the values of mainstream america, that has energized our base a lot, which is great. if we want to thank republicans for running some of those ads and some of the statements they made. bawe will have a good, solid turnout. it will not be huge, but it will be a good place for organizing and to be part of the fact that the day after the iowa caucuses, most republicans will leave iowa and go on to new hampshire. whenever body else runs away from iowa, we will stay here and keep doing grass-roots organizing and we will win this campaign door to door, person by person. host: back to your calls. democrat from dover, delaware, good morning. caller: someone mentioned illegal immigration. first of all, president obama is trying to secure our borders.

if bush had been incompetent president, he would have to immediately secure our borders dr. 9/11 -- after 9/11. is it corporations were not hiring because they were uncertain about the future. most of the scam from outsourcing and laying off workers. millions of americans are uncertain where their next paycheck will come from. these corporations, like republicans, are not creating jobs or supporting his jobs bill because they want obama to look weak and lose in 2012. host: the specific question, so we will move on to the next caller in tennessee. do you want to comment? guest: talking about the issue of a candid its wealth -- candidate's wealth. there are people with it and

without it in public office, but this is a pretty unique situation. mitt romney is one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president. he has enormous wealth, and that is fine. he is choosing not to release his tax returns. considering the business he was in, in which there was investment across the globe, it is really important to understand what his influences are. we know from some of the stanton papers that have been filed his investment company had very significant investments in china. that's fine, but we need to know that and understand that to make a choice about a person sitting in the white house with tremendous wealth that is connected to global investments, of which he is still profiting. i think susan's point is relevant about a candidate's wealth if they choose not to do what president obama have done and other candidates have done

to release their tax returns. we really would like to know his tax returns and i hope sooner rather than later he will file. host: we go now to jane in tennessee. thank you for waiting. caller: i would like to know where mr. obama as jobs are. all the jobs are going to china. it are these people that obama has surrounded himself with. host: any more on jobs? guest: the caller mentioned jobs going to china. it is about american industry is fighting to build products in america. look at the american auto industry. we make 1 million more cars this year and a total of 12 million cars. that industry would probably

have collapsed have the president not had the guts to stand up and partner with the auto industry. mitt romney would have let it collapse. if you want talk tjobs and investing in china, he has been investing in china and he would have let the auto industry and other parts of the world be the dominant industry. that is the kind of value system i do not think we need in the white house. i also have to tell you that as the mayor of a city struggling to get the economy back moving again, i am proud to have the president obama investing in the small business is administration. my parents had a drug store when i was growing up. they were not rich. they fought hard for it. and they have invested in that kind of worked in doing energy

retrofit for these businesses a utility costs can go down and other grass-roots businesses. it is working. the president has also been a leader in saying that american industry depends very much on exporting. we're seeing one of the most significant parts of the growing economy in exports, which the president has been a laser focused on. there is great work being done in exports and the audit industry and others. any idea of fostering innovation in nuclear energy industries, all that is part of a homegrown economy. take that against the economic philosophy have heard from the republican base and time and time again, and they think you need to do is to give tax breaks at the very top and take off any regulation on those who are gaming the system. i have a better solution for you -- continue to work with president obama.

do not go back to the economic policies that got us into this mess in the first place. host: independent scholar in new jersey. go ahead. caller: i want to ask your guests opinion about mentioning israel's faults in any way. it is documented that they were doing organ harvesting in haiti. the third greatest arms dealer in the world than they are shipping to china. why is everyone afraid of israel. it is nationalism. all the advantages go to these foreign countries. we give them the money. host: two different points there, economics and policies towards israel. anything you want to react to their backs -- there?

she was saying her view is that no one wants to talk about is real. that was basically what she had to say. guest: the president is working hard to make sure we are partners with israel. i think that is pretty straightforward and clear. what is also important and i do not know what the caller asked, but i am happy to have questions asked about our relationship with the rest of the world. we need to find a way to go around the globe and bring peace. the president inherited a world in which there were two wars we were deeply entrenched in without focus were even our allies had turned very sour on our relationships and the president went about trying to build peace and has made tremendous progress in that regard, certainly in iraq and ending the war and try to come

forward with better pacts already the world, but also reaching out to our economic allies from elsewhere. thinking about the caller's point about being engaged in the world than the points about the most important issue right now, the economy, it would be wonderful if everything about the economy to be controlled here in the u.s., but it cannot. if you want an illustration, look at the european economic crisis. for better or worse, we need to be involved with the rest of the world and we need to rebuild some of our alliances. we have done that in europe and southeast asia and where many people in that part of the world are worried that america has retreated and will simply allow china to dominate the entire pacific region. the president understands that region than anyone who has been president of the united states. he has lived in that region and it gives him comfort ever were

from south korea to australia that the u.s. is not going to withdraw from that part of the globe. we need a president understands things here at home and we have a community organizer in neighborhoods where people have lost jobs. he is also a person who has the global perspective to help bring peace which helps with prosperity iraq home. host: earnest as a democrat from washington, d.c., and you are on with r.t. ryback. caller: good morning, mr. mayor. host: go ahead your question. caller: we have so many kids bullying in schools and dropping out. now we have people in the republican party running for the presidency of the united states and they are turning on each other.

what would happen if they become president of the united states and other countries have some secret? we will tell that to? how can you put your trust in men tattling on each other? guest: that is a good point. look at politics today and ask yourself who are the people that will be able to heal this country and bring us together and who are the ones that will bring us apart. if you turn on the television in iowa and you hear the speeches from these people, they are ripping each other's throats out, let alone what they're saying about president, you wonder how they could ever bring a country together. president obama walks into a crisis bigger than what any president has ever faced. he could have done things the old-fashioned way, the way where you just took your own side, worked with your own allies, and that's all you ever did.

but the president tried to bring this divided country it together. he did a lot of things about compromise. it was important to get something done. maybe he compromised too much, some would say. in a divided country, you need to find someone who will not be a democratic president or a republican president, but the president of the united states of america. the republican party, from the moment they got elected, their number one goal, and this is a direct quote, was to stop president obama. they did not want to help the economy, bring peace to the world but their number one goal was to stop president obama. what does that say about their motivations? the good news is that now they have to face the electorate. they have to defend their record that was all about saying their number one goal was about stopping president obama. they made it pretty hard for him, so we need to make it easier to get something done.

we need to send him a congress that will work with the president. i was raised as a republican. i did not think every republican is a bad person, but the republican party has been hijacked by zealots who have taken the party way, way off the extreme. the moderates are complacent because they are saying and doing nothing and letting these zealots tried to ruin our country may go you know what? we can change that. we are in charge. we have a president to is a leader, a unifier against a party led by people who are off the rails. they're competing with each other to go further and further and they cannot possibly try to run this country. you are right. i do not think we need a bunch of people acting like these republican candidates are in the white house. we have enough of that. but stick with the president that tries to bring this country together. host: larry on the republican

line from elkhart, indiana, good morning. you are on the air. caller: why is the democratic party so scared of having the voter i.d.'s? i think it is because of the fraud in indiana and new york, voters with the candidates. host: voter i.d., any thoughts? guest: i do not think anybody is afraid of the idea that voters should be qualified when they go in to vote. there has been a few keys secretary of states and governors across the country who have tried to lead what i would call voter suppression. they're usually places with

heavily democratic turnout and they tried to lead to a widespread voter suppression. knowing the recap the to place during bush-gore and the scrutiny during the last election, we have the most supervise the election this country has ever had. there has not been widespread voter fraud is certainly not the kinds that have been in these extreme proposals try to keep people from voting. i am a mayor who has gone out and try to get people to vote. i have seen many examples where i found someone who was 60 and had never voted before because they did not know how do it because it was complicated. they never got around to doing it. they are not perfect motivations, but the bar for american to vote should not be so arbitrary and slanted against people in certain areas that would prevent people from

voting. it is the most basic privilege that american has and it , needs to be fair, equitable, and it just, and those are all the protections we have. some of these proposals are not about widespread voter fraud, which we do not have, but simply trying to keep people from voting. i do not think that is the american way. host:, in virginia, and other independent. what do you have to say? caller: i am still looking for a way to lead. it bothers me when he said republicans did not want the extensions of the tax cut when they tried to pass a long-term extension but the president only wanted to extend them for 60 days. please explain. guest: the fact of the matter is that certainly, his speech with the jobs act and in the multiple other occasions, he has talked

about extending the tax cut. the 60-day provision is because the congress has been so hard to work with. the president has been supportive of that on an ongoing basis. the president's proposal was not have a $1,000 tax cut but it $1,500 tax cut for the middle class. that was his proposal. it kept getting chipped away at by the zealots in congress. republicans in senate and house are battling back and forth. that was not the president's issue. he wants a tax cut for the middle class. it should call your republican representatives to knock off the boloney so we can get down to business. let's make sure we protect the middle class and make sure the tax cut is for more than two months and let's all agree that is the direction we should go. host: last call from greensboro, n.c.. caller: i think the democrats

really need to respond more to mitt romney when he makes false statements about the president. as a matter of fact, some of the reports i remember seeing from the associated press, they had to call met romney out on actually telling lies. reporters say they are accustomed to reporters giving nuanced statements about things, but to tell an outright lie in an advertisement he made about the president, he took his words and construed them into something else. he said the president does not want people to have opportunities and the president but for everyone to have opportunities ever since he has been in office. yesterday he made a wise crack about the president saying, "let them eat cake," saying he does not care about people.

these are outright lies and the democrats are not really responding to him about this. someone really needs to point out to the american people what he is doing. host: final thoughts from our guest before we wrap up. guest: i could not agree with you more. i get incensed by seeing people say things about the president. my choice is to go throw a issue that the tv or go out and do something about it, which is why i am in iowa. those of you watching or listening right now, the thing we need to do is to recognize the president was elected president because of one-on-one conversations. we, as democrats, will make that to the broad audience. think about three or four people you can talk to to make that case. the baloney you see being tossed around here has nothing to do with reality. we stand up for a president who

has done great things in the toughest of times against people who would have is going back to the old ways. carry that message to repute friends, and that is how we got president obama selected in the first place. we will do it again in a way the president has shown he will do come a leadership, not with the same old policies to take us to the bad old days from george w. bush. host: r.t. ryback, mayor of minneapolis and the number two man in the democratic national conference. thank you for joining us. we will take a short break. when we come back, we will talk about america by the numbers. a look at the numbers in that state, how the economy is doing. in the meantime, the arts committee was featured. let's look at the arts community in the morning and how they

approach the iowa caucus. -- in des moines. >> outside the civic center in des moines, iowa. it is the site of what is known as "caucus: the musical." quite a musical about the caucus? >> politics is a song and dance. but it is a theater-like atmosphere and we felt that was appropriate. >> what is the main thought? >> it is around in iowa and farm family in and it is about all the candidates in the state here to campaign that are desperate to win over their endorsements. >> for those who will not be able to see it, give us a sense of what it is like on stage. what are the experiences of the family? >> they are featured in one article in in national newspaper

and as the campaign season progresses, the candidates will do anything to win their vote. they have dinner with them and they have up -- they end up having dinner at the same time, which is the culminating scene. the candidates get together in one house. >> what is the political lines to bring to this? how do you see this from the point of the creator? >> i just wanted to show the world that what the process is like here in iowa, how the caucus works, and what we are exposed to as far as the candidates and the media coming in. how much of a frenzy this is every four years. or thought it was something that needs to be shown on stage. it is a bit silly at times, but it is very serious. >> are other aspects of this current political theme that you brought in that you did differently four years ago?

>> four years ago we had both parties vying for the nomination. now we only have the republicans. we updated it for the current crop of republican candidates in the current hot-button issues. >> how did you choose the actors? what are you looking for? >> the director was looking for people that -- a first of all, as someone with knowledge about the political process really helps. and we knew who the candidates were this year so we were looking for actors that not only had the look, the personality types of the current candidates. but all of these are fictional, but we try to represent everyone. >> do you get reactions from democrats and republicans for this? what are their response? >> we are an equal opportunity offender. we're not trying to validate one party over the other but just show that there are absurdities in both parties.

>> the creator of "caucus: the musical." we do this again in four years? >> we will see if i was still has a first in the nation status. host: four days until the caucus in iowa. here is a shot of the capital in the morning -- des moines. 3 million people in iowa. live in iowa this morning. our next guest is from iowa state university, an associate economic scientist, dave swenson. tell us about the 3 million people in iowa. who are they, how are they doing? what do they do? guest: i was population is about 3 million or about 1% of the nation's total. the iowa population is about 90% white. we do not have that much diversity. the largest minority group in

the state of iowa is 5% hispanic. the overall characteristic of the state is, historically, it has been a very slow-growing state. everyone's in a while, it will get disrupted a little bit. for example, during the farm crisis in the 1980's we lost people and then recovered. the state has a broadly diversified economy. many people stereotype the state as primarily agricultural. it is partially correct, but the largest industry is manufacturing. it has a very diverse and diversifying economy. if an economy has also grown relatively slowly and diversifies over time, and we generally move that a little bit slower pace than the national average, overall, we are just

kind of steady. we do not have a big rockets or bones. occasionally we get a little one, but for the most part, steady, progressive growth in the population as well as our economy. host: some of the details now on the screen. median age 38. median household income, $40,000. you can see the racial breakdown here. 91% white, 5% hispanic and so on. to our guest, i will grows at less than half the national average. what is the reason that it does not grow faster? guest: it is not a place that strongly attract people by virtue of amenities, climate, or our economy.

