families. obviously, there has been a lot of high-profile concern about military families. the white house has their joining forces initiative this year, which covers a lot of different areas. so there is a lot of support or at least from the families' perspective, what they're telling me is they feel they are getting support. >> when you think about it, whether or not there are too many voices involved in the process because we talked about states attorney general, the j.a.g.'s, the military's judicial branch, we have the better business bureau that was named, oversight by congress, now we have the c.f.p.b. and talking about ways that families and troops will pay attention to the concerns in the particular issues they face. might there be too many messages coming at them? >> well, i would say, i think

there's a certain piece of this that is personal responsibility. as a consumer, whether you are in uniform or not, you want to be educated and knowledgeable about these different programs. i don't think there is necessarily -- i think there are some that would say more could be done. congress has expanded education benefits in recent years. they have taken on additional -- they have taken on programs that provide funding or support for folks facing foreclosure. i don't know if there are too many voices as much as some folks would like to see more funding for programs that will provide assistance. >> where appropriate, you think about the jurisdictional issues between the states, the federal government, the military. >> there are a lot of voices, but then and there are a lot of jurisdictional issues. and where families may be

confused at times about where to go, there's more information out there. and if they go to one place that may not be able to help them, that place will hopefully refer them to the correct place. and i think with the bureau, which has the enforcement teeth, as mrs. petraeus was saying, that's one more centralized place for families to go. >> when you talk about states, some of them are more highly impacted by the foreclosure crisis than others. the problem you were asking about with regard to military foreclosures are more prevalent in certain states. >> they are florida, nevada, california, everybody's heard about those places and their military families that i have talked to in those -- who have homes in those states. they may not live in those states, but still have homes and

trying to make mortgage payments. >> california, big military installations, as she indicated. >> more difficulty selling their houses. a question in looking to the year ahead, 2012, with the budget wars ahead of us and the number of troops coming home this year, are there particular challenges in 2012 that might be heightened? >> i think families and troops are sort of waiting to see what's going to happen. everybody has their favorite program. the defense department has been saying, we're looking for your input on what's important to you, but i think everybody is sort of waiting because nobody really knows what the impact is going to be. >> do you agree? >> i would. you have a lot of folks coming back from iraq. you may some issues surface relate todd that. she talked about some of the

post-deployment kind of pressures and the challenges that are there. but i would agree. i think where the funding will play out as far as specific programs is yet to be seen. >> and the specific branches of the military, not known yet. >> right. and the other thing is, how these returning veterans and their integration with their family, what other programs are going to be needed to help them. >> and special challenges they might face post-deployment from iraq. happy holiday. thanks for being with us on "newsmakers." >> thank you. captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> happy new year. coming up next, our look ahead to tuesday's iowa caucus with rick santorum and speaking to the editors of the "des moines register." live coverage of events gets under way at 11:00 with michele bachmann. mitt romney is at 3:p.m., and

newt gingrich at 5:30 p.m. follow the candidates to the iowa caucuses here on c-span. >> tuesday, the "road to the white house" goes to america's heartland for the iowa caucus. coverage continues at 7:00 a.m. eastern live at des moines from "washington journal." later at 7:00 p.m., our preview program on the caucus process and the state of the republican presidential race. then at 8:00, c-span's live caucus coverage followed by the entire caucuses' results and candidates' speeches. live coverage of a western caucus on c-span. it is available on c-span radio and online. >> wikipedia is not interested

in the truth you but what can be verified. >> as creator of the blog, he explains the ins and outs. >> a newspaper has it gone through editorial layers. and that's a phrase that ploggers will laugh at. and sometimes they have been shown to be right or uncovered stories. but on the overall, you are more likely to trust something from the "washington post" or "new york times" than something you found on a blog spot site. in order for a blogger to be proved right, he usually needs that gate keeper of a media source to say so. >> i had tore, commentator, consultant and blogger for wikipedia tonight on c-span. >> with the iowa caucuses coming

up on tuesday, candidates are meeting with voters. a des moines register interview with rick santorum saying president obama made a fatal flaw by telling the enemy when we're leaving and joyce voiced opposition to same-sex marriage. this lasts about an hour. >> we will get started with the editorial board visiting with senator rick santorum running for republican nomination for president. and we will keep it informal. you are meeting with a combination of writers and editors, editorial writers for the "des moines register," couple of columnists and after we kick things off, it will be a free-for-all, kind of informal conversation and how much time you've got.

we will respect -- >> i think we have an hour. >> keep it at that. let me fire off the first question and then everybody else can dive in when they want, but tell me why, given the condition of the country right now, why in the world would you want to be president. [laughter] >> i announced for president back in june in pennsylvania. it was the site, a place that was to me very symbolic, five miles where flight 911 went down in shanksville, pennsylvania, and that was a symbol to me where the fight against external threats, those who want to us from our freedom, the battle was first engaged and secondly, about 20 miles from where my grandfather came to this country and brought my dad.

and that was a personal site. my grandfather came from italy and rejected fascism and government control of his life and children's life and the future and came to somerset to dig coal. he lived in carpenters park which was a company town. he lived in a house owned by the company and paid with company stamps, they called them coupons but figured out that was a deadened and started taken less money for cash. he worked in the mine until he was 72 and provided a better life for my dad, who came when he was seven years of age. and here was sort of a personal symbol of how america creates the opportunity with the freedom of america, created opportunity for me and now for my children.

so i felt like one of the responsibilities you have, if you are in a position to serve the country at a time when you think your country is in need of that service, you step up. and i know may be from the outside looking at this thing, what does a guy in my situation, both politically and personally, you know, doing this? seven children, ages 20 to three. you have a lot going in our life that could otherwise gain your attention and you lost your last political race. why do you think you could make a difference? i felt i could. i have been doing a lot of media and gotten courage meant from folks and i got a sense that the message is different from everybody else and i could serve the role of being part of the process that could bring us a

new leader in this country, something that i think is absolutely necessary for the future of our country and our freedom. >> how is your message different than the others? >> the message is different, the message is a combination of things. in the sense that i look at things more holistically. i see them being integrated. i talk about how our country is founded on moral principles, founded on the foundational element of the society, which is the family. and that we can't have a strong economy and those who listen to my speeches, i talk about health care and the economy and i talk about it from the standpoint, the first economy is the family. the word economy comes from the greek word family -- excuse me, home. and i understand that the first hospital, the first school, first economy, first church is

the family and if we don't have a solid and stable family, we aren't going to have a stable economy. look at the statistics. when families are broken, they don't do as well economically and children don't do as well economically. the stronger the marriage bond in the family, the stronger the country is going to be, not just from the standpoint. i talk about that in detail. i talk about when you have to be a country of strong moral character and if we aren't and a country that defines -- i talk about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- if we define happiness as pursuit of pleasure, we won't be a country. it's what you are called to do, what you are supposed to do. edmund burke said we will be constrained from change from within. and can't have limited government if people don't behave in a way that is

consistent for everyone. and the less moral and less kind of character that we have in doing what we ought to do, the more government we will have. if you want any doubt of that, look at the communities where people don't behave the way they ought to. you will see a lot of government, not much freedom, a poor economy and all sorts of things that i don't think people want to see as the future of our country. >> could i finish one thing. that's on the policy side. i look at the folks in the race and folks potentially getting in the race and i bring things to the table both from the standpoint of electoral success in areas of the country and in places where if we are going to win this election, we are going to have to be successful. i got elected in pennsylvania four times in districts that were heavily democrat when i was in the house. and obviously the state of pennsylvania is a tough state to win and i did so.

i did something that no one else did, i don't know who is going to get in the race, but folks who are going to be in the debate on thursday night, no one else defeated an incumbent candidate. i was matched up and he ended up bowing out of the race just before the filing. but i got him because he retired and he knew he couldn't beat me and the third, i beat a democratic incumbent and i ran against paul begala and i ran up against the best. and you see the recent polls, i'm pretty much in a dead heat with barack obama and i haven't done anything particularly of note in pennsylvania six years and it's not like i get a lot of national attention. i'm the only person by measuring the gallup poll from march to july, their name identification

increased except me. and so you wonder why is the national media now talking about me and not like jon hundredsman who are way below me. he gets press every single day and no one wants to pay any attention. that doesn't bother me. i go out and in some respects, i benefit from that because i'm sure they are saying nice things about me. but we are going out and working hard and i think we have a track record that shows that we have the potential for electoral success and track record that i think conservatives who make up the vast majority of the folks in the republican primaries, not just here in iowa, but across the country, they see someone over the course of my political career has been a fighter for conservative principles, on national security, cultural issues, economic, fiscal and i think that is something different.

