>> coming up next, "road to the white house." the republican party event in south carolina. after that, it is this week's "q&a" with author and commentator christopher hitchens. >> tuesday, president obama delivers the state of the union address to a joint session of congress. c-span live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern with our previous program, followed by the president's speech at 9, then the republican response from house budget chairman paul ryan from wisconsin. live on c-span, c-span radio, an online at c-span.org.

>> up next, minnesota representative michelle bachmann. last friday evening the republican congresswoman and founding member of the house tea party caucus spoke to nearly 300 members of iowans for tax relief. she was born in waterloo, iowa before moving to the minneapolis area where she served in the state senate before being elected to congress in 2006. this was our second visit to iowa this month. -- her second visit to iowa this month. [applause] >> what a wonderful introduction. thank you, everyone who is here tonight. thank you for inviting me here tonight. what a wonderful group. i wish everyone could see your faces. as many of you know, i am and i one myself. i was born here in waterloo.

i am a seventh generation island. -- a seventh generation iowan. you may know my other brother, he was a tv weatherman here for a number of years. thank you so much for that wonderful, warm welcome. your leadership of this a standing organization, would you be willing to come to minnesota and start one up there? i think we need one. i come from a very different neighborhood up there, let me tell you. we have had such a great day today. my husband of 32 years, marcus, could you stand up? behind every good norwegian girl there is a swift husband.

there he stands. we have had 32 great years together. we have five biological kids and we have had 23 foster kids. we are so proud of all of them. none of them are in jail now and we are just so proud of all these kids. in cedar falls iowa, i remember taking our iowa basic skills test and we were always so proud because we were number one in the nation. here you are, iowans are the nicest people, the best looking people, the smartest people. no wonder everyone wants to come

to iowa. it should be no shock. there has been a lot of speculation about why i am coming here to iowa today, and i don't want to keep you in suspense for one more minute. it is with pride in my heart that i am here to announce tonight in iowa, it is really good to be home. i am a congresswoman from your neighbor to the north in the great state of minnesota. we have given you hubert humphrey, eugene mccarthy, walter mondale, and yes, al franken. we have given you a lot out of the state of minnesota, but we have also given you post-it notes and we have given you spam. we think it evens out a little bit there.

it is a great time in our country to be thinking about some very important issues, and i know that the values that i learned in my life, i learned here in the great hall by state. i am so proud to have this as my heritage and my background. here in iowa, we laid the foundation, the seeds of great is. i put a lot of time into thinking about what i wanted to say this evening when i was extended this wonderful invitation to be able to come to you. i was thinking back about my own roots in my own family. my daughter and i pulled out of family history and started reading it to each other at night. we were lucky enough to have a relative that wrote some of our family history, and i am ashamed to say that i had not read the book get to know what it was. i had tears come to my eyes when i read about our family and what they went through to get to this

country. you all have the same story that you could tell, because rabin roosevelt said we are all in nation of immigrants. other than the native americans, who this truly was their original country, we are all in nation of immigrants. in our history, we go back to 18 bit 7, to my great great great grandfather. they lived in norway and there was only 2% of the land that was tillable. here he was, about 45 years of age. they had five children and had very few prospects at that time. the inheritance laws in norway were such that you could not accumulate wealth.

interesting how government does that. they had changed the inheritance laws so that a person could not sell their land to anyone other than a blood relation from their line. you cannot accumulate more land than the land that you had. so norway within a process through its government of suppressing wealth creation. very different from the way that america was portrayed. at the end of their life, what they knew their parents' generation to be, with five kids, but they made a decision. they had heard about something that came to them. there were some regions that had come ahead of them and 80 norwegians had written this document, this manifesto. it would take a lot to induce some body to leave their home, give up everything and had, sell

everything they had, know that they would never again see the people that they love, their friends, their neighbors, everyone that they would leave behind. they would never see them. and they literally sold at all and got on a ship it very small orders. they did not have much to begin with, but they bought their tickets for each of themselves and their five kids and they got on the ship. this manifesto was written by eight norwegians who had come to america and wanted other norwegians to come and join them. it said we live under a generous government in a fertile land, where freedom and equality prevail, in civil and religious affairs. without any special permission, we can enter almost any profession and make an honest living. this we consider more wonderful es, to live in a

