highest standards in the world. we can do that as a matter of the political will. when you talk about, i do believe climate change is real and carbon emission is part of the problem.

he is the party nominee. i cannot have -- i do not have this commitment that maybe there to represent the senatorial committee or to my republican party. i am still republican. i registered as 11 of his 18 years old. i get mad at my party every now and then that i am still a republican. when i go back to washington, d.c., i will have the duty of having come to this office from a true grass-roots perspective representing all of alaska's's interests. >> with that, we will conclude. that is the end of our 2010 debate for the state. our thanks to the candidates and the panelists.

the key to our audience and crew. tuesday november 2nd is election day. polls will open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. please remember to vote. thank you. c-spa [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> good afternoon. you are watching c-span on and all politics sunday in the final days before the election. that was the final debate for the alaska senate candidates held on wednesday, october 27th, and in anchorage. miller, murkowski, and

mcadams. they have written their final analysis of the race. there is a lot of uncertainty given the controversy surrounding jim miller and questions about murkowski's supporters to spell her name correctly on the ballot. ms. mason has miller of one of. -- rasmussen has miller up one. daily kos has miller up by two. we will open up our phone lines for a few minutes to get your reaction to what you heard from the candidates and with the thiss of the race is in

quest for the control of the senate and house. here are some numbers being spent. lisa murkowski, according to final reports in mid-october, raised $4 million and jim miller has raised $1.9 million. scott mcadams has raised $861,000 and spent about $500,000 of that. the outside money reports, let me tell you about that. outside spending in the alaskan race for joe miller, $1.5 million in support of him and not much in opposition. lisa murkowski has had $1.3 million spent in support of her. not much money coming in supporting scott mcadams from outside the state. let's begin with a call from ohio. go ahead, please.

caller: the amount of money they are putting into the campaigns, i would like to know why do people think that the person giving the money that is not from that state has some special-interest? host: you are concerned about the outside money going in? caller: yes, because you have to have a special reason to want to put some much money into that. you are looking for a favor. host: next is another call from ohio on our independent line. good afternoon. what is your reaction to the senate race in alaska? caller: i believe lisa not be in the debate because she was voted out. there is too much talking about

things that are not as important. lisa is running in these debates and she should not be. the veterans that they all claim to stand for, our future veterans cannot vote. host: you are thinking they are not talking about the right issues? and the right issues for you are what? caller: the veterans and our future veterans not getting to vote in this election. host: why are they not getting to a vote? caller: they're not getting the balance to them in time. they said they will not be able to count their votes. host: think you for your call. the president is making another stop in ohio. this is his 11th in support of ted strickland. we'll be covering that event live. candid it strickland and also the president's remarks of

there. -- ken it strickland and also the president's remarks. one of the interesting things is lisa murkowski attempting a write-in effort. here is a one report. "in an apparent effort to damage the campaign of senator murkowski, more than 70 alaska republicans have a file to run as a write-in candidates. dozens have heeded the call. along with a slew of new gop candidates, dozens of others filing to run as democrats, bringing the total number of write-in candid its to 160. next call from kodiak, alaska, on our democratic line.

what does this race look like to you? caller: a vote for lisa murkowski is a vote for karl rove and undermining our democracy. as a democrat, i am very alarmed about that and especially with all of the outside of money that comes in to these races from out of state. we alaskans are a little different. we have our own problems. i think that's got -- scott mcadams would bring a breath of fresh air to the senate. host: what issues are most important to you this year? caller: most important to me are the fact that we have jobs in alaska and we are a resource based economy. we are also estate so we can

have -- we are also a state that depends on that. we need a decent alaska. i am happy to see we have a viable candidate in scott mcadams and i hope people take into consideration that he will not be want to undermine the public as he takes in all of this outside, and named a corporate money. host: another caller from kodiak, alaska, on our republican line. joe, go ahead it. hit the mute button on your television, please. caller: hello? yes, i was wondering how come it is so hard to find out where the people stand on different issues? i was trying to check and see where miller and murkowski stood

on the troubled mine project which could be devastating to alaska if it does go through if there is a spill in the mind they are proposing. it has never been safe to mind copper. pretty much everywhere else has had a spill. host: i apologize to interrupting you. i mentioned earlier that we would go live to ohio. we will go there right now. mr. strickland is at the podium. let's listen in. >> let me make a suggestion. we want health care for our people. we want jobs for our working families. we want a quality education for

our children. we want affordable college for our young people. in ohio, we are grateful to the president and the vice president and senator brown and our democratic friends in the house of representatives. they say the american auto industry. -- they saved in the american out of industry which saved thousands of jobs in ohio. we are grateful for resources that came to class so that we could hold down college tuition. we are grateful for resources so we could educate our kids in quality schools. this is what has happened in ohio during this difficult

recession. we have invested in education and we have competed and won a $400 million in funds from race to the top. we have competed for and won for her in million dollars to establish -- $400 million to create a passenger rail service connecting our largest cities. we have passed an energy bill with renewable standards that is resulting in investments been made and jobs being created in ohio in the area of advanced energy. ohio is on the move. we have the sixth fastest economy in america. our unemployment has gone down

every month for six consecutive -- six consecutive months. we must not -- we cannot -- or we will not turn back. [applause] a few more hours exist. on september -- november -- [laughter] november 2nd when all the votes have been counted, ohio will remain a blue state. [cheers and applause] let me tell you a secret. let me tell you a secret. jon casey and mary taylor --

hear me out. they won the election in august. ted strickland will win in november. [cheers and applause] are you with us? will you work? will you believe? will you vote? will you secure ohio and ohio's future? thank you for that. now it is my great privilege -- hear me out. i want you to hear the words that i am going to say. we have with us today the

leaders of our nation. [applause] you will hear from the vice president and you will hear from the president. [applause] a few hours before this critical election, the vice president and the president of the united states have come to cleveland, to ohio, and we are grateful. the vice president has traveled this nation and he has been to ohio many times. he is working his heart out with the president to rebuild this nation, to get this economy back on track, to create jobs for our people, to make sure every american has access to health care.

here in ohio we remember our friends. so, my friends, it is my pleasure to present to you the vice president of the united states of america, vice- president joe biden. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello, cleveland. hello, people. how are you doing, ladies? great to see you. man, i want to look like you when you girl. you were looking awfully good. great to be with you. it is really good to be back in ohio with the best governor in the united states of america, to read -- ted strickland. [applause] ted and i were raised at the same way, a simple proposition, really easy. you stick with the ones that brought you to the dance. they brought us to this dance, the president dan die. ted and i, we are here. back where i come from, cleveland is the kind of place

on a much smaller scale from where i came from like i came from. it is the kind of people who are the backbone of this country. the kind of people who are just a straightforward, hard-working, play by the rules, and expected the other guy to play by the rules. [applause] is a state that because of gov. strickland's leadership in columbus, a state that is on the march again. it is a state that has reestablished itself as a global hunt for research, innovation, manufacturing like it used to be before the republicans took hold. all we need now is to keep this momentum going. there's only one way to do that. that is for all of you that are here, you are the same people

that made sure barack obama and i got to be on this stage today. we are asking you to the same thing you did for us. go out to your neighbors, sandy emails, make phone calls, knock on doors and make sure you are available to give people a ride it to the polls. i will tell you one thing -- if casey were to win this, the governor's mansion is going to be a very different place and this momentum ted strickland has going will come to a screeching halt. that is no exaggeration. they want to do with the have always done. they have a whole different view of how people live. ladies and gentlemen, these guys want to continue to give tax breaks to companies to send their jobs to try now -- jobs to china. this is real. this is not just political talk.

they do not think we should be giving tax credits for renewable energy say you can make the solar panels and reggie -- wind energy right here in ohio to create jobs. they do not think we should provide tax breaks to middle class families to help send kids to this great university. that is what we are doing. they do not even want to make the middle class tax cut permanent unless we provide a $700 billion in tax cuts for their wealthy friends and a debt burden of $700 billion. mr. president, a lot of people here have been knocked down. they have been knocked down pretty hard by the economic

policies supported by john, rob, and their republican friends. a lot of people have been hurt, but let me tell you something, mr. president. you know from being here, but these people are tough. these people do not stay down. i believe you all believe like i do in how i was raised. my dad used to say, "there's only one thing to do when you get knocked it down -- get up. get up." when you get up, make sure the same thing does not knocking down again. [applause] we are getting out and we will make sure the bankrupt policies of the republican party did not knock us down again. we are getting out and we are staying up? to the leadership of president obama and because of this great governor, ted strickland. we are starting to get out of

his god awful mess the republican party left us with the. we are creating jobs, making jobs -- making college affordable, revving up american research, finding new energy technology, and cures for disease. we are working. it is a distinctly american promise that the next generation will have a better than we had it been good we will leave our children and grandchildren better off than what we inherited. mr. president, it is because of you. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my partner, the president of united states of america barack obama. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪

>> hello, cleveland. hello, cleveland. [cheers and applause] thank you. are you fired up? it is good to be back in cleveland. good to be back in ohio. it is great to be with a crowd that looks like it is fired up and ready to go. [cheers and applause]

a few people i want to thank because they are doing outstanding work each and every day, the mayor of cleveland, thank you so much. thank you, frank. my dear friend, the attorney general mr. cordray. the state treasurer. some of the finest members of congress we have. congressman dennis kucinich. [applause] congresswoman eddie sutton. one of my favorite members of

congress who could not be here because she just had a baby yesterday -- well, his wife had a baby. [laughter] he is an outstanding young man and we expect to send him back to congress. his new baby girl's name is anna, by the way. -- emma. i want to think the presidents of cleveland state university. -- think the president. [applause] i want to thank common for his wonderful performance. i want to thank congresswoman betty sutton who is in the house, i believe. is she here? hello, betty. and most of all, folks who will

believe in -- leading ohio for many years to come, lt. gov. fisher. [applause] and one of the finest governor's in this country, ted strickland. in the first lady frances strickland. [applause] we are here for ted and lee and all the members of the congressional delegation. [crowd murmuring] marcia was not on the list. is she here?

we love her. she is just not here, that is all. that is my girl. we were knowledge and those in the crowd, but we love her. she will do a great job. joe biden and dime -- i have been traveling all across the country. there are a lot of places where we are doing a lot of great things. there are very few places where we are doing as much good work as we are doing right here in ohio. cleveland, in just two days you have the chance. [crowd chanting "yes we can."]

[cheers and applause] >> i cannot hear you. did you just say, "yes we can"? [crowd chanting] in two days, you have a chance to affect the state for years to come just a kid in 2008. you can confide conventional wisdom, the scale was dumb that says you cannot overcome the cynicism in our policy. you cannot overcome all the special interest and their

money. you cannot tackle the biggest challenges in this country. in two days, you have the chance to once again say, "yes we can ." [applause] cleveland, there is no doubt that this is a difficult election. that is because we have gone through an incredibly difficult time as a nation. no one knows that more than the people in cleveland and the people of ohio. for most of the last decade, middle-class families have been struggling. this just did not start one year ago or two years ago. between 2001 and 2009, the average middle-class family saw there and comes across the country go down 5%. the other side was in charge.

between 2001 and 2009, job growth was slower than any time since world war ii. meanwhile, the cost of everything from health care, sending a child to college, they kept going up and up. to many families could not send their kids to college. to many families could not go to the doctor when someone got sick. to many americans were working two, three jobs and still could not make ends meet. a whole lot of people could not find a job at all. these problems were then compounded by the worst economic crisis, the worst financial crisis since the great depression. think about it. we had a recession that was so bad we lost 4 million jobs before joe and i were even

sworn in office. then we had another 750,000 jobs lost in the month we took office. 600,000 jobs the month after that. 600,000 the month after that. almost 8 million jobs before our economic policies could be even put into place. when joe and i got to washington, our hope was that both policy -- both parties would put politics aside to meet this once in a generation challenge. although we are proud to be democrats, cleveland, we are prouder to be americans. [cheers and applause] we had confidence and continue to have confidence that there are republicans out there who feel the same way. the republican leaders in washington, well, they had a

different calculation. their theory was, "you know what? the economy is so bad and we made such a mess of things that rather than cooperate we will be better off just by saying no to everything. we will be better off not even trying to fix the economy. people will get angry and frustrated, and maybe two years from now they will have forgotten we were the ones that caused this mess in the first place." [applause] in other words, their basic political strategy has been to count on you having amnesia. [laughter] they are betting that all of you forgot how we got here. well, cleveland, it is up to you to let them know that we have not forgotten. it is up to you to remember that this election is a choice

between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are leading us out of it. if they win this election the chair of a republican campaign committee promised to pursue the same agenda they pursued before i came into office. we know what that agenda is. you can describe it very quickly. you basically cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires. you cut rules for special interests. but then you cut middle-class families lose to fend for themselves. you do not have a job? tough luck. you do not have health care? too bad. you are on your own. you are a young person who cannot afford to go to college? yourself up by your own bootstraps. you are on your own. this is an idea, this notion of

theirs, to turn a record surplus into record deficits. you hear them talking about cutting debt and deficit? these of the people who ran it up in the first place. these other people who allowed a wall street to run wild. these of the people who nearly destroyed our economy. -- these are the people whom nearly destroyed our economy. i do not want to relive the past. we have been there before. we have tried what they are selling, and we are not going back. we are not going back. [cheers and applause] cleveland, imagine if the republicans were driving the economy like a car. they drove it into the ditch.

this is a very deep, steep pitch. joe, ted, and i had put on our birds and -- boots and go down there. it's muddy, dusty, and hot. republicans fled the scene. [laughter] now they are on the street looking down. we call them down the hall and they say, "no, that's all right." lurpies andnking s kicking dirt in the ditch but that's ok. we kept on pushing. we kept on pushing. we kept on pushing. [cheers] finally, we got that car back on

the level ground. it is pointing in the right direction. it is a little banged up and it needs to go to the body shop. it needs a tuneup. but at least at this point in the right direction. just as we are about to go, we look back and who is it? it is the republicans. they say, "we want the keys back." cleveland, we cannot give them the keys back. they did not know how to drive. you cannot give them the keys back. they can ride with us. we do not want to go back in the ditch heavier noticed when you want to go forward, what do do with your car? you put it in "d." when you go backwards what you do?

you put it in "r." i do not know about you, but i want to go forward. [applause] because of the steps we have taken, we no longer face the possibility of a second of depression. the economy is growing again. the private sector has created jobs nine months in a row. you heard ted describe his job record here in the state of ohio. massively expanding access to education, green and job growth, building infrastructure to put people back to work. that is at his record. -- that is his record.

we have a way to go. i know there are a lot of people who are still hurting. i know there are families that are still hanging by a thread. it keeps me up at night. it keeps the show up at night. it keeps ted up at night. that is what we are fighting to fix. you know what? the way to fix it is not to go back to what got us here. it is to move forward with policies getting us out. [applause] ted, lee, and joe, and i we have a different idea about what the next two years should look like. it is an idea rooted in the belief of how this country was built. we did not come from wealth. we did not come from fame.

our families understood that in america, if you work hard, if you are responsible, if you do the right thing that you have a chance. [applause] our family has taught us that government does not have all the answers to our problems. government should be lean and efficient. we cannot waste taxpayer dollars especially at a time as tough as this one. in the words of the first republican president, abraham lincoln, we also believe that government should do for the people what they cannot do better for themselves. we believe in an america that rewards hard work and responsibility and individual initiative. we believe in the free-market, but we also believe in a country where we look after one another. i am on my brother's keeper.

i am my sister's keeper. that is the america i know. that is the america joe knows. that is the america ted matters. that is the america you know. that is an america that invests in its future and in its people. that is an america that is billed to compete in the 21st century. -- built to compete. the jobs and businesses of tomorrow will end up in countries that educate their workers better, then build the best infrastructure, that has the strongest commitment to research, technology. on what that nation to be the united states of america. -- i want to that nation to be the usa. i want that to take place right here in cleveland. that is how we will rebuild. [applause] there is absolutely no reason that china should have better

railroads, singapore should have newer airports. we are the nation that built the trans-continental railroad. we build the interstate highway system. right now we are seeing thousands of people working to rebuild our roads, railways, right here in ohio and all across the country trying to start to rebuild infrastructure for the 21st century of putting people to work and doing the work that america needs to be done. we have seen an america where we invest in home grown in a -- innovation and ingenuity where we export more than we import, where we make it easier to start a business or patent and invention. we do not wish to keep giving tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas. i want companies and giving tax breaks that are investing in cleveland, dayton, ohio, and in

the united states of america. investing in small businesses, american manufacturing is coming back. investing in clean energy companies. i do not want to wind turbines built in asia or europe. i want the bill right here in a merica by american workers. [cheers and applause] that is the jurors in this election. we seek in america where every citizen has the skills, the training to compete with any worker in the world. we cannot allow other countries to outpace us in education. we used to be number one in the rate of, which a college graduation rates. we used to be at the top of math and science now we are ninth and 25th in math and sciences. that is unacceptable.

we may historic investments in education just like ted has done here in ohio. we said by 2020 we would be number one in the proportion of college graduates. [applause] now, remember i said this election is a choice. the other side's main economic idea is to provide $700 billion worth of tax cuts to the top 2% of earners, the wealthiest americans. it would be an average of $100,000 for millionaires and billionaires. i want people to succeed. i think it is wonderful if people get rich. i want everyone to have the chance to get rich. you do, too. i think that is great. that is part of the american

dream. the way they want to pay for these tax cuts is to cut education by 20% and to bar the rest from other countries. -- borrow the rest. do you think china is cutting education spending? is it germany cutting education by 20%? they are not because they are not playing for second place. they are playing for first place. you know what? the united states of america, we do not play for second place. we did not play for ninth place or 24th place. we play for number one. that is what we have to do in education. [cheers nad applause] that is why we committed tens of billions of dollars that had been going in unwarranted subsidies to banks and we said

that money to where it needs to be going -- to students right here in cleveland state and across the country, increasing access to pell grants, increasing college scholarships. that is why we want to make permanent the new college tax credit worth $10,000 in tuition relief for each young person going to college. that is the choice in this election. that is what america is about. that is what we believe in. [applause] we see an america where corporations are fretting and profitable, but they are living up to their responsibilities to treat consumers fairly in a plea by the rules like everyone else. that is why we want to make sure insurance companies could not jack up premiums for no reason or denying coverage just because you're sick. that is why we made sure credit card companies could not haiti within fees are penalties.

