national association of broadcasters. paul kirby, a senior reporter at communications reports. this has been >> sometimes i think it would be best for government to stay out of sports. a lot of times the hearings are basically television shows, designed to give the congressmen and women involved exposure. >> john feinstein on the intersection of sports and government. the flip side, sports is a multi-billion dollar business in this country. it has a huge effect on people in this country, in terms of raising money for universities, higher education. there are some different ways that sports affects their lives. many of the stadiums that exist are built with government funds. oftentimes, i think the federal government should be more involved.

book, "onenstein';s on one." >> i decided to take the risk because whether it is an illusion or not, i think it is. it held my concentration, it's stop other people being boring, to some extent. it would keep me awake. it would lead me into long conversations. if i was asked, what i do it again, the answer is probably yes. easy for me to say, of course. it sounds irresponsible, if i say, but what to guarantee it, but it would be hypocritical of me to said i would not have

transferred stuff if i did not know. because i did know. everyone knows. i decided that life is a wager, i will wager on this. i cannot make it come out any other way. it is strange, i almost don't even regret it, though i should. it is impossible for me to picture live without feeling the company and keeping me reading and traveling. >> thursday, journalist, author, critic, and of " vanity fair" columnist and editor christopher hichens passed away at the age of 62 from complications from esophageal cancer. watch his many appearances on c- span on c-span.org. >> next, a look at a bipartisan

medicare proposal from this morning's "washington journal." this is about one hour. kevin, for joined by discussion on recommendation for preparing your year-end tax forms that you could make before the end of the year. in this segment, we will do the lines differently. we want you to call in, asked questions. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, give us a call. mountain and specific. for: while we're waiting calls, i want to get your thoughts on the payroll tax cut extension that we've seen? are you any more or less optimistic that will happen for the full year?

guest: i have always expected for the full year. i do not understand why these people are gluttons for punishment of their wants to pass it for two months. ed kiplinger, we have expected them from the beginning to extend. our question is will it ever end? it is really hard for politicians in an election year to take away a tax break it would cost the typical family $1,000. they will have to pass it. they will come back in january, fight like hell for it, and then pass it for the rest of the year. host: do you think this is a yearly battle? guest: i think it is. as been 25 years since the tax reform -- guest: i think it is. it has been 25 years since the tax reform act.

right now, it will be a yearly battle and it will come down to the wire. guest: estimates are right now but it is about 160 million american workers it effected who are those that it does not effect -- effects. who are those it does not effect? guest: it does not effect those are retired. when i worked on capitol hill 35 years ago, we were not social security, but we changed that. host: let's go to your-end packs -- your-end tax language. guest: at this time of year, the door for 2011 tax savings closes december 31, two weeks from today.

people have to make decisions to save. these folks have one example -- advantage by procrastinating the song. one of my favorites as -- is a guess to charity. song. one of my favorites as -- if you itemize what you give to a qualified charity, congress will subsidize it. in a 25% bracket, congress pays 25 percent senator the nation. instead of giving cash, a few of appreciated securities, give some appreciated securities that you ever owned for more than a year, and you can deduct the full market value of those securities on the day you give the gift. if you get $10,000 in cash, you get it $10,000 reduction, the charity gets $10,000, and everyone is happy. charity gets $10,000, and

everyone is happy. if u.s. securities that are now but -- worth $1000, the charity gets $10,000, and they do not to pay tax. he gets to deduct $10,000, -- you get deduct $10,000. it is a cool thing people can do. if you're planning a substantial gift, get in touch with a charity and your broker. host:, we're talking to kevin mccromally, the editor of kiplinger magazine. you oversee the tax letter and the agricultural letter and the web site. what is the subscription? guest: i wish there were a single subscription. host: numbers?

guest: about 100,000 to the tax letter. 100,000 for e retirement report. the agricultural o is much smaller. ho: before we take calls, use e. coli about taking care of your 401ks. whether your suggestions? -- you have suestis for taking care all your 401ks. guest: if you get 25% bracket, putting an extra $1,000 in your 401ks, cost is seven and $50. we encourage anyone who could afford to max out. there will be money in retirement. host: we are taking calls a little differently. if you're in the eastern time zone, does it call, -- give us a

call. we will start with angela, minnesota. caller: good morning. i was just a gifted $10,000 from the parents -- $10,000 gift from my parents. what kind of account should i put it in to protect it from being taxed? host: did you have a chance to hear angela? guest: no, i'm sorry i did not hear anything. host: angelo was asking about -- angie lau was asking about gift- giving. -- angela was asking about gift-giving. were your thoughts? guest: what is important is the

annual gift tax exclusion. every american can give of to $13,000 a year to any number of people without triggering the gift tax. if you do not use the exclusion now, it disappears. we encourage anyone -- it is and estate planning tool. money you give away to your kids and your relatives or friends, can not be taxing your estate when you die. the reason there is a $13,000 limit is because congress is not what you giving away all of your money. we encourage people to try to make gifts before the end of the year. if you give a check, you need to make it early enough to clear before the end of the year. parents are trying to help kids by house. and dad to each give their son and daughter in-law, $13,000.

if that is something to think about -- that is something to think about. host: we are talking to kevin mccromally. the latest article is at your- end tax moves for 2011. host: let's see if we can get angie lau back. -- angela back. caller: will i have to pay taxes on thamoney? guest: on the gift, and no.

the tax applies only to the giver of the gift. all of us have a lifetime credit debt is big enough to cover giftax on the first $5 million of our taxable gifts. very few people ever paid as. if you're threatened, you want to take advantage of the annual exclusion. host: tanya, fairfax, virginia. caller: i have two questions. who will pay for the tax rate congress just voted on? my second question is if i plan to open a small business, would it be a benefit to have a corporation? because i cannot understand the

second question. -- guest: i could not understand the second question. in generally, they're finding bits and pieces in a lot to pay fort. i cannot ask for that question. is it going to be millionaire's surtax? now it is not her we cannot do that. there will be little loopholes they will close here and there. these of the little things they fight over. senator or later, hopefully mixture, they will come up with decisions on how to pay for these things. h of the other question was how to open your own company, and how to file. guest: the great thing about being a small business person is you give tax breaks for the things you buy. this year, there i something called a 100% bonus appreciation law, which allows it to deduct the full cost of equipment you

buy for your business, whether it is a computer, a printer, -- 1 ended% bonus depreciation. that -- a 100% bonus depreciation. that might carry over to next year. it is set to expire december 31. we think congress will come ck and expand the it -- expand it reoactively. we do not think they will get it done this year can't they are fighting over everything. -- get it done this year. they are fighting over everything. december 31 is an important date host: are there certain extenders' out there that are impossible to make retroactive? guest: this year, and now. most things work through cember 31. the tax return people filed in

april is covered. last year, the past extenders' so late in the game may delay the filing season. -- it delayed the filing system. the deduction that teachers get -- that ends this year. the rate from direct charitable contributions and is this year. they always extended, but they like to drag their feet. host: jim, from aberdeen, s.d.. caller: i make about $23,000 a year, and i was looking into putting money into a 401ks. i was wondering what i should really put it into? the last thing as what you think of tim tebow.

guest: let me take the 401ks question. we would recommend that you could be very aggressive with investments. if you have an s&p 500 fund, for some sort of stock fund -- even though the market has been crazy, we know that since 1926 until now, the average return on big companies starks in america is about 10%, and that includes the great depression and the great recession. we would recommend a stock fund. host: a question from iraq on twitter. -- rick and twitter. guest: absolutely, the self- employment tax, self-employed people have to pay the entire 50% tax, but they get the same

to distance and cut that applies employees. when his theory not his estimate, -- when he is figuring out his estimate, he can take that into account. if estimated taxes can also be reduced to reflect the reduced taxes he will all cost. host: a question going back to the conversation about extenders and the irs having trouble. if the payroll tax debate becomes a month-to-month debate, whicthe irs have any trouble dealing with this? guest: it is not the irs. his employers. -- it is employers. employers have to figure out how much to take out of the paycheck. this has been driving them crazy. host: and it will continue? guest: right. they have to take up the tax and if they do not, they will get in trouble. it is all up in the air.

this is what drives business in amera crazy, if the uncertainty of the tax law. we have the transit benefit that employees can get tax-free money to pay for commuting. the amount they can set aside drops to one of the $20. congress says they will extend that, but employers cannot let people have to the $30 tax-free to pay for metro fare. -- $230 tax free to pay for metro fare. host: james. caller: good morning. when we get our -- to, it will show how much our employer contributed to our tax benefit. what about in future years? i feel they're putting all this information on for a reason.

i would like his opinion on this for the future years, 13, 14, and 15. guest: a lot of people think this is the camel's nose under the tent. as soon as employers tell us how much they pay, they will start taxing certain people. law already has 2017 where the plans will be taxed. think we have to watch these thin one year at a time. we will give advance notice. if they do it, it will be like everything else, graduated, high-income people first, and then squeezed down. somehow, they have to close the deficit and deal with the debt. i hope the economy comes back and that takes care of all of our problems, but few analysts believe that. most believe someone's taxes are

going up and that might be on the health-care end. asia talk about home upgrades and energy efficiency up grit -- host: talk about home upgrades and engergy-efficient upgrades. guest: the maximum credit is $500. if you are going to get it, you have to have them installed by december 31. i did not want someone to put the windows in my house -- i do not know if i want to hire someone to put the windows in in my house. this kind of cold in washington. caller: i work part-time for an insurance company for about four months. i made about $6,000. they terminated me, or claimed i quit, then i started with an independent agent, 1099, and

they did not take any taxes are. i probably made about 6000 with them. is there a limit on how much you make if you did not make a certain amount? guest: are you single or married? host: i think we lost him. guest: it depends on your filing status. it has to be $13,000 of taxable income on a joint return. if you go to irs.gov and check the publication 17, there is a section called "do i have to file?" you will not go very much t at all. host: anthony, boston, massachusetts. caller: i spoke with a tax

attorney, and i read it indeed "wall street journal" recently, that there was no longer a gift tax in 2012. who is right? guest: your attorney is wrong if he said that. there is a federal gift tax. did did increase the gift -- they did increase the gift tax exemption to cover $5 million worth of gifts. if you use any part of debt to cover taxable gifts what you are alive, it disappears when you die. there is a gift tax applies to almost no one. this was the debate about the estate tax. the only year there was not one was 2010, and that year congress said you decide, but do not step

up in basis for appreciated property. in 2010, people have a choice most people chose no state tax. there is a federal gift tax. it's all a question on twitter. -- host: question on tatters -- twitter. what kind of specific tax refm bill you favor? guest: there are so many things. i think simplification his the key. i think the tax code is too complicated. the 1986 law is when i covered, and we lowered the rates in thrall deductions. but that is what most economists want to do. -- that is what most economists want to do. unfortunately, in america, we love deductions. the talk about taking with a charitable deduction, and

cherries go query's -- crazy. universities say do not to get away. itas been 25 years since we have done it. i am not in favor of a flat tax because i think it would have to be too high. the national sales tax talk about adding 23% to 27% on top of everything we buy. would be tough. simplification is the only way to go. host: we're talking to kevin mccromally here, how long did you been at kiplinger? guest: it is my 35th year. hosthow many questions do you respond to? guest: it is thousands of dancers a year. is not just me. -- answers a year. it is not just me. we have a policy that we answer

every question. one of the the advantage that the letter subscribers have it is they can call our to plunder editors -- our "kiplinger " editors, and they can ask them any question. host: what to do before? guest: i worked on the hill. it was during tumultuous times. it was less partisan. before that i was in newspapers in iowa. host: illinois, you're on with kevin mccromally. caller: i have a question concerning the 401k plan. my wife and die when we were working contributed religiously. i've not been working sce

2007. my wife continues to work. we have recently decided to have her stop to should into her for 01 k -- 401ks. our logic was a we should pay taxes now because we think the rate is low enough to we feel taxes will be going much higher in the future. what do think our logic? guest: i think your logic is good we of the big fans of the roth conversions. u.s. to pay taxes at today's rates have anything you move over, but all future earnings are taxed-free. you can take the 401k money. you can put it in an ira and transfer it. sooner or later, tax rates are

going to go up. with fundamental tax reform, there is a chance that rates will go down for top earners for a while, but what happens -- in 1986, and what will happen again, is the start to creep back up. it is really smart to have diversity in the kinds of income you will have in retirement, not only between stocks, bonds, and cash, but have some money that will be accessible, tax-free, some taxable, and then in retirement you can play the game to your best advantage. host: dog, from boston, massachusetts. caller: is time givenift by someone who -- if i am given a gift by someone lives overseas and it remains in an overseas bank account, do i have to report that gift? i remember some time ago the

owner of carnival cruise lines renounced his united states citizenship in order to revise taxes. do you have information on that? guest: over $10,000 in an overseas bank account has to be reported, and the reason is probably caused the bank account will not send a -- is probably cause the bank, will not send 81099 to the irs. -- a 1099 to thehost: want ton update. the senate is getting ready to come in today. you can watch it on c-span2. they will be voting on four different measures. the agreement that was reached last night on the payroll tax cut will be the first bill on the floor.

there will also be a second vote on passage of the disaster aid bill, subject to a 60-cold threshold. the third billhat is up today is actually paying for the disaster aid bill. finally, there'll be a vote on the conference report on the omnibus spending bill that the house passed on friday. that is all happening on c- span2. the senate is getting ready to co in right about now. we're going to stay here with kevin mccormally to answer your questions about year-end tax moves. we will go with sean from salem, oregon. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. host: do you have a question? caller: yes, he covered my question. it was about the debt. most of the people in the middle class understand that we're going to have a higher tax burden. we're just worried about the debt. is there debt looming over the whole country, including

people's rsonal and home realistic and other investments, everything -- thehome real- estate and other investments, everything -- what can we do? guest: elect the best people you can to the congress who will listen to you. i think congressmen are not going to have a lot of -- if this and any time with their constituents this season, ople are angry -- if they spend any time with their constituents this season. people are angry. we have two or three that conditions that had such great promise, but when it came down to agreeing on anything -- we will get through this. we will survive this. they will figure it out. the grievance -- the brinksmanship will take us to the edge of the cliffs probably several times, but sooner or later we will figure this out.

host: a twitter comment about the 9-9-9 plan. is this a simple plan you would recommend? guest: no. it would not raise enough money. it would raise taxes significantly inhe middle class and the port. it is a simple plan -- andhe poor. it is a simple plan that sounds good, but, anybody who series looks at it says, this is a great slogan, but not -- anybody who seriously looks at it says, this is a great slogan, but not a good plan. host: good morning. caller: i go to my accountant. i have my taxes daunted he tells me, since i am on social security, -- i have my taxes done. he tells me, since i am on

social security, i did not have to fill out theorm. is that true? guest: there is a filing threshold. if social-security benefits are all you have, they are tax-free if your income i under $25,000. they are at least half-tax-free if your income is under 30 $2,000, i think -- $32,000, i think. it is possible that you do not have to file any more. if you do not have a pension with withholding or withholding om social security that you want to get back, it is very likely that you did not have to file. there e a lot of americans who do not have to file tax returns because it is an income-based system. if your accountant told you you do not need the file, you need to make sure nobody is withholding anybody for the irs out of any payments received,

because, if they are, you want to get back at and youave to file the refd -- get that back and you have to file a refund. host: we are on with kevin mccormally for about another half an hour. guest: when you take a 401k, you have to pay interest back. the interest you pay back is not taxable income. you cannot deduct that interest, though. in order to deduct the interest, your home loan has be offered as security. inside the 401k, the 401k is

your security. using that as a downpayment limits the deductibility. host: christine from phoenix, ariz.. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have a student loan that the fault did several years ago. i have been -- that defaulted several years ago. i have been paying it back. the last year, a mother supported me financially. i am disabled now -- the last year, my mother supported me financially. i am disabled now. when she claims me, are they going to take any money out of her return for me? guest: no, they will not. we did a piece in the magazine lastonth. the debt on student loans is now more than all americans owe on credit cards.

we did a huge thing about this debt burden and how it is going to weigh on this generation for years and years. it is going to hurt the economy. student loans are one of the very few things you cannot discharge in bankruptcy. it is one of the very few debts that the federal government collects for itself by taking people's tax refunds, but they will not take your mother's tax refunds because she claimed to as a dependent. -- claims you as a dependent. host: are there any recommendations for students? guest: most younger people do not itemize deductions. only 25% of people itemize. things like charitable contributions, other itemized deductions -- they get the standard deduction because it is worth more.

t cats get breaks because they spend a lot of money. younger people need to take care of their retirement investment index account. they should make payments towards 529 plans. the district of columbia, it is deductible up to $25 in such a plan. -- $2,500 in such a plan. host: let's go to and from long valley, new jersey. you are on with kevin mccormally. caller: i am a manufacturer in new jersey for its aerospace and automotive. i am on an accrual basis. i can expense 11% of what is needed to make these products. -- expense 100% of what is

needed to make these products. the pay terms have changed. today, the average's 90 days, sometimes 120. because i am on an accrual basis, the irs expects me to pay tax on my receivables. well, basically, i am paying tax the last quarter of the year on moneys i have yet to receive, which makes capital investment very difficult, because it is creating a major cash-flow problem. i guess my question is, it is congress aware of this, that this is happening -- my question is, is congress aware of this, that this is happening, that is taking longer and longer to get paid? guest: that is a fabulous question. i cannot answer it. i believe that most congresswomen and congressmen

are not aware of this. the accrual-basis rules we written generations ago. the pay-term issue -- everybody drag their feet and paying bills. ople like you get caught in the middle -- everybody drag their feet on paying bills --verybody drifeetdrags on payingtheir feet bills and people like you get caught in the middle. the irs is dealing with laws that they have to enforce. host: on twitter --

guest: simple answer, no, it's not. the money has to go in by december 31. you can get until october 15th of the following eyar, but -- year, but that's as far as you can go. host: an e-mail -- guest: misunderstanding here. most social-security recipients do not pay a dime on federal social security benefits, because their income is below the level. only if you make more than

$25,000 can be income be taxed. the 85% rule is for high-income people. they are not taxed at 85%. 85% can be taxed. 15% of the 85% -- the writer is correct that when congress set the threshold -- this was part of the 1983 social-security law. they set the $25,000 and $32,000 thresholds' and they did not index them deliberately -- thresholds, and they did not index them deliberately. in the same proposal, they raised it gradually from 65 to 67. nobody was threatened right

away, so they were able to make that change. that is a misunderstanding on how cial-security benefits are taxed. host: bennett from king george, virginia. caller: thank you for having me on. this guy seems like he has a lot of common-sense. if you go back to the 1800's or early-1900's, the first on the stock market crossed 2000 was a fwe years -- few years ago. we have push the stock market up dramatically, but it seems like things have leveled off. guest: i cannot go back to the 1800's. we have faith in america. we have faith in american business.