i was with hank brown, former senator in colorado said santorum is a conservative before it was cool to be a conservative. and i think that record of you can trust me, representing a state like pennsylvania is something is a little different than other people in the race. >> i'm just wondering, even if one shares your basic view that the family unit and the strength of it is important and should be preserved and should intact and moral, what role does the president have to play in that? >> leader of the country. >> could you be specific between that relationship -- >> the president is concerned about the health of the country and health of the family is important to the health of the country. >> how would you strengthen the family unit as president? >> i would support the federal marriage amendment, which i did when i was in the united states senate. i would actually be active as i was here in iowa in making sure that states didn't create a

situation that was untenable in the long-term, which is having 50 different marriage laws. marriage is a foundation and family is foundational. and you can't have 50 different laws. it's unsustainable. and i'm someone who would go out and speak and talk about it. one of the issues that we found in states that have voted the issue of marriage and there have been 31 referendums from maine to california and 31 times, marriage has been sustained. most of those states, that wasn't the case when the debate began. people, naturally and this is a good quality, they want to be very tolerant. they say, look, if people want to do that, that's their business, let them do it, why does it affect me? it affects you, affects the family, it affects faith, your children and what they're taught and who teaches them. it has a profound impact on you,

everybody. everybody's marriage, not just the people who want to get married. if you look at the impact on the family itself and what will happen to the institution of marriage, marriage is what marriage is. marriage existed before there was a government. like handing up this and saying this glass of water is a glass of beer. you can call it a glass of beer but it's not. water is what water is. marriage is what marriage is. you can try to say, we'll make this something else, but doesn't change the character. marriage is an essential element of the civilization and it is a formal recognition of the bonds between a man and woman for purposes of helping both men and women fulfill their role in nature as well as create an opportunity for the best situation for children to be raised in a stable family. it is an intrinsic good to society.

my relationship -- it's good, it's a good thing, but we don't celebrate it and say we are going to give special privileges to the government because i love my aunt. it is not as valuable a relationship in society as it is with my wife and children and for our own relationships and what it does for us in our own lives. not two people who love each other, whatever kind of love isn't important and fine, but doesn't have the value to society and should not be lifted up and recognized as such because when you do so, you belittle the other. you can't recognize one that has less value and call it the same and not devalue the other. that's what happens. when you see that happen, what happens with marriage is -- you have seen it in europe in places where you have seen this over a long period of time. two people get married, they have children out of wedlock before they get married and marriage is a casual

relationship. why? these other relationships because they aren't built on the pro createtive elements on what marriage is about and the stability of having children, they aren't as stable over time. they don't claim to be as stable over time. what we are doing is changing the nature and character of marriage, which is a destructive thing for society. beyond that, what it does for real gn. we don't give -- if homo sexual marriages is equivalent to traditional marriage, we would say to folks are marriage counselors, you don't counsel for same-sex marriage, you are a bigot and we aren't going to give you a license. we see that with abortion and other types of things we say are legal. if you don't do what the state tells you to do, then you are going to lose your license, your

ability to practice medicine. and this is going to be even worse, because this is considered the bigotted activity and we don't give licenses to people who don't do what the state says is just. in boston, catholic church didn't want to do adoptions. so religious liberty is now trumped because we have created a superright. now, the courts have created a superright that is above the right in the constitution and that's sexual liberty and that's a wrong and destructive element of this debate. and it's not talked about. but guess what? when we have these debates in the states, they are talked about. people want to be tolerant. people should live the life they want to live, but that's not what the debate is about. the debate is recognizing that right and changing the laws that impact everybody else.

and that is a public policy issue, not an issue of against anybody. it's an issue about public policy and the impact of that public policy on faith, family and education. because now, of course, we have this sexual behavior to be normal, it's natural and something that is a good, something that society has found . and sexual confusion can be accelerated by the states. so we are talking about profound consequences here. i know it is, how does my marriage affect you? it affects it pro foundly. and when we have that debate, the american people, say, you know what, you want to live the life you want to live but don't

order society that could undermine the structures of faith and education and of family. >> you have said and it was in today's paper, something about free schools or education in general usurping the role of family. could you expand what you mean by that? >> the principle -- who's responsible for educating your children. your parents are. parents' responsibility to educate your children. the government is there to help you do what is your responsibility. we have been -- some have been convinced that that it's government's role to educate your children and many in government who believe it's government's role to educate your children, and that is a foundation neal flawed approach. parents should have the responsibility and therefore should have the right to structure the educational environment and have the cooperation of the state, not the resistance of the state to

do so what is consistent in the best interests of their children. they know what their needs are better than the state does and that's not the way the state system operates. you hand your kids off and we tell you what's best for their kids and this is what they are going to get and if you cause this -- this isn't in a lot of school districts of the but a lot of school districts do do that. when you see the government, the government from the top dictating what the education policies are and how we are going to order and structure the classroom, you have less and less parental control and less and less catering to the needs of that child and you get a poor education system. if you go into mcdonald's, are you going to have a big mac, it works for some people but not necessarily what everyone wants and needs. and unless we change the education system and make it focused around the consumer and the consumer in the education

system is the parent. >> what's the federal role in education? >> it will be incredibly limited. and i don't come in with the mistake that george bush came in with that i'm the governor of the united states. i don't believe it's the federal's job to re-order the education system. it's our job to make clear what the education system should look like, which i have just done. and then -- >> is there a role for things like no child left behind, being raised to the top, et cetera? >> i would do with education with what i think we have to do with a lot of programs that went to the federal level. return them to the states, more to the local area and -- the education system, we found from no child left behind and i voted for it, because i believe we need to have some sort of natural testing to see what we were doing and we weren't doing very well and there was a lot of

disagreement among the education world as to how well we were actually performing and having some sort of testing. i was not for -- i was not for all the other things, the levers to move states and local school districts to do what we wanted them to do. in retrospect, the testing part was fine, the other part to me was a negative. but i said that at the time. i didn't like it at the time. >> would you get rid of it? >> yeah. i don't think there is any reason we need the kind of federal intervention in education. it's not working. the education system continues to decline. and i believe that we need to have an education system that is much more dynamic in engaging parents and students and we are -- >> up to the states to do that? that's not on your agenda? >> the agenda is to say exactly

what i'm saying and give that power back to the states and hope that the states and encourage parents, fire up parents if necessary. one of the roles of the leader of the country is to talk about issues that the federal government needs to do something about in the way of proactive piece of legislation but involve themselves in trying to shape the discussion and discourse without mandating it. >> is health care one of those issues and how would you approach that one, federal role? >> the federal role -- i would continue the federal role with medicare. i believe that medicaid should be sent back to the states. we should do with medicaid what we did with welfare. 1996, during the welfare debate, we introduced a bill to do exactly to medicaid to what was being done to welfare, which is a form of block grant, per capita olympic grant to the

states and give them the flexibility to design their health care system and to have the kind of -- again, solutions closest to the people who are affected by the decisions. so whether it's health care, education, housing, food stamps, these programs do not need to be at the federal level. this is not the 1950's anymore where states are all over the map -- >> do all of those become block grants? >> they wouldn't all be the same type of structure, but yeah, they would be limited caps, federal participation and we would orient the programs back to the state level and give them the flexibility to design the program. >> medicare in health care? >> one of the things i have said for a long period of time is we need to encourage a market in health care. you have a situation where you

know, i believe costs are going to be controlled one of two ways. top-down or bottom-up. can we create a system, as i think we can, to create a better opportunity for people to manage their own health care. one of the things i was an advocate for when i was in the congress back in 1992, i think it was, john kasik introduced the first medical savings accounts. and i have been an advocate. why? it puts the consumer in charge of the health care purchases. we have a false economy in health care. >> does your family have a health savings account? >> we have an insurance policy, through the ethics in public policy center and they had one policy to choose from and i didn't have a lot of choice. right now we are on cobra from there and we will make a

decision. >> do you have a plan for your family? >> $few thousand bucks a month. >> what does that tell you about the average maybe iowan has to deal with who doesn't have a problem. a few >> to go back into the 1990's, i introduced a bill to provide equality between people who have insurance and those that do not. i have said this for a long time, it is a fundamental unfairness in the tax code that if you have an employer provided plan, you get a tax-free benefit. if you do not have one, you have to pay after-tax dollars to buy insurance. why does the government discriminate against people who should be doing more to help

instead of the ones who have employer provided plans. it never makes sense. i have proposed a refundable tax credit back in the 1990's, $3,000 or $2,000. that was a whole different time and a whole different caucus on health care. we had a low number because we were concerned about budgetary constraints. the wonderful opportunity with obamacare is that you are going to have some flexibility to be able to deal with this. people want to make commitments to make sure that we have some form of the availability of coverage for people and i think having a tax refundable idea is to help individuals and families purchase health insurance is a better way to do that then the top down. it drives people off their