-- hit you with hidden fees or penalties. we do not want taxpayers on the hook for the irresponsibility of wall street banks. we see an america where we do not pass down a mountain of debt to the next generation. we have to go after this $1 trillion deficit i inherited when i took office. we will do so in a responsible way, not by cutting education by 20%, not by cutting our children, seniors, veterans, or middle-class families. we will not do it by borrowing another $700 billion to give tax cuts to people who do not need them. we will do it by asking this of all americans. this is the america we believe in. we had a lot of work to do over the next few years. ted has a lot of work to do here and in ohio. lee has a lot to do in washington.

we need to work together. democrats and republicans and independents to get this all done. you know what? so far we are not seeing that from the other party. i guess they are feeling cocky. the republican leader of the house says, "this is not a time for compromise. the republican leader of the senate said his and main goal -- his main goal is to win the next election and beat me. [crowd boos] think about this. his priority is not to create jobs and get the economy moving or reduce the deficit. his top priority is to win the next election and we have not even finished this one. [applause] you know, that is the mentality we are fighting against, cleveland. that is the kind of politics we

have to change. those are the politics that puts scoring points ahead of solving problems. that is where all of you come in, each and every one of the. the only way to fight that kind of politics, the only way to manage the millions of dollars of negative advertisements that have been pouring down your throats using these fund groups, of millions of dollars worth of advertisements -- the only way to fight that is millions of voices warning to finish restarted in 2008. [applause] we need to get cleveland out to vote. we need to get everyone in ohio out to vote. in ohio, you can vote early. there is early voting just a few blocks from here. you can go right after this rally. if everyone who fought for

change in 2008 shows up to vote in 2010, we will win this election. i am confident in that. [applause] but a lot of you got involved in 2008 because you believe we were in a defining moment in our history. that is what joe believes. that is what i believe. you believe that we were in a time where the decisions we make do not just affect us, but will affect our children, our grandchildren for decades to come. that is the reason so many of you knocked on doors, made phone calls, and some of you cast your vote for the very first time. as i said at the time, changes not easy. power concedes nothing without a fight. throughout the past 20 months, we have been pushing, working,

and i have had a great partner in joe biden. i could not have had it any better. [applause] i have had a great partner in ted strickland. you could not have a better governor than him. [applause] we have made progress, but i know that sometimes as we are grinding out with a change and adsre is all the negative and pundits and there is still a lot of unemployment says sometimes people feel discouraged. i know the bill -- the excitement of election night with beyonce and bono. that was fine, but now it seems like work all the time. then you guys see me on tv and you think, "he is getting really

gray. he is starting to look old." [laughter] [applause] look. [applause] cleveland, i want you to remember this. do not let anybody tell you this fight is not worth it. do not let anybody tell you that you do not make a difference. because of you there is a woman somewhere in ohio who no longer has to choose between losing her home and treating cancer. because of view, somewhere in ohio there is a parent who can look their child in the eye and say, "yes, you are going to college. we can afford it." because of you, somewhere in ohio there is a small-business owner who kept their doors open

in the depths of the recession. because of you, there are nearly 100,000 brave men and women who are no longer at war in iraq. [applause] do not let them tell you that change is not possible. here is what i know. it has always been hard to bring about change in america. think about it. this country was founded on heart. we started off as 13 colonies had been to battle the most powerful empire. a lot of people said we could not do that. then they decided that we would try a new form of government. it was by and for the people.

they said, "we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and out by our creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." that idea had not been tried before. there was the uncertainty of this -- of success. they knew it was worth trying. over decades they had to work to make that idea real. they had to abolish slavery, and get women the right to vote, give workers the right to organize. [applause] all of that change was hard. imagine if our parents, grandparents, great grandparents had said, "this is just too hard. i am discouraged." what if they had given up? what if people had called them

names or worse and they said they could not do it? they said, "yes, we can." they understood that the only thing that prevents us here in america from achieving our dreams, the only thing that might prevent us is if we do not try. the only reason we are here is because past generations have been unafraid to push forward even in the face of difficulty, even in the face of uncertainty. that is how we came for war. that is how we came through the depression. that is why we have civil rights, workers' rights, women's rights. that is the spirit we need today. [applause] cleveland, the journey we began to gather was never about just putting -- putting a president in the white house. it was about building a movement

for change that indoors. it was about realizing that in the u.s.a. if we are willing to fight for, work for, and believe in it that anything is possible. cleveland, i need you to keep on fighting. i need you to keep on believing. i need you to knock on some doors. i need you to talk to your neighbors. i need you to talk to your friends. i need you to go and vote early. i need you to get your friends to vote. if you are willing to step up to the plate, ted will win this election. lee will win this election. we will rebuild our middleclass. we will reclaim the american dream for future generations. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪ sun coming up over new york city school bus driver in a traffic jam starin' at the faces in the rea rview mirror lookin' at the promise of the promise land ♪ and kids dreams of fame fortune one kids helps pay the rent ♪ one could end up going to prison one just might be president ♪

only in america dream in red, white, and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody gets to dance only in america ♪ sun going down an l.a. freeway newlyweds in the back of a limousine welders son and a banker's daughter all they want is everything

she came out here to be an actress ♪ she was the singer in a band they just might go back to oklahoma ♪ and talk about the stars they could have been ♪ only in america we dream in red, white, and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to if we all get a chance everybody gets to dance only in america ♪ ♪ ♪

only in america ♪ where we ddream in red, white, and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance everybody gets to dance only in america ♪ only in america ♪ only in america ♪ where we dream in red, white, and blue yack, we dream as big

as we want to only in america ♪ >> president obama and vice president biden working the crowds at cleveland state university. they are rallying the democratic base on this last sunday before voters go to the polls across the country. there are neck and neck race is in many states that will we're going to our phone lines for a while to ask questions about whether or not the president's efforts are supportive for democrats. they're trying to woo independence to their side of the aisle. what do you think this effort is all about? will it work for the white house as they try to change voters' impressions as they go to the white house.

those of you who are not partisan and tend to vote for the person of any party, called the independence line. before we go to calls, on the line with us is a writer for the "columbus dispatch." a couple of statistics -- this is the president's 11th visit to ohio. it has been reported that the two candidates have spent more than $25 million, a record on this race. why is this race is so important? >> ohio is a bellwether state. it 14 obama if in 2008 and -- it went for obama in 2008 and went for bush in 2000 and 2004. it currently has eight

democratic governor and that was a boon for obama in 2008. the governor is considered a moderate, he played a critical role connecting the obama ticket to the lunch bucket style democrats who generally voted for hillary clinton. she did when the primary here. the governor plays a key role in helping obama when those votes again in the next presidential cycle. >> to a your colleagues -- two of your colleagues have a story that says these men running for the governor house don't agree on just about anything. the governor says there is almost nothing we agree on, almost all the way back from our days in congress. talk about their different approaches to governing. >> the republican challenger

comes from a business background. he was in congress for a number of years and left and went into the private sector. he vows to approach government like a business, he talks about the state department of development as the economic engine and it essentially privatizing it. gov. strickland has strong ties to unions and trade unions especially illegal cleveland and toledo areas. he has pushed for a prevailing wage laws and may differ on economic issues quite a bit. social issues, you have not heard that much about, but they both basically focus on their party's platform. strickland is pro-choice and his opponent is pro-life. but those issues were not as common as they were four years ago. on economic issues, they are far apart. >> national and statewide polls

have the republican head by a slim margin. what are you learning about the get-out-the-vote efforts for those who have not already voted? >> it is probably unprecedented for a midterm election. the ohio party likes to point out there are largest party in the country and have amassed a big get-out-the-vote effort throughout the state. they are hindered by some scandals in the cleveland area involving a local democratic party there and that may be why you see a push in that area with the president's visit and some other things. there a local party has been crippled by the scandals that have rippled through cai hope the county, where cleveland is located. -- tie hogan county. the republican hails from the

central ohio, which is a split area between democrats and republicans. it is likely that his presence on the ticket will help republican candidates. for strickland to when and democrats to do well, they need a strong vote in the cleveland area. >> in the senate race, the margins for the republicans seem to be much wider. >> that was decided at the beginning and was arguably decided the primary level. the democratic nominee for set face a primary challenge and it was a brutal primary, leaving him and his opponent somewhat bloody. it left fisher without much money in the bank and he was never able to recover. the republican nominee did not have the primary, so he waltzed through with a lot of money and has been ahead of%.

>> thank you for briefing our audience -- he has been at head ever since. >> thank you for briefing our audience on the polls and in ohio. time for us to turn to your telephone calls. the question is about the president's efforts going into high gear in an effort to get people knocking on doors to turn out the vote and whether you think it will help sway the independents out there and get democratic supporters to the polls on tuesday. this is a call on the democrat'' line. >> i just want to say i believe the president being out of the campaign trail is going to awaken people to understand what is going on because i think the republicans want to repeal everything because their friends who own the corporations and

wall street are not getting as many millions and billions of dollars as they were before. that's what the whole health- care repeal thing and all these different things there want to do. they want to do it because they're not getting as much money. they're so greedy that a lot more, more money and power, not to create jobs. it is about rich people and corporations maintain all wealth in this country. that is what this is about. the top 2% in this country have all the money and the other 90% are suffering. people and lead this country have to gain knowledge because when you have knowledge, you have power. thank you, c-span. >> the next call is from an independent in long beach, california. >> i believe the president is helping democrats because the president inherited of the economic mess and the subprime

us from the republicans in the bush administration. for the past eight years bush was in office. all of the money because of the recent supreme court decision opening up the floodgates, allowing unlimited campaign expenditures by interest groups and pressure groups, conservative political action committees, the two-party, all -- these -- there bankrolling these negative advertisements to try to keep people away from the polls. what the democrats have to do and what the independents have to do is see through the garbage they're putting out there and get out on tuesday and vote for democrats and vote for the president's agenda because like the president said, he cannot change things in two years. it's going to take at least a good four-six years to start unraveling of the negative policies the budget ministration

put into place that allow the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. i'm going to vote on the second and i'm going to vote for attorney general jerry brown to be governor and senator barbara boxer to be elected senator again. >> have you ever voted for a republican candidate? >> to be honest, yes, i 1990, -- 1980, i voted for ronald reagan. >> our next call is a republican from fayette bill. >> thank you very much. the have been watching the debates and and in response to your asking in regard to did the president help, i don't think he did. i think he has done too much,

anti-investment, he is picking on the people who never got the money and who are the ones who create the jobs and to pay the laboring people. the people who can hire somebody to perform the service needed or to manufacture parts. you do not stir with somebody who doesn't have anything and expect to create something. not utilizing the resources we have a lead this country, nobody is going after the natural resources that we have in this country to compete with anybody. we can do that. we are limited by what the federal government is doing, curtailing our ability to the energy independent, creating a situation where we are not able

to have an industrial complex for manufacturing of wire and steel. that is all available. -- iron and steel. >> let me tell you about the money numbers on the senate race there. we heard from our reporter that the senate race which was perhaps decided early on and there is a 14 point spread between the republican and a lieutenant governor, the democrat running for the senate seat. look at these numbers from open secrets. the senate race, the republican has raised $40 million compared to the democrat raising $6 million. the other indicator is the lack of outside money going into that case. looking at outside money, $1.2 million have gone to rob

portman. $69,000 have gone to the fisher. not as much money directed externally into the ohio senate race. about ohiong politics and other close contests where the president has been campaigning. will his campaign boost independence and to get them out to vote for democrats? >> when the president travels, it requires military, disrupts commercial air-traffic, requires a broad security, etc. this is a partisan campaign in a time of economic crisis. therefore, the democratic national events should be paying for this, about the rest of us.

he should go back to d.c. and take care of business or give fired in 2012. this is wasteful spending for what? let the candidates stand on their own merit and fight their own fight. stay out of it and stop wasting our money. >> the president is back to d.c. and want to be back in time for halloween at the white house with his two daughters. next is a call from ohio on -- of the democrats' line. what are your thoughts about the governor's race in your state? >> i agree with obama going out and helping the democrats. people need to have common sense. the president was than two years in office going to turn things around after eight years of things getting screwed up under bush.

our jobs are outsourced overseas with the republicans in office. you would be a fool to vote republican and let them do the same thing that got us into this mess of a the first place. i think any president sitting in that seat at this point would have a hard time cleanup at eight-year mess in less than two years at the office. these folks the to wake up. this guy talking about wasting money campaigning, we are seeing all these other folks that you're campaigning for republicans around the country. nobody talking about how much secret money and we're also hearing foreign companies who may also benefit these campaigns for republicans. it's all about money and greed. i agree west obama. keep doing which need to get these people turn around. i think he is making a good effort and people need to

realize who got us into this mess in the first place. the bush-republican folks and they don't want to work with barack obama to sit down and work with the man to get everybody back to work, and a matter what party you are from. >> thank you. our last call is on the democrat line in fort myers, florida. >> republicans talk about barack obama wasted money. how about the republicans in washington wasting money not doing anything. they're all about creating jobs, yes, corporations create jobs, but only when there is a good environment for jobs to be created, which is provided by the government. democrats just want fairness for

the working people. that is where the problem is. the president is a great speaker at a tremendous help to the democrats. he presents the case very well. it is unfortunate that older democrats have not helped him like helping him expose what the republicans to, which is one of the things -- there for small businesses when they are not in power, but when they are in power, under the bush of lustration, they cut the ability for small businesses to be able to borrow money. >> of the florida senate race, it was reported this week about president clinton hoping to convince kendrick meek to drop out. what you think of that and how are you going to vote in the senate race? >> i'm going to have to go with rist.

i like mumbaimeek, but of the republican is just too far to the right. in this case, if he was not so far behind, i would vote for him. >> the governor's race in ohio is so close that most poles have at within the margin of error. there's a possibility it will not be decided for many days after the election. it's very count is selected that or if there is legal action later on. one of the public officials responsible for the accurate accounting in respond to requests for the recap is the secretary of state. jennifer [inaudible] was our guest on "newsmakers." here's what she said about tuesday's vote. >> what have you done to make

plans -- i think there are seven or eight competitive house races in ohio. >> there is also a very competitive governor's race. in my state, the secretary of state address the directives that carry the force of law for the boards of elections. in crafting the official canvass directive, we have provided for very specific evidence-based recording of information so that when the unofficial campus is complete and there is a complete or official canvass later on, we will know how many military votes are still outstanding from within the united states, outside the added states, the overseas vote and the number of over votes we may be examined later or a person has over-emphasized their

vote by voting for their canada and then also writing in their candidate. >> you left out one of the races -- the open senate seat in ohio. you ran in the democratic primary. lee fisher is trailing badly in the polls. would you have been in the same position in the general election? >> that will never be decided because i'm not on the ballot. four ohio voters, what they're going to get is an election where they can make their choices. and a secretary of state who is more than fully engaged to insure every vote is counted and we have a smooth election here in ohio. >> that was the secretary of state from ohio who is also

joined by the secretary of state from colorado talking about the process, insuring people can get to the polls effectively on tuesday and that their ballots will be effectively counted. that program will reorganize at 6:00 on c-span. as our all politics weekend continues, we will bring you to our next event. we just showed the president's support for the incumbent, ted strickland. there are high-profile republicans that have been campaigning for their colleagues. in 13 states, over the past five days, including mississippi, where haley barbour who was in lebanon, ohio, to campaign for the republican candidate for ohio governor. other speakers included the governor of minnesota, the governor of new jersey and the

former running mate. this event is about 50 minutes. thank you for being with us. phff >> 4 days left, are you ready to win? as we were driving over here, i did the math because i'm an accountant. less than 100 hours.