despite all the problems of the last 20 years -- you are right, since 2000, the stock market h not been a great place. a lot of people made a lot of money. a lot of people losa lot of money. it has a way to abolish child -- way too volatile. we feel that people, at least 10 years away from the time they need the money, should be investing heavily in stocks, because they can ride the ups and downs, because it will pay off for them. can we guarant it? no. we believe we will come out of this recession. we do not think there will be a double dip. we think earnings will be up next yr. for 2012, we are predicting an 8% to 9% total return for the s&p 500. if we are right, it is going to beat the dickens out of the 2% treasury bills. host: you are on with kevin mccormally. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking the call. i am enjoying your comment they are informative and very helpful -- very helpful. guest: thank you. caller: i would like to make a comment about the fair tax. it applies only to new products and services, not to used products, sh as a used car. the second point i'd like to make, what is added to the cost of everything we buy is based on a lower cost because of the deral obligation being eliminated. the [unintelligible]

the cost goes up something like -- we need to put jobs back in the country. host: thanks, bob. give you a chance to comment. guest: a lot of people have analyzed it and i think it will be even more expensive -- they think it will be even more expensive. one of the problems with the shift to someone like fair tax, it is so difficult for congress to make a small change. the inertia of what we have had since the 1920's -- 19-teens, it would be such an enormous transition. it scares people away from it. i do not think of your tax is --

think the fair tax is the alternative. host: mr. mccormally, how do parents with children with disabilities while deductions r medical expenses? -- file deductions for medical expenses? guest: i do not think there are any different rules. keep track of your expenses. if ty exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, they are deductible. if the mom or dad have the option to use a flexible spending account at work, that is a way to funnel some of your salary into a special account pre-tax and use that account to

pay for the medical expenses. it is much more valuable to people than the itemized deduction, because you do not have tworry about the 7.5% threshold. take advantage of anything like that, health savings accounts, where you can set money aside for out of pocket expenses -- out-of-pocket expenses. host: one of your colleagues at to plunder road and article about anteing you're flexible spending account -- add to one of your colleagues at kiplinger wrote -- specific tips for emptying your flex account? guest: the use-it-or-loset

rule. most employers in this country have adopted an extension to december 31 date and allow their employees to extend -- spend 2011 flex money till march 15, 2012. if you do have a december 31 deadline, if you have money in that flex account that you set aside tax-free and you do not use it, it goes back to your employer. marybeth'scomment about next year and a limit after 2012 is important. we always encourage people to be really aggressive when they set aside money in a flex account. you can lose 1/3 of the money you set aside and still come out ahead. you do not want to forfeit a dime, but, if you lose 1/3 of

it, the tax savings still make up for it. anything you can get in -- come 2013, it goes down to $2,5000. -- $2,500. host: you are on with kevin mccormally. caller: i e-filed. it was rejected. i wrote a nice letter to the irs. they charged me about $800 in penalties. i paid everything excep for a penalty of $657. my advisor told me, usually, if

you e-file for an extension, it is rejected. guest: i think he is right. ask them to abate this penalty -- this penalty. that is "forgive" it. if you have a good reason for missing a deadline, they might waive part of the penalty. that's all i can suggest. consider contacting the irs taxpayer ombudsman. you can find mina wilson's number, whose job is to help taxpayers who feel like they're getting the runaround.

it's worth a shot. host: we're talking about year- end tax tips. on c-span2, you can watch the senate vote. while we have you for a few more minutes, i want to tk about tips for taking deductions. there was a recent article on kiplinger about the most overlooked tax deductions. guest: it is one of the most popular stories on the site. even though you do not file your tax returns for three -- two or three months, it is one of the most popular articles. thirs says that most people screw up their social security number. it is the easiest error to spot. overlooked deductions -- an ira.

people overlook the deduction -- if they have payroll deductions for charities, they forget that. they remember the check they wrote to their church. there is a list there. it c save people a lot of money. host: we talked about tips for younger taxpayers. one of the most overlooked deductions is the cost of moving for your first job. can you deduct that? guest: you cannot deduct their expees for looking for your first job. you can once you are looking for your second job. you can deduct expenses of moving for the first job, including from your college. if you graduated and moved across country for a job, what

you pay for that is deductible. you not have to do itemized deductions to do that. most people could not take advantage of it. moving expenses are now deductible, which means anybody can use them. host: is there a certain -- certain geographic limit? guest: you need to move at least 50 miles away from where your old job was. take the distance from your college dorm to the new job. host: let's try to get in a few more calls. leah from queens, n.y., you are on the air. caller: i retired four years ago. so far, i have been able to use savings for living expenses. now i have to use my ira's. my question is, what is the

difference between simply changing from aira account to a non-ira account and paying the income tax, compared to rolling over to a roth ira? guest: if you take distributions from your traditional ira, every dollar is taxed the year it is taken out. with the roth ira, let's say you take $50,000 and move it to the roth. that whole $50,000 will be taxed at year, but anything tyoyou take out will not be taxed. some people think you cannot

touch it for five years. as soon as you want, you can take it out free, because you paid taxes already. as long as you don't have to tap earnings for five years, they will come out tax-free as well. your tax bracket might be low enough that it would not cost you to move the money to the roth. there might be a little bit taken out of your traditional ira, than other money on your tax-free ro -- then other money on your tax-free roth. you can be a big winner.

host: let's go to ross. caller: i'm thinking about buying a second home in arizona to get of the cold weather in washington in the winter. i was wondering if i could take money out of the 401k and cover that under the investment umbrella of the 401k. guest:o, you can't. you take money out of the 401k, and it will be taxed. there is a way to take money out, but not for a second home. you can't make your investment in the house. sorry. host: a question from doug --

guest: a check to a charity does not have to be, nor a check for equipment. as long as it is in the mail, you are safe. if you are trying to -- the check needs to be cashed before the end of the year. it should be postmarked. how will they know? get it in the mail by december 31st is what the law say but who is going to know? caller: i won a vehicle at a casino in michigan. it is worth approximately

$48,000. it is in my possession. the casino gave me a 1099 misc. can i use my losses against that? guest: yes, you can. if you have proof you lost $48,000, you can deduct that. you have to itemize. host: ray from maryland, you aron with mr. mccormally. caller: i put central air- conditioning in with a heat pump. i received a letter that i would get a $500 energy program when i

filed my taxes. talking to an attorney, i was told i would not qualify because i did not have social security and did not have any taxable income. can you tell me how to get my $500? guest: i think the attorney is correct. most tax credits are not refundable. the energy credit, which we talked about earlier, is one of the non refundable credit -- non-refundable credits. if you do not owe any tax, you're not going to get the tax credit. host: mr. mccormally, in a timely have left, the biggest tax changes being contemplated -- in the time that we have left, the biggest tax changes being contemplated -- or are you looking at for 2012 -- what are you looking at for 2012?

guest: nothing. we expect very little change in the 2012. 2013 could be a different story. they did so much work this yr with the congressional committee and the sins and-bolts committee on tax reform -- simpson-bowles committee on tax reform. we expect something more similar to the 1996 plan. host: if 2013 is when it starts, when could we start seeing the effect? guest: some of the deductions got phased out shortly, rates came down gradually over a few years and then started going back up. it will depend a lot on who has the senate, who has the house, who is in the white house. a few weeks or months ago,

everybody thought the senate was a slam dunk for the republicans. now, as you start to see some of the races begin to develop a, -- develop, it could be a [unintelligible] act, president obama talked about senate passage of the payroll tax cut provision. then, president joe candid at michele bachmann of minnesota. after that, gop presidential candidate rick perry. >> will take a quick look at the of votes the senate this morning by alexander bolten. he joins us on the phone this morning. the senate took their last boat of the year this day. how did it turn out?

>> the first thing they voted on was a two month extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. and a two month extension of the jobs act, which is a temporarily scheduled cut to medicare reimbursement that passed overwhelmingly, by a vote of 89- 10. then the senate moved on to a couple of appropriations measures. the highlight is a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, funding most of the federal government. that passed easily, with 67 votes, 32 against. in addition, the senate who addressed a couple of measures on emergency spending that were separated from the omnibus spending bill. one was about $8 billion in emergency spending to fund disaster relief, the bulk of it going to fema. the other bill was something house republicans insisted on, and almost 2% across the board

discretionary spending cuts to offset emergency spending. that has been a fight since the beginning of september. democrats have argued emergency spending should not be offset. republicans say congress cannot keep adding to the deficit. that offset measure, while approved in the house on friday, was defeated in the senate today. the emergency spending will not be paid for. basically, the house passed the offset to give conservatives in the lower chamber political cover for supporting the extra emergency spending. there is extension of the payroll tax cut and a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill. >> who are the winners and losers in that agreement? >> democrats are very happy with how they did. republicans say they are happy to.

happy, too. both sides are claiming victory. the only reason they got past on the first place. democrats are claiming victory on the standpoint that this is important economic stimulus, which is one of the president's highest priorities. the president has been in discussion with or in contact with senate democratic leaders almost every day over the last month talking about this priority of his. the extension of unemployment benefits was another very high priority for democrats. republicans are not eager to expand the apparel tax holiday or the unemployment benefits. democrats can count victory there. republicans are counting victory in which the attached to the package that would speed up approval of the keystone pipeline, which would ship in oil from tar sands in canada.

republicans said this would create about 20,000 jobs immediately. but it is strongly opposed by environmental groups. environmentalists are unimportant part of the did an important part of the -- an important part of the president's base. he wanted to delay that decision. republicans attached a provision forcing him to consider it immediately. so they are happy about that, because they know it is difficult for the president. they expect the president to conduct killing the project, because of pressure from the environmental community. that are then going to bash him for that politically. they are going to say his regulatory position as stopping job creation. >> the house now has to act on the payroll extension bill. any word on when members might return to vote?

>> i will return monday or tuesday. -- they will return monday or tuesday. they are expected to sign off on it. house speaker john boehner was not directly involved in negotiations with leader harry reid on this. however, he was kept apprised by mitch mcconnell, senate republican leader. senate leaders fully expect boehner to sign off on this deal. however, he first was to consult with his house republican caucus. when i return, one lawmaker i -- when they return, one lawmaker ipad -- one lawmaker i spoke to said he planned his return for tuesday, so that would be the day. >> president obama issued a brief statement on the payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance. the house is expected to take up the measure next week.

the senate approved spending bills for disaster aid and relief in the omnibus spending bill which funds the federal government through september 30, 2012. >> hello, everybody. in the last few weeks i have set out a simple principle. congress should not go home for vacation until it avoids -- until it finds a way to avoid hitting americans with a tax hike on january 1. extending payroll tax cut is an idea that i proposed in september as part of the american jobs act. at a time when so many americans are working harder and harder to to keep up, this is $1,000 or so families will get from this tax cut. it makes a real difference when they are trying to buy groceries, they the bills, pay the mortgage, or make repairs. all kinds of independent economists agree -- the number

one challenge facing business today is a lack of demand from consumers, which is why more people spending money means companies that are more successful can hire more workers. today, congress has finally agreed to extend this middle- class tax cut into next year. they also agreed to and a part of my jobs plan -- extending unemployment insurance for millions of americans out there trying as hard they can to find a job. this is spending money that also benefits families, businesses, and the entire economy. it is a lifeline that would have been locked for more than 2.5 million people in the first two months of last year -- of next year. i am very pleased to see the work the senate has done. while this agreement is for a happy to the zero months, it is my expectation -- for two months, it is my expectation

that congress will extend it for the rest of the year. it should be a formality. this really is not hard. there are plenty of ways to pay for these proposals. this is a way to boost an economy that has been supported by these very same democrats and republicans in the past. it is something economists believe will ensure the economy and the recovery is on a more stable footing. i in my preference and the preference of most americans is that we ask the wealthiest americans to pay their fair share and corporations to do without special taxpayer subsidies, but i think it is important for us to get it done. we have a lot more work to do for the people who sent us here, but today i am glad both parties in congress came together. i want to thank them for

ensuring that as we get through the holidays folks at home do not have to worry about their taxes going up. i had a chance to talk to senator harry reid and senator mitch mcconnell. i thank them for their cooperation on this issue. i look for to the house getting this done when they come back on monday. hopefully we will be able to make sure that everybody gets this cut next year. thank you, everybody. >> republican presidential candidate and congresswoman, michele bachmann of minnesota, is on a bus tour through iowa which began thursday in sioux city. the first campaign stop this wednesday was at hy-vee deli in spencer, iowa. she was joined by her husband. she is scheduled to visit 99 counties in 10 days.

this is about 20 minutes. >> we lived in stillwater, minn.. esota.llwater, minn.

it is good to see you. hello, linda. i am michele. it is good to meet you. you are already doing in your shopping. good for you. is that earings? my mother loves hearings. you bought them for your mother? for your daughter? we were at the coffee shop last night. really? ok. we did. we were here last night. we stayed overnight. it looks like you had a good breakfast. >> oh, yeah out. -- oh, yeah.

[unintelligible] january 3. you come out. bring them out. hey, what is your name? thank you. you tell everybody you know, will you? it is good to see you. i thought you had a camera. i heard that they move people around. i am glad you came here. i think they have some cameras here. brianna is an excellent student.

how is that, brianna? here you go, brianna. of course you can. how are you? thank you for coming out on a saturday morning. what is your name? hi, larry. thank you. tell everybody you know, january 3. we are going to take a picture right here. it is good to meet you.

thank you. you should see my mother. thank you. that makes a 55-year-old woman feel good. we are going to take a picture. i think that is your sharpie. these are the wise guys right here. hi, gerald. good to meet you. hello, bill. i am michele bachmann. did you see jerry? jerry with a g or j? are you usually here on a

morning. do we have a sharpie? quacks' you said you had one request -- > >> you said you had one request. >> were you there? it is -- it was hotter than at is today. thank you so much. january 3 is when it is all going to happen brigid come out january 3. we need your vote -- all going to happen. come out january 3. we need your vote. >> i have had so many other requests, i have not narrowed

that down. >> oh my gosh. this is going to be exciting, will it not? thank you. >> a merry christmas. >> merry christmas to you. >> up to you and your family. >> in january 3, i need your vote. it is good to meet you. i really enjoyed it. it was a lot hotter then, though. >> what are you going to do about everything we buy labeled made in china? >> the best way to do that is to

make this the place for manufacturing. we are going to get rid of all of the regulatory burden. then you are going to have "made in america." that is it. it is actually a simple solution. >> we want to get rid of obamacare. >> the way you do that is to rid of the monopoly and you let people use their own tax-free money. the next thing you do is medical malpractice reform.

the problem is obamacare makes it more expensive. thank you. there is nothing more important. there is absolutely nothing more important. nice to meet you. very good to meet you. thanks for coming out. my husband is here somewhere. there he is. did you hear my interview on family talked? thank you. thank you. it is so good to meet you. you have a really big coat on. i can see why.

january 3 period, out on january 3. that is the big day. tell everyone you know. january 3. >> when she was the first girl to be at student body president. >> oh my goodness. i need to take a picture with her. the first woman president of the united states. here. let me get that. did you get it? that is quite an honor. first wallenberg student body president -- first woman student

body president of spencer high school with the first woman president of the united states, right? [laughter] ok. thank you. did you want a picture? com on. let's take a picture. how are you? it is good to see you. thank you. i found the lord when i was 16. it's totally changed my life. there is nothing better. january 3. remember january 3.

january 3, you guys. what is your name? hello, david. it is good to see you. thanks for coming down to the hy-vee. on january 3, come out and vote for me. thank you. thank you. january 3. i need your vote on january 3. thank you, jeff. thank you. they are going to run the debate on fox again tonight. you need to see it. tell the people who are undecided. vote michele bachmann on january 3. how are you? it is good to see you.

you are alice? do you live here in spencer? you are a life long spencer president? you have your purple on. i know where that is. i know exactly where that is. that is in my district. >> ok. very good. i have been there about 50 years. >> i guess that qualifies. you and i are just the opposite. i was born and raised in iowa and moved to minnesota. hi, you guys. thanks again for coming out. thank you. thanks again for coming out. thank you so much. january 3. hi. we are so happy to come. it is a beautiful hy-vee.

what is your name? hi, dave. it is good to see you. thank you for coming out. what is your name? >> veronica. >> hello, veronica. it is nice to meet you. are you still in school? "yes. my brother just turned 18. he can vote now. >> that is right. you tell him january 3,, on out. -- come on out. >> what are your views on nutrition in schools? >> i am all for it. [laughter] >> they need to make better choices 24 hours a day.

>> it really begins in the home with the parents making sure the kids get the right things to eat. when i was little we did not have candy. thanks for asking the question, morgan. [indistinct conversations]

january 3. i need your vote. excuse us. >> pardon us. thank you so much >> see you

later. january 3. merry christmas. merry christmas. thanks for coming out. goodbye. >> republican per the dental candidate and texas governor rick perry is on a bus tour -- republican presidential candidate and texas governor rick perry is on a bus tour. this is a restaurant in spencer, iowa, located in the northeastern part of the stay. -- of the state. this is about 35 minutes.

>> thank you for coming today. it is a great pleasure to enter deuced a small candidate who comes from a small farming community. he eventually earned the right of the eagle scout. he served in the united states air force and has served the state of texas as governor for more than a decade. his home state has created more than 1 million jobs even as america lot of jobs. a former proud texan, would you

welcome america's jobs governor and republican candidate for president, rick perry. [applause] >> thank youatboth very much. it is an honor to be here. i just saw the owners of this great restaurant. i had a couple of my folks who came by last night and had dinner here. they said it was the best italian food they had ever had. quite a compliment, i would say. quite a structure. we were down at the cafe earlier. they were telling about moving this place from where it was down main street. they were relocated it on the riverbank. it is good to be in spencer, iowa. i think we are working on 18

hours now. we do not stay anywhere very long, but it has been very hospitable. thank you you all for coming out. thank you for your help and support and for helping set up today and make it happen and for all of you in here, i will take a few minutes and share with you why i want to ask you to vote for me on january 3 as -- of the 23rd -- on january 3. of the 27th will be back in iowa. iowa chooses the president's. we want to ask you for your support and challenged you at the end of this. i love this country. this country has given me more than i will ever be able to repay no matter how i do or how i am able to serve.

as a pilot in the united states air force and coming back and making the decision to get back -- give back in my state as a state representative and a governor for the last almost 11 years -- but i will never be able to pay this country back. this is part of it. i think all of us can probably say that. this country and the freedoms that make this country great is really what we are fighting for, what we are standing for, why this election is so important. we all know we have some problems. we have big problems in this country. i can diagram one of those big problems. if you take a map of the united states and draw a straight line between washington, dc and wall street -- that is the problem we had the wall street types and the federal agencies, whether freddie mac or fannie mae.

members of congress are scratching each other's back. people on wall street have become insanely rich because of policies that have been put in place in washington, d.c. main street is paying for this. we are seeing billions of dollars. tarp ught $700 billion of par money was bad. that spun me through the ceiling when $700 billion was used to get banks out of hock. we found out that was paltry money. i cannot hardly get my arms around that amount of money.

