ball will lead -- started the ball rolling. he is the only state elected official to step toward and indorse in this race. i want to say publicly, i'm very grateful for the support you have given us. i would appreciate if you would give him a round of applause. [applause] that was important for us because we had all of these polls, these national polls saying we were not doing well yet we knew as i was travelling around and doing events -- people would come and they would leave and they would sign up. they would take assigned. the response that i would get from people who had a chance to see us was really positive, but the numbers were not moving. why? because we were running a grass- roots campaign. they said, your campaign is going nowhere. how will it take off next seven days ago i was being asked the question, are you thinking about -- how will it take off?

seven days ago i was being asked the question, are you thinking about quitting? are you thinking about what you're going to do when this is over? everybody else except you have gotten the pump. how are you going to get your butt? -- bump? and i said, i will get mine from not from having media frenzy about me, but from the people of iowa. i will get my bump on january 3 when the people of violent go out and make their decision. i think we have -- the people of iowa go out and make their decision. i think we have seen that. i am grateful for the truth the dependence that we have here tonight. in fact, every time i have come here to ottumwa, we have had great crowd. it has not been the case

everywhere. i will not point the finger at any particular place, but when we have had people really come out and really want to know and make the right decision. and yet, we have leaders like sam clovis, who joined on afterward, and religious leaders who joined on afterwards. and bob bender floss' joined on just last week. that gave us a lot of incentive to continue on because it was an affirmation of what we were doing. it will help draw attention to our race. people are starting to give a first look or a second look at us. then things began to change. this week, i doubt you would see all of the cameras here and the press corps here if it were not for the fact that our numbers are beginning to change. why? because iowans are beginning to lead. they're beginning to take their positions they are doing what --

take their positions. they are doing what's iowans do. i want to say to each and every one of you, i appreciate your support. i need your vote at the caucus. i know a lot of candidates come through and say that they need your help. they're lying. i need your help [laughter] -- i need your help. [laughter] [applause] i need your help because we're running a campaign based on you. we are spending millions of dollars on television, traveling in caravans with buses. i was asked the other day in davenport, a guy looked out the window from the quad city times and he said, where is your boss? i said, the only bus i can afford is the greyhound. [laughter] i have the chaka truck. -- chuck truck.

he endorsed me even longer ago than that and has been helping me travel around the state of iowa and giving me the wise counsel of a good solid iowan. i can tell you that we have worked hard to earn your trust. i have always believed that the people of iowa would vote for a consistent conservative who was authentic, that they could trust. [applause] and so, i will ask you again as i did previously, please, help us out. sign up. to grab your yard signs. get your lapel stickers, put them on your coat. when you go to church tomorrow people see who you are for.

and when you go to the grocery store, whenever you go wherever you go to celebrate new year's, where it -- wear it and over the next few days people will be talking about the caucus. you will get a chance to talk brought to you are for. go to the caucus on tuesday night. the son of to be a captain so you can go and help and talk to people -- a sign up to be a captain so you can help and talk to people. you can be that like to them to show them who the right person is. to shake this country up. to shake washington up. [applause] oci will stop right there. i will be happy to take some questions. c-span is here. if you have any questions, raise

your hands and we will get you the microphone. keep it clean. we are on tv. [laughter] >> are you planning on taking hampshireuck to new and north carolina? >> we have talked about that, but we have not clear that with his wife get. [laughter] we have not quite pertinent to her yet. >> -- broken that to her yet. >> everyone says they are born to clean house and make right what is wrong with washington. what will you do to clean house and make right? and what do you feel are your strongest attributes that will make you the best president of our country and our god needs for the people? >> thank you for the question. as i said before, i think the most important thing is to paint a vision for america. this country is a great country

because we have been able to have people, of very different views and opinions be able to come into the public square and voice their opinions and then come out and move this country forward. and we did that because we shared basic.com and by use. our -- basic common values. our country was founded on the briza -- the basic principle that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. this goes to the heart of what made us this successful and great country that we are. i think we need a president who believes in that. and who sees us as a country where all of us have a right given to us by god, and our obligation is to then go and live lives consistent with got lost, right?

we have god-given rights -- with laws.od's we have god-given rights, and also god-given responsibility. everyone talks about mcginn. but was he able to do? he was able to -- everyone talks about reagan. what was he able to do? he was able to paint a picture of what's and who we are. when he left office he said he was concerned about americans learning who we are, about what america is, what it stands for, and why we are exceptional. and he has every right to be concerned about that then, and even more so now. with our education system, what our pop culture is doing, and we are all doing what this president is doing, dividing us up instead of uniting us with

these basic principles. the model of this country is e pluribus unum, out of many, one. we were asked what the most important quality of america is and he said, diversity. diversity? did you ever hear of e pluribus unum? the greatness of america are the greatness of the reverse can come together as one. the problems of the world is that diversity creates conflict. if we celebrate diversity, then we lay the groundwork for the conflict. we need to celebrate common

