>> ok. marjorie with question number six. >> about 15 or so pro life democrats who were so-called and voted for abortion and health care will tell you why it matters in elections and is a centerpiece of winning and losing elections. [applause] . . in recent interviews with all of you each of you assume your right to life with the unborn child. given this commitment and the important coalition partner that pro-lifers are, pearl-like donors have seen a disconnect in are in see operations. specifically what steps would you take to integrate the issue

into messaging coalition, technology and all financial and other assets that are at your disposal as chair? >> we worked very closely with right-to-life groups sitting down and identifying who the candidates were, potential candidates, what resources were needed, what we could do legally and what we had to do independently. i think there has to be working relationship with all of the coalitions, particularly those that supports the sanctity of life. when we run for office i think it is very important for us to stand on principles. i think ideas have consequences and issues matter and when we run away from those issues we run away from opportunities in boaters. we should not hide where we stand on issues.

i think we as a party have to integrate abortion and any other issue just like we do everything else. it is an important part of our platform and where most of the voters stand. and so i think that we can spend resources and talk about how we have to do that and do it effectively. >> i will do what i have done for the last 30 years and that is work hard to invest and build in state coalitions. it is how we win elections. it is working with the various pro-life coalitions to make sure we register voters, identify them and get them out to vote. i would also call for an 18- month state victory plan that has been submitted april 1. each of those states have a significant component dealing with coalition building and development.

in addition, as i have always done, have an open-door policy to all coalitions to sit down and talk with individuals, work with them, and plan and strategize as we look to the 2012 elections. >> this is an area that we pay particular attention to, not with only respect to the life issue but a whole host of issues that revolve around a coalition effort. expanding the reach of the party and voice of the party, making sure the party is represented, and certainly that was no less true in our efforts with members of the pro-like community i met with several times publicly and privately on a host of issues from health care to statewide issues. on the state-wide front here is where the rubber meets the road.

having build relationships at the state level where the battle for marriage and life questions are being engaged every single day, having that relationship does not play out of the federal level anymore. it is played out state-by-state and the party has an opportunity to engage with the state legislative leaders as we have over the past two years to help with the important issues. >> i believe it is something that can be very effective. it is a great chapter across the country. i do not believe we either have none or close to none or would guest to venture no state legislators or federal office holders in the state of wisconsin that are not pro- life. this is paramount to our platform as republicans. and i think we have a responsibility as republicans to the right-to-life issue.

this is a coalition that is vitally important to our movement, to the conservative movement, and i would do everything i could to continue to promote the coalition and be proud about the fact that we are pro-life. we do believe life begins at conception. [applause] >> thank you for the great question and the work to do to promote with pro-light women candidates out there. it is unfortunate if anybody at the republican party level would be discouraging candidates from holding their pro-life values and views out front. we certainly do not do that in missouri. and i think it is important that the right to life coalition and all coalitions have a seat at

the table to discuss everything, all of the things that go into the messaging to win a good, healthy election. we do this in misery whether it is direct mail pieces, regional radio. -- we do this in missouri whether it is direct mail pieces, regional radio. the right-to-life organizations out there should always have a seat at the table, whether it is platforms, canada retirement or winning elections. >> over the last 50 years there has been a series of waves of immigration of activists voters into the republican party. in the 1960 topos the goldwater voters -- in the 1960's with the goldwater voters in the most

recent years the tea party. how do you keep the republican party open to the next waves of who can be added to the party strength and what groups to use seat critically available that we ought to be pursuing? maria cino. >> i will try to the sec that multifaceted question. first of all again, my experience has been building strong coalitions, and i would first and foremost welcome open door and talk with all of the various groups and communicating with and working with them. i think the second thing is to make sure that our state parties are aware of the various coalitions and various groups and working with these folks as

we look down the road in building from the bottom up our party to elect republicans in 2012. >> i have spent my entire political life in the trenches in this town where i grew up as an elected official and it has always been about the grass roots, the bottom-up, reaching up in getting out of the comfort zone as republicans. we do get a little comfortable with ourselves and we do become comfortable to the exclusion of others, and i think we have an enormous opportunity with the surge we have seen in the tea party activism to really open up the doors of this party and let a new light shine in on it, some fresh faces and voices that do not look and sound like us, that do not have the same walk or background experience, but bring a wealth of new ideas to the