employer's health care and into -- >> is there a test for the refundable credit and how much would you have to -- >> i would have to go back and look at the bill. i have not put forth a plan on that yet, but i certainly will take a look at it. as far as we are concerned, higher-income people are generally in short and so i think it would -- generally insured. as you go up the income scale, the amount of people who participate in this are very small. >> the nondiscrimination -- being able to keep your children on your health care policy. would you keep that aspect? >> it is an oversold change. anybody who has insurance right now through their employer who

changes employers or moves to another insurance policy already is covered under the pre- existing cause. that was never made clear by the obama administration ended made atomic everyone was being for another policy, which was not the case. the only thing that i saw from the very beginning was that if you had individually purchased insurance and wanted to move policy, you could get nailed. the biggest issue with it has to deal with people who do not have insurance and then went to get it. of course, the reason for the pre-existing condition clauses that you do not want to create a situation for those who do not get insurance until they get sick or have an accident. the reason barack obama did not enforce the pre-existing condition clause and tell them and it was put in because if you enforce it before, what to do is encourage everybody to drop

their insurance. if you do not have to have insurance until you are sick, why pay the premium? in particularly, if you are young and single in do not have to worry about children. with the pre-existing condition clause will do will lead to a higher rate of an insurance and higher premiums. it sounds great, but unfortunately, there is unintended consequences. the law of unintended consequences. it creates a moral hazard that is detrimental to everybody. he said that is not good and it does not really good. it can be dead. there are situations of course for people who are in difficult situations because of pre- existing condition clauses and they have not played that game. in those cases, what you usually find -- the pre-existing condition clause does not cover

them per year and then after the year, they do cover them. in most states. a lot of states have open enrollment. a lot of insurance companies have open enrollment to a life for -- to allow for independent processes. are there situations where this is a problem? yes. they are fairly limited. what i would suggest is that using that as an excuse for an entire government takeover of the health care system -- >> how do you think the country got millions of other insurance? >> you have to look up to make of the uninsured. half of the uninsured are on a tour for six months or less. i do not know what the case is and i have not looked for the statistics because of the -- and that could be because of the recession. historically, the uninsured population generally turns over very quickly. it is not a long-term uninsured

issue. secondly, you have a sizable part of the uninsured were illegal immigrants. depending on what immigration group you look at, anywhere between 8 to 12 million. if you have 45 million -- that is the number that has been thrown around. who are uninsured. you have roughly one-quarter of those folks who are not going to be covered under any system unless we are going to say that we're going to guarantee insurance benefits to people who are in this country illegally, which i do not know too many people who will do that. if you look at half of the number of uninsured and to look at another pot of illegal immigrants, it is a sparely small percentage of the population what we find for medicaid in the state of iowa, there is a sizable number of

people in the state and in the country nor allocable -- who are eligible but do not do what is necessary to enroll. you look at the chronically uninsured who are not eligible for medicare and who are not immigrants, it is a small number. again, do we need to transform the entire health-care system to take -- take care of a very small portion of the country? >> hughes said it is a very small number. >> is a very small number of people. for those few people who are uninsured that i talked about before, you provide a tax credit and provide an opportunity for them to get a basic policy and the one i would encourage us to have a basic catastrophic insurance policy which is a medical savings account type of policy. if you look at it, it is relatively inexpensive.

again, is that the best possible health care plan for everybody? no. not everybody has the best house, a food, house -- car. this is what we have to deal with. all the other necessities of life, we allow for people to have varying degrees of creature comforts, if you will. why? we are people who rationed our resources based upon what is important to us. health care has to be one of those things. which is in the mix of things we make decisions about as to what type of -- what kind of money we want to allocate to it. i had a woman the other day who complained to me that she had to pay $200 a month for prescriptions. i summed it up and i said, this $200 per month key to life. and you are complaining that you are paying $200 a month to keep you itself alive?

-- durso live? what is your cell phone bill? how much is your cable bill? how can you complain about that. that is a blessing. it is the idea that we have that health care is something you do not pay for. if health care is something you cannot pay for, someone else will dictate how we consider in the cost. i always use the example of another necessity that is greater than health care and that is food. the you have food insurance? should every american have food insurance? that is saying that they have a guaranteed supply of food. the farm programs were for a limited number of commodities. barry limited, mostly the big states. i came from pennsylvania and we did not have big farm programs for most of the agriculture in our state. we did not have it for the apples, peaches, strawberries.

we had a group program for the maine state as well as for things we did not need like cotton, which has very little to do with keeping food prices low. it has everything to do with the politics of agriculture. i will except that, but it is only a limited area of agriculture. is not a broad area of agriculture. i would say that we did not have a federal policy to buy food insurance, but if we did, i imagine how much good people would consume. -- food people would consume. imagine if you could get all the big you wanted and -- had little copiague. -- copiague. -- co-pay. how much are people going to

shop? how much will they worry about how expensive their food is? that is the problem. if you have a pain in your back and it is bothering you, you go to the doctor. you see it done. if you have to pay for the cat scan to take a look at it, you would say, maybe i will -- maybe you will not do it. but, you do it now because you pay co-payment of $40. and it is worth it. everybody pays for that $360. is that a good allocation of resources? i would argue that it is not. is there one chance that something very severe is happening, yes. you hurt your back, you felt. those are the kinds of things that happen every single day in the health-care system where people are not connecting

treatment to dollars. they object to connect them. the only way that government has figured out how to deal with that is to control. to control from the top, limit the access to care, which is exactly what is going on with obamacare. >> we went for a battle over the federal debt ceiling and it looks like we are not out of that discussion. we kicked the can. talk about your philosophy about government debt and spending and deficits. >> i have a track record on this. in the senate, i was an advocate of the balanced budget. i strongly believe that that is the long-term answer. to maintain fiscal responsibility and i would argue to maintain freedom. we talk about freedom is essentially the center of this election with obamacare being the nail in the coffin to take

people's freedom away and have them be dependent on the government for essentials. limited government is forever going to be gone. we see that in every social livelihood in the country. the government becomes a huge part of people's lives and freedom is a zero sum game. government has control or you have control. in this case, the coin is flipped. one of the other reasons i support the balanced budget amendment is it limits the the one that the united states senate has signed onto. limits the size of government to 18% of gdp which is an average since world war ii. you guarantee that the government is not going to take over. 40 percent of the economy of this country -- the government is going to be less free.

it controls to much. i think having a cap on the size of government and a requirement to balance the budget and create an exit ramp if there is an emergency if it is decided to exceed that limit, we can do so. it is no concern to the senate. you need 3/5 to do everything. >> which means they do not do anything. >> you have to get 3/5 of the house. it is not an easy thing to do in the senate, particularly something that can be seen as bypassing the constitutional requirement. they find it hard to do unless there is an urgent need to do it and that is the way it should be. >> as we have seen come needed urgent -- even urge it needs are difficult to to get through. >> we find that based on the leadership of our country.

we find it hard when you have no leadership and this president has provided none in this fight and as a result -- >> -- >> look at the record of what i have been able to accomplish. i was the author of welfare reform. we ended the federal entitlement and bill clinton signed it and i got half of the democrats to vote for it. i am suggesting with medicaid -- we were able to do it with income support. some people say, even more of a -- something that the left would hold onto. we were able to end of the federal entitlement to income support and get bill clinton to sign it. >> where are the places you would cut in medicaid in the federal budget? >> i talk about a whole host of programs that i would send back to the states. one place -- blog grants.

what we do with welfare is a recap it. all of these are entitlements, which means they grow exponentially so they are capped. the problem is the growth of these programs. >> we are asking about cuts. >> in washington, most people would agree that if you take a program which is growing at 8% and you say it is not going to grow at that percentage, that is a cut. that is reducing the federal government's obligation going forward. >> let us say the balanced budget amendment is in place today. >> i do not advocate -- some people think you can balance the budget tomorrow. that would be irresponsible to cut 42%. you cannot cut that much tomorrow. that is not possible.

if you look at the amendment, it said that five years for modification -- it will probably take 2-4 years. one of the first things you do to reduce the deficit is get the economy growing. we have a president who has done everything he can to stifle growth and innovation by oppressive government regulation. yesterday i cite talk about analysis -- side talk about analysis saying that the obama administration was costing businesses $10 million a month. it is suffocating with this illustration is doing with all of the regulatory agencies. one of the things to do is to look and see how we can get things going through changes in the regulatory environment.

