponent can't cite what ever statistics he wants to make up. >> sorry to interrupt, but your time is up. we will now go to tom a key who has a question for mr. paul. >> the international airport has lost 50% of its flights since 2007. it has affected passengers, businesses and others. what can you do at the federal level that will reverse this trend? >> we have to leave more money in the state. that would allow for more businesses to thrive and more people to travel. the airlines do face a lot of hurdles and they are on the edge. one of the things that they are concerned about is forced unionization. they are worried about the secret ballot and expanding the unionsere only 20 people can decide about the unions.

this is coming out of president obama's of administration. we need a competitive labor, but we need labor that can succeed in our market. toyota it thrives with non unionized labor. gm is failing. we need to realize that we have a marketplace out there and we encourage people to come to our state and that they can hire people for a reasonable wage and businesses will succeed. >> mr. conway, your response. >> i believe the question was about the international airport and what we can do to make it thrive once again. this is an issue that is important not only to northern kentucky, but important to all of kentucky. my wife and i make our home in louisville and i fly in and out of covington all the time because it is convenient. one of the reasons that toyota came here was because it was a convenient source of international flights. if you honor me by electing me

to the united states senate, i will work on this issue. we have a lot of infrastructure there that is being unused. we have to look at getting maintenance hubs brought in for regional aircraft. we have to look a what happened in pittsburgh and the loss of their regional hub. -- and they lost their regional hub. is there something that we can do to make sure that more carriers have access to more gates of that we use all the dates that we have. -- all of the gates that we have. you need an advocate to bring people together in the senate. we need to figure out this issue. if you honor me with your vote and sent me to the united states senate, i will put together a task force and bring everyone together, democrats and republicans, the way i have done on my cyber crimes legislation, and say that we need to figure things out because there is a work force out there and cannot waste it. >> mr. paul, your bottle.

>> it is about a fundamental decision. government says that capitalism failed and they want new regulations. our businesses go overseas because they are regulated to death. they are taxed to death. even in europe, the taxes are lower. we need more taxes and less regulation. we do not need to send a supporting voice, we need to tell them they are wrong. >> thank you very much. we solicited questions online for tonight's debate. here is one. it has been said that every community hates your marks except their own. -- earmarks, except their own. mr. conway, your response. >> i am against earmark of

uses. it should be placed in the bill -- abuses. some your marks affect infrtructure like the bridge project in northern kentucky, like projects in and around bowling green and the army depot that senator mcconnell is filing -- is fighting. i think it is about being responsible and making sure that wit has transparency and make sure we know how federal dollars are spent. the choice in this campaign, he will continue to say obama, obama, obama. it is about putting kentucky first. we need someone who will fight against a $2,000 deductible for medicare. here is what -- rand paul is for all of these agencies in the governme. he said he would not eliminate the agency that pays doctors for

medicare because he wants to make a comfortable living. you pay more, he gets more. that is not the kind of representation we need to send to washington. if you send me there, i'll always put kentucky first. >> mr. paul, you have 90 seconds. >> when u talk in circles, someone has to interpret for you. he is against your mar -- but he is really for them. you have these earmarks. i have talked about medicare running out of money. so social security, running out of money. in the future, we will have to do things. there will have to be changes made. i did not cause the baby boom. a lot of babies were born after world war ii. i did not cause the baby boom,

but i am willing to deal with it to figure out how to fix social security for the future. social security spends more than it takes in. it is going bankrupt. we cannot do the same old, same old. we cannot promise how we will pay for them. we have to figure out how to pay for them. alternately, maybe people have millions of dollars and they may have to pay more of a cost for medicare. that is part of what the debt commission is talking about. step up and be a man and take a chance. say that you are for something. mr. conway, you have 30 seconds to bottle -- for it rebuttal it -- for rebuttal.

>> mr. paul, i am not want to balance t budget by calling social security a ponzi scheme. i do not know what he just proposed there. healked about a resource. he was either saying for me except in medicare or tax. i guess you'll have to answer that. >> scott reynolds as the next question for mr. paul. >> 10,000 miles away, about 100,000 america's finest are in a war in afghanistan. that is something that congress will havto deal with as well. i am wondering, should we have gone into that war, and what does victory look like? is it just getting out of there as long as there is no huge television -- taliban stronghold? >> this election has been primarily abt financial issues. i tell people that the most

important vote that i will ever take is whether or not to go to war. i will take that vote and treat it seriously. i will treat it as if my children or -- are going or i am going. i think that we should go to war reluctantly. when weo to war, we should go constitutionally. have not declared war since world war ii. i think that as a mistake. as a consequence, many people like john kerry say that they voted for the use of force before they voted against use of force. mandy pandy, either you were for or against going to war. i do not think that our national security was threatened in iraq and i would have voted against the declaration of war. with regard to afghanistan, i would have forced a vote on declaration of war and i would have voted for it because i don't think that we can allow people to train in terrorist

bases to attack us. in regard to how long you should stay and when your actual departure should be, ultimately, troop movements are made by the president and his generals and not by congress. i do think that we need to have a national debate over how long is too long. i think that we are very good at winning war, but we are not good at building nations of nations that have never been true nations. we need to debate and discuss. >> mr. paul, thank you very much. mr. paul -- mr. conway, your response. >> thank you very much. you are right. our finest are serving 10,000 miles away. we have lost about 70 kentuckians in the war in iraq. we have lost 30 kentuckians in the war in afghanistan. just last week, we lost a gentleman named matt jackson. i believe that our families are paying a big price. this is a solemn decision.