table. we tried to do that through the coalition department at the rnc, with the idea of making a grass- roots oriented going forward. adding to that flavor every single day as the party expands into the 2012 cycle. >> we need to play well in the sandbox with tea party movement, the conservative movement. i think we have done that, certainly in wisconsin we have done that. we had a lot of success with that. we are not in competition with the basement, we are part of it. our actions speak louder than words. we have to get out on the streets and talk to people. we were one of the only states in the entire country that set up a hispanic headquarters full- time, hired a hispanic director

to get the job done and get out in the community and build coalitions. we brought on the african- american council to the republican party of wisconsin. our actions have to speak louder than words. we can make it happen but we have to work together and ask to be a priority and an important priority of the heart. when it is a priority of the heart, good things will result. you for the question. it is the job to bring people together towards the common purpose, both new and existing coalitions, all with the purpose of winning elections. and that is what we are all here to do. i love people, i love to communicate and bring people to the table to talk about ideas,

listen to what they have to say. this conservative movement that is out here over the last two years is fantastic. let us not forget, the two- party patriot and grass-roots movement is why we have such victories in 2010. [applause] all of these groups will have a seat at the table when i am chairman of the rnc. it is important recognize the importance, to listen to what they have to say to make them a part of a winning coalition going forward. >> as someone who came up in 1987 i was part of the jack kemp resolution that wanted to bring the party back. this time people were really frustrated with the democratic and republican parties. when we lose our faith with the voters, they have a way of figuring out a different vehicle. i think we do have to reset out

to the african- out american community, hispanic community. we cannot just come in 60 days before an election and say we care about the african-american vote or show up 30 days before the election and show up and an event and for pretend like we care. in michigan we were very lucky this year. we did not have to go out and look for choking candidates. we were able to integrate people into the party and make a difference. >> the next question begins with chairman steele. there has been the get out the vote campaign. it has gone up to week before

the election. in 2010 that program was discontinued. do you think that was a wise choice? if you are reelected would you revisit that decision? >> it was a wise choice. it was not discontinued it was not put out the way people were to seeing it. i have heard enough state chairmans saying i do not need strangers coming into my backyard the last week of the election telling me how to run an election when they have no idea what it is about. we decided to turn rnc into a victory center. in 100 funds available to anyone on capitol hill that wanted to come and make phone calls. the money that would have been spent on an airplane or hotel for a week for capitol hill staffers to go to michigan, wisconsin, to go to new jersey or anyplace else in the country to work was a waste of resources. what we did is we package the

dollars and gave the money directly to the states. we believe very firmly in the state-focused, state-oriented program. in every state party gave me a plan in early 2010, actually 2009, that laid out with the strategy will be. we funded that strategy directly. it was developed by each state. we funded those directly as opposed to sending staffers to different parts of the country. we opened up rnc and they could come across the street at no cost to anyone have a sandwich and make phone calls. >> i do not care to revisit the past, but in the future i think we need a fully funded tv effort across the board, wherever that may be. it comes down to money and resources. you have all heard their estimates. everyone here will agree that

the number one challenge to the rnc moving forward is raising about $400 million over the next two years, which basically means the next chairman will be sitting in office for five or six hours a day running through major donor of this, setting up meetings, a national finance network and team in order to fully fund all of the programs. we cannot go into 2012 having to make decisions between which got effort we fund in which one we do not. i think everyone would agree with that. that is going to be the big challenge, whether it be technology, gotv, it will all come down to money. that is why money will be the number one priority for the next chairman of the rnc. >> good turnout programs are nothing but words on paper if

there is no money and resources behind them. we fell down at the national committee in this last election cycle in that regard. we have got to fully fund our state victory programs. it is important for the entire ticket and will be very important this next election cycle of 2012 when the democrats are much more motivated and turnout will be at a peak level. 72 hours does not cut it anymore. we have 32 states that have early voting. 72 hours we need to push at the end in terms of turnout, but that turnout effort, those efforts much start much earlier. most of all they have to be fully funded. >> i agree. i think one of the most important things we do as the republican party is coronate and fund the get-out-the-vote effort.