country where you could choose to be anything you wanted to be, where you had equality and freedom and fertile land. this is what they heard about. this was that land of promise that went out to these norwegian immigrants, and the flame of imagination rose in their hearts and they decided to roll the dice and take the chance. these risktakers that came to the united states. the greatest wave of immigration was irish. the second greta's was the norwegians. they came from all over. some of your dudgeon summer italian, but all of us descended from risktakers, people that had that flame of imagination in them. they understood and they saw from a distance the land of promise that was the united states, and they decided to

shake the dice and make it happen. my forebears sold everything and went down to the dock. when they got there, one of their kids was a very tall norwegian. you would never know it was my great, great grandfather, looking at my hide, but he was 6 foot 3 inches tall. he was 11 years old, but the captain of the ship set hold on, you need to pay an adult fare for him, he is a big kid. an adult fare costs $25. the family did not have it. they were already there on the boat, sold everything, on the ship, ready to go, and the captain said he is not coming aboard. there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. this is a true story. this is the plot of our ancestors. my great, great, great grandparents said i am sorry,

son, you'll have to go and find a relative to live with back in the village. as soon as we can, we promise you we will get the money and send it to you and we will bring you to join the family. can you imagine if you were an 11-year-old boy and your parents said that to you, and off they went? he stood on the bank and the other children got on the boat. if you could have seen that boy's face, the records said he had his hands in his pockets, and he had the most pitiful, a forlorn look on his face. the family was crying and they were heartbroken and halver was on the bank, heartbroken, thinking he had to walk back to the village and find some distant relative to listen to him and hear his story. the captain looked at the parents and looked at the boy,

and finally the captain said all right, i guess the ship won't sink, so he got to go on the ship. it was just the first of so many miracles, and the ship took 13 weeks, from the time they left norway until they hit quebec was 13 weeks. then they had to take an overland routes that took many, many more weeks until they got to the mother colony in wisconsin. a norwegian met them and walked them. imagine, they got off after all this and walked 6 miles to their home. it was summertime and they had their heavy woolen clothes on. when they got to this norwegian's yard, all of them just laid flat out in the front yard, there were so exhausted.

this is our story. these are the people that came here for just a chance, the chance to write their ticket, the chance to come to this land of promise. when i think these people and the greatness of these ordinary people, they are the most extraordinary people you could ever, ever imagine. they essentially build a watertight boat and put wheels on it. they got as far as desoto in wisconsin, and they literally floated their wagon, and the cattle had to swim across the mississippi river to get to lansing. they got to lansing, iowa, and they had heard there was free land in the dakotas. so that when 300 miles on the wagon, no marked roads, just military trails at the time. they got over to the dakotas and they had the worst winter in 42

years. the next winter, or the next summer, they had the worst flood in 50 years. their third year in america, they had the very worst drought that had ever been seen in the dakotas. the fourth year, locusts came and eight everything they had. all of a sudden they remembered, iowa, that was the land of milk and honey. we are going back to iowa. so they got in their wagon, retraced the route, they got to chickasaw county -- i guess luther college was not there back then. that is where they went, and they planted their farm, and seven generations of my family ever since for their. halver, this young boy who got

on the ship, joined up with the union army when he was 15 and bought in the civil war. today when i was at the capitol here in des moines, i saw the beautiful mural of all the civil war soldiers who had gathered in front of the capital here in the morning. in a family history, there is a recording that i just heard of halver coming to the capital, and he must have been there in that picture, just to see that painting. it struck me today when we saw that painting that this, again, is our story, of these beautiful people and the sacrifice that they brought to build, not just iowa, but every state across the union. as we look around and we see this magnificent hotel and this beautiful capital city of des moines, where there is one

gleaming, shining new office building after another, one great industry after another, it is important that as we look at those buildings and admire those buildings that we recall that it is not ourselves that built them up, it is people that went before us, whose sacrifice, who built it up and who threw their labors literally felt the trees and clobber the land and picked the rocks and build the barns and did what had to be done to build up this most magnificent country that the world has ever seen. i am in love with these people, absolutely in love with these people. as much as i revere our founders, the thomas jefferson's, the benjamin franklin, and the george washington's of this country, i think is important for us to remember that the george