this is where i felt comfortable breaking with our president and said that he made -- he did not make a case for the surge. afghanistan was the right war to stay focused on going after terrorism and the seeds of it. my concern with the surge in afghanistan is that the true definition of victory in afghanistan will be leaving a nation that is better off than we found it and making sure that it does not harbor terrorists. i did not hear enough about pakistan in that equation. i did not hear about how regional partners will help us make that a reality in the future. it is pakistan that harbors the most dangerous terrorists and nuclear material in the world. i am not only concerned about declarations of war, i am concerned about nuclear material. that is what is so disconcerting to me that my opponent said in october 2007 that it would not

affect our national security if iran acquired a nuclear weapon. i will make sure that iran is not acquire a nuclear weapon. >> mr. paul, it is rebuttal. >> when you are on both sides of the issue, he was for the iraq war before he was against it. at least stand up and make a stand for the believe in something. if you were for it, stand up and say it. tell us what you are changing your position. if we ever turning this over fast enough to the afghans to patrol their streets. >> mr. paul, i am sorry. i will have to answer a. >> amanda with the kentucky inquirer has a question for mr. conway. >> this is for both candidates. october is breast cancer awareness month. dr. paul, i know you were criticized for commenting on breast cancer. i will be the chance to explain

that. to each of you, i would ask, do you believehat funding for cancer research should be handled on the federal level? if you are elected, would you support federal funds for cancer research? >> i will get to that in a second. he is trying to make fun of my answers. notice what happened is an ago. on october 1, 2007, rand paul said it would not be a threat to the national security of you not state's -- of united states if iran got a nuclear weapon. that.ld not rebut i was pleased to go with my wife to waterfront park and participate in the wall for the susan coleman foundation. breast cancer research is very

important. dr. paul's comments were to take everything down to the local level. he says we should fund breast cancer at a local level. a conference call was held that said that he does not get it. that is exactly what i am saying to you tonight. he just does not get it. he wants to rail against health care. i understand that. so of the health care changes that we have made have put screenings in place. people like my friend who has d a kidney transplant and had trouble getting health surance, he cannot be denied under this new health care plan. rand paul is for repealing everything. he also seems to have is fundamental view. goes back to what i said tonight. he says we have not all the constitution since 1937. he does not think the federal

governments involve the federal government can do too much. the federal government should be in the business of sending money to places like the university of kentucky for breast cancer research. >> mr. paul, your response. >> it is hard to argue with somebody who oversimplifies every issue. not all federal funding for breast cancer is local. it is the same for the drug issue. it is not all federal or all local. it is a balance between state and federal. the more we do federal with every issue, the more distant it comes by she becomes from the people. with regard to iraq, -- iran. iran is invalid -- emboldened. iran is a threat with their nuclear threat to the middle east. i have never said otherwise. >> mr. conway, you now have 30

seconds rebuttal. >> first ofll, you have said that otherwise. he said that on october 2007. i want to go back to dr. paul's philosophy. he talked aboutot following the constitution since 1937. he says that we need a health care system that we have before world war ii. i guess he wants to barter for health care and go back in time. >> it is time now for a question submitted on-line. a viewer writes to us -- the bush tax cuts are about to expire. what is important, reducing the national debt or reducing taxes? >> both. part of the problem that weave had as republicans is that we

have often done a good job cutting taxes. the bush tax cutcame about when republicans controlled all three branches. they were the right thing to do. they give predictability to business. they get more capital funds to business. they should have cut spending. i ran in my primary and stood up and said that we as republicans did not do a good enough job. the democrats are doing worse, but we as republicans did not do a good enough job to cut spending. it is not a revenue problem. it is a spending problem. we have to cut spending. we have to be serious about it. we have to look at every program in the budget. all across the board. does that mean we will eliminated or cut social security by 40% or whatever he is the one on about? no. look at every program and see if it can be done at the federal level for the local level. this test needs to go through every individual program in the

budget and we need to be serious about it. it is the only way we will ever get our house in order. >> mr. conway got you have 90 seconds. >> thank you. i have said that raising taxes is something that we should do in a time -- is not a thing we should do in the time of recession. we need to get back to the rules that were in place in the clinton years when a democratic president actually turned t to republican president and said that there is a economy. that is what we need to get back to. we also need to have a jobs plan. i am a different kind of democrat. i actually have a jobs plan for it if you go to my web site, you can see me and you can look at us talking about it. the difference between the two candidates appear tonight is that i actually have a jobs plan. rand paul has no plan whatsoever my plan calls for a 20% tax credit.