it is command and control. we know best. we will tell you how to run your business. from health insurance to farming, the government says, this is what you have to do and how you do it. sorry about that. is paralyzing business. creating uncertainty. you have a president who beat the crap out of the business. tells them how bad they are and how they do not care about anybody and how we are went to tax them and regulate them. why do you want to do business in this country to work and to have people who is anti- business? they do not have to and they do not. if you're on top of that the fact that he wants to -- user on top of that that he wants to implicate a huge bureaucracy. businesses are saying, --

energy. the president has driven up the christ -- cost of energy. if you are not allowing -- we have a pipeline that may be shut down because there is not enough oil going through it that the flow of it may stop. we're going to have a situation where we are not drilling more, but we are going to lose the protection we have right now and the president is doing nothing about it. we have an opportunity to drill in anwar, no. deepwater, know. he wonders why gasoline prices are high. we found a few years ago, the second largest natural gas line in the world. is in pennsylvania. we are drilling 3000 wells a year in pennsylvania we have people living everywhere. we have the second largest world population in the country and folks are having wells drilled in their backyard.

people did not like all the water trucks and it is disruptive because there is a lot of economic activity in these rural towns and roads are getting beaten up. people are getting wealthy and we are producing energy. when i was in the senate, it got as high as $12. guess what is going to happen? people are going to produce things because we have stable natural gas prices. we can do the same thing with oil and if we have a president that -- we have to an end in 63 years we kick to hundred and 63 years left of oil in the ground. we can double the rate of extraction and still have 130 years left. we are finding new oil. technology has been able to get to reserves that we were not able to get to before.

>> is there anything off-limits? >> no. come to a pennsylvania. we are drilling oil all over the place in people's backyards and aside from the fact that you have two or three weeks of intense activity -- you have to pump in the ground. people live with this and have lived with it for years and years. this is not a dangerous activity and it is not -- have any have you been to a anwar? people say i'll is flat. iowa is built on the mountains compared to anwar. it is a tundra. it is frozen 10 months out of the year. nothing lives there. we are drilling and oil in people's backyards and pennsylvania.

that is ok, but we cannot drill where -- drill where there is a terrible -- caribou? >> we have an energy crisis nt is saying that a caribou walks by and we cannot do something that is good for our country? that is ideology. i do not know. i do not understand how people can sit there and say that this is a rational policy that we can sacrifice the economy of this country. you were worrying about people being uninsured, but why not drill in alaska? i will be you insurance. a lot more people would be in short but i suspect that there are some here that we cannot do that because of the terrible -- animals. you cannot have it both ways.

you have to look at what is rational and the president is an ideologue driven by a belief that we need to have less and we need -- government needs to be rationing these resources. >> is government stimulating jobs? >> absolutely. energy policy is first informants. -- first and foremost. i will get manufacturing back and going again. i grew up in pennsylvania and most of my friends had middle- income salaries and it was what created a stable, healthy, a great place for children to grow up. that's when i was growing up, we had 21% in manufacturing. i think that is the reason we have lost a great middle, it is down so far. people have lost insurance because we do not make things

here anymore. we still make a lot of things, but because of technology, the people necessary to make those things has dramatically reduced which means we have to make more if we're in to keep employment levels up. we hear about products being developed here and then being manufactured someone else. -- somewhere else. we want to make sure that those jobs come here. i mentioned earlier, with natural gas is which is used by industry, being stable. we have one of the things -- it is an incentive for manufacturing to come back here because manufacturers use energy much higher than any other businesses. we can create lower prices and provide stability overtime create a competitive environment for them to be successful, i have done that. i have proposed a 0% corporate tax on manufacturing. we will see to manufacturers who

want a -- to manufacture here that we will not create a tax system that you can do that. one of the big problems we have with manufacturers is that our tax system does not blend well with other countries around the world who have bad taxes. we're at a competitive disadvantage. during out the corporate tax will and that competitive advantage encourage people to come here to be an exporting country, which as you know, that is a very important element of increasing the quality of life and the energy and the economy . >> i want to ask you about ethanol. is there a role for ethanol in this country? is ethanol a net good or a net that in your view? >> i tried to say good or bad. i say what the market would

dictate and what i have said is common to all energy producers, i get people talking about wind and solar and i think we should let the market work on energy and encourage production. i am for more energy production. i am not neutral energy production. obviously, if we can create a market where we can get through things like allowing expanded drilling and things like that, we will have a much more robust energy policy. >> you would oppose the tax incentives -- >> i would phase out the credit over five years and talk to the industry because they are concerned about distribution. i have signed off on this and being dedicated to distribution. i understand there is a problem with access to markets. because of the folks who basically all in the distribution chains in this country, which are the oil companies.

you would like to say, let the market work but when the distribution of a product is controlled by a competitor of the product, that is a legitimate place for government to step in and say, we have to provide access to a commodity that should be in the marketplace. what i have learned, and i have learned a lot -- >> we believe this event with republican presidential candidate rick santorum and continue white house coverage. michele bachmann is speaking at a church service in oskaloosa, iowa. this is live coverage on c-span. >> you get to meet someone who understands where we are coming from a and we are so thankful for that. i do not want to take a lot of time here, but there is something about when you have a candidate that you can speak with and the on the same page with. and you will come to your church and get your testimony.

that is a great thing. let us get congresswoman bachmann a great big hand and she comes up. we are so painful. got bless you. -- we are so thankful. got bless you. [applause] >> this is the day that the lord has made. [inaudible] we are ready and anticipating a bright new beginning for the new year. i love new beginnings. i am grateful for what we have

available to us today. if you do not mind, let us go ahead and pray. turning on the power. [applause] [laughter] that is what we are going to do this morning. [applause] what you have just seen demonstrated is that it is not by human might, it is by his might. and when you plug into the power source, there is no end to how far and wide his word and goes. [applause] because you cast your bread upon the water and it does not come back. let us go to the lord in prayer. father god almighty, i think you so much for this faith a congregation -- faithful

congregation. i am thankful for the man who leads this church and for his wife who is so strong in the lord and stands behind him. father god, there is no end to you and what you do. we are limited. we are dust. we are clay. father, when you greet your breath of life in to us, that is when life comes. father, we are totally dependent upon you. we are dependent upon your word, we are dependent upon your will. father, we trust you. we have faith in you. we know without a shadow of a doubt, father, that you keep us as your words says in the palm of your hands and there is nothing that can snatch away from your love and from your will. we invite your holy spirit to be here. we invite your holy spirit to fill every part of this building, of our lives, of our

being, and lord, anyone who is watching this today, we pray as well for them. that your holy spirit will be there with them this morning. even though it is the new year, they may not feel any hope. i pray that as a result of this service today, people will feel whole. and they will know that there is hope because you are the same yesterday's comment today, and tomorrow. your will indoor plants do not come back -- and your plans do not come back. take my words today, killed them with your spirit, let toor message come through these words this morning for your praise. for your glory. all of us join together and say as one voice, a man. amen. thank you so much for allowing us to be here today.

marcuses with me. i am so grateful for him. god brought a godly man into my life. he is not only my husband, but a father to my children. i am thankful that all of you are here today. i wanted to be able to share my testimony with you and some words of encouragement that i want to give you, as well because we serve a mighty god. we serve a big dog. he is more powerful than any of us can imagine. i think sometimes, when we look at our situation and our problems, it seems overwhelming. yet, all we have to do is open up the scripture. in fact, you do not have to go very far. you can open it up and you can take a look at the very first chapter and at the very first verse in the first chapter of the bible -- i can get to this page. i know it is there.

if you look at it, you can see how great this guy is. it says, in the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. if you have a god who is responsible for everything you see and everything that you hear and everything you touch and everything that is all of your senses, doesn't that tell you something about how great this guy is? how big this god is? it does not say that there was a king that created this happen and this earth. does not say that it was a locksmith or that this was anyone else who created this heaven and this earth or that it was god, a multiplicity of god's that created this heaven and earth. it does not say that this just came into existence.

at one point in time, there was someone who created this have been and created this earth -- have been -- heaven and this earth. he has something to say to each one of us. it is powerful for us to listen to it. that is why i am going to ask you to turn with me to rahman iii -- roman iii. the scripture is what we call the constitution of our faith. it is the constitution, just like the american constitution is a constitution of our nation, it lays out for us what this nation is about and what this nation will accomplish. the book of romance does the same thing in the word of god. it rose -- it lays out for us what our faith is about.

turn to 23. this tells us something about ourselves. it says, this righteousness from god comes through faith in jesus christ to all who believe in jesus christ. there is no difference, for all have sinned. that is every person. remember, going back to genesis i, that was the creator. he created heaven and earth, but that means that he created everything in the earth, as well. that is all of us. all of mankind. when we talk about all, that is all of mankind. let us go back to that. there is the difference, for all have since. let me ask you, who in the service could? no one wants to go in that column?

