and we cannot thank him enough for helping to move the democratic party into the win column once and again. thank you. let's hear it for him. since becoming the dnc chair, i have traveled to 23 states in a little over five months. my friends, let me tell you, there is no place like home, and it is great to be here at home in the sunshine state with friends and supporters and all of you. tonight is a special. it is truly an honor to have vice-president biden with us. he has been alongside president obama, helping to move our nation for, reforms to help the middle class and small businesses, and getting our country back on track. vice-president biden is no johnny-come-lately in his quest to make this country and the world a better place. throughout his 40 plus years of

extraordinary public service, he has been and continues to be a problem solver, a decision maker, and a tireless fighter for middle-class families in the united states of america. we are just so thrilled to have him here tonight, and let me share with you how particularly thrilled on him. i was a young girl at the university of florida in 1988 when i signed up for the joe biden for president campaign, and we worked at the university of florida campus, and i am so proud to be here working for the united states of america, making sure that barack obama and joe biden go back to the white house in the direction that we want the country to go. vice-president biden, thank you for your service on behalf of the president and all americans. my fellow fellow democrats. we have got work to do over the next 12 months. do we not?

in 2012, first and foremost, we need to send president obama and vice president by then back to the white house for a second term to make sure that we continue to move forward. we also need to make sure that we allow it to the united states senate, senator nelson, a proven leader for working families here in florida and a credible voice for many seniors, from consumer protection, senator nelson has been there for us, and we need to be there for him. are you with me, florida democrats? and with the passage, we need to make sure that we take control back from rex scott and his cronies by electing democrats from pensacola to key west in our state legislature, in congress, and up and down the ballot. we can do it, and we can do it with your hard work. there is no other option.

my fellow floridians, and democrats are fighting for and republicans are fighting for has been made clear. republicans have voted twice in unison to block all or part of the american jobs at, the president's plan to put americans back to work immediately and put money in the pockets of those already working. these were efforts that previously received bipartisan support. i know that seems born these days. but tax relief for middle-class families and keeping teachers and firefighters on the streets and helping to rebuild our bridges and our roads. one thing that should make it easy to pass, the president's plan is fully paid for. phillippe played for -- paid for, unlike what the republicans want to do, which is spending our economy into oblivion rather than pay what we were doing. economists from across the spectrum, like the former

economic adviser to john mccain, has concluded it would create as many as 1.9 million jobs. so let's take a little closer look at what this plan would do for floridian families. it cuts taxes. something president obama has done 17 times before for small businesses. 17 times. we need to shout back from the rooftop. in addition to a middle-class tax relief in the forms of a holiday that we passed last year, year in florida, the american jobs at would create tens of thousands of jobs. this involved modernizing schools throughout our state. president obama has a jobs plan that would extend unemployment insurance koran for americans as they work to get back on their feet as well as give companies tax breaks if they hire the long-term unemployed and the veterans. but republicans have blocked all of this. they propose a so-called alternative plan, but analysts

agree the republican plan will do nothing to provide relief to the middle class or create jobs. in fact, according to moody's, it would actually worsen the economic outlook. but nothing has exemplified the contract between democrats and republicans more than mitt romney during the last two debates. at the new hampshire debate, mitt romney called an extension of tax cuts to the middle class little band-aid that he would allow to expire. do you remember that? these tax cuts mean a typical florida family would keep $1,400.30 dollars -- $1,430. does that seem like a band-aid to you? the multimillionaire like mitt romney does not think that is a lot for working americans. he does not understand that $1,430 is months of grocery store gasoline, so in his own economic proposal, mitt romney

would cut taxes for the richest and corporations but knew nothing for the middle americans. as if that were not enough, mitt romney also said that allowing foreclosures to run their course by cutting off help for americans facing the loss of their homes and allowing the inventory of foreclosed homes to be reduced faster, to read them out. the reckless approach of mitt romney treats the homes of honest working americans let nothing more than monopoly pieces. he wants to reform wall street and let bankers write their own rules again. do you hear that? is that what we want? >> no. >> and he wants to provide the wealthiest americans more tax breaks, all while telling other americans that they are on their own. the point is that this is unacceptable. i am counting on you, florida democrats, to tell the truth

about these harmful proposals. as the president announced this week, we cannot wait. we cannot wait for republicans to get off of the dime and create jobs now. we have the responsibility to the american people to help them get back to work now and get back on their feet. they simply cannot wait, and let me be clear on this point. president obama is looking to create jobs. he has accomplished so much in his time in office, and we need to sing this from the rooftops. we need to tell every floridian and everyone about this incredible accomplishment, the best record of accomplishment in decades. he prevented the economy from going over a cliff. because of the president's leadership, we have added 2.6 million jobs over the last 19 months. he signed into law historic

health care reform, working to help those with pre-existing coverage -- pre-existing conditions get coverage. this is pretty important year in florida, would you say? he has brought nearly 100,000 troops home from iraq. thank you. thank him. and as the president announced, this year, all of our servicemen and women will be home with their families, and the war in iraq will finally end. finally. this is a vote that i was very proud to cast. he put an end to a discriminatory policy known as do not ask, do not tell. that is part of history thanks to barack obama. he fought hard to ensure that we kept our promise to american veterans so that we provide for our troops not just in the battlefield but also after they have returned home.