the college a hometown tax credit. estimates are that that would create jobs. rand paul's plan for jobs, here is what he said. he said that some people are just want to have to get a job with lower wages and we will have to have some tough love. that -- those are his words, not mind. that is not a jobs plan. that is callousness. at the same kind of callousness that would call for a $2,000 medicaid deductible. i will stand up with a real jobs plan and get this country and as commonwealth back to work. >> mr. paul,ou now have 30 seconds. >> i want to understand where we are on this issue. you are for the -- you were for the tax -- of the bush tax cuts originally. you wanted to make sure that they knew you were the liberal democrat to support obama. you were against the majority of

them. your exact words a couple of months ago. now you are for some of them. i am not sure exactly what is going on because i know that he specifically said that you were for bringing the estate tax back. >> all right, gentlemen, thanks. because of where we are in the debate at this point, the next question is posed by tom a key and each of you will have 60 seconds to respond. >> residents continue to struggle with unfunded mandates in the no child left behind legislation what should be kept in? what should be kept out? >> mr. conway, your response. >> first of all, i want to go back to dr. paul's last answer. he said i want to be a liberal democrat terry i do not want to say that drugs are not a pressing issue.

he said that states should be able to legalize marijuana. on the issue of education, the federal government makes up about 20 percent of our education budget. i do not want to do away with the federal department of education as my opponenwants to do. if i were to ask the audience here tonight to raise your hands if you know someone who has further their education with a pell grant, i think many of you would raise your hands. dr. paul does not seem to understand that. he doesn't seem to understand kentucky. he doesn't seem to understand what it is like to struggle to rther your education. we need to stand up and help some of our failing schools, but i am not for being callous and letting the federal farm of vegetation. >> mr. paul ? >> no child left behind was a huge mistake. the republicans passed it, but it really went against our philosophy of believing in more local control of schools. interestingly, the teachers

hated it. many teachers will hear that i am opposed to no child behind. -- no child was behind. -- no child left behind. it took control out of the local hands of superintendents and principals and teachers and parents. we need to take control of our schools locally. someone threw up their arms and say that he is nt to get rid of federal involvement. there still might be student loans at the federal level, but should we have more federal control or less. >> mr. paul, thank you. 30 seconds, mr. conway. >> his view of the future is that there might be federal loans at the federal level.

i am asking you, think of people who needed federal loans and federal help to further their education. doing away with that, doing away with helping people further their education, that will never be an option with me. we have very different views about what it means to put kentucky first. >> mr. conway, mr. paul, thank you both. we are at the point of our progm where we will turn to the candidates for closing statements. they each have two minutes for their closing statement. we begin with mr. paul. >> if you, very much for having me. i am proud to be a kentuckian. i am proud to be american. i am proud of the american way of life. what does that mean? it means our way of life is different than other countries. i am not proud of the cuban system. i am proud of the american system. people fly from all around the world to come and have their

health care and our great country. we need to be proud of the system that created that. we need to not have a president who flies around the world and disparages america, disparages our way of life. america is of freedom. government is restrained by the constitution. not meant to restrain you, is meant to restrain your government. franklin once said that those who give up their liberty for security will have neither. we need to remember that. we have a lot of problems. at every turn, there is a fork in the road. you can go one direction or the other. you can go the direction of more indidual freedom, of less government, of more individual or say thatrial ship the government has the answer to everything. government does not do things well. when they passed the smulus

plan, it was reported that 77,000 dead people got it. doeshat not just a paul us? we run these massive deficits and are struggling -- aulos -- appaul us? if your mother got it and she was deceased and you wanted to send it back, there is no provision to send it back. 17,000 criminals got checks from the government. we need more local control. is it going to be all local vs. all federal? obviously not. >> i am sorry, we need to turn to mr. conway for a two-minute closing statement. >> thank you, clyde. thank you pel and thank you for the american people. this election is about who is one to put kentucky first. i appreciate the discussion of

cuba. this is about who is going to put the commonwealth of kentucky first. the special interests in washington have enough peoe standing up fo them. you need a united states senator that has experience, as i have, a holding people accountable. we need to hold wall street accountable. my opponent has a world view where he says that the constitutional does not allow the federal government to do all these things and the end result is that he would have no federal government holding the bankers on wall street accountable and making certain they never do this to us again. as for attorney general, i have gone after the drug problem. i have gone after the pharmaceutical companies that gouged us. i have gone after the oil companies that gouged us. i want to take that record of taking a public office and treating it as a public trust and i want to do that as your

next united states senator in washington. do you want the united states senator who understands that drugs are a pressing issue? do you what the united states senator like me who understands that sometimes when activity is nonviolent that it ought to be a crime? do you want the united states senator like me who will stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves like those people who benefit from the civil rights act? i ask for your vote bause i am not for a $2,000 deductible for medicare like my opponent. i will never balance the budget on the backs of seniors. thank you for having me here. i ask for your vote. >> mr. conway,r. paul, thank you very much for agreeing to be with us tonight so that the voters might assess you vote. things as well to our panel, scott reynolds, amanda, and tom a kemckee.