and john adams stood on the shoulders of the very immigrants who came here. it was the ordinary people who lived them up. it was the ordinary people of this country who made this an extraordinary nation. it took a great leap of faith for these people to come here, and they were absolutely marvelous because they did not come here for the promise of a federal handout. they did not come here for the promise of a welfare payment. they did not come here for the promise and hope of socialized medicine. they came here for the promise of america, and they came here to live in this land of limitless opportunity. the came here for the chance to write their own ticket and they came here to build a better life for me and for you.

we are the beneficiaries of their courage, and i am determined to do whatever i can to preserve the promise of america for, not only for my kids but for your kids and for the generations yet unborn. that is why i am here tonight, because it is my firm belief that america is under greater attack now from a very different foe, but under greater attack now than at any time. it is a problem of our own making. it is like a thundercloud of debt that is weighing upon our nation, that if we don't quickly turn the ship, the iceberg is straight in front of us. we can all see this icebergs and like fools, we are pointing the ship directly into it. but we can turn. it is us who can make that turn happen. do you realize, it has been 21 generations that america has

survived. we have passed the torch of liberty from one generation successfully to the next. the question we need to ask ourselves is this, will it end with us? will we be that last generation? will we be the first generation to fail to pass the torch of liberty? it doesn't seem like a very positive message, but i have to ask you, will we be the ones for whom this great experiment in human liberty will in on our watch? don't get me wrong. this nation always exist as a piece of real estate. it will be here, as europe remains a piece of real estate, but the question is, will we remain the leader in the world? will we remain the indispensable nation in the world, and will we remain as the exceptional nation of the world?

the question before us that is even bigger is, will we become just one more ordinary nation, just one more country between albanians and zimbabwe on the role of that united nations general assembly? i don't think so. i don't think you think so either. or will we take action now to ensure that we remain the exceptional nation that our parents of this country was, a covenant nation, just as the puritans were about to land in massachusetts bay, and like my grandparents in yours of this would be. the story of my family was in my mind when i came to talk to you tonight, because i did not come to just give you a speech about tax reform. i have materials to give you, the context of how great our financial situation truly is here in the united states at this point.

the fact that we gained 3/4 -- in reports of the century, we have not seen in games like we had in the house in this election. i did not even come here to give you a political speech. this current crisis we are in is far bigger than democrats and republicans. it is or bigger than an argument just about conservatives and liberals. this is a much bigger discussion. it is a single question now that hangs over our country, a question that abraham lincoln raised 150 years ago, almost to this very night, when he asked if the liberty of our country would be preserved until the latest generation. the question is this. will america endure?

i do not say it is melodramatically or to scare you or to say it lightly. tonight, i think the answer is in grave doubt. the issues of our daily discourse, things like the deficit and bankrupting america and the size and scope of government, weakening of our national security. those are elements of this momentous question and it is not raised in the halls of congress or in washington d.c., or even in the pages of the mainstream media. it does not fit the narrative of the political class, but it is the question that i hear when i am out in the streets talking to people. i think this is a question that animates iowa and minnesota and people across the country. politicians are not talking about it, but people are talking about this question. long before we ever became a republic, the moment before the first settlers arrived, this

unique idea was forged in this covenant called the mayflower compact, articulated by john winthrop. it was a compelling, moral commandment that was imposed by this covenant on ourselves as a people. it was adopted and honored by every succeeding waves of immigrants, every succeeding wave of their children, and it was the obligation of each generation to the next to bequeath to their austerity inheritance of a greater america than they had known. ask this question wherever i go across the country. do you live better than your parents did? is your standard of living better? then i ask you, what is your opinion about your children? do you believe that your

children's standard of living will be as high as the one that you enjoy right now? how many of you believe that? this is the answer that i get. very few people will raise their hand on the second question, and almost everyone will raise their hand on the first. do you realize, this is perhaps the first time in 234 years of american history that audiences answer the question that way. that is why i say there is doubt in the minds of americans that we will continue as this great, exceptional nation. abraham lincoln gave this expression when he said the latest generation that they show permit the world to know, we have a task of gratitude to our fathers, just as to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for mankind in general. that requires us faithfully to perform. for 21 generations of america,