and, ladies, he has enacted a pay act to help women get the equal pay that we deserve and put some teeth behind it so we can make sure that we can hold employers who do not treat us fairly their feet to the fire. i am not saying that republicans do not have a jobs agenda. it is that their focus is on just one job. barack obama's. democrats care about american jobs. over the years, we have seen smear campaign after smear campaign, supporting false attacks on democrats. president obama has taken the easy road and may be avoided some of these, but that is not what leaders do. he made decisions that were hard but right. if there are some folks who want to play politics, there are some who would like to wait until the 2012 elections. as the president said, the next

election is one year away. i say that we need to take down these roadblocks and get this done. if you do not, we will do it without you. florida democrats, we did our job in 2008. we delivered florida, and it was a great drink -- a great victory, but our job is not complete. the jobs are not created overnight, and things will not be solved overnight. a barack obama second term. does that sound good? it sounds good to me. we need to find ways to get americans to have jobs that paid the bills and get them ahead,

fight global climate change. we need to keep rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our public schools, and implementing health care reform, but that is the question before us today. will we do these things? will we? of course we will, but we need to fight hard all of the way until november 6, 2012. over the next year, we're going to have a debate between competing political parties, but more than this, we're going to have a debate between competing parties. let me tell you what my priorities are. as a mother, i believe the child needs an education more than a million there needs a tax break. as the representative for many retired americans living here in the beautiful sunshine state, i believe that protecting medicare for seniors is more important than protecting subsidies for corporate jets. as a wife, a neighbor, and a

friend, i believe our government's message to the middle class should be we are on your side and not you are on your own. thank you. these are my priorities. these are the president's priorities. they are vice-president biden is priorities, and they are senator nelson's priorities. it has everything to do with who we are as people. now, every day, you hear republicans argue that in tough times, we simply cannot afford to invest in these priorities, but we are here because we know the truth. we cannot afford not to. we are democrats because we believe that in the face of adversity, it is america's job to lead the way, and to those who say we cannot afford to be optimistic, for those who say it is our job to settle for second place, we say this. americans do not settle. floridians do not settle.

americans do not quit, and floridians do not quit, and as long as president obama is in the white house, their government will not quit on them. now, i do not know about you, but these seem like common-sense principles to me, nothing radical year. my fellow democrats, over the next year, there will be ups, and there will be down. there will be days when it seems that we cannot do anything wrong and days when it seems we cannot do anything right, but here is my promise to you. no one is going to outwork us. no one. now, i cannot keep that promise by myself. i need you to help me keep it. we need you to work harder than ever before. now is the time to roll up your sleeves, knock on those doors, deep deeper -- dig deeper into your pockets than you thought you could. make sure that you hold floridians on your shoulders and carried them on the street.

go door-to-door, neighbor to neighbor, to talk about the direction we could go if we continue on the path that barack obama and joe biden have taken us. the past that gives them a chance to succeed, or we can go backwards, to the day when corporate america was allowed to write their own rules, when it was keeping the wind at the backs of the wealthy at the cost of the average americans. do you want to go back there? do you remember 2008 on election night? i remember the incredible feeling i had. it was a historic, historic election. well, 2008 was historic. we will finish what we started in 2008, and we will take florida and america in a new and better direction. florida democrats, we need you. the president and vice pres and needy. bill nelson needs you, and and i need you to keep america blue

once again. it will not be democrats will lead to victory, because every american will win. in 2008, that election that was historic, but if you do not want to go backward, if you want to make sure we move forward and give everyone a fair chance and make sure that the next generation of your children and my children have a fair shot at the american dream, remember 2008 as historic, but let's make 2008 personal. it is personal. on, on, on to victory in 2012. thank you, florida democrats. [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome senator bill nelson, dr. jill biden, and the vice president of the united states, joe biden. ♪ [cheers and applause] . >> good evening, democrats. you remember that an election is like driving the car. you want to go forward, you put it in d, you want to go backwards, you put it in r. we want everyone to sit down and enjoy yourselves.

we have a distinguished guest here, and i just want to thank all of you for the great privilege that you have given to grace and me of years of public service, and ladies and gentlemen, i am ready for the fight again. and, of course, we have got lots to fight about. all you have to look at is what the state of florida is trying to do to restrict our ability to vote, to register to vote, and to have our vote counted as intended, and you would think in a state like ours, with what we went through in the 2000 presidential election, and what the legislature did after the in making it easier to vote and easier to register to vote and to have your vote counted that instead in america in the year 2011 that we would be going the

other way, and it is happening not here, but 13 other states, as well. florida is the worst in putting out voter suppression. all right. i am here because of these two great people. now, dr. jill biden was going to introduce her husband, but she has laryngitis. so let me just tell you about dr. jill biden. she was in delaware today, kicking off her campaign for awareness of women's breast cancer. she and the first lady have been at the point of this be your -- of the spear helping those

deployed in afghanistan, the bonds on the ground, and listen to that. mom and dad were with them, she was helping take care of his elderly parents at the same time while raising three boys and while at the same time getting two master's degrees and a phd. i would say the vice president and i have something in common. we married above ourselves. all right. since jill cannot introduce her husband, all i have to say is one of the best senators to ever come out of the united states senate, one of the true great american patriots, i think arguably the best vice president

of the united states, ladies and gentlemen, joe biden, the vice president of the united states. >> bill, thank you very much. thank you all very, very much. folks, please, have a seat. you have no idea how disappointed i am jill did not introduce me. it is the only time she is required to say something nice about me. every husband likes to have that said. ladies and gentlemen, i am truly delighted to be here tonight. you are going to be seeing an awful lot of me, because the states i am going to be in it includes iowa, new hampshire, pennsylvania, and i will be here a lot. we plan on winning, florida. we cannot win without florida,

and we cannot win without bill nelson in florida. but you cannot mention bill without mentioning grace, literally, and, ladies and gentlemen, they have become two of the best friends for jill and me in our koran in the senate and now. no one works harder for us this last time around than bill and grace, and as a man from mississippi told me once when i was running for reelection in 1978, he said, joe, what will jim do for you? " i said in some places you help, and in some places you hurt. and he said, "well, i will come and campaign in florida for you for you or against you, whichever that helps."