i also want to thank our sponsors, the northern kentucky chamber of commerce, northern kentucky university, the [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the candidates for u.s. senate in kentucky, jabbing conway and rand paul, debate again next sunday at the university of louisville, live on crmp span at 7:00 p.m. eastern. our coverage of campaign 2010

debates continues in a few moments with the senate candidates in indiana. in an hour, governors debates with the candidates in michigan, followed by the candidates for governor in new hampshire. after that, a look at some of the so-called attack ads being aired around the country. >> all this weekend, live coverage from the texas book festival with eugene robin son among others authors on the obama presidency and panels on medical mysteries, capital punishment and fugitives. get the entire schedule at booktv.org. the u.s. senate candidates are dan coates, congressman brad

ellsworth and rebecca sink-burris. the first debate was on monday. the cook political report and they rate this race as leans republican. this is an hour. good evening. from the university conference center on the campus of indiana university, indianapolis. on behalf of the indiana debate commission, welcome to the first of three debates. i your moderator. this is the central indiana debate. the northern indiana debate will be held on october 22 in fort wayne. this southern indiana debate will be held on october 25. as part of our mission to put to voters first, you can still submit your questions for the remainintwo debates by logging onto our website. the three u.s. senate candidates will answer questions from

voters for the next hour. the jurors will consider the candid answers. the candidates -- immediately next to meet this democrats brad ellsworth. in the middle is libertarian candidate rebecca sink-burris. on the end is a republican dan coates. they have agreed to the rules of the debates. candidates will have one minute and 30 seconds to answer most questions. in announce that one answers length will carry to allow canada it's enough time to answer. as merator, they cut off a candidate who exceeds the time or call for additional time to fully answer a question. it is important to note that all

of the questions that will be opposed to might come from hoosier of voters and were reviewed by a committee of the indiana debate commission. the candidate note to use only small notes and no props. we reminded members of our live audience of our house rules as well. now the candidates will each have 30 seconds to introduce themselves and we will start with brad ellsworth. >> thank you. thank you for sponsoring this for a tonight. the decision to run for the united states and it was very serious. it should be serious to the people watching this debate tonight. my career was in law enforcement, 25 years. i think there are two things in this debate that are important. who will work tirelessly to bring jobs back to indiana and who will fight against the

special interest in washington d.c. >> in politics this year, there is been a strong sentiment. the old parties have not listened. instead of new voices, they have given us voices from the past. boyce is favored by party leadership, not by the voters. as your libertarian candidate, am an ordinary citizen running for office. i represent a change that people have been asking for. i represent the ideals that this country was founded on a. >> thank you. i was -- i am an alumni of this institution. i graduated from law school. this is a serious time and it deserves serious consideration. i am glad we are having this

debate. i got into this race because i was distressed about the country -- about the direction our country was heading into. meet the first person who will ask the question of the candidate. she is an attorney in indianapolis. thank you so much for coming tonight. what is your question? >> good evening. indiana's public schools are in a serious state of crisis. what are your specific ideas about how to help indiana's public schools at the national level? including your thoughts on it no child left behind? >> thank you very much. i think of all the things that we will talk about tonight and all the things that we review, it all goes back to our ildren's education. that -- there is not a more important investment we can make. when we look at our kids and how

they are, it is not all one test one day. i think we need to invest in charter schools, public schools and promoting private institutions. to answer your question about no child left behin the idea is good. the goal that is go. but it does not work the same way across our country for every child. we need to look at that legislation. surely, we should not even a child behind. the invtments we make are very important trade my daughter is a 30-year educator. we should not be having teachers by the tens and papers, protractors, chairs and filing cabinets to help educate our kids. we need to make every efforto make sure that our childreget the education they need. >> my background is in teaching. i have taught in both the public schools and in private schools.