over the last 20 years, people tend to migrate to the south, to the west, to larger cities, to areas that are simply historical growth centers. i was economy is not structured that way. we do not have a rich mix of the natural amenities that grab people initially. we do not have as diversified and economy as many other places do. the opportunities are limited. our rate of growth is slower. the flip side of the slower rate of growth is that i with tens to shift to young workers with talents leaving two other states and other metropolitan areas. but relatively, a persistent flow of skilled, educated, young people from iowa living in other places. the other side of that is that i was struggles to bring in

skilled, educated, and talented people as a replacement. we tend to ship out our educated talent, are professionals, scientists, mathematicians, accountants, health care professionals and on the net exchange we attract production workers, construction workers, people who work in to services. what we are doing in iowa, and what we have been doing for decades, is supplying the rest of the world with a relatively well educated and motivated, hard-working people. host: the phone number are on the bottom of your screen. america by the numbers, focusing on iowa. before we go to our first call with dave swenson, , to talk about our coverage. if you are interested in mitt romney, he may want to turn to c-span2 right now. he's live at a campaign stop at

a grocery store. we just heard from his wife, and new jersey gov. chris christie is there. he has endorsed the governor. we will continue to talk about iowa here. lansing, mich., europe first on the independent -- you are up first. caller: i listen to this show all the time and i appreciate it a lot. we keep letting people from other countries over here. there are no jobs. why do we keep letting people over here if there are no jobs? we are defeating the purpose here, correct? thank you. host: maybe we can turn that into a discussion about immigration into the state of iowa. remind us of what has been

happening there. guest: as we said at the outset, i what is not as diverse as many other states. the largest minority group are hispanics, about 5%. the hispanic population has grown in recent years, but the hispanic population has had two tracks. the first track is that it has been attracted to and hired by, and preferred, as the employee by the states of very diverse and very well-established food- processing industry. most importantly is the meatpacking industry. we have meat and poultry processing. along with the animal feed operations in the state of iowa. what we had is a migration of primarily hispanic workers into those areas of the state. the other area that we have a

migration aniline of significantly hispanics foreign- born persons are in the metropolitan areas. if you're not in the metropolitan area or in an area that is feeding animals or slaughtering, butchering, and processing these products, you generally do not have very much a hispanic in-migration. the caller raised the question of these people taking jobs. the hispanic migrant still devoid from the 1980's in the 1990's because we have a high rate of out migration as a consequence of the crisis and other things, just the basic economic restructuring. the native residential work force was slowly but significantly depleting. the people willing to work in the meatpacking industry, an

industry that restructured in the 1980's and the pay scale declined sharply, the native population was unwilling to do that kind of work. the meatpacking industry struggled to find workers. eventually went ended up happening is that they became magnets for hispanic workers. host: pensacola, fla., on the line for democrats. good morning to you. caller: my question is why no one is really discussing the fact that i love is number one in receiving a farm subsidies. we carry a lot of arguments about entitlements and social security, medicare, but no one is talking about farm subsidies. host: what does that mean to you? caller: the politicians are protecting this subsidy issue and not discussing something

where there is a lot of money being spent. thens taexas, indiana, illinois. you have this state with a small population getting a lot of money from the federal government. host: dave swenson, in a speech to the issue at all of farm subsidies? -- can you speak to the issue? guest: all farm producers, kan., iowa, texas, corn, wheat, soy, they have all been beneficiaries is directly, but especially over the last 15 years, of a very beneficial subsidies to the agricultural sector. they were designed early on to be stabilizing subsidies by the

usda and congress has wrestled with exactly what the right amount of subsidies should be applied to achieve a specific goal. the farmers have changed the nature of the subsidies and they promised to lessen them over time as well moving away from a direct subsidy on a per acre or per commodity basis to more of an indirect subsidy. for example, using a combination of federal subsidies and market mechanisms, like crop insurance, and other types of stabilizing mechanisms to maintain farm income. it is generally agreed, yes, we do have a disproportionate share of agricultural subsidies because we do produce a disproportionate share of agricultural product. i would not pass the laws, but

they are a beneficiary of those laws and have been a beneficiary of the subsidies over time. host: more statistics here as we carry on with our guests and callers from the morning. as our guest has pointed out, agriculture, hogs, cattle, hey, and oats. non-electrical and farm machinery, finances, insurance. to our guest, is there a significant military presence in iowa? guest: not very much. we have some well-established national guard installations, like any state, but no major military presence. we do have what is called the rock island arsenal out in the eastern side of the state on the mississippi river which is a combination of a military presence, but significantly a civilian presence in they

produce armaments and other kinds of products for the military. that is the most significant presence of the military in the state of iowa. host: denver, colorado, on the line. caller: good morning. i would like to know why american workers still do not have health insurance. any of the republicans who are baby boomers for the iraq war, if they did not serve in the vietnam war, because we will pay for the worst mistake in american history. host: comments on the political question, i racked, but let's move on -- iraq. let's move on to des moines.

we're looking at demographics. can help us with any of that? deser: i'm a resident of moines. what's that? host: we're listening. go ahead. caller: as a resident, i was just curious. being black and being in a state that has a little over 3 million people, why are we considered the no. 1 racist state in terms of the penal incarceration, state jobs, and things of that nature? i think it would be nice if your studio would sometimes take looked at des moines as an example of how a super minority does not get the play that it should. i will take your answer off the air. host: dave swenson from iowa state, anything you can add their dockre?

guest: the state of ohio is not averse. the metropolitan areas are significantly more diverse than the state average. we have areas in the state with comparatively larger minority populations. waterloo, quad cities, des moines, larger minority populations. the fact we have issues associated with poverty, minority issues, or these estate and urban areas in transition, these are common issues you see in all urban areas. des moines is gone through cycles where it has had to deal with issues associated with its minority population, the police, the treatment, other kinds of issues.

this is a point, and the caller makes one good point here. we tend to want to put iowa into convenient little groups and say, "this is iowa. know it."-- i actually rather complicated. we emulate, and in many ways, many of the issue that the rest of the nation has to wrestle with. when you back away and look at us just on average, we look different, but if you come in closer and you focus on different types of communities, then we start to take on characteristics from the rest of the united states. as to the issue in terms of incarceration, i would have to plead ignorance. i do not know about that.

host: democrat from santa barbara, calif., on went dave swenson, an assistant economics professor from iowa state. caller: how are you doing? my question is not about economics, actually about the media. i do not want to use censorship, but why is our media so filter? we see a couple of stories with some grit, but for the most part it is just "feel good." there's so much going on in the world and our country, americans should be intuitive. host: lubbock, texas, from the independent line. caller: quick question, mr.

swenson. president obama attempted to use a stimulus program that was based on the infrastructure of america. what do you, as an economic adviser, do differently in order to help lower the unemployment of americans that may be different than what we have done, not only this particular president the last four, five, or six presidents in creating new jobs? host: mr. swenson? guest: that is a loaded question an awfully complicated. i just spoke about this. the first thing i try to get across to people is that this is not your father's recession. this one is a doozy. we have not seen anything like this for 70 years. a lot of our conventional wisdom about how the economy ought to

respond to different types of stimulus, the timing of the recovery, the pace and the slope of change that we should be expecting, all of them have been informed by previous recessions. this recession is so much worse. the recovery is so much more slowly than anything we have ever had to deal with since the last great recession. we really have used all of our bullets, all of our heroes in the quiver. we have done most everything we can do. we made money so cheap we are almost giving it away in terms of lending policy. we tried to stimulate the economy, in the short run, but basically underwriting infrastructure, creating jobs in the short run. hoping that those jobs, again, hope to stabilize consumption. we expanded unemployment

insurance to maintain consumption. we backstop are local and state governments so that they did not lay off lots of critical public servants. again, maintaining employment and consumption in the state of iowa, and in the nation. we were doing most of the things we could possibly do to do this. now, here we are. we have not recovered faster not and people say that it did not work. well, it did what it could given the damage that have been done to the economy. what do i think as an analyst? i'm of two minds. i believe that people like you and me, we need to fix our balance sheets and consumed within our means. we need to give the economy the right kind of signals from households so they know what to produce. we have to pay for our past successes and sens. there is no free lunch.

i believe what we are stuck with is a slow, somewhat painful recovery that will rediscover a new sustainable a economy someone, two, or three years down the road. that is kind of an anemic answer for an anemic recovery. host: we have about 50 minutes left with our guest, dave swenson, from iowa state univ. four days before the caucus gathering on tuesday night. you can watch live coverage of the separate caucus gatherings on c-span and c-span 2. here is a chart of the states with the highest population ages 65 or older. florida leads the country, 17%. west virginia is next. maine follows then pennsylvania.

15.4% of pennsylvania and the other 65 or older. 15% of those in iowa or 65 or older. what does this mean, if anything, to have the state with a senior population at the level of 15%? guest: it means a lot. it does have a disproportionate share of the state's elderly. there are two things that i always want to point out. the elderly tends to be concentrated out in the rural areas. the elderly tend to be poor, less mobile, and stuc, ik in sml communites. the value of their assets and what ever they are doing precludes them from moving to other areas. they are residing where they

grew up their entire lives. we have the largest fraction of the "old old," 85 and older. they are disproportionately female and significantly more poor than the rest of the population. they are very needy, very frail, very delicate. the state of iowa has a very, very well developed elderly services network in the private sector as well as the public sector. in the last decade or so, the rural elderly, by virtue of all things going on, we have seen a shift of the world elderly moving towards more -- rural elderly moving more urban to

access necessary needed services, so we do see an internal movement of the elderly to the medium-sized cities if not to the metropolitan areas. there has been a slight de- population ferom throm the rural areas. host: here is a population density map. the deep blue is des moines. here is cedar rapids. inghly 3 million peoplei iowa. we're learning now about people of iowa. we have another resident on the pawn, at dumdum a republican. caller: -- on the phone, adam, a

republican. caller: i think all presidents since world war ii could be defined as keynesian. my question is about rick perry. he has been able to increase in jobs in texas with a balanced budget. how could we do that in terms of economics? why are not talking about rick perry's plans for the country? chicago,'s move on to ill. jay. caller: i have spent some time in iowa in college and so forth. i am an african-american male. the average i when has a very little in common with a par de--

the average iowan has little in common with a party that does not support minimum wage increases. i would depends a great deal on the federal government and it does very well. it does not suffer the ills of global competition as much as other states. a lot of the jobs are agricultural. it did not have to worry about their jobs being moved to other countries. that is one reason why they have a favorable employment level. the minimum wage in iowa is fairly high. you have a party that comes in and people that are there now, they do not have a lot of values in common in terms of economics. i just want the president of all

i want to be careful. i know you have to go to the process of selecting a candidate, but to be honest with you they are a very progressive state in terms of their economics. oftentimes they go democratic, and i assume they will again this year. that would be for the reasons i just articulated. having said all of that, the previous caller just talked about rick perry. texas gets a lot of government aid, one reason he has been able to keep a very low unemployment level. some of the candidates are not being honest. barack obama as plan has been very helpful to a lot of states. host: think recalling comet from chicago. anything you can apply to the segment tier? -- thank you for calling. guest: the iowa economy is very diverse. it is not an ag economy.

it the largest industry in iowa is manufacturing in terms of gdp and employment. the second largest industry is finance and banking. then down the line, you have agriculture. it is about 4% of the jobs. then it is about 6% of the state's g.d.p. we do have an agricultural products processing portion, and it tends to be stable during economic hard times because we still eat. we do not have the cyclical fluctuation in hiring. the economy over time as requiring fewer and fewer workers. we have larger and larger farms computer operators, more machines which is part of the depopulation because agriculture does not need a lot of people.

we have a manufacturing sector that processes those farm commodities into value-added products which is more stable. the biggest part of a iowa's manufacturing is durable goods. we make washing machines, windows, construction machinery, tractors, recreational vehicles. that industry is very cyclical, like the rest of the economy, and it down turned sharply during the recession. manufacturing is the largest numerical components of the loss in jobs we have suffered. we are just barely recovering. we are still very vulnerable in areas like electronics manufacturing, which do have competition from overseas. we have had factories moved down to mexico or move into the chinese production system.

we are victims of globalization in as much of the rest of the world. we cannot eat or use it all. our economy is linked at the hip with how the rest of the nation and world is doing. we're just waiting for the rest of the country to get better so that we can sell more goods and services to the rest of the country. host: about five minutes left with our guest. from wyoming. caller: i know that the american people [unintelligible] at $1,700 per ounce for gold, why do the american people not take the gold to pay off the debt, the overall debt, the $15

trillion, and reset our money to the gold standards? host:here is a tweet. i'm not sure the information is accurate. what is your sense of that figure? at that is anywhere near true, why you think that is? can you connected to anything we have been talking about today? guest: we can break this down. pure than half of vote. of those that are registered, we do not all the. people who engage in the political process, very often at the state level, even at the national level, are a minority of the adult population. it is disappointing and frustrating, but it is the way that civic engagement occurs.

what you have going on with the caucus, and remember that we only have one real caucus on the republican side, is that you have the most actively engaged, actively involved come issue- oriented, personally motivated people that will in gauge. coppices they're different than just going to -- caucuses are different. it involves the commitment of an evening. it is a caucus, a process, the liberal tiv, sometimes raucous, confusing. you can be there for two, three, even four hours. they tend to be the most committed, the most motivated people that have the strongest feelings about a particular set of issues.

host: buffalo, new york, on the republican line. questions or comments about i what? -- about iowa? caller: you have been very informative. right now, our corporate tax rate nationally is 36%. if that was lowered down to a 12% flat tax and some of the loopholes, kickbacks for the lobbyists and everything disappeared, and they just paid a flat tax, would that not help stimulate jobs and bring more certainty to the nation? as far as job creators. the government is not creating jobs. host: an economy question for you. guest:sure.

hardly any corporation pays close to the 36%. the actual adjusted rate that they really do pay as much lower. if you get rid of the loopholes, and eliminate uncertainty, if you have a good persistent, constant rate that no one in gauges in devious behavior to try to dodge, would that be better for the economy? the short answer is yet. will it somehow jump-start growth? no. we are yet able to begin the process of the consuming with the kind of certainty that leads to what we call a vicious circle of reinvestment in the economy. it is not that we have a lack of capacity. we have excess capacity to produce everything we have ever wanted. what we lack is the means and the wherewithal to consume at capacity. we are not suffering from an investment crisis but a consumption crisis and the capacity to consume.

it is slowly working its way out. i agree. i agree that stability in the corporate tax structure is probably something that would benefit growth in the united states. host: one last call for our guest, union grove, alabama. caller: i have a short comment and a short question for your guest. with 1 million people incarcerated in this country, i do not go all the way with ron howeveruggestions, billions or billions of dollars would be saved because of the trafficking of drugs from mexico and other countries in south america coming across and the 1 million or so people that are incarcerated, and at 40% of

them are non-violent misdemeanors, look up the money that would be saved from that. however, i am in complete disagreement with him about the dismantling of our government. host: final thoughts from our guest. mr. swenson? guest: with regards to the question are in general? host: we are out of time, so anything . guest: in general, there are a couple of numbers we need to think about. i know what is 1% of the nation's economy -- iowa is 1% and it skews to the right, but it is incorrect to characterize iowa as it predominantly

agricultural. it has a diverse and well educated population. there are thoughtful, knowledgeable people. i think we are a decent sample to reflect the possibilities of the nation when it comes to the political process, just by virtue of our economics and their sociology. host: dave swenson associate professor at iowa state university in economics. we appreciate your insight this morning. all of our guests coming from des moines today. we have continued live coverage throughout the day and the weekend of the presidential candidates on the gop side leading up to the caucus on tuesday evening. we will continue to take your calls tomorrow on "washington journal" back at 7:00. stay with us.

we have everything you need to know and see about politics. enjoy the rest of your day and we will see you back here tomorrow. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] coming up in about an hour on c- span, live coverage of the town hall meeting with newt gingrich. a group is hosting the event in the des moines area. that is getting under way at 11:00 a.m. eastern, live on c- span. a little later today, republican

presidential candidate rick santorum also holding a town hall meeting. it is at 6:30 p.m. eastern in marshalltown with live coverage on c-span. a new poll shows mitt romney and ron paul leading in the iowa with 23% for romney and 21% for ron paul. in third place, rick santorum at 15%. rick perry at 14%, newt gingrich at 13%. the poll has michelle bachmann in the single digits. michelle bachmann is holding a meeting and greeting in sioux city. later she will speak in another town. rick santorum is holding a meet and greet in waterloo this afternoon while ron paul hosts a owa. hall in lamar's, i'd lik the supertax have spent millions of dollars this year. here's a look at a few of those commercials.