and debbi is doing an amazing job, by the way. an amazing job. i have loved her for a long time, although she said she'd thought i was doing that to be president back in those days. not only 23 states, but she has raised money, raised awareness, raised volunteers, and raised our prospects and every one of those states, so thank you, debbie. look, folks. the fact of the matter is, i do not need to remind you of the catastrophe we inherited an america inherited after eight years of the last administration. when barack obama is and i were sworn in on that bitterly cold day in january, i looked out at nearly 1 million people standing on the national mall. you could sense their sense of

hope and faith and expectation. it was an incredible sight. but there was something else, something else in the faces of those million people. there was concern, uncertainty, and in some cases even fear. practically before i lowered my head on january 20, by that time, that month, we had already lost 740,000 jobs, it just that month. that quarter, our economy shrunk to almost historical lows, 6.4% the loss in our gdp. before barack obama is and i sat down at desks, we had already inherited a bill for one trillion $300 million, and a projected deficit of $8 trillion over the next 10.

middle-class americans lost 16 trillion dollars in household wealth. it vanished without a trace. as you know, better than almost any state come in here in florida, the equity in people's houses evaporated before their eyes. retirement funds, as the market was talking about going below 600, that also evaporated, and with it, all of the wealth that they had. and with it, their hopes and expectations for how they would and could retire, their ability to send their children to school, their security. this is what i find it a little bizarre, republicans talking about deficits.

it is like an arsonist talking about fire safety. these guys have 0 credibility, 0 credibility. their vision of economic policy and their plan for prosperity lay in creating financial instruments. credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, and they gave us a bubble, and they called it an economy. ladies and gentlemen, in addition, we inherited a foreign policy that was in disarray. we have lost the respect of our allies and the fear of our enemies. nearly one decade into two wars, 180,000 americans deployed in harm's way, 150,000 alone in iraq. osama bin laden remained at large and continue to plot new attacks on americans. in short, we were a nation

isolated in the world and on the verge literally of depression. america was in trouble, and the folks we represent needed help. and they did not understand. my dad, who met bill and grace met, had an expression. "i do not expect the government to solve my problems, but at least i expect my government to understand my problems, and as the son of a proud man, a proud man in the middle of is like to be denied a loan to send his children to college, the son of a proud man this family moved to a different city to find work with the hope that he would be able to bring his family together later. you know, the longest what any parent can make is up a short

flight of stairs to a child's bedroom to say, "honey, i am sorry, but dad has got to leave. my dad made that what in scranton, pa., when i was going into fourth grade. he said, joey, there is no jobs here. you're going to have to stay with your grandpa. you and mom. jimmy and bell. i have to move to wilmington with all of frank, and i will try to come home every weekend. it is only 156 miles, joey. i thought it was 1000. it could have been for all i knew. but he said, "i promise you. when i get a nice job and enough money, i am going to bring you and the kids and mom down to wilmington. it was not until i got to be probably in my late 20s and understood that that proud,

agrees on man had even a longer walk to make, into my grandfather's pantry to say, "wow i need a favor. can you keeper and the kids? i promise i will make up. i promise it will be ok." that is a hard thing for any man or woman to have to say. think of how many floridians you know who have had to make that walk. think of how many have lost their homes, lost their jobs, and lost their self-respect. my dad used to say, joe, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. it is about your dignity. it is about your respect. your respect in the community.

and barack obama is and i, when we ran in 2008, we knew that it was our job to not only restore the economy but even more importantly to restore people's dignity and regain their respect. these republicans talk about job losses like a statistic. ladies and gentlemen, an awful lot of our friends have been knocked down. it is a consequence of the failed policies that are being peddled again. barack obama is and i knew in order to avoid literally, not figure to be, another depression, we had to stabilize the financial markets, unfreeze credit, it get banks lending again to businesses so they could meet payroll, give people a fighting chance to begin to

refinance. we knew that if the automotive industry collapsed, as it was on the verge of doing, not reorganizing but liquidating, we knew in spite of what mitt romney and others said at the time, that we would so we told the industry, shape up. reorganize. if you do, we will help you. not popular. we also knew that we needed to restore wall street to its proper and critically important role of allocating capital to businesses and industries that could be used most efficiently. we knew we had to get the deficit under control and deal with the single biggest driver of the deficit -- health care

costs. and ladies and gentlemen -- [applause] we knew we had to restore protections for workers and unions. yes, unions. they build a middle-class. so we sent them in. made them take off their black shirts and put on stripe shirts and the referees again like they were supposed to be. and, folks, results are clear. instead of hemorrhaging 6.5 million jobs in the year before we got our program in place, million jobs.2 19 consecutive months of private sector growth. not enough. instead of losing 1 million jobs

permanently, we have added in the last year 111,000 auto jobs. gm and chrysler are healthy and paying off the government. the american people for the first time in 23 years and thinks american makes better cars than foreign cars. [applause] in a study, instead of being able to continue to repackage toxic debt and selling it to unsuspecting investors, wall street is required to be transparent. ladies and on and, i love these guys that talk about capitalism as if they are for it and it we are against it. -- ladies center atom. the entire system is based upon transparency and sunlight, especially when it comes to wall street is the best disinfectant and the best cure.