i beeve that education is much too important toe left in the hands of a government monopoly. like all monopolies, andhey do not serve their constituents well. you do not get choice, availability, innovation. it is just a shame and a crime that low income students are trapped in failing schools. that is absolutely -- that absolutely must ange. the federal department of education has not been successful. no child left behind is the last of many programs that have not improved education. i think we need to face the department of education out. surely, there are people in each state who can figure out how to service every childnd not

leave any child behind. the important thing we must add to education is choice. we have tompower parents to be able to make educational choices for their children. this means allowing the money to follow the child and allowing the parents to choose what school their child gets to go to. one size does not fit all. even children in the same family need a different type of school and education. >> thank you. our constitution states that those powers not specifically enumerated to the federal government should be left to the states. that is our 10th amendment. education is primarily -- primarily falls in the categor of state involvement and state control. the federal government has created a huge bureaucracy in the department of education, which has done little to improve the scores and to

improve the education of children and the public school system. states have the flexibility to promote choice, to let parents make those decisions, and to give low-income students the opportunity to escape a feeling school and have the opportunity to gain education. that flexibility is critical, i believe, in proving our education -- and improving our education system. if we allow the federal government to dictate our children are educated, you get one size fits all. every state is different. every community is different. states are in a much better potion to decide what is best for children. cox our next question was submitted by john thompson, a utility worker who lives in hartsdale. he would like to know, what are th facts, negative or

positive, of the obama health care plant and how will osiers' be affected? how would you change the plan and why? >> as y know, i voted for the health care plan that came before us. it was important -- when i first started to run for congress, my first meetings were constituents that if you get elected, please do somethingbout the rising cost of healthcare in this country. i am proud that we took it on. i think that it does some great things. it eliminates pre-existing nditions for children and eventually, adults. it closes the doughnut hole for seniors so that when they get to a certain point of using medication, they do not have to go into bankruptcy or stop taking medicine. eliminates the cap so that if you get sick and -- you do not spend your whole ente savings on your health care. it gives tax breaks to small

businesses. that is a very importa first step. is the bill perfect? absolutely n. will it be added to and deleted from? it well. but it was a good first step. >> health care is the same as any other service or commodity. it is best provided by the free market. make no mistake, we have not had a free market in health care for quite a while. that is the main problem of why our health care is gone so expensive. when we look at the causes of this expense, we find that government is involved in almost every case the recent health care bill has done nothing to lower-cost. in fact, it is going to raise costs dramatically. there are unintended consequences. it sounds great to allow children to not have -- be denied insurance f pre- existing condition, but in real

life what happens is that insurance companies stopped offering policies for children. that is happening in our state today. we need to think very carefully. the person we need to change is having it linked to employment. this is left over from world war ii when there was price control and wage control. if everyone got a tax deduction for buying insurance or any medical care needs, that would vary drastically change the set up. it would make the price mechanism worked to bring the price down. >> i think this health-care bill was one of the prime examples of what is wrong with washington. at a time of economic distress, now moving into its third year,

people out of work, the obama administration, nancy pelosi, supported by opponent as he has tested knowledge, fought back coursing through a 2000-page, at trillion dollar health care reform plan for this country rather than focusing on getting us back to work and getting growth growing again. this is a pent-up 25-year liberal wish dream. when they had the votes to push it through, my opponent was one of those very late votes that brought it to fruition. it imposed upon all of us. taxes, mandates, spending. i have talked to dozens of doctors, nurses, practitioners, surance companies, medical providers. i've found no one who thinks that this is the way to deal with legitimate reform that has to be made. we can make provisions for pre- existing conditions thout passing a mad at 2000-page bill

that cost the state $3.1 billion over the next 10 years. it eliminates the help the hoosier plan. all that is out the window. >> our next question comes from a facul member in indianapolis and is joining us tonight in person. thank you for bei here. what is your question? >> in your view, what are the benefits and drawbacks of term limits and how would you vote on su a proposal? >> we are going to change the order of response. >> i think tm limits have pluses and minuses. it would very much help in the case of gerrymandered districts so that we do get more choice and turnover in the congress and

senate. politics has become so divided, almost equally between democrats and republicans, that oftentimes, when it comes to a general election, there is only one candidate running. that does not give americans any choice and tm limits would help to increase the choice. i think that would be very good and i would vote in favor of that. partf what you lose in term limits, and u have to take this into consideration, is the experience of being in office. that is of value. we do not want to make the term limits to shorts -- too short. >> i introduced the concept of term limits and i pledged personally that i would live by that pledge. to serve no more than two terms in the senate. that is why i left.

the privateered sector and had the wonderful opportunity to serve as the ambassador of germany. i came back to the private sector. i could not stand idly by and watch what was happening to the country i love. watch what was happening to indiana. the massive growth of government in washington is out of control. the spending is out of control. we have to spend all this money, but you have to pay for it with taxes. we have tax rates that will go up for every american citizen, as congress deals with it. yet they aourn to come home and campaign without taking action. these current tax rates expire on december 31 at midnight.