>> obama's reckless agenda must be stopped. who is the true conservative you can trust? rick santorum has fought for conservative values his whole life. a champion for life, a visionary that understands radical islam, and a proven performer that took on washington hand won. a true conservative we can trust. -- an won. >> washington elites are destroying our way of life. rick perry has done spending reforms and balance the budget. his energy reforms three america from foreign oil. we will put america back to work. stop washington insiders. rick perry, a conservative for president. >> jon huntsman should be a

conservative hero. his program is the most conservative. many agree, has the best plan to fix the economy. jon huntsman's record is more conservative than -- than newt gingrich and mitt romney, has better foreign-policy experience, is more pro-life, canned huntsman would be a more conservative president. the consisten andt conservative who can win. >> the iowa caucuses are tuesday night. coverage begins live a 7:00 p.m. eastern with a preview of how the process works. and a look at the state of the republican race. then live coverage of a caucus from central iowa on c-span and another from western iowa on c-span 2. and results will be on c-span.

you can join the conversation by phone on tuesday night and on facebook and twitter. yesterday afternoon preparing made a campaign stop in cedar rapids, speaking at the blue strawberry coffee company. he called rick santorum a prolific earmarker. also to a question that the 50- minute event. >> how are you? >> i am good. >> he's a good man. howdie. >> i ambrose. >> the yellow rose of texas. -- i am rose. >> the yellow rose of texas. you go, girl.

>> my pleasure to introduce a strong conservative comes from a farming community, grew up on a cotton farm, participated in the 4-h club, and earned the title of eagle scout, serve our country as a pilot in the u.s. air force to, and has served the state of texas as governor for more than a decade. his home state has created more than 1 million jobs. during his tenure as governor, even as america has lost jobs. please welcome the americas and jobs governor and a candidate for the republican nomination, rick perry. [applause] >> thank you. we were doing business over there. thank you to the glue strawberry folks -- blue strawberry coffee

company folks. anyway, we are -- kathy, by the way, thanks for your work and your service and everything. the brigadier-general is in here somewhere. there he is in the back. i want to say hi to him, a greater force veteran. a c-130 pilots, a real aircraft commander. that is self-serving, but i will say that any way. [applause] i will talk about our military men and women and are active duty folks in the second. but how many veterans are in here? put up your hands. thank you for your service. god bless you. we get to do this, we get to go out and speak up about our government and from time to time we speak against our government -- i do it on a pretty regular basis, as a matter of fact.

that's not a bad idea, because men and women like you who understood when your country needed you, you put your hands up and said send me, just like isaiah the old profit. that is what we are all about today. if you don't remember anything else i tell you today, which i will try to keep it interesting enough, but i want you -- this question, why should you settle for anyone < an authentic conservative to represent your values and your views without apology in washington d.c.? [cheers] you should not. no apology. that is what we believe in. our values. i was visiting with some folks earlier. i tell people, the washington and i like, washington, iowa.

i told them somebody's values are going to get represented in government. the question is going who's values? will it be our values or somebody else's values? so that is the question. why should you settle for anyone less than an authentic conservative? listen, i have all the respect in the world for those men and women that i am on the stage with the, the individuals who i truly have great respect for them. you have to ask yourself, if we replace a democrat insider with a republican insider, and you think washington is going to change any? >> no. >> i agree. i am a limited government fiscal conservative. i and this campaign to give washington a complete overhaul. [applause] i am about going to washington,

d.c., and taking a sledgehammer to it if that is what is required. other campaigns are conservative. sometimes their records don't always match their rhetoric. i have great respect for senator rick santorum. we stand on the stage, i pray for his daughter on a daily basis, is little baby girl bella. andy is a good man, but when he talks about fiscal conservatism, i am left scratching my head. i go, senator, the is a prolific earmarker. love iowa pork, but i don't like washington pork. that is the one you have to watch out for. it will give you a stomach ache that lasts for a long time. and so, i was telling the crowd before that senator rick santorum loaded up his bills

with all these earmarks. he even voted for the alaska bridge to nowhere. i have a real hard time with people explaining that one tube. he said in 2009, "i have a lot of in remarks." he said, "i am very proud of all the earmarks i put into the legislation. i will defend my remarks -- earmarks." i'm asking him now to defend those in remarks that i happen to think are the gateway drugs to the spending problems we have in washington, d.c. -- the earmarks. i think that is what is wrong with washington, having this concept of earmarks, you just picked them onto 0-- stick them

on to legislation. if you send me such a bill with things attached to it, that is dead on arrival. it's not going anywhere. washington d.c. insiders are not going to be the ones to fix this country. they are the ones that broke this country. they are not going to be the ones to fix it. it's going to take an outsider. think about what happened. washington went into complete meltdown when they had this debt ceiling conversation, which is all it was. best i can tell a, there was no negotiation. the president left and said put your super committee into place. i think very few of us thought the super committee was going to do everything we did was going to do anything except fail. and the result was over half a trillion dollars worth of cuts to our united states military. then we got the president back asking for $1.20 trillion, to

raise the debt ceiling by that much. it is so broken that we have to send an outsider to washington, d.c., an outsider that is not tainted with any of the historic things that have gone on their, not an insider from wall street, because you see this corruption between washington and wall street. leadership is not about raising the debt ceiling and putting it on the back of our children. leadership is standing up and looking the american people in the eye and saying here's where we are going to reduce spending and, telling american people, our social security program for our children is broken. those of you on social security or my age approaching so security -- social security, it's going to be there for you. the ne -- we need a president who fixes things'. the insiders who have been there

are not going to fix it. i look at the member of congress or former members of congress that are on the stage with meeks, 63 years of collective service in the united states congress. -- that are on the stage with me. those are your choices. there is a governor that assigned six balanced budgets, cut spending, made the types of hard decisions on the spending side that they will have to have in washington, d.c., working with private sector business leaders to create a business climate. i put texas up against any state in the country when it comes to job creation. there are some 1300 people per day on average that come into the state of texas. i tell people they're not coming there in august because of the great weather. [laughter] they are coming there because

they know that there's a land of opportunity still in this country. terry and i were talking about the states competing against each other. he understands that eliminating the personal income tax in iowa was one of the ways to make you a more competitive state -- illinois right across the river raised their personal income-tax rate by 66%. that is a target-rich environment over there. governors across the country competing against each other is the way our founding fathers saw the formation of america. we need to get back to that. we need to get back our conservative values. i suggest that as our constitution was written and they were conservative in the way they looked at washington d.c. they wanted to limit the power

is of federal government. about what they had been through. they had this faraway government telling them how to live their lives. there were being taxed without representation, all of the pressure o f this far away government-- of this faraway government. sounds familiar. and they put their names, their treasure, their lives, literally, on the line when they signed the declaration of independence. and then they developed that constitution over a number of years and they debated it greatly. i would suggest it is a conservative document, because they wanted to limit the federal government to a few enumerated powers like standing the military, defending and securing the borders of the country -- that would be a good thing for

the of the government to do right now, like something you are constitutionally supposed to do. and they got down to the bill of rights and spoke about the 10th amendment, the powers delegated to the united states by the constitution or prohibited to it by the state or reserved for the states respectively to the people. that is so simplistic but so elegant. it talks about having the states be laboratories of innovation. you want to educate your children in a particular way or deliver healthcare in a particular way or build transportation infrastructure in a particular way, that is what they saw. you are the laboratories of innovation. you pick and choose what you think is best for your state. those states will compete against each other.

people will move to where they are most comfortable. that is what our founding fathers saw for this country. we are almost 180 degrees away from that with washington tried to blackmail you with your own money on how to educate your children. obamacare getting between doctors and patients and sitting here is the way health care will be delivered in america. i will suggest that is unconstitutional. i'm pretty sure it is american. [cheers] i am asking for your vote and i'm asking for your vote and i want you to vote your conservative values. that is walking this caucus process for the republican nomination, i think, is about. and the values that i learned or on a small farm just like charles city and mason city and clear lake and all the small towns we have been through it

and washington and others, they remind me so much of the little town i grew up in) a hard- working men and women, most of them agricultural. they are just good people that i believe in the american dream, they believe in the sacrifice that those but came before them have done. my father was a b-17 tail gunner in 1974. -- 1944. he flew many missions and did not get a scratch on him by the grace of god. he wanted to serve his country and come home in liberty and farm a little piece of land back the edge of pasco county. that's what he did. and he taught his son about the values that he had learned and the importance of serving your country-country- haskell county.

it frustrates me greatly, having been a pilot in the air force and as the commander-in-chief of men andor more young ameant women today in the texas heart who have been to multiple theaters of war. it frustrates me as we come home from one of those theaters that our government, this administration, refuses to give them the simple acknowledgement of a job well done with a parade down main street and washington, d.c., or new york city. they gave their all, some of them everything. some gave their today for our tomorrow. when i am the president of

united states and our young and come home from a combat mission, i promise you not only will we have a parade, but the president of the united states will be there to welcome them and say welcome home and thank you for a job well done. [applause] in general, i will share with you one other thing, we will keep america strong economically and so that we can be strong and preserve the peace, not just in this country but in the world. america is a beacon. i think that we have lost a lot of our brightness. we have lost our luster in the eyes of a substantial number of countries. partly because of foreign policy that has been sold by this president over the last three years, a president who has gone around the world and apologize. -- policy that is been

muddled. he has said we are not an exceptional nation. i beg to differ. america is an exceptional nation and will continue to be an exceptional nation. we must devote ourselves to getting this economy back going. i understand how to do that. our state led the nation in job creation the last five years. if you keep taxes low, the regulatory climate fair and predictable, if you get the government regulation out of people's hair, freedom from the cost of trillions of dollars of cost. this coffee shop right here, i will guarantee, has epa, a department of labor regulations that don't make the coffee a bit better or safer or those employees any safer, but they have to comply with them. we have banking regulations that are strangling community banks. we have regulations from the epa

that are killing jobs. we have a president that will not build a pipeline from canada into you the united states. build the pipeline, mr. president. if create the jobs. bring the jobs and those sources of energy. give us the freedom from having to buy foreign oil from people like hugo chavez. that is what this is about, mr. president. this is about jobs, and the dependence we have today on foreign sources of energy from countries that don't like us. is what we aree talking about. our country is calling us. this election is not about me. this election is about our children, our grandchildren. they are waiting for us to answer if we are going to

participate, if we're going to call. i think about the profit isiah -- prophet isaiah and when god was asking who will go for us and isiah said send me. this is your country and your country is calling. your children are waiting for the answer. how many of you are willing to put your hand up and say here i am, send me? y pack with me. yuko how far you have to go no matter what the weather is. you have my back on the third of january and i will have your back in washington, d.c., for the next four years. if god bless you and thanks for

coming out to be with us. >all right. i will answer a few questions, kathy, if that's all right. in the proud iowa tradition. it's awesome to be here. >> your support limited government. you have criticized a u.s. supreme court decision. >> his question is how do i defend my criticism of limited government and then the texas case. i don't dislike government. i just want government to work.

the issue of -- we have a federal government that is out of control from the standpoint of spending. i wish i could tell you i knew every supreme court case. i don't. i am not even going to try to go through every supreme court case. i am not a lawyer. but here's what i do know. i know they are spending too much money in washington, 15 trillion dollars worth of debt is on the back of that young man right there. if we don't go in and cut the size of government, court cases will not make a difference. that is the issue. we can sit here and play it i gotcha questions on what about the supreme court case or whatever, but let me tell you the problem in this country is spending in washington. it is not a supreme court case.

the issue needs to be are we going to have a president of the united states that is going to put strict constructionists on the supreme court that look at the constitution and say i cannot find anything in there at all about prayer in school, i cannot find anything in there about educating our children, i cannot find anything in that constitution about how to deliver health care. that is what we need is the simplicity of a president who will go in and know what they believe in and will stand up for the people busting their chops here every day to live the american dream and they cannot because we have a president of united states and a congress out of touch with the people. i think that is the reason we need to have a constitutional amendment, sir, that balances the budget of the u.s. constitution and at the same time we're doing that, have an amendment that makes a part-time congress and have them work half the time and send an takoma

park -- send them back home and work a job like everybody else does. >> how do you propose to bring down the national debt? guest: it's probably a $15 trillion and growing. you grow your way out of it. that means you will cut the tax burden. i recommend you go to and my web site and look at our 20% flat tax plan that simplifies things and you get to keep more of your money. more importantly, you have the confidence that you can restore capital and hire people and create the jobs which will in turn create a substantially more amount of money that goes into the federal budgetary process and take those resources to pay down the debt. another way is to open our federal lands and waters for exploration.

we are only producing about 8% of our proven reserves on federal land. i will let every dime of that money go to paying down debt as well. there are trillions of metric -- cubic metric feet of gas in some of these fields. and then billions of barrels of oil. that money ought to go straight towards paying down the debt. the easiest and the best way to do it is to get the burden off of the job creators in this country from the standpoint of taxation and regulation. that is what is killing the job creators and entrepreneurial spirit. that's what we did in texas. we have a tax burden that is as light as it can be on job creators and still allows state services to be delivered. we have a regulatory climate

that's very predictable and we passed the most sweeping tort reform in the nation. it works. it is a simple model, but it works. simplicity is what has been missing in washington for so long. >> can you stop the degradation of our religious freedoms? i go back to -- i think this president has a war against religion going on. i shall couple of examples. one of them is this department of justice is going after churches from the standpoint approve the is called ministerial acceptance. -- exception. from the standpoint of being able to fire or hire someone. this justice department is going

after churches and basically taking that ministerial alliance away. if that is not a war on religion, i don't know what is. catholic charities, they are using dollars to give comfort haveid to individuals who been sexually trafficked. this administration is not allowing dollars to flow toward them, because they refused to do abortions. that is an attack directly against the catholic church values. a president of united states -- i will tell you one thing, my department of justice will not be going into the state's ensuing the states for doing what they have the sovereign right to do and. [applause] >> [inaudible]

i don't what the government getting anything. >> whose asking what i would do to get congress to work together and the president to work together. for 11 years i've been the governor in the second most populous state and there's a significant number of democrats in our legislative bodies. i have had it pretty good -- a pretty good experience of executive governing leadership of getting men and women who don't always see eye to eye. and you have to be engaged. you have to be involved in the process on a regular basis. of the sixth balanced budget that i signed, i cannot think of -- well i know for fact there was not a time that myself physically or staff was not in meetings with our appropriators

as we are going through the appropriations process and working through. there are two things that you will not see me doing. you will not see me playing golf on sunday morning and you will not see me on a 19-day holiday in hawaii. [cheers] [applause] >> yes ma'am. >> i am confused. when obama became president, it seems to me he acquired a debt. did he tell you how much that was and where it came from? >> yes, ma'am. he inherited a bad situation. he just happened to make it a lot worse.