and ladies and gentlemen, instead of long-term debt increasing by $100 billion over the next 10 years because of health care costs and $1 trillion in the second decade, we pass health care reform and bend the cost curve. and in the process, provided 30 million americans that did not have access to health care health care. folks, as debbie said, in in the process, with the leadership of bill nelson and debbie, we eliminated "don't ask, don't tell". we passed the lilli ledbetter act. we cut private banks. saving taxpayers $60 billion in student loans. that is some of what we did it at home. but beyond our borders, as

president obama said last week, the tide of war is receding. instead of having 150,000 troops tied down in iraq, when we got elected president obama assigned me iraq -- literally, not figuratively. and folks, we said, "get us home." by this christmas, 150,000 americans will be of iraq and we will have ended this war in iraq. [applause] and in the process, left behind a democratic government with the chance of serving as people. and maybe the most important thing president obama did was refocus our eyes and our power on the prize -- osama bin laden. [applause]

instead of being a war that the last administration ignored and we are now focused and succeeding. we have eviscerated al qaeda. osama bin laden is dead. 34 top al qaeda leaders are gone, including numbertwo, and including anwar alaqui, the cleric that was planning these attacks. instead of going it alone and libya, we had a president finally there was strong enough to consult and engage our allies. [applause] as a consequence, gaddafi is dead, libya is free, and not one american soldier lost their life. literallywe've

ortored americans'''s image around the world and put our economy on the path to recovery. but the only way i can describe what happened next is a republican obstructionism. i have served in the senate along time. over my career, i have as many friends in the republican party as the democratic party. i can say without fear of contradiction, no republican in the senate ever doubted my word and there was no one i was unable to work with. but ladies and gentlemen, this is not your father's republican party. this is a different deal. just as we are turning the corner on the economy, these guys started playing roulette with the national debt, playing brinkmanship. they took charge of the house. they did not want to stop what

we were doing. they wanted to undo everything we had done. some people think this republican obstructionism is about ideology. other people think it is about politics. i will leave that for the american people to decide, but i know one thing -- it does not matter which is. they're standing in the way of progress. [applause] folks, as a student of history like many of you, back in the 1940's when fdr was facing a time of economic crisis with the specter of war on the horizon, he found almost every one of his legislative efforts including the new deal were being stopped by a republican congress led by bruce barton from new york, joseph martin from massachusetts, and hamilton fitch. so when roosevelt talked about everything he tried to do,

everything was stopped, he will list what he called "a beautiful rhythm of opposition -- martin, barton, and fisher." today, i can say there remains a beautiful rhythm of opposition -- boehner, cantor, and mic tchell. they assert, and i suspect they believe, that the reason banks are not lending and they are flush, and businesses are not expanding, notwithstanding the fact corporate america has $2 trillion in capital they could spend, they think it is because they are not spending and lending. they say because of regulations, because of taxes on the wealthy, and because of uncertainty of health care reform. so their answers should not surprise you. they think we should once again the regulate wall street, put

the cowboys back and settled, -- put the cowboys back in the saddle. if you did not know better, you would think i was making this up. they not only think we should actually keep the bush tax cuts that are designed to expire for the top 1%. but they believe we should increase the tax cuts for the wealthiest. they believe the answer to the deficit is to repeal health care. without realizing or acknowledging that will increase the debt by $100 billion by 200022, 2021, and another $1 trillion after that. and in the process, eliminate insurance for 30 million people need it. boehnor, cantor, and mitch.

listen to what they said. this is important. speaker john boehner as a friend of mine. i personally like him. i get on with him, as most of my colleagues can tell you. he said, our efforts to relate the financial industry nand hold wall street accountable was like using a nuclear weapon to kill an ant. i pointed out to him that that ant took 8 million jobs. speaker boehner, speaking to the economic club of washington d.c. in an extensive and well ordered speech said "we need to liberate our economy from the shackles of government has placed upon it." folks, the last time we liberated the economy we put the middle class in chains. leader cantor, he said, we

cannot respond to natural disasters unless we make sure if there are savings elsewhere. and guess where they find the savings? health care for the middle class, college affordability, renewable energy. and, my friend mitch mcconneel ll said, the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. this isit's not just -- serious stuff. it is not just them. it's ryan, romney, and rick. they are all singing from the same hymnal as they say and southern delaware. social security, a ponzi scheme, a monstrous lie to this generation. i might be repeating as 6000

times in florida. medicare "the equivalent of getting taken for a ride." voucherize it. foreclosures. you just heard mitt romney. he said, do not try to stop the foreclosure process. let it run its course and hit the bottom. raised in in my neighborhood. i think they just do not know the people i grew up with. i think they just do not know what the american people are going through. and the guy you know well, governor scott -- [crowd boos] deep cuts in education, voters suppressant, ariz.-style immigration law, no to $2.4

billion for high-speed rail. and what your governor is doing here is what republicans want to do for the entire nation. and that is not hyperbole, not a joke. and on foreign policy, they want to stay in iraq. is that kind of fascinating? listen to them now. their so-called foreign policy experts. they want to stay in iraq. and one of them, the governor of texas, seems willing to send american military troops across the mexican border. into sovereign state of mexico to deal with their problem. folks, i know this election is not going to be about foreign policy, but let me remind you -- there is a minimum threshold any man or woman has to cross on the mastery of national security

and foreign policy for the american people to think they are even remotely eligible to be president, and these guys have a long way to go to pass that threshold. [applause] my father know, always used to say, it never hurts to be a big man. does not take much. yet, every republican candidate for president, after gaddafi was killed, congratulated nato and did not mention the u.s. commitment or u.s. forces. flksolks, even though this missn could not have been possible without the american aircraft, american coordination, american intelligence, many folks, including your junior senator, took the time to congratulate the french and british forces while he criticized the