now congress will rush back in a lame duck session. that is not the way we ought to deal with very sious issues. term limits give you the freedom to know that your decisions, you are not there to build a career for the lifetime, you are there to do the best job that you can. >> thank you very much. i would like to step back because he left a few details out. his 18 years in congress, it they would have dealt with health car then, maybe it would not have come up. it was also endorsed, he had dozens of meetings. i had thousands of meetings about health care. people said we have to do something. little girls that have juvenile diabetes, nurses at have crippling arthritis. i am proud that we took it on. the ama endorsed it. the american hospital association endorsed it. i think our constitution spells

out the way that people are elected. i do not think you have tworry about term limits with me. after his 18 years in congress, when he said he term limited himself, he negotiated his deal with the lobbying firm the first time. he lobbied would and congress. dent he was assigned as the ambassador of germany and then went back and end eight days after he came home, he had another lucrative job with a logging -- lobbying firm. he has done that the last five years. >> you will have the opportunity to began with the next question. let me ask the question. if you have time remaining, you can respond. >> our next question was submitted by pulte morgan, a retiree from indianapolis. he would like to know,

unemployment seems to be the most important issue. it will undoubtedly haunt us well beyond the november election. what are your plans to reduce it? how much will reducing it cost? how do you intend to implement any solutions that you offer? >> i really feel i need to address that previous question. i regret that campaigns have to be turned into a personal accusations. the issues that face the hoosiers are serious enough that we ought to be debating those issues. i guess i have to say that i am not sure where my opponent is coming from, negotiating a deal. the majority leader of the united states senate, george mitchell, a democrat, and robert dole, both contacted me and

asked if after all left the senate, -- when you leave the senate, we would like to talk to you. a numb of people said that. under the law, i am not able to negotiate anything, nor do i want to negotiate anything. i took a month off because i did not even want to think about what was next. it was then that they approached me to join in a special counsel. it was a privilege to be passed. -- to be asked. i think that needs to be corrected. i see that i have used my time. i will try to catch up on the question. >> putting people back to work, putting americans back to work is the number-one thing we can focus on in this country today. the way that we -- weeed to t create federal jobs, but to

create the atmosphere that allows the private jobs to create and businesses to create jobs. one thing we have to is cut the red tape for businesses so that they know what to expect. we have to give them permanent tax breaks. that is wt is going to forward a private invest and grow our jobs. we have to stop loopholes that allow countries to ship jobs overseas. we have worked on this already and we have to do more. i was in indiana just a few weeks ago and they moved those jobs to mexico and canada. my opponent worked with the lobbyist and consultant for the company that bought it, sold it, part of the deal was to shut down that company and do those jobs. they qualified for federal assistance.

that is where we have to start. >> hoosiers, are you ready for a change? the jobs issue number one. after eight years of bush and now two or three with obama, the situation has not improved. the republicans are running as off a cliff of dead and -- of debt and public -- deficit spding. the democrats blue -- came in and blew it right off the record at 90 miles an hour. they are still going off that cliff. our country is going to take years and years, if we ever recover. libertarians believe that it is time to change directio it is time to go back to the founding fathers and their

ideals of free market economics, which produces prosperity and jobs for everyone. i can give you two quick examples. in countries, areas like hong kong, singapore, where they have low taxes and low regulation, but they have property rights and the rule of law, the economy is bustling. an economy where it is controlled from the top to the point where people were just told they could raise vegetables for their own use, it was not legal. that is cuba. >> your time has expired. on to our next question. it comes from a scientist from indianapolis. he would like to know -- many fiscal experts belie that extending taxuts for the wealthy is fiscally irresponsible. what is your stand on this issue, and why? >> raising taxes on anyone in

this economy, in any sector of the economy, it is unconscionable and the wrong direction. especially raising taxes on the very center of our enomy that produces new jobs. small business. small-business owners -- this is a tax increase, not just letting the tax cuts run out. it is a giant tax increase. small business will not be able to grow us out of this recession. they are already struggling to bring people back. thhealth care built piled on to of this, they do not have the confidence to even go out and add more people to their workforce. but the other component of not raising taxes during a deep recession is to stop digging the

hole we are in. we have to stop spending. it really would not be that hard. i hope that i will get the chance to talk about how we can bring about a balanced budget. >> thank you. i will take the opportunity to enter both of those questions. getting americans back to work requires and in this job killing, massive big government efforts coming out of the obama administration. it is supported by nancy pelosi. this is no time to raise taxes. again, you pass massive spending programs and then you turn around to losers and say, now you have to pay for them. hoosiersturnaround to futur

and say, now you have to pay for them. anyone who has talked to job makers in this state, have understood that the health care -- the health care bill put another burden on them. forcing them to think about outsourcg. a president w is anti private business. no wonder they want to think about moving out. we have got to extend these -- they should not be left to run out. >> your time has expired. >> i can answer prty quickly. the tax cuts -- the tax breaks

should be extended. they were extended for a reason. now is not the time to raise them. we need to reform our entire tax code. it is too complex for small businesses and for families. i would like to go back to something my opponent said. in the same senate debate in 1992, he gave the same answer that he said then. he never did that. served his 18 years in congress, went to a lobbying firm, and then went to another lobbying firm. he has not paid taxes in indiana and years. he has not held a driver's license and has not voted in indiana in 10 years. he has a home in virginia and a home in north carolina.