$7.70 trillion was transferred to helpderal reserve's pay these banks of war, to get them out of hock. they were making almost a $13 billion profit. there were hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses being paid to the leadership of these banks. that is what is wrong with america. these insiders, whether on wall street or in the halls of congress, have put our country on the precipices of bankruptcy. that is the reason i would suggest across this country that there has to be an outsider who comes in that does not have those ties, that does not have the long history of being part of the problem. i am all about main street. when you look at what we have done in texas, i tell people

texas would be the 13th largest economy in the world if it were a stand-alone entity. the policies that we put in place in texas were worked on a grand scale -- keeping the taxes as low as you can, having a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable. do that in washington, d.c. and you have a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, you have that type of discipline. ollie an outsider, i would suggest to you, would be able to walk into washington, d.c. and have the credibility and the record to get this country back on track. clean up the corruption in washington and on wall street. no bailouts. no beer marks -- earmarks. if a bill comes to my desk with earmarks on it, the veto pen

comes out. i do not care if it is democrats or republicans. that is the discipline we have to put in place. you all are not being bailed out. the idea that we are talking about bailing out big companies that are too big to fail -- if they are too big to fail, they are just too big. the idea that we are talking about bailing out wall street or conversations about bailing out european banks -- that is nonsense. washington does not need to be bailing out anybody. what washington, d.c. to be doing is putting policies into place that frees up watercourse from over taxation and over regulation. washington, d.c. need to let the private sector do what it does best -- create jobs, which in turn creates wealth. government cannot create jobs.

government can be an impediment to job creation. or it can get out of the way and not overtax and overregulated that is what we are talking about. during the time i have been governor of the state of texas, we have created over 01 million net new jobs. over the last couple of days, there was a new list of the best performing cities in america. four of those five cities were in my home state. it did not happen by accident. we have been disciplined. we put policies -- tax policies and regulatory policies in place that allow people to be able to know they can rest of their capital and have a chance to have a return on their investment. that is what it will take in washington, dc and insider from wall street or from washington, d.c. is not

going to do it. who is going to be standing up for conservative values? who is quick to stand up for young people like yourself who are in the workforce, just kidding started out there? whether it is overhauling of social security or making sure these programs and are going to be in place. social security will be there for you. guys like me are approaching social security age -- it will be there for us. for young people in the workforce, we have to be honest. we are going to overhaul the social security program. whether it is allowing you to key part of the social security pay to put in a private account, upping the age -- we have to have the courage to go forward and to do this. most importantly, spending. this concept of a yea

earmarks. earmarks are a plague on congress. two of my opponents, newt gingrich and ron paul -- newt gingrich was the originator of earmarks in the 1990's. dr. paul is still birthing earmarks as we speak. look back at the last two years. he was only one of four republicans who stood up and said -- and the republicans said never going to stand up and do away with earmarks. dr. paul had earmarks over half

a billion dollars. one was $2 billion for bike racks, trash cans, and decorated street lighting for one of these cities in his district. i will be real honest with you -- i do not think that is where our money needs to be spaent. we have to have people who have the discipline to just say no to spending until we get this debt crisis under control. earmarks have become an art form for some people. newt gingrich doubled them in the four years when he was in progress. he solicited them for members of the legislature who had a tough reelection. he said he would put them in so we could go back to their

districts. americans are tired of that kind of special interest spending. they want to see someone who will stand up and say -- we need someone to walk into washington, dc and say no to all of the special interests funding we are seeing in d.c. this campaign is not about me. the fact of the matter is, my purpose in life is not to be president of the united states, but there is a point in time -- our country is in trouble. all of us have a duty to get this country back in shape, to put it back on track with the values that we note this country was founded upon -- we know this country was founded upon.

our founding fathers saw and felt that overburdening, far away, centralized government that was dictating to them how to live their lives 200 plus years ago. we find ourselves now facing the same type of pressure from an all-knowing, all-consuming, centralized government a long way from iowa, but they are telling you how to live your life. they are telling your kids how, when, and why they can pray in schools. they tell us how to deliver health care. the department of education is trying to tell people in spencer, iowa how to educate your children. americans are tired of that. they want an outsider who will walk into washington, d.c. to use their veto pen to get this spending binge under control so america can be strong economically again. if we are not strong

economically again, we will not be strong militarily. if we are not strong militarily, we will not be strong around the world. this all goes back to having economic sense put back into washington, d.c., to stop the corruption, to stop this washington-to-wall street nonsense that has been going on. i want to share with you one thing as i wrap up. if you will have my back here in spencer and across iowa on january 3, i will have your back when i am is president of the united states. i will get up and fight for you every day. i will try to make washington, d.c. as inconsequential in your life as i can. i think we ought to make progress part-time. cut their pay, send them back to their districts, allow them to have jobs like you all have,

working in their districts with their constituents. i guarantee you we will hear it -- we will see less problems come out of washington, d.c. some photo said you cannot do that. there is too much going on for them not to be there full time. in my home state -- it is a big state with the 13th largest economy in the world -- our legislature meets port 140 days every other year we have the balanced budget amendment to our constitution that requires we cannot spend more money than we bring in. they come in, they get their work done, and they go home to their real jobs -- their day jobs, if you will -- and live within the laws that they passed. i know in my heart that if washington, d.c. would work

under those same parameters, i will walk into washington and i will bring a budget forward that will cut $5 trillion out of obama's budget that he has laid out. [applause] we are going to eliminate agencies of government -- commerce, energy, and the education department -- create millions of new jobs. open up our federal lands so we can use the energy underneath the federal lands. we have 300 years worth of energy in this country, yet we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign oil. some of the countries are hostile to the united states. open up our land. be independent of those countries that do not have america's interest in mind. that is the kind of leadership we need in this country.

i am the anti-washington, anti- wall street outsider that america needs. again, if you will have my back on january 3, i will have your back in washington, d.c. god bless you and thank you for being with us today. [applause] i will open it up for a few questions. hi, buddy. how are you. this is what this is all about. he may want to ask the first question. yes, sir? >> thanks for being here today, governor. you said repeatedly that you are the outsider candidate. another outsider candidate was herman cain, who dropped out a few weeks ago. he was a businessman and was very popular here and nationally. he told barbara walters the other day he would like to be secretary of defense.

he has the experience running large corporations. would you consider putting herman cain, another washington outsider, in charge of the defense department. >> it is a little bit early to be deciding on your cabinet. but he has all of the characteristics of the pipe the people i will bring forward. i want to share with you, an agency of government that, obviously being a former air force pilot, being the commander in chief of the texas national guard for the last almost 11 years and seeing our young men and women deployed and the cost to our state, the loss of equipment, frankly having a businessman or woman who has both a deep understanding of how to balance the books, how to

find and ferret out flock -- fraud and excesses spending is important for the department of defense. i think we have cut too much out of our defense budget already. this president is, i think, playing with fire and putting america in jeopardy because of his lack of leadership when they created the super committee instead of him being engaged in writing a budget and being there every day to write a budget. if they did not get that done, half a trillion dollars more was going to be cut out of the department defense -- department of defense budget. i consider that irresponsible. the question is not whether he has been a failed president. that has been answered. the question is going to be who are we going to put back into place? bringing outsiders into washington d.c. -- washington,

d.c. people who are not worried about the next job. they are not worried about going to wall street and giving a cushy job. people like herman cain that understand making hard decisions. sometimes you just have to bear down. the epa is that agency of wanted to leave you with. an agency that is costing this country hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs because of this administration's love affair with the radical environmental left. one of the reasons this xl pipeline that will create tens of thousands of jobs if not hundreds of thousands of jobs from the canada oil sands down into the united states to be refined here and the jobs that

will be created -- the independence from foreign sources of oil. this president has said publicly that he will veto that bill. i hope he comes to his senses. you are going to trade at the next election and support the next election for jobs today in america? that is not leadership. we need somebody at the epa who philosophically will walk in there and test every regulation put on the books since 2008. test them if they create jobs or kill jobs. if they kill jobs, throw them out. if they create jobs, will consider leaving them in place. that it's the type of philosophy. in's of the herrmann cann the world -- america does not

owe them anything. that is the type of men and women i will be asking to come to sacrifice one more time for their country, to get this country back on track, and to make the hard decisions and wise decisions, and forget about all the self-dealing, and get rid of the fraud and corruption we are seeing in washington, d.c. yes ma'am? >> [unintelligible]

>> she is making reference to -- i have said in one of my ads that president obama is in a direct war against religion. i laid out a couple of examples over the course of the last few weeks. one of those has been aware -- there has been outraged from time to time and they have backed off. being able to have our chaplains go into walter reed, for instance, and take their bibles in and what have you. they backed off of that. for instance, the catholic charities that were receiving

federal dollars to help individuals who had been sexually trafficked. they said they could not have that money because of their position on being anti-abortion. i consider that to be a direct war on religion. the idea, as we were talking about earlier, -- this is not directly about this president, but about those who support his leftist agenda. the judges on the supreme court make decisions about where and why our children can play in -- can pray in school. has it come to this in this country that we are going to have to work to pass a constitutional amendment that allows our children to pray

publicly back our schools? they about it. the biggest day of their young lives is when they graduate from high school. to have some federal judge walked in and say you are not going to have an invocation, you are not going to say the word jesus or god -- that is nonsense, in my opinion. we need a president of the united states that is not afraid to profess their faith, that is a person of value. our founding fathers expressed their belief in that almighty creator. they put it in our declaration of independence. we were created -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- that means something. we have allowed our freedoms to

be chipped away as washington has gotten bigger and bigger and more powerful. our liberties have been constrained and have become smaller i want to be that outsider that goes to washington, d.c., that brings back the values that made america great. if it requires putting it in the constitution, i will campaign all over the country to make it happen, to get america and back to being america again. [applause] yes, ma'am? >> [unintelligible] it is an option for the irs to do our taxes for us. [unintelligible]

>> there is a piece of legislation by congressman cooper that would allow the irs to do our taxes for us. i am obviously not for that. i have a better idea. that is to ultimately change the irs as we know it today. from my perspective, it is about creating a flat tax. you put a flat tax of 20% on personal income, you deduct for mortgage interest, local taxes, charitable contributions, do away with the dividend tax, do away with capital gains, and then you take that amount of money -- 20% of that -- he put

it on a post card and mail it in. it should be that simple. a 20% corporate tax rate, do away with every corporate loophole that is out there. that is the simplification that need to occur in this country. if you make it that simple, you may need a few irs people, but with obamacare and what we have in place today with the current pack code -- hundreds of thousands of pages -- tax code -- hundreds of thousands of pages of rules and regulations that even accountants and lawyers do not understand at all. they admit that. simplify taxes in this country and reduce the regulatory burden and america and will explode as a job creation country. we have the resources.

we have the innovation. we have the technology. america can lead the world's economy back from the brink of disaster, but we have to have a change in washington, d.c. i would suggest to you only an outsider like myself is going to come forward and say no to all of those insiders who got us in this mess to begin with. yes, sir? >> [unintelligible] >> i have no problem with that at all. the issue for me is one of gender does not come into question. what comes into question is your values. what do you believe in? it will be someone -- at the

good lord decide to call a halt while i am is president of the united states, you will not notice any difference in the philosophy or the way that america will go forward from the standpoint of how washington need to be less consequential in your life. you might just have a little different accent. god bless you all and thank you for coming out. we hope to see you on january 3. bless you. [applause]

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>> thanks for being here. good to have you here. >> [inaudible] >> yes, sir. >> stay the course. >> yes, sir. roger that. bless you. merry christmas to you. absolutely. thank you for coming out. >> i'm a republican --

[inaudible] >> i love the sinner. i just hate the sin. that's what this is all about. >> god says to love one another. >> i understand that but he also give us some really clear direction. >> [inaudible] >> why should i caucus for you in january? >> because of the outsider side of it.

if you are looking for someone to make the changes, they have already been there. from my perspective, what you should give real thought about -- create more jobs than any other stayed in this nation. that is what america needs. it takes somebody that is tough in business. i respect every one of those individuals. >> can you beat obama? >> yes, sir. with this guy's record. >> [inaudible] >> we need a leader. appreciate you coming out. >> this is my wife brenda.

>> what's his name? >> nate. >> nate. >> thank you. >> right over here. >> take care. how are you? nolan county girl. >> [inaudible] >> i tell people there is a difference between being smart and wise. [inaudible] every day. god bless you.

thanks for coming out. bankruptcy if we don't. that is one of the reasons that i was for the extension of the payroll tax cut. it's got to be hands-off, just like the transportation trust fund. we got to transform the program, because we are fixing to have more figures -- once that happens. there is some good. it is ea-- quit kicking the can down the road. are you going to take our picture? good, good, good.

>> get 'em. >> [inaudible] >> yes, sir. >> hear what the candidates are hearing from the campaign trail with the newly designed c-span website for campaign 2012. >> if you cannot live with a nuclear iran, then you have to say what to do, and i think all options are on the table. >> if we took that oath of office series, we could get rid of 80% of the government. >> the question was, who is approving constitutional conservative and that would be me. >> read the latest comments from candidates and political reporters all at c- span.org/campaign 2012. >> next, our road to the white

house coverage continues with republican presidential candidate mitt romney at a campaign event in myrtle beach, south carolina, and rick santorum at a town hall meeting in iowa. tomorrow on "washington journal", rick green discusses his paper's endorsement and the republican presidential primary. foreign policy staff writer discusses relations between the u.s. and iraq. the president and co-founder of women thrive world wide describes the role that u.s. policy plays in the effort -- "washington journal", live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> sometimes i think it would be best for government to stay completely out of sports. a lot of the times when congress gets involved, the hearings are basically television shows a

designed to give the congress of men and women involved exposure. >> author and sports commentator john feinstein. >> the flip side is that sports is a multibillion-dollar business in this country. it has a huge effect on the lives of people, fans, people in terms of raising money for universities, for higher education. there are so many different ways sports affect our lives. many of the stadiums are built with government funds. so there are also times when i think the federal government should be more involved. >> his new book is "one on one." you can watch the rest of the interview sunday night on c- span's "q&a". >> next, republican presidential candidate mitt romney hleld a town hall meeting at horry- georgetown technical college in

south carolina. he is joined by this date's governor. this is the former massachusetts governor's third event in two days. the state holds its primary on january 21. this is just under an hour. >> [inaudible] beachmet in rural neemyrtle several months ago. >> thanks very much. >> you are going to win. >> thank you. [applause] >> all right. [cheers]

well, hello, myrtle beach and that is a wonderful welcome. and we love being here in south carolina and we love being here with your governor. so thank you very much for that warm welcome. [applause] mitt.ing to introduce first i will introduce nicki. i am going to tell you a few things about mitt that you might not know. we are high school sweethearts. [applause] anda the nic thing about high school sweethearts is that we can still be in love, 42 years later, five sons, five daughters, 16 grandchildren. [applause] i think some of you know that we have had an interesting life together. . i have seen him as a husband and

father and those are the things that are the most near and dear to me. so those of the things that make the most difference in my life. he was there when i was a young mom, reminding me all the time that my job was more important than his job. i appreciate it that. he said a job is forever, -- a job is temporary, and a family is forever. he had the perspective when he was a young man. i appreciate it that. i saw him be successful in business. i saw them be successful at the olympics and i saw him as his success as a governor. but seeing him were all of these different hats. what i see right now is a country that need a leader. [cheers and applause] i also see that america is going in the wrong direction and we do not like it and we want to change it.

so i will turn the time over to nicki so she can say why she is supporting mitt. thank you all for being so helpful and warm. >> thank you. what a great crowd. hello to you back in the back. it is great to see. first of all, i have told the romneys in south carolina we have great energy and a great patriotism. can you been too -- show mitt romney a great grand strand welcome? [cheesr anrs and applause] dthank you.

those are the south carolina and i know and love. we are thrilled to be here. i have to tell you that i am so fortunate because i am incredibly proud to be married to a man that puts on a military uniform every day. we have the coolest first man ever here with us. markell is here today, too. -- michael is here today, too. [applause] so we have gone all around the state and i have basically talked about a decision that michael and i decided to make, which was we knew that we needed to endorse for president. and i want to tell you a little bit about the process we went through, because one of the hardest things i have found being governor of south carolina is the federal government. it's in my way every day, whether it is dealing with illegal immigration, whether it is dealing with motor i.d. with the nlrb tried to take jobs away

from boeing, every day i have had to deal with the federal government. as much as the legislature. the one thing i knew was that the biggest issues that face all of you that you tell me every day that i know we are dealing with across this country are jobs, the economy, and spending. and i looked to see where is he fault of the jobs, it's washington, d.c. i did not want to endorse anyone that had anything to do with washington, d.c. [applause] the second thing i knew was i have always said it is not about what we say it is what we do. and it is about us showing your results. and what i saw was governor romney had fixed broken

businesses and made them successful. he took a weekend olympics -- weakened olympics and made it a source of pride for our country. absolutely. [applause] but on top of all of that, here was a governor that balanced his budget in massachusetts, cut taxes 19 times, get ready for it, with an 85% democrat legislature. [applause] so we are going to the process, so we talk about how we do not want d.c. we talk about somebody with results. and then you look at the fact that we are a military family and we very much care about those who have served and those that continue to serve, and we wanted someone and found it in governor romney, that belie

ves you strengthen your military. you do not know -- do what the president did and weaken your military. we should not look at who could win. we should always look at who should win. and the icing on the cake is when michael and i realized that governor romney was one that should win. the icing on the cake is that he is the only one the president obama continues to hit over and over again. you know what that tells me? he will also be the one that could win. as governor of south carolina, telling my constituents of south carolina, we cannot afford four more years of president obama. and so it is with that that michael and diane, with great humility, great support and gre

at excitement choose to endorse governor mitt romney as the next president of the united states. [applause] so as we go through through thesthese next few weeks, i will ask you to do what you did for me. i went to all of you and said, if you like what i have to say, go tell 10 people. we went from the fourth place to first place because you chose to care. i will say the same thing to you. ask him the questions you want to know. find out the information you can find out, but when you get done, go home and tell 10 people. when we do that, you are now looking at the next president of the united states -- governor mitt romney. >> thank you, governor.

thank you, governor. thank you. thank you, guys. what a warm and generous response. i will give a chance to ask you questions, but i want touto chat a bit. that's right. you get to as many questions. this has been a long day. you live in a wonderful place. you are really licuk ucky. myrtle beach is beautiful. the weather. is it always like this in the middle of december? always sunny and warm. 65-70 degrees today. a duck pond over there. a beautiful thing. a lot of things i like -- the beach, the ocean, the duck pond.

how about sticky fingers? i had some barbecue at lucnh. nch. they have to roll me home. u.s. something else that is good and you have a terrific governor. -- you have thing else that is good. i thought i might tell you a bit about why i feel about the country the way i do. i have not done this since i have been in south carolina. i learned to fall in love in america when i was a boy because my mom and dad loved this country. my dad was born in mexico -- american parents living there at about age 5 or 6 years old, they came back to the u.s. and went from los angeles to iadh tdaho o utah. he went broke more than once.

my dad was a carpenter. are drywall carpenter. he never had the time or money to put together to get a college degree. but in america, if you are willing to work hard and get as much education as you can, you can sometimes accomplish your dreams. he did. he became head of the car company that sold ramblers. remember them? if sold ramblers and later jeeps. then he became governor of the state. remarkable country. he always believed in america. when weaver young, my sisters and brother and i, he made sure we got to see more than where we were aboard and raids, which was destroyed. we got to go around and see the rest of the country. he put us in the rambler. troublous from national park to national park. we slept in the car. -- traveled from national park to a national park. he wanted us to see the mountains and canyons and the

six koreas and the oceans. we fell in love with the beauty of the land. i also came to understand something about the character of the people that fashioned informed america. because of dad would tell stories about the founding fathers and mom would read to us from various books that told us about the subtle way of the country. one book by irving stone was called "men to match my mountains." it told stories of the women and men that took a risk and championed the building of this country. and i was telling this story to a fellow a number of weeks ago and he said, did you know the name of that book was taken from a poem? i did not. then he recited a poem. i was kind of impressed. this was after 50 years, he remembered a poem from high school. i have since learned the first four lines because i think they are relevant to what the poet thought would make america an

extraordinary country, a unique country. to match my men melons, men to match my plans, men with empires in their -- " the idea is that this country would be built by men and women with employers in their purpose -- empires in their purpose. empires of construction and innovation and pioneering. that is the kind of people that would change the world. you look back at the country's history and that is what we have seen all along. the founders had this extraordinary innovation that the king was not sovereign but he citizen was, that the citizen was endowed with an annual rights. that brought in and you hear that change the world. you had technologies.

in the 1800's -- 8050 there was a world's fair in london. i read about this over the summer. the author said that each country was invited to send a display, and from america can be as big crates. it was a mccormick reaper that would do the work of 40 men. they put it together and it did just that and it changed the world. people were able to be freed from the firms to comment to cities and build an industrial age. henry ford and the assembly line change the world again. more recently, the computer and the new economy and software and internet. america keeps inventing. men and women with empires and their purpose. it's uniqquue in this country. we are ahead of the great countries came from because of that innovative spirit of america. i do not think president obama

understand america. i do not think he understands what makes our economy so strong. [applause] i think he believes it's government, government is stepping in to tell businesses and individuals what to do. he does not get it. what in america what makes a strong is not our government telling us what to do, but the government allowing us to be free to follow our own passions. that is what makes america great. [applause] the founders had such an extraordinary choice they made. they described the things that were inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. the right we would have to choose our course and live, to pursue happiness as we wished. so people like steve jobs came along and found ways to change all things that could happen -- just amazing what has happened in this country. those few individuals that have

such extraordinary vision. those visions do not make the rest of us poorer. people choosing their course of life that does that. i love this country. i think it is time that we have a president and understand it as free people and not big government that makes us strong. [applause] let me mention a couple of the things and turn to you for your questions. the other thing that i think the president misses is i think he somehow imagines that if we keep on spending and spending and borrowing that things will get better. that is not how it works. we are at a point now where we -- were spending has become such a risk that i am afraid the next generation could be stuck with our bills. i think it is not immoral for us to pass on to the next generation huge debts and liabilities they cannot pay off. i also recognize we are probably

headed towards oa greece wall. in some respects, i think our president wants us to become more like europe. europe is not working in europe. i want to keep america america. i want to make sure our principal stay strong -- p rinciples stay strong. let me mention this -- what is the right course for our military? there are some who have the view that america's time has come and gone. that this next century will be a post-american center. in their view what we have to do it is a piece or accommodate these other people in the world that are getting stronger. the world is not safe for. that is the only justification i can come with further

justification to shrink our military. the president has cut the military budget by almost $1 trillion over the next 10 years. the secretary of defense said that is a doomsday scenario. think of that. our navy some years ago was asked how many ships we had to have as the absolute minimum to be able to fulfil our mission and the world, and they said 131. w313. we have fewer ships now than anytime since 1917. our air force is older and smaller than anytime since 1947. our present was to cut the number of active-duty personnel, in spite of the fact receding rotations at a very high level of men and women going back into active service in far off places. we are not always caring for the veterans the way we should. i want to increase our shipbuilding fr. update our air force.