[applause] we can do anything for 100 hours, which includes weight. but we have our work cut out for us. we need to do everything we can and leave no stone unturned. i know you have been doing that because of where we stand today. we are going to win this race and it's going to be a great night on november 2nd. do you agree? [applause] our state is heading in the wrong direction, but we have the fix. we have john kasich. let's do everything we can for the next four days and work hard up through and including when the polls close on election

day. let's wake up the next morning and celebrate our victory. it will be a victory. take about five minutes to celebrate because we have a lot of work to do it we are going to get started on november 3rd. are you going to be with us? [applause] it does not end there. we need you for the next four years. this is a team of people that will work together to fix our state. if you get a phone call in january or february and we say we need you to come to columbus, we need you to stand on the statehouse steps and participate in a good old fashioned sit in our which is the key to stand by our side, because there are people who are not going to like what we need to do. if you were with us for the next four years, we will get it done. will you be there? [applause]

ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to ohio, governor's barbour, tim pawlenty and chris christie. [applause] >> it's great for us to be here because we believe in john

kasich and i want ohio that the best looking within and governor, and the smartest. i'm the governor of mississippi and, as chairman of the republican governors association, a couple people mentioned when i got here that they have none me since i was chairman of the party in 1994. in 1994, we have a great year as republicans. we picked up 54 seats in the house, eight senators, went from 17 republican governors to 31. it was a great year. for me to be chairman of the republican national committee a time, i have to say when time magazine called the greatest

midterm majority sweep of the century, that was pretty heavy stuff for a boy from mississippi. [applause] i'm here because i want you to understand one thing and understand clearly. the election of 2010 as far more important than that election in 1994. far more important. [applause] this stakes are higher because the obama administration has this country on the biggest lurch to the left in american history. they have gone on a wild spending spree that would give drunken sailors a bad name. as they have increased spending is by trillions of dollars, they have run up our debt.

deficits in the first three obama budgets of over one trillion dollars. what i was the political director of the reagan white house, the whole budget wasn't but 1.5 trillion dollars. but today, the deficit -- who is going to pay that? our children and grandchildren. that is why this is so obscene and why we have to put a stop to it. [applause] the shame of it all is all of this trillions of spending is not doing any good. the results of the obama congress and the obama administration is they have

created so much uncertainty. how much are your taxes going up? not are they going up, how much are they going up? what does all of this new regulation me if you want to employ more people? how much is health-care reform going to affect you to make it harder for you to employ more people? all the uncertainty of all the acts of this administration has made things worse while it has added trillions to the debt that we face. let me just make plain -- we cannot wait until 2012 to start taking our country back. [applause] we have got to start now. in the 2010 election. we have to start right here in

the warren county, ohio. we have to start by collecting john kasich and mary taylor because ted strickland is doing the same thing in ohio that barack obama is doing in america. outrageous spending and terrible results. the left believes that we have to have bigger government even if it means a smaller economy. we are dedicated to smaller government so it have a bigger economy. and we can have more private sector jobs. [applause] there is no better person to lead this but john. i have to close by making something very plain.

fred smith is from mississippi like me. he is the founder and ceo of fedex. he has got a way with words. he says the main thing is to keep the main thing of the main thing. [laughter] to keep your eye on the ball. don't be distracted. stay focus until tuesday night when the polls are closed. then, make sure we get a fair count after the polls have closed. [applause] the main thing. the main thing is to have made big turnout. the main thing is to make sure everybody you know actually votes. the main thing, particularly

here and in southwest ohio, and in warren county, is to make sure we have the biggest turnout we have ever had. because if you do, this part of the state will lead us to great victory that we will pick up seats in congress to do it. please do your part. there is no more powerful tool in american politics than for you to say to someone who respects year, i am voting for john kasich and i wish you would too. there is no television spot or at in the newspaper or letter in the mailbox that is as powerful than as if you look someone in the guy who respects you and says i asked you to vote for robb port and, mary taylor. there is nothing more powerful.

we beg you and -- set other things aside. this election will be over tuesday night. set other things beside it back away. talk to the people you work with and the people your kids go school with of the people you go to church with. in america, people in a good church on sunday go vote on tuesday. we have to make sure our people get out and vote so you could have a governor like the one of about to introduce to you invested for small government, low taxes, less spending and rational regulation in minnesota, not exactly as conservative as mississippi. [laughter] that is why we are also fond of and proud of the great job done by the governor of minnesota, tim pawlenty.

[applause] >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. thank you. some of you are old enough to remember another chapter of challenge in our nation's history, in the 1990's. he led the republican party and conservative movement out of the wilderness and brought back to a majority governing body and dedicated large chunk of his life to our cause and our purpose. he is not only is tremendous person, but a transformative leader for mississippi. we owe him a round of applause. [applause]

>> @ do you want more jobs in ohio? are you paying enough taxes? should government live within its means? are you going to vote for john kasich and mary taylor? that's a better future for ohio. avia had enough of bailout. it seems like everybody wants to bailout. i met with a female leader the other day in charge of a very large enterprise, a global enterprise involved in trade and commerce and lots of big issues. she came in and said we are in trouble. we need help. i said what's the matter, tell me about it. she said we are in debt up to our eyeballs. our balance sheet is a mess. nobody is buying what we are

selling. we've got overpaid and underperforming employees. she said there could be layoffs, even she could lose her job. and she asked for a bailout. i said, speaker pelosi... [applause] i said we are not doing those anymore. it's a new day in america. a new day in minnesota. i want to share with you something we see all over this country. we know people want a good quality of life. they want to take care of their families that live their version of the american dream. but in order to do that, they need a job. one of the most important things we can do is to ask and answer

the questions, what are the things we could do to become more likely that jobs are going to grow in our cities, towns and counties and states including ohio and minnesota. when we answer that question, we should not look to the politicians in washington d.c., most of whom have never had a job and let the private sector in their lives. we should let the inventors, risk takers, dreamers, designers, the people will start and grow businesses and give our fellow citizens access to good jobs and the hard-working people who fill those jobs. [applause] when you ask those folks what is most on your mind, what can we do to help? what do they say? they say governor, please make the load lighter, don't make it

heavier. do things to encourage what we want to do, not discourage it. make sure you give us confidence, not taking away our confidence. i had lunch the other day with a 35-year-old entrepreneur who said i'm sitting on the sidelines because i've got money i could invest but i want to investigate this and are mad because as president and this congress don't understand or respect entrepreneurs or small business and in this country. [applause] but he says i see them threatening me with tax increases, cap and tax to make my energy costs go up, higher health care costs, threatening to take away their right of employees to vote in private in workplace elections. he says i don't have the confidence that they see better, brighter future inspired by entrepreneurs in our country.

i thought what a sad state and for america to have entrepreneurs and small business leaders be that worried. that is why ohio can have a much brighter future and the rest of our country can have a brighter future if we elect leaders like john kasich and mary taylor to office. [applause] it is getting hot in here and time short. there is lot of great policy and issues things we could talk about. you could spend a lot of time studying these and i hope you do. you can stay up and watch some great cable-tv shows or go to seminars and conferences. if you have time, you can read some journals and books. i encourage all that. but if you are busy, here is all we need to know about reforming government in the united states

-- go to a wedding. go to two weddings. go to one wedding where there is an open bar and get to another wedding where there is a cash bar. people behave very differently at the open bar. it's time to tell the democrats were closing down the open bar. [applause] in a minute, you will see the wonderful next first lady of ohio. my first lady of minnesota, when i was thinking about running, i was the majority leader of the minnesota house and i say we have done will be can do here. jesse ventura was thinking about

running again. he would have been a handful. i said it's time to turn the page and move on. she grabbed me by the lapels and said you cannot quit. everything we have worked for, everything we believe will get washed away. nobody else can do this. you've got to get in there and fight. i thought i rocky balboa. i said i will do it and against all odds, i won in 2002 and three months in, after some tough schedules and budgets and be away from a family too much, mary was holding me to account in discussion one night and there was tension in our discussion. i said don't you remember, your the one that told me to do this, remember? there was silence in the room and she said yes, but i never

thought you would win. [laughter] she sat i just wanted you to get it out of your system. a couple of years ago, people were writing us off as republicans, they're banished to the wilderness and they are not going to come back. they were not right then and now the people of ohio have seen the leadership that has taken our country and the wrong direction and they are about to score a things up and correct things next tuesday. if anybody tells you it's going to be easy, it is not going to be easy. if you can do the things we have done in minnesota, the land of mondale and wellstone and now the land of united states senator al franken, as frank sinatra would sing, if we can do it there, we can do it anywhere. i'm delighted to be here. want to leave you with one important thoughts. among his vision for ohio, one

of the great issues will be who can best control and bring down government spending and reform government? you have in your next governor, the person who actually did that for the nation and is probably the most qualified, experienced government spending reducer in the united states of america. [applause] you all know the story. in 1990's, one of the few times in modern history, the budget was balanced. guess who did that? the chairman of the budget committee in the u.s. congress. he does not just slap his job and give pretty speeches, he gets it done. that is a great said way to our next speaker. he is the fabulous governor of new jersey -- [applause]

people say it's tough to do these things in new jersey. he is doing it. the solutions you and i know what needs to be done, these things have been talked about and debated. the white papers have been drafted, the seminars have been held. we know what needs to be done. the question is not what needs to be done, the question is do we have leaders that can go to washington and to the state capitals and at the fortitude to actually do it? chris christie has looked the interest groups in the eye and said it's your time to back out. he has the fortitude to transform the jersey and will help us transform the nation. [applause]

>> thank you. it's hot in here. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] thank you. it seems like heaven to ohio and awhile. i'm glad to be back. i don't know who said that, but i love you too. i would not be governor without haley, so everyone knows i love him. this is what it's about. you can feel it. i was saying to my daughter -- [applause] doesn't it feel like a year ago?

we got on the ground here in ohio, it feels like it felt in new jersey a year ago. four days away from the election, all the polls are tight, but when we traveled around new jersey, we saw people just like you who looked at me and my wife and kids and did not just a they're going to vote for us, they grabbed our hands and put their hands on her shoulders and said you have to win. you have to win. you have to do this. we would come back every night and we would feel such an extraordinary sense of responsibility to our state and a great sense of excitement to help carry us through these last are days on the campaign, a campaign in a state is much different than ohio. in new jersey, we have 700 dolls more democrats than republicans. we had not elected a republican

statewide in 12 years. we had not relate -- we have not elect a republican state senator since 1972. i was running against an incumbent governor who spent $30 billion of his own money and millions more -- millions more for labor unions. we were outspent three-one. in those last few days, the pundits that say that new jersey is the jersey and he will be reelected. those same pundits today may try to convince you that this guy is in an incumbent governor. is the story sounding familiar? i'm standing here today. in january, john kasich will be taking the oath of office in ohio. [applause]

they are telling you that he cannot fix this. he will inherit a big budget deficit and he will not be able to fix it. they said the same thing in new jersey. we inherited an $11 billion budget deficit on a $29 billion bus -- $29 billion budget. the democrats said the same thing -- we're going to have to raise taxes. in the last eight years, new jersey has had their taxes increased 113 times in eight years and become the highest taxed state in america. i said clearly to the democrats that we are not raising taxes. they walked it right down the hall after they passed it to my office. my mother taught me good manners. when guests are coming, you cannot to receive them. i walked into my office and the senate president was there and he handed me the bill and said it was the fairness and justice

act. they never caught a tax increase, right? maybe they can fool you into signing it. i said, said down for a moment because this is not going to take long. i took my pen out of my pocket and vetoed it and said take it back where this came from. that is what john kasich will do. [applause] then he will get down to hard work of balancing the budget. and it will be hard work. in new jersey, we balance the $11 billion deficit with no taxes. we did it by cutting every department in the state government and the hard work that to be done and everyone shared it with a sacrifice. there is a new sense of community in new jersey now because everybody knows we have dug the hole for too long and it

is time to start climbing out. the only way we to that id -- the only way we do that is for everyone to help each other. if you give them the chance, they will get it done. here is the bottom-line -- there are four days left. four days left and i can sense victory is within our grasp, but is not yet there. it is up to you. i can't guarantee everything that is going to happen in ohio and i cannot predict every twist and turn ohio's history will take and what john and mary will do to confront those problems. i cannot guarantee any of that. but here's the one thing i know -- from selling john kasich and

mary taylor -- every day their governor and lieutenant governor, they will make you proud. [applause] here's the deal -- it is up to you and i'm going to be watching. i'm going back to new jersey. [laughter] will be sitting in the governor's residence call watching tv and we will be very interested what is going on in ohio. i know you are all nodding your head and say you'll do it, but here is the bottom line -- don't make me come back. [laughter] if you let kasich down, i'm

coming back, and i'm coming back jersey style. [applause] so get john and mary over the finish line because it is the right thing to do. get them there because you are scared to death of what i will do. get them there. is my honor and my pleasure to bring out first, the next first lady and first children of ohio. and their father, the next governor of the state of ohio, john kasich. [applause]

♪ ♪ >> i think you are ready to win.

[applause] mary taylor gave up a nice soft little spot to run for lieutenant governor 16 years as a cpa. all the years in politics, nobody push her around and nobody is going to push us around when we when on november 2nd. [applause] i was in minnesota when temperspawlenty was coming down that final leg to his election battle. minnesota, home of hubert humphrey. he said we will not raise taxes, we will lag government more efficient and effective. he has been -- we will make government more efficient and effective.

he has courage and principles. thank you, governor. [applause] there is so much you can say about haley barbour. chairman of the republican national committee when we threw the liberals out after 40 years. he goes to his beloved mississippi and gets hit by katrina. mississippi is greater today than before that storm hit. he was the strongest captain in the middle of that storm that anybody in america. [applause] as tough as it could be, he gave

them hope from one end of mississippi to the other. he has built that state and made it better. he is a great leader and the cake boss'favorite. [laughter] he had his inaugural cake made by the cake boss which set my kids into delirium because they were so excited. much, doneed to say we? i think he is the most popular governor in america today. [applause] it is not complicated. people are dying to have a straight from the shoulder. they are dying to hear it straight.

here is the thing about chris christie, he not only tells it straight, but he is smarter than a whip. no matter what they do, they cannot seem to want him. he calls me almost every day and says our you doing? you don't forget that when you're in the middle of a political campaign. he told me that he went to new jersey to fix the state and they can throw whenever they want at me. but i'm there to represent the people of the state of new jersey. isn't he a great american leader? [applause] so let me tell you about this -- they are 10 years old and in the fifth grade. one night, i'm having dinner and

she says daddy, we have been selling these headbands and a half their mom sells it in their store. one night, they said we made $4 selling headbands. that's pretty good. i said i have an idea. when you go back to school, give us some of that money to your classmates who didn't make any headbands. [laughter] why would we do that, daddy? because your classmates, they are have the money you have to buy crazy bands. they don't have money to buy ice-cream. i think you ought to share some of that money weren't with them. but daddy, if they didn't make any headbands, they're not going to get any of my money. i said girls, that is why you are republican. [applause]

so my wife says to me, you want to run for governor, go ahead. i'm going to be at home and raise the kids. you do your job and i will do my job. then her friend send an e-mail and said we would like you to give to the northwest part of ohio on a tour. she said i don't know if i can do that. she called it the remote tour. she went on the first leg of the remote for and got on a different page of the "toledo blade." i never got on the front page of the newspaper.

she went to southern ohio and had more press and people and she gets a bigger crowd than i do. i can understand that. can you? [applause] she just finished the air force marathon. you worry about children self? there is a woman alleges six children's health, she will fix all of our health. believe me. ladies and gentleman, one of my favorite stories from the bible is the story of a shepherd boy by the name of david. he was one of the lost brothers. he was out in the pasture tending to the sheep. i've

how can you have to protect the sheep, and at the same time, you get the bears that will come and try to mall your sheep. you have the lines that will come and try to maul your sheep, and one day, they decided that no one, no one was capable of taking down the goliath. they have the armor and the spears and the trading, but nobody wanted to fight goliath. so word got out. in fact, in david's father said, "take some food over to your brother's," and david got there, and he heard all of this rock is, and he said, "what is all of this rock is all about?" and he saw goliath. "i will take on goliath."