he said then that you should move back home with the people that you represent. he never did. >> the joining us here tonight to ask the next question is a retiree and a community lunteer. we are so glad you are here. what is your question? >> thank you. my question is, since the u.s. supreme court's decision in the cizens united case and the u.s. senate's inability to reach a vote on a bill that would require disclosure on campaign contribution, would you pledged to sign on as a sponsor or cospsor of senate bill 752, the fair elections act? this bill would make officials accountable only tough their constituents by allowing canada to run for office on small contributions and limited public funds.

>> thank you. disclosure is important. people need to know who is funding a race. one thing i regret is that the first amendment allows outside groups to put ads either for us or against us. we should be controlli our own voice and our own message. the court has said that outside organizations have first amendment rights. there is more than disclosure. disclosu needs to show where it is coming from the congressman has received more ecial interest money percentage wise than any other candide running for the united states senate. based on his own reports. if you're talking about giving support for hoosiers, i think it is important for them to know where that money is coming from.

>> thank you very much. i think that the bill -- of course we want to look at the bill and read the bill on that issue. i disagree with the supreme court decision on this. i respectfully disagree with it. i think the sunshine on where the money comes from in campaigns is extremely important. we have to turn around and correct that in the senate. i would like to correct -- comment on what my opponent just sad. he raised three times the money that i raised. if you look at might relent -- my rolodex is nothing like his. he has taken as -- i would

venture to guess, many times more in special interest contributions and i have. he is spending about a five-one to what i am spending on television. at what special interest he has tied himself to. 100 special interest that he worked for personally. 800 pages all lobbying reports, as you sit through that. >> i have taken no money from special interest. i am running my campaign on a smal donations from individuals. if there is an independent group of dairy would like to put on radio ads or tv commercials that would help my campaign, i would welcome back.

i would expose where the money comes from. there is a downside. if you live in a small community, you sometimes have to tread very carefully in the political scene because the party in power will often take it out on you if you have donated on the other party. there is a double edged sword here. it is good for openness, but it does -- do not be fooled tonight. by canada it's his sound libertarian when they want to get elected. -- by candidates who sound libertarian and want to get elected. every time they get into office, they reneged on those promises. democrats and republicans both come from the party of big government. you have a choice this year. you can vote for smaller,

constitutionally sound government. >> moderator's prilege. what does he have wrong about you? you have 30 seconds. >> tnk you for that opportunity. he has totally mischaracterizes what i had done. we put that out for everyone to see. he has misstated completely and we have proven that. independent sources have proven that. it is a tired old washington game, if you do not want to talk about what your party has done, you put out a distraction. >> i would like to respond. everything i said is a result of

his 800 pages and lobbying. i have documentation, his documentation, either he is not telling the truth or is lost firm -- law firm has not. that is against federal law. the facts are the truth. he talks about -- never once -- >> do you have anything to offer? [laughter] >> i am not beholden to any special interest. i take the constitution seriously. i would govern from that standpoint. using the free-market to build prosperity for indiana citizens rather than government schemes that never work. >> that is enough of the moderators privilege. now back to our citizens. robert, a retiree, is here

tonight. what is your question? >> since the approval rating of congress is so low, would you be willing to sponsor legislation to repeal the generous compensation plan now enjoyed by government officials? >> our first candidate. >> that is a great question. when people are hurting in indiana or across the country, we should pay, too. we should feel that. sign a balanced budget amendment. we should do that. i have supported that legislation, but we do -- when i could not vote against a raise for congress in my very first year, i gave that race to charity. we were successful in cancelling

any kind of race were compensation for members of congress. sometimes you see that we have a lucrative health care bill. i have blue cross blue shield. it is just like everybody else's. certainly, we have to tighten our belts across the board and that includes elected officials. >> yes. i would have no problem with that. i would like to take the pay cuts because right now our country is very much hurting. federal workers get paid double in salary and benefits what a comparable position would pay in the prive sector. that is unsustainable and it is wrong and we need to cut those salaries and cut those benefits and be more in line with what the private sector highs. -- has.