[applause] the debt was from dislike tarp, a vendor billion dollars to bail out wall street banks that should have gone under -- $800 billion. it was from republicans spending money like democrats. the reason that we find ourselves in a problem today is we could not tell the difference between republicans and democrats the way there were spending. that's one of the problems. that is the reason i make a statement, if you want to change washington, you will be hard pressed to pick one of these insiders that have been there the last seven or eight years or 12 or 15 or however many years, if you need an outsider to walk into washington that has the courage to say we are not going to spend that money. when it comes rolling in, pull out the veto pen and veto appropriations and veto bills that spend money we don't have.

at that particular time they will go, that guy does what he says he will do. >> what percentage of the debt is domestic? >> i cannot answer that, let me ask you a question. you are better off today than you were $4 trillion ago. >> the situation in congress has been very frustrating. i would like to see everyone work together and die and not seeing that. >> if working together is to continue what they have been doing the last 10 years, not for that. -- i am not for that, i am for overhauling washington, traveling all over this country and using whatever capital began

to pass a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution. is that your daughter? if we don't do that, her future is not going to be as good as your future was. >> i wish we could roll back the hands of time. >> we cannot. that's a fact. we have to decide are we going to go back within congress, are we going to elect somebody who actually has a record of balancing budgets, of creating that ismic cclimate second to none, be the president of the united states? and to also pass a constitutional amendment that makes congress a part-time body. if you cut their pay and their staff and the time they spend in washington, allow them to have a job back in the district where they are spending time with tube and live under the laws they pass, and that will have as

big an impact on washington as anything we can do. i may need that coffee's sooner rather than later. the last question. >> [inaudible] the leading candidate right now is another legacy politician. >> i don't know where you are going with this. >> folks with an economic background. >> i apologize for interrupting. go ahead. >> we have the romney dynasty

now. do you bring something different? >> khyber in a lot of things different. i am a consistent conservative. i was always pro-life and pro- traditional marriage, fiscal conservative. i have never been for global warming. me and mitt are different. i think public service is an honorable pink. i'd think men and women, whether serving on the police force or in a city council or the mayor or state representative or governor of a state, i stateiowans were -- -- i think elects have been wise to le terry to get this state back on track. i'm glad you gave me the opportunity to reflect my

differences with mitt romney. but i don't have a problem with someone whose father was in the political arena as well. i think there is great honor. and i think we need to always hold them accountable. that is where we as citizens really -- that's you. that's all of us. we have to do this. if we want our country back, if we want our children's future to be one that we are proud for them to have, this election is what it's about. four more years of this president and his socialist view of this country, his nationalized or socialized medicine will destroy our country. i truly believe that with all my heart. if i did not, i would be sitting back in austin, texas, governing the state i love.

but i care about this country. doing our duty when we are called is what america may is all about. you have been called. it is our time to take this country back. god bless you. thank you all for coming out to be with us. have my back on tuesday and i will have your back for the next four years in washington, d.c. [cheers and applause] i will go right down through their. -- there. >> you have my votes. >> thank you. i appreciate you coming out here. banks.

-- thanks. i appreciate you being here. >> good luck to you. >> thank you. >> [inaudible] >> god bless you. thank you. i appreciate you. thank you.

thank you all for being here. i hope i have your vote. i appreciate it. [inaudible] >> thanks for taking my question. >> this lady wants your

signature, governor. >> there you are. >> we've got your back. >> [inaudible] god bless yuo. -- god bless you. >> thanks for coming.

>> [inaudible] >> several times a day. >> [inaudible]

>> you guys, he's not taking any questions. >> [inaudible]

>> thanks for being here. >> thanks for coming.

[inaudible] >> , on and get in the picture -- come on and get in the picture. >> thank you so much. that's fantastic.

ll.thank you al thank you, ladies. here we go. >> good luck to you, governor.

>> thank you. where do you want that? >> across here. >> ok. this way they can choose which signature they want. >> thank you so much. >> [inaudible]

>> a live picture on your screen from the coffee house in des moines iowa. newt gingrich holding a town hall meeting their with a group called cafe mom, scheduled to get underway in about 10 minutes. we will have live coverage on c- span. while we're waiting for it to begin, a conversation with the creator of a musical about the iowa caucuses. >> we are south of downtown des moines at cream cupcake, a baker reportedly are joined by its owner christina moffatt. not only is she the owner of the business, but she is president of downtown des moines chamber. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> tell me about how small business benefits from a caucus coming to town every four years.

>> january is normally our slow season. as soon as christmas is over, people said new year's resolutions and has spent all their money. normally it is cold, so they don't want to go outside. but if the caucuses are in town, they are still out and enjoying each other. that means more business in our door. >> how much more business has your shop scene? dan-- seen? >> the candidates or rather their people have come to our doors. people are always celebrating birthdays or there is a rise in the polls, so they want to celebrate with cupcakes. we are doing a big event on directory with google for the media to have a location to stop in and pick up a cupcake and celebrate the caucus >> . you have a few employees here in your shop. small business in des moines was scared.

>> small businesses like myself are the ones that are hiring, creating jobs. i am able to keep my employees busy throughout a slow season because of the caucus. >> what has it been like for other businesses? have you seen people leave des moines or transition into new businesses? >> we have seen people starting businesses. not necessarily because of layoffs, but because of the timing. people are wanting to try something new, wanting to come back to des moines. this is the perfect time. if we are in a recession we hope to go up and not down. so we see people stepping out on faith and wanted to do what they are good at. >> tell us how you started this business. >> my story is i had a great corporate job and i still work with my company, i love them, but i had a passion for baking. the timing for me was that i

wanted to make a leap of faith in january when i knew it would be slow and that i could actually learn and not just jump into a really busy season. i just wanted to do what i wanted to do. it has been the best decision ever. >> des moines becomes a political hot spots every four years. how do you look at the caucuses from a business person's perspective? >> we have been cleaning up. we've been talking about the caucuses since august on what we are going to do and how we were going to welcome people to des moines. not only me, but at the chamber. how to help people get around town. we have revamped the web site for the chamber if at making sure businesses are up-to-date. also, i added staff in october if knowing that the caucuses were coming, also for the holiday season. we plan to continue to grow. hopefully this is a hot spot for des moines. host: what's your best selling

cupcake? >> ravishing red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. >> she is the president of the des moines downtown chamber, christina moffatt. thanks for being with us. >> newt gingrich's town hall meeting is getting under way shortly. live coverage on c-span. it is at the java joe coffee house in des moines. expected to go about an hour. frank, the moderator, is already on the stage. we will show you this live and after this is a book signing with newt gingrich and his wife callista. this book is titled "a nation like no other: why american exceptionalism matters." live coverage on c-span.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> , until he arrives at the coffee house, the latest poll. it shows mitt romney and ron

paul running neck-and-neck in iowa with 23% for mr. romney, 21% for ron paul. in the third place, rick santorum with 15%, then 14% for rick perry. newt gingrich and 13%. it is an nbc news poll and it has michelle bachmann in single digits. >> we would appreciate if you turn off your cell phone and not just the wringer. i will do it as well and be an example. one other thing, i need to read a quick disclaimer for our own sake. listen up and then i need you to have you raise your hand at the end. the event taking place in this area is being recorded. you give them the right to photograph your image and your voice and to use any portion forever and throughout the world in any manner including and

without limitation. you will not receive any payment for such use and waive any right to bring any action of law against the company or its parent company. you and acknowledged that you are at least 18 years of age. or you have obtained your parents' authority, if you are under 18. you are bound by the terms. if you don't agree to the above terms and don't wish to be taped as part of this program, stay away from the area where this film is taking place. thank you. if i could have everyone raised their hand to an acknowledged they have heard this, that we will be filming this. thank you. we own you now. thank you so much. [applause]

okay, we are going to get started. this is something very special. will be a formal introduction. i want to thank you all for coming. it is of concerns that moms are not being heard in this election. i'm so glad that you brought the next generation sitting right across. he will never remember that he was here, but he will never forget that you were here. that's what makes it so special. i want to thank a mom in uniform for coming here. thanks for what you do. [applause] we are going to get a lot of questions in. you can see how interested america is. look behind you how many tv cameras are all around. this is remarkable. we want to hear from you. when you get a chance to ask a question, please get to the point.

unlike other events, the speaker will not have 30 seconds or 45 seconds, you will get a full answer to each of these questions, because you deserve the right to know where these candidates stand. i want you to feel engaged in this. how many of you have met at least one presidential candidate? how many have met two? ? -- 3? 4? five? you have met five? what the are you doing? how old are your kids? >> 11 and 21. >> are they with you when you are meeting these candidates? >> yes. >> i feel sorry for them. how many of you in this room are still undecided? wow. this is really important. how many of you in this room support mitt romney? how many support ron paul?

how many support rick santorum? how many of your support michelle bachmann? how many support rick perry? how many support newt gingrich? but you say you are still undecided? who is undecided? this will be a very important for you. any questions that i can answer in the last 60 seconds? >> we have some stuff in the hallway. [bells toll] >> i'm not going to stand up and put it back on because that would create a moment for the media. there were a gift, special made

for me for this event. there'll be other issues that will be displayed over the next four or five months. any question that does not describe my polyester or rayon? anything else at all? i know it is warm. it will stay warm. i hope you find this interesting. please teach your children that matter how much they may disagree with those in office, decency and respect for the political process, we're fortunate to live any republic and let us speak in favor of it. this is the greatest country on the face of the globe. teach your children to appreciate it. >> hi.

we're very glad to have you here today. this is so important that your voices are heard on our website and here in this room by the media. we will be asking questions that cafemom members have written into us and it is so important to us that every issue that matters to you is addressed by the candidates. we appreciate you being here today. >> any questions for her? why are you so quiet? >> this is our first major event. we have had some interest from other candidates. [applause]

.> we're almost exactly on time .> we're getting good at this recognize daughter, wife. >> everyone is here. amazing. >> i assume she is from georgia. >> that is my granddaughter next to her. >> i'm from atlanta. i went to westminster high school and the university of georgia. >> does this mean a robivalry?

>> i am happy to meet people. [inaudible] >> we are live. let's go. >> welcome, everybody. [laughter] how are you all doing? [applause] how many of you have only one job? -- one child? two children? four or more? raise your hands? who has five or more? how many kids do you have? how old are your children? wow. thank you for being here.

this is the first time that cafemom has been able to bring together a group of moms. you care more than the average american. this is your opportunity to ask the presidential candidates direct questions that will affect your parents, your kids, your families, your career, everything. cafemom has brought this to ge gether to give you a chance to be heard. in the end, what they decide to do over the next four or eight years will affect your son and the people like you. i want to point out our mom in uniform. thank you for being here. [applause]

>> hello, everyone. i'm with the number-one mom site on the internet. there are a lot of people out there who are eager to hear what you have to say. one of the things we have noticed is that while we see your policies and plans on the news, we want to get to know who you are personally. i see you brought your family here. >> my wife, callista, is here. [applause] one of my two favorite daughters, kathy is right here. my other favorite daughter jackie is right here. and my grandson robert is right here. jump up. and my granddaughter maggie.

maggie has been campaigning with her this week and she brought her friend. >> you are very close with your daughters, by all accounts, and your grandchildren. >> they are my two favorites. >> i read you talk to your father every day. that is a rare bond. how have you maintained that personal connection with them as adults, and with your grandchildren? >> i think you have to work at it. you have to put in the time and the effort and the conversations and go on vacation, be together to solve problems, try to do things -- we get together and say, what kind of life do you want to have?

we want them to have a great life. >> now that you are a grandparent, in hindsight, what do you wish you'd done in different as a father when your girls were growing up? >> my daughters are so terrific. it would have been great not to a been divorced in a different world, to a been able to talk more openly and to solve some of our problems more openly than we did. all three of us worked through it. i do nothing to was a single week when we were not aware of each other and tried to do things together. they both have become tremendous. callista and i have enormous pride. jackie's doing a great job. kathy has been tremendous.

she has sat arthritis since she was 25. she now walks marathons. watching her life and with a husband. jimmy is here. s.ese are my two son-in-law' >> which one you like better? -- which one do you like better? >> jimmy is an atlanta falcons fan. the other is a green bay packers shareholder. we do own one share of stock. we love atlanta and we loved jimmy. >> these moms talked with great in trepidation about the future.

i will ask for a show of hands. how many are you afraid that your children when not have the same quality of life that you had when they grow up? this is something that the president can do something about. " -- do -- what would you do so the next generation will have a better? >> i tell audiences that i did not ask anyone to be for me. i think that i am less confident than frank is. i think presidents can have an impact. ronald reagan was effective because he could communicate clearly with the american people, and the american people communicating clearly with congress. so i think it has to be a team

effort. if we don't have profound change in washington, we're heading towards thdecay. i do not want to leave maggie and robert a country which is poor, weaker, and in more danger than the country that our parents worked and fought to give us. we have to have a whole new approach to politics and have a willingness to deal with large solutions and to do with together and to bring people together to solve things. i think it can be done. you can go to newt.org. it takes a fair number of ideas to get the country back in shape, and that's what this country is all about, setting a path to create jobs, national growth, and reassert the core values and start with the

declaration of independence. if you could get right the economy, national security, and the core values, this would be a remarkably successful country, and you could feel good about what you're leaving your children with. >> you gave a general response. what are your three p rioities? >> you have to fix the economy. i had an endorsement from the man that developed the reagan plan. we created millions of jobs. we did the same thing when i was speaker. >> cutting taxes for everybody? >> i know how to create jobs. the best thing you could do is

to get every poor person a job. [applause] if they have a job --if they start getting better education, they will fix redistribution because they will rise and their children will be better off than they were. it teaches everybody that is successful to leave the country. difference.ig i would have a lot less regulations. an informant a protection agency -- a town will have to double its electricity rates to meet the requirements. senior citizens where their coat all day because they cannot afford to heat their houses.