we have listened to lincoln's words. we have faithfully performed to the next generation. when our ancestors arrived, they spoke different languages. they had different cultures, different backgrounds, different traditions, but unbelievably, they all found themselves back to this tradition, this covenant that was contained in the mayflower compact. is coveted that we republic in the declaration of independence. how unique in all of the world that one nation that was the root resting point from people, groups all across the world. did not matter the color of their skin. did not matter their language or their economic status. it did not matter whether they descended from the ability or a higher or lower class. it made no difference.

once you got here, we were all the same. isn't that remarkable? it is absolutely remarkable. out of that, before a book's unum -- e pluribus unum. we know we were not perfect. slavery was still tolerated when the nation began. we know that was an evil and it was a skirt and a blot and stain upon our history. we also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the united states. i think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly, men like john quincy adams who would not rest until

slavery was extinguished in the country. we have them to thank for that. instead of continually going back and looking at the weaknesses and the stains of america, let's look instead at the greatness of america, because we were a self correcting hundred. when you look at the united states dollar bill and you see the pyramid on the back of that dollar bill, the top of the pyramid is removed and the all seeing eye of god is above that pyramid. the founders saw that the history of the nation was not yet written. that was up to us. we were still continuing and perfecting, because this was a self correcting country. so i come here tonight again to remind us that you are that self correcting country, a new are

the most important part of what is about to happen in the united states. we took a great leap forward in this election in 2010, a great correcting step against the temptation in washington d.c. for big overriding a centralized government. we saw the passage of socialized medicine. we saw the purchase of private industries. did you ever think in your lifetime that you would see the federal government purchased the largest car companies in the united states, gm and chrysler? did you ever think you'd see the united states purchased the largest banks in america? bank of america, citibank, or c america purchased the largest secondary home mortgage companies in america, fannie mae and freddie mac. your government owns them.

the government out completely runs the student loan industry, and they took over socialized medicine. obama recently signed an executive order so he would now start implementing cap and trade, a national energy tax. this is stunning what has occurred in just two years' time. remember, we are americans. remember who we descend from. remember the greatness that belongs to all of you, because you are that self correcting power. we saw something very remarkable happened in this last election, and now is up to you to make sure we see something remarkable happened in the 2012 election. equality was what -- the most important thing they wanted, and our generation i think faces

that darkest of all questions, because the failure to honor a bleak convey the rightful inheritance to america will be no less a threat and require no less a response from all of us. the answer is not with our political figures, i want you to know that. that is what lincoln told us. it is with each one of you here in this room, and time is running out. if you look at the debt that has been accumulated from the time george washington took the presidency on his very first day until the day george bush left as president, all 43 presidents. if you take all the debt combined, all of that debt is less than the debt that was accumulated by barack obama in just one year. that is the level of debt and

spending we have engaged in. this is not hyperbole. in the second year of his presidency, we saw a debt level almost equal to that. on the books it says $1.29 trillion in debt. that does not include $200 billion that was spent on freddie in fannie. . .

that is what the government has to cash -- our labour -- in order to cash those checks. already we will have the amount going into social security, and consider at the same time that medicare is scheduled to go flat broke by 2017. six years from now medicare is scheduled to be flat broke.

we are running deficits. we are at the point where we have 60% debt to gdp ratio, increase was at 90%. i did not come here to do press you on a friday night during a snowstorm. it is one of our own making. they did not see we would be a nation that would be filled completely with an entitlement mentality. they saw this would be a nation of individual personal responsibility, and now it is

something that has changed. he said he wanted to appeal to us to bear in mind that the it is with you that decisions lie, not with office seekers, but with you during your shove the union and liberties and -- but with you. shall the union and liberties and been with, and i think that explains everything we need to know about our responsibility and now in this window of opportunity we have. we have the next election if we want to kill obamacare and and

socialized medicine, it must be done in the next election. it must be done in 2012. it will be are charged to repeal president obama and a liberal senate n put in place of old, strong, a constitutionally conservative president who understands and knows what to do and has the courage and fortitude to make it happen. this week we saw the chinese come to the united states, and it was in many people's minds as they saw the president out to the chinese president, and david -- the president bow to the

chinese president, and they wonder if the chinese are ready to measure the drapes. this is the first great question. is america to continue to be an exceptional nation. i know we are in exceptional nation. will we be an ordinary nation? will be just adjust to an inevitable decline, and ordinary america that will be no america at all, and how will we govern this nation.