it is very important not to set us up as two classes of people. the government does n produce jobs. the private sector produces wealth and jobs. the only sector growing right now is the government sector. it is growing by taking money from your pocket and putting it into the government sector, which never operate as efficiently or politely as the private sector. it is very important for us to rain and those costs that have given an unfair advantage to people in government. >> robert, the answer is yes. congress ought to live by the laws that it asks of citizens. that would be a very constructive step of going forward and i would be happy to introduce that in congress and

the people choose to send been there. we also need to balance our budget, but what we see growing here is congress. the only entity that has not tightened its belt in this very serious recession, the worst downturn in the economy since the great depression, families have had to tighten their belts. businesses have had to tighten their belts. are indiana government has had to tighten its belt. only the federal government has expanded in did -- expanded exponentially. their pay is higher than the average worker in america. i think that needs to be addressed. we will not balance the budget if we go to congress -- eight trillion dollars stimulus bill that did not stimulate workers and get people back to work. a trillion dollar heah-care bill that people do not want an

think reforms can be made at far less cost. bail alps -- built out, this building here has been greater than any other time in our history. we are putting our children and grandchildren in debt. >> thank you. next up is amy, and joining us tonight. she is a developed manager from indianapolis. >> thank you. i think americans would like to see the incidence of abortions to go down. what is your view on sex education and birth control? >> thank you for that question. it is an important issue. however, it is not a federal issue. it is an issue that should be handled at the state level.

the state should make the rules about such things, as abortion. different states will have different rules. our founders intended, the stes were to be incubators and trying to things. if they did not work out, they could be scratched. at least they would not be sent over the entire country and have a bad effect that way. i am in favor of responsible behavior. there are enough different methods of birth control and this day and age, there should be very few unwanted pregnancies. as far as sex education, i am in favor of school choice. you can have your children educated in the way that you want. whether that includes sex education does not include sex education, that would be up to a parent. personally, i find the earlier, and the better.

i would like to seek abortions down as low as possible -- see abortions down as low as possible, never paid for by tax dollars. >> i am a believer that life begins at conception. life is given to us by our creator. it is sacred and not the responsibility of government to decide who lives and who does not lives. i believe the unborn need prection and the elderly need protection. this is one of the defining issues, i think, as to we are as a people. we all are used -- always been inclusive to- not to those who are disabled, those who do not enjoy the full benefits of life that many of us do. the unborn and the elderly it fall into those categories. as far as sex education and birth control, it is not the

responsibility of the federal government. it is a decision that ought to be decided between parents and their children. i cannot support sething that would put a federal program or a state program or any kind of government program deciding what to teach my children regarding issues of life, regarding issues of sex education. >> i think that the candidates, are pretty much in agreement of this issue. i am a pro-life democrat. pro-life and folks and pro- choice folks should be working together to cut down on the need for abortion. this argument has gone on and will continue to go on. the more we can do to work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, which will reduce abortion

we agreed that it is all life. respect the unbornnd do what is right. all life should be respected. whether that is working together to talk about birth control, sex education, we have to do this so that a woman or a young girl is not forced into the times when they have to make a decision whether to terminate a pregnancy. >> a retirement savings are on the nds of many americans with all the turmoil that has taken place over the past several years. so security is a key part of retirement sick -- social security is a key part of retirement security. are you in favor of privatizing social security in any way it court -- and argue in favor of raising the age in which americans can receive retirement

benefits? we would like to start with dan coates. >> we all know that our entitlement to social security, medicare, medicaid are in serious trouble. there is the number of workers speeding into the fund diminishes. these funds are basing -- facing some crises in the future. for years and years, congress has kicked the can down the road and said, let the next congress deal with that. the time has run out. we need to look at how we can restructure those programs in a way that preserves and saves the hard earned payments that taxpayers have put into those funds and to guarantee -- the guarantees we have to provide them their retirement income. yes, there needs to be a look at

a whole variety of menu of options regarding how we cano that. raising the retirement age is one thing that has been suggested. i think we should take a serious look at that. we did that in 1984. maybe it is a way to go forward to secure social security. there are long-range changes that could be looked at. we ought to have an adult conversation. we need to stop playing politics with. >> your time has expired. to brad ellsworth -- >> i think social security is a successful program. we have done a huge injustice by robbing the fund over the years. it occurred when we concentrate on putting people back to work, they will be paying into social

security. i opposed the privatization of social security. i imagine what would have happened to our social security trust fund had it been privatized. 70 is not that old. when you are on the end of a jackhammer, it is a little different. his pition kind of stuns me because he has already endorsed early inhe campaign, he endorsed the pulte ryan plan, which does privatized social security. yet, when people started to back off and you -- he changed his position. it is just another example of where he says one thing and comes back and change is with the wind. >> social security is insolvent. it is a ponzi scheme.

unlike bernie madoff, who only hurt a certain number of people, social security is pertrated on the entire united states. that is what happens when you put government in charge of your retirement. if it is not done well, it hurts the entire country. that is why these things should be handled at the state level. states can experiment and find out what works. anything that we do to social security, so that it does remain solvent, we need to make sure that the elderly are protected. we have to keep those promises. i do not think anyone disagrees with that. statistically, it is a very bad deal for younger workers and it cannot bsustained in the current way. what we need to do -- i