there are bureaucrats in d.c. to of no idea where we are. this is the first female mayor of a town and she worries about the people of for town. -- of her town. i think you need an american energy program. i am in favor of ethanol and by a diesel fuels. i pick south dakota or iowa. i like us to become so energy independent that no american president has to bow to a saudi king. [applause] >> we were talking about the environment.

that is an issue that is near and dear to many moms. i have many friends whose children cannot go outside and play in the summertime because they have asthma. that is a big issue in atlanta. what we do to insure that the air is clean and the water is clean? >> we should put in perspective where we are. i taught environmental studies and i taught at the second birthday -- second earth day. when i was teaching, the caliber cuyahoga river caught fire. so i'm for cleaning things up.

but after cleaning them up, i would not lobby the epa to crush -- it would kill several million more jobs. iowa is a perfect example. you produce more electricity from wind than any place on the planet except denmark. it has been successful. nobody has complained. this is a piece of the future, not the whole future. >> we have our first question. >> kinnick. they are laughing because he is named after the heisman trophy winner. [applause] -- [laughter] >> if this was chicago, he would

be voting. >> wait. your husband went to iowa state? >> i went to iowa. [laughter] i am a public school teacher and teach at the local high school. i do have some difficulty with some of the things that they are doing. how would you handle education and the teachers' union? i have a huge problem with how they are handling teacher security. i see young teachers losing their jobs and all the teachers that are taking up space and stay because they have been there for a while. >> most education should be at the local level, not washington.

i taught a long time ago in a public high school and at college. i think that we should reduce the bureaucracy in washington dramatically and reduce the red tape and bring things back home not just to des moines but all the way back to county offices and to local schools. we should empower parents lot more with the proviso that we need discipline in the school and we need to reestablish the principle that students should obey teachers and that we go back to the all-time model that said if you're in trouble with your teacher, you are in trouble with your parents. [applause] the nisei something -- let me say something about the teachers union. i would encourage every state to adopt a program that was competitive with the teachers' union so you could choose to

pay it direct and you would not have to be a union member. in a lot of states, the protectionism and artificially large number of participants. i believe the purpose of schools is to educate children. i did something lesser that some people thought was daring and other opponents would say it was zany. i went with the rev. al sharpton and we went around talking about charter schools. in inner-city philadelphia and in a meeting where every official is black, i have no standing. i'm a southern republican conservative. but al sharpton had a lot of standing.

me you will't tell back a bad teacher and ruin children. every child's right to be in a room and learning from a teacher who is confident with their parents involved, and we have to sell this. -- and we have to solve this. not ready to get rid of bad teachers, you will love lost the moral authority in teaching our children. >> thank you for being here. i appreciate your specific answers. that is what i'm looking for today. what is your strategy in a general election -- no canned answer. please be as specific as you

can. [laughter] >> the pain of thinking that -- [laughter] look, i have helped design campaigns for a long time. my father was stationed and i worked at the nixon campaign as a volunteer. this room is bigger than the georgia republican party in 1960. i could not win. when i started there were no federal elected officials. my children were used as child labor because they were handing out brochures. "this will be fun." some more around the seventh grade, they had friends and did not want to go.

so i've had experience my whole life. i work with the reagan campaign in 1980. he was a former democrat. george w. bush was behind in may and we had to get independents and democrats. we have the largest one-point increase, 9 million votes. you have to be positive. independents and democrats hated partnership. we had a positive campaign. i would run on big issues. i'm running to the american president. 79% of the country wants an american energy plan.

over 90% of the country believe our rights, from our creator and that we should honor and respect that. over 90%. president obama has been the most successful food stamp president in history. more people today on food stamps than ever before. i want to be the most successful paycheck president in history. go into any neighborhood in america, and you say, would you rather your children have food stamps or paychecks, there is a big potential majority of democrats and independents willing to work with you. >> if you look at un mitt romney -- you and mitt romney, he runs and have you in almost

every survey against barack obama. why would you be the most electable candidate against a field? >> in this point in 1979, ron reagan was running 30 points behind jimmy carter. the news media image of ronald reagan was such that he had a deficit. as the people got to know ronald reagan, it turned out he cared more states against carter than fdr carried against herbert hoover. it is october of next year. obama has $1 billion to spend on the kind of negative advertising you have been seeing here. it comes down to a series of debates. who do you think could go on that platform against barack obama and effectively articulate

your values, defend your beliefs, and communicate his failures without flinching? i want to suggest almost everybody seems to think that i'm a more effective debater than mitt romney, a more coherent conservative. i first worked with ronald reagan in 1974. i think that i can debate barack obama and begin decisively by telling the truth that the country says, we want paychecks, we do not want more food stamps. [applause] >> i have a question about the national debt. i have a high-level of anxiety about getting obama out of the white house. please describe your plan to pay

off the national debt. >> that is a good question. what you have no is a generation of politicians who plan to leave the debt to their children and grandchildren. when i became speaker, the congressional budget office projected over the next 10 years we will borrow an additional $2 trillion $70 billion. then the work surpluses of over two trillion dollar. years a big swing in four and that was working with bill clinton. you control spending. start by saying how much money is coming in. >> what are you going to cut? >> you can close the department

of energy tomorrow morning and you would have more energy. [applause] you could shrink the department of education and you would have more education and better loans. you can apply -- they think they can save $500 billion a year. that doesn't save everything. i think governor perry had a good idea. all foreign aid should be on the table. [applause] there are three phases. control spending. reform the system. economic growth. we have unemployment down to

4.2%. you take people off of welfare, off of food stamps and medicaid and public housing, unemployment and get them taking care of their family and paying taxes. the biggest single step back. >> thank you for being here today. christian evangelicals believe in second chances. you have stated you're not the same person you work 20 years ago, that you have change. convince us that the change was a fundamental change of the heart and not just political talk. how would that change died you as you serve as our nominee and president? >> i don't know that i can convince you.

you have to decide whether you are convinced. i may sadder and slower person that i was 25 years ago. i thought if you just get moving fast enough, everything would work. i have learned the limitations of life. sometimes it is painful. sometimes you have to go to god for forgiveness. i don't ask people to vote on whether or not they approved of my entire life and more than other people would vote to approve of their entire life. look to a grandfather who spent 53 years studying with this country needs and how to get it done. look at my overall record and my willingness -- i was told by a reporter 45% of the ads that

been bought in the state are attacks on me. just the willingness to take that says something about which of the candidates as character and which of the candidates doesn't. i will let you decide whether the person who was been positive has more character than the one with higher guns to run those ads. >> have you sought forgiveness with those who have had issues with you? >> i tried to express my sadness about what happened. in the case of my first wife, we had a very long relationship, which jackie has written about as probably the best i witness -- eyewitness. >> the feel you're not running

those negative attacked ads is responsible for your drop in the polls? >> oh, sure. he's the expert. if you have $8 million, $10 million -- >> there is an attack right there. [laughter] >> i will bet ron paul is behind that curtain. [laughter] >> they may want to fix that because it looks strange on television. i would not vote for the person they are describing. you take all those negative ads and line them up. here's my problem. i deeply believe that we should be worthy of our children and

grandchildren. we'll look to them -- we owe it to them to have an honest debate. but i would be ashamed to run some of these ads they are running and i will not participate in that kind of progress. we will face some real decisions. >> you would rather lose? >> i can be a witness to america's future while sparing my opponents -- while smearing my opponents. i would ask every iowan to ask yourself, do you want to reward negativeness, or insist on

politicians with the courage to be honest. this is not some kindergarten election. we can disagree in public and take responsibility for what we're doing. we're talking in a positive way. i do not want a contrast with ron paul on foreign policy. there will be principal positions that you have seen. . are false.k ads >> i have a broad question. living in a democracy, i feel like we're losing that. we have the so much special interest and anybody that has a sore toe, we are to pay

attention to them except what the majority wants. >> you put your finger on something that's bigger than politics. a culture that loses the work ethic and loses the sense of responsibility is hopeless. we have to confront how serious that is. i am committed to re- establishing that we are in doubt about our creators with certain unalienable rights. i remind people pursuit is active. [applause] i will tell you if i story -- i will tell you a funny story. we of children that sometimes grow up in families where nobody is working. it would make sense to of jobs

in local schools that paid that and give them some responsibilities. new york city janitor's earn more than new york city teachers. a great example you in power -- union power that makes no sense at all. for one janitor, you could hire 30 students. give them a connection to the school that keeps them from dropping out. have them learn habits like show up for work, it is your money, here is how you budget it. people on the left one crazy. jackie called me, laughing. she said, you never forgot the

my first job at 13 was that the first baptist church cleaning out the toilets. she said she treasured every dollar she got paid because she earned every doubt she got paid. robert is not as enthusiastic about this experience as his mother. you need a president who is a cultural leader as much as they are a political leader. we have to reestablish patriotism, the work ethic, that responsibility, god endows you with rights and he expects you to be responsible in exercising those rights. [applause] >> 12% of mothers have faith that washington gets that. how many of you have faith that washington gets it?

nobody. >> i like to meet the 12%. i do not believe the elite in this country. in thisthink the elites country have a clue. they are arrogant and lecture us and they have no standards. >> how are you going to restore confidence in the future if you're attacking the institutions that are supposed to help us feel confident in the future? >> i am cleaning them out, not attacking them. our job is to reestablish the constitution and to insist that the congress be confident and to insist that bureaucrats remember we are citizens, they are subordinate to us. we're not subject that are supported to them.

>> is congress in competence? >> when you pass a two-month extension of a minor tax cut and go home claiming victory -- this is the most irresponsible washed and i can remember in my lifetime -- the most irresponsible washington. >> congress is led by republicans, including people who served as part of your leadership. >> this is the entire team -- an anti-team. very confident and very smart people get in a room together and collapse. i'm not saying this happily. i would love to be a partisan republican. the whole country is say mess

and the whole country will be faced with huge challenges. this is part of what i am so angry about the negative commercials. we need a presidential campaign that is an honest discussion about how we can fix our country and we cannot do that when consultants are throwing mud. you have to think about what kind of campaign we want because we will end up with the same kind of election and next year will be worse and the future will therefore be worse. [applause] >> good morning. three parts.is who report if margaret thatcher was here in the united states and 30 years younger, would you consider her

as a running mates? [laughter] >> one anytime. i would ask her to consider me as her running mate. [laughter] [applause] >> ok. do you have right margaret thatcher-like woman in mind? >> i think that we have to look for people who are very confident and capable and tough enough mentally to do that. i like susanna martinez, the governor of mexico. she was a prosecutor. her husband was the deputy sheriff. she has done a fantastic job. >> would you consider condoleezza rice as a running mate? >> the only question i has is if

you've never run for office, it is a different business. but she is very smart. she is one of the people you would look at in terms of sheer talent and sheer knowledge. >> thank you. >> our national survey shows that moms tend to be more conservative, they do agree with the occupy wall street sentiment that government and business operate to the benefit of the 1% and that they are part of the 99%. what do you have to say to the armchair occupiers? >> the genius of the american system is you could have a huge impact by calling into talk radio, quoting, the kind of-- voting, the kind of questions

you asked candidates. the federal reserve has spent trillions of dollars in secret. i want to break up fannie mae and freddie mac because they are much too big and are out of control and to wean them off of any kind of government sponsorship. the former governor of new jersey said, i don't know what happens to the billion dollars. to the confusing -- it is confusing. i talk to someone in a small town who had some funds invested with that firm and he said it is still locked up and it is still a total mess. something is profoundly wrong. the last three years, what we did was fundamentally wrong because it protected the big at

the expense of little americans. >> next question. >> thank you. you said you would use executive power to overturn some of obama's policies. how can you be sure another president will not overturn your orders? >> an executive order operates within the law. the first executive order i would sign would abolish all the white house czars. [applause] if you elected a future left- wing president and it wanted to go in and recreate them, they could. it would take positive action on their part and it would not be very popular. one reagan had the mexico city policy, that no american money would go to pay for abortions

overseas -- ronald reagan. you could reinstate that by executive order. >> do you think that the president -- using their orders to go around congress, aren't you doing the same thing? if it is not good for him, why would be good for you? >> any president uses executive order. it goes back to george washington. president obama was doing things at the margin. to be serious about it, congress should cut off the funding. they could say that no money would be spent on the bazczars. the constitution is designed for that kind of checks and balances.

if you think that the -wagon is in the ditch, the president will do some strong things. otherwise the wagon will stay in the ditch. if they want a timid president who operates in a way that avoids the fights in washington, that is fine. nothing much will be changed. if you want someone who says there will : and fix these things -- i would move on the first day the american embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. is've said to his rallies -- that they don't get to designate their capital.