the 72 our program is more like a 30-day program, sometimes 45- day program depended on what state you come from. the challenge this time around is we do not have enough resources. we have congressional senate races across the country. we will have a lot of challenges with respect to funding, and i think the most important thing we can do is we will raise the money necessary to fund the programs. to me, that is the most critical program we have come at the most critical thing we can do and every state party has been struggling to get that done. >> well, i am a little partial to the 72-hour program because it was under my leadership that we implemented, funded, and put out 6000 volunteers in 2004 for the 72-hour program and 1000

attorneys. while i believe it is very important to assess our financial ability to do this, i would make sure it's the 72-hour program, which should be a 96- hour program, is implemented again as part of the state party planning. . .

so the idea we didn't fully fund it is a misnomer because we did fully fund it. we did it differently. your state may have gotten x amount of dollars in the last cycle but because we were playing in all 50 states you didn't get that level we found other ways to get resources whether it's boots on the ground, technology, into your hands so you can be competitive. finally the state that didn't have a winning election, maybe their program wasn't funded, i think we won in all 50 states this year. that's the goal, winning.

[applause] >> the next question, do you consider combating voter fraud a high priority? and what plans do you have to combat it? >> well, that's a good question for me because i was chairman when we sued our government accountability board in the state of wisconsin over our non-compliance with an 8-year-old law. we are one of the few states in the entire country in wisconsin where you can actually vote on election day without register and you can also vote without any picture identification at all. so, our challenge in states like wisconsin ares a stronomcal. we have a government accountability bored that were appointed by democratic governor. all former judges appointed by that same governor. we have no statewide

registration list that's remotely accurate still as of this day. so as a national party chairman, i would use the resources to assist, obviously the state parties in their actions against their states. i think we need to win these battles in the courts. i think we need to win more races in the legislation so we can pass photo i.d. in all states and make sure we either have photo i.d., real i.d. or some method of protecting our institutional right to vote in this country. i think it has to be a top priority of the next chairman. >> voter fraud is a real issue out there and it's important that every state party and at the national party that we provide the resources and the legal basis and the resources in order to stop voter fraud out there. will call ballot integrity programs across the country. poll watchers are important to

have out there to keep a vigilant but we had an army of those in many precincts in the state of missouri. provisional ballot is the key way we have to play, to make sure that the rules and the integrity of that are kept. we have to have teams of lawyers that we can call at a moment's notice to go down, whether it is closing a poll, checking on the ballots and voting that is going on at any particular voting place. all that goes into it. technology has given us the great ability to have voting free and fair and easy. we want people to vote and we wanted to be easy for them to vote but hard for them to cheat. it is important we get out there and find these programs at the state and national level -- and fund these programs at the state and national level. >> michigan, for example, is a blue state that can go read under the right circumstances. one of the challenges is a voter fraud in urban areas. we found tens of thousands of

absentee ballots that were signed and never fell out and were apparently for sale. luckily, we were able to hold those ballots -- we call in the state attorney's office. we were able to set up our program that worked. we had to be filed lawsuits were all you had to do is fill in the blanks -- had prefiled lawsuits were all you had to do is fill in the blanks. some of the states involved in these races now and challenges now can be assured with everybody else. it is a best practices aspect that i think we can make a difference, especially with the states that don't have the resources and some of the things that the swing states have been involved in. >> i, too, have been involved in integrity and ballot security programs, and i think they are extremely important. i would remind you, 1981 -- some of you probably weren't born --

in the state of new jersey 1 the governor. in this state in 2000, whe one -- we won. ballot integrity programs are very important. starting with training in this case and then training and districts, local organizations. additionally, making sure we have attorneys like we did in 2004. we sent out 1000 attorneys from the area to various states around the country and provided resources necessary to go to court when you have to go to court to fight these cases. >> the issue of public integrity is clearly one that is on the foremind of everyone in terms of whether or not ballots are secure and whether or not people can trust that the process is going to work. certainly in the past year, going back to the 2009 election cycle, we made a very concerted

effort to coordinate much more closely with state partisan than we have in the past, whether it was in wisconsin, -- coordinate much more closely with state parties then we have on the past, whether it was in wisconsin or with gov. christie's effort, knowing that there are issues to be concerned of. coming from the states like maryland, we know what it's like to lose a governor's race because of cheating the reality for us at the national level have to be one of direct coordination, not dictation, at the state party's. they know what the feel and the environment is on the ground. having them come to us and say, "this is what we need," and being able to provide that is critical. they know first and foremost with the realities are. lastly, coordinating with lawyers and individuals who can be a part of that team, particularly when you get into the cycle at the end, as we recently did with a recount, to make sure that the repetitions