president of the united states of america. this is not your father's republican party. this is a different place, folks. folks, this next election is not a referendum. it is a choice. and we are going to make that choice clear. when i got elected as a 29-year- old kit to the senate, shortly after i was elected in 1973, sworn in, and my great friend -- he'd become one of my closest friends, teddy kennedy -- invited me as a 31-year-old kid to address the massachusetts democratic dinner in boston. i will never forget, i was in the hotel getting ready and nervous about speaking in front of senator kennedy and the first big major dinner i did as a senator. and i was putting on my itetie, and i was watching the evening

news in boston. ayor who gots a mere wh elected in 1970. he was having a little trouble. he was up for reelection. as he walked out of the office, a big oppressed grabbed him and said, you are not doing so well now. i will never forget what he said. he put his hand up. and i did not know him. he said, look, do not compare me to the almighty. compare me to the alternative. ladies and gentlemen, and they will have to compare us to the alternative. so, folks, in the face of this republican can obstructionism, i have a reporter saying, why do not sit down with them? we sat down with them for two

years. they cannot deliver their own party. so we decided we cannot wait. american people cannot wait. they cannot continue to be subjected to what they're doing. so what do we do? we introduced the jobs bill. almost every independent delegator acknowledges would create 2 million jobs, generate economic growth by 2%, keep 400,000 teachers, cops, firefighters on the job this year. as debbie said, it would cut taxes for 94% of american workers by $1,500. that is four months of grocers and six months of gas. in the neighborhood i was raised in, that matters. [applause] but the president and i have

reached a conclusion about their obstructionism. we have to try to go over their heads. we have to go to the people. we cannot wait. the american people cannot wait. we cannot wait to address the president so issued an executive order to give 1 million folks a chance to refinance their homes from 6% to 4%, saving $2,000 a year. in my neighborhood, that is real money. we cannot wait to address the affordability of college. the president announced he is going to let college graduates cap their loan payments and 10% of their income. that can help a lot of people that are being crushed right now by the weight of their student loans. we cannot wait to innovate. new companies and incubate them. that is why we announced today

we are speeding up the process of getting are in out of the federal labs into the hands of businesses that can commercialize them. we cannot wait. and we are not waiting, because at the end of the day, it is about dignity and respect. ladies and gentlemen, it is about restoring the middle class. they have been clobbered. it is about putting mothers and fathers and the neighborhood we got up and once again in the position of being able to look into their child siz's eyes and believe what they say when they say, honey, if you work hard and play by the rules and get a good education, there is nothing, nothing you cannot do. they doubt it now. it's simple. it's simple. the tests we apply. we will mr. 8 years of our efforts -- we will measure a

years of our effort in terms of whether or not moms and dads can turn to their kids and say, honey, it will be ok. that is why we will not relent. that is why we will not relent. that is why we believe the american people are going to return us to office in 2012. [laughter] [applause] [applause] folks, when i began this speech, i talked about the longest walk. replace themned to walk with a different kind of journey, a journey that restores a father's dignity by allowing him to send his talented daughter to college knowing she will not have to spend the rest of her life paying for education. a journey that allows a woman to take a job where she will be paid the same salary as a man for the same work, and a salary that will allow her to support

her family. folks, we set america on a different path, and you journey, one that our friends on the other team are trying to obstruct, one that allows us to lead the world and the 21st century as we did in the 20th. where we are once again a nation of innovators, educators, and builders. the policies of the last administration and the obstruction of this republican congress h aave knocked a lot of people off their feet. it is long past time we get back up, that we reclaim what every american thought was their birthright -- the american dream. that if you give them a chance, there is nothing that they're incapable of accomplishing. there is only one way we can do that. that is to do it together and to

make sure that we win. because, folks, the choice is stark and clear. i am not exaggerating when i say, and i have said this -- i was accused of bringing up bush. i respect president bush as a man. i thought his policies were terrible. but ladies and gentleman, name me one major initiative on taxes , on jobs, on wall street, on foreclosures, on promoting innovation, on infrastructure, the republicans offered that is any different at all from what was done the 8 years when they controlled the presidency. i cannot find one. folks, when i got elected in 1972, i was described as an

optimist, even an idealist. but i was neither. i was a realistic young man, as i am an older man now. my optimism then and now is not based on naivete. it is based on my knowledge and your knowledge of the history of the journey of the american people. we americans know -- we do not have to accept a situation we cannot bear. we literally have it within ourselves to determine our own fate. we have done it in the depression, after the civil war, we have done it throughout our life as a nation. so, folks, today i look at all of you and say, i am more optimistic today. i am more certain about america's future then i have ever been in my life we are

better positioned as a nation at relative to the world to capture the 21st century. i just spent 10 days in the far east. president hu and president barack obama asked the new incoming president to get to know one another. we spent four days traveling their country. people thought when i went in august, i would explain america's situation. i did not go to explain a thing. i pointed out how we hope they continue to succeed, because stability is important, but i reminded them their economy is 1/3 as large as ours. than 1% of thess financial instruments of the united states of america. ladies and gentlemen, it took them 20 years to get 30% -- 30 years to get 20% of their population out of poverty.

they have no safety net because of the board policy of one child -- the abhorent policy of one child. ladies and gentlemen, remember who we are. we were then, we are now, and we are in a better position than any nation in the world to dominate the 21st century economically. there is a reason why. in the midst of crisis, every nation continues to invest in u.s. treasuries. why? we're the most secure, the most certain, and the most capable nation in the world. so it's time to stand up. it is time to fight back. it is time to reclaim our heritage. it is time, and we are ready. we are looking for this fight. the future of our country depends on it.