someone told him to put on the armor of saul, but he said he was ready. david was prepared. he fought off the lions, and he went down to the river, and he took five smooth stones, in he slayed the goliath because he was ready. i am ready to lead ohio back to the great days of our past. i am ready to move ohio forward. because i have prepared. i am ready. [applause] and i am ready to build a team, " because nothing gets done by one. oh, in the old days, when

johnnie kasich was a bit of a wild one, maybe i thought i could do it alone. the son of a man who carried mail on his back for 20 years, first generation. his father came from the old country. my mom, kroatian, ethnic. mother and father never really learned how to speak english, and my grandmother would give me a quarter when i was on my way to the school picnic, and what she would say in broken english was, "have fun, johnny," it is my father always told me it is hard work and big dreams and push as hard as you ever can to get to where you went to get to and that anything is possible in our country, but i have learned throughout the course of our lifetime that to be able to work

with people and of similar values and similar hopes, similar dreams, it is amazing what you can get accomplished if you have a team and nothing gets in your way and you have the eye of the tiger, and you have focus. so, in 1989, i found myself on the budget committee, and i went to my first meeting, and i did not like the proposals, so i offered my own proposal in congress, and the vote was 405- 30, and i had the 30, but i thought to have 29 other people thinking that i should run america being the son of a mailman, i thought i was rocking, just getting started. when you hold public office, you have got to do with period you do not waste one day. you do not waste one minute, and you always remember what winston churchill said. you die once in war, but you can

die 100 times in politics, and you allow it to the people who elect you to make a difference to improve the lives of people, so in 19 -- [applause] so in 1989 and 1990 and 1991 and 1993 and 1994 and 1995, we kept trying to climb that mountain, and i thought we were there in 1995, but bill clinton, who tries to claim credit for a balanced budget, that is the biggest joke in town, he tried to stop us, but the public was behind us, just like they were behind reagan in 1981 with his program to revitalize the country, seeing that people do get their way when the people have a clear voice. in 1997, i was privileged to be the chief architect of a team of people to put a proposal on the

table that resulted in the first balanced budget since man walked on the moon. we paid down $500 million of the national debt. we cut taxes for people who create jobs and cut taxes for families, and we restored prosperity to the united states of america, and what was done there is going to be done right here in the state of ohio. [cheers and applause] in you are part of this team wrote -- this team. you look at me. nothing is going to stand in our way to make this government more effective and efficient and smaller, and nothing is going to stand in our way in reducing the taxes for small businesses so they can grow and for our people

so that our families can have the power, and we can run ohio from the bottom up. nothing is going to get in the way of teaching the bureaucrats to get out of the way of our small business people and start showing them with paperwork and regulations that make no sense -- stopped showering -- stop showering them with paperwork and regulations that make no sense. we are going to do this with mary taylor, and we are going to get this done. [cheers and applause] you know, the selection -- this election is about failure over the past four years or the potential of four years of success. it is about the ability to create jobs rather than to wehhine and blame somebody else

and put people in despair. but do you know what else is about? it is about hope overcoming the fear that they have tried to lay on a violent -- on ohioans. we are going to send a message across the country. [cheers and applause] and you know what is really amazing? we are right at the crossroads. we are right at ground zero. oh, by the way, we are going to win on tuesday night. of that, there is no doubt. [applause] have no doubt about it. we -- it is all -- hey, it has

been our way for a long time, and the temperature is going up. barack obama is going to be together with his twin on sunday. ted strickland and barack obama, higher taxes, more government, oh, and how about if we show healthcare down your throat with obama care? they are are watching, are they not, haley? all of the magazines and the networks come in there even watching across the ocean, just like they watched chris christie win in new jersey and bob mcdonnell win in virginia, like scott brown in massachusetts. you think that did not make a difference? but here is something that is different. do you know why he is coming here 12 times? he is trying to run for reelection. i am only trying to run for

governor. folks, this is amazing. i am running in this race to make sure our families are stronger, that our businesses come back, that we stop the drain of our kids being educated and leading ohio, stopping our entrepreneurs of having to leave because they are punished for their success. this is about laying the foundation of this state which i discovered when i was about eight or nine years old, when my uncle harry said when we crossed the border into ohio, on vacation, we have made it into the promised land, and as we rebuild this state, and i promise you, in that first year, we will have job creation in ohio again, and when we do that, we will not have only defeated all of the fears that have been cast on us and send a message across the country, but we will also have a big voice, so no one can take our values, and the key to the success of america, the great legacy, the great handoff

that anything is possible in our country, and that is what we are all fighting for in 2010, and we will continue to fight in 2012, and we will fix ohio, send a message to america. we will rebuild america, and then we will help rebuild the united states of america in 2012 by making sure that we get on the right side of history. we will get it done. [cheers and applause] thank you all very much, and god bless you. get out of vote! [cheers and applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

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vehicles are traveling the country to look into this year's midterm elections. >> the 18th district is in the center of the state. it moves down to the south. it does not touch any of the borders, but it takes in a very large territory, a large part on the eastern half of ohio. it is a very large district, and it has five media markets, which makes it very expensive for the candidates and other organizations to play in. there is no real largest city. chillicothe is one of the largest cities in the district, but there is no real major urban center in the district. it is not necessarily rural, but it is really spread out. there is a two-term congressman running for reelection for a second time.

>> made just about everybody mad at one time or another. years of getting beat up. it is unfortunate, but that is what happens to moderates in washington. >> a state senator was running for the first time. >> for prosperity. the number one problem right now is deficit spending. it is a risk to government national security. >> as you can imagine, in a district like this, a high as big issues are jobs and the economy. one congressman was attacking his opponent on trade, bob gibbs on trade, it is airing tv ads, stressing gibbs' positions and using his own words to attack

him, and didst -- gibbs, as you can imagine, where unemployment is higher than the national average, he is attacking on jobs in the unemployment rate, so that is the major issue. this is a republican district, so the other is using immigration to his advantage and is accusing bob gibbs of being for a guest worker program, a hitting him with some pretty hard hitting adds that he would normally see coming from a republican, but he is using that issue to his advantage and is hitting gibbs on immigration and trying to run to his right on immigration. gibbs is definitely trying to tie his opponent to speaker nancy pelosi. president obama lost the district. john mccain got 53 percent here, so he did not start out -- he started the race, president obama did come in an unpopular position, so that is an easy

attack for gibbs, in he is obviously benefiting from bad. he would not be in the game otherwise. he is not as strong a candidate without that " with a national tide, so they have been going with that issue. obviously, national republicans have gotten involved and are hitting as well, the ties to nancy pelosi, and democrats are coming on the other side in also using trade. trade, the economy, on the republican side, supporting tax cuts for the upper-income groups, and we are not really seen anything different here on the micro, on the race side. >> you see them introducing millions of pages of bills, amendments. it seems that is too much top-

down. we are going to open up the committee process. the guns, immigration, state taxes, health care, and the list goes on and on. it is not that i want to disrupt my party leadership for the sins of bucking my party leadership. -- for the sake of bucking my party leadership. i thought my party was ron. >> $300,000 a week on the conservative side for the television ads here, so because of that, the parties got involved late, and even the candidates, state senator gibbs got on the air rather late. space has a huge money advantage, so he has been able to do that and trying to define gibbs as of of touch, out of touch for the district, -- as

out of touch, out of touch for the district. so i think though, at the end of the day, i think republicans think this is one of their better pick up opportunities in the state, but democrats acknowledge that it is a tough district to hold on to come in any year like this. >> leading up to the november 2 elections, we are traveling the country and visiting districts where some of the most closely contested house races are taking place. for more information on what the local content of vehicles are up to this election season, visit our website, c-span.org/lcv. >> the battle for control of congress is coming to an ant with a frenetic final weekend,

seating -- seeking control. it continues this afternoon, and in two days, voters will go to the polls, and we will know which party controls the house and the senate, or we may not. there are several tight races that we may not know the results of, and one is that colorado senate race, and coming up in about 20 minutes, we were shown to the second and final debate between the two candidates, so in about 20 minutes, we will show you their second and final debate, but first, this afternoon, we want to hear from you about the undecided voters and that factor in this election. we want to hear it. what are you thinking? the phone numbers are on your screen. start dialing now, and we will

get to your soon. in that colorado race, there was a poll. ken buck is leading michael bennett, and the key findings of this poll is that bennett is ahead in nearly two-one in denver but trails in the rest of bennette region not -- is ahead in denver. the republican candidate is way back at 7%. you may know that the tea party is split in that colorado governor's race, some backing tom tancredo and some another in that race. first telephone call here, chris, in mississippi, have you

decided how you are going to vote? who are you going to be voting for? >> the tea party is something to get president obama, but we will lose the house. >> all right, we will go to ohio. alexandria, on the republican line, have you decided how you are going to vote? >> well, i was thinking hard about this, but i would like to say that listening to john kasich, talking about david from the bible, note he gave these examples that david was ready, but john kasich probably does not know the bible, because if he would read the kings and

samuel, he would find out that they were cruel and merciless murderers of all of the kings. how can john kasich speak about things that he does not even know? it is amazing, very, very embarrassing. >> because of that, you are not sure you are going to vote for him? >> how can he run ohio if he speaks of things he doesn't understand? >> ok, in that a high of senate race, what are you thinking there? >> .-- in that ohio senate race, what are you thinking there? >> well, it todt eight years, slowly but surely, when the congress had been ruined during the previous administration, they expect the economy to be fixed during these two years, it is just unreal.

>> ok, also a republican, patrick, you are on the air. how are you going to vote? patrick, are you there? i am sorry, patrick. patrick, good afternoon. >> hi, my fault, pushed the wrong button. go ahead. how are you going to be voting? you have decided? how are you going to vote? >> i know how i am going to vote. how are you doing? >> all right, i am going to put you on hold. we are getting feedback. why do you not turn that television down, and we will

come back to you in a few minutes? the house will go to republicans, but the caller thought that the senate would remain in democratic hands. this was from "the washington post" this morning, their calculation. in the senate, republicans need to win 10 seats to win the majority. as of this week, they appear all but certain to win three seats, including arkansas, indiana, and north dakota, and possibly a fourth. to gain nine seats, they would have to run the table on the most competitive seats, colorado, illinois, nevada, pennsylvania, and washington, and that appears unlikely, and that is according to "the washington post" analysis. patrick, go ahead. >> i know who i am going to work for, but i want to make a comment on barack obama and his policies. ever since 9/11, he said he was going to repeal the patriot act,

in he campaigned for it in the 2008 election, but he has actually said nothing to change it afterwards, so i want to know what you or some of your callers to think about it. >> all right, tom, democratic line, have you decided how you are going to vote? >> i am going to vote democrat all of the way. the republicans are fighting obama so much that i have got to go that way. >> tom, have you been out this weekend to the rallies or volunteering? >> yes. >> you have? >> yes, and i have been telling everybody. >> ok. what is the mood out there? >> we want the democrats. we are tired of republicans. you know what i mean? we have been carrying them so long, and that is the truth. we have been carrying the republicans. >> paul, have you decided how

you are going to vote? >> here in america, the republicans are lying about this administration. so they can make a profit. and bring all of these things to america. that is what this election is all about. they are liars. they want to make money off of the minority, people who are less fortunate. if people want to make it in this country, they can. they are liars!

complete liars! >> all right, coming up, we will show you the debate between ken buck and michael bennet, their final debate that was held on october 23, and if you look at the numbers in that colorado senate race, a lot of money has been pouring in from outside. this is the last report, which was october 13, so we can expect these numbers to probably be higher, but michael bennet raised over $11.50 million in spent $10.70 million and has cash on hand of about $763,000. $1.80 million has been contributed to his campaign by pac, about $805,000 from

candidates self-financing. ken buck has spent about $3 million and raised about $3.80 million. the individual contributions, $3.30 million, and the candidate self-financing is about $105,000. on the republican line in cleveland, have you decided how you are going to vote? >> i have a question. >> sure? >> do you think they are going to take over this senate? >> what do you think? >> do you have pediacare? >> next caller. q's me, it is the afternoon. -- excuse me, it is the afternoon. >> i have decided how i am going to vote.

they said no to people. when it comes to health care, the same health care that they are receiving and your tax dollars are paying for it, they say no to you. when it came to the tax cuts for the middle class, they said, "oh, no, no, no, not unless you are going to give them to our rich buddies at the top." they are saying they cannot possibly find a way to give anyone a job. they do not know what is going to happen. for 8 years, they got an absolutely free ride. nobody should have had any hardships because they were getting a free ride, but everybody got laid off. people lost their jobs. now, they think that they're free ride is going to be taken from them.

they are going to create some jobs for people. you guys are crazy. i just watched kasich, and he told a lovely little too little story about their daughters -- he told a lovely will story about the headbands -- a lovely little story about headbands. that is exactly the republicans are. they are all for themselves. i am voting democrat. >> are you still there? we will move on. bridgeport, conn., you are on the air. >> hi, thank you for taking my call. i am an independent, and for the life of me, i cannot understand, first of all, why the republicans think that americans are so naïve.

but they ran this into the ground. we are not stupid, and we definitely understand how the process works. they cannot do it any better than we are now, so as an independent, i in definitely going to vote for the democrats " because i do not want them doing that again -- i am definitely going to vote for the democrats because i do not want them doing that again. i have been diligently listening and seeking knowledge and trying to understand. i have come to the conclusion that i am going to vote for the democrats because they have only had two years. >> ok, what is it like up there in connecticut over the weekend? a lot of phone calls, a lot of advertisements. >> the president during his rally and all of that stuff.

also the governor of connecticut. they had a big rally. their version of this whole thing. i think they're in for a surprise. >> do you think you learned something by going to the rally? >> yes, and the enthusiasm for the democrats is very high. it is not like the tea party and the republicans are trying to say, that the democrats are laid back. that is not the case. the president was coming to speak. you are talking about four miles of lines of waiting for hours.

these are all democrats. >> all right, randy, joining us from boise, idaho, go ahead. >> yes. >> have you decided how you are going to vote, randy? you are on the air. >> yes, i am going to vote republican. >> why is that? >> because this has been moving to the left. time, we wereush's going more to the left and becoming more liberal in spending, and the democrats are now blaming bush for the problems, but there at the point where we are again moving to the left. -- they are at the point where we are again moving to the left. we need to move to the right. there have been too many problems. the spending is causing problems. and there is our job situation. when obama got in, you would have think he would have focused on the job situation, but he was focusing on the social issues.

when you do not center what your focus is, you are going to have trouble. >> let me ask you something. if republicans take control of the house and/or the senate, should they focus most of their time on repealing that health care lobby or on the economy, jobs? >> well, the economy is first and foremost. that is what we should have been doing in the first place is focusing on the economy. when the government focuses on the economy, then things get better, but what we did is we went around the back way, and we got focused on all of these other things, and the house was burning, and they were next door having a picnic, and the house would not even attend to the fire. >> randy, how old are you? if you do not mind that i asked. >> i in 59 years old. >> and what do you do? >> i am a real estate investor. >> what is that market like in boise, idaho? >> it is pretty bad. there were things that were done

away with under the clinton administration and let the banks into other investments other than just keeping their loans in house. it caused all of these problems, and you cannot make loans and then pass them to everyone else and all over the world through the hedge funds, who were packaging them and selling them. >> randy, did you like the financial regulation bill that was passed? >> i did not like that either. >> why not? >> i think that the free market system, we need to have some restraint, but it goes too far. when you are trying to get the system up economically so you have jobs, then you are task -- taxing the very thing that needs to get up first, but going after everything business and saying, "we are going to fight the bank's," you are only going to be fighting yourself, because the economic system has to get up in order to provide jobs.

>> all right, that is randy. boise, idaho. ted, have you decided how you are going to vote? >> yes, there is no doubt about that. i am kind of hoping note -- hoping that the losers in this are actually the pundits, like cook and those guys to do the polling, because i do not know where they justify it, because i do not see how the people can relieve vote republican. it would take somebody who has lost their mind. that thing about giving them the keys back to the car, that is kind of funny, but that is true. the saddest part about this whole election, being a vietnam era veteran.

i am disabled on top of that. i found was that nobody talks about the afghanistan or rack. there is trillions, and i mean trillions plus trillions. there are trillions we have by the time is all done, and we pay for all of the guys related to their service and disability. it is trillions. we're spending over there. in trillions. nation-building, and we should be back here at home building this country, and it is not even discussed. piss it is sad. >> ted, how old are you? >> i am 63. >> what do you do for a living? >> i used to do something, but i am retired. >> i thank you for calling in. a website is posting this story. mr. sorensen is dead.

creating some of the most memorable presidential speeches of the 20th century. he has died one week after suffering a stroke. he was 82. despite a stroke he had many years ago, he continued to be vibrant intellectually and there was the candidates -- the camelot aura. and that was a story posted today on boston.com. the republican line, have you decided how to vote? >> i have decided that i am going to vote for every republican candidate because the obama agenda and pelosi and all of this is a way to a radical for me, and it is taking the country in the wrong direction. they are governing against the will of the people. the clear majorities were against the health-care. it was rammed down our throats.