are there. >> i number of you have made the point that the incoming congress was elected on hopes that it would address spending above all other matters. how confident are you that the leadership will in fact do that? what specific government programs do you think will be dramatically pared down or cut by the incoming republican congress? >> i think we saw a very good at beginning with our republican leadership that came in during the lame-duck session and took a real hard stand against earmarks. we saw the omnibus bill fall under the weight of its own weight. it is important, very much, that the spending and debt be drawn in. as i said a little bit earlier, everything needs to be on the table. we need to the it department cuts. the gross in cover -- the growth in government -- if you look at the stimulus package, really all that it was pro-government.

it did not grow jobs. we're still close to 10% unemployment. it is important that we look at programs to cut. it is important that we look at some of the mandates that are out there that need to be on -- entitlements that need to be looked at. i think that this congress is going to take it very, very seriously, and they don't, the people will have a say in 2012. >> look, i think we have a lot of challenges. i am very optimistic with respect to republicans we have elected in congress. the people came here with a mandate, they understand why they are here. those who listen to the people of america and act on what their elected to will be effective and be reelected whether it is the aarp and some as or across-the- board cuts that are probably -- whether it is tarp and stimulus or cross-the-board cuts that are probably necessary, we cannot have crony capitalism.

otherwise, we will turn into a european-style country bread we -- otherwise, we will turn into a european-style country. from my perspective, there is a cross-the-board cuts that have to be done i hope we never get into a situation again will we even consider tarp or stimulus. >> you know, i think that if we have learned anything from the 2010 elections, our friends in the tea party, it is that we have to be focused and stick to our principles of cutting taxes and cutting spending. i think we have gotten off to a great start with our new republican leadership with regards to doing away with earmarks. i think that speaker boehner today gestured 5% -- he would cut his personal congressional budget by 5% and the rest of congress' by 5%.

but that is not enough to going to look at bills -- but that is not enough. looking at bills that have amendments, bridges to nowhere. as the former deputy secretary of transportation, i can tell you that $55 billion -- they always want more. but from the bush administration, we held the line and make sure we did not go out in our spending i think that is what the republican leadership is going to do and we have to hold their feet to the fire to make sure that they do exactly what they were elected to do. >> i think we have to be clear about the role we have in this position as chairman and. as i was reminded several times by the members of the senate and house, you don't do policy. the reality of it is, we don't in this perch. we do politics. but our responsibility is, and

what mine has been over the last two years, is to take the leadership what i hear from you, what i hear from the grassroots. if you get to sit there and decide what the policy is -- you can have an impact on appellate ticks of the policy by being an advocate on -- you can have an impact on the politics of a policy by being an advocate for the tea partyers or grandmother getting involved for the first time. being an advocate for the up- and-comers just starting on their own. having a conversation about translating the tax and other policies coming off of the hills so that people understand in the grass roots what is going on and that people on the hill understand what the grass roots want to it at the end of the day, you don't get to dictate the terms to the speaker of the house, you don't get to dictate the terms to the minority leader of the senate. you have to carry the message to

them and bring that message from them, and if you get it wrong, you'll be reminded that you don't to policy. [applause] >> one of the things i talk about a lot as chairman of the wisconsin party is that -- wow. [laughter] while we lick the envelopes and put up signs and raise the money, and guess what? we expect a certain result. i think the party does have a role in enforcing with that expectation is with our elected officials. if the results aren't there, we do have power to dictate results or least help dictate results, and that is called go to the ballot box, it is called primary. you know, the voters gave us a lease. they did not give us the keys. we have an opportunity to put

the train back on the rails. how many people who are republican you're actually believe that the idea of america is at stake in 2012? who believes that? well, we started off the right away in eliminating earmarks. our people get it. but we need to go further. one of my good friends, paul ryan -- i was his congressional chairmen for years -- he gets it. he knows we need to elevate the debate because we need to save our country. >> the next question is a video question, and hence the screen, from the college republicans communications director. >> nearly 20% of the total voting population was between 18 and 29 years old. unfortunately for republicans, that a faction devoted 66% for president obama.