so, folks, and joining us. join us, and we will deliver. thank you, all and god bless you. and most of all, may god protect our troops. thank you. stand up! ♪ ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] ♪ >> move on up towards your destination ♪ >> next, a conversation with republican presidential candidate buddy roemer. he was a guest on today's "washington journal". this is 25 minutes.

ack to c-span 2012 republican presidential candidate buddy roemer. another debate next week this one sponsored by cnbc in detroit focus on the economy and corporations. you are not part of the debate. you have not been part of any of these debates. why? guest: the only common thread on all nine debates so far is my absence. i don't know. at first the rules were -- and the rules are set by ch debate sponsor. and they change over time. the first three debates you had to be a formally announced candidate. i was not so i understood my lack of inclusion. the next they debates you had to have -- the next three debates you had to have 1% in five national polls. i had just announced, i had been out of politics 16 years and i was not well known. i didn'take the 1% cut. in the last that debates, or the

next two, you had to be at 2%. i hit 1% and you had to be at 2%. now that i'm at 2% the last debate had a new rule. here it is. you had to have raised $500,000 in the last 90 days. i had raised half at. i don't take big checks. money. take pac money is my somewhat. and that ruleprung up at the last second and i was excluded again. look, the debates can be a character tour. they are convoluted. sometimes they are not very good. but when you are running with small contributions and you are trying to get known in america, these debates are critical to a candidate like me. to be excluded time after time when you are the only person who has been a congressman and governor, when you chaenge corruption in your home state and helped clean it up, which is the same problem in washingn

now, i'm very frustrated by it. host: we will get to calls quickly and you can send us an e-mail or join us online at twitter.com/c-sp twitter.com/cspanwj. if you are on the stage with herman cain or rick perry or mitt romney, what is the biggest issue that divides you and the other candidates who are in the to they -- three positions? guest: money and politics. having ban - havin been a former congressman and governor it can't be done if the political leadership is owned by special interests. and my question and the reason i got in this race is the fact that i will not accept the special interest checks. i think that they own washington, d.c. four years ago in the presidential election, lobbyists and pacs in washington, d.c.

gave more money to the two presidential candidates than 32 states combined. no matter what issue you look at, steve, in america -- jobs, tprpl policy -- farm policy, addiction to oil, lack of energy independence -- you can look at the connection 2010 special interest money and lack of action in washington. so, if i were on the stage i ask, where do you get your money? what are your limits? and do you fully disclose everything you receive? they don't want to hear that question. host: let me ask you to react to two things. george will a conservative writes it has come to this. in romney republicans have a michael dukakis. guest: you are a dangerous man.

george always has a good opinion. well, i'm different. i would stand up to china. i think unfair trade is killing us. if jobs are in a big bucket and we need 10 million more, how are we going to do that if there is a hole in the bucket and china is stealing the jobs? mitt romney, i want to defend him, me than all t other candidates at least talks about trying to do something. it is not enough and he is weak and he is late. he seems like a decen guy but i don't think that is the best candidate. we can do better. host: why is he not the best candidate? guest: two reasons. one, he is hooked on the money. he's had two super pacs formed on his behalf run by former chief of staff or people that worked for him or were partners in his business. he has received checks of up to $1 million undisclosed.

we need a leader free to lead. we need somebody to stand up for the working people of this country. we need somebody who understands small business. i have seen no evidence tha the candidates do that in any specificity. you need to be specific on where you get your money. it is my belief that the next president has a tremendously daunting task to rebuild america, not afghanistan, america. and that the way you do it is with several million small donations from plain and decent people. theodore roosevelt said it 100 years ago this month. party d the republican ar you going to the party of privilege and wall street, or the party of plain people? and today that measurement is the contributions. these guys, all of them, get

their money from super pac's and special interests and big checks. i say no. host: how many people have contributed to your campaign thus far? guest: thousands. we have raised about a quarter million dollars from across america. all 50 states. louisiana is my best state. that is where i'm known. california is second, texas third, florida fourth. i'm in new hampshire now and that is building nicely. $100 is my limit. no pacs. i fully disclose all of my contributio contributions. for 50 years, since i was in politics as a young man, for 50 years the debate on contributions has been between the left and right. the left wanted limits. the right -- and i'm a conservative on the right -- the right wanted full disclosure. that has been the battle. we now live in a country where there are neither.

there are neither limits nor full disclosure. we have the worst of both worlds. if you look at banking reform, health care reform, jobs formation, they are owned by the large special interests and coorations. barack oba's jobs advisor is the president of g.e. who give $4.3 million to the democrats and republicans last time. he doesn't want fair trade. pay no taxes on $14 billion. ho: shelly joins us from minnesota on the line for republicans. go ahead, please. caller: thank you for c-span. i agree with you, buddy. however, to be realistic, a respectable and honorable what you are doing for campaigning it is an impossibility to win the presidency without that -- in

the current way it is now. look at president obama, expected to raise a billion dollars. cannot run a successful campaign ainst a billion dollars. guest: let me respond. that is a good point. host: and jody has this point, the biggest thing that separates buddy is the truth. he is willing to tell the truth. that is why he doesn't have a chance. answer both of those, money and the truth. i'm not this cynical. i love america. but i'm afraid. we have permanent unemployment. we don't have fair trade. we let the big boys run the country. i'm asking a different question. i'm asking decent middle class americans and working people to stand up for your country. there is a head lane in the "new york times" that says middle class in india stand up to