no one wants to admit it. after last night. all have sinned. everyone. everyone falls short of the glory of god. think of that. god has glory and he wants to put his glory on his creation. what are you? we are his creation? how do we know that? his word that says that we are main in the image -- made in the image and likeness of a holy god. he created us to look like him, to reflect and, to be his messenger. why? why? he wanted us to be able to demonstrate to a world in which

all have fallen short. that would be a sad letter to all of us if that was the end of the store, a but it is not. go to roman vi, verse 23. for the wages of sin -- we just heard that all of san -- sin, but what is the result? for the wages of sin is death. that is the end result. the gift of god, there is no better promise and all of scripture than what i am about to read you right now. this is to -- the key of what our potential can be.

the gift of god is present right now. not in the future, right now, today. at this moment. it is active and alive. the gift of god is this. eternal life. in who? the jesus christ. our lord. think about this. a god created this world. he created it, but something happened along the way. as you read in the very beginning chapters of janice, as it does not take very long to see that god and his creation -- mankind sinned. they disobeyed a holy god who told them to live in this beautiful place, the garden that he created for them. live in this beautiful place, but do not do one thing.

what was that? do not eat of the tree. he said, all of these magnificent trees, you can eat from except for one. what was the one tree that adam and eve could not stay away from? it was the one thatgod said, do not eat. they fell short. they disobeyed god,. . all of the world changed. at this end of the san creation -- this magnificent creation. how many of you have been to the grand canyon? you have a sixth chance of earth and there is a huge gap between the strength of this and expenses. think of it. do you all remember years ago there was a tamer -- famous motorcycle rider and indeed loken evil and he was going to get on a motorcycle and do what no one else was going to do.

you want to take that and to reverse a big gap. you can ask someone to jump across the grand canyon. he would say, oh, what a fool. it could never happen. he can never get across it. that is essentially what we have sinned. our personal ability to be able to get one to jump across one side of the grand canyon to another on our own feet, never going to happen. there was a way that was made for us. when there could be no way. that way was the perfect sacrifice of jesus christ. god's son, who god became a likeness exactly like us. he came to earth just as we celebrated at christmas in a form of a bright new being. he lived a sinless life and yet

it went upon the cross for one reason. to be able to make a way when there was no way. he laid himself down as a bridge from one side of, the grand of canyon and became the steppingstone to a -- for us to traverse that gap. he paid that price so we could walk on his body to get to the other side, which is eternal life. if you look at the two first chapters of the bible in the book of genesis, that is the story of god creating heaven and creating earth.

if you flip to the back of the bible and you look at the final two chapters of revelation, that is when you see where god has also prepared a new heaven and a new earth. that is what roman vi talks about. a lot of times when we think about having, we think about clouds, white robes, arps, wondering how this is going to go on for internally. is not necessarily the picture of a new year's eve, where everyone had a lot of fun last night. you think, i am not so sure this is where i want to go. take a look at what god has planned for us in eternity. we cannot even begin to think the word or imagine the scriptures.

the wonderful plan that god has for us in eternity. one would want to miss what got plans for us? i want to encourage you that eternity will be a place that you do not want to miss. that is something that he has planned for us. let me give you a little good of my own personal background. i wanted to talk to you togod and how big he is and what he has done for us. this story is a story about him. it is not a story about me. the story that i am going to give you today about me is only to be a pointer towards this great god and what he has planned for you because the story is not about me. it is about him. it is also about you and those who are watching this morning, about how you can come to him

and know him. and the fulness and the abundance that he brought for every one of his creation. i was born here in iowa to a wonderful family and i am so grateful for them. i am actually a seventh generation i went. our family came here back in the 1860's and when my husband and i were going through a family reunion in northeast iowa, we stopped in the lutheran church that sits across -- i can make fun of lutheran because i have been one for most of my life. there is nothing in this town except two lutheran churches. now, there is a small population. it is called turaco, iowa.

baldheaded norwegians are people who engage in conversation, but have strong opinions. they had to have to churches -- two churches. we went to visit the church where our family came in the 1850's. kreuk -- created by norwegian immigrants who had come to this country. we saw my great-grandfather's grave. we saw a lot of the lineage. that is one side of the family. inside the church, we saw a church records that demonstrated that these were faithful believers in jesus christ. they have a living prayer life. a living devotion to the word of

god. the elevated holy scripture and saw that this word is what they wanted to base their lives on. after the church records and through various things in the church, -- through the church records under various things in the church, this was not going through the motions. it was something that meant something in the lives of these people and after all, it would be. our forbearers, unless you are a native american, all of us are immigrants to this country. our forbearers that came here, did that necessarily come on luxury liners with lots of money in their pockets and with wealth and position and ability. they came here with the clothes on their backs. and just a willingness to work. that is my family's story. when they came here, they can be withheld. that is the -- they came here

with hope. my family record of the story about how one winter here, and this is very unlike that, the coldest winter that everyone had remembered in iowa and the most snow. another year, the worst famine. then another year, the grasshopper's came and everything that they had planted. it was five years in a row that would turn anyone away from coming to this land. you can see, they had to depend upon god for sustenance. that gave me such a to see that for generations, those are the parents and grandparents that god had given me. when i was a little girl, growing up in our lutheran church in waterloo, iowa, i have

no shadow of a doubt that the gospel was preached from our pulpit in, , but i never heard it. it went one ear and went out the other. i remember one time thinking so clearly when i was hearing a sermon about heaven, thinking, oh, i am so glad i am lutheran because i know that i am going to happen. that is what my basis was on. my parents were in church and i could look down the row and there is my grandparents and we were lutheran so we were good to go. check that box. it was later, when we moved away from iowa and up to minnesota, we were fairly middle-class. something happened in our family that happens to millions of families, but it had never happened in our extended family by parents were divorced. when my parents were divorced, are lives changed dramatically. my father had left.

i thank god that he gave me the parents that i did. i thought the move that the state and we went below poverty almost overnight. we lost everything we had. our house had to be sold. a lot of our things were put in the driveway. she sold her wedding gifts. i remember going around to all of the card tables that were set up in the garage and thinking, these are the things i have looked up for my whole life. these are prized possessions and they are going or 25 cents -- for 25 cents. my mother was a woman of faith and she said to us, life is not always going to be this way. hold on. our circumstances were less than favorable, but we did push

through. my mom could not afford to buy my lunch, my glasses, my clothes. we held on and we made it. at that time, i was involved in everything in high school. every activity there was. some friends and invited me to go to a prayer meeting that net before school started in the morning and so i went to that activity and one thing that my friends do that i did not know is that i did not have a living relationship with jesus christ. i did not realize that. they started praying for me. they started praying that i would come to know the lord. through the course of their prayers, at one point on october 31, 1972, i was with three other friends and we had gone into my lutheran church that night. we thought there was going to be a party in a church that night.

we went in and the church doors were wide open. as we were walking down the aisle, the holy spirit reached in and grabbed our hearts and literally pulled us up to the altar. i was 16-year-old. we know down in front of the altar and the lord convicted does of our sense. remember, all have sinned. the holy spirit convicted me and the other friends that i was with of our sins. for about an hour, we started pouring out our hearts and confessing hour since before the lord at the altar. we had tears flowing down our face because we recognize that we were sen -- senseless. i was not involved in drinking, drugs, boys. i had not been rebellious.

it did not matter. i still was a sinner. even though i did not have big usds, the word of god tells that all have sinned, every single person. even though i had been a good girl, i was still a center. i still needed a savior. begged thent, i holy god to save me. at that moment, he did. he came into my heart and the holy spirit to cleanse tod me ad gave me peace. it was as though i felt like i had spent my whole life living in a closet with the door shut and he had opened.

if you have seen a black-and- white movie and all the sudden interest technicolor. my spiritual eyes were open. i was not better than any other person. i was just read for the first time in my life. -- free for the first time in my life. i didn't even recognize that i had sinned. i went back that night and i got down by my knees and i said, lord, when i left the apartment tonight, i did not know you. when i went to the church, i do not know what happened. all i know is that i was lost and now i am saved. i was blind, now i see. not out of anything i have done, but would you, that innocent

holy god, have done for me. i abandoned myself to jesus christ and i said, i have no idea what your plan is for me, but i know it is better than mine. i put my life and my will in yours. he did. he made it mind. our life circumstances did not change. i still was out working and i was still supplying for the needs that could not be supplied for me. for a long time, we live is struggling life, financially, but i will tell you that the lord used those experiences for his good. that is something else i want to share this morning. when god brings difficulties in and so many people are experiencing that right now. losing their homes, losing their jobs. not seeing money that they need right now.