i want to add instead of subtracting 50,000 personnel from are active duty roster. i want to add 100,000. i want to make sure that as we save money, and we will, it needs to be overhauled and streamlined. i want to make sure that in addition to the programs i described that we care for the veterans the way they deserve to be treated. [applause] and so i want to see an america that is strong. i want to see an america with strong values in our homes, the police fundamentally our american principles. i want to see an america with an economy that is second to none in the world. that will only happen if we are the pioneering, constructing economy we have seen in the past. i want to see an america that has a strong military, an america that agrees not to spend more money than we take in. those are my priorities.

i want to make sure we elect a president who has the kind of you that america should continue to lead the world, that this next century is an american century where america leads the world. and i will be that kind of president with your help. thank you. thank you. thank you. [applause] now it's your turn. ok. thank you, guys. this front section is getting a lot of exercise. this is great. boy, we are enthusiastic in myrtle beach today. let me turn to for questions that you may have. yes, sir. yellow shirt. >> my question has to do with character. benjamin franklin, one of our forefathers, was a man who believed that he could improve

themselves and he devised a way whereby to do that designing several virtues that he thought would help them to be a better person. northeast started with temperance. went on from there to frugality and ultimately to chastity, which is one of the challenges he faces. he added the number 13 virtue -- humility, which he felt was required of any leader. what i would like to ask is, as a person running for president, we know how important character is a a -- personal character. we also know that every candidate has a vises and flaws. we recognize that. we want to -- we will not ask you to identify those. >> thank you. we only have so much time. >> what is the single most of virtue of character that you think you bring to the office of president of the united states? >> boy, that's a -- um.

let me give that some thought for a second. the single most virtue. >> poll the audience. >> leadership is in some respects a product of character, which is that you look at people and say, why is that person a leader? what makes them a leader? sometimes you see a young girl or older person and you say, that person is a leader. it is not just the ability to talk fast are well. it is to invest in the people are around them because they see a person of character. for me that quintessential part of character is integrity, which is a do you live -- i aspire to be a person of integrity. i am trying to balance your humility.tue andoof

i aspire and try to live my life in a way that is consistent with what my values are. the lack of integrity or hypocrisy is where you say one thing and you have certain values, but then you live by something entirely different than that. but humility in my life is frequently provided by my five sons and my wife. they point out my a shortcoming. if for some reason they miss one or two, these guys with the cameras help me out. [applause] thank you. this guy here. >> do you remember me from last time? i have pictures of us. >> how could i forget year? what is on your jacket. >> north pittsburgh. >> we have another pittsburgh fans. >> my question is, why did you put romney-care in the state of massachusetts, and do you

regretted? >> the answer is i am proud of what we did and did not regret it. let me tell you why we did it. we had 8% of our people in our state that did not have health insurance. and we went to find out why. some cannot afford insurance, but some have figured out that if they just dropped their insurance, did not pay for it, that if they got sick they could go to the hospital and get free care paid for by government. so they were saying, why should i buy something i can get for free? that does not make sense. so we have to find a way to get everybody in the system to take personal responsibility. the way we came up with it was not perfect. there are some things i would change. there are some things i tried to change at the time, but you heard from the governor, that the legislature was 85% democrat. elections have consequences. let me tell you some things that are different between what we

did and what the president has done and why, on the first day in office, i will take action to stop obama-care and repeal obama-care. [applause] so i'll metnio ention a few thi. one it raised taxes by $500 billion. two, he cut medicare by $500 billion to put in place is obama-care. number 3, he took the power that states have always had to care for the uninsured and grabbed that into the federal government in violation of the 10th amendment. i hope the supreme court says it is unconstitutional. [applause] and finally, on e more thing.

we had 8% of our people that were uninsured. nothing changed for the 92%. our bill as 70 pages. his 2,700 page piece of legislation, does not just change health care for people who do not have insurance. it takes over health care altogether. it will be defeated. i will get rid of it. that is one of the things i will do as president. thank you. >> hi. glad you're hear. we send millions more to other countries. a lot of these countries want to kill us. i do not get this. we have a hungry people, jobless people, what can you do to keep our money here? >> thank you. thank you. you know, the term for an aid is really a bucket of a lot of

things where we send money to other places. if in sending money to other places, we are doing it in order to keep our own troops from having to be there or perhaps trading our defense department, and our lives of our sons and daughters, then that makes sense. if there is a place such as israel where we think the whole place could become of boiling cauldron, we will send money to help them protect themselves and keep conflict from breaking out and that will save american lives and save lives there. that makes sense. but where we send money to nations that do not like us, it is not a military purpose, but where they do not like us and we are trying to buy friends. i think you are in friendship. you do not try to buy it. we sent $27 million -- guess where? to china. for them to clean up their environment. really, as you say this does not make any sense. i will stop sending money to

places that do not like us, that do not stand with us when we need them to, and make sure our priorities is to keep america's security and keep us strong. [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you for coming. i am linda hopkins. i have spent my life in a form of public service or another -- education. even though i am retired, i still teach part-time at tech. i have such concern about jobs. i have people in my class is you are 54 years old who have lost jobs. nobody wants them because of age. there is truly a great ceiling. there are kids in there who are seniors in high school. we have a pace program here. so much of what i see -- i was born between the depression and the second world war, much of what i see is a deborah a -- desperate place in reference to jobs.

i am of fierce independence. and i was not so crazy about the jobs bill, but it made me think about something. and that was what really rescued this country in the 1930's. those were programs called the wpa, the works projects administration and the civilian concentration -- conservation corps. concentration it was for some, they thought, once they got in there and started digging around. but we still profit from those today, from our national parks. the stadium that our kids played in high school was built then. i worked in virginia. our kids went to a river rock school that was built by wpa. it brought young people in there. it gave them jobs and purpose. we probably have some people sitting here right now that was a part of that. i just see us in such trouble

right now. our infrastructure is crumbling. to me, a a program similar to that would be a place to repair the road and bridges. the bridges and south carolina are in terrible condition. it would put people to work. it would also put money into the economy because there would be spending money, and maybe get some of these things fixed. is anybody thought about that? -- has anybody thought about that? >> people are thinking about things like that. the president went out and borrow $787 billion. a remarkable amount of money. a huge, massive borrowing, and said he was going to spend the money to put people to work. and after you put that money in place, the private sector continued to lose the jobs, and the governmental sector added

135,000 jobs. and very little of that money went to "shovel-ready"projects. he was going to create programs to save his friends in government and pursue government programs he was in favor of. the right course for america is not to say the private sector cannot succeed. but to say we need to give small businesses, big business to grow. what i do not want to do is add more taxes on the american people or borrow more money that the next generation has to pay for in order to say we are going to stimulate the economy. this is time to say we are going away from a stimulus. we instead are going to fundamentally improve our economy to get the private sector working. how does that happen? what does that happen the way we would like to write no? let's describe that. everything the president has done related to the economy, almost everything, has had the opposite effect from what he

wanted. he has put in place the most nti-jobs, anti-growth agenda i have seen in my life since jimmy carter. if you want to have americans go back to work, you need to say, how art we going to encourage entrepreneurs. you heard the head of coca-cola. he said it was a more attractive business environment in china than in america. when that is the case, your coin to see businesses, small and large, going elsewhere instead of investing here. i met a chief executive officer. he was with a senior member of the obama administration. i will not mention who it was. the fellow said, i have looked at your balance sheet, and you have a lot of cash. why are you not investing in america? i said, that is a question you should ask yourself. because we are not investing in america because what you have done here and made it less attractive.

what we have to do to get people to invest in america, to do what bmw did, coming to south carolina? one, we have to make sure that our tax rates for employers are competitive with those of other nations. two, we have to make sure that regulators see their job as encouraging the private sector. three, we have to have trade policies that open markets for our goods and make sure if they are cheaters like china we say no to their cheating. [applause] i got a long list. four, we have a lot of energy in this country. natural gas. i do not know if you understand what has happened, but again, these brilliant innovators found a way not just to drill or vertically into the earth. now they can also drill

horizontal. they tap into pockets of oil and gas. and push fluid in there. we have 100 years of natural gas. this administration holding off. we want to develop our own energy resources. i was with the head of a large enterprise that just announced they are building a $20 billion factory in saudi arabia. they said they wanted to build and pennsylvania, but they could not count on our regulators to make sure they could get a gas out in pennsylvania. we have the keystone pipeline being spoken of right now. canada wants to sell as energy. this administration is saying now. . we need an administration that recognizes that the key to job growth is not putting people to work in government, but to let the private sector stand up and grow. yes, sir. yes? hi. >> hello. excuse me.

i am little nervous. >> me, too. that's ok. >> i've followed your interview last night on fox. you talk a lot about compromise. i am curious with the two parties now so diametrically opposed, in what they see as the job of the federal government, democrats being large government -- republicans of being small government -- how do you compromise while standing firm on the principle of smaller government? >> a good question. let me tell you, i would not say i would never use the word compromise. but i tried -- because that means different things to different people. i look for republicans and democrats to see if they can find common ground, which is not to say i expect democrats to

give up their principles or us to give up our principles. i am certainly not to give up my. i would like for them to give up theirs, but they are not likely to. i look to see if there is some place we can agree. because the democrats and independents and republicans love america, you can find a and from time to time places where you can agree on that. right now, i think there is agreement in this country that if we stay on the course barack obama has put us on, that sometime within the next five years or so, we will hit the wall greece has hit. the differences, in greece they can get bailed out. they are a small country. the region around them will be doing pretty well and they get pulled out. if america gets in trouble, no one can pull us out. the consequence would be extraordinary. and so, that tends to concentrate the thinking to say, were confined, and ground?

i just saw something which i thought was extraordinary -- yesterday or the day before -- which is that we want to make sure that medicare is there not just for current retirees but for future retirees, for people in their 20s, 30's and 40's. we want to make sure that the trillions of dollars of promises that are not yet funded will not scare away people from investing in america. and so a democrat named senator widen and a republican named pay ul ryan said, how about this? in the future, we will say that people with a high income will not do is pick up payments as people of low income. the republican agreed, the democrats agree. they found some common ground. they also said, we want people to be able to choose traditional medicare. that made the democrat happy.

or choose private plans. that made the republican happy. so they came together. if you have people who are willing to put the country first and put aside the politics and look for common ground, they can. i had what was considered the misfortune to be elected in a state that has a few democrats. [laughter] my legislature was 85% democrat. that taught me that to get anything done i had to listen to my democratic friends and see what was important to them. they listened to me. and we were able to do some things together. when i was in office, we faced a financial crisis. the chief financial officer of the state said we are going to come to a point where we cannot pay our bills. money is going up faster than it is coming in. i went to my legislative praetorship and said, i would like you to give me the authority to cut any part of the budget i want as much as needed.

now for them to agree to something like that they have to have some trust in me. and so, they agreed to do that. and i then went in and cut out of hundreds of millions of dollars so we could balance our budget. that happens when people care about the job they are elected to do more than they care about getting reelected. thank you. [applause] here you go. here goes the microphone. >> hi. i have something to ask of you. in solidarity with the priority that is in every state that you go to, i would ask -- are run a charity, but it does not matter what country -- i am sorry, what state you go to, if every person in here brought a canned goods, they would have stoppecked the pantries. i have people waiting in line

every single day. people who have never asked for help before, it is difficult for them to come in and ask for food that first time. they do not want to apply for food stamps. they do not want ask, and they are hungry. they have not paid their workers because they cannot. i would really ask, will any of the kennedys, anywhere, if people would bring in a canned goods for any state they are in, the pantries are in desperate need. thank you. >> thank you. i hope we recognize -- i appreciate that thought. i hope we recognize that when we hear a number like 10.5% unemployment, we do not think of that as a number. when we hear that 26 million people are out of work. or have stopped looking for work. i can of art -- or can only get part-time jobs. they need full-time work. we recognize these are real

people. you were saying a moment ago, this means that what is happening right now in the country means that young couples that want to start a family cannot afford to. kids that went to college -- what to go to college cannot afford to. that someone in their 50's, putting aside funds for retirement, cannot find a job. marriages falter. and you say people are hungry. >> some are living in a car. >> this is a time when we need to make sure the safety net is repaired. and those of us that have need to be generous to those that do not. i was just as a food pantry in new hampshire. and people lined up to get turkeys for thanksgiving. fortunately, folks had gone to the grocery store and brought them to the pantry. and folks were able to have those things out. this is the time for us to care for our fellow men and women. appreciate the work you are doing in that regard. thank you. yes, sir? right there and a blue vest.

hello, sir. >> good morning. >> it's afternoon, i think. i am nervous. my question has to do with global warming. not actually global warming, but global warming andalysis. the hysteria we are now in with regard to global warming has to do with the modeling of the planet by computers. it has nothing to do with -- our energy policy is based in this country upon as global warming analysis, which has come down to energy based upon sun and wind, which turned out to be trivial energy. when we need it natural gas and oil and coal and all the things that really produce energy.

my question to you, sir, is what would be your policy with regard to this fraud that has been going on for decades? thank you. >> well, first of all, i am not planning on cutting -- in with nancy pelosi. [applause] number two. speaker newt gingrich tells us that is the biggest mistake of his life. there are three things i believe with regards to global warming. i am not a scientist. i have not build a model of how the environment of the earth works. what do i think? i think the earth is getting warmer. i may be wrong. he says i am. ok. it has happened before. i think we contribute to that. number three, i do not know how much we contribute to that. so my energy policy -- does not

say, let's spend trillions and trillions of dollars to stop the emission of greenhouse gases. instead, let's develop the energy resources we have an america. one of the nice things about natural gas is that it tends not to emit as much greenhouse gas. let's use clean coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear. there is a nuclear man up there. and those things have the benefit of getting america independent of people who we buy energy from who do not like us very much. also has a byproduct of emitting less greenhouse gas. my energy policy says -- do not support cap and trade. in my region of the country, the northeast, the governors put together our regional greenhouse gas initiative that would limit and cap and trade gases. i refused to sign that, along with the governor of rhode island. the right thing for america is

to get our own energy, get ourselves independent from the oil cartel's and make sure we do what is right for america. thank you. yes? >> appreciate you being here today. i am the progress of here in myrtle beach. i wanted you to elaborate a little bit on illegal immigrants that are here, how you would get rid of them or how you would control that. i'm sorry. i'm so cold. but my major concern is with -- it is discouraging to see the elderly go without food. a lot of these folks who are single mothers. they have cell phones for free. they can get their groceries for free. and they do not contribute anything for our system. i do apologize for what i said to get rid of them. that is not -- i want them to be

here legally. i want them to come the way we can. i think we need to address how we will deal with the illegal immigrants. thank you. >> thank you. i'm glad -- as we all do in the world of politics, now and then we say words that are not exactly what we mean. then we have to correct them. you corrected on the spot. i think we can all agree that in legal immigration is a very good thing. it has been for america and it will be in the future. i like legal immigration. it is a good thing. [applause] to make sure the system works, we have to make sure we stop illegal immigration so that our legal system continues to work effectively. how'd you do that? how do deal with those that are here illegally? one, i would build a fence. i would have an of border patrol agents. number 3, for those that come here legally, i would give them a card, like a credit card with

by a metric information, picture, and a number and i would say to employers, if you want to hire someone without a valid social security number, you have to ask for that card. if they have it, you put in a number, it will tell you whether that person is here legally. with the card is a valid or been counterfeited. and an employer, that is fine. if you do not do that, you are going to get sanctioned. we are going to crack down on employers that hire people who are not here legally. i give them a time to register, a temporary time to get their affairs on order. some have kids in school. give them some time. we do not want those who come here illegally to be able to stay in this country. they have to go home and get back in line with everybody else. [applause]

when they get up to the front of the line, we can welcome them back as an illegal immigrant. but i do not think those that have come here illegally should be given a special pathway or an advantage relative to those who are standing in line, coming to this country legally. thank you. yes, sir? this better be an easy question with that teacher on. >> you mentioned natural gas a couple of times. this is regarding h.r. 1837. you'll probably like that, right? that would give incentives to manufacturers to build natural- gas cars, and two suppliers to build infrastructure for natural gas to supply cars. i am in favor of it. we are important about a billion dollars worth of oil every day

now in this country, and payments are way out of work because of that. i think that would be a good bill to pass. >> i appreciate your thoughts. i am not familiar with that piece of legislation. i will look at that. in some cases, we provide encouragement to the market to do things they would not do otherwise. oil companies want to keep selling oil. we would like them to considerable natural gas, which we have in abundance in this country, but there is nothing wrong with oil. we have and not of -- a lot of new oil that has been discovered. i want us to take action to get ourselves off a dependence on foreign oil. that means we have to participate in getting our natural gas stock. natural-gas is, relative to oil or gasoline, on a per btu basis, very cheap.

it is very inexpensive. i want to get it out to the marketplace, where people can use it for transportation, heating, cooling, for feedstock, for our chemical industry. let's use the resources in our country. there are a lot of hands up, and i know you have to go. i will take one more. this young lady looks enthusiastic. >> i know we talk about jobs, and that is important. we need to remember education is an important step to those jobs. what are your plans if president to improve education in america to make us competitive? >> i will tell you a story in this regard. i believe the responsibility for education starts right there, the governor. the governor and the states are the place for education. [applause] so i am really reluctant for the president of the united states to step in and say, "i think

your curriculum should be like this puzzle -- like this." i am hesitant to dictate to states what they do in education. there is now an effort by secretary duncan to put together a national curriculum. i am not enthusiastic about that idea. in my state, we put together a curriculum back in 1993, before i came along. we put together a curriculum, and i like what we came up with. other states, if they like it, can borrow from it. if they don't, they can create their own or let each district to do their thing. i do not want to impose a single curriculum. there may be things in there i do not like. i think it is best to keep at the local level. what can the government do? one thing it can do is stand up to the big federal teachers' unions. [applause]

and i know some of my friends are concerned about president george w. bush putting in place this program of testing, having states test their kids. i supported that. the reason i did is i knew the teachers' union, the big federal teachers' unions, with all their money, did not want kids to be tested. that would point out which schools were failing and which were succeeding. the president said, "of what each state to test its own kids." he did not tell them what level they had to reach to pass. he said, "come up with your own plan, but you all test." that way, we know what school succeed or fail. i will look for places to stand up to the teachers' union and make sure that schools are run by the parents and the localities, not the teachers' union. [applause] i just want to say this.

we have talked about some many things that are challenges and problems. we 015 trillion dollars in debt, 62 trillion dollars in promises that have not been funded yet. people are hungry. they are out of work. young people have schools that are far behind schools around the world in terms of quality and output. we have a world that has become more dangerous. israel is in a more fragile position than i have seen during my adult lifetime. we have the nation of pakistan, a fragile nation, yet it has over 100 nuclear weapons. we have north korea with nuclear capacity, trying to sell the capacity to places around the world. the list goes on and on, the challenges. but i am optimistic. i feel like about america. we have people with empires in their purpose. we have innovators, pioneers,

inventors, and freedom in this country. i recognize something else. we are patriotic. we love the country. [applause] we respect the principles america was founded upon. we actually thrilled to something jfk said. even republicans did. "ask not what the country will do for you, but what you will do for the country puzzle that is what we want. fdr, during the second world war, asked us to put our hand over our hard during the playing of the national anthem. he began that tradition, in honor of the blood shed by our sons and daughters in four of places. we are patriotic. i believe that if we have leaders who will draw on the patriotism of the american people, who will tell the truth and live with integrity, and who know how to lead, who understand the economy and what makes it

work, that america can overcome any challenge. i intend to be one of those leaders, with your house. thank you so much. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> now, rick santorum, holding a town hall meeting in iowa, the southeastern part of the state. this event is part of the former pennsylvania senator's faith, family, and freedom tour. he became the first 2012 republican presidential candidate to visit all 99 iowa counties earlier this year. the caucuses are scheduled for january 3. this is about an hour and 25 minutes. >> we are here two weeks plus before caucus, and we are here, obviously, engaged in something meaningful, something important. to back up, i am a campaign guy.