however, that same demographics said they only have a 44% approval of president obama and the outgoing democratic congress. this gives the republican party a golden opportunity to recruit and engage new members of the party. as the newly elected chairman or chairwoman, would you do to encourage young republicans with messaging so that we can engage them into the process? >> first of all, our message ought to be very clear and straightforward. i think conservative values work. i think they work on college campuses and would be very successful. we have to understand technology kids are using these days. it is not enough to say, "i use twitter" or "i use facebook." you have to be part of it and lit it. when you look at the hundreds of thousands -- hundreds of millions of people who are on facebook, for example, and 70% of people get some information online -- all the young voters

are going to hear and what they want to be a part of an where they get that information is online sources. we have to be very active with college republicans and young republicans. we obviously have the legal restrictions as to what we can and cannot do. this is an area that is not only the future of the party, this is the party today. this is where we will grow and succeed. >> in 2010, we were very fortunate to elect the next generation of young republican leaders. if you look at marco rubio, jamie herrera, just an amicable, it is an extraordinary group of individuals. i would look at those young new leaders to help us appeal to young voters. it would be so extremely important. i want to make sure that our state victory plans have a significant component dealing with young voters. going back to college campuses and registering voters and making sure that we get young voters as volunteers.

additionally, i would use our young leaders to help us to recruit candidates. we need to have a bench, and that is not a better served than by young republicans. finally, i touched on it a little bit -- we need to be able to communicate with our young voters. we need to be able to do social networking. we need to look beyond what the next generation of the communication is with our young folks. >> we made a significant investment at the rnc my first year just on that front to make what we had to say relevant through new vehicles and technologies. we don't have a webpage, we have a web platform that can be used in different ways, as saul noted, to really make use of twitter and blogging and the like. that is the first step of many that we have to take to engage this new generation of young voters who are coming into their own. they are getting elected.

i have encouraged over the past two years our college republicans, and i would encourage them now, to run for national committeeman and committeewoman from your state party, chairman of your state party, run for local office, run and be involved in this process. get your fingers at the table and helped shape the direction of the party. the feature is not tomorrow, as saul noted. it is right now. at every effort we have made at the rnc is towards in beijing, from the bu -- t owards engaging, from tehe bus tour to engaging young voters to have a seat at the table. all of us are going to retire, probably sooner than later for some. we need to make certain that the next generation is prepared and ready to step up. >> i think it is a couple of things, i think that is right.

you have the congregation people, bring them in the full. -- you have to engage young people. you have to bring them into the cold. we have to promote the new generation of the republican party. someone mentioned marco rubio, one of my law school classmates, and paul ryan, aaron shock. we have a gop rising stars coming out of our ears right now. but at the end of the day, keep in mind that one of the biggest used movements and the country was on a break and -- biggest youth movements in the country was ronald reagan. teenage republicans -- that is how i became involved, as a teenager, and then as the college republican president, and working my way up the ranks. the way i got involved was one senior guide invited me to lick envelopes.

that is how it all started. it was not a young person who got involved. it was a grown-up. here i am debating my potential candidacy here for rnc chairman. >> the youth of this nation and party are not the future of the party, they are the heart of the party. i was reminded of that when i was having a lunch at a senate campaign this last cycle. the use of the party run our party. they are the workers going door- to-door and making calls, the staffers working tell us hours for nothing but it beats the. i am 48 years old. i was old in this last election cycle. i have great ideas to use new technology and have a conversation with the young people where they live. it is important we begin to institute a virtual precinct. you all have a facebook page, and work, a group of people who

follow you, that are a part of your world. you ought to be at the getting to them, just like we did the old geographic -- you ought to be advocating to them, just like we did the old a geographic precincts. the virtual precinct is a way to make them a real part of this next election cycle. >> all right, it is time for our lightning round. i want to remind our viewers that we're still open to comments and questions from twitter. the address is #rncdebate. >> the late and unlamented governor of florida, charlie christie -- >> crist. [laughter] >> florida, the one down south -- raised a great deal of money

running as a republican, receiving money from republican committees and institutions, then decided to run as an independent per had a number of people who ran as republicans raising money from republicans would endorse other candidates if they did not win the primary. perhaps as a result, the standing committee on rules for the rnc passed a resolution, the party unity pledge, saying that anybody who receives money from republicans running as republicans could assign that pledge and be responsible for returning the money if they decided to run on another party line or endorse a different candidate. the short answer to the law question is and do you support the the adoption of this unity pledge into the rules of the republican party? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> that was indeed a lightning