>> there have been focused with moms and they do have some concern that you can create even more chaos than what exists right now. take a look at the things that u.s. said it over the last eight months, there are so many things you'll do one day one, de two, day two, day 100. couldn't create a battle every single day because of all this change -- could you create chaos? >> i do not know about chaos. how many days should we wait for children to be trapped in a school that fails every child? patient should rebawe be? how much we say, those of

children's lives are worth -- if you were a lifeguard and somebody felt in the river, you ought to get up and die then -- you have to get up and dive in. that is a pretty aggressive action. ronald reagan understood action. when reagan wanted to call the soviet union the evil empire, he thought was important marley and to undermine the psychology. they stuck it through the national security council. he wanted to say, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. there were fighting in as late as the morning he was delivering the speech. bold leaders want to get the country moving again.

did not want to take risks or fix things. you have been in situations where you had to get it done. otherwise, it would stay a mess. if we're going to fix this, we'll have several years of rolling up our sleeves together and cleaning this out. this is like spring cleaning. some will be messy, but i think together we will get this done. >> moms are frustrated with this on willingness to compromise. can a bold leader find solutions? have toon't necessarily compromise but you have to find a way to have it when one system -- a win-win system. if i want to get what i need, i

have to find out which you need. "i have to have this and i cannot do that." you begin to figure out, is there a formula that breezy together? senator webb and senator warner are two democrats from virginia. it would increase revenue of the government and in the state of virginia and it would increase revenue for ever structure and for land conservation. i've been trying to convince the house republicans to pass the bill. t to not compromise -- it is not a compromise. harry reid has to say, i'm not going to let you bring up your bill.

there are ways to work together. you understand each other and you figure out how to find the agreement that lets you move forward. i did it in the 1980's with ronald reagan went to o'neill was speaker -- when tip o'neill was speaker. >> i am from memphis, tennessee. what is your plan for obamacare? >> go to newt.org. i would repeal it. [applause] then you have to replace it with a program that is more focused on doctor-patient relationships and your pharmacist and the people you rely on. government bureaucrats and the insurance bureaucrats and get

doctors -- [applause] >> and replace it with what? >> as system that is much more localized and that people will have more choices. there are more regulations in health care -- >> to people have the right to quality health care -- do do people have the right? >> none of us want to see someone die on the streets. an amazing% of poor people buy go to emergency rooms do not have an emergency -- an amazing percent of poor people go to emergency rooms don't have an emergency. you could save 80% of a cost by

using common sense and local level. -- at a local level. >> thank you for coming today, mr. speaker. we were among the first -- if there was to be a government shutdown, how would the military be affected? >> i am proud of you for wearing that uniform. >> thank you. [applause] >> my father wore uniform in the infantry. this goes back to our conversation about how that washington is. we twice closed the government. we did not affect the military, the fbi, social security because

we designed the danced to not be stupid. these guys are doing the opposite. they are trying to maximize the pain to win their way. i hope we will not get to that. if we did, i would introduce legislation to exempt all public safety personnel and to exempt social security so that you didn't have those engaged in the fight. we should be able to up a fight over here without crippling our institutions and leaving people that have enough to worry about. military families should not have to worry about whether they will get their next paycheck. >> what about that paycheck? what about veterans benefits and those who are serving our country right now? >> this probably goes against the tide of the current believes

in washington. you're not five years from now. cutsl not that significant in military spending. you cannot live in a world with china is modernizing and there are radical islamists that want to kill us. if we cut on the most expensive military you can have, there is a cheap military-- we did decide if we will be the strongest country in the world and that would be the first duty to remain strong. [applause] >> i don't think you're expecting the questioned or this one. i asked you to talk about a moment in your life that had an impact on your policies and i your beliefs.

this is a groove on your mom's here -- this is a group of moms here. i know your mother is not still with us. what do you think of we think of your mom? >> i get teary eyed every time we sing christmas carols. excuse me. my mother sang in the choir and love singing in the choir. when i wasw -- young, she made me sing in the choir, and we had pictures of me at an early age singing in the choir. identify my mother with being happy, loving life, having a sense of joy in your friends.

she introduced me -- she was it long term care facility with bipolar disease and depression and she acquires some physical elements. that introduced me to long-term care, which ended with bob kerrey and that interest me to all slumbers which it did for three more years -- to all summelzheimer's. i'm getting emotional. the real problems of real people and my family. this is not a theory. this is my mother. [applause] i do policy much easier. [laughter] >> they will be mad at me.

is she was here today, would you tell her? >> here today? she would be talking to all these people. she would be telling them how nice i am. she was proud of me most of the time. >> what would you say to her? >> she spent 27 years as an army wife, and she was in a culture that valued patriotism, duty. i would say to her that i will do everything i can as a candidate to be worthy of her. [applause] >> do you have another mom

question? we have about four minutes left. i apologize. i did not mean to put you through that. >> they're helpful. >> and they are free. >> no, no, no. that's a sign you have not had children. [laughter] >> how would you like to close, knowing there are moms in this room and moms who are watching you right now imams or connected through cafemom? what would you tell them that they need to do and the need to 04 not just on tuesday -- and they need to hope for in going forward? >> women in general and moms in

particular bear the brunt of the economy. when the economy is bad, try to figure out what to do and how to do what by mothers and women in general. that's the way culture works. mother's care and or more deeply about their children. one of the most powerful comments i've heard was a focus group that was done about national security and why people are worried about the iranian nuclear weapon. the mother said on the morning of 9/11 she had three children in three different schools and she did decide which one to get first. she said she would do anything to never do that again. whether you talk about the economy, security or the use--

mothers of the civilizing influence. we all get it. mother's plight an enormous role in sustaining civilization -- mothers play an enormous role in sustaining civilization. mothers understand the threat more deeply than men do. i would ask you to think about how much you love your children, how much you love your country, and help people like me figure out how to get the news media and the candidates to understand they should participate in an election where the of our children and our country because we are in real trouble and cannot stand politics as usual. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by

national captioning institute] >> thank you so much. we really appreciate you joining us here in front of all of these moms, and we will be talking to more candidates in the coming weeks. thank you, speaker. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> these are his grandchildren, and if you want to come up and grab a photograph or shake hands, this is your shop to do it. yes.

>> everyone, there will be a book signing just outside the theater. -- up here. >> thank you. thank you. god bless, you guys. speaker, thank you. may i get a quick picture? ok. thank you. that is perfect. i will take it.

one, two, three. one more. >> that is a multi-tasking mother. >> did it work? thank you so much. >> thank you. >> nice to meet you. thank you. >> i have been behind you since the beginning. we are hoping and praying that you get there, man. >> we need your help.

>> are you staying through the new year's? >> we will be here through the caucus. >> awesome. >> thank you. >> very emotional. >> hi. >> nice to meet you. lean up just a little bit. there we go. very nice. thank you. >> thank you so much and good luck. i will be voting for you. >> have you decided yet? are you still undecided? >> you have decided?

>> ok. a pleasure to meet year. -- meet you. we'll be caucusing. >> your comments on mayor bloomberg do you want to talk about? >> not at all. >> you do not want to comment at all. >> not at all. >> i take everything you said to heart.

>> there is a pizza place right there. a great place. >> my husband is a fire chief. >> i was on the fire truck the other day i was there. would you mind? >> how're you doing. -- how're you doing? >> thank you. keep up the good work. >> can you sign the ipad? >> that is neat. >> we are ready for you. >> i am coming. >> you are doing a great job. keep up the good work. >> my husband had you as a professor in carrollton. >> what is his name?

>> mark. >> of course.

>> thank you very much.

>> 10, 7, and thighs. -- 5. i thought that was a great forum. thank you again. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you. >> how are you? nice to see you. >> i cannot tell you how much that means to me. thank you very much. thank you.

[unintelligible] >> i have not been here for 30 years. i am on a national radio show. 2008 as i prepared -- i saw you. thank you to both of you. it is a tough job being a woman in charge. >> thank you. >> thank you.

i worked in your office. >> thank you for your help. >> thank you for all of your help. >> 1988. -- nice to meet you. >> maybe 1992? >> to jan. >> can you make this to my kids -- i have three of them?

>> clayton, and virginia. [laughter] >> thank you. >> they are all signed.

>> thank you very much. nice to meet you. hello, how are you? nice to see you. >> thank you. we are from louisiana. >> good. thank you.

>> a long time ago. >> 20 years. >> can i get a quick picture? >> thank you. >> here. let's moves as for pictures. -- move this for pictures. >> thank you. >> wonderful. >> i heard you look like jackie kennedy. i feel a little marilyn monroe.

>> do you want blue? >> baby blue or black. [laughter] thank you so much. a look for to senior camp on caucus night. hi, newt, how is it going? >> thank you for doing that. >> thank you so much. good luck to you. >> thank you very much. >> hello, how are you?

>> i just want to get a quick picture. >> hold on a second. >> thank you. good to see you. >> thank you. >> great. >> thank you a lot. >> how are you? >> good, how are you? >> good >> who would you like me to personalize this to? ok. >> i am from colorado. at our caucuses coming up february 7. >> we need your help. >> thank you.

>> hello, how are you? >> i have not that you. -- been that you. -- met you. i am amy. i am the owner here. >> here we go. i am not sure how we will get three of us in the frame here.

>> give it a second. >> sure. [laughter] >> ok. here we go. wait a minute. ok? then, we will do one more. >> thank you. >> thank you for coming. >> we will get one for you. [laughter]

>> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> that will work really well. >> yes. >> would you like a picture? >> i do not have my camera with me. >> he can e-mail you one. >> thank you. >> hello, how are you? >> newt, if we the deal, so hang in there. 91% of the people that are working are paying taxes and

paying too much. >> hello. >> hello. >> we have brody adn brady. if you got them right. -- and brady. if you got them right. >> do you want to come behind? ok.

>> thank you so much. >> nice to meet you. >> hello, how are you? thank you for coming. [unintelligible] >> nice to see you again. how are you? [unintelligible]

>> here we go. >> thank you.

[unintelligible] [unintelligible]

>> nice immediate. very much a pleasure. -- nice to meet you. very much a pleasure. she has the good handwriting, is that how it works? that is how with is in my family. my wife does all of the riding. -- that is how it is in my family. my wife does all of the writing. >> thank you so much.

>> how are you, sir? thank you. thank you. >> are all of our eyes open? >> yes. thank you. >> nice to meet you. >> here we go. >> thank you so much. >> nice to meet you. [unintelligible]

>> speaker gingrich, you were our congressman in georgia. we are speaking. >> thank you so much. >> you are welcome. >> i wanted to bring my book for you to actually sign but frank said it would not be appropriate. [laughter] >> who do live personalize its suit? -- who i personalize it to?

>> emma. >> great. thank you so much. nice to meet you. >> thank you, mr. gingrich. >> hi, congratulations. >> here we go. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> ok. have a great day. hello, how are you? nice to see you. it is early in the day. >> it is early in the day. >> she is a kindergarten teacher in memphis, tennessee. i came up here to see you guys.

[unintelligible] >> sarah. she could take that one to class. that is good. >> thank you for stopping by. >> thank you, all. >> i want to get this for my daughter. [unintelligible]

>> i have to introduce her to the other side. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> welcome to the state of iowa, mr. speaker. [unintelligible] >> it is very much like taking the alaska purchase and converting all our debt to something useful, and you are one of the probably two guys in the congress to contemplate that. [unintelligible]

>> andrew, take down this phone number. >> because of the dream act -- [unintelligible] >> thank you, speaker. >> how are you doing? >> great. i am jon barnes.

i'm from gainesville. my sister recruiting me to come help out. you are going to do it, sir. i am honored to be here. i'm not going to sleep until they tell me i have to. thank you, mr. speaker. >> nice to meet you. >> we just started and what north. -- went north. [unintelligible]

>> great, thank you. it is so good to see you guys. thank you for making the trip. >> it is important. >> it certainly is. >> i came here to volunteer. you guys are fantastic. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. my pleasure. i left my wife with seven granddaughters. >> you did? [unintelligible]

>> i am from arkansas. >> thank you for coming. >> right here. >> how are you? >> nice to see you. [unintelligible]

>> thank you so much. >> i have been waiting years for you to make this run. once this is over we are glad to have back to south carolina. -- we are going to head back to south carolina. [unintelligible] >> i am a volunteer from lubbock, texas.

>> we need to wait. >> where do i go? >> right in the middle. >> thank you. >> ok. >> newt gingrich wrapping up his first campaign stop of the day. he has two more events today in iowa. he is meeting with voters at another coffee shop this afternoon, and tonight he will hold a meet and greet at a restaurant in shenandoah, iowa.

and, more live coverage from iowa today. rick santorum is also holding a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. eastern. we'll have live coverage of the meeting here on c-span. the so-called super pac's spent millions of dollars on television ads, and this headline. politico, reports there are -- those backing to newt gingrich, jon huntsman, and mitt romney are asking for a bureaucratic change that would let the delay public releasing of who is giving them money. and reports that those supporting rick perry and rick santorum are benefiting from a ruling that exempts their iowa eds from disclosing. now here's a look of some of

those television commercials. reckless agenda must be stopped, but who is the true conservative you must trust? rick santorum has fought for conservative values citizens for your -- it is -- values his whole life parity is a proven reformer who took on washington and one. finally, a true conservative when we can trust. >> washington elites are destroying our way of life. rick perry is not from washington. his spending reforms balance the budget. his energy plan freeze america from foreign oil and his tax reforms flat and simplify. that is how we will move america. rick perry, a conservative for president.

make us great again is responsible for the content of this. >> jon huntsman should be a conservative hero. his program is the most conservative. he has the best plan to fix the economy. jon huntsman's record is more conservative than newt gingrich and mitt romney together. he has better foreign-policy experience and is more pro-life. jon huntsman, the consistent conservative that can win. >> in the last of iowa caucuses in 2008, barack obama won the democratic caucuses and went on to win the presidency. mike huckabee when the republican caucuses but dropped out of the race two months later. see what a caucus looks like the c-span video library. now, through tuesday, the c-span cameras are falling for 12 republican candidates at events for robbed the state.

every morning political guests are taking your calls. tuesday night, we will show live coverage of two caucuses on c- span and c-span 2. later on, the results of nearly all 1800 caucuses and candidate speeches. for more resources, used c- span's campaign 2012 website to see what the candidates have set of issues and ported to you, and read the latest -- importance to you, and read the latest. >> members of occupied the boy gathered in the state capital -- i des moines -- occupy des moines gathered in the state capital tuesday night. more than two hundred activists attended the meeting. this is about one hour and a half.