25 years fighting in the foxhole to the sound of the guns. i love the campaign. when a candidate comes through my tiny little county and shakes my hand to ask me for my vote, i respect that. that is what a candidate is supposed to do. one candidate did that -- rick santorum. i voted for him at the straw poll, based on that one thing. he had trust in us as iowa to get this right. as the campaign progresses, there are candidates that will jump in. we finally set a date -- january 3. these are the candidates in front of us. i got in the game. i immediately got in the game. my heart was always with rick

santorum. it was an easier decision with me the most. but i tell you it was easy to come to that in -- to that conclusion, because for 25 years i was in foxholes that rex santorum was diving into in washington d.c. -- life, marriage, families, the social issues, fiscal issues, and foreign policy issues. everything we pour into our platform, rick santorum was fighting, good times and bad. you see the kind of candidates i am attracted to. the 99 county tour earned our respect. it is trust, but the willingness to fight, the extra thing. we know we have a fight ahead.

it is not over in november 2012. there is another obama standing right behind him. we know that we do this every four or eight years. every election is the most critical. we are at a tipping point. we have to be fighters. a year ago, and it might have been not the last time i was here, but maybe the last time i was campaigning -- a year ago, i was the campaign manager that worked to boot the three judges out. there was one of the candidate's standing on the stage that came to iowa and stood in the foxhole with us. that was rick santorum. he was out here, going around iowa, helping educate and campaign to send a message to the judiciary and help us move those three judges. so i am in the foxhole with him,

because i believe there is one candidate that has the platform that matches hours. -- ours. one candidate is unwavering in good and bad cycles. there is only one candidate -- one can did it -- that can take this fight to the left and win in on the values we hold dear. that one candidate is senator rick santorum. [applause] >> thank you very, very much. i appreciate that. it is great to be here with you. chuck has been travelling with me throughout southwest iowa for the last few days. i greatly appreciate his support and guidance throughout this set of primary -- this caucus time. i have to admit when there is a flag up here i feel compelled to ask everybody to stand. we start our meeting and say the

pledge, and then we can go on with our town meeting. does anybody mind saying the pledge of allegiance? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands. one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you very much. thank you so much. i do not know how many times -- [applause] she has put together events for me here. one time, we had a very small crowd. ever since, she has put the last two events for me here, and we have done well. so i know who is the power here in this county. thank you so much for helping us out. i know you are helping all the candidates out, and i appreciate the great work the folks here do to let this caucus worked as well as it does.

you know, i for started coming here. the governor was running for governor at the time. i was talking about it. he was asking whether i was serious about running. i probably would not have the resources of everybody else. he said you cannot buy iowa. you have to work. if you are willing to work hard -- obviously, chuck's mantra of getting all 99 counties. when i finally got -- about a month or two ago, when i finally got to all 99 counties -- i did not drive through all 99 counties. i did not stop and waved. i have done about 350 town hall meetings just like this. it is not just a speech. we talked for a few minutes and then open for questions and let the people of iowa, what they are thinking. i said to chalk, when i ran into him and one of these speeches --

i have been to all 99 counties. he looks right back at me and said, "you haven't for 30 years, have you?" i was 20 years old 30 years ago. i have had a wonderful opportunity to get around, and as i mentioned it to almost 350 town hall meetings. we will have that done by the end of this week. i am feeling very flattered. i was talking earlier with chalk. i said, "it is going to be reared in a couple of weeks. whatever happens, i will be out of iowa for a while, and it will be really strange." you go to these states, going state to state, a week or two at a time, and do not have the kind of opportunity you have here. i really think the people of iowa. i think they have made me a

better candidate. i think they will make me a better president, and i think they have made me a better person. i mean that. i have had a wonderful experiment -- experience. it is a great experience to have. it is really something special about the folks of iowa. here we are at saturday afternoon, when you have things to do, and you come out because you are concerned about your country and have a special obligation. you do have a special obligation as iowans. you fight very hard. they fight very hard to make sure you are first. i know you take that responsibility seriously. here is what i would say to you. please take that responsibility seriously and do not deferred judgment to others. do not let national polls are some national pundit who has not set foot in iowa or spent time getting to know the candidates, or paying attention other than occasionally watching a debate

where you do not get a chance to see much of anything, except half the time the moderator is talking, not the folks in the debate -- trust your own judgment. trust your instincts. go with what you think is in the best interest of the country. you folks to take the irresponsibility of learning more about the candidates than anybody else. how many people have seen another candidate so far in person in this race? it is over 2/3 of the people in this room. several of you i have met before. this is not the first time. i have seen several of you. you take this responsibility seriously. trust your judgment. i have one word to the people of iowa. lead. you need to lead. go out there and tell the people of america, after you have had the exposure to see the candidates and measure them up, to kick the tires, to look them

in the eye, to see what is in their hearts and souls -- you take the responsibility of leading. do not deferred justice -- judgment to others who do not have the experience you do. we have come to the heartland because we want to make sure the values are represented. we have been on our faith, family, and freedom tour, traveling iowa and state -- and south carolina and new hampshire. we try to deliver a message about what is at stake in this country, and what values are at stake. i know the number one issue in this country, without question, is the economy. it is the most important thing. we have seen a lot of discussion in past debates about the economy. i put forward a bold plan that balances the budget in five years. i know one of the sponsors of this event -- i do not know if

she is back there somewhere, with strong american now. she will come back after i am done and has a caucus education video for those of you might not be familiar with the caucus process. strong america now is trying to provide educational support. that will be available after the town hall meeting for you to look at. i pledge to strong american now that i will commit to balance the budget in five years. i have already laid out -- i am putting together a road map of how to cut $5 trillion over five years. that is pretty bold. will use process improvements that business has applied to make sure the room a productive and efficient operation. the have to compete with the rest of the world. the government does not compete with anyone. they just have to borrow more or tax you more. we need to do better than that. i signed on with most of the

people in this race. we will put in process improvements and other types of efficiency standards in the federal government. also, it is not just that. it is reducing the role of the federal government. there are 72 entitlement programs in washington, d.c. the vast majority of those, as far as money is concerned, are operated by the state government. why? because that a state functions, but some of the federal government thinks they have a role to play in doing a state function. we need to say the federal government should not have a role in these functions. we should eliminate federal control over these things, a block grant money, cut it, cap it, send it back to the states, and do what we did with welfare reform. i know newt takes credit. he was speaker of the house. but i was in the house of

representatives, the ranking member of the subcommittee, and chaired the group who wrote the bill that was in the contract with america on welfare. when i came to the senate, and manage the bill on the floor of the senate in my first year in the senate. why? i wrote the bill, and i knew a lot about the subject matter. i can always say that i certainly did not write the whole bill. there were things from all the members. it was an elaborate process. but i would argue there was as much me in that bill as any other member of the senate or house. we worked very hard on the floor to get the consensus to be able to get the votes necessary to force president clinton to stop vetoing the bill and sign it. we got 70 votes, almost half the democratic caucus voting to end a federal entitlement, block grant it, ship it back to the states, and change it from a dependency program to a transitional program. we need to do that to medicaid,

housing, training programs. all of these things should be time limited. i have a work requirement as part of receiving these benefits. they should be transitional in nature. who has done this? i have. we worked together. we were able to put together an effort that got bipartisan support for stuff that has never been done before or since. we need to do a lot more of that. i have put together a plan to shrink the federal government, to get this growing, to put together -- we call it made in the usa money. we are the only candidate talking about how to get the manufacturing sector growing. we need to cut taxes. we need to simplify the code. it is a bold plan. a lot of people say we will eliminate the irs who is quick to collect taxes? is the federal government going to run on no taxes? will have to have some sort of

tax collection agency. i love folks that promise things you cannot do. we have to have a tax code and collect taxes. i am not want to eliminate the irs. i would just like a simple code so you do not have to worry about the irs. we will have two rates -- 10% and 28%. 28% sun was the high rate under ronald reagan, the top rate. the was the 1986 tax act. if it is good enough for ronald reagan, it is good enough for me. ronald reagan was able to get it through a democratic caucus. look to what we can accomplish, what we can pass, and what is translation. we replace the it tote -- the code with 5 detections -- children, charity, pensions, health care, and housing. i have to tell a story. i took a shot at rick perry, so i have to tell something funny. perry and i were next to each

other not relax -- not the last debate, the one before. he was answering a question on the drones in iraq. he said there are two things president obama can do. he said, wait a minute, there are three things he can do. i thought, "ono." -- oh, no." let him get all three out. i like him. he is a nice guy. he gets all three of them. he ends the question. but as the next question of somebody else. he leans over to me and said, "i was taking quite a risk, going with the third one." i said, "i was praying for you." i always say prefer everyone, and good things can happen because of it. i lost my train of thought. i don't know what i was talking about. i was talking about the five

deductions. that would simplify the code. those are the five pillars of the tax code that most people consensus believe should continue to support of this critical economic time. the corporate tax -- cut it in half, from 35% to 17.5%, and make it a simple net profits tax with a research and development tax credit. we should continue to incentivize research and development. when it comes to manufacturing, we will eliminate the corporate tax. 35% tax now, 0 going forward. if you make things in america -- if you make things in america, you pay no corporate tax. you are saying, "why would you tax folks here at this restaurant 17%, and the folks down the street, who manufacture, nothing? is that fair?"

my answer is they will not take the restaurant to china. but they may take the manufacturing jobs, and they have repeatedly, to a lot of other places. we need to compete. we do not have to compete for restaurant business with mexico. a mexican restaurant, but not mexico. we need to make sure we can adequately compete, but we are not. that is where we are losing jobs. i asked the association of manufacturers. they said that if you exclude labor costs -- people say we are losing jobs because labor costs are high. let's take those out of the equation. are we competitive with our top nine trading partners, with whom we do the majority of our business? the answer is we are not. according to the national association of manufacturers, which are 20% more expensive than our trading partners in manufacturing. we are not losing jobs because

of labor costs alone. we are losing it because of high taxes, high cost of capital, high energy prices, and a higher litigation and regulatory environment. what are we going to do? we are going to change it. we eliminate the corporate tax. i was in its s.e.c. said the two days ago, not far from here. right before the debate as a matter of fact. i was at the cattle company cattle company? right on 20. i did a little town hall meeting just like this. there was a table of folks having lunch. i said hello. they said they work a little of all manufacturing here. i said, would that help eliminating the corporate

income tax? he said that would be great. we would have an opportunity to grow. acidy have an overseas operation? they said we do. i said would you bring those profits back? they said we decided to leave them over there for now. i said what if we eliminated the tax and you invested your capital here. he said we would do it tomorrow. we would grow a plan here and create more jobs here. we would bring the money back -- and we would put it and plant equipment. number three is regulations. some day this week in the wall street journal they did an analysis of the number of regulations the obama administration put in place you can see clinton and bush are like this and then obama. the average under clinton was 50 a year. bush is 60 a year. i think with all, it is like 85. it is going up exponentially. it is supposed to be like 150

this year. these are regulations that cost business over $150 million each. these are the big and expensive ones. they are exploding because this president believes he can run your business better than you can run your business. he has an agenda as you heard in his speech in kansas the other day, he does not believe in the free market or capital nice anymore. he believes he is the great read distributor of wealth. we believe in equality of results, not equality of opportunity. it is not my vision or the a american vision. is not who we are or who we have ever been. that is the vision in france and england, it is not the vision of america. it is the reason my grandfather came to this country. he wanted a country that believed in him, not an

bureaucracies and kings and the bureaucrats. under my plan, we eliminate every obama regulation that cost over $100 million a year which would be almost every obamacare regulation. there is a clean-air regulation going into a factor now. eight democrats in the senate have said they want to suspend -- they want to stop from going in place because it will shut down 60 coal power. -- plants over the next few years. there is no way to get there by building more green energy. now i have figured out how they will get there. there are going to get rid of all the other energy and have less energy but have green energy be a bigger percentage. is that not a great idea for a cheaper electric rates and more reliability? this is a president that is more committed to ideology than

he is to you or to the american people. he does not believe in you. he believes in government. he believes in the ideology and he laid it out very clear. it is an ideology that divides in america. it pits those who have against those who have not. it is the 90 -- it is about 55/45, enough for him to comfortably when. ladies and gentlemen, i have a very good plan that will turn this economy around. cheaper energy and less regulation and manufacturing will explode. going to places like denison and the south was corner of the state. when i was down outside of hamburger which just cut 200 average job secured when i was

in newton, we are seeing manufacturing jobs leave small town i know what just like they've left my small town that i left -- that i grew up in butler, pennsylvania. i found this to be the case in iowa, now that i have been to 99 counties i have been to almost every small town. most of these towns were based on some kind of manufacturing economy. what happens is, not only did we lose jobs and we went from 21% of the people to 9%, not only did it affect blue-collar a america which has a 10% plus unemployment rate as compared to college-educated americans, not only will it help bring manufacturing jobs back that pay $20,000 a year more than the average job in america, it will also help small town and rural america. there's not anybody in this room that does not have a kid or grand kid that is living in

denison who is living in the morning or chicago or somewhere else -- why is that? because the jobs are not here. when they go to the city, and they go from main street and a small town america to big city america. whether we like it or not, the valleys of small-town america are carried different than big city america. look at a map of the united states, you will see all of this red accept in these little dark dense areas of blue. what we are seeing is those areas of blue getting lower and lower and more and more people in the areas of red stain read but with your people out there. it means the valleys of the americas is going to start to change because we do not have the economic opportunities out here in small-town rural in america. that is why i am particularly passionate about helping blue-

collar salt of the earth folks being able to live out here in small-town america and be able to do so to provide for their families. that is a that the reason we are promoting the made in the usa plan. final. and then i will open up for questions. the idea that we can have a small economy without -- a strong economy without families being strong in america is a fallacy. you have a rip -- you have a lot of republicans running around and the only want to talk about the economy. people say be need a truce of family value issues. you think about that. a truce -- that means it stop fighting. as conservatives, we want to stop fighting on the moral culture issues. 1.2 million abortions in america. we are only in the family. gay marriage has now been forced on the people in iowa as it has and several other states and is being forced in the courts of other places.

if we have leaders will sit back and let that happen. -- if we have a truce we will sit back and let that happen. the number of people married and a america -- a report, this past week. it is at an all-time low. it dropped 5%. 30 years ago 70% of people over the age of 18 were married, it is now 51%. the state of marriages and a crisis. let's have a truce. let's not do anything. let surrender. at the. we are in right now, tourists is a surrender and i will not surrender. -- truce is a surrender. it is important for the economy of our country. i am trying to remember the -- two people out of the brookings -- if you did two things in a america, you could almost be

certain to avoid poverty. two things that are very achievable. but what those two things be? graduate from high school. two, anybody know? get married. you graduate from high school and get married. isn't that what everyone did? they graduate from high school and got married. in many cases, right after they graduated from high school. what happened? the poverty rate in america among two parent families is 8%. the poverty rate among single heads of households -- single moms and single dads -- i am not knocking single moms and

single dads. i happen to think they are the most heroic people in american families because they are doing the jobs of two people. they are doing the job that somebody else walk away from work the problem that somebody is not participating in fully. they are doing the job of two people. it is harder than doing the job of a mom and dad and whether you are a bomb and a dad as a father, i would not be a good mother. they are different. you have to provide and nurture. one is hard enough, doing both is really hard. this is not a knock on single moms, but the bottom line is the poverty rate is approaching 40%. what does that mean? that means when families break down, or does that go? government.

poverty rates are higher, they need support. government has to get bigger to provide the support. the idea that we can have any kind of family structure we want anything will be fine, that has been the watchword for the past decade. all families are the same. anybody can get married. anybody can live together. do whatever you want. it does not matter. it does matter. it matters for children and mothers and fathers. you know the service, who are the happiest people in america? people who are married. we know all this, does the government do anything to support it? no, we do not. do we try to encourage in our law? >> no, we cannot. hillary clinton wrote a book, does anyone know what it was called? "it all takes a village."

i wrote a book in response to it called "it takes a family." i have written one book about the one thing i really care about. karen and i have been married 22 years. we have seven that we are raising that are a live. we feel very blessed. i know how central and important family is to america. i know how important it is for me and what i am able to do. i could not do anything. if i was a single parent, i could not do anything. run for president? i could not do that. the idea of what is possible because we have committed relationships. imagine if we had a government that nurtured and supported that. that actually encourage that. that actually celebrated that. what what the effect on society

and the economy? i wrote a book about it. i really do believe we are missing the boat. i know people say "you have to be quiet about the social issues." he will be labeled as a social conservative candidates. it is common sense, folks. americans are, i think, ready to hear the truth. ready to hear what is common sense and what works and america. we just have to have the courage to talk about it. you will have somebody that has the courage to do that. final point, there are two question that every i one has to ask right now. at least that is what i have been told. he the two things you have to decide is, number one, what is the first priority for you in this primary? you want to elect somebody that can -- number one, who is the best person to be au >> . no. two, who can restore the

country to the values and principles of limited government and free enterprise and respect for traditional moral values with a stronger america to protect and keep us safe. it is pretty much what we are looking for. who can do that? who will be able to do that? i would make the argument if you look at the field and there are some good people, there really are, i would say that any of them would be an improvement. the only person i would say who would not be an improvement is ron paul in national security. i do not believe he would be an improvement over barack obama, and that is a very low bar. but he would not. other than ron paul, everyone in this race would be an improvement over barack obama by leaps and bounds. it is not a criticism of them, but just a comparison.

people said, rick, we like you. they said, we like you and we are -- you are on our list. but you cannot win. who says i cannot win? the pundits because they never talk about you. they did not give you any time in the debates. he was last? herman cain with seven. that is because he list the last two debates. he was tied with them? me. because i was in every debate. huntsman was ahead of me. they're not giving you time to go out and an election cycle that has been very debate centered.

what are you going to do about that? what are you going to do? how would you convince people you are going to win? what is the way to convince you as to whether someone is going to be successful in doing something? maybe whether they have been successful in the past and doing it. american samoa performance is an indication of future success. if you said that on your perspective shoes, you would be thrown in jail. who in this field have one -- there are four folks who have run for congress. you ran for congress in a heavily democratic congressional district and one? any one of the four? need. --me. he was able to be a democratic incumbent to win the first

congressional race of the four? me. who was redistricted into a district -- by the way, a 14- year democratic incumbent. he was put into a 24-year incumbent in a 71% district and one their election? me. i voted as an 81% conservative rating in that district. here are two folks to win statewide elections. who was able to win an election in a democratic state as a conservative? he was able to win an election as a conservative between the three folks who have won statewide? me. he was able to win a swing state, a state that would be essential and possible -- impossible to win in order to win the presidency. me.

he defeated a democratic incumbent to win a swing state his campaign was managed by james carville? me. he was able to get reelected in a swing state after having a 93% conservative voting record, being the leader of all pro- life issues and the united states senate, where reforming the welfare system and ending the entitlement, and lead on national-security issues to strengthen our military. in a year that george bush lost by five and a person won michigan -- won by six, me. i find it interesting that with almost 1 million more registered democrats than republicans against an incumbent and a tough challenge that i cannot win, but all of these people who have never been a

democrat, never won in a swing area or democratic area as a conservative, they have a better chance of winning. based upon what? they are more moderate. that is what they think when they say he can't win. it is that they are more moderate. they say that about 48 w. bush against ronald reagan. they said, we have to be for bush because he can win. in this election here is what we need. we need somebody who can present a clear contrast with this president. the national media and $1 billion in the obama coffers is quality toward whoever the republican nominee is for president and to what? in to a right-wing conservative crazy man. they are going to try to paint -- they made john mccain a

conservative. imagine that. if you can make john mccain a conservative you can make anybody a conservative. it will put this person to the far right. how about having somebody who actually believes the conservative ideas and fought for them and is willing to stand up and say, yes, that is exactly what i believe. not? and said, i believe this then and i believe that now and i am sort of here and there. that is what john mccain did. it does not work. people want somebody that they trust. in this election, people will say how did you and pennsylvania. not because people agree with me. a lot of folks did not agree with me. they trusted me. the trust that i would do what i was going to do. that is what i did. that is how we were able to win. with that level stop and be happy to take your questions. >> i have been looking for a job

lately. lucky said, most of the iowa jobs are gone. my brother in law as well as looking for a job. he just got laid off. his last day was december 16. nine days before christmas. the problem is, des moines is one of the biggest papers in the state and they are classified as -- about one- fourth as a page. my problem is all the jobs are out there in iowa, we have a lot of manufacturing people who are trying to find jobs and the only place to find jobs is a north dakota because of the oil. >> we could do what if we would build a pipeline which i am for and the president is not for. i give the congress credit. they look like they are going to stick that pipeline provision on every single bill that passes and they should. they should put it on every bill.