corruption. we need no do the same thing. we are a nation in trouble and it will take bold action and a to lead.ee can i win this way? you bet. in the primary i need a million people to give me $100 each. not 1,000, not 10,000, not a pac. $100. i need them to invest like they take a family of four to a movie with a meal. if i get that, that is $100 million inhe primary. we will win new hampshire and tear it up from there. number two, against president obama, who is raising a billion and more from special interests, i phaoemean who regular litted banks -- who regulated the banks? glass stegall is still dead. the size of the bank doesn't increase their capital needs? what did he do, he goes to wall

street, has a fund-raiser, $35,000 a ticket and is hosted by goldman sachs. we are a nation in troue. we need to be free. we need to treat people fairly, but we need to get the country moving again. i cannot win with $100 million in the primary. that is more than mitt romney john mccain spent four years ago. it can be done. when i turn to face president obama, i will challenge himo give debates across america and we will have them that hours a time. we will have them in different regions of the country and we will talk about jobs and energy independence and we will talk about many segregation and we will talk -- we will talk about immigration and turning the around. most of all we will ask if he has a commitment to campaign reform. that is my number one issue. can i win like that? i need five million americans against president obama.

giving $100. he will have a billion, i will have a half billion and we can win. onlast story. i ran for governor of louisiana. i had no chance. i was one of six or seven people running. i was a lonely congressman. they laughed at me. i wouldn't take the big money, didn't take big oil money, didn't take big chemical money. i reported everything that i got. i took no pac money. and edwards used to laugh at me in the debate. he would point his finger at me and say that roemer is smart, he went to harvard when he was 16 and studied economics. but he can't win. we beat him. 16 million and we raised $1 billion and we beat him. it can be done. it is not about me. it can be do. if middle class america says enough already. let's stand up. host:arah joins us from sterling, illinois.

independent line. caller: good morning. hi, mr. roemer. i was wondering what are your views on occupy wall street? and i also wonder why is congress not listening to the majority of the people just as in occupy wall street or all the polls they take? it is like they will say 80% of the people want to increase taxes on the rich. but nothing is getting done. why a they not listening to everybody and all the people that are calling in? it is like we are being ignored. guest: they don't have time to listen. how can you listen if you have a fund-raiser every night? how can you listen if the big boys run the show? did you see health care reform? it was about insurance companies. it was about tort lawyers. it was about pharmaceutical companies. and they were all protected.

there were no patients in the ro room. there wereo nurses in the room. there were no doctors in the room. you can't buy medical insurance across the estate lien. pharmaceical companies are protect interested giving praise discounts. in fact, they are protected from legitimate, fair competition from canada. this is all about money and power. and that is why occupy wall street is so interesting to me. plus, i'm an old guy, i'm 68, i lived through the civil rights marches in the deep south where i grew up in louisiana and i'm proud of what young people did. we changed america. i remember the vietnam marches when i was in colge and i'm proud of what young people did. we got out of that war. we lost 59,000 brave m and thank god we didn't lose another

40,000 young americans. so, when young americans gather on wall street, they are a scruffy looking group. i don't agree with all of the agenda and don't endorse anything about them except this. i like their spirit. and they smell something, they see something, they know something that the average american who is working for a link and afraid -- working for a living and afraid of his job doesn't have time to think about. but occupy wall street is calling it to our attention. they are saying something is wrong in america. and it could being the bankers on wall street who gave themselves millions of bonuses and got bailed out by the taxpayer not one of them went to jail. maybe it is washington, d.c., where the politicians are lined with their lands out including the president of the united states to take their slick ill-gotten money in big

checks. it is not right. i went to occupy wall street. i didn't give a speech. i spent they -- three hours and 15 minutes listening, walking, shaking hands, encouraging them to be involved. i was here yesterday at the meeting on the mall. it was raining and snowing, but i spoke for just a few minutes. i'm trying to get america to stand up. it doesn't have to be about me. my accent might be wrong. i'm a republican. maybe you don't like republicans. i actually have experience as a congressman and governor, and maybe you don't like that. maybe you want somebody that has never held office before. i don't know. what i am asking is that you get involv involved. i'm asking that away change america. i'm asking that we have a constitutional approach to reform.

and the only way for that to happen is for the president of the united states to lead. and our current president is doing nothing but talking about it. host: a comment from one viewer and then to jeff in boca raton, florida. jeff on the phone from boca raton, florida with governor buddy roemer. caller: thank you for taking my cull and if you could bear with me for just a moment, mr. roemer led with a quote from teddy roosevelt. let me lead if may, mr. roemer. teddy roosevelt said the measure government is how well the government treats its poor, now how well it treats its reach. and he was a republican in the days when republicans could hold their head up high when we had javits republicans and hugh scott republics and dirksen

reblicans. i will quote to you one other quote and that was mr. rockefeller when he ran for the gubernatorial race in election against goldberg and he was being criticized because he was paying for ads 24 hours a day, 24-7, and he was questioned at the ti he saeid time, well, television is now the village green and if i'm correct i think it washe times said i think mr. rockefeller cop r confuses the village green for the rock term green. the condition is republicans have for many years had more money than the democrats and raised -- i can remember mr. bush in the campaign for president when he was doing badly in new york and called

upon his texas pioneers for $25 million in a day. what i'm concerned about, sir, is the fact that these republicans who belong to what i understand is a program called the family, they decide with impunity what our policies are going to be on some sort of judeo-christian ethose and they have filibustered more bills. you just talked about mitt romney. he is quoted and it has been on the tv shows when asked about foreclosure in nevada where performance are losing homes, i think 14.5% of them are losing homes to foreclosure mr. romney says let the free market do its business. host: i will stop through because we are short on time and give him a chance to respond.