[loud chanting] >> this is what democracy looks like. tell me what democracy looks like. >> this is what democracy looks like. >> tell me what democracy looks like. >> this is what democracy looks like. [cheering] >> hello? >> hello. >> friends, neighbors, members of the press, visiting occupy

delegates, honored guests, welcome. my name is aaron briggs from occupy des moines. i would like to begin tonight with words from a great american leader of the past. he wrote -- "i see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. corporations have been and thrones -- enthroned, and working on the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated into a few hands and the republic is destroyed." these words of president abraham lincoln in 1864 resonate loud and clear tonight in des

moines, iowa in 2011. we have gathered here tonight because the political system in the united states no longer represents the values of the american public. [applause] just as president lincoln predicted, the money power of the country now reside in hands of a tiny portion of the population, the 1%. >> that is not right. >> that is not right. we are here tonight to overthrow money power with people power. [applause] we are here tonight as citizens

and patriots to preserve our democracy from of the corrupting influence of wall street and big corporations. [applause] we are here tonight to raise our voices in defense of the american dream. we are here tonight to restore the american political system and american society, to make it human-centered, not profit- centered. [applause] we are here tonight to follow through on the vision of our founders and the visions of the great american social movements of the past, the movement that ended slavery, it gave women the right to vote, and did racial segregation in our communities -- ended racial segregation in our communities, established safe working

conditions and good wages for hard-working americans. we are here tonight because our political leaders are no longer able to lead us. now is the time for us to lead. [applause] it is time for the people of the united states, the 99%, to rise up and restore america to be created a truly as a nation of opportunity, equality, and justice. [applause] honored guests, members of the 99%, we are here tonight because of you. join us, we cried, and you have answered. and for that, we thank you and

we did you welcome to the first in the nation people's caucus. [applause] >> hi, i am lisa. i am from occupy i was city -- iowa city. i am excited to have you all here. this is our space where we get to have our voices heard. every four years, politicians come to iowa and travel around the state campaigning. this culminates in the

democratic and republican caucuses on january 3. for years, we have been told that the iowa caucuses are the essence of american democracy, that this is where we get to speak our mind and show our support for our favorite candidate. but how can this be a democratic process when the candidates we are supposed to choose from have already been preselected for us? [applause] they have been selected by previously held money and power, the corporate-owned media, and by their corporate donors. where is the people's voice in this? nowhere. we are program from elementary school onward to believe we are the greatest country on earth,

that we have more freedom here than anywhere else in the world, that we have a government of, by, and for the people. i am here to tell you, we have been lied to. we do not have a peep -- government of, by, and for the people. and we know it has gotten worse. corporations are now considered people, money is now speech. [booing] >> that is not right. >> because money is speech, my voice is getting fainter and fainter all the time. all of our voices grow fainter as the unemployment rate keeps climbing. our voices grow fainter as we piled up student loan debt. our voices grow fainter at help -- as health care costs continue to rise. i am sick of it. i am sick of watching and worrying that there is nothing we can do to stop this downhill slide. i am here to have my voice heard.

i am here to hear your voice is. i am here to see what we can do together. [applause] been so, i can't wait to get out into the streets with you this week and raise some hell. this year, the media spotlight will be on the 99%. of the nation will be watching regular people using our voices and our bodies to remind those bought and paid for candidates that it is us that they are supposed to be representing. it is going to be a fantastic week. i can't wait. [applause] >> hello, my name is paul. i am from los angeles.

i am from occupy l.a. [applause] i also grew up in des moines, iowa, and i have participated in the past and the iowa caucuses, which i find an amazing tradition of democracy in the united states and iowa. and i am actually very disappointed that wall street has given so much money to the candidates that are in our caucuses and wall street's monee has corrected this prowl the democratic tradition. >> that is not right. >> and, in many instances for what the american history and tradition, when this happens, we use nonviolent tactics to enliven and strengthen our democracy. we have done that -- our founding fathers did that when they started this country with actions like the boston tea party, and martin luther king

used those tactics in the civil rights movement when black people were disenfranchised and could not vote, when the democratic system did not represent them. we are here to use nonviolence and the tactics of nonviolence to enliven and strengthen our democracy. [applause] we are not here to disrupt the caucuses. we are here to make the caucuses a true representation of the american democratic tradition. [applause] and we are doing that through nonviolent means. and we have a non-violent pledge. we have come to consensus about that. our movement as a whole is nonviolent. occupy wall street is nonviolent, occupy l.a. is nonviolent. every occupation i have been too has a clause of nonviolence, and here we are non-violent, we are peaceful.

we believe in nonviolent tactics, those tactics are about getting a new voice in it the democratic process. -- in the democratic process. they are not about disrupting it. the real disruption is how much money is put into the democratic system from wall street. that is the real disruption. people speaking non violently out to candidates and asking them hard questions is not a bad or destructive thing. asking questions is actually what we need. >> that is right. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening, everybody. my name is danielle brian and i am a student and a member of

occupy des moines. i was raised with the understanding that engagement in the electoral process was the most basic principle of maintaining my place in the great american democracy. i first experience was at the age of 14 when my parents took me to their precinct to gain firsthand knowledge of the most grass roots democratic process, the iowa caucuses. community members came together not only to select what delegates -- excuse me -- who there'd delegates would be presenting at the national convention, but more importantly, to establish the party platform, a device dedicated to voicing united concerns and ideals of caucus goers. the reality learned in my adulthood is one of corrupt politicians, but the lives of corporations, and the adamant denial of the voice of the 99%. the two-party system forces

upon us candidates who are so entrenched in a crony capitalism that they often ignore the very platform on which they run. [applause] >> those candidates who deviate from the corporate agenda are shunned by their party, and the american public is left to believe they have no other recourse than to vote for the lesser of two evils. >> that is not right. >> by holding the people can't tell caucus, we refuse to acknowledge any process that holds our voice, and instead we take the first step toward regaining in power and for the people and we engaging in the democratic process. [applause] >> ours is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people. [applause]

>> do not even go there. [laughter] >> my name is dutch. age,since i was danielle's i have become increasingly disenfranchised with our political process. through the years, i would write letters to the editor, but i was afraid i was crying in the wilderness, easy to ignore me. my son is involved with occupy wall street in new york city. [applause] >> he is the one who first brought this movement to my attention. mike 10th was the first tent pitched at the state capitol grounds. it was the last taken down at the state capital. [applause]

>> it was my name that was on the three-day permits when we got it at the capitol. the reason i did this is because i do not want to miss one single day and minute of this movement that is changing the world. i am so excited and thankful to have the opportunity to participate in this. [applause] >> i am here because my voice has been silenced by the corporations that bought our politicians, by the politicians that sellout to the corporations. i want my voice to be heard, damn it. >> i want your voice to be heard. our voices together cannot be ignored. sooner or later, the politicians have to listen to us and they

have to say there must be something wrong, those crazy people in iowa are actually camping out over the winter. [applause] >> thank you all for being here. [applause] >> we love you, ed koch. >> is exciting to see this hall filled for the people's caucus. my name is edward fallon. i am a recovering politician. [laughter] >> i am currently a talk show host. i've been going to caucuses since 1988, and this is the biggest crowd i have seen at a caucus yet. we wanted it to be clear to the political and corporate establishment that we are tired of going last, tired of seeing

the people's issues pushed aside, and while the caucus on january 3 is an important event, it is time for us to be first. that is where the idea of the people's caucus came from. we are going to jump ahead of the official caucuses, just like for not always tries to do, and we will hold the people's caucus before to make sure our grievances and concerns are heard. that is what we are doing tonight. we will go through the process that you would expect to engage an actual caucus, and, again, i have done all lot of these. bear with me. i will try to skip the boring parts, but the part i will not skip is the part where the caucus chair passes the hat for donations. i have a feeling this will be more appreciated here than at an average caucus. they pass a little tiny

envelope. we will pass on call sam's hat. this movement >> we will leave this matter go to a pro forma session. we will return to this program shortly. shortly.

the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain, reverend andy walton, capitol hill presbyterian church, washington, d.c. the chaplain: let us pray. god of time and space, known by many names and sought through many traditions, another calendar draws to a close. yet, we are reminded of your eternal presence. as this representative body convenes, we remember that your justice, your love, your grace and your presence transcend the measure of time and place. you fill these chambers and the hearts and minds of those who

work here as well as the hopes of the countless people each one represents. beyond this moment and this place, your spirit bonds all creation in a tapestry of interdependence, transcending vested interests and personal privilege. standing on the threshold of a new year, may we forgive the discord, mistrust and disappointment of our past as you have forgiven. may we receive your grace-filled future of promise and potential that awaits nothing more or less than our open minds, our loving hearts and our open arms stretched out to one another and thus to you. amen.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-a of house resolution 493, the journal of the last day's proceeding is approved. the chair will lead the house in 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. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-b of house resolution 493, the house stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m., tuesday, january

spending or the government with all the money, provide money and cash for the campaigners to spend. the money now that is being spent and given to candidates is absolutely friggin' ridiculous. [applause] >> you will have to forgive my voice. i am here as part of occupy. [applause] we are the model midwest role of. up. i have a statement that was a convergence of all the statements i received it. this is not officials.

. stanton solidarity with a 99% sign occupy wall street and other occupiers. we are the oppressed and disenfranchised or affected by corruption and human disasters. we are a non-violent movement open to change the system through nonviolent means and civil disobedience. we are leaderless, inclusive, nonpartisan, nonreligious hand consensus-based. h. person has a right to be heard. no one can represents any more than their own autonomous voice. we do not view each other on ideological, political, or dogmatic constructs. we look to the eyes of love, understanding, and that the goal behavior and character. [applause] we believe that rights and freedoms are our

responsibilities that must be taken up by all in order to battle corruption and for government. we believe every grievance against the system is worthy of a collective response so we commit to offer practical and creative support for protests against such create -- corruption and greed. we at occupy say lois -- st. louis started we call for the nullification of the citizens united responses sec and we call for a constitutional amendment that nullifies that decision. [applause] we reject the culture of corporate welfare in the forms of tax increment financing. you don't have it in iowa. thank you, god. tax subsidies, while the elderly veterans and the population are

consistently under-cared for, small fines paid by corporations and financial institutions are still insufficient recommends and we called for penalties for the heinous and reckless actions they have committed. we demand they be investigated, tried, and held responsible to the public for their deeds. [applause] we support the idea that all persons seeking federal elective office be allowed to use only public funds to finance their campaigns, implementation of the same infrastructure could be set up so that state and local campaign financing follow the same rules and regulations. we support community-based organizing and unless the ability and energy of that community to reach common goals

in self-sufficiency, clean and green energy infrastructures, local involvement in all aspects of community self-government and consensus building with other communities. i am speaking for st. louis -- two more. we demand [inaudible] and a no-vote on the social act. we demand fair housing loans would just punishment and restitution to harmed parties if fraud and other misconduct is proved. we demand a free and equal quality education for all people and callers to be available with out of st. death upon graduation. [applause] -- without obscene death of a

rigid debt upon graduation. we want total overhaul of the tax system to treat all citizens fairly gray this includes but is not limited to the end of the bush tax cuts and the closure of loopholes that allow the rich to pay less than their fair share. [applause] thank you. >> the des moines catholic workers sponsored and occupation of president obama's office. [applause] as most of you know, we were locked out. we were shut out. we were not listened that is not right. we spent three days and from that office.

i want to bring to you tonight to demands that the veterans for peace made for the president. maybe someone will be listening. this is important -- there are two sides of this corn. one side is the occupy wall street's demand about money and government in our lives and putting people last over money. that is one side of the coin. we have to turn the coin around a look at the u.s. military empire. [applause] these veterans tried to tell the president that these are the things we know -- we know that the u.s. military budget on a yearly basis almost equals every other countries yearly budget for military combined. [applause] that ain't right. we know that there are over 600

military bases in over 120 countries in the world that says usa. that ain't right. we know if we are going to get things done that we want to see happen on wall street, we will need a president who will start talking about dismantling the u.s. military empire. [applause] these veterans for peace said two simple iraq demands -- sample -- cut the military budget in half. [applause] and start using as your basic foreign-policy premise the dismantling of the u.s. military empire and they re-joining of the u.s. government with other nations to make this world a

better place. thank you very much. [applause] jim johnson from here in taoism widespread i will be a republican for a day on the caucus. i register at the door and take my agenda and have a captive audience. they have to listen to me. if they have to stick around. they have to hear my opinions on all their candidates and there are many and i have a few opinions. i hope all of you who are registered or who can qualify will go and do this same bank rid koh work it from the in siberia -- work it from the inside. republicans are fond of their guns and if you see one, call a cop.

guns are not permitted in schools where balloting is held. permit or not, if you have any questions, call a cop, thank you. [applause] >> good evening, i am ken jones. i'm with the socialists of america. if you just collapsed, you need to be on our mailing list. whereas the public sector budget crisis was created by tax cuts for wealthy corporations and whereas our school teachers, public nurses, social workers, firefighters, and police of as it did not cause the budget crisis and whereas corporations and wealthy who enjoy paying more taxes than the rest of us are trying to divide ordinary people and make us blame public employees and whereas the wealthy want taxpayers to blame unions rather than tax -- corporations, private sector

unions will also fell and whereas cutting jobs reduces the amount of money that people are spending in the local economy and reduce the sales taxes to state and local governments and where as it is respected all across the country this spring the public will be hit with budget cuts at the state and local levels. be it therefore resolved that occupy wall street and their allies learned to cut -- learns that we cannot cut our way out of recession. be a result that rather than dragging down the standards of public employees, occupy wall street and their allies demand a private employers raise standards for all of us. and bay it also resolved that occupy wall street groups in iowa and others reach out to the labor movement. and work with them to challenge the expected budget cuts coming this spring, thank you. [applause]

>> good evening, i am cathy from seattle [applause] first i want to thank occupy des moines for putting on such a spectacular event. this is amazing, thank you very much. [applause] i ran across the occupy test moines discussion group on the web and started learning about occupied as moines. i met a woman named nancy and i am sorry i did not talk to you before about this but i want to read something that nancy and i were talking about. we both agree is what the first things that needs to take place. i will read what she wrote about campaign contributions. " america needs to look at the strict regulations of countries such as france that have contained -- that have a political campaign finance

reforms. in france, all forms of paid advertisements through the press or by any audio/visual means are prohibited during three-months preceding the election. instead, political advertisements are aired free of charge on an equal basis for all candidates on the national tv and radio stations during the zero official campaign. campaign donations and expenditures are taxed. [applause] -- are capped. candidates must appoint an individual representative to handle all financial matters relating to the election. campaign accounts are audited by special commissions -- excuse me -- cannonades go campaign accounts are certified maybe

reimbursed up to 50% of their expenses by the state if they meet certain conditions. there is a limit on campaign contributions i think will be one of the big first steps. thank you very much. [applause] [whoops] >> blind us know tests. bridget buenos nothez. [spealing spanish] [speaking spanish]

[applause] >> my name is tony and i with des moines. i stand against corporate greed. by piper occupy -- i occupy because predatory loans and hard-working families who want a home to live in, that is what i am against. i occupy because i am against the same breed bankers being in bed with politicians. i am against these greedy corporate backers and their politicians going out and collaborating with each other like a cheap friday night dates and asking us to pay for the dinner. that is what i am against. [applause] i stand against politicians who

say things like corporations are people. that is what i am against korean i am against courts who say that the amount of money that a corporation can raise is equal to the free speech that i or you have. that is what i am against. [applause] i care about my fellow people. i think that hard work should pay off for us, the 99%, and a 1% interest and their money and their great should no longer dictate our democracy. [applause] i occupy with des moines. [applause] >> do you remember honesty is the best policy? apparently, telling lies gets

you tried as a war criminal especially if you are bradley manning. he revealed what the military had been doing to innocent civilians all around the world. he a getting tried for life yet corporations who can get away with so many different -- i am looking for the word -- of atrocities, thank you -- and they will not get tried as criminals. they are seen as people. i think these "people" the arrested and these "people "should be tried in accord andes "people"should go to jail [applause] >> i want to thank everybody for showing up tonight. you all need to give yourself a big round of applause. [applause]

i have been with occupy des moines since october 9. this is just amazing. i want to second everybody else's wars that have, pierre but my personal experience is i graduated in 2006 from the university of northern iowa with 12th bachelor of science degrees. i was laid off in march of this year and i have not found a job yet. i have been looking every single day. it's just not right. $57,000 could buy a small two- bedroom house in this city. education should be free to every man, woman, and child in this nation. [applause] i don't care if you want to get a master's degree, a ph.d., or a half a dozen, you should -- if you want to be a career student, you should become a career student, period, gratis of uncle

sam. franklin delano roosevelt, we all know what the bill of rights are, he tried before his death to establish the second bill of rights. there were eight core rights that he came that close to getting past. believe it or not, we went to war with several different countries and all the countries we went to war with all have those eight amendments added to their constitutions. plus additional widespread in japan, you cannot form a country unless you create -- you cannot create a company unless you create a union to go with that company very it is in their constitutions. [applause] the third reason i am not here, i wish i could take credit for this expression, but the minute

that texas puts a company to death via the death penalty, i will believe they are a person. until that day happens, they are not a person. thank you very much. [applause] >> i am with occupy does moines. some of our politicians in the media have told us that terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. that is where the military is where a lot of our money goes to, we all know that. i would like to suggest that maybe there is a slight possibility that they hate us because we are occupying their nation's. we are occupying their land. [applause]