as a dead man the president makes a decision. he should not play politics with it. that is the amazing thing about the president. it is so blatant. i am going to pull the troops out of afghanistan. when? how about two months before the election. everything the president does is focused on his on political survival and a 10 dead. let's extend the debt ceiling. what should we extend it? how about past november 2012. if this was a republican it would be stringing him up. it would be terrible. the bottom line is, we have a president who is focused purely on his own reelection, purely on dividing in america. i have put together a plan and its manufacturing plant. the reason i put it together is because i think it is the best plan. i think it will help blue- collar america. i also think it will pass.

it has the kind of support from areas like michigan, ohio, pennsylvania that are important manufacturing states and processing states where there are democrats elected he will vote for a bill like that because that puts their people back to work. when i put these things together, i put bold plans out there. when you come from a state like pennsylvania, you cannot think as a purist. you have to think how can i take conservative principles and adapt them to get the support necessary to move the ball. the president does not think that way. he is an ideologue. he is driven by his own ideas. he was successful his first year because he did not have to compromise. says that first year went by, he has got nothing done. he has been unwilling to do things that reach out and try

to bring people together from a common point of view. >> my oldest daughter recently returned from her second tour in the gulf and my son had three tours. >> thank you so much. >> are supposed commander in chief is withdrawing our troops from the gulf. he is dismantling our missile program and hours base program. what message is that sending to our military and what message would be sent to our military? >> the first priority of the federal government is national security. it has to be. why? it is the only thing the federal government does that nobody else can do. can somebody else -- can the state provide health care program for its people? sure. education? sure. you look at all the other things federal government does, the state can do it accept national security.

even border security, you could say those states could do it. the one thing they cannot do is they cannot go out and organized militias to go out and defend the country. the federal government has to do that. the president's chief function in the constitution as commander in chief of the country. when i talk to people and they say that the economy is the most important issue, it is now. it may not be by november of next it very well may be national security. if we have an explosion go often to iran, if it's as they have a nuclear weapon, this election will not be about the economy. it will be about what we are going to do to keep the country say if from a country that will be prevailing care. they have a nuclear weapon that could drop on somebody that could cause cataclysmic war. that is why we have to stop them from getting a nuclear

weapon. number one, i would not cut the military budget. i would allow for wages and benefits to continue to rise at the rate of inflation. the rest of the military budget that would freeze for three years. depending on national security issues. if we are at a different position from the standpoint of iran and others, that may not be possible. from a budgetary standpoint, the last place i will go to cut is the military. when i say cut, i do not mean change. i mention strong america -- will put that in the defense department also. it is one of the things i signed on to it because it has proven to have savings that the defense department. we are going to put a priority -- anybody know what percentage we spend on defense roughly?

about 20%, as did we spend 50 years ago on defense? -- how much did we spend 50 years ago on defense? 60%. when ron paul says we have all this defense industrial complex, that is baloney. defense has gone down by two- thirds. we have to look at all of the other areas first. as commander in chief, we will protect -- defense is a priority. no. two, i will say to our men and women in uniform that i will deploy eu only where there is a national security interest in our country. not you got that or the condo, that is not a national security issue. -- not uganda or congo, that is not a national security issue. does that mean we should not be involved in humanitarian

purposes, of course we should. not with our military. if there is a crisis we should help, but never use our military unless it is in the national security of our country. the president has violated that twice. in libya and central africa. that is my second commitment to the men and women in uniform. my third commitment is we will be on the advance and offense and making sure our country is safe in the war against radical islam. i will name the enemy of like the president who has sanitized every document. the fort hood report -- remember forehead where he went in there and shut everybody up? in that report the word muslim, is long, the job is never

mentioned. --jihad, islam is never mentioned. this is the kind of political correctness that loses wars. in misinforms the public so they do not have the stomach to fight the war. i will tell the truth. i will tell the truth that every man and woman who serves in the gulf was. you asked e.g. hottest whether they are in a police war with america, what will they tell you? they will say, yes, they are. we may not be in a holy war, and we are not. we need to recognize that they are and what motivates them. we need to tell the american public the truth. i will do that. i will tell the truth to our troops. >> i told you at the beginning i saw you at the debate. i did not know if you got the

chance to answer the question or not, but i know rick perry did it out security. where is your stand on that? >> i commend the senator. he has been tenacious. i served with them on the finance committee when he was chairman. chalk is dogged. having them on your tail, i would not miss that -- and wish that on anybody. they will get to the bottom of this. the need to. they need to hold him accountable. it seems clear to me that he may not be being forthright. in my opinion, we have a track record of eric holder not being forthright. he was not for a threat on the clinton pardon of the sky mark rich or he seemed to lead -- misleading congress.

he is performing his duty and one of the most partisan fashion is that i have ever seen. not enforcing laws -- selectively enforcing laws. he does it with emigration were they made selective enforcement of immigration laws. they are doing it with employment discrimination and other kinds of eeoc claims. there is only one type of discrimination, that is minorities being discriminated against. if you are right on a minority, you cannot be discriminated against. that is not written in our laws. it is with him he would not enforce doma because he does not agree with it. the problem is, he is doing exactly what the president wanting to do. he is not robust. i said the other nine that would fire him. -- he is not rogue. i would fire him. i do not think he tells the truth.

that makes it even more reprehensible. the more they can put on eric holder, the better as far as i am concerned. >> i do remember when he said that, i remember rick perry saying he would ask and to resign. he said he would fire him. >> there is no greater defender of the second to admit men in the congress and i was. i believe it is an individual right. having guns is not for hunting. a candy for hunting and shooting. i have been out hunting pheasant here. i was hunting the other day with steve king. we talked quite a few pheasants out of the air. -- wheat not quite a few pheasants out of the air. we do not have guns for hunting, we have guns for self- defense. we have guns because that was

the right they give each of us to be able to protect ourselves and our freedom. that is why it is the second amendment. they did not put the right to bear arms down at the bottom. it is pretty important. the founders put these amendments in order for reason, they wanted to show how important the amendments were to fundamental liberties. the bill of rights. freedom of conscience first as it should be. and then that things that come with freedoms of conscience, to be a but think and believe what you want a beleaguered best fundament second is to be of a suspected, write it, and gathering people together to practice it. and the second one is, have begun to make sure someone cannot take it from you. -- have a gun to make sure someone cannot take it from you. that is our ponders soccer you not find anyone strong from the

second amendment in may. and there people in this race who were not strong on the second amendment, including the top two people in this race or not strong in the second amendment. i think there is another differentiator in this. yes. >> produce stand on illegal immigration? -- where do you stand on illegal immigration pressure market -- illegal immigration? >> i amnestied king republican on that. i'm a first-generation american. my father came to this country when he was 7 years of age. my grandfather came to this country legally, worker for five years, earned enough money to make that his citizenship, brought the rest of the family of her. he left his family and my father for five years. he saw his father for a onetime and dulles for couple months. -- and that was for a couple of

months. we have people saying that we should not separate families. people separate from families all the time to come to america, to have the opportunity to be free here. and by the way, he did not come here because to get benefits. from 1922 -- in 1925, there were not benefits. i should not say that, there were huge benefits. freedom, the opportunity to pursue your trees. and it was a tough job, he worked in a coal mine in a company town. it means that -- i don't know if you know what a company town start, i don't know if they had them here in iowa, but we had company towns where the mine operation owned houses, on the store, you get paid in two funds, not cash. by grandfather figure out pretty soon that that was a dead end and so he took less money for cash. as opposed to the coupons. he worked hard to create freedom for me and made that sacrifice.

and the idea because someone can across here as newt has said was here for x number of years and now he is a 25, a little loop year before that, now is 25. someone his hair for 25 years that we should not separate from their families, while if you are a 25-year-old knew that three kids and, and you break the law, and leasing it to joe, should we send you to jail because you of family? you broke the law. should we go compassionate and not separate you from your family for five years or whatever it is because it would be cruel and inhumane? if people do something -- the idea again that somebody comes into this country and i think newt said that if they had been working and paying taxes, if you are in this country illegally, and you are working and paying taxes, what have you done?

you have stolen some 1 social security number and work illegally. right? you're breaking the law there. so the idea that we have someone to is seriously breaking the law, which you have to do and i understand that they are here and they put themselves in a position where they now have to break the law to stay here in order to survive, but do not create this picture that they have not done anything wrong. that is why said, look, i have compassion for them, but there are laws. and there is justice that has to be done. right now i do not think newt has a right on that. we have to enforce the law. i give the president credit. he has and forestall a lot more vigorously than president bush has, but the a selective enforcement. is not to boarding everyone at that time, only certain people and we need to be much more broad based on this. we need to be toughening -- tougher on employers.

steve king just offered a new bill that says that even you are an employer and employee someone as an illegal and you do not use the verified -- e-verify, that you cannot deduct the wages and benefits of the person you employed if they were illegal. retroactively. it is a pretty big hit and a pretty big fine for hiring someone. a very big incentive to use the means necessary to find who is illegal in this country as a safe harbor against that penalty. in a ready else? yes, sir. >> all the topics you have talked about, you're absolutely correct. and you brought up families and social issues. if you look around this audience, i think you'll see the age of most of this year, a lot of us here have lived in america since it was different from the

america that we know now. all of these topics, if they are corrected in one decade, if we do not get the morality in this country turned around, it will go for naught anyway. it will go down the cesspool. i have a simple question. no, i do not know if anything can be done for the ftc, but can anything be done for the movement of the television and the special activities, the profanity, violence, and it increases the moral decadence of this country, can anything be done about that? >> interesting that you bring that up because this is the topic was involved in when i was in the senate. when you have seven children and you see the sewage that flows

into your house from the table -- from the table in the internet -- cable and the internet and you realize the damage it is doing to the moral values of their children, not just physical damage, but damage to the morality, doing damage to their, to there, to having normal relationships with people of the opposite sex. i mean, it just stroy is -- it just destroys what god made is a beautiful thing and turns it into something ugly and sort of primal. so i thought, could we do something? i have worked with john mccain to try to pass a bill, to try to do some things to protect kids on the internet. the supreme court said it was unconstitutional.

i think the supreme court is wrong. i think they are dead wrong. i can tell you, i will do whatever i can as president through executive order, to the regulatory process, and i will fight the courts. and they can strike down my regulations and strike and i will fight them again. i think they're wrong on this issue. you do not have the right in my opinion, the first amendment was not there to corrupt people in america with pornography and horrible violence and sexual violence in the things that are going on out there. that is not a protected right, in my opinion. that is a dangerous thing to a culture. and i think the court is going overboard on that issue. number one. number two, when i left the united states senate, one of the things i decided to do was to stay involved in this fight marion because i believe culture is upstream from politics. you know what that means.

you do not want to put things upstream -- do not drink from the creek, do not drink downstream from the herd, pretty basic thing. we are drinking downstream from the herd. and we're getting some pretty rancid water. which i tried to attack the herd, if you will, the culture. i did that in congress as best i could, in working with trying to encourage people of means, conservatives, to get more involved in the culture, in the production of the culture, in making movies and television and writing and plays and books and novels. to have positive cultural artifacts, if you will, instead of the negative ones. and there's been some improvement in that regard, but we have got a long way to go. and while there are artifacts and good things out there, you see more films that are family

friendly, and all the pg rated films and peachy-13 films do better than the other films, but hollywood still makes them. because they have enough -- they have their own agenda. and it is very clear. look forward which controls hollywood has a big agenda because they are trying to change america upstream from politics. and we all know course that many was that they have done that and the many issues in which they have done it with. when i left the senate, i decided i needed to stay involved with that so i actually for almost three years helped run a little technology company said the people could say, have you ever had a business experience, i have. and it was business experience, something i care very passionately about, the technology to work on a tv are dvr to have parents at it television content, if you wanted to pay an episode of

csi, you could choose things that you did not want to see like graphic violence are different levels of comic violence, 10 different areas of violence, very mild to very severe, and you could say, i do not want to see these things. and then you would record whatever program on your dvr. it would send down data that would identify the scenes that you do not want to say, and when you played it off of your dvr, you would see an edited version of the show. it would allow you to protect children from things, of the television content and commercial content, that your children, you do not want your children are even you do not want to be exposed to. that was a great technology. what i found out was, the cable companies want nothing to do with it. it did not care. i said, well, this is because, number one, it was a premium service, you made money on it,

obviously, so we wanted offered to a premium service to the cable companies. the cable company said it is not really our market. i said, it really is your market. what percentage of cable households have children under the age of 18 in the home? would you think? what percentage? 70? 32%. and they're not the big users of cable. they do not have the big cable bills. who has the big cable bills? single males. [laughter] so our cable companies, they wanted to the minimum. they want parental controls to say that they have a parental controls did they do not care -- let me assure you, they do not care about protecting anyone from television content. they are in the business of marketing content.

they just want to be able to say that they have tools for use and they do not spend a lot of time, money, for energy providing them. so we wanted to do that and they said, now, if you wanted charge $10 for that, $10 they will not spend on hbo and we get a higher percentage of that money, sard. -- sorry. so the company went out of business. we went out for money to ramp up in the fall of 2008. as you may recall, that is when everything crashed. [laughter] timing is everything in politics as well as best as. we could not make it go. it was a great experience, a great experience for me, and they're still technology that someone can pick up the news, but it is a very important thing for us to -- for the private sector in my opinion to find a solution, but have a president -- i say this all the time with respect to the family and marriage, i say with respect to the whole basic values --

having a president who is going to go out and talk about -- i respect michelle obama going out to talk about of the city. i respect that. it is a problem in america and she is going out and creating awareness. but marriage and the filth and our culture, i think, is much more detrimental to the health of children than being a few pounds overweight or even a lot over weaker if there is a lot more at risk and there may be a lot of reasons that underlie our health problems like obesity and other things because of the affect of not having a mom or dad and home, but the fact of not having as security, the fact of being exposed to filth and violence on television and the media, that may have an effect on a child's health, too. we ignore that because it is their friends in hollywood step produce it. all i will not have too many friends in hollywood so i am not to worry about them not being with me. you think they do not have friends in hollywood?

i think so far now, my name has been used, i think it is four times, four times in network produced shows. my name was used in a fictional content. all negative. four times my name has been used, and recently a couple of months ago on "the good wife." the use my name and one of the episodes. again, it was a derogatory reference. i do not have any friends in hollywood. [laughter] so if that makes you -- one of the things you can learn about someone is to their enemies are. if you want to -- please go find that to my enemies are you will feel very comfortable voting for me. all right? [laughter] we've got a wrapup, is that what you're telling me? are we still on? we are live on c-span. c-span cameras over there. so you might want to not identify yourself if you are

hiding from the law or something. [laughter] >> is there still a silent majority that knows right from wrong or are we pass that? >> when i wrote my book, i talked about how the array of forces against truth are getting pretty heavy. against the values of our country, against the traditional values, the day of-christian values our country. and the understanding of what freedom really means. freedom, i was talking about in my book, i use the term no-fault freedom to describe the freedom on the left, the freedom without responsibility, freedom not only the left, but even a libertarian right, the treated to do what they want to do very that is how people view freedom in america today, the freedom to do what you want to do. it is not our founders freedom. our founders freedom is the

freedom to do what you ought to do. that is the freedom that you after you never have the freedom to do what you wanted it. if you had the freedom to do what you wanted to do, then this war would be chaos. we're all doing what we were wanted to do. no, there are boundaries. as edmund burke said, the chains that will constrain you are change if you put on yourself from within or change the government will put on you from the outside. so we will have the freedom to do what we should do, what we ought to do. i always talk about our founding document, that a coalition of independence. the heart of american exceptionalism are in these words that if you went to public school before 1970 in new them. we hold these truths to be self- evident, right? that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. think about that.

right come to us from god. what guy? the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob. ask any of the founders, that is what they would tell you. even the deist. the god of abraham, isaac, and jacob gave each and every person rights. an amazing thing for the founders to do because it came from a country that did not believe that. they believed in god-given rights but where did they go? to the king. the divine right of kings. to the emperor, they were the ones that got the rights and people subjected to the will of the cane. that is to use served. you are servants of the cane. right? not in america, now. government serve the people, not the people served the government. a complete turnaround. that is why it was such a revolution, it was a revolution in the history of the world feared that is why it makes so exceptional.

america, god-given rights to each and every person, to do what? what were their rights? life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. think about it. they could have said happiness, liberty, like. why did they put life, liberty, happiness? because this is order. you cannot have happiness unless you are alive? like is the foundation all right. is it protected in this country? no, it is not, not all like. freedom to do what? to pursue happiness. what is the definition of happiness? getting back to the definition of freedom, when you're having is, what you think? pleasure, right, enjoyment, something the major feel-good, that is happening. that is the general definition. that is not what it meant in our founders time. go back and look at the dictionary definition in the time of our founders, one of the

definitions is to be the morally right thing. why? because our founders understood, they understood at that time, true happiness came from doing god's will. and if you are out of order with god's will, what you ought to do, you will ultimately not be happy. right? these are biblical principles. and of course we have -- we are a very difficult hundred back then. so what is america? america is god-given rights, to use those rights to serve him to do god's will. america is a moral enterprise. at its very foundation. that is why we have been so successful. and yet, we have people in america today -- not people, institutions in america that are fighting against that truth. it started with higher

education, the left, the secular left, took over higher education, the relativists who believe in notre, in no-fault freedom, and then of course hollywood, the government big labor, now big business, all the bigs. all interested in power, controlling. they're not interested in true for doing in and do it -- in doing what is right but in doing what is best for them. as long as they have the power to make the decision, who stands to fight for the traditional values of this country? two institutions. the family and church. and what is the left trying to destroy in this country? >> the family in the church. >> that is right. that is why i am very upfront about it. because you need these two to get this. you don't have these to, you

will not have this, or any kind of understanding of what freedom really is. understand, we are in the most important election in your lifetime says the election of 1860, i would say. and you better and stand here in iraq how important your role is. -- in iowa how important your role is. you have an election in two ways, and a lot will happen. this race is anyone's -- i literally, i would not be surprised to finish first, and the person right now and first could finish sixth. this race is that close and it is that we would. so do not do anything -- it is that fluid. you go out and pick a person and

work hard for them. i'm going to ask if you could fill these cards out, i know a lot of folks are going to -- hear they are. a lot of folks coming around the county and saying that they need your help. they are lying. i need your help. [laughter] because we are running the campaign that is relied upon you. we're putting and add up a little bit and for someone out there running an ad on our behalf, we felt very grateful, but the bottom line is, we're running a grass-roots campaign for 99 counties, 350 thanh hall meetings, we need people who are going to go out that -- town hall meetings, we are going to need people to help us win this from the ground up. you want to send a message out of iowa? there is one candidate that will send a message for the candidate they have systematically and nord -- there's one canada that will send a message.