those experiences, god can take to ship us in a way that he could not shake us in any other way. not that we want these difficulties, not that that is what we want. he uses those for our good. i am grateful for that. bring toat tgod will me, because of what i have seen of my own parents' marriage, that i would find a man. what i wanted was to be married to a gobbling man -- godluy man. he answered my career. we have had five biological children and at the same time, we did not forget what children in challenging circumstances go for -- go through. we brought 23 foster children in our home over the years. we decided to take one child in

because we saw a couple in our church who was doing foster care and we looked at each other and our eyes met when this couple introduced us to their foster daughter and we thought, you know what, maybe we can do that. we were fearful, but we thought that maybe we could. we went through the process and brought one child in. we know more than had that child and we took another. we took a second child. and then we have that child there for just a little while and we got another phone call. would you take another? we said, ok. we took another. pretty soon, we got another phone call. at that point, we had nine children in the home. at that point, there was one person that had to stand up when we were eating so we knew that we were getting pretty close to our limit in the house. we started a process of blowing it all out so we could get a bigger room in the kitchen and a

bigger table and i will tell you, it was an absolute gift from god that he brought to us these children. these children were our guests, -- gifts. the image of the holy god was inscribed on the state and a life of each of these children. he blessed us because of these children. that is what he does. one thing that the holy scripture says, god is not partial. what he does for one, he will do for all. test me. try me. i want to be there for you. there is a hero that i have in the old testament and that i want to bring to your attention. he is not one of the razzle dazzle heroes that you hear of. abraham, moses, david. or one of the big guys that you know all of the story's about.

there is one guy who really speaks to me. very powerful way. you may know him as a sidekick. he is the friend of david. his name is jonathan. how many of you know him? this is a story that does not get told very often, but i want to share this story with you for this reason. jonathan recognized that the big hole we got was to be trusted and that is what i want to beat you with today. this big, holy god can be trusted. turn back to the old testament. this is page sherine 94 in the niv. -- 24 in the niv. >> we all have battles ourselves. this is a battle that the sistine set out to do.

let me pick up with a worse one, chapter 14. one day, jonathan, the son of the first team in israel, said to the young man who was bearing his armor. the way that battles worked at that time was you had a soldier, but in order to have a defense against the heroes that were flung, in other fellow came along who was the armor bearer and would hold a huge shield in front of the warrior to stop the heroes that were coming. it was like his sidekick. jonathan's side kick was the armor bearer. he came alongside him. one day, he said to the young man during his armor, come, let us go over to the sistine outpost on the other side. he did not tell his father.

he stayed under a pomegranate tree. with him were about 600 men. in other words, let me set the stage for you. there was a battle that was about to ensue. they were on top of the cliff. they had the high ground. for those of you have it -- who had been in the military, your geographic advantages everything. the philistines had in place. they had all of philistines peon spades. they literally had the high ground. there were on the upper clit. who was on the lower ground that some of the the israelites, with their relatively small army and they did not have the weapons that they needed to have and saw what he was about to face and he sets of the like this -- oh, nuts. and he sat under the pomegranate not myd said this is

day. this is where we pick it up right here. you might say that he had a migraine. with him were 600 men, among whom was one of the priests, a son of the people who were the priests. no one is aware, however, that jonathan hadul's son skedaddled. then it talks about the clips. jonathan said to his young former bear "come, let's go to the outpost of the uncircumcised fellows perhaps the lord will speak on their behalf. but to me share with you for a minute how profound the statement was on the part of jonathan.

here you have absolute, and mitigated all odds stacked up against the israelites. -- unmitigated odds stacked up against the israelites. and here you have the israelites with just the opposite circumstances as the philistines. what did jonathan do in the face of that? just the opposite of what his father -- his father who is supposed to be the leader, who is supposed to stand strong at this moment, who gave up -- jonathan had the opposite response. uc, jonathan did not trust -- [no audio]

jonathan put that trust in god. you see, he had seen the hand of god. he had seen david slay the giant. he knew what god was capable of. what he did was step out in fayed, which is something this church-- in faith, which is something this church knows something about. the text says, if we go appear, this is how we will know how god is in it. if the philistines say to us, come on up, then we will know that god has given the battle into our hands. can you imagine that as your tests? the philistines say come on up here and then we will know that god is with us? but the philistines did say

that. let's see the exact words here bible. bible appeare "and johnson, come then, if they say to us, wait until we come to you, we will stay where we are and not go up to them. but if they say, come up to us, we will climb up because that will be our sign that the lord has given us them to our hands." this is the point. they went up and got to that point of decision. the philistines said come on up and they taunted them. you come up here and we will make mincemeat out of you. instead of quaking -- instead of the armor piercing, d, scampering down the cliffs, he

said i am with you heart and soul. and jonathan scaled the cliffs knowing that this mighty god, who created the universe, who created jonathan, who created all of existence and the attorney, that was the one who was going to fight the battle. and jonathan would stand with god and watching god be the protector. they got to the top and saw this. not only did john and the armor- bearer cut down and kill those philistines at the top of the outpost, the other philistines who were observing saw what had happened. such panic set in and the lord

used the sound of that panic that literally the entire philippine army was wiped out before the eyes of jonathan -- the entire philistine army was wiped out before the eyes of jonathan. i am here to say to all of you today. we have no idea how willing he is, no matter what that difficulty is -- all he asks of us is this -- take your faith, put it in my hands. it is not that we are something. we are nothing of ourselves other than the fact that we are made in the image and likeness of the holy god. but it is he who is big. it is he who is strong. it is he who is competent said say. and on this january 1, 2012, i

admonish you. do not for one moment think that your adversity is one that cannot be scaled. put your faith in this holy god. because that god, in the midst of impossible circumstances, saved jonathan and even a faithless saul. he is the same god yesterday, today, and for ever who will save you. you may walk out of here today and let is going pretty good. but you may find in 10 minutes that you walk out that the rug is pulled out from under you. go back to samuel 1: 14. this will tell you one example,

in this sure word, that can always be trusted in every circumstance, that he will be there for you. because he is not partial. what he does for one, he will do for all. and imagine if his people come together and believe him. he will save each one of us and every hair on our heads. let's just close now with prayer. father, i thank thee, oh, god, that your word is true. i thank you, lord, that you take my for words and my poor telling of your holy words, first samuel 14, throughout this book. all you do is show us love, all you do is show us your care, your concern. you say to us, lord, trust me.

i am big enough. i am powerful. when we fail to trust you, for guinness, oh, lord, when we fail to follow you -- for give us, oh, lord, when we fail to follow you. lord, it is you who saves and not we ourselves. we anticipate your coming. miranonka.ric just as you created the heaven and earth, so, too, our hand is in yours. we trust you and the new heaven and the new earth at the end revelations. our prayer is that all men would be saved, just as it is your prayer for let people come to

your word and look to the promise of your coming in the mighty incomparable name of jesus christ we pray. amen. >> thank you so much. i am inspired and blessed. [applause] i, too, experienced the grace of god when i was 20 years old at the university. troubled, not knowing the direction of my life, seeking what is the meaning of life, trying to come to an understanding of why it was i did not have direction in my life. jeremiah says i know the plans i have for you are good and not for evil. the bible says that god wants to

prosperous and not to harm us. god is our answer, not our problem. i believe this. god saves individuals, he saves families, and he says nations. i believe america is a nation of exceptional list. -- of exceptional was on. i believe in canada's destiny. -- i believe in manifest destiny. if you have not received christ and you would like to do so -- i went 20 years in a church and did not know, as congresswoman bachman, what it meant to truly be born again. --us said that macadamia jesus turn to him and said that no one can enter the kingdom of god unless they be born again.

that phrase is thrown around and used in a lot of different ways with a lot of definitions. it simply means of this. when you come to the revelation that indeed you are sinful by nature, that you have the propensity to singh -- you do not have to teach low kids to fuss and fight each other. it comes naturally. sinn comes naturally to each and everyone of us. -- sin comes naturally to each and everyone of us. it is intellectually honest to recognize that. of course, in the bible talks about three different kinds of death. death is in our body, seizing the function in our spirit descending from our body. the third death is eternal damnation that the bible talks about in the book of revelations. and the bible says that it all comes from this thing called sin, falling short.

it is a very simple message. the bible also says that who should comcall upon the name ofe lord shall be saved. if you have fallen short and you have an understanding that there is a god -- and i believe that there is. i believe that we have a lot of evidence. the '80s says that there is no god. but i believe -- the atheist says that there is no god. but i believe that god is all around us. he says that he cannot prove that there is a guide. but he also cannot prove that there is not. once you realize that, what is the origin of matter, energy, and design, you must realize that he is a holy god.