values and have a president that lays out both common values -- of those common values, not as this president has done, which is to have one group of people pitted against another group of people, class warfare, ethnic warfare, whatever you want to call it. this president, whether it is trying to pit hispanics against certain other groups of people, or whether it is labour people or working people against folks who have done well, all of those things. this is a president who divide into groups. maybe that is why howard dean was so interested in diversity, because it is divide and conquer. that has never been america. america is not divide and conquer. it is about bringing everyone together. in the public square, people of fith, people face,

who -- people of faith and people of no faith, people who can lay out their claims and come together. that is what our country needs, but it needs to be reminded first, who we are. once the can grab onto that consensus, then i think a lot of things are possible again in this country. yes, sir? >> what will you do with obamacare if you are elected president? >> i will repeal obamacare. i will either have the ability to do it because the american public wisely elected 13 newly elected republican senators, and that is possible. there are 33 senators up for election this time. it is usually 33 or 34. of which, 23 are democrats.

i think is 23.10. i know that because -- is 23-10. i know that because i read in a year when only 10 republicans won. as you know, they run every two years for six year terms. we need to have 23 republicans and 10 democrats. given the large number of freshmen and an increasing number of open democrat seats, we have a possibility if we can get to 60, were close, i think we can out right along -- outright repeal obamacare. but we cannot do is repeal obamacare by waiver. someone suggested, i think governor romney, that he would institute a waiver. that is a pretty bad idea, in my

opinion. we do a waiver in states like iowa and of the leadership. will probably pass a waiver. -- and under the leadership they will probably pass a waiver. but in new york id will not, conn., no. you will continue to pay the taxes and other states will get the money. that is not a good idea. someone suggested an executive order. that was governor. . you cannot repeal the law by executive order -- that was governor rick perry. you cannot repeal the law by executive order. you either have to do it by the majority, and we can do it if we get at least three more and do it 3 process called reconciliation. or we can produce -- pass a budget with instruction to save money. and that instruction on the requires 50 votes to pass.

and will appeal all the taxes and we will not be left with obamacare. that is what we need to do. [applause] >> if we repeal obamacare, what will you replace it with? we are the only country in the world where you make money off of sick people. are you going to reduce senior citizen drug coverage? are you going to not allow college kids to be on their parents' insurance policies? >> this is my friend, the doctor, who comes to a lot of my town hall meetings. [laughter] and i always call on you, right?

and i know what is coming, by the way. [laughter] just for the record. people say i get tougher questions from iowans then i do from the reporters. i appreciate you for doing that. we will repeal obamacare and replace it with a system that is more confident with a system bottom up, as opposed to a system that is dictated and ruled from the top down. obamacare any other type of government mandated health care is a top-down system. as a result of that, we have an enormous amount of bureaucratic wrote -- bureaucratic waste. an enormous amount of inefficiency and government control where you do not have

the competition that is necessary to drive down costs and give consumers exactly what they need at a cost they can afford. how do we change that? this is a long question and i will try not to be too long and complicated. i will give you a couple of examples. one, on medicare, medicare is a top-down, one-size-fits-all government program. there is something called medicare a vantage, which is an alternative to that, but that can be eliminated and is in the process of being eliminated by president obama. he does not like competition. he wants government to run things. he does not want the private sector to run things. he shares the doctor's opinion that somehow or other, providing health care to be will is something that should be done without a profit incentive -- to people is something that should be done without a profit incentive. if you do that, you take out the

incentive for efficiency and promoting of innovation, which is what happens with every other socialized medicine country in the world. there's a reason for profit, just like there is and everything else. we allow a profit in food. what is more important, food or health care? i think most people will say food. if you are not eating, health care does not become that important [laughter] should we say that farmers should not profit from food? how many will say that farmers should not profit from growing food? c'mon, raise your hand. why should people profit from food? that is more of a necessity than health care. the bottom line is, profit is absolutely central to what america is about. it is about three people and free markets. we understand that if we allow people to profit and reap the fruits of their labor, then we can develop innovation and systems to improve the quality

of life for everybody. if there was no profit in agriculture, you would still be having plows and planting seeds with horses. that is the difference. we believe in free people and free markets. president obama does not believe in you, does not believe in the contador, does not believe that capitalism works. -- believe in the entrepreneur, does not believe that capitalism works. read his speech from the other day in the "wall street journal" from a couple of weeks ago. capitalism is a failure. free markets to work. individuality is a bad idea when it comes to making money. we have to have a government redistribute wealth. if we have to have government control because we are fair. who is we? him or someone like him. that is the difference. the reason health care is a

failure is because it is overwhelmingly micromanaged by government. you say, wait a minute, it is a private sector health care system. not really. when i served on the board of a health-care company, i can tell you that all of the government regulations, whether it is asada -- hippa or medicare or medicaid regulations, it is not a private sector's system. it is micromanaged by government. this is one of the reasons i brought this up with medicare. we need to do what paul ryan have suggested. he was the first candidates to embrace the ryan plan. i said it was the right idea. the bottom up. medicare giving private sector, giving each senior and amount of money to go out and purchase