decanted that they have systematically ignored. they do not talk about me because i am the most conservative candidate that can win this election, whose proven track record is to win this election. this is the last person they want the republican party to nominate. so you showed them otherwise produce a, you know what? give him a chance. give him a chance. get him out there, put him up there at the top of the list, and give him a chance to show that he is the best candidate against barack obama. cynne all these other candidates rises and falls. iowa, people say, how are you going to get your boom? i am trusting the people of iowa. i'm spending all my time here in raising very little money. i raise enough money to get around and see the people of iowa and i will trust you to go out there and give me the opportunity to show this country that earning people's

votes is the best way to run a campaign. go out and earn it. and have a press is that people will support and get excited about. i need you to fill out these cards, and if you can, how many caucus locations, i forget. 15. i need at least 15 people, one in each location, at least one, the sign up and help us out and speak for us at the caucus for you all had a chance to interact with me and i'm going to stick around and be happy to talk. if you can sign up and help us out, that would be a huge help to us. in addition to that, if you could recruit people to come, recruit another caucus capt. so that on caucus night you will not be alone to speak but have other people to help caucus folks, a lot of people show up who are undecided. that is our key to have people out there. how many caucus captains to we have in crawford county courtroom and we know the number? we have three so far, ok?

how many more does that make? we need 12 more. we need a dozen more. that is not even all of them. but we will take all of you, don't get me wrong. the consigned and helpless, i would appreciate that very much. you can take signs out there, there are bumper stickers, all sorts of opportunities to be helping. two weeks. i am not asking for a huge commitment here. this is the most important election in our country's history. our founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to give us freedom. you know what they thought was their biggest concern? whether we would keep fighting to protect the freedom. to keep doing that job because it takes every generation to hold it. so i'm asking you if you believe this message and you believe i am the right person, great, i will love your vote but you need to do more than that if we're going to be successful. i do believe that we will believe successful.

i feel very good about our chances in the momentum that we have in the work that we've done that will pay off. it we would -- we would greatly appreciate your help during crawford and i will turn this over to she loved for final word -- sheila for a final word. >> [inaudible] i am sheila murphy and i'm truly honored to be on the staff my brother is also one staff, and we're working primarily in southwestern and south-central iowa. so we are here for you. we are asking you to go to the caucuses, as rick said, you can stand up and speak for us, go early in talking month, and bring your friends and relatives, and generally spread the message. we find that what -- once people

know what rig stands for, we have no problem recruiting people. we need your help in that and we will be around and give you whatever material, talking points, what ever you need to get that stuff done. we're there for you. we have these cards, a very easy way to communicate with neighbors and co-workers. all you have to do is put here and sign it. very quick and easy way. we have got a lot of these out here. grant handful and make good use of them. but a bumper sticker on your car. goethe the intersections and knock on doors, you would be at by -- amazed at how many people will let you display yards hundred and excellent tool to get there. in alice following -- someone sent me a twitter remark by one of the people who were coming --

covering another candidate going into account. -- another category we have great support there. wherever we would go, there are santorum signs everywhere. this is santorum country. it does have a psychological effect on people to see bumper stickers and yard signs, particularly an election like this where you have six candidates, and six good people, that can see that kind of public support, it creates a sense of momentum, particularly here in the last few weeks. signs of very important to us. you get that lapel stickers, and if you can stick it on your overcoat, so that if you have it on, people can see it. you can put a bumper sticker and a car. it is only a couple of weeks and you can tear it off after that and put on a new one after the fall. so what ever you can do, every little bit helps. if you want a picture taken, put it up on your facebook page, and

posted on twitter, whatever you can do, we will help you, and provide you the information so that you can help us to the contact with your friends that is going to help us win. >> pick up one of these. it will give ideas any of you can do to help support the campaign. there is something for everyone in this campaign. i have to say it is very exciting. the momentum is growing exponentially and we are having a lot of fun. join with us, because we are going to save this country. let us know what we can do. >> i was just one to say the momentum is good. we picked up the endorsement a week ago of met shultz, secretary of state. we picked up a lot of state senators, as well as other elected officials in the state.

we are going to have an announcement tomorrow of another prominent pastor who is going to come and support us. a couple other endorsements are lined up of big people who are going to step forward, and conservative leaders in the state. we are picking it up. we are picking up the old- fashioned way, picking up because of grass-roots efforts. people say, "this is the candidate i like, because i have seen him, i know him, and i like him." you can add to that momentum if you help us out. i will stop with that. >> i was quick to tell everyone that cindy -- >> that is right. >> cindy is a great friend of iowa. she is the northwest iowa regional coordinator for strong american now. she is going to be here. she has a wonderful video on caucusing. it is 17 minutes.

she will be here to show it. for any of you who would like to see it, it is quite excellent. she will answer questions about strong america now. it is a great organization. sign the pledge. >> i have. i will greet anybody who wants to. thank you. >> merry christmas. >> thank you. merry christmas to everybody here. merry christmas. >> thank you very much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> hear what the candidates are saying from the campaign trail in the newly designed c-span website for campaign 2012. >> if you cannot live with nuclear iran, you have to say what to do. all options are on the table. >> if we took the oath of office seriously in washington, would get rid of 80% of the government. >> the question is who is the proven constitutional conservative. that would be me. >> read the latest comments and links to media partners in the early primary and caucus states, all at the website. >> next, the group occupy new hampshire holds an organizational meeting.

then president obama talks about the senate passage of the payroll tax extension. after that, campaign stops by michele bachman and rick perry. on "newsmakers" senator john barrosso discusses how republicans view congress's record in 2011, and looks ahead to the issues of next year. sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. next, the group occupy new hampshire held an event to discuss their plans for the week leading up to the january 10 presidential primary. the event took place in manchester, new hampshire. >> we want to discuss the full case of what can be done in meetings. we will also discover where mike check came from. this is the third month

anniversary of occupy wall street. in the original occupy wall street movement, when it took to the parks, they were prohibited from using amplified voice technology. when you are trying to speak to a thousand people, your voice does not carry. so if you cannot have amplified technology, you use amplification of the people. mic check was established as a means of one person speaks, and the rest of the group speaks the same message again, and it carries further and louder. that is where it comes from. it is not a means of harassment or anything else. when politicians are being mic checked, it is a means of making the people involved in the discussion, not separate from the discussion. as part of a discussion with a large group of people, we have to be able to speak without

other people speaking over us, so we have hand gestures that allow us to express appreciation or like of a topic. this light of the topic. not sure about the topic. if we veer off topic, it is point of process. if we are discussing something and it is a piece of information that needs to be introduced, point of information. we do have one that when somebody is speaking out and there needs to be a direct response to that, it is a direct response. and this is clarifying question. if anybody has a question pertinent to the issue, they can ask a clarifying question. point of process trumps everything else, because it means we are bearing off course and it needs to be discussed to get back on course and cover the topic appropriately. this is a participatory

democracy. everybody has a voice. we all need to be able to respect each other. we do not speak over each other. that is what the hand signals are for. ok. and there is a consensus process that is involved in coming to any conclusions for the group, or as a general process of coming to a vote on a topic. there is a call for a vote. you can use support, not support. there is also block. that is the most stopping of the process you can do. it means i find this detrimental to the process or movement in general and will remove myself from the process if this continues. this is not a means of stopping the process from working. that is we need to discuss this and work it out so it is no longer a problem for people involved.

clarifying question? >> the words democracy and consensus -- how those compatible or exclusive to each other? >> well, yes. this has been debated, at least, before. i would definitely recommend taking a look at plato. he does not have a very positive portrayal of democracy. but athenian democracy is a democracy where the people, the citizens of athens, had the capability of participating in the democracy on a daily basis. whoever showed up was there. it is not represented tory -- it is not representative. if you are a citizen, you have a right to participate in a democracy. you show up on a daily basis and discuss what is going on. all people have a right to say

and affect the change in government. the consensus process, to me, is something that has been somewhat newark to the athenian democracy process. it comes from a separate tax system. but that is another mill you of information. -- it comes from a socratic system. but that is another milieu of information. it is to get past specific to those things we share in common. this is another hand sign we have to keep in mind. if you cannot hear from where you are in the audience, this is turn up the volume. the consensus process is trying to get everybody to agree on the issue, and ending thanks to the point where we can agree on them.

-- amending things to the point where we can agree on them. is there another question? stand aside? if we are rambling -- >> use the microphone. >> if we are rambling -- stand aside or abstained. there is a sign for you are not going to block it, but you are not necessarily going to participate in it. that is stand aside or abstain. point of information? >> when are we going to get to work groups? >> first, but we have basically got to introduce each individual group, and see what each individual group is participating in. the next process we have is

sarah jane, who wishes to discuss a topic for us to either support or become interested in. clarifying question? >> the different groups that go up here, can they be quick about it? it is a quick, 5 minute thing. >> i would say about a minute. >> 325 minutes? -- three to five minutes? >> ok. any more questions before we move on to each group introduction? if you are from a group in the area, do your point of information, and we will put you on the stack. come up and do it. >> i am up here first.

make a note. you will have to come up here. i will just bring up and talk about what we are doing for the primary. i know we are going to get into more details later, but we are here today to talk about what we are doing. i will give a brief play out. we're going to be occupying the primary from friday january 6 through tuesday january 10, which is the day of the primary itself. the four day event is structured around to our time slots. these to our -- these 2 hoir time slots will allow groups from the region -- new york, boston, portland, and at burlington, and new hampshire as well. that is what these time slots are there for. they are also for community advocacy groups, new hampshire

citizens alliance, lgbt community, and another group of disabled new hampshire citizens, an advocacy group. that is the layout. it is a two hour time slot. what i would discuss at this point is the layout with provided. if people from each group could talk about where they meet. you could give more color than i have about what you are doing. i think everybody knows in manchester where we meet and what we are up to. i would like to open it up to rs, and weoccupie will find out who is here and who is not.

>> i am mary ann o'connor. i am from the occupied alachua. this last week, we had our first ga and establish ourselves as occupy nashua, in solidarity with occupy new hampshire and others throughout the country and the world. let's see. we have a few points of information so far. we are having an event in nashua called 99% aware. the new hampshire archdiocese's recognized this event and invited other church groups to attend. we are really happy about that. is anyone else from nashua here? a lot of them. we did discuss at our first ga what we would like to do, what

we would like to contribute to the primary. is been here? is ryan here? our group had been sort of -- had broken off into looking at ways to call attention to a lot of the anti-gay sentiment that has been in the ad campaigns. we are really fired up about this. what can we do? we thought we could go to the airport, maybe, and meet some of them, a gay pride welcome to new hampshire type of thing. but we just thought here we are organizing on facebook. all of their security guys are going to be looking at us, watching what we are doing. our plan would be exposed and that probably would not work out. we thought maybe we could have some type of cried rally -- pride rally.

there is a group we have been volunteering for. that is what we voted for at our first ga, that our contribution would be family pride oriented on the seventh. if anyone wants information, come see me. we have a couple of other groups that have signed up with us. i will tell you about that later. i could talk all day. that is about it. >> john? >> [inaudible] i am representing the 99%. we know who the 1% are. the 0.1% i would define as the american oligarchy, which would include mitt romney as a $6 million a year earning.

dismantle the illegitimate, unfair, and incorrect legal structure. lawyers know what i mean about that. look at the difference between the marginal tax rate and what they end up paying. shut down the offshore tax evasion havens, which means the cayman islands and places like the irs cannot get at them. sue the oligarchs for fraudulent tax shelters that these lawyers at the what and touche have set up. -- that deloitte and touche have set up. we recognize there is evasion of social responsibilities, illegitimacy, in morality. -- in morality. we are calling upon the durham occupiers to pick up one of

these time blocks of the event to make that case in one fashion or another. there is certainly a lot of case to be made about it. i wasn't just people read jeffrey winters' book "oligarchy," about a society that uses the rule of law to cover itself from its responsibilities to the other 99%, in connection with funding for health care, education, and all sorts of things in society needs. we invite everybody to participate in that. jeffrey winter. the book is called "oligarchy, "published in 2011. this table from that shows the top 400 earners earned in 2007 tax returns, which are different from 2010 -- about a third less -- there's still remains an

astounding $334 million a year the top earners make. the top 15 earnings aren't $26 million a year, that is one- hundredth of 1%. the top one-tenth of 1 percent sign they made $400 million and up. you have the half of 1% that starts the level. the top is earning about $500,000 a year. that is all i have to say. >> can you give us some information about when you guys are going to have your meetings? >> yes. the drum group -- the student group has gone through the pressure cooker with exams and will be on winter break.

we have kind of suspended our meetings until after the break. but those of us who wish to remain active during this time are going to try to hook up with the rest of you folks and worked at the primaries and any other actions going on. >> do we have concorde? >> [inaudible] i am a constitutional officer for my county. we have been working very hard about a pass that wants to take our land by eminent domain, wants to take american land in the national forest by eminent domain. we are few and far between

there, as far as logistically. but there are a lot of people that are sympathetic. we are connecting on facebook and watching everything. i know i can get more volunteers for the primary. >> can you inform us of what group you are with, when they need, and where? >> i meet with a lot of groups. on facebook, you can find coalition against no. pass. we have been working on this for about a year. some groups blunter and break apart. there are different factions. we all have been working very hard. we occupied the state house last week on the senate bill sb 648 to strengthen eminent domain laws. it was gutted. but political campaigns, it was gutted. we are back january 18 to try to strengthen our laws against

corporations taking our land. i personally work on the foreclosures situation going on across our country. it is combined. taking your house or taking your land. that is what is happening. >> the senate bill -- >> x beasts -- sb 648. >> this will set off the new hampshire version of -- >> correct. absolutely. that decision was in connecticut, where pfizer use eminent domain to take a home they did not want to sell to expand their facilities. a supreme court decision was handed down. the property was never built or expanded on. refuse from hurricane irene is now being stored in a woman's house. there is a movie coming out called "the little pink house."

, new hampshire's constitution says that no for-profit organization can take someone's land for profit, and this bill was gutted last thursday. going forward, they just gutted it. now it is going to the full senate. it really -- it destroys our constitution. please get involved. >> thank you. >> i wonder if you and others could speak -- >> my name is kelly, and i am in grafton county. >> i know there are other people from the county who are here. i would be interested in knowing where there are occupied groups in the area. >> i do not know that we have a group and were up there. -- anywhere up there. that would be great.

>> another is a group in plymouth. there is a group in conway. >> it is just the facebook page occupied the north country. there are links with information there. >> not to get too far into details -- >> from the start, there has never been a set course. i call it the slithering snake. it is going to go the path of least resistance. the protection of the forest -- a lot of coalition support. thank you. >> thank you. >> we have another local crew wishes to present? >> my name is john cavanaugh.

>> my name is terry franklin. i am not technically with the group. but other issues of been brought up now. we see not everything is an economic issue. there are civil rights issues also. i represent the freedom bus caravan, who deals with drug policy issues, the drug war. we will be bird dogging the candidates. in cooperation, hopefully close cooperation with you guys, here from now until the election. thank you. >> hey, guys. i am representing in movement called the wolf pack. i met some of you guys.

it was started by jake of the young turks. we have just one goal, basically, that i think a lot of us can get behind. it is basically just getting corporate money out of politics. it is pretty important. our plan, basically, is to have 3/4 of the state's offer a convention, just for the purpose of passing an amendment with no loopholes that says no money. each person is going to have a certain amount of money they condone it. that will not everybody's voice can be drawn up by millions of dollars. all these opinions are great, but do not mean anything if someone has a billion dollars and disagrees with you. we are having our first rally on january 21 at the state house. it is the anniversary of

citizens united court case. even international corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our campaigns. you can find me on facebook at the wolf pack in hampshire. it is also a website. that is it. january 21, hopefully some of you guys can make it. thank you. >> my name is haqqani albert. i am part of the manchester area, concord. is there anybody else here from concord? the occupied concord group has been meeting weekly. at this week's meeting, they decided they would like to have a workshop on bird dogging skills, which i will be leading

on monday evening at park street, on the third floor at 6:00 p.m. and everybody is welcome to come to that if you would like to. i am with the american service committee and would be able to lead workshops on the bird dogging in the field, which i can do in manchester or other parks, if we can find time to do that. we can talk about that later, if you like. >> the bird dogging? >> my credentials are i have been doing it for about nine years. anyway. so. >> when and where do occupy concord made? >> date met at 4 park street in the america votes office. it has been shifting from place to place. you have to check the facebook page and be on the e-mail list

to find out where the upcoming meetings are. >> other locations? >> sort of. [laughter] i am not exactly with when an group.y i am with the drone awareness project. i have been going to gop events. between the predator drone, i can say nobody knows what they are talking about. i have experience if you have any questions. the other thing i wanted to offer as something available -- i do a radio show called "making waves.

it aired an hour or two ago in portsmouth. i use some of the audio from the exeter event. you might want to hear some of that. what is that? oh yes. i am sorry. also there is a occupy radio. doesdoes anyone know when it ai? 10 to midnight on saturday. pardon me. the one other thing i wanted to mention from doing the news this morning, which you would hear, a memo put out by a lobbyist group trying to do, what did they call it? basically, looking for--- some kind of focus groups for-imagery

around occupy groups. and there were concerns that we could organize and effectively knows that the democratic and/or republican parties would stop supporting wall street. but the obama administration will not accept a 0.1% tax on transactions. >> [inaudible] >> $850,000. >> any other occupy groups that want to give a status? or introduce yourself? i see none. >> i guess then we should probably introduce and then move on to what groups? ok. the lady of the hour.

>> hello, my name is sarah jane, the executive director of the granite state organizing project. your host for this morning are this afternoon's meeting your the granite state organizing project is a statewide association of organizations and labor organizations and non- profit groups. we're working on a primary for the next few weeks and i just wanted to share with you the work that we are doing on the primary. as i said, we are in association with labor organizations and church organizations, so we address things that directly affect our values. what we're saying is that presidential candidates need to stand with everyday people. romney, a gingrich, and other presidential candidates have proposed privatizing medicare and social security all advocating tax breaks for the wealthy. they are out of touch with everyday people who rely on

these essential programs. including my father very our nation created so security and medicare because we wanted a country where people look out for one another. we wanted an america where work paid off, where responsibility was rewarded by a decent life, modest savings, and ears of your retirement -- and a secure retirement. we did not want a nation where are elderly to die -- died in poverty in subsisted on cat food. these ideas are of risk. a small fraction of our population has driven our economy to the brink. we need leaders who will stand with us not stand with the wealthiest of the nation. instead, we have politicians who climbs also security and medicare are broken and they want to hand them over to the bankers and financiers because our economic crisis. social security, medicare, and

medicaid are not broken. there must the affected programs that america has predict congressional budget office says that these problems need only minor change won't -- changer -- minor changes to he will work for future generations. also security and medicare are a large part of what makes of middle-class america possible and we will not stand by and see these programs destroyed. so our platform is stand with everyday people, do not make us is also security, medicare, medicaid, create jobs, put people back to work so that more money goes into the social security fund, make social security stronger, lift the payroll cap on social security so that high earners pay their fair share, and this will make social security solvent for decades, and let the bush era tax cuts expire. these task as for people and make more than to under $50,000 a year has -- is part of what is causing our so-called federal budget deficit.

that is our platform for the primary and the activities we are going to be doing a lot -- we aborted begun in. we have been bird dogging the whole year, but these activities, we have regular everyday citizens writing letters to the editor in all the newspapers across new hampshire. we're going on talk radio, already have some shows set up for next week, we're going on conservative and liberal and progressive, we do not care. we're going on talk radio. we're going on cable tv, public access shows, we're visiting the offices of all of the candidates that have offices in the state. we will visit their offices with regular ordinary people who survive on social security, medicare, medicaid and talk with them about our platform. and this is something else you might not know. the abc is setting up -- adc is setting up a permanent station and we are encouraging all

groups want to get their word out to stop by manchester city hall and chat with reporters from now until the primary. and then on the saturday, the seven, when there will be the last republican debate in this state, we're going have an action, visibility action in the so-called free speech area that they will allow us to be a part of that the debate and then we will have a debate watching party where we get together and have hot chocolate and watch the debate and what -- and talk about what they are doing. that is all open stuff. they will try to use this opportunity that new hampshire has by having this first in the nation primary to get our message about social security, medicare, medicaid, and our politicians need to stand with everyday people. thank you for inviting me to be with you today. any questions, let me know.