will we talk about how much water they can have in their toilet, how much you have to pay for the insurance policy, and will we've been a nation where individual liberties will be surprised, or will we succumb to the instinct of a utopia? what i am believing it is i think the truth of where we are in this country, and i think that iowans in this room know what i am talking about, and others will know what it is we are all concerned about, and because underlying the struggle for the survival of america 150 years ago during the civil war is issue of slavery and the

question whether the words of all men are created equal to or realities and, and ken burns reminded us that the war was waged in 10,000 different places. americans killed other americans, and unfortunately we do not -- fortunately we do not face and arm of civil war, but we do face the question of whether our nation will live so the latest generation is equally great. it is an underlying issue, and the struggle of our time is the slavery of a different time. the media may twist what i have to say, but it is a slavery. it is a slavery that is of bondage to death and decline. that is what the slavery and tails. this is a sovereign people.

we are a sovereign people to a selected a leaked. that would be our fate, and on the eve of gun -- we are a sovereign people to the selected elite. that would be our fate. for this generation, we should lose the last best hope. other means shall succeed. this cannot fail. a way which if followed god must forever blasts. this nation has always been preserved by men and women, by the immigrants who came here and who risked everything to come to the united states and the soldiers on the battlefield.

what i spoke to you tonight is serious, but it is also not without a great hope, because my face is in the ordinary io was citizens -- faith is in ordinary iowa citizens. i love the iowa ordinary. [applause] what we have seen in recent months has been nothing more than extraordinary, whether it has been from the tea party or other groups. you have mobilized yourself. you have summoned something deep inside that you have not seen in modern times. this was absolutely unique.

this was no coordinated action like speaker pelosi said. this was not coordinated by a central elite. this was the spirit of 1776 that woke up in all of our hearts and said get up off the couch. do something. now is the time to come out. you saw this right here in iowa. this was a shot heard around the world. do not think a lot of justices around the country do what they do because of iowa. you brought -- rock.

it is through what you did that the spirit of 1776, the early io was a pioneer spirit to -- iowa pioneer spirit still lives because the blood of these incredible people still flows in our veins, these generations who sustained our country. i believe as great a task as we have before us, if we once again rely on ourselves before an almighty, wholly gone -- holy god, and if we fall on our knees and cry out too that inefficient creator that we can reignite, rejuvenate the purpose and greatness of the united states

of america, because it is in your hands. it is in your hands at this question will be decided, and do not forget it is not only politicians that are going to come through here. it is not all office seekers who will decide whether america logo on region will go on. you will be the ones to decide -- who will decide whether america will go on. you will be the ones who decide. i feel like i know you, because i was born here. i was raised here. these are my values. i trust you with that decision, but i also charged you with that decision, because you must remember it is your decision going forward in the last -- the

next 24 months, and you must answer these questions about what kind of country we can have, because we cannot look into short-term interests. this is too important. it is now our time. even the french figured this out. we have been a country for 100 years, and lady liberty held the torch. even the french figured out we were the torch for the world that lifted and now the wave of the future for greatness. we can do it again. we are the last best hope for earth, because if there is not america, to where to freedom-

loving people go? where do we go? thank you for having me. it was a thrill and an honor. thank you, everyone. [applause] thank you, everyone. [applause] >> hello, jerry, good to see you. >> did to meet you -- good to meet you. >> thank you for coming.

>> they did a republican poll for the president, and you were listed. >> isn't that funny? >> i am so glad you are here. >> thank you.

due to meet you, jason. -- good to meet you, jason. >> i am from street charles. >> the one where the tornado went through? >> good to meet you. >> thank you.

nice to see you. >> john woulod. >> hello, john. >> i am living in io one now. -- in iowa now. >> good tuesday you. -- to see you. what is your name? nice to see your. good to meet you.