#12 -- -- # two- to lot of these people have had family members and others they know who have been killed at the hands of our military, period. thank you. [applause] >> hello, i am renee. we have a federal reserve bank that creates money out of thin air and is backed by death and war. we have is a war economy which will not go away unless we tackle some of the corporate stuff. we just bomb everybody. we have on manned drones and a 10-1 zone ratio. and we have economic warfare and

other places, the international monetary fund, the world bank so anybody who goes to the mall to buy an article of clothing, chances are we have all supported slavery. it is interesting the first quote was a blank in. that ain't right. the bill of rights and those kind of things are not going to be tolerated because you cannot sustain this stuff for very long or any longer without degrading those. it is happening. our current president is first and foremost and all of desperate he could have not size some of the patriot act stuff and he did. i will encourage that we've got to grab this bill of rights stuff back. there is a generosity of our brothers and sisters all over the world who are oppressed by this. when 11 a country where you cannot grow regarded because you have to grow a green pepper for export, that ain't right

[applause] >> how are you guys doing? there are more than 250 people in this room right now. [applause] test moines is 10 times smaller than new york city. if this were new york city, it would be 2500 people. that is pretty good that is more people than have been at an occupy test moines events. this is our chance to regroup our movement and make a bigger and make a broader and deeper and taken to the next level into 2012. [applause] if we had a real democracy, every single presidential candidate including president obama would be in this room right now.

they would not be on stage talking. they would be in the back of the room with their mouths shut listening to the will of the people. [applause] when they left, there would actually go and implement our ideas into public policy the next day. [applause] we don't have a functional democracy in this country and i will tell you why. it is on the front page of the newspaper from today. super-pacs spent $10 million under attack ads and i bet they will spend a couple million more in the next few days. and thatt a super pac is all of us in this room right now. if we want to go to where we need to be, we just need to form a supoer pac. the time to spend our money is

to more on the street and thursday on the street and friday on the street. we need to go to the campaign offices and go to wells fargo and the other corporations and insurance companies and make our views known because it is not enough to get together in a room and form a group like this spirit we have to go out and take action and make our heat felt. god bless you guys, thank you. [applause] from name is marty the doyle the big town of linden, iowa and i have five very good reasons why i am here. [applause] these are my five grandchildren but i love -- that i love more than life itself. i want things to be better for them.

i want them to have the chances that my generation had. i want them to have a decent paying job. i want them to be able to go to college and not come up with so much in debts that they can't afford a home. [applause] that is -- at the very least, give them the same interest rates as the banks got. [applause] i want them to have leaders again. i want them to be able to vote for people they believe and and can believe. [applause] i want them to know that their voices are heard and sunday, when i am sitting there with my great, great grandchildren, i want to proudly say that i was here tonight and that we worked

hard and changed. [applause] >> thank you, ed wollsey, i'm starting my fourth decade working on renewable energy here in iowa. it has to do with public policy with renewable energy. a lot of the opportunity right now to produce 20% of our electricity from wind iis woefully inadequate. the reason we are not well over 100% and not exporting electricity out of iowa has to do with public policy and who controls the public policy. in my industry, it is a handful

of large corporations that control the public policy. the only way i can see in my industry that we are going to get anywhere near the benefit out of renewable energy is to keep the money out of politics. [applause] i look at the other issues and we come to this place from a wide variety of issues but it seems to me that the common denominator we could rally around is to get money out of politics. all of a sudden, the good ideas are allowed to rise. tolso think if we're going be victorious in doing that, we will have to form coalitions across the aisle for people we don't normally have. that will be hard for us to do because we are not used to doing that and they are not used to doing that. to form those coalitions across the aisle is what we will need

to counteract the influence of that money on both sides of the aisle. the leadership on both sides of the aisle takes a large amount of this money and in order to win this, we've got to have the other side. we have to learn what language they are speaking and speak their language. not've got -- we've got to scare them and it got to not scare us and they've got to respect us. i hope we make a good presentation this next week. i'm one that will switch my party for a day because i would just love to see a debate between ron paul and obama.

>> hi, everybody. a few weeks ago, i was criticized because i am not 18. my mother called up my leader. last time i checked i do not have to be 18. to stand up here and say that this country is screwed up. when a 16-year-old knows this country is screwed up, that is sad. this is 16-year-old has to give up her dreams to be a rocket scientist, that is sad. a few weeks ago, i was doing research for a debate. i learned that if we invested in clean energy, wind turbines alone is a $400 billion market. did the people in congress care? they are all concerned about opec.

last time i checked, we had to put our interest as a country and as the 99% before we submit to terrorists who hate the fact that we are occupying their country. we should not submit to the terrorists in congress who are holding our rights hostage. [applause] when a 16-year-old is up here saying -- i will be running for president and i want all of your grandchildren to vote for me. listen to the 16-year-old for once. [applause] >> hi, everyone.

i am from the occupy des moines movement. i have worked for 25 years and they tell me social security is an entitlement. medicare, at an entitlement. i put my hard-earned money into these programs. i wanted to be secure. they tried to put fear into me saying that it is not secure. have everyone pay in. i want it to be there for my children. thank you. [applause]

>> my name is levi. i am an 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. i have been very upset with the government lately. when i was at home, i was not getting enough medical care and i had to move into a a group home. i was not being treated well there. i moved into a another group, and i am still getting hurt. >> that ain't right. >> my sister almost died when she was young. if we had the health care than that we -- if she would about the health care we have now, she would not have made it.

[applause] >> i am a catholic worker and a veteran for peace. [applause] i am sure this is going to take off like the union in the 1930's. the civil-rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's. and the anti-war movement of the 1960's and 1970's. stop the war. double wages so we can have full employment. stop the war on the poor.

[applause] >> hi, everybody. i am from des moines. what is really important to keep in mind is that democracy itself is never attainable. it is always a property that we will always be seeking after. it is a function of how involved the people are. house sovereign this nation is to the people that live here. -- how sovereign this nation is to the people that live here. citizens united is increasingly important. there is a definite amount of reforms that we need to continue to pursue. we want more choices on our

ballot. i think we need to have multi member districts so that we can have a diverse community represented by a diverse representation. you know, there is no limit to these ideas. we need to advocate for them to promote car sovereignty of this nation. i do not know why it we have suddenly stopped increasing the number of representatives in the house after the population continues to grow. i do not know why a state like iowa gets four representatives. it is ridiculous. the federal reserve is a high and mighty, but shielded kind divested that has so much power over our monetary policy, but has no oversight. i am not sure about this, but there may be vacancies on the

board of governors that our president is charged with filling. that is assuming they have not already bought and paid for the people placed in there. i think we really need to challenge every area where we can improve upon the ultimate idea of true democracy for this nation. otherwise, every battle is going to be up a giant hill. [applause] >> i am not here because -- i am here because my dad has to pay for school. he still has to support the

things that he loves. that is not right because they are stealing their money and our rights. [applause] >> my name is chloe. i am eight-year-old. my cousin has leukemia and i do not know if her family has enough to pay for her to get better. i hope she gets better soon. i love for and i want to help per. i want to make her better. [applause] >> my name is frankie. i was here the first time occupy des moines stayed out at

the capitol. i want to say how much my heart is warmed by how much this has ground and by people having the courage to get out of their comfort zone and speak their mind. [applause] i also want to say that the government was created to protect the people. yet our people are out there diene. -- are out there dying. some mental issues. our government is treating us like we are disposable, like it is the case if we die. because we are not oil or money. [applause] we deserve respect, not only because we are human beings, but because we are the people

who give them the power they have. [applause] i am really nervous, i am sorry. >> you are doing great. [applause] >> it is not fair that the people at my school or anybody is so worried about -- people my age have to worry about if their family can stay in their homes. it is not ok. it is not ok that our money is bailing out here corporations. yet we can barely lift. any government that puts profits before people really needs to get their priorities checked. [applause]

>> we have a few more people to introduce. candidate focus groups. -- preference groups. >> hello,>> i applaud the creativity and the energy of this movement. i appreciate all the good comments that have been made here today. we have to provide for our own community and we have to stop the wars overseas. i want to bring somebody else up here. a friend of mine, a doctor, has traveled to different parts of the world to try to treat some of the areas of the world that suffer from diseases. this person recently returned from africa. as we talked about the occupy movement, he talked about how happy he was when somebody came

to see him in africa who had only and your infection, because he could treat back. so many other diseases he could not treat. they did not have supplies were moneys. he said to me, remember this occupy movement is about those people, too. [applause] we call for support here at home and we call for an end to the wars, and remember the silent wars that are going on. thank you. [applause] [laughter] >> i believe i was already introduced. my name is congo.

it was requested of me to tell a short story out of my life. when i was 17, i joined the marine corps. i was proud to be an american and a patriot. when i was 20, i was given a dishonorable discharge from the united states marine corps for failure to fire under direct orders. normally, this sounds wrong. in this circumstance, i failed to fire because in my line of fire, there were three children kicking a soccer ball. this was seen by my squad. this was seen by my squad leader. this was seen on video by the platoon sergeant. i was still given a dishonorable for failure to fire. my question is, i was told that anything that moves is an enemy. can you explain to me how three children with a soccer ball is

my enemy? that is all i have to say. [applause] >> we will have to cut off at this point. we have to move on at some point. here we go. >> my name is steve. i am here for three reasons. two of those reasons are the government. one of the reasons is corporate personhood and the other is fascism. the third reason i am here is because there are good people here. [applause]

>> i am from occupy des moines. last month, i walked through funerals. my father was a military man. this government gave him a flag for everything he had done. the funeral home said it was, you have to have money to pay for funerals. one of the things they had been there was you could buy a policy from wells fargo 4 $3,800 a month. - or $3,800 down andthey would

give you so much interest on your money. fuel off or not. it is interesting. my father had that policy. they have not paid a dime. we have called them daily. they said, we have no choice, but your father was in a car wreck. that is what caused his death. my dad had a brain aneurysm. the doctors confirmed dead. wells fargo says it is a car wreck and able not paid it. >> that ain't right. >> as much as this company wants us to support them, what are they doing for us? they are taking our money and keeping it for themselves and never pay a dime back. my mother had great life insurance for a company that she worked for. they paid off instantly. no trouble there. we have a bill to date in the

mail -- i lost my job thanks to chrysler when they saw me on television. >> that ain't right. >> thank you. [applause] >> my name is kevin. over the last week, i have heard a few things that our legislators are using their time and energy on. one of them, i had to bring to light, so to speak.

what was a pressing issue for our legislators? 100-watt light bulbs. yes. they are going to be taken off the market, but now we have saved them. >> hallelujah. >> anyway, that is my thought. i just wanted to bring into light, so to speak. thank you for coming. [applause] >> save the people, not light bulbs. >> supporting the lifestyles of the privileged is destroying our planet's ability to protect life.

it is destroying our planet's ability to sustain life. leftnone of the candidates are addressing these issues. none of the candidates deserve any respect. [applause] our political system has never represented poor people. our political system has never represented people of color. our political system has never represented indigenous people. our political system has never represented or respected life. [applause]

♪ >> my name is steve. we hear all the time now, what are the demands for occupy? the demands are in this room. the politicians, the pundits are not bright enough to get it. we listen to people all evening talk about the things that are important to them. they do not listen. now we will spend this week, we will be taking our message to them, because they will not listen to us. wednesday, thursday, friday, let's take a message to them. let's tell them what our issues are. thank you. [applause]

>> my name this heidi. we came all the way from new york city to be with you today. a nice woman from des moines came and said we're going to occupy the caucuses. we want to think are really good friends who are putting us up. about three years ago, we were with a group and we formed the anti bank band. just for you, we put together a special holiday song. ♪ i think you will know which

basically. sent the baby come up end and to corporate greed formate. i have been an awfully good girl. santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight. will keep going. oh, santa baby, and an end to all but drone attacks, too. i will let up for you, dear, santa baby. hurry down the chimney tonight. oh, think of all the things i've done think of all but demos and the occupation next year i give a little rasta

if you check of my christmas list sent to a baby, there is really one thing i need to see a close to guantanamo bay party down the chimney to night to -- hurry down the chimney tonight , did the people what they really need to come up a local more just, a lot less agreed. i really do believe in new -- a new, let's see if you believe in me. santa baby, i forgot to mention one little thing, a team, i can't do it alone.

so hurry down the chimney tonight, oh yes, a hurry down the chimney tonight. one more time -- hurry down the chimney tonight ♪ [applause] >> they got some talented folks in the big apple. this is probably the most interesting part of the caucused in terms of dynamics. i want to take a second to thank the leadership of decimalized. -- of des moines. the des moines police department have been good to work with. [applause] i think is important to recognize that and recommends

that to other occupations that tried to do what you can. if you are a city official, try to work with those people and not beat them up. [applause] figure it out't -- have them call us. [applause] >> normally at a caucus, you'll break into candidate preferences on the democrat side. democrats have more fun the republicans did you break into preference groups according to the candidate that you want to vote for. that is an important gesture of democratic participation. tonight it will be little different. we will break into candidate preference groups or as some call it, dis preference groups. basically, the candidate whose headquarters you would like to occupy over the next few days. maybe they have not got the

message yet and if we take it to them directly, there will be much more powerful statement made and much more -- it is more likely they will hear what we are trying to say. when you break into these candidate preference groups, you will -- that will become your affinity group, the group will work with to craft how that occupation of that campaign headquarters looks like. you could be deciding to colchis for the candidate view dislike the most or there could be other reasons why you would like to make that decision. i want to ask a jessica resniceck to come up because she is the queen of mapping dar. cat where does she go? there you are. she doesn't have heard map. >>