the stimulus bill, almost another $1 trillion in debt, so there is no way that i can consider voting for this radicalism. >> ok, give me an honest handicap of that senate race in california. who do you think is going to win? >> i am very excited with carly fiorina. i voted for her in the primary, and i have contributed some money to her campaign, and it would be fantastic to beat boxer, because she is a good example of radicalism gone wild. she is a rubberstamping of radical policies, so i think that carly fiorina may pull an upset. >> ok, in you said you donated to her. if she were to win the race,

what do you expect for the money that you gave her? >> i would expect to oppose these radical policies. you know, i totally oppose all of these policies. i want obama care repealed. if it cannot be repealed, just do not fund it, and republicans just simply do not provide any funds for it. i am perfectly happy with my current medical policy that i have it, and the premiums are going to be going way up because of obama care. the people are obviously in open rebellion and do not want any more. >> what did you think, what was your reaction, first, when you heard about how much money meg whitman was putting into her race for governor? >> well, i will be voting for meg. i did not contribute money

because she was basically self funded, and i did not feel there is any real need for me to contribute, and i basically have contributed to carly fiorina here in california and my local congressmen, dan lundgren, so i have been kind of focused on my a local or california races. >> got it, and did it bother you at all that she was spending so much money? >> no, not at all, because the public employees' unions here, and i am right here in the state capital, they haven't put up smear attacks and $100 million against her, so she had to have money to even be competitive, and i am in an area, the central

valley is probably where she is stronger, and, hopefully, she can overcome the democrat machine in l.a. and san francisco. >> all right, let's go to mike in jersey city, new jersey, democratic line. mike, have you decided how you are going to vote? >> yes pmi on the air? >> yes, you are on the air. >> i am going to the democrats because the republicans, they talk about how obama has brought the country down. obama tried to fix this, and they try to line up by saying that obama is going to bring the country down it, more down, but they should no republicans are liars, because they were in power for eight years, and they

destroyed this country, and obama is trying to save the country. that is just something they are trying to say because they want to be in power again so they can do whatever they want. so they can have more taxes on the poor people and the middle class, you know? >> oh right, let's hear from an independent in michigan. >> go ahead. >> yes, thank you. i just want to say that i think it is great that tom tancredo is doing so were relatively well in colorado -- so relatively well in colorado, and i would encourage everyone as much if they can to find a candidate like that that is not too fringe like instead of voting for a republican or a democrat because that is the only way we are going to get any real change is if we break up the monopoly

that republicans and democrats have. they are both financed by more or less the same people, the corporations and all of that. i think they are a good grass roots movement. i think they're going to be eaten up by the establishment though. if they are successful, and i hope they are, but they can extend.-- they are soon going to get very disappointed when they get some people in there because i do not think much is going to change. i think that the republican establishment, the democratic establishment, it is like the old george wallace line it, there is really not a dime's worth of difference between the two of them. >> ok, hey, glenn, let me ask

you. in your mind, what high profile person represents a truly independent voice? >> there have actually been several in history, and if you think of them, there was ralph nader and pat buchanan and other people like that ", not allowed in the debates because they are controlled by the two parties who are controlled by the big corporations, and none of this, there is not going to treat -- not going to be any serious a big change until the citizens start breaking up the two-party system. it is kind of amazing. >> ok, does that mean that you are neither going to vote for a democrat or republican? >> in no case. one other point, if i may. in some of the western european nations, for example, they have

1/10 or less of our population and in some cases 1% or 2% of our population, which is, like, god, 300 million people now, and some of the nation's have 5% for viable political parties. >> we are going to leave it here. we are going to continue taking your conversation on this on a weekend before campaign 2010. coming up, we will be showing you the second and final debate between the, runners senate candidates, michael bennet and ken buck. but first, we spoke to "the denver post" political editor, and this is what he had to say. >> he is a political reporter with the "the denver post." the local race is the subject of the sunday main story.

there is a lot of attention on the senate race. ken buck, michael bennet, replacing ken salazar, now the interior secretary, and the influx of outside money. colorado has seen a huge amount, almost $30 million, in this midterm election. >> it has been something to behold, and anyone in, rather the watches television has certainly had a front-row seat to see it. actually, back in a primary campaign, but once the new general primary season kicked in, supporters for both candidates began to pour lots of money into both races. >> and looking at that race, early voting in colorado. the governor's race is not -- has not generate as much interest as expected, why? guest: it generated quite a bit of interest early on when

the governor decided not to seek reelection and the denver mayor gavin and a tea party candidate upset the former congressman scott mcinnis at the republican assembly. that was over the summer but there were a number of missteps which prompted tom tancredo to get into the race as an american constitution party candidate. initially, people looked at the race and thought it was not going to be competitive because it was a three-horse contests. tom tancredo has cut the intodan mayes' support. he has polled 10% or less and tom tancredo has made it competitive. some polls have them within the margin of error and to the apartment sometimes has a 10% lead. host: what is the result of the turnout >> guest: the republicans we speak to are

excited. i don't think it will have much impact. there are couple of races where there are other american constitution party candidates on the ballot. the fourth congressional district race between the incumbent and the republican challenger is one we will be looking at. it is how the american constitution party does there. it will be whether he pulls votes for himself. the secretary of state race could be boon for the current secretary of state who was supported two years ago, a democrat. host: we're talking with a reporter from"the denver post." obama won in the greater denver area. that is an area thatmichael bennett has been focusing on for there was a cnn poll that indicated ken buck was doing better than expected in the suburbs outside of denver.

what have you been seeing? guest: that as the frontli in this race. in almost always is in statewide elections in colorado. whoever wins the denver suburbs tend to win the race. republicans that i've spoken to feel very good about the male and early ballo they are seeking comment inarapho and jefferson county suburbs. the republicans feel they have a good ground game and will be there come election day. guest thank you for joining us/ >> this is campaign 2010. the senate debate from cavarretta public television 12 at 4 new. >> live from a 4 a in denver, we are going to be quizzing the

candidates here in colorado. for both men, this is the election. center michael -- senator michael bennet got that job when ken salazar left. bennet is 45 years old and is married and has three children. his opponent is a republican elected as the district attorney back in 2004, ken buck, and he has also been a prosecutor in the department of justice. he is 51 years old, is married, and has three children. with the backing of the tea party, a republican insider view was considered a shoe in for the party nomination. this is one of the most hotly contested senate races in the country and could tip the power in d.c.

and gentlemen, i ask you, has anything about this race been what you have expected? mr. buck, i will start with you. >> it has been a hard-fought race. there has been a lot of money. i did not expect as much as we got, but this is a key race. i think the issues are pretty much what we expected the issues to be. we have talked about the jobs and the economy and spending, and these are the issues that i think are important to those in colorado, so i think that is important. >> all right, thank you. senator bennet? >> i have traveled about 30,000 miles around the state and have had the privilege of being at town hall meetings. what is happening to our working families, our middle class caylee's, who are going through the most savage economy since the great depression. i have been surprised that there has been so much outside money spent in this race, especially on the other side, and i hope to

be able to go back to washington to make sure we can get these disclosures of them to make sure we can know who is trying to buy these races. >> all right, thank you both. let's get into the particulars of the issues. joining me is a clinical specialist from colorado public television. how the economy is affecting this race. gentlemen, each of you will get one minute to answer with a 30- second rebuttal, and, terry, you will get the first. >> thank you. other than shape policy, a question to you, is what can you do, specifically, senator, to put people back to work whitby's unemployment numbers in colorado being about 8%? .-- with the unemployment numbers in cavarretta being about 8%? >> it is more than 8%.

if you look at the last period of economic growth, this is the first time that the economy grew and middle-class incomes fell. it is the first time that has happened before, and we have created no net new jobs since 1998. we need to do this so that we can hire people. we have to commit ourselves to an energy policy that brings our reliance on foreign oil, stops sending billions of dollars a week to the persian gulf, by the way, regimes that turn around and send that money to those who are and equip terrorists overseas, and instead invest in energy here in united states. cavarretta has seen 20% growth in clean energy jobs and in natural gas jobs, as well, and that is what we need to fight for. >> well, 94% of the businesses in colorado are small businesses, and if we're going to get out of this economic slump in colorado, we have to

encourage small businesses to expand. they are not going to expand right now because they do not have the certainty they need to risk capital in the marketplace. they do not know what their tax bill is going to be. they do not know what their energy bill is going to be. they do not know how hard the regulators are going to come down on them. we had a dramatic gorge to the left in government, and that has caused uncertainty in the marketplace, and we need to make sure that those folks have certainty to make sure that we develop an intelligent energy policy, not cap and trade that imposes such a huge burden on folks, but we do not overtax by putting hidden taxes in health care bills and other places, that we make sure that folks have the ability when they put the money in the marketplace, they know it can grow and create jobs. >> so a 37 response to say this. this is some certainty out there. the economy is really uncertain, but as a consequence of the health care bill, every citizen

is going to see a tax credit of between 20 but% and 30%. i voted for a bill just a few weeks ago that cuts taxes on small businesses by $12 billion in this country. my opponent opposed that legislation. i am for entrepreneurs, small business in colorado, and not the special interests in washington. >> tourettes talk about tax policy specifically, german, and we will start this one with mr. -- gentlemen, and we will start this one with mr. buck. job growth and deficit reduction again. mr. buck? >> i would do away with the 1099 provisions that were in the health-care bill. i think they are incredibly onerous on our small businesses and just up the wrong time, they place a burden when those

businesses need to expand. i think what we need to do ultimately is of a tax code which is simple, fair, efficient. our tax code is very complex. we need to reduce the burden on businesses to again figured out exactly what their tax debt is going to be. >> i believe that we need to of a tax and regulatory code and support job creation and innovation here in the united states and does not inspire companies to ship jobs overseas, uck i agree with what ken b said about making this straightforward. instead, the national sales tax that would increase taxes on people but 23%, i think that is exactly the wrong thing for a week to note -- for us to do. we have got a tax code that is goal of special interest giveaways to all kinds of interests of one kind or

another, and what i am interested in is tax policy that will support, reuter businesses. >> senator, you have not simplify the tax code. in fact, you made it much more complicated with your health care legislation. i am not opposed to an income tax. what i am opposed to is kevin the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. it undermines our ability to compete in a global manufacturing world. we need to reduce our corporate tax rate. japan is already reducing bears, which will make us the highest corporate tax rate in the country. >> all right, terry, the next question is yours. >> gentlemen, the country is, i think you will agree, still divided over the obama health- care plan, and it will be more expensive than we were led to believe initially. senator bennet, what do you say to those lawmakers who are already promising to repeal it? >> and ken buck is one of the

ones in says he wants to repeal it. a woman said that her daughter was type 1 diabetes and is now on her insurance, and she is going to have no insurance going forward, and a woman in colorado that shesaid to me not missed her insurance by a penny and no longer has to worry about that. accusing me of cutting medicare by $500 million. i appreciate that. that is the heart of the health- care reform bill, that in a significant insurance reforms. i have fought hard for amendments to reduce costs and to also make sure that the congressional promises with respect to the savings actually materialize, and that is what i will continue to do. repealing this is the wrong idea. making it better with common- sense approaches is the right idea.

>> this is fundamentally wrong and not something we want in our system. americans do not believe that this was voted on based on one thing. we need to get rid of it. the second reason is that this fundamentally misses the mark in introducing free-market reform into health care. we have the same fee-for-service program that we had before. we made a bad health care bill a better bill. >> i fundamentally disagree that repealing this is the right idea. what we should be doing is not pointing fingers. what we should be doing is

making it better, because our small businesses, our state and local governments, in our federal government cannot afford to consider the amount of money we are in health care. we consume a great amount. every other industrialized country in the world spends half that or less than half of that. >> let's drill down a little more on health care. does of the country have a moral obligation to provide coverage to the 51 million americans who currently lack insurance? for mr. bennett, how do you assess the witnesses or shortcomings of the health reform bill that passed and you

supported? why was there some much more emphasis on coverage and cost? what would to do to adjust it? >> i think we have a compassionate country and we need to do everything we can to get health care to every person. that doesn't mean we have a top down model of health-care presented by the federal government. it means we lower-cost of health care and created a system where everyone can afford health care. those who can't come we have medicaid and other programs, but we have to encourage people to get on health care based on increasing quality and reducing costs. we do this like grand junction did it, by coming together as a community and developing a model from the bottom up. >> i appreciate the observation at the end. my amendments were based on the work grand junction has done. these are colorado ideas that are on the health care bill that ken buck and others at demonize. these are ground-up ideas. is -- we are on an unsustainable path. i have always maintained from the beginning of the health-care debate that we ought to be focused first on cost because

whether people are -- whether people are cover not, cost is the critical thing destroying the economy and killing small businesses. he thought everyone got health care because everyone could get to the emergency room. that's an incredibly expensive way to deal with this and it is a tax we are all paying as taxpayers and policyholders. it is an unfunded mandate that i have to pay and you have to pay and we can do better as a country if we set partisan politics aside and work together in a business-like fashion. curve was not bent down by this health care bill. costs will rise at a faster rate. i read recently that if the government did nothing, costs would go up less than they're going up under this health care bill. that's a disgrace. senator bennett was the deciding vote on it and it's not the kind of health care we need in this country.

>> i don't know where you read that, but it is certainly not true. >> thank you for your questions. we have taken a look at some campaign ads that have attracted a lot of feedback from our viewers. she joins us to give the race a reality check. has been quite a nasty battle. >> isn't a shame? we have to decent, smart, and hard working men and you would not know it from the ads. out of state groups have spent more money on a colorado state races than any of the race in the country. the stakes are high and the truth is attack ads work and the candidates know it. thank you to both of you for being here. i have spent the last several months researching these ads and breaking down the claims. now want to give you a chance to respond to some of the more provocative charges. you will each have 45 seconds for a response and rebuttals. we'll start with an ad that just hit the air this past week that tax mr. buck for his handling of a rape case as the district attorney.

>> ken buck thinks he is more qualified because he is not a woman. this coming from a d.a. who refused to prosecute and admitted it races -- admitted rapist saying he had a buyer's remorse. >> that at would have us believe you are a sexist. >> there is a line, even in politics, but you don't cross. that line has been crossed in this case. the paper called this and add an active idiotic political malice. my office is tough on the prosecution of crimes against women, rapes, and domestic violence. we had a huge success rate, we had a 192-year sentence against brendan bradshaw in a rape case, five life sentences in rape cases. this case is abnormal on -- this case is abnormal.

but to use this story for political gain is a sad commentary. >> senator bennett, your bottle? >> @ think what is crossing the line is being prosecutor and describing a victim in a rape case as having buyer's remorse, whether you ultimately prosecuted or not. to describe it as buyers remorse is horrible. to do it on national television, when given the opportunity to apologize and say something different, he did not. i think he is out of touch on these issues. but -- as the father of three little girls, the idea he has advocated a constitutional amendment that would ban abortions, not just bad, criminalize it, including in cases of rape and incest is just wrong. i believe buyer's remorse -- that discussion is an appropriate one to have. >> do you think you are out of touch? >> i am not out of touch. senator bennett's ads have been called deceitful, false and misleading.

for senator bennett to question my office or my integrity in prosecution when he has never walked a quorum and prosecuted the case in his life for stood up for women the way i have in my office, is just empty. >> i have been a prosecutor, i have prosecuted cases. once again, you are wrong on the facts and i have a lot of sympathy for the fact checkers looking at your ads. >> let's turn to an ad that attacks you, senator bennett. it criticizes you break, he made in regard to the national deficit. >> not only do we have $12 billion of debt, but the tragedy is we have nothing to show for it. >> but he voted to spend an average $2.5 billion per day on things like the failed park filled stimulus and obama care. now, he is outraged. >> absolutely nothing to show

for it. >> do you really feel we have nothing to show for it? >> that statement was taken completely out of context, which is amazing since i have said exactly the same thing all across the state in the red parts of the state and the parts of the state. the recovery package was not perfect. most republicans and democrats and economists believe it saved us from having a great depression. we have a great recession and are still in it and we have a horrible and employment rate. but as the father of three little girls, it's not enough to say we just saved us from the great depression. we have 13 trillion dollars of debt on the balance sheet and we have failed to invest our -- invest in our roads, bridges, waste water systems -- we have not even had the decency to maintain the assets are grandparents built for us, much less build the and the structure needed the 21st century. this is a consequence largely of the policy can but is now endorsing that led us to this horrible economic situation. >> it is one thing to say

somebody else accumulated $13 trillion in debt, but the truth is cents senator bennett has been in d.c., we have accumulated $three trillion dollars in debt. that statement shows that he is going to washington d.c. to clean up. the reality is he has been in washington d.c. and hasn't done anything to clean it up. >> quite the contrary, what i am doing as a member of a generation that has done more than any other generation in the history of the planet is saying that we as a generation have done this and if we do not clean up, the next generation will be paying a heavy price. my daughter has made a very clear to me she is not willing to pay back. we need to make the hard decisions to make sure we pay the debt and deficit down. having had a lot of experience in the private sector and a lot of experience restructuring very

difficult budget that the local level, i bring a lifetime of experience to this job doing exactly that. >> i want to turn to a couple of claims in ads you have run against each other that i found misleading at best. first, an ad by mr. bok. >> what is under to colorado's ben's record of overspending, over regulating and a rubber stamp for his friends in washington. he is legislating unemployment. >> for the video back up of this ad, it says senator bennett favor higher taxes 24 times. i went and looked up these votes and found most of them to be procedural motions. for example, to kill health care reform or the stimulus. is it disingenuous to say he voted to favor higher taxes 24 times? how do you legislate unemployment? >> you legislate unemployment by not doing anything about unemployment as it continues to

rise in this country. what senator bennett did as a rubber-stamp for president obama was he focused on the issues of health care, which they have put on the table for him. he focused on financial reform and of three issues but not on unemployment. that is how you legislate and employment, by ignoring it and putting in 10 tax increases in the health care bill, onerous tax increases like the 1099 requirement. >> i appreciate the chance to respond to this. i have cut tax on 98% of people in colorado and most of those are for middle-class and working families but it's actually for everybody. small businesses as well, i mentioned $12 billion in tax cuts. we passed the small business bill just a month ago that ken buck opposed. he is saying erased taxes and that is totally false. we need to have a tax policy and regulatory policy that drives innovation, not one that protects big oil companies and

protect the largest insurers. the one that supports our working families, middle-class families, and entrepreneurs in a state like colorado. in the state of colorado. >> i understand you say you did not read the stimulus bill before you voted on it. you must not have read the health care bill before you voted on it either because there are 10 tax increases in that health care bill and you voted for them. they have not all kicked in yet, but when they do, people in colorado will be plenty bad and many of them don't kick in until after the election. >> the vast majority are going to get tax cuts and in fact have gotten them. >> senator bennett, there is a pattern to your at framing your opponent as an extremist. i found some of the claims to be a bit extreme. we will take a look at a couple that were in have irritation. >> but wants to privatize social security. even question whether social security should exist at all. >> ken buck wants to end

federal student loans for kids. >> you talked about having your comment taking out of context -- you used as backup for these claims some of mr. buck us -- some of mr. buck's comments. he's talking about protecting social security for seniors and it says we should be able to will our benefits should we die before collecting on them. on student loans, he was not opposed to the loans. he was opposed to a law that put them in the hands of the federal government. how do you defend these claims? >> again, i have great sympathy for you in the job you're doing because every time i come to the debate, i feel like i'm debating ken buck 1.0 and the ken buck2.0. he said many times he is against that and either one was fundamentally against what he believed. those are his words, not mine. with respect to student loans,

he said the founding fathers did not intend for us to have to the loans. he said americans were going to have to "wean themselves off of student loans." i can give you all this in chapter and verse, but it is the consequence of him having run an entirely different race in the republican primary and he is trying to run in the general election. -- than he is trying to run in the general action. >> here is a man who said he wanted to go to washington d.c. to clean it up. he may not have control over the outside group at, but he has control over his and they are sleazy. you had the opportunity to look it does that then the tape from the cameraman the democrats have fallen around at every opportunity. i did not say the things they said i said. what i talked about when i talked about to the lunch was needed to guarantee to the loans programs and put it in the health care bill to reduce the cost of health care bill. i don't want the federal government running the program.