>> i go to the law school. it is really nice to meet you. >> thank you for coming out. can you take a picture?

thank you so much. thank you. what is your name? >> we hear you every time you visit.

>> where is "a waterloo courier her " my brother used to deliver the paper. the reason i wanted to come is of some of the big questions about 2012. i want to talk about of a issues for 2012. some big issues need to be framed. will we remain a nation of

sovereign citizens where we make our own decisions? will we be ruled by the radical alito -- elite? we need to understand we need bold moves. >> we need a statement that says you are glad to be home. >> i am glad to be home? >> i know it is shocking, but i appear to be part of the conversation for 2012.

there has been no discussion of candidacy, but i want to be part of fat. -- to be a part of that. that is the policies, unless we repeal many of his bad pieces of legislation, i believe that will lead us to becoming a nation on the client region -- on decline. >> what is going to help you out as you make the decision?

my focus is on what we need to be talking about over the next 12 months. >> for the reference to slavery, did you want to clarify? >> i thought i was very clear. it was bondage as a nation, and we do not want to be slaves to decline. >> i wonder if you want to elaborate on what makes health care reform socialized medicine. >> ultimately we will see a collapse of the private insurance industry.

that is very important to the des moines area. if we see a collapse of the private insurance industry, that will impact the des moines area. it will mean certain job losses and greater and now costs. we have had people report they are seeing increases in private insurance of 25%, 45%. this is what obamacare is. you are getting less and paying more. the more they learn about it, the more they reject it. it was a signature issue for 2010. it will also remain a signature issue for 2012.

probably every weekend. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> sees them's road to the white house continues with remarks by the former -- sees them's road to the white house continues with remarks -- cspan remarks continue. this portion is about half an hour. >> and the folks in the back here? am i talking loud and not --

can the folks in the back hear? am i talking loud enough? i would like to get your questions and your thoughts. usually the thing that gets the most reaction is the last thing. we had a young lady who said, why are you doing it? it is those seven children and the other children. one of those people is a special need little girl who really needs a lot of care. why am i here? i am here because of what has

been happening in this country over the last few years. we have seen our basic freedoms and winnowed away and decentralize and taken by an ever increasing powerful government in washington, d.c. if you put a pot on the stove, and the frog will sit there until it is coiled to death, but if you crank it up quickly, it will jump out, and i want to thank nancy pelosi and harry reid and barack obama for turning the heat of on the stove, and a lot of folks who were watching that rise and

rise, we jumped out. i was going to say something else, but it is being recorded. if you want to know the difference between what is going on in america and the rest of the world with respect to this march toward socialism, looked at the protests. you have people in ireland and spain protesting because government is taking things away from them. in this country you have people protesting because government is trying to do too much. that is the essence of america.

you all understand that difference. you understand our dna in america is different than any place in the world, certainly from the country's from which it was founded. at the heart is this phrase -- we are endowed with certain unalienable rights. that is what makes us different than folks we see as our allies, even as people we see similar to laws, but they are not. -- similar to us, but they are not. if you think about what the founders were trying to get

across, it is revolutionary. we came from a continent where that is not true. we came from a continent where the belief was that knob gave rights through the cayman -- that god gave rights to the kenyan richard -- the king, and he spread it around. we did not believe that. we believe everyone has rights. the fund -- the foundation of everything in is the foundation in the belief of god, and that is a revolutionary concept. people came to this country over the past 200 years because of that promise of respecting the dignity of every human life,

respecting the dignity of their work and pursued and helping to build stronger families. that is the essence of our country, and it is not what went on in europe. it is no surprise to me to seen what is going on in europe. a lot of people on the left are angry. they do not understand why america is not moving the same direction as europe, why we resist socialism. what is socialism? socialism is the same as a monarchy. it is the government taking care of you, the government spreading the wealth around. in europe, they are used to that.