round. [laughter] i am impressed. do you believe that republican primaries ought to be limited to republicans, or should it be open up to anyone? >> limited to republicans. .> republicans brough >> republican primaries ought to be for republicans. >> aside from president reagan, who is your political hero? [laughter] [applause] last year we got caught -- >> this is a request in. > -- a trick question. >> after reagan, who would you cite as a hero? >> abraham lincoln. >> i will go back to my state.

general john ashcroft is my hero. he brought me into the party. he is a man of character and integrity. this is a lightning round, i'm sorry. >> freedomworks. >> margaret thatcher. >> frederick douglass. >> where do you get your news? [laughter] >> the daily caller. [laughter] no, mostly from the internet. the final three pages in the first section of "the wall street journal," with politics, gop. >> i get many of the internet.

i read everything from blogs to newspapers. >> i am probably a religious reader of the drug repor -- drudge report, hotline, politico, all the other information online. >> so much for lightning round. >> i get my news online also -- "wall street journal," "national review." >> i am an old-fashioned guy. i start my morning with a hard copy of "the washington post," and then go on line to get the real news. [laughter] >> tube support completely -- do you support completely defunding planned parenthood? >> absolutely.

>> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> starting with mr. anuzis, names of the mr. obama has done that you agree with --. name something mr. obama has done that you agree with. [laughter] >> i think this effort to called republicans prosecute the war -- to help republicans prosecute the war. >> i agree with that, if he opposes a end of the bargain. -- he upholds his end of the bargain. >> he has done a good job of reaching out with new technology. >> how many guns do you own? >> none. >> none. >> five. >> we just got a new gun safe

for christmas, and we have about 16 in there. my son is at west point. [applause] >> i am very inadequate, at four. >> ken sarah palin win a general election? -- can sarah palin when a general election? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes, absolutely. >> yes. >> forever. >> "reagan diaries." >> hmm, favorite bar? probably my kitchen table. >> favorite book. >> all, i thought they said favored by -- favorite bar.

[laughter] >> that was deeply revealing. >> "reagan diaries." new like a george w. bush's book, how about that? >> "to kill a mockingbird." >> "war and peace." the best of times and the worst of times. [laughter] >> thank you all. that was the lightningest lightning round i've ever seen. we're going to go to follow the ups that we've received, and we really just received them. we have not had time to dr. them. these are literally just things we just got. this is from drew walker. did you lobby for obamacare?

if so, why? >> no one wants to go to a government-run health care system. i think we have seen what has happened at overseas, particularly in europe. i am proud to say that this last year i work with our republican members in the house and in the senate, i worked against death panels and rationing, i worked to reform malpractice suits. i worked to make to the innovation was rewarded, and i worked to increase -- to make sure innovation was reported and i worked to increase intellectual property protection. >> thank you. >> no, i did not. i worked for the republican principles i just mentioned. >> ann wagner, how would you solve the rnc's current budget crisis prior to the victory

2011 program? >> it is about fundraising. we have to go out and restore our major donor programs. i have put them forward on annwagner.com. it talk about top tier donor is all the way down to the liver donors. you must note -- around the country -- to the lower donors. you must go around the country. you have to cover the running of the rnc, and most importantly, you have to fund state party programs. >> chairman steele, at times you have defended her record by suggesting that your critics -- defending your record by suggesting that your critics were acting against african- americans out of bias.

>> no, that is not true. you may have heard the media reporting it that way. my record speaks for itself. we wind. -- we won. the fact that we are here right now celebrating that win says a lot about the record. [applause] >> my tweeted question is for the man was glad this is not a write-in campaign. third-party groups helped win elections in 2010. why do we need an rnc at all? >> i think we can drive the ground game pretty darned well. we have a vast national network of people committed to putting the party and its principles upon their shoulders to make that happen.