guest: as a conservative i always laugh when people talk about the free market. you quoted mr. romney. let the free mart work. where was mitt romney when fannie and freddie was taking directions from the united states congress about making loans to people who couldn't afford to pay it back? this country is up side down. i'm of a conservative and i like market principles. i think the market works best when you let it work. it does need broad regulation. you have a speed limit on a highway. it is there to save lives. i'm a smalltown main street banker. my bank that i built with the help of a lot of friends and business associates is about two-thirds of a billion dollars. is successful. it didn't take any bailout money t. is profitable. and we restructured our loans

without coming down hard on customers. that is what the market allows you to do. but the reason these others don't do it is they are not market people. they are government sponsored enterprises. i mean the wall street banks, what are they? they are an ol gone my, a handful of people who take moral hazard. they attack risks with their loans. you know why? the government has guaranteed them a bailout. think about it. if you were guaranteed a living no matter what you di you might do wild and crazy things because there would be no consequence. that is what our banks are doing on walstreet. they are wild and crazy and taking risks. they are wanting to be as big as they can so their salary will go om a modest $200,000 each to each.llion

that is what size means to the bank. size hurts the rest of america. new to the point on what we can do in terms of the republican part i'm produced -- i'm proud to be a republican. i'm the only governor in america that changed from conservative democrat to republican. i like what the republicans have stood f for years in terms of a strong military defense. i like what they stand for in small business andrying to deregulate them. these are important things. but our party has become a lot like the democrats. money, money, money, money, money, money, money. and there is no room for plain people and small pwebusiness. follow me, jeff. it can change. host: jim has this point on the twitter page.

guest: we, who would write them? you need leadership. i'm very practical. in louisiana we beat a governor who eventually went to prison. he was a great politician. but he had trouble with other things. we had campaign reform. hat is what i ran on in louisiana. we passed some of the toughest laws in america and they are still on the books. they can't get them off. we had a series ofecent governors now led by bobby jindal who was just re-elected, a reform governor, very strong for louisiana. we turned our unemployment rate from 12.8% to it can be done, but you must clean out the top. here is what we need. leta president dedicated not to

live service -- barack obama talked-about hope that change. it never came. we need a leader free to leave that puts campaign reform has the first priority. he honors the constitution, the supreme court said monday in a speech, fine. the supreme court allowed a broader defition, full disclosure, that is what we need. if we can't look at what a politician takes, we ought to know where he gets his money from. there ought to be criminal penalties, 48 our reporting requirements. so before the election, we will rmer andr buddy mitt romney get their money.

host: our last call is from waterloo, iowa. caller: i would love to donate $100, it is nice to hear the uth that and corporations by these politicians. they speak acting like they care about the people. we knowhat weather is a big oil, israel pays billions of dollars for these politicians to speak at great about israel. i want to donate $100 for you. nothing the least corrupt out of all of these bonds is -- bums is ron paul. i wanted you to comment on that. guest: ron paul is a very decent

guy. how he has been very consistent in his issue of of the federal reserve is a valuable one. i would go for needing a full public audit. we need the federal reserve not to do two things. it should protect the value of our currency. that is a. i noted with sorrow that ron paul allowed a super pac to be formed on his behalf. they all have them. barack obama, the romney, -- mitt romney, herman cain. a candidacy like mine is wide open.

i asked my fellow republicans, who denied the super -- my fellowe republicans to deny the super pacs. let's do it the old-fashioned wa let's do it from small contributions from millions of americans. it is not the money. what we are missing is the participation of the people. they take these big checks, they of special interest requirements. what we are missing in america are people that care, people that vote, people they give $50. 98% of our home beckons don't -- of our americans don't give a

dime to a president. it is run by the 1%. i would like to see a young woman that graduates from college have 15 job offers. i would like to see a young kid that graduates from high school and is not sure about a further education have 58 job offers. we are the most industrious, innovative, creative people on earth. but government regulation -- but we're looking to the government for answers. i start in a presidential campaign where i have not had a single fund-raiser. i go straight to the people. that is what i am asking you to do, iowa. let's change this country.

host: buddy roemer, thank you very much for >> tomorrow on "washington journal", gorver norquist examines the various tax policies of the gop candidates and what he thinks the deficit committee should recommend. "the new york times" correspondence discussed their new book on how the u.s. engaged in the global fight against al qaeda and how the strategy has evolved since 9/11. and albert teich talks about federal government funded research and development programs. "washington journal", live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. elementary students from all the washington d.c. area, along with children of military families

were invited to the white house yesterday for our white house halloween celebration. on an unseasonably cold october afternoon, the president and first lady welcomed the trick- or-treater is outside the north portico as they handed out baskets of candy, dried fruits, and other treats. ♪ >> [inaudible conversations] ♪ >> happy halloween.

>> i love your costume. >> happy halloween. wow! i love the mustache. >> hello, everybody. hello. it's cold out here. it's not ideal halloween weather. did you see susan? >> oh, my gosh. >> hey, how are you? happy halloween. [unintelligible]

basket?'s your take this one. there you go. happy halloween, fellas. happy halloween. >> trick or treat. >> the president and first lady handing out halloween treats at the white house yesterday. the president has no public events and for today. he will meet with tony blair at the white house on monday. a topic of discussion could be a middle east peace process. on tuesday, he continues an ongoing series of interviews with local news reporters. wednesday, he will attend meetings at the white house before leaving for france on the thursday to attend the first day of the g-20 meeting.

>> happy halloween. >> the heat is on. this is the first time that i have seen in my lionong tenure in politics, where the real heat -- if these guys cannot kebab or something, they will not want to go home. >> on tuesday, the deficit reduction committee will hear from alan simpson and former clinton administration officials. all have participated in passed deficit reduction talks. you can watch a video of those meetings, along with the committee's four public meetings online at the c-span video library. everything i