they are used to be taken care of. we are not, and we will not. [applause] it is that which i think has brought people out of the woodwork and brought me to be here traveling around the country to try to deliver a message that i hope it will unify this country and bring us to a point where we are willing to stand up and say, we can deal with less government, and i came to congress in 1990, somewhat of a miracle -- by any estimation, a miracle. i ran in 1990, and it was not a good election year. george bush forgot how to read

his list, and if you were a republican, you were not doing particularly well. there were a handful of seats we faked a shot. -- we picked up. he had almost $1 million keyspan. i spent $200,000. by the way, any black and gold fans out here? we got a few. i never spent -- i spent five weeks in that district, and i was frustrated, and i went out and ran, and no one gave me a chance. on election night i won the election, and i talked about how government was getting too big.

i talked about respect for the family, and i was able to beat a 14-year democratic incumbent. it was reported this man lost, but the wall street journal called the republican congressional committee in washington, d.c., who is responsible for managing the campaign, and he said, can you tell us the name of the person who beat them? they did not know, so that was on the front page of "the wall street journal." i was off the radar. that was of a blessing, because i came to washington with one thing in mind -- to do the right thing for the country, and i did. i started off with john boehner, and we formed a group.

there was a group that sought corruption in the house of representatives, and we said, we are not going to stand for this. i was told you have to have your paycheck deposited in the house bank. i said, if that is the way it is, i was 32 years old. fine, i will do that. six months later there is a report that says members of congress are writing bad checks on their bank accounts and tax payers are covering it. i thought that was outrageous. as it turned out, they ignored us.

it turned out of the report had been issued for 20 years. every 10 years they issued this report, and the same thing happened. they said, this has to end, and it went away with. we decided we were not going to let it go. eventually we found out it lead to the indictment of the chairman of the ways and means committee. here was the interesting part. it was hard to stand up for a democratic majority that had been there for years and to fight against it.

they put a huge pressure on all of us to back down, but we did not back down, because it was not the right thing to do. i had to get reelected in 1992. you cost me my seat. i just want you to know that, those people from pittsburgh spirit of we lost one congressional seat. i was put in with a 20-year incumbent. it is tough. blue-collar union, tough.

72 percent sign a democratic district. george bush got 29% of the vote when he was running for reelection, and i got 60, so i decided we do we have another a election in 1994. when i got back i got put on the ways and means committee, and it happens that no one else is interested in this issue called welfare, so i have are ranking member who dealt with welfare reform, so i ended up drafting an overhaul of the welfare system that turned out to be included in the contract. i got reelected and did this, and in 1994, i decided to run for the senate against the

democratic incumbent who had just beaten dick thornburgh and beat him badly. nobody thought he could be beaten. i decided i am going to take on the incumbent senator. all of the mix of two were open seats. i defeated a democratic incumbent again. i defeated a democratic incumbent to win the house and the senate. i am pretty good at defeating democratic incumbents. [applause] i came to the united states senate, and we reform again. the first thing we did was put

term limits on our leaders. we did all sorts of changes to make congress accountable, and i led the fight in the senate at the end of my first year in office to reform the welfare system, and for a year i worked with the clinton administration, and we were able to draft a compromise to do something that will never be done, which is to end entitlement. we passed with 70 votes. we ended entitlement end the almost half to join us. did we compromise, yes, but not on principle. unless we are going to deal with a huge problem of federal entitlement confronting this country, we are not going to get

the government under control. we are not going to get our deficit under control, and i went on air force one with bill clinton, and i was talking about how we have to reform social security. i come from the state with the second oldest per capita of population of seniors. florida first, and pennsylvania is second. r.o.a. say that we rely on social security -- i always say that we rely on social security more because the rich ones move to florida. here i was, out running around the country talking about changing the system.

something about a blue dress came in as the social security reform. i kept saying, go back and look at my speeches. i kept saying there is one states that will change everything, and unless we -- 1 date that will change everything, and unless we meet this date, we will have to raise spending or cut benefits. we have to get it done by that date. you know what date i kept talking about? january, 2011. i said by that time is over. ahfirst we have to repeal

obamacare. it is not going to pass in the senate. it will not pass with now is president. we have to ally of republican president in 2012 and republican senators so we can get that done. we have to do something about medicaid and medicare. if there are questions on that, i will take them, but i want to conclude by saying, i am

optimistic about america. it is not going to happen. we sought in the last election, and i believe we will see again. you folks here have a disproportionate impact, because you have to be the first in the primary states in the 2012 presidential election, so you are going to see lots of folks talking about what you are going to do, and it is up to you. i do not think there is a republican who has not won in the district during your -- in the district.