and you must realize there is no other book like the bible. the bible is something that has the perfect record. these are prophecies spoken many years ago by many different profits, different times, the publications, and related to each other, but all describing the same person that would come into the earth on the same day. jesus fulfilled those prophecies -- over 300 prophecies. statisticians said that that is staggering, that it cannot be possible, that a book can be written and there could be all of these prophetic records that come to pass. many said how christ would come into jerusalem riding on a donkey. all these things were prophesied. he fulfill them, which is even more staggering. there is no book like the bible. there is no person like jesus christ historically.

we have 2600 into documents of the new testament. there is great documentation. the bible is like no other book. he said that i am the way, the truth, and light and no man can come and to the father except through me. it is based on race. it is not based on a half -- it .s based on greeace it is based on faith. christ came to earth and took our punishment and die for our sins.

because of that, we have free grace to access and we can all call upon the name of the lord and be saved. i think the most profound things are simple. i believe that christ came that we might live. let's all our heads. if you have never thought upon bowse things, -- let's all fou our heads. if you have never thought of these things, if you call upon the name of the lord, you will be saved. let's pray. heavenly father, i pray today, even as i did many years ago in a college dorm room. recognizing that indeed this message that congresswoman

bachman shared with men we understand -- shared with us we understand that we fall short. but the gift of god is eternal life through your son jesus christ. that we can call upon you -- the bible says in roman 10, that if we believe in jesus we shall be saved. father, we believe that. if you have a desire -- we do this every service. we believe that church is making the gospel available for people. say this prayer with me. let's all sit together, whether your be leaving for the first time and not been dear heavenly father, i do recognize that i fall short. i come to you homily today, yelieving -- i can you humblin

today, believing that your grace applies to me. i receive you, lord, as my lord and savior. and thank you for the forgiveness of sin. i receive you. i believe that your raised from the dead. for my justification. a mamen. this is our sunday morning service and this is our congregation. i want to speak to the issue of civic responsibility. our church has been very involved in civic responsibility, understanding what it is that the scripture teaches. we can turn on the news at night and we can understand what every party teaches. we can understand what every candidate has to say. we can understand a lot of

different things. and there are varying ideas out there. it is a broad spectrum. all eyes are on iowa. all eyes are on what is taking place in the next couple of days. a lot of people are still wondering what, who, how all this will come to pass. who will vote for? some people say, christians, maybe you should not be involved. my good friend who sent me any mills said -- someone asked him once, i do not think christians should be involved in politics. but neither should hitler, mussolini, mao, osama bin laden and the list goes on and on. it is an absurdity to say that we should consider ourselves any less a look politically active citizen -- a politically active

citizen. i would consider it an insult that someone would have to tell me who to vote for. my job as a pastor is not to tell you who to vote for or to endorse a particular candidate. my job is to teach you what the scriptures says about it and how you need to learn how to choose a candidate for yourself. but i think you go in a lot further if you do that. i will let you a fish. i will give you a fishing pole. i will let teacher -- i will not tell you how to vote, but i will teach you what god says about godly leadership. it is not a silent subject in the scriptures. as a matter of fact come i believe this. even though a lot of people did not believe that christians should get involved, our founding fathers most assuredly believe that we should get involved. i will read you some quotes this morning.

the first one is by original chief justice of the united states supreme court, john j.. from 1745 to 1829 -- he says providence is given to our people the choice of their rulers. and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our christian nation to select and per for christians for their rulers. wow, that guy seemed pretty one- sided, did not? that was our first supreme court justice. we have come a long way from that. let's hear what one president at today, rev. james garfield. the people responsible for the character of their congress. if that body be ignorant, reckless, or corrupt, it is because the people tolerate recklessness and corruption. if it be intelligent, brave and

pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities. if the next centennial does not find a great nation, it will be because those who represent the enterprises, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces. in other words, they do not vote. let me keegive you -- let's look at what a couple of ministers say. charles finney, revivalist in the second and third awakening, college president, also an attorney -- the time has come that christians must vote for honest men and take insistence of politics or the lord will curse them. christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. the time has come when they must act differently. god will bless or curse our nation according to the course that christians take. let me give you another one. this is rev. francis britney, an

african-american minister of the gospel. if the time ever comes when america shall go to pieces, it will be from the losing side of the fact that righteousness' exults a nation. see, our military does not exult us appeared our fiscal policy does not exalt us. god exults us if we are righteous. singh is reproduced in any people. is reproachedein been any people. -- sin is reproached in any people. we have to give back to what the word of god tells us when it comes to civic responsibility. what it says when it comes to

understanding choosing godly leaders. i will start with a verse in psalm 75. for promotion comes either from the east nor the west or the south, but god is the judge. he put us down and set us up another. when we see that scripture, do we abdicate our responsibility if god is already the one who ultimately has control? i think god has put it into our control. i believe god leaves a clause if he needs to trump that. he gives us a command. with that in mind, yes, i believe god reserves the right to put down and set up leaders. he put up faros, the bible says in exodus 9. he delivers and judges. i will deliver a leader in king david. i believe he also gives us a

great command, a much talked about scripture, a much quoted scripture that we talk about in this church. moses, one of the great delivers of the old testament, one of the greatest leaders in the old testament, we have a picture of him 40 years under the house of pharaoh. i call that the political elite inside the beltway crowd. the house of pharaoh was obviously the political apex. for 40 years, he was raised up in that house and he was set up to be a leader over god's people and he failed. then he went into the wilderness and sat in the house of jethro who was a priest. for 40 years, he sat under that influence. and he had all these people when he came out of egypt. some people say hundreds of

thousands. we do not know exactly how it was, but we know it was a lot of people. and when he came out, he was trying to judge that people. you try to be a ruler. you try to be a leader of those people. and his father-in-law came to him and said that the thing you're doing is not good. i want to give you some advice today. he said harkin now unto my voice and i will give the council. and god shall be with thee. key point -- god will be with thee. how many of us want got to be with us? there are certain things you have to do in order for god to be with you. when we do certain things, god will get off on that train. when you begin to live or hurt people or do bad things, and god is not with you when you do those things. god is with us when we're

walking in his ways. i want got with me. i want got with my family. i want got with my church. i want got with my nation. nations are not be judged in the life after. they are judged in the life that is now. in the hereafter, individuals are judged on the judgment seat that god brings us to. but nations are judged here in this life. in this case, i want god with us. and he begins to give some advice. he says, if you do these things -- everyone, say do these things. >> do these things. >> when i see a verse like that in the bible, it has all my attention. do this and god will be with you. and he listed several things and when it came to leadership, he said this -- moreover, thou shalt provide or choose men,

able men, it says, provide of the people able men such a that fear god, man of truth, and heating covetous ness. hating cover business means taking bribes. they cannot be moved by many. -- by money. what happens in our modern culture, we have people in iowa, as of about three or four days ago, there were as many as 70% who do not know who they will vote for. i find that troubling. and as i think about it, when i see that, part of it is because they are saying i do not know whom to vote for. it is not so much a question who to vote for, but what to vote for. if you are voting personality, you can be deceived.

adolf hitler sounded like a founding father of america, espousing the virtues. but that is not to be was, was he? he did not fulfill the criteria. and when i look at the scriptures, it is not so much who we vote for, but what we vote for concerning their character. when i look at the scriptures, i see, wow, man of truth, that fear god, that hate covetous nests. that is all about character. that is all about family. we need to turn back to the things of truth and of the scriptures. i believe this. the only evidence of what a person will do in the future is the record what they have done in the past. the only way that you can -- if i can put it this way -- the character detector is only a person's past record.

the process of the they know god, but at worst they deny him. i know some politicians that profess they no guide. but in legislation, they deny him. in a vote, they deny him. in the way that they do their business, they deny him. the scripture says that they profess they know god, but in works, they deny him. reprobate means without judgment. i believe it is so important that that issue is kept at the forefront of our minds when we choose our leaders. some people say that his religious leaders. that is the bible. no, this was israel's civil leaders. some are tempted to vote for other things than what is in the scriptures. many times, i have been tempted.

candidates, and you look at what they say and the many things and many times, instead of voting for character and integrity, you may be tempted to vote for eloquence, someone who is just a great speaker. but in the book of romans, it says that there are those who have much fairer speech. you can look in the scriptures, in the book of proverbs, a fool tells all his mind, but a wise man tells all afterwards. speaking is not necessarily a sign of character. if it is not necessarily a sign that that person will do the right thing always. as a matter of fact, if you speak to much, you get in trouble and you have to renege on things. and that is not a good thing. moses started out my be in words

and deeds. -- mighty in words and deeds. but later we find out that that is not a good indicator. character. some see them presidential looking. sam dillon to look at you is going to anoint a king. -- samuel was going to look and was going to anoint a king. we have seen many in the bible, saul, all of these. it is really the intentions of the heart. sometimes, we are tempted to vote for fiscal policy. but that does not line up with scripture either.