that does not mean that we should not play well in the sand box with everyone, because we all need to have good relationships, good collisions, wisconsin right to life --, could coalitions, wisconsin right to life, but at the end of the day, the republican party is one of the two major political parties in the country and we need to be strong, well funded, and on the ground with everybody moving forward into 2012. we have to continue our fight. >> saul anuzis, you are from michigan. how would you target predominantly blue states like michigan, the northeast, the west coast? >> will we have to do is reach out to the traditional voter that we have lost. i grew up in detroit, and we were reagan democrats. we thought we were democrats until we started reading. we have a tremendous opportunity, if you go and look at where the american voter is today, it is us.

god, guns, and guts republicans, people who believe in the traditional values that make up probably 70% of our society. as long as we appeal to them on conservative values, we can win. it is always interesting and i think a mistake when we think we have to change. my clock was up, sorry. >> thank you all very much. i think we are ready for closing statements. we're going to go from this di --from mr. priebus and back down this way. >> this is about choices. life is about choices. god gives us different talents and given a gift. everybody up here is a good person. i'm not running against anybody paid i'm running -- i'm not running against anybody. i'm running for rnc chairman at

time of different needs. chairman to his would-be workers, who is going to put on a great convention, at tackle redistricting. i have demonstrated that i can do all that as chairman in wisconsin. as i've said many times, we learned how to work with the conservative movement. i'm asking everybody in this room for your support. i know not everybody can vote for me, but if god bless me to be chairman of this party, all of us are going to have to work as a team to get it done to save our country and in turn to save our party and win in 2012 and take back the white house. thank you, and god bless you. [applause] >> i would like to thank our sponsors for this opportunity. i want to thank the members, and the members of the republican national committee, the 168

members, thank you for allowing me to serve as chairman for the past two years. thank you for allowing me to take risks for you. thank you for interesting me to break new ground for you. thank you for the opportunity to empower our state parties on like they have ever been before. if you want more of that, if you want to do more of that, if you want to be strong, independent, and engaged state party, you don't need a top-down rnc, because i am not a top-down person, as you know. you need more of the same from the bottom up. as the national chairmen, that is my commitment, not my promise, because of the record we have laid out for you speaks for itself. we can do more, and we will do it better. thank you. [applause] >> thanks again to our coasts

and to the -- our hosts and to the rnc members here today. i believe i am uniquely qualified because i have successfully done this job before. i turned around a national campaign committee that was in debt and won a majority in the u.s. house of representatives. twice i was personally responsible for planning and funding in implementing 50-state victory programs around the country, in 2000 and 2004. my past experience has given me the foundation necessary to build a party in a presidential election. on january 15, i walked into the rnc with no on-the-job training as ever, because i have already done this job. vote and for your the trust to take over the national committee. thank you very much. [applause] >> well, look, i am a movement conservative who believe that

ideas have consequences and principles matter. but i also believe i am uniquely qualified to take this position. i think i have the administrative skills, having run an operation with over 400 employees and $60 million budget. i have the political skills, having worked on hundreds of campaign from the presidential down to the county level. i have the fund-raising skills necessary to raise millions of dollars in some of the toughest times, and believe me, retiring the debt is going to be some of the toughest times. and i am one of the most technologically advanced members, who knows how to communicate with millions of people today who get most of their information over the internet. most importantly, i am a member who believes we ought to be a member-based organization and all members across the country who want to be involved in this process. every single person on the national committee got there the hard way. they worked their way up because they offered something to their states and they have talents they want to share with us. we have to put together a member-based committee that will help us win in 2012. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i am the daughter of small business owners who has been working since i was 11 years old. i've been living my traditional conservative republican values all my life of limited government and free enterprise and personal responsibility. i began my political career as a grass-roots activists and became a leader, a leader who knows how to connect with people and articulate a message, how to win elections and put winning teams and coalitions together to do that. my experience is rooted in the heartland of america. i am at a suburban mother of three. who has been married for 24 years, and whose american dream is all about serving your community and our country -- her community and her country in the way of serving republican principles and ideals and candidates. i think we have an opportunity to change course on january 14 at the republican national committee. i'm asking for the support, for the vote, and for the help of everyone on the republican

national committee and all of you out there so that we can win in 2012 and that i can be elected the next chairman of the republican national committee. our freedoms, our families and our public is worth the fight. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentleman, candidates, ann wagner saul anuzis, michael steele, maria cino, reince priebus, the election is to number 14. thanks to -- the election is january 14. thanks to tucker and marjorie. see you in four years.

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