that insurance products that fit them best, that competition, and drive down cost. he has been working with a democrat from oregon and has come up with an even better plan, except for one caveat. i'm not crazy about the public option that is in there. but it is better. those are the kinds of reforms that we need to inject competition, to inject a profit. why? because product will -- profit will drive innovation, profit will drive squeezing out waste and inefficiency. that is exactly what we need in the health care system in america. [applause] >> go ahead. with thencerned candidates that have some kind

of environmental policy. 60 miles east of here we have an army munitions plant that manufactures nuclear weapons and munitions. there're contaminated waste grounds and pollution. and 18-month environmental cleanup has now turned into a cleanup that is supposed to last until 1946 and could be on going from that. i'm curious what we are going to do because we always have so much water and that water has -- we only have so much water and that water has to take care of all of us. we could do too little, too late. what are we going to do to protect our resources in the country? >> the only things i've learned in politics a long time ago, when you do not end -- when he did not know the answer, admit it, and do not keep talking when you cannot and prove you do not know the answer. i cannot really comment on that

on what is happening there. i can say that i happen to work on a bill in 2006 that broke a logjam between -- not democrats and republicans, but the east and west having to do with reclamation of abandoned coal mines. and the tremendous amount of ground water and other types of pollution that was coming from the abandoned mines. most of the coal mines, as you know, are now done in the western states, and the way that abandoned mine reclamation is done is from a tax on coal from the state from which it comes. most of the abandoned mines are not in the west, but the east. and of the taxes are being raised in the west. of course, the western producers did not want to send their money east. they wanted to clean up their own situation, or enhance the

environment in that area. that was a log jam for a long time. i have worked with mike enzy at the center for wyoming and we have put together a comprehensive bill and we have unlocked the moneys where a lot of that western money is going to clean up a tremendous amount of that water in kentucky and ohio and a lot of other places where there is coal mining, where there is not as much today. looking for a record, it is not justification -- not just across party lines, but across regional lines where we are able to get that. yes? hold on. stand up. >> where you going to do with the healthy kids act and child

education and all of that? >> i am not familiar with the help the kids act. you said, child education? just education programs? >> [unintelligible] the help the kids act. [laughter] >> as far as education is concerned, i think the education system in this country would be much better off if we focus the education dollars on the customer of the education system, and the customer is the parent. why? because it is the parents' responsibility to educate you. just like it is my responsibility as a father, and cara my wife, to educate our severn -- seven children. unfortunately, we have state governments that do not see it that way. they see it as their

responsibility to design a situation -- a system that educates children, and that of educating your child. we need to change that. the first thing we need to do is -- i said i was a consistent conservative. i did not say i was a perfectly consistent conservative. we all make mistakes. i would say that one of them was no child left behind. i know there was good intention there, but exploded the federal rolls and education and is causing a teacher's nightmares, of which i hear about daily on the road in iowa. it may serve as an example of how poorly our educational system is performing, but says nothing of how we will improve. the only way to improve education is to make sure that arar holistic the educated -- are realistically --

hollistically educated by engaging parents in the process. obama says every child should go to college. that is absurd. and it is also, to people that do not want to go to college, who do not think -- is also condescending to people who do not want to go to college, who do not think colleges their path. you can provide a decent life for you and your family without going to college. we should have a system in place that allows you to pursue your dream, instead of how they do in a lot of countries, which is to tell you what career you are going to have. in america, we should fashion it like we do every other sector of the economy, which is the customer comes first. in education, you do not.

you do not even come second. how are we going to do that? first, repeal no child left behind, repeal federal funds for education, with the exception of special needs children, particularly in districts that have a high percentage of them. and then the president goes out and tries to rally parents to demand the education system meet the needs of their child. [applause] that is the fundamental reform. you are going to say, well, some parents will not do a very good job. we do not design a system around parents who do not do a good job anymore than you design anything around people who will do a bad job. that is why i'm saying not to just throw the money so parents can do what they want work within the system to help parents and guide them -- they want.

work within the system to help parents and guide them to what is best. how many parents only care about the academic achievement of their children when it comes to raising your child? but yet, we have schools where that is all the focus on. and your kids spend the majority of the day at school. and then we wonder why kids do not learned virtue or character or morality. and they struggle with many children who do not get fully formed spiritual lives. why? because it is hard parenting in america today. it is hard with the culture around you that is feeding so many messages that are inconsistent with your values. it is hard when the education system does the same thing. why do we help parents -- why don't we help parents give their children what they believe is best? they are their kids, not the government kids. [applause]

how many more questions have we got? 1, 2, 3, 4 -- nobody in the back? oh, five. anybody else? i want to give the media hope that this will end before they need to go and celebrate. [laughter] five more questions. we will start on the right, obviously. [laughter] >> can you just give us a brief overview of how you would begin to get our financial house in order in your first term, and why is your plan and a better than others? and additionally, what is -- why is your plan better than others and what would you do to get that into the background? >> my plan to get the economy going or the budget? >> [unintelligible] >> [unintelligible]