>> [inaudible] >> the granite state organizing project is that facebook page. or you can e-mail me at granite stateop. thank you. [applause] >> which it also said that if anyone feels the need to talk to anyone who has spoken today, if you can meet them after the meeting are get their contact information that our website as we're leaving, or after we do the workshop. network, this is part of what we're doing it. talk to each other and get connected so that we can better effect change by working with each other. update. next we are moving on to the workshop, i believe. but we are going to do, i am

going to call of different groups and we will have primary planning over here, and whoever is in charge of that, sparkle? of it. -- ok. media attack will be over here. -- media tech will be over here. legal aid will be back there. logistics, paul, right there. and i will be in the back corner rather with art and morale. >> how long -- how long should small groups take? >> what time you have now? we were looking at approximately an hour. if at any given time that seems too short, we will -- i will come back up here in an hour and ask people need more time.

>> has appointed affirmation or suggestion, there is a group that he just mentioned. hit you feel you are in a legal aid in your of discussed a they want talk about, feel free to come over to come over to the group will be at the camera, general primary. >> if anyone has to be gone by 4:15, i need to lock the doors. >> thank you. >> on the facebook page, instructions about [unintelligible] >> that was the legal entity, in the back -- back there in the red sweater, and so if we want

to cut time to work groups for 45 minutes, and then if it becomes urgent, we can network. we will reconvene afterwards and discuss the topics we went over in work groups for a few minutes. you are in part. -- art. he is an logistics. back there, we have a legal and police. media tech is up here and primary planning is right up front.

[unintelligible]

>> of date. ok. >> five days a week. yes, definitely. [unintelligible]

[unintelligible]

>> we can maybe start by going around and say on names, how about that? my name is barnea. barney. >> i cannot hear you. >> [unintelligible] >> we live on a lake.

are you might check? [laughter] >> i live in hampton. >> mary ann. >> curt smith, manchester. >> of wakefield. >> from tehran. durham. >> i am occupy elisabeth am manchester, -- i am occupy manchester. >> i am with kronwall. -- lone wolf. >> mark from manchester.

>> what are we doing? >> i do not know when it a facilitator, but some sort of structure. i mean, i open before the fact that we structured the meeting around two hours timeslot, and we could start with comments from veterans from peace, discussing what timeslot their protest chosen. for januaryeduled 9, and monday, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and better as part. i hope we do not have a snowstorm that day. -- in veterans park, i hope we do not have a snowstorm to date. moneytalking about the

that we are spending and have spent on -- i think ron paul said 900 plus military bases overseas. who knows? there are so many. we think that money should be expended here at home has darden marked with the king said on programs of social uplift, not having our military go around the world destroying countries, destroying people, and it said, take that money and use it for job training, use it for affordable housing, use it for education, all life affirming activities. we hope you come to our workshop. we're talking about u.s. foreign policy. >> if you want to start with reports with already has been scheduled, that is the way to

go. do we have other ideas of topics -- make sure that. >> an agenda idea? >> i do not know if you already have one, but is there a bullet point list of things that someone says, talking points? >> it was distributed earlier. it has within it the general statement so far. i think broadly, it says in the press release that occupied new hampshire is concerned about the disproportionate -- occupy new hampshire is concerned about the disproportionate influence of the top one percent in our political process. whether it is empire 14 hours or

sarah jane's program, but the main topic is a disproportionate influence. >> this is the time to hear it. i expected to be here. i suggest that we have some agenda items and then go back to where we started and talk about what people are already envisaging for time slots. kurt, you have another topic? >> i thought we were talking about things that were already scheduled. >> that would be great. go ahead. >> some of you may know him. it is done a tv show, democracy in empire, and basically an alternative polling booth in which people to vote would vote

for democracy or they would vote for empire, and ask them other questions as well. what we're trying to do is organize that in every polling place around the state. >> how do we get in touch with him if you want to get involved with that project? >> i have got is contact information if you wanted. i have got his fund. i can give the dead. just -- i have got his phone. i can give you that. justice second. -- just a second. there is a website. democracyorempire.org.

>> i am windy and we have a drum circle, a slot on saturday, and anyone who wants to help us with a percussion instrument, you can join us, because it is a wonderful, magical things. it is a good time to let us be heard literally. it can be heard when we have a drum circle in manchester. they attract attention and we're all together as one. i'm looking for anyone that will posted on the occupy new hampshire facebook page, and i will keep looking to show up at the allotted time, 3:00 on

saturday before the general assembly that day. will allow for other activities if possible. i ask anyone, professionalism troubles -- particularly professional drummers as well. african drums, whatever, you can join in. we have a wonderful community building event. >> on saturday, from one o'clocks to 2:30 p.m., occupy occupy wall street claim that. and then tentatively we are what mary and talked about earlier, the march, part of the lgbt march, at 2 at 30 p.m. on saturday.

so if you can incorporate that, we will bring your information. >> maybe, mark, you could clarify for how we sign up for the slot in the process? >> if if you can -- we strongly encourage to make it to our regional n. manchester. is directly across the street from verizon wireless arena. a small diner. we meet every weeknight from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and if you want to come down, if you cannot come a simulator, you can call my number and we can call and the proposal. we'll take your information. >> other things already on the schedule helpful for us to know about? >> we are muddy here because of our facilitator and are primary host pointers -- hostess got ill

today. so we do not have that at this point. you can posted if you are interested, facebook, it is on the facebook, occupy the new hampshire primary on facebook. >> full words. occupy the new hampshire primary. >> if you want to propose something, you will know the open slots. >> great. >> before we get to the primary, [unintelligible] manchester pd, [unintelligible] this will affect the primary and

not just manchester but the entire people the will to come to the primary. i wanted to let you know that there is [unintelligible] you can talk about it or ignore them, [unintelligible] we're going to do the whole y.cupy primary bria it's very important to discuss that. >> anybody interested in meeting what the police either the station or we will find some more neutral ground after this meeting? please give your number to

cecilia. and more affirmation, we will keep you in touch to make it in town for a meeting. >> the last time, it was clear there was not dialogue between occupy and the manchester pd. [unintelligible] nobody told us that they would be arrested. >> another group was going to talk about legal stuff. the one hand -- a woman who had

that tentative information for the meeting, he has been great, the captain, of the manchester police, he is very professional. he has proposed a time. i cannot recall a period can have the information and she had to leave earlier. -- i cannot recall if. jan had the information and she had the lead. we will get that information to you. >> melissa? schedule? >> scheduled for friday? we pulled up on the fund. -- pulled it up on the phone.

5:00 p.m. is the welcome, 6:00 is entertainment, 8:00 this still open, and then saturday, 9/11, i am sorry, i am sorry. mike check. friday, january 6, 5:00 p.m. as the welcome, 6:30 p.m., a man's and entertainment, 8:00 p.m. is still open, and saturday, the 9:00 a.m. is open, 11:00 a.m. is still open. 1:00 p.m. is a lecture on how to build a strong movement. 2:30 p.m. is the march to centers college, 5:00 p.m. is our general assembly, sorry,

7:00 p.m. is that your prerecession for the american dream at the college during the primary debate. and the node is please where morning attire -- mourning attire of all possible. the marriage between the person, 11:00 a.m. as " and, 1:00 is up and, at 3:00 p.m. is open, 5:00 this are general assembly, 7:00 p.m. is open. and then monday, january 9, we have 9:00 a.m. open, 11:00 a.m. is still open, 1:00 p.m. is the veterans for peace talks on u.s. farm policy, 3:00 p.m. is open, ibm is general assembly, 7:00 p.m. is open, and then tuesday, january 10, primary day, 9:00 a.m. is up and, everything is open this up for 5:00 p.m., are general assembly as of right

now. i can give you the e-mail address if you do have anything put on the schedule. that is oc cupythehnprimary@gmail .com. >> who is organizing the funeral for the american dream? >> manchester g-8 is how bad is getting plant origin and that a saturday. ga, that as a strapping, that is one to beat -- we're going to be marching to there and we're going to be going to the debate itself. so this will open up a little bit, to say that this schedule always be updated and revise, so

keep going to the facebook event page, occupied the new hampshire primary. it will be completely updated. >> the calendar is on their plus updates. one of my a dream things, i do not know how facilitate this, is to have a march that is again community building, for all of occupy, all that chance and signs and walking to the candidate offices, and the traditional occupy march. if some groups like to facilitate that, that would be grand on sunday. it is very community building and it attracts people, it's our point across. just putting it out there. >> who is occupy concord here?

the national league of women voters president is having a function on patriarchy and they're asking george stephanopoulos to facilitate the forum after the movie, and the president will be in concord. but that this site will have national attention on sunday. >> just on january 8, that monday in concord will be the debate at the capital center for the arts. i did not hear there is anything scheduled for that time slot on the morning of the eighth. if not, i would like to propose to have some discussions with the agenda for later. >> sunday morning, during the --

it is scheduled right now, it is not been updated, so we walk shifted marriage to corp., 9:00 in the morning, so it is what is going on. two big national debates, one on saturday and one sunday in concord in the morning. so on the morning of, we're not clear what the time is, but i know it is being hosted by -- nbc and facebook. meet the press program. i think it is -- i'm getting times like 9:00 and 10:00, but it is important to have our presence there. it will be really important. it is going to be a lot of media there. i think that is really important to get some members there. i think it is a great idea to do

it the wedding in that time slot in the morning. is that what you're talking about? >> if is scheduled for then so we will keep it open and see what happens. >> deal freed from the conquered groups to lobby hard for concord taking that time slot or another time slot. and also sergei and could have a chance to meet with their group on saturday and said way there. -- segue their. >> on saturday, we're going to be in the free speech area at .he st. anselm's college sometimes we leave the free- speech arianna and stand on the street and waited people. they cannot stop you from standing on the street. we hope to go to a location near

or on campus to watch the debate together and we will invite the media to come and interview the people who are watching the debate. it is an intergenerational, interracial group, college students watching the debate together and talking about how these issues affect their lives. and if you get a ticket, you do not have to pay for the ticket but you have to be registered as a republican or an independent and apply online to get the ticket. >> go to the website of the new hampshire institute of politics and navigate from there. that will get yourself into a lottery to get a ticket. it will be competitive in a might be too late already, but it is worth a try.

in and what you began, you cannot speak. >> or they will kick you out. >> they will reject it. >> disrupt the process, why not. >> if you cannot get in that way, for point of information, the website that has the ticket information, we put it on the facebook about two weeks ago, and several of us tried to get tickets. they allow you to get up to four tickets, but as sara jane said, all speculating myself, they are going to scream your name against who is an independent or republican. if your democratic registered, you will probably not get into that. how much more time to we have before we get back again with the main group? >> all of these blocks have to be in manchester? >> they are in veterans park for

four days straight, but at the national debate, we're going to be going there as well as at veterans park setting up satellite feeds of bird dog units. veterans park is a staging area, but also, it is a staging area for bird dogging throughout the area. >> veterans park or victory part? veterans. we wanted to do one more during one of the tuesday time slots. >> right now the plans for the march, the perception on saturday is one thing that is already on the schedule, to consider them songs. -- st. anselm's. -- it is a great that

there is a coroneted presence, but a people organize these and other parts of the state, it is up to them to do that and they do not need permission from ga in manchester to organize something in bethlehem or in concord or and conway. >> that conway group will -- jindal league of women voters is 4:00-6:00 that the community college auditorium. >> just to let you know about that, excellent, good. great. >> there will be a lot -- there will be tons of stuff going on and other national groups like the league tried to set things up with a group that you like, you might want to go and join them, and you might want to go in protest them. so pay attention to the news and

there will be lots of stuff for everybody to do. ed will talk about what he is doing. >> then i thought we could listen to ed talk about his ideas. >> i have to talk and some people with the manchester, it would be really great to organize the program, 2012 is the year of a couple of. there was a wonderful opinion piece about cooperative businesses. if anyone can connect with me about cooperatives at utility companies and the state or in new england, that i think and act with, other cooperative businesses, but do we get have a panel discussion. i think it would be a good program, maybe even in hanover. i'm elizabeth and get with me afterwards. >> i would say that if anyone

here, because it was not discussed, and the logistics, but if you're not from the manchester or part of an occupy group, please fill welcome to reach out and talk to people. if you have connections to community aphids to sigrid's, really reach out and tried to -- advocacy groups, really reach out and try to get them on board. the better integrated our movement will be in the primary, that is the reason why we're doing it, not just by the -- not just for the primary but to build a movement. i wanted to do a time check here. we would give ourselves and our? ok, we have about 15 minutes left in hopefully everyone can get together. tell us about your idea. >> yes, come closer.

all right. i have these pollens and they symbolize something important. is what politicians run on, isn't it? they are full and they are big of rigid big balloons and full of promises. but when the hot air is over, this is what we got. i am passing around something that is familiar to a number of you, including brother alfred here, the moderator of some of our tv programs on channel 23. they had been shared with all state for community access tv and the 35 community access channels all over the state. so let me pass this around, because i would encourage people to go to the website, democracy orempire.org.

hello. so there might not be enough for everybody, but we have enough for every person's need but not every person's agreed. look at this as it goes past. " we tried to do is provide reality to a great analyst, thomas johnson by name. thomas johnson or wrote a wonderful trollope's -- trilogy, starting with blowback, and nemesis. the last one. this brilliant man, a conservative and politically, said that the country needs to decide whether it is going to be an empire or democracy. cannot be both. and what we tried to present in this series is the best analysis that we could by people that

have a public interest to explore that. some of the first was the cost of four. the second, the cost of intelligence. then the cost of defense and finally democracy or empire. these will be broadcast on the day after christmas and the day after new year's. and this is supposed to be in one of the weekly newspapers. but as we talked about this, we ask, how will the rubber hits the road? even as we interviewed different president to candidates that we have been doing, and put this on our television program to try to share information, how are we really going to empower people to say, wait a minute, i do not like that? this is what i want, or i want democracy, very strongly. no wind pirate king. -- no empire thing.

when january 10, we would and by different groups that are also interested in democracy, for example, occupy, to contribute questions and put these on a ballot. and after people vote for president, they would be offered a ballot, hopefully at every polling place in new hampshire, how many people know how many that is? >> two to 35? >> not bad. you should get a candy bar. it is a little more than 300. but that is very doable. the person is offered a ballot to vote on the future of america. because adelaide thomas johnson's analysis is that we have already decided, we have decided on empire. and it is too late. i do not think so -- i do not

think that we would be here for not optimists. i see some gray hairs in the crowd and i remind you, for those of us that had education in the 1950's and were trained to duck and cover and thought that it meant any minute, added the second, this could be the end of life as we know it. really come alive on our planet, because suddenly the nuclear warheads started, who would have bet the family farm that in our lifetime, the soviet union, our archenemy and tools we would be a war with, and nuclear war, devastating, that suddenly it would disappear? it would become russia. i should know because my winter home in st. petersburg, florida, named after saints petersburg, russia. so on monday, i approached our occupy and at a general

assembly, we discussed occupy being a part of the severed. my hope is that occupy has two questions or three questions, no more than 10 questions, and our group will have one or two questions. we are inviting the afl-cio, the labor movement, to contribute a question, may be on should there be in new hampshire a living wage job guaranteed to every american car to mark remember, that was an fdr plank that never -- he died before he could really share that. but we are inviting, and there are three of us here that have a wonderful clipboard, and if you are from rockingham county, anybody here from rockingham? yes?

well, ok. we have a county coordinator for rockingham and he is going gangbusters. we do not need many volunteers but you are an angel. you could help him. we will put you up with him, ok? but for the other counties, we have the beginning of of organization here in hillsboro. we have a wonderful new leader in merrimack, and glenn is right behind me, so we're beginning to pick a debt of this structure. to put together the structure. my hope is that through that, borrowing, and stealing, stealing in a joking way for our cameras, we're going to be another raise sufficient funds so that at least half of these places there will be of veteran standing tall and helping with this project, offering citizens

of ballots. and properly ivar unemployed or homeless veterans who will be paid at least the minimum wage. and i think -- and i thank occupy new hampshire for reminding me that that needs to be the standard, at least that much. we will be offering an occupant -- an opportunity for our citizens to weigh in. and you say yourself, this is a republican primary, and all the conservatives will turn out. isn't this going to be a message that i as an occupy person will be uncomfortable with? >> i trust my neighbors. i trust the people of new hampshire to take very seriously their responsibility for choosing the next president of the united states. i trust them to make these decisions and you know what? there is a republican presidential candidate that is probably better than any

democratic presidential candidate running on this. so why -- i invite any questions ford two and minutes, 3 minutes on this project, and i will pass around -- if you think you have anywhere two hours or more on election day. >> we're depilate going to help them. we will bring some people out there, he is asking for 20 volunteers and they will not be paid, and then there will be veterans and homeless veterans and unemployed veterans who will be paid at least minimum wage. we will still be get better in part with events, but this is one of those events that we're using as a staging the event. >> we are half the process to sign up on these clip boards to take shifts.

what will be the process? >> we are reaching out. we have a number of different lists. when michael moore came to a preview in manchester hearing four years, i saw him in his town hall meeting in his press conference. i became a zealot on single payer health care and i signed up about 1000 people on a petition. >> let me repeat the question. how will people sign up for ships? >> if they sign this -- you mean these people here? if they're not here today, they can go to our website cracyorempire.org. we will have other ways to do it and we expect michael moore away and saying to let's do this.

>> [unintelligible] we're just about, can you check with the other groups? does anyone have any questions? please ask questions for anything at all. >> i apologize if your party cover this. the actual the ballot or survey, whatever you might call it, pal is that being designed and who is working on the actual content? >> it will be a coalition effort. we will work together peridots coalition members including occupy will be able to identify present -- questions that they want asked. i urge occupy to give those out. we have invited the afl-cio to contributed? two. our group will have a question or two.

we suspect they will be seven organizations. and their representatives -- occupy, that is math, he is calling. -- matt, he is still linked. we will work those questions of. just show your beautiful shirt for people. we have some of the other flyers. we can show you that handsome shirt on that handsome man, it is going to be modified with the following -- maybe i can just -- >> i need to interrupt. mic check. >> mic check. >> the time is expired. do we need to continue with the work groups are go with the

meeting? >> 5 minutes. and then we will return -- and there is no firm date but it has to be in time to printed and distributed. i'm hoping that by the end of this month that we will have the questions submitted and we will have the meeting to work out and hammer out a final question list. i think our drop date is the second root third of january. but you did not hear me say that. that is when the questions will happen. the earlier the better. we have some moderator's around the state and i should say that we met with secretary gardner yesterday, three people from occupy, several of us from democracy or empire, jan grossman, who designed that beautiful logo on the front of

his shirt, there because. she is the leader in new hampshire of new hampshire department of peace. so i think we have cleared the air. he knows what we're up to end our shirts are not electioneering. we can walk around polling places with them. we think all of what we want. we have established the ground rules. but getting some of the moderator's like in rockingham, the moderator said been contacted, what are we going to have? so we want to follow through. >> anybody else that has something to say? we have covered the ballot for 10 minutes. we have four weather days. anyone with questions our success -- for other days. >> i am still trying to

understand this. is it highly tactical or philosophical? in other words, if i am favor of collective bargaining rights for all american workers or i am in favor, i am opposed to new venture being a right to work state. i'll say that that is tactical on the other is philosophical. is it both, any, or all? >> this is going to be decided by the groups coming. what they want to ask. >> i hope it is more tactical. >> any other things that people want to bring up before we come back together to the full group? >> i can get myself down to the manchester meetings but, the notion of indirect action that we could collect cans for the new hampshire food bank, ford to a trickle of action at veterans,

another concept that i had, which i would gladly court made. >> someone who would like to be a reporter for our group to give a quick summary of what we talked about during our time to get it? but for me begin with the full -- as we meet together with the full word? -- full group? >> how are we going handle that? >> i can give it a shot. >> all right, great. >> until we meet again. while we're waiting for the other groups to come together, i want to suggest a quick dollar around if you want to say what you intended to during the period leading up to the primary, what are you excited about? please go around.

>> occupy durham. >> mic check. >> as following along the lines for citizens for tax justice, making the point that the american oligarch should not hijacked the u.s. economy. >> pass. >> because it cannot afford our own lobbyist, i see the occupy group as one big lobbyists. >> what you excited about doing? i am hoping to help people to do affected bird dogging about these issues and the 99%. >> pass. >> our attorney general finally opened his eyes and is best to getting the fraud in this country. it was announced on friday. so i intend to continue to pressure him to investigate this further for t