all of the banks running the program so as accountability and keeps an outsider the federal government and leave it as a guaranteed student loan program. >> even if what you're saying is true, which is not, which is not a true reflection of what he said during the primary, even if it were true, the idea we would take the student loan program and put it in the hands of banks to charge credit card rates to our students trying to go to college, i think it's horrible policy choice. >> it was for 20 years. >> that exactly the consequence. what it did was created a huge subsidy for private companies at the expense of our kids in now have the benefit of $60 billion more of student loans when they are in the worst economy since the great depression and are taking refuge in our community colleges and four-year colleges. that's a good thing and not a bad thing. >> did he say do away with student loans? >> he did. he said "the american people would have to wean themselves

off of stallone's." >> i did not. the reality is there going to have to run the program -- wean themselves off of student loans. >> it has been run the driveway for years. he believes in a top-down solution. uses one thing in washington, d.c. and another thing when it comes back down to colorado. >> he says one thing in washington d.c. and says another when he is back in colorado. >> on this subject, when it comes to kids and of their loans, we ought to be giving them the most efficient loan possible. >> the government is more efficient? >> in this case, it is. there is only one of us who is ever -- who has ever were to reform government and that's me. >> how is that pension fund doing? >> better than any other teachers fund in the state of colorado. don't make up your own facts. [crosstalk] there is an actuarial report that came out and i would be

happy to get it to you. >> we have diverged here. >> the system is in better shape than the educational retirement systems in colorado. >> of want to get to this final question. we have had a lot of comments disgusted by how ugly -- adding both of you have noticed this, how ugly this race has been. i cannot help but notice that the most recent ads that both of you have paid for here on cbs are both positive. they both have your families in them. i wonder if he never gotten the message? as our viewers have said, this race has gotten too negative. why has it gone so badly? >> i don't know why. we have control at work -- we have control over our ads but not the outside ads. our kids are a heck of a lot better looking than we are and we will get more votes by putting our kids on ads than

putting ourselves on the ads. so it makes a lot of sense. for people to know i care deeply about my family, i love my daughter and care very much about the rights she has in this country. >> for small, -- a first of all, i regret nothing more than the fact that all these outside groups are paying the salary of everyone at channel 4. you deserve a raise as a result of all that. i believe very strongly we have to reform our campaign finance system and the way we approach this advertising. i voted twice so that people in colorado could know who is behind these shady ads coming from outside of the state. my opponent has opposed that and it's not the law and therefore your having to watch all of this stuff. >> many of your ads have been negative, though. >> many of my ads have been positive. many have talked about the economy, many have talked about

the issues facing families in our state. i do think it is very important that whoever represents the people of colorado says the same thing wherever they are -- whether they are in red part of the state or blue part of the state, whether a primary or general election -- >> i'm going to cut you off. >> it is a tough job doing the reality check. we're going to move on to the next segment of our debate. we asked viewers to send air -- to send their questions to our web site, facebook and twitter. >> in addition to lots of complaints about the negative ads, we received lots of questions about the "meet the press" debate and mr. buck's comments about comparing public sexuality to alcoholism. many people wanted to know how that translated to feelings about gay-rights. becoming valid?

>> that's a question not for the federal government, buffer states. we are seeing some states decide it wants to move ahead with a marriage and others that do not. i don't believe these questions of marriage should be a question for the federal government. >> what about you, mr. buck? >> i am opposed to gay marriage. i believe marriages between a man and woman. i do not believe the federal government has a role in any way in making these marriages legal or illegal. i think it is a state issue and i would vote for the defense of marriage act. i think it is a state issue deregulate marriages. >> senator bennett, you say it is a question for the federal government to answer. argue that? r.j. trying to be that?

>> i actually said the opposite. i do not believe the federal government should be making decisions about marriage. >> so you do not have an opinion on that? you are basically saying -- >> the question from the viewer was do you see gay marriage as something that is going to go forward? i believe some states will move forward and others that decide not to. in any event, i don't think it's a question the federal government should be dealing with. >> let's move on to the next question about illegal immigration. is a hot topic in colorado and much of the nation. what are you willing to do to secure the southern border and how do you feel about amnesty for the people who are already here? >> i am opposed to amnesty for the people already in the united states. i believe we ought to do

everything we can to secure our borders. my opponent voted against e- verify, which would be to guarantee a guest worker program in the state. he has voted against sending more border patrol agents to the southern border while he agreed to vote for national guard troops. that was much later. he voted against border patrol agents. if we do not secure the southern border and enact a guest worker program that makes sense and make it a shorter time to get people into this country, we will continue to have this issue and we will hand down to the next generation. >> i appreciate can's observation about my vote with john mccain to increase the number of national guardsmen on the border so we are strengthening our border security. i do not support amnesty either. i do support a spat -- i do support a path to lawful status. this was not a partisan issue until about 10 minutes ago.

my opponent has said he would like to have a plan to shift 12 -- to ship 12 million people crossed the border. it would cost $300 billion, not including all the difficulties of a cause for local law enforcement across the country. what we do not need as 50 different states with 50 different immigration policies. what we need is to stop screaming at each other and approach this problem any -- in a pragmatic way. >> let's move on to abortion. it has become an issue prompting plenty of questions with some saying government is becoming way too intrusive in their lives. will you really make eight raped woman carry a child to full term? others asked about abortion and the case of incest. give me your stance on abortion. >> i am pro-choice as the father of three little girls, i don't think the government has any business telling them how to

make these incredibly painful decisions that ought to be made by a woman with her family and her clergy and doctor. i find it amazing who -- i find it amazing people who are always talking about giving -- about getting government out of our hair, wanting the most intimate decisions that could possibly be made. i would not support any legislation that restricted abortion in cases of rape or incest. >> mr. buck? >> i am pro-life. i can tell you there are two issues the united states said it has addressed. the first issue is federal funding for abortions. these are two issues in the last 20 months where mr. bennett has been there. federal funding for abortions, he voted for it and i would have voted against it. there is a bill for funding foreign organizations that perform abortions with u.s. government money, i would have voted against it and mr. bennett voted for it. that is the context we are talking about. >> just to be clear, with respect to the viewer that road

in, the question was would you really force a rape victim to carry her baby to term. >> thank you, senator bennett, i was going to follow up with that. >> i have answered the question in context of a the united states senate. we get caught on these social issues when the voters want to know about jobs and unemployment. they want to know about spending and we get caught on social issues. the story at the end of the day is questions on social issues. we to stay focused on the issues that voters care about and that is spending and jobs. >> hold on just a second. mr. buck, social issues are important to the voters in the state. i'm one of them. i want to answer the question because in addition to jobs and all of which she spoke of, abortion is important. we talk about rape and incest, that is important. >> i am pro-life and i do not

believe in the exceptions of rape and incest. but i will add to the question again, we need to stay focused on the issues are important to the voters in the state. if you look at polling data in over 800 meetings i have had with voters, i have been asked five or six times about issues involving abortion, gay marriage or issues like that. people want to know about jobs. at the end of this debate, that's what they should take away. >> you ran on those issues in the republican primary and to abandon the now is cynical. if you want to talk about economic issues, which talk about those two because your positions on those issues are as far out of the mainstream as your positions on social issues. too short cut for the viewers out there, this is about, in his view, protecting big oil companies and others that have nothing to do of colorado that are paying for the television ads running against me. what it's not about is supporting our economy here in colorado.

[crosstalk] >> let me respond to that. i am not the one who has accumulated $3 trillion in debt since i have been in the senate. that is out of touch with colorado values. when you rubber-stamp the ability to create good practices in the state, that's wrong. in talk about economic issues all you want. >> we are both out of time. unfortunately, we could keep this going. thet's always great to give voters a chance to ask questions. we give our candidates chance to answer as well. we give the opportunity for the candidates to quiz each other. you have one minute to answer each question. senator bennett lost the coin toss, giving him the chance to enter the first question. >> senator, you have for months

said you will not take a position on what is called the employee free choice act. "the also referred to as carjack. he said he disagreed with the language in the house bill. you did not explain what he meant by this agreement the language of the house bill. whether asking if you'd agree or disagree with certain provisions, i would like to know what you like about the house bill. the like the ability to take away the secret ballot or are you in favor of mandatory arbitration where the federal government decides the conditions in the workplace? >> first, it's great to take questions from viewers, but we ought to give them the dignity of answering the questions they ask. one thing i like about the bill is shortening the time frame

between the first vote and the second vote. that is where intimidation can happen and that's something nobody ought to want. what i would really like to see is labor and management working together to make sure we can solve the economic issues we face. i believe there is a very divisive this year that's not going to come for a vote and i think time ought to be spent on figuring out how to create jobs in this country and stop exporting them overseas. the tax policies you support will continue to lead us to export jobs overseas instead of building them here in colorado. >> secret ballot and arbitration. >> he lacks the what i liked. -- you asked me what i like. i think the secret ballot rules should not change. the is the american way to have a secret ballot. being the only person up here has ever conducted a collective bargaining organization, and skeptical of the arbitration provisions because it's important to keep collective bargaining negotiations in the hands of the parties.

that answer questions specifically? >> the next question is yours. >> as far as i can track it, you say you cannot support a renewable energy standard, he did not support tax credits for renewable and clean energy. what we know in colorado is we have seen more job growth in that part of the world than anything else. 20,000 jobs already, 30,000 were coming. i would like to know three things you do is to support this important industry in colorado, including the natural gas industry. >> you made a great point at a previous debate that we have to import solar panels into this country because we cannot make them in this country. the reason we cannot is because our corporate tax rate is too high, our energy costs are too high, we have overregulated our energy production in this country. we need to make sure we have an energy policy based on good science.

an energy policy that encourages energy growth so we can do the sorts of things you're talking about, make the windmills and solar panels here and create this sort of jobs that will manufacture those things in the private sector. i would decrease the corporate tax rates so we're competitive, low-cost energy sources, and i would make sure we do not impose a health care bill on employers said they cannot manufacture. >> mr. buck, the next question is yours. >> senator bennett, you have talked about the importance of social security and you have not yet put a plan on the table for how we make social security sustainable. my question is you have been on the committee on aging. they have oversight for social security and yet you have missed 92% of the meetings for that committee on aging. if you care so much on social

security, why are you missing so many meetings? >> i do not accept your math on the number of meetings i have messed. i'm one of only 12 senators in the united states set up with 100% voting record since i've been there. i have not missed a single vote and i traveled the state 30,000 miles, having town hall meetings in the red parts of the state and what parts of this date or have not made up fax based on how receptive the audience was. questionh to take that coming from somebody who has missed 130 days of work in the d.a.'s office while campaigning on the taxpayers' dime. nobody has ever questioned by worth at -- nobody's ever question my work ethic before. i did my record speaks for itself. i wrote to the amendment in the health care bill that says our seniors medicare will be protected. it got 100 votes in the senate, the most bipartisan piece of legislature passed in the senate. i don't think our seniors want to deprive the taxation of

social security. i'm glad to be a specific plan of social security. i have been talking about for months, you have just not been hearing it. >> i have turned back to months of my salary to the taxpayers because have been campaigning. you have turned back nothing. the senate has been in session 39 days of the last 140. when we have unemployment where it is now, you have little ground to stand on to criticize me in relationship to the taxpayers. id creased crime with the help of the share of any have nothing to show for your time in the senate. >> one more question, the final one from mr. bennett. >> i would like to go back to the viewers question a minute ago, since you have supported criminalizing abortions in rape and incest. my question is who is going to go to jail? when you criminalize abortion and abortion occurs, who is going to jail? >> i will tell you, i don't

think abortion is going decriminalized any time soon. >> but you think -- >> let me answer your question. you have tried to take this debate off topic. we're talking about issues that are important to colorado voters. we're talking about jobs, your vote on health care and other things that colorado voters want to know about. >> this is my time to ask the question. >> [inaudible] >> you are not answering the question i ask you. each answer the question -- you need to enter the question. -- the need to answer the question. >> i'm going to focus my campaign issue cotta voters care about deeply. i said i am pro-life. i do not believe in exceptions for rape and incest. i hope we can work together and reduce abortions. that is where my votes will be.

the votes have been too -- one on federal funding for abortion. i disagree with senator bennett's vote. that is the scope of what the -- for foreign organizations who perform abortions. >> thank you to the before your questions. we believe that's a great way to find out what's on our candidates minds this evening. we want to go back to our panel for questions on foreign policy. >> with all the focus on the economy, the war in afghanistan is not getting much attention, even a larger you agree america's security * all other issues. i know you opposed to announce a timetable and senator bennett, i believe you have a different view. what would be the best course in that country to lead us to an exit strategy? >> i believe we need to define our mission airily. it is two things -- bacchus -- back stopping the pakistan-

afghan border to stamp out the remnants of al qaeda. second, to give the military in pakistan time to secure the weapons, the nuclear-weapons in pakistan, that is a worldwide concern that those weapons be secured. then the government in pakistan cannot be counted on to do it and we cannot do it. then we need to start coming home and we need to start coming home in the middle of next year. this is the longest shooting war in our country's history and we simply cannot afford it anymore. i believe the troops that have come back to colorado share that view. i don't think they want to stay there longer than that. we need to start bringing people home in july of next year. >> i think we have the wrong policy in afghanistan. i don't think we should be in the business of nation-building in afghanistan. we should set certain goals, accomplish those goals, draw on

forces and bring them home. i think it's a mistake to tell your enemy when you are leaving and let them hide for a while and come back after you have left. i think we need to do three things -- first, make sure afghanistan is not a safe haven for terrorists. i'm not talking about a possibility of a terrorist in afghanistan, and say when you look at other countries that are similarly situated, afghanistan is at least as safe as those countries. we need to disrupt and dismantle the drug trade coming out of afghanistan and promote stability in central asia. accomplishing those goals, we need to draw on our forces and get out of the nation-building business. we cannot lose more lives and spend billions of dollars more to rebuild afghanistan. >> we have lost 81 call robins in iraq and afghanistan. -- we had lost 81 coloradans in iraq and afghanistan. my opponent has changed his opinion sometimes it's hard to keep track. when he says it said import we

have military and political stability there, that's another way of saying our troops will be there forever. that region cannot be stabilized by the united states of america pause military forces and it's unfair to ask them to do it. -- the united states of america's military forces. it is unfair to make them to do it. >> i know these national security questions don't pop the polls, but they are critically important. about a tenuous balance between security and liberty, protecting our country and protecting personal liberties. do you believe the patriot act has served our country well? where are you unclosing the base in guantanamo? if you favor closing the base, why has that not happened? mr. buck, you are up. >> my son is in his last year at west point.

i will probably in his second lieutenant bars on him in may of next year's. -- may of next year. i think we have been well served by the patriots act. we need to make sure law enforcement and other security agencies are using it in a way that is responsible, given our love for liberty in this country. i would not close guantanamo. the idea of treating terrorists as committing an unlawful act as opposed to a terrorist or military act is wrong. our country is giving terrorists to be rights when we bring them to this nation and try them in this nation. my opponent voted for funding of the trial to be held in new york city, that is a mistake. we should not give these terrorist our constitutional rights when they're flying planes into our buildings. >> thank you for your questions.