you folks have a huge impact. you are the human resources department, ananda -- and i know you take that responsibility seriously, but please do. it is an opportunity you have to do something great for your country. i know there are some military folks, and you faith to serve your country you have to put on a military uniform. -- and you think to serve your country you have to put a military uniform. no, you do not. our country is at a crossroads. i am confident we will be successful, because i believe in you, but it will not happen unless we take that responsibility seriously. the bottom line expenses -- is that they believe they are

smarter than everyone else. they believe they can tell everyone how to live their lives, held of of the educational system is going to look like, with the financial services -- what the financial services system is going to look like, because out in washington they are smart and we are not that smart. our founders did not look at it that way, and they are in many respects more aristocratic. they believe did you. -- they believe in you. the belief of people who can do amazing things. one thing you need to remember about how exceptional america is. the average life expectancy in 1776 was roughly as it was a time of jesus christ. there have been developments and changes, but nothing much

happened because how people were rules. they were not freed. one of freedom was given to people, once their inherent dignity was recognized, life expectancy has doubled -- not just here, but in other places around the world. that is not just because that is what technology was and it would happen anywhere. really? did it happen in the muslim world? it did not. did it happen in communist countries? it is not. it happened because of us. this is they give your parents gave you. -- this is the gift your parents gave you. it is at risk.

i pray you do what they did in and stand up and leaves america at least as great. i am happy to take questions. >> new hampshire held a republican presidential straw poll. a look now from "washington journal." joining on the phone by dr. james kimball. let's begin with some of the news in state party politics. you are quoted by saying for years, two families dominated politics. that changed over the weekend. guest: judge greg retired from

the u.s. senate. he is argue nlly the most success fum judge in new hampshire. beginning in 1996. went went to the senate in 1992. for now we are finishing a of finis

person. he was really outraged by some of the spending barack obama had done in his first few months in

office. s in office. he began to put his first political act putting anti-obama messages on his business's sign saying something about bail outs. started some tea party groups and ran for governor. he received about 30% of the vote in a republican primary. we had a con tenuous u.s. senate race. he is solidly conservative. sometimes, he puts his foot in

his mouth. he compared paying taxes to rape for example. he has brought a lot of energy to the table. there were over 400 people out of 500 state committee members. a national story that came out, if you mentioned the committee members, and the former

massachusetts gov. mitt romney getting 35% of the vote. coming in second is ron paul. number four is tim pawlenty. michelle bachman is fifth. mitt romney is 35%. he is romney did announce he will run for president later in the spring. the primary is a year away. a number of these candidates, we knew everybody running for

president. now we have a situation where maybe a handful of candidates have staffers on the ground. romney is not a new hampshire residence. he is technically a resident of massachusetts. he had the expectations he had to do fairly well. i think he met those with a clear victory. a fuad of those numbers, you get to 35 -- if you add up those

numbers, you get to 35%. >> michelle bachman will be delivering the response following the state of the union address. let's listen to what she said when supporters question her to whether she would run next year. whether she'll run next year. >> i know it is shocking that when a girl goes to iowa but i'm here to be a part of that conversation for 2012. there's been no decision but i want to be a part of the conversation. michelle bachmann on friday in iowa.

we have seen so much energy. activists are ready to go. there were well over 200 people who attended this party. people are ready to get this

process going. >> previewing the >> monday, a look at president obama's recent executive order to restore balance to legislation. also, a look at u.s.-china relations with the undersecretary for international trade. later looked at the aging of the u.s. population. that is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. tuesday, president obama delivers his state of the union address to a joint session of

congress. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern followed by the president's speech at 9:00 and then the response from paul ryan of wisconsin. plus your phone calls and reactions. you can also watch the president's address on c-span 2. >> coming up next it is "q&a" and then british prime minister david cameron appears at question time in parliament. then it is road to the white house featuring michele bachmann and rick santorum at an event in south carolina.