>> do i get to answer? one of the things that brought my country to this -- brought my family to this country, there were survivors of the holocaust. i think it's important that every generation passes to the next -- the threat we're facing is evolving. i agree with my opponent that we need to make sure every step along the way that we are vigilant in balancing our civil liberties. we should not give those up either. i support the closing of guantanamo bay, but to answer the question directly, the reason it has not happened is because a number of this voted against the administration tried to close a because they did not have an adequate plan for what to do with the people who were there. until the administration comes up with an adequate plan to do it, that's how i will continue to vote. i think it is in the long-term national security interest of america to close guantanamo bay. >> thank you.

we're going to take a moment to ask a few questions. you at 20 seconds to answer and we will live on to the next question. in every campaign, mistakes are made. what they been made while campaigning do you wish you could take back? senator bennett, you go first. >> i wish i had the time to explain the $13 trillion context. i'm not responsible for $13 trillion dollars of debt. i have made many proposals on that. otherwise i feel quite comfortable the statements i made in the primary and general election. >> i recently made a statement about global warming. i have always had the position that the science is unproven in global warming. i was using language and i think it was unfortunately attributed to me in a way that

is not my belief. >> by this time, you know your opponent as well as you know yourself. which do you think your opponent wishes he could take back? >> i think all of these commercials -- i'm sure senator bennett is an honorable man. i have not seen that much, but i'm sure he's an honorable and i'm sure you'd like to take back those ads. when your call despicable and when papers say you are running a sleazy campaign, and sure senator bennett does not want to face his three daughters and explain why he is doing those things. >> i'm going to oppose every single bit of evidence riata i have run on our web site and your viewers can take a look at -- every piece of evidence i have run on our website. i'm tired of having my character in be viewed by can but -- my character is impugned by ken buck.

>> we know the time you have given to your campaigns is all consuming. what is the impact on your family? mr. bock, we will start with you. >> it has had a big impact on my family. fortunately, both my children are out of state and don't have to watch the ads that have been run. i have tried to break the tv on a number of occasions and it has not worked. we have grown closer in a lot of ways because we have had an opportunity to campaign together. campaigning with my children the summer was a great experience that i valued and i think they got a lot out of also. >> i would say first that everyone should understand there have been far more negative ads run against me than i have run in this race. it has been a delight to be with my wife, susan, and our

three little girls traveling around the state. they are all in public school in denver and this has given them a chance to see what a beautiful state we have. also how much bigger a world we live in. their world is not just their context, but the struggles people are having all across the state. >> we have reached the closing segment of our debate. we will give each candidate a minute to make their case directly to the voters. mr. buck won the coin toss and elected to go second. >> thank you for putting this a debate on for the people and the other zero -- the other hosts who are here. it is important for your viewers. we are facing enormous difficult economic times in this country and we have a runaway deficit and a runaway debt. i believe we can solve these problems together just as generations before have by coming together, rolling up our sleeves, forgetting about ideologies and focus on pragmatic problem-solving, which is what i have done my entire career.

this is the first run i have made for office, but having significant private sector experience and significant experience working in a tough government situation that the local level gives me a totally different perspective than 99% of the senators back there. i promise to you the commitment i will make is i will do absolutely everything to make sure we are not part of the first generations to leave less opportunity, not more, to our kids and grandkids. that was our parents legacy and we need to uphold it. >> we have a great opportunity to choose between repeating our mistakes and creating a state in the country that our kids and grandkids would love to live in. we all protest on april 15th when the congress ran up more and more debt and we knew it was tax day and we would have to face the price for that debt at some point. we sent e-mail to senators and

representatives when we were going to pass the health care bill because we knew the burdens it would place on us. we told congress we don't want them to stymie growth and get off the backs of small business. yet, they did not listen. they ignored us. on november 2nd, we have the opportunity to make sure our senator and folks in washington d.c. don't ignore us anymore. i would appreciate your support and i hope you go to my website and click on the advertising section and see exactly what other news organizations have said about those advertisements. >> thank you for being with us, gentlemen. we hope we have helped the voters prepare for campaign 2010. it promises to be an interesting election day. our partner will be airing this debate in its entirety friday at 7:00 on channel 12. friday, we will bring in the gubernatorial debate live at 6:00 and it will re-enter that same evening at 9:00 on channel

12. for complete election night coverage, join us for a live, commercial free coverage of the colorado race and a look at the national election awhile -- national election as well. you will find our debates on line as well as complete coverage of campaign 2010. thank you for being with us. we hope we have helped you make an informed decision this election year. have a great evening. >> our live coverage of campaign

2010 continues this evening on the final weekend before voters decide. which party will control the chamber is up there, the republicans are the democrats? "the washington post" said that the edge goes to the republicans in these final two days. but that will depend on the outcome of several races. there will be competitive ones that we may not know about on election night. and there could be read counts, an issue that we will discuss on "newsmakers" which is coming up. first, before we do that, we want to hear from all of you this evening about what is motivating you to vote. is it an issue? is it party politics? what is motivating you to get out and vote? we want to let you know about a story that is breaking this afternoon about theodore

sorenson. he died at 82 years old at noon today. this seceded press is saying that the lead on that story is that alter ego to john f. kennedy with his crisp and poetic phrase helped to a moralize -- to demoralize a tragically brief administration. electing and advising president kennedy as international lawyer and advocate, he lived an extraordinary life that made our country and our world more equal, more just, and more secure. generations of americans are starting to follow in his footsteps. that is president obama's statement on his passing. chicago on our democratic line,

you are our first phone call on what is motivating you. go ahead. caller: what is motivating me to the is that we sit back and watch the republicans speak on tv on how they will change when they get in. but they had eight years before when bush was in office and they chose to do nothing. now barack obama was the first african-american elected as president. now they want to ban everything that he puts out there. that health care bill that he passed, i believe, is a benefit to all the middle class because, me myself, being in a new wheelchair -- being in a wheelchair, it has been difficult. i do not know why they decry that barack obama is bringing the economy down. it was the republicans.

anytime you put anything on the table, nobody wanted to join in. he only got a few may be down , but when he started, nobody wanted to pass the bill. -- he only got a few maybe del -- maybe down a linthe line, bun he started, nobody wanted to pass the bill. caller: i am an independent and i want to vote republican. not republican. i take that back. democrat. it took us how many years to get into the position we are today? they need a little bit more time. we were practically in a depression. they need more time. they get more time,

how much more time do you give them and what issues should they take up first? caller: it is easier to dig yourself into a whole than it is to get out. how long did it take us to get into that hole? maybe multiplied by two. i do not know. the republicans do not have an idea. the report -- the democrats seem like to have been idea. you see these republicans talk and double talk. they think we are idiots and they expect the independents to follow like blind sheik. i do not think that will happen. host: let's hear from a republican. caller: this is the first, have called. i have voted straight republican. i think the taxes are too high. these taxes are going up in 60 days.

they should wait, but they will not do it. i think the economy is in terrible shape. i voted for obama. if they do not get these taxes cut, they will go up. host: such taxes are your number one issue? caller: yes. host: have you always reported -- how old were you? caller: 59. host: have you always voted republican? caller: yes. i always make more money when there are republicans. host: the economy was great under clinton. you still made less money? caller: yes. host: gregory in baltimore. caller: the gentleman who was just talking republican must be a wealthy man. that is who the republicans mostly help, they help the wealthy. but barack obama said, the

wealthy can afford to pay more where the middle class need more breaks so they can become wealthy. a lot of people are starting to -- people who paying attention see that republicans are doing a lot of double talk, planning to go back to the way things were when bush was running for eight years. we definitely need to continue with the change and moving forward and having a better future host:. -- a better future. host: we are talking about what is motivating you to vote. "the washington post front page -- "the washington post" front page shows republicans with an advantage. 49% say they will vote for the gop candidate in their district and 45% said they will support the democratic candidate.

that represented a narrowing since september. even so, the so-called enthusiasm that has given republicans confidence that they will see major gains. democrats have the edge among all registered voters. linda is on the independent line. what is motivating you to go to? caller: what motivated me to get out and vote were the haiti baggers and -- were the tea bag gers. i needed to go out and support the president. there is no respect for the present whatsoever. they call him obama instead of the president. when bush was in office, they always denounced him as president bush. there is no respect at all. host: has this been motivating

you all along? or has the repetitiveness of what you are talking about coming in your opinion, did that start to weigh on you and then you became motivated? caller: it started waiting on me and truly made me motivated more so. i observed the attacks on the president. i observed the teabaggers. they were calling him a nigger and nobody was speaking up for him. being an african-american, that a concern. when you do not appeal to civil rights, i have a concern with that. >> thank you. -- host: thank you.

doug, what is motivating you to vote? caller: what is motivating need should motivate everybody. they left the door open for non- citizens voting. democrats do not want anyone to prove their citizenship when they register to vote. washington, california, nevada, illinois, new york, all of these states do not validate citizenship when people register to vote. the first thing republicans have to do when they get back congress is to institute that section 13 that states should be able to validate citizenship when we register to vote. citizenship is non-partisan. democrats cannot win unless the non-citizens are voting for them. host: john in texas. caller: good evening.

i am motivated to vote against rick perry. he has been in and out of office and he has been reelected. i think we should get somebody else, maybe a democrat. the republicans, i think, all around the country have been bad. we should give the democrats to try. host: conley, new hampshire. caller: i am going to vote straight democratic ticket because i am for the obama health care plan. i am afraid that the repair -- that the republicans will dismantle it if you go back, there was a government public utilities commission before reagan deregulated it. if obama and the democrats get in, they can have a government health care commission which has nothing to do with doctors and nurses and patients. but it would prevent billions of

dollars to pay insurance co's preventital ceo's and $20 per aspiaspirin. host: what have you heard from kelly ayotte up there? caller: as far as i know, she is all for it. host: all for what? the legislation or repealing it? caller: 48. host: -- caller: 4for it. host: let me show you more about this article. as of this weekend, republicans are sure to win three seats and probably a fourth in wisconsin.

that was the washington post on those competitive races. we have a little bent on those races and how much money has been raised by the candidates. if you look at the illinois senate race, but the republican has raised about $12.8 million for that raised total. about $10 million have been spent. cash on hand as two million dollars. this is all from opensecrets

.org. the democrat in denver has read $11 million. a lot of money is going into this race. these are reports as of october 13, you can expect those numbers to change. in the pennsylvania senate race, pat has raised about $30.8 million. the democratic opponent has

raised $9.2 million. finally, the nevada senate race is one of the most competitive. sharon angle has raised $18.8 million. on that show, harry reid said that he planned to bring legislation that would create a path for some illegal immigrants to gain legal status by a vote in the --

. >> what about the conservative groups like american action

network and the amount of money they spent? >> that does not affect me. >> the republicans and democrats are for spending money. everybody makes of big deal about what the republicans are doing, and democrats act like they never have done anything or are not doing anything. that is outright dishonest. >> let's go to an independent. go ahead. if you can make it quick now. caller: the tea party movement opened my eyes and made me see how much obama and his administration are shoving things down our throats we do not want, so i am going straight republican ticket. >> coming up next, we sat down with secretaries of state for ohio and colorado.

they talked about election preparations as well as early voting. coming up, the rally in ohio, but first "newsmakers." >> welcome to "newsmakers." our next guest is responsible for fair and accurate balloting on november 2. thank you for being with us. >> it is a pleasure. >> jessica taylor is in charge of the election coverage, and reid wilson is the editor in chief. thanks to both of you. jessica, we are going to start with you. >> thank you for joining us.

i saw a report of early voting, 1 million already, and i wanted to us about the numbers. have you think that is helping to encourage turnout and people to tell us about early voting their bowman >> colorado allows citizens to vote in three ways. by mail, early voting in common -- early voting. we expect about 1.7 million people. that changes the way candidates run their campaigns, and it also smooths out the burden for our county clerks. we are very pleased with the way the election is going right now. turnout is a little low, but we're very pleased.

but >> what can you tell us about what you're seeing and who is voting early? >> we have about 53,000 more republicans that had voted 10 democrats. unaffiliated seemed to be voting very slowly. we are watching to see whether we see a surge on election day. >> you mentioned early voting has changed the way campaigns have been run. what are you seeing from the national parties that they have been so engaged in these early voting programs? are they making a difference from previous midterms? >> that is difficult to sell. clearly, the u.s. senate race has led to an investment by both parties that is unprecedented in colorado. the number of television advertisements is dominating the airwaves. i know the candidates have been

working hard on getting out the vote, but they have the ability to tell who has already voted, and since have, maybe 60% of the folks who are going to vote have already voted, they are concentrating on the last 40%. >> you mentioned already 1 million people have voted. nevada has the same turn out that is going to come early. how do you see the future? these seem more people taking to the polls on alleged -- do you see more people taking to the polls on election day? >> we see the number of people showing up as permanent mail ballot voters. i expect we're going to be over 7%. it is not inconceivable that it

becomes an all mail ballot states. >> they are changing the way they reports numbers. they are now reporting the percentage of the expected to vote. how has early voting change the way you count the ballots? >> in colorado the reporting is by county. the county supplies the information to the news organizations, and the news organizations to the compiling. the results are not submitted to my office for several days after the election. i am looking at the percentage of special -- expected votes rather than precinct reporting. >> secretary buescher, zero are you preparing for a long lines?

-- how are you preparing for a long line someone -- long lines? >> we have not had problems for the last four years with lions at the polls. we keep track of the potential turnout on the election day. since we have such a robust system, we did not expect to have lines or problems at the polls at all. >> just to understand the mechanics and getting their money's worth, after the 2000 election, congress passed a law that sends billions of dollars to the states to bring their voting systems of today. in colorado specifically, what has been the affect of the money

that goes in the process? how have things changed? >> because we have gone to a system of mail in balance, about 65% or 70% are using that. we have ended up with the system that is inexpensive. we have members using touch screen equipment, but it is not being used with the numbers it is originally designed for. since we have all three, the counties are really struggling with the costs of elections in colorado. >> you mention the type screen machines in some of the precincts in colorado. those have engendered a lot of skepticism. what kind of voting machine 3 you prefer? what would you buy for your county?

>> colorado made a decision a long time ago that we let each county choose the equipment they use. that resulted in colorado having all major systems in the state, which means our office had to certify. it has been a challenge tune in administer. what we're focusing on is the scanning equipment and reads the mail in ballots when they gunmen. >> limiting the investment? you would rather have the actual paper trail? >> that is what the citizens are choosing. since we have a surplus of touchscreen equipment, we are encouraging the counties to concentrate on the scanning a clement. >> just picking up on the paper

geneva -- the paper trail, we are seeing mobilization on both sides of the aisle. how are you going to be able to accurately reflect what is at the polls? >> that has been the focus. i was on the phone with about 40 county clerks out of about 64, talking about the possibility of a recount, and i will say a recount is a secretary of state's worst nightmare. i am hoping everybody wins the race by more than half a percent. we have a number of races but look like they could be very close.

they have a set of procedures that different becomes necessary, they will mail out on wednesday morning. they have seen most of them. many have been involved in recounts before. we have a process that has to be completed in 25 days. it will be certified by my office within 25 days after the election. >> that took many months to count last cycle. how did that change the way you may have operated in your office thelma -- in your office? >> that is a good question. we reviewed all of our rules

about three counts after the minnesota reached around procedure. -- about recounts after luncthe recount procedure. i talked to him about what incise he did give me so our recount is as transparent, open, and creates as much confidence as possible. he advised me to make sure the citizens have the ability to seize what is being done and that we can move through it as quick as possible. >> you're not giving a lot of opportunity to make millions of dollars like they did in minnesota.

>> let's hope not. i am certain that if our minnesota race ends up in a recount, they will have plenty of attorneys all over the state. the focus is on a couple of fairly narrow areas. one is that the machines have been calibrated properly, and the first was to make sure they weren't read it -- they were reading it properly. i am sure every provisional vote will be examined carefully. the third is a situation where the ballot has to be duplicated after it is received by the county clerk. that happens when the ballots

are received overseas and cannot be scanned by the machines. we have a very precise process in which a democrat end republican are reviewing the ballot, and they are being observed by a second democrat and a second republican, so we have got a very careful process, and i suspect those three situations are where they would spend their effort. >> you mention your state finance in -- i do not know if i said say -- if i should say stress, but if you have a 25-day time frame, that seems like it would put a budget stress on you. how are we able to handle the stress of post-election

counting? >> the state statutes say we can go to the general fund. let's hope the cost of that is fairly minimal. the county would have to bear most of the cross, and they would have to build those into their general fund obligation. it could be a significant problem, but making sure our balance are counted properly and that the system runs well is the fundamental thing about our form of representative democracy, so we will make it work. >> all of our talk has been about accuracy. let's move to fairness. colorado is one of the states which has a fair number of

people for whom english might be a second language, and i am wondering about ballot access for people whose original language might have been spanish. >> this is mandated by federal law. if you have more than 5% better spanish the speaking or another language, you have to -- that are spanish speaking or another language, you have to provide balance in that language. all of the election material is in spanish. after the results are compiled, i anticipate we will have more counties that do the same thing. >> you mentioned the overseas ballots and people having to

vote. people ran a test of internet voting in hopes of figuring of the vulnerability. they have several computer experts to try to hack into the system, and they achieved their goal in about an hour. what these see as the future of internet voting? is that never going to happen, or is that just a dream? >> there are pilot programs going on in i believe 11 different states to deliver balance overseas two men and women serving in our military and others. the ballots are encrypted. they are transmitted, printed out overseas, signed, and delivered by mail, by fax, or by e-mail attachment. that seems to be working very well in our state. the experiment in washington was

designed to find out whether the system could be hacked, and it was successfully attacked by students at the university of michigan. a test proved that it could be attacked, and they are going to try to continue developing procedures to fully incurved balance to provide security that is necessary. -- fully incorporated balance -- ballots to provide security that is necessary. >> people often go to your web site and are looking for returns. we are anxiously looking at the returns. how do you feel like your web site is equipped to handle this and is equipped for people who are constantly refreshing and looking for an updated returns? >> we do not report the returns

on our web site. we leave that to the media. until they are certified as official, there are not reported. most people will be looking at "the denver post" for their of to date reporting. we concentrate on making sure they access to our site for things like tracing our balance and seeing if it has been received for the county clerk. >> jennifer brunner is from ohio. thanks for being with us. we have seen projections that you are expecting a 52% turnout, and we're wondering how you are doing with early voting in ohio. >> early voting is very popular.

the president will be in cleveland today, and we do expect there will be busloads of folks going to the board of elections to votes, and i think the board is prepared for the large number of people but will be doing that. >> with this influx of the early voting, in 2008, one of the main concerns in ohio was the there were long lines at the polls. how are you eat buffet to deal with this, to expedite the process? >> in 2008, there were some lines -- how are you preparing to deal with this, to expedite the process? >> in 2008, there were some lines. we expect that early voting will actually alleviates on election

day, and we told them not to expect long lines. >> we heard from colorado that he has already spoken to a number of county clerks, planning for the possibility of a recount. what have you done to make plans for seven or eight competitive house races in ohio? >> there is also a very competitive governor's race common reject it -- a very competitive governor's race. we have provided for a very specific evidence-based reporting of information so when the un official canvass is complete, their leader is a complete canvas -- their leader

is a complete canvas so we will know what is from within the united states, the overseas vote as well as the number of votes we may examine later for where the person has over-emphasized their vote by voting for their candidates and also put in a write-in for the same candidate, because in ohio we have a requirement the voter intent must be fully expressed. >> i noticed when you said competitive races for house and for governor, you left out one of the races. you ran in the democratic primary. lee fisher was trailing badly. the use think you would have performed better in the general election? -- do you think you would have performed better in the general election? >> that will never be decided. i am not on the ballot, and four ohio voters, what they are going

to get is an election where they can make their choices and the secretary of state more than fully engaged and that we have a very smooth election in ohio. >> we have been talking about the different balance. can you explain some of the different types throughout the state and the county's? >> we have primarily the touch screen and optical scanning balance. -- ballots. touchscreen is the recording of votes at the time they place the vote. the next one is a paper ballot taken place and to the scanners themselves. we have about 47 counties using a system region -- using a system and the other two using heart attack. it is a variety, but it reflects

-- using harker. it is a variety, but it reflects this. the view -- the votes will come in electronically. we will be reporting them on the election night. >> we learn from colorado they have a 25-day maximum under state law if there is every count to certify results. is there any limitation in ohio? >> it is building on days. there is a 10-day time for military and overseas balance to come in as well as late absentee ballots postmarked the day before the election, and there will also been provisional ballots. the official canvass have to began n.y. -- begin 11 to 15 days before the election. it is at that point a recount

would begin. we have a very specific process where if it is an electronic voting machine there is a voter verified paper trail that is hand counted and compared to electronic results. if they do not match within two votes, they do a larger sample with the potential of having to do an entire hand account of the entire county. having done that since 2008, we think things should go smoothly. they have had a couple of years to get new procedures under their belt, and we do not anticipate any problems. >> let me start with secretary bush. there has been advertisements in some states that some have suggested are intended to intimidate people from going to the polls, specifically directed towards hispanic americans. have you seen any evidence in

your state and in ohio at any attempts at voter suppression this year? >> i have not. i am not the best person to ask that question because i do not walk a lot of television advertising, but i have not seen any, and i am not told of any. >> secretary brunner? >> we learned of someone who put letters in his paycheck saying if they did not vote for a particular candidates, which happen to be republicans, that it could affect their ability to get raises later on. the reports are that this was done without knowledge, but this clearly violates ohio law. i had just appointed an attorney from northeast ohio who is going to be investigating for me and will be reported to the ohio attorney general.

a lot of folks are up in arms, because there is a specific prohibition that an employer cannot attempt to influence his or her employees to vote for or against a particular person with the incentives that it could affect employee benefits in the future. >> we have heard charges across the country that there is a voter fraud going on. i feel this has just become the go to excuse even before election day. have you seen any instances of voter fraud in colorado or anywhere in the country? >> we are actually investigating an instance where in southern ohio and lawrence county, two individuals took absentee ballots to voters but the returns were to a couple of

audiovox moves. -- to a couple of po boxes. they intended it to go to them at their residence or a different location, so when we see an incident like this of voter registration fraud, we get on it right away, because it is important when people vote they are not diluted by someone who should not be voted. it is important that everyone who is entitled to vote have the opportunity to vote. >> have you seen any instances in colorado? >> instances of voter fraud are very rare. we have an on-line voter data base. we have information about every single voter on that database. it is a public record, and

candidates prepare their get- out-the-vote efforts based on that list, and i have said many times if people see someone who is not eligible to vote, let us know, and we just do not get that information. we're always concerned about the possibility of voter fraud. we have seen very few instances in colorado. >> we have heard a lot about the details. i think you have helped our audience understand a great deal more. let me ask you what is keeping you up at night? >> 3 count is the nightmare. even worse would be a recount in

the secretary of state's office. that is the number one thing i worry about. the procedures we have been working on and making sure are open and transparent regarding a recount i think are very solid, and we are making sure they are communicated well so we are all on the same page if that should happen. >> the flip side is how confident are you going into election day that all the systems are in place? >> i am very comfortable. the election in colorado is running quite smoothly. >> water you most concerned about as we go into the election day itself? >> my greatest concern really has more to do with whether we will have a a recount.

we are seeing all the names of the provisional voters who will be voting on election day. i suspect they are expecting a very close race. the important thing will be that our boards follow the correct procedure is. we have the numerable directives that give them instructions of what they need to do, but when things get really tough is when they litigate the results of the election. i am tristan the intensity. the last thing we want to see is anything that would shake the confidence of the voters. we are prepared for this. if we have our recap, there will be frustration, because we will not know what the results are, but our election officials are well-trained and ready to move forward to correct things

according to procedure, so we are confident ohio would do well even if we had to suffer through the difficulties of our recount. >> many thanks to both of euan -- you. thanks for being on "newsmakers" today. >> thank you. >> let me turn to our two guests. jessica taylor is running politico's coverage. he is editor in chief of the publication. what they also seem to be pretty confident of is there are going to be court challenges going forward. is this the way of the world for where our society is? >> i think they gave us a new standard. both parties have been preparing

for this. we have seen them say we need to get ready to go. it is almost inevitably going to be a house race. it is definitely not over for us journalists. people want to minimize the time and the length. they do not want the alexian running for months. people want results very quickly but very fairly. >> both sides have readied their fleets of lawyers. they are preparing for the months after the election. they had a working vacation for

six weeks. democrats have a similar organization that has a fleas of -- a fleet of volunteer attorneys ready to get on airplanes after election night and fly out to these contested races. it was very telling in minnesota that the guy was out shortly after election day and took time explaining what was going on. the republican side was handled through a press aide, and it was little less smooth. i think after the lessons of minnesota, we are going to seize them go to the seas and take over the process. -- to see them go and take the

process. >> it was intended to make things easier. all the counties have different methods. when stress me in listening to the colorado secretary of state is that we have replaced the paper complexity with electronic complexity. >> a lot of officials have seen these touchscreen machines. they are the latest technology, and we are seeing officials take them away, go back to optical scanning balance. at the moment optical scanning is probably what everyone would like to see. you can hand count, and it is not just going to print out are received. there are always going to be computer problems. things will have to be reprogrammed.

i was surprised to hear the 47 counties in ohio were using the touch screen machines. >> you heard secretary of state's dealing with different kinds of equipment. then you have overseas ballots. it makes the job relatively complex. >> that is why it takes so long with the reid accounts. i think we will continue to see more of this in the different methods. it is important that it is amenable to our lifestyle. people do not have time to wait for hours and hours. that is what we are seeing in so

many states across the country. >> one thing they just told us is they have no fault absentee ballots. you do not have to have reason to vote absentee. you can vote absentee if you simply do not want to go to the polling place. washington state and oregon have already gone to all male in balance. it has improved turn out in some ways. the new trend is the no-fault absentee ballots are going to continue, whereas in other states you have to have a reason. >> they changed the strategies, so we cannot be remiss without reaching an -- we cannot be remiss without counting about

election day. >> with the house we have seen a couple of projections over the last week with some people saying as many as 60 seats. the republican senate is looking increasingly likely. early closing states should give us a good idea on election night. they will maybe give us a feel of whether this is going to be the republican win most people are expecting. >> how about the governor's mansions? >> republicans are going to have a very tonight. one interesting thing early voting has done is it has taken the 7200 program and made it obsolete.

people have been running at full speed since early october. i think it is going to be higher than the average midterm this year. >> things for being with us, and things for watching. we have lots of politics ahead on this sunday leading into november 2 voting. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] c-span is continuing live coverage of the midterm election, and we want to hear from you what is motivating you to vote. we will get to your phone calls about what is motivating euan to vote on tuesday. many of you have heard of the passing of ted. he was at a forum at harvard

kennedy school where he was asked a question about advising the president. we want to show you a little bit of that before we get to your phone calls. >> this is the advice i would give to anyone about to enter on the job of advising the president -- be careful. working for the united states senator or working for a candidate is completely different. a senator or a candidate, when a grave problem arises, it is enough to point with alarm. it is enough to raise enough questions. it is enough to call investigations. the president has to come up with solutions. he has to run the show, and the advisor had better have some solutions to offer -- to offer

the president. if you are in the position of writing for the president, be careful. what the president says on domestic policy will be debated. it might have much later become law, but congress has to provide authorization and provide money, but what the president says on foreign policy that moment becomes the foreign policy of the united states. be careful. >> that was ted sorensen, who passed away today, the former top aide to jfk. he died from complications from a stroke. president obama released a statement saying, i was so sad to learn that ted sorensen passed away. he endorsed my campaign early on. he was just as i hope he would

be, just as determined to keep american troops to our highest ideals. we are talking about what is motivating you to vote. what will get you out to the polls on tuesday, and who will you be voting for? sarah palin made an appearance at a tea party express rallied in western virginia over the weekend, and she was campaigning for the senate candidate to fill dozen seats left by the late robert byrd. -- to fill the seat left by the late robert byrd. >> it is a great honor, but i have with us today, the 2008 vice-presidential candidate. the governor, and the best

governor alaska ever had. we hope to see her real soon in 2012. sarah palin. [applause] >> hello, west virginia. it is so good to be here, and i have that feeling. it feels good here. i am in the place of country music lovers. i am so honored to get to be here. the first sign i've read, i am proud to be at home. we cling to our guns, our god, and our constitution. i feel like i am home. i am here to encourage you. the things t partyers have had to put up with, putting our

government back on the side of we, the people. what you have endured, the media has tried to see lanais common sense, constitutional conservatives, and you are still standing. you are taller. you are more powerful with your voices lauder -- louder than ever. the election on november 2 is when things are finally going to turn around. i attribute this time and that is changing -- this-that is changing to tea party americans. you are making the machines have to rethink the way they are doing business and knowing they are going to have to be held accountable because of a tea party americans. they know enough is enough. no more business as usual in washington, d.c.'s

our nation's capital will be turned around. it is going to be because shaken around. we do that by electing him to be there, but the government back on your side. knowing what he and other key party candidates are standing for is opportunity to get back to work. it is not a matter of government needing to grow and be the big daddy answering our challenges. government is not the solution. too often, government is the problem it is our values, our individual liberties that need to be protected. [applause] i just knew that i could feel at home here.

when we talk about energy, look at what is going on in d.c. right now with decisions being made that results in outsourcing our jobs and opportunities to foreign countries, asking them to ramp up production of energy sources to supply us? no, god gave us sphere resources. west virginia, you have the resources. now we need the political will that allows us to be able to safely responsibly developed, put people back to work. let me tell you if you have good, commonplace conservative candidates. they know what we need is opportunity to work. they will work for you so west virginia can get put back to work. if i thank you so much for the warm welcome. god bless you. god bless west virginia, and god

bless america. >> that was sarah palin over the weekend at a tea party express rally in west virginia. what is motivating you to vote? >> what is motivating me to vote is i do not have amnesia, and every member what the republicans have done to this country in the past when they were leading this country, dismantling our economy, outsourcing jobs. people have lost their homes, their health care. we went to war with the wrong country after 9-11, and our president obama is continuously disparage by the republicans. he just got in office, and he walked into nothing but a big

mess, and it is going to take him time to keep moving ahead here common -- ahead here, and i do not think the american people are giving him a fair shake. he has done more in a short time since he has been president then i have seen bush do in the years that he was in office. >> that was a democrat in michigan. we are going to show president obama's last event in this cycle. he was in cleveland earlier this afternoon. the republican line, john, you are next. >> i have voted in every election since i believe i was 18. i am now 68. that is a lot of elections, and i feel it is my duty as an

american citizen to vote. i can moan and groan about it later. that is my mistake, but we all have a duty, and that is to get out and vote. >> will you vote republican? >> yes, i will. i am from a longtime republican family. i have the opinion that republicans may have lived on their laurels for too long. they still have some room to go. >> what is the first thing you want republicans to do if they can take control of the house or the senate's democrats give the governor out of -- and -- take control of the house or the senate? >> if the government cannot take care of themselves, i do not want them taking care of me or my family. >> farrell is in chicago. were you at any even as president obama had this morning? >> yes.

i am voting all democratic all the way down. i do not agree with none of the things republicans be saying. they act like people are really slow. i do not appreciate the things they are saying on tv or trying to deny things we need help with. i voted when obama started getting in office. i never voted for bush. >> illinois is one of the competitive senate seats. we are showing the candidates on the screen. we might not know who the winner of that race is on the election night and whether it could come down to a handful of races. in order for republicans to take control, they would need to gain the 10 seats. it is likely they will not.

they're saying it is a two- election cycle they are saying it is possible but probably not likely. here is "the washington post." it says here if democrats need nine other seats, leaving the senate and 50: 50, they would retain the majority virtue of -- by virtue of joe biden's tie- breaking vote if republicans are able to capture nine seats and the senate is tied 5015, then if he takes the seat in delaware, joe biden would be the tie- breaking vote in the senate. dan is joining us on the line.

caller: i am proud to vote. i cannot imagine having to be motivated. i am a small business owner, and this health care is going to kill us. we lay ain bed at night, and now we have to have charts to come up with money. we used to have to hire teenagers in the summer to work for us. we cannot any more. if we let them off, we aren't responsible for their unemployment -- we are responsible for their unemployment. you wonder why people are not hiring teenagers. that is one of the biggest reasons. >> can they stay on their parents' coverage? >> i am not talking about that. i am talking about unemployment. you know how are arizona has been made the poster child for

bad people. we had the first hispanic -- they are looking into it. america had better be afraid. with these bombs going off and trying to blow our planes up, i think our president can see this campaigning -- he did this as a senator, and now he is doing it as president. we paid him money while people are starving. we are out of work. we have got to do something. you bet i am going to vote, and i want republicans to vote. go, republicans, vote. >> who did you vote for in the republican primary? >> mccain. >> we have someone on the

independent line. go ahead. caller: i was born before the great depression when herbert hoover was in there as president. i saw the same thing. he did the same thing then that president george bush done. when president bush took office, he had a balanced budget and a surplus, and they got rid of it right quick. we went to iraq. that is not paid for. he flew out "mission accomplished." i saw a lot of this. >> we are going to the democratic line in illinois. caller: i have already cast my vote for a and -- cast my vote for a democrat, and i agree with

the truth spoken on this program. we have one of the best presidents we could have. i think there is not anyone running for political office that could be any better president than president obama. let me say this. those republicans are hardly, -- are going to have to repeat the past. >> that was from illinois. we go to a republican in jackson. caller: i first want to say that i love my country, and up until this election, i voted sometimes republican, sometimes democrat, but this election i voted republican all the way, and from

now on the fire will, and the republicans might not do much -- from now on, i will, and the republicans might not do much better than democrats, and i do not believe they can get our country in any bigger mess than it is right now. >> deborah, you are one of the voters the senate candidates -- who are you voting for? what are you thinking? >> i am an independent. i was raised a democrat. i cannot afford to be a democrat anymore, financially, emotionally, or education-wise. i will be voting for mr. johnson. citing mr. fine called has had enough time. one of the biggest reasons i am voting for is one of the mentalities of 2008 without any

education. i would be curious to know how many people voted in 2008 actually knew who controlled the house and the senate under president george bush or under president clinton. president clinton's second term was indeed bipartisan with republicans, and that is why he got things done, and i do not think if you pulled a lot of voters right now they would even know who was in control than, and it was mostly democratic. another thing people do not understand is how/--/stiegel affected all this. it was basically read inflating america. my family is sicilian the crown with cuban and african-american extended -- sicilian background

with cuban and african american extended background. >> we will leave it there. it says rob johnson appears to be leading the incumbent 57 points according to the latest poll. .