matthew 6:24 says that we cannot serve god and man. but the things of god are more important. the economy is very important. we believe that. but the bible says that seek the kingdom of god first. some say fiscal first. it is the most important. but we need to understand that sometimes it is spiritual things. those that love them pray for israel will prosper and be protected. there are things that need to understand that are not fiscal first appeared it is the priorities of god first, character and integrity. i believe this is so important when we're looking at candidates, that we look at who they are and what they believe and what their character really is. another one is electability. many are tempted to go by electability. but then you're compromising your hearts choice many times.

benny carroll spoke one time and he gave a great litmus test. he said, if you were going to choose the president of the united states today and god said it would be completely based on your personal choice, who would you choose? and based on what you believe integrity and character should be, who would you choose? and i believe that that simple obedience to a heartfelt decision is the most important thing that you can do. i believe that god speaks to us through our hearts, not always through our heads. i believe that the choices that we need to make, civic responsibility, should not be based on someone else framing the argument. the bible teaches that obedience is better than sacrifice. the scripture has said, instead of criteria on that type of person there should be chosen

for a civic leadership and we need to obey. saul got the idea that he was a little smarter than got scared and he said that we would not go in and take out all of these animals and all these oxen and all these sheep. he said, if you know what? we will keep all of the good ones and get rid of all of the bad ones and we will come back and sacrifice all of those. never assume that you no more than god. he thought that his idea, his human invention, his way of doing it would be better in the final outcome than what god had simply commanded him to do. many times, we get smarter than god and we think that you know -- this calculation and this calculation and the pollsters say this and those are calculating electability says this and the media venues say this and my friends and my

feelings and maybe my family is saying this. but what does god say? it still stands that we're called to look at the record of the people who are running. we are to measure every issue according to biblical world views. what does the bible say about this? what does the bible say about the definition of marriage? what does it say about abortion? what does it say about all of these issues? find out what it says. we teach that. we teach the world view of all the different issues receive in the political arena. then take that and see who is getting it right. who has a good score card? i would rather choose someone who is biblically in line with the world view that i hold and that their integrity is with that than any of a candidate. i am not here to tell you that

god exists. i am here to exhort you to look upon the scriptures because obedience the better the sacrifice. and that is the criterion that god has called us to today. let's stand and we will pray for dr. marcus and congresswomen bachman. i will ask my wife to come up and we will just prior right now. it is such an honor to have this wonderful family -- 23 foster children. whow. if you can do that, that is a miracle-working god. amen. i will as unduly to pray for michelle. and i will pray for markets. and i will ask the congregation to truly turn your hearts toward god. father, we thank you so much for this wonderful example of a

family. father, a family that has laid down their life to be servants to those who are unfortunate. and father, in the counseling that they have done and the family that they have helped, the foster children that they have raised. father, i thank you for a family who have laid down their lives to serve this nation. father, i think you that they had given of themselves greatly in this season. and father, it is truly best to give than to receive. and father, i pray that they will reach great fame, favor, friendships. father, i pray that the spirit of america is upon this family. father, i believe that the spirit of america and our founders and the gospel and the foundation and the underpinnings of all that we stand for is represented in the core values and the morals that this family

holds, demonstrates, and is out to make available to other families who would come to our great nation. and father, i think you now that you strengthen them. father, i thank you know that you give them wisdom. father, i thank you know that protect them. father, i think you know that you bless them. and father, as they serve you, as we humbolt ourselves, you said you exult the spirit and as they have given their heart today, maybe supernaturally be empowered on this day. we ask you in the name of jesus christ, our lord, amen. we thank you for your service. amen. [applause] god bless] -- god bless you.

[applause] amen. let's remain standing. this will conclude our service this morning. let's bow our heads. heavenly father, thank you for the great opportunity we have had to share the gospel, to speak to the issues of scriptural civic responsibility. father, we thank you for the opportunity to pray. we thank you for giving us a free nation where we can exercise these rights. and father, we thank you that our nation will be maintained under those freedoms and liberties. father, we thank you for the spirit of liberty. we thank you for the spirit of freedom for it is your spirit. it is not just a national spirit. it is the spirit of the lord. it is not i might, but by spirit that we do anything. and we give you the praise today. we ask you that you bless each

one as they go. bless them going in and bless them going out. maybe the head and not the tail. according to that power that works within us appeared in jesus' name we pray, amen. thank you guests and visitors for coming here today. amen. you may be dismissed at this time. ♪

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> have you been here forever? >> 25 years. >> oh, that is forever. >> it goes so fast. we have a few children nor in college. >> we have three in college. >> and then you have some 20 some others. [laughter] >> we have 3 left in college. everyone else has all grown up. >> the three that are left, where are they at?

>> they are all over the country. thank you. they're all over. >> our daughter went one year down to the university. >> did she like it? >> she liked it very much. but then she wanted to be closer to home and she wanted to be in iowa. >> ok. >> i am probably taking up all of your time. >> no, no, no. thank you. >> i would love for you to meet him. he was trying to catch somebody else here.

thank you. i am glad that you are here. i remember. you are advertising. [laughter] hi, there.

thank you for being here. clerks and he passed away after that? -- >> and he passed away after that? >> yes. >> we were all shocked. does sharon still have the church? >> yes. >> i have always loved her. she has an incredible singing voice. >> she does. she does, absolutely. >> you know bette davis -- betty davis.

are you from town? no, we live in west des moines. >> you drove all that way? i am so impressed that you drove all of that way. >> i pray for you. >> thank you. thank you. are you also from our when dale -- from berlin dalirwindale? thank you for driving all of that way. thank you for everyone that you are telling. thank you. thank you. thank you. you guys are great. thank you. tell everyone you know.

thank you. hi, of what is your name. hi, syria, good to me you -- hi, sarah, good to meet you. are you in college? >> i am a senior in high school. >> where are you going to go? >> i am staying around here. >> have you heard of -- >> one of the most amazing on fire people. >> you are blown over. really an incredible man. good to meet you. oh, it is bob. >> thank you so much your being here today.

i know you will stick with what you say. >> i do. there is no reason not to. that is great. thank you. >> thank you for your support. >> that is my husband, markets. -- marcus. i married a tall man. i like that. [laughter] sure, yes, right here. 1, 2, 3. >> thank you. thank you. >> that was an awesome testimony. >> thank you. what is your name. >> daniel. >> how will you? >> 10. >> 0, man. where is the camera. sure, we can.

right here? i am so glad i got to meet you. do you go back tomorrow for the first time? is this the end of christmas break? >> i think so. >> you do not know. you have been having too much fun. hi, what is your name. hello, michael. thank you. i am really glad that you came this morning. i would love to have your vote on the third. thank you. good to meet you. how are you? hi, dear. thank you. >> thank you so much for being here and giving your testimony. >> thank you. i do appreciate it.

thank you. i am glad you were here. god bless you and your children. >> it was very enjoyable. >> is he not an enjoyable man? >> he based everything on something biblical. we appreciate that. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> have a great day. >> hi, what is your name? >> genie. >> my mother's name is gene. that is right, we were here before. you drove in for that? >> i will always see you. you are so beautiful. >> that is so nice. you can do this job. >> thank you, jeanne. this is my husband, marcus.

tell everyone who you know. thank you. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. i remember your face, yes. okay, okay, okay, now i remember. i was recently in philadelphia, at the capitol, and there is a much that is on the wall. he is really a remarkable man. >> yes. >> thank you. thank you. it really is wonderful to see you again this morning. thank you. get them out. facebook to everybody that you can to get out.

this is my husband. hi, right here? hi. i am doing great. how are you? hi, how are you? thank you. is this your church? >> yes. >> this is my husband, marcus. >> i appreciate your testimony this morning. >> it changes dramatically after a divorce. years ago, i read that a family reduces by 75%. i do not know if that is true. i read it years ago. but it changes everything. >> i have two boys. my father -- it was not that he did not love us. >> your parents, you continue to honor your parents, but there

are ramifications for the kids that go on for a long time. >> i learned from that. >> the great thing is that he is a god of forgiveness and a god of mercy, and a god of the grace and he just takes us as we are and he builds in restoration. he is a wonderful god. let's go ahead and take a picture if you would like a picture. do you have a camera? ok. i am sorry. i did not know you were there. hello. come on in. cus. is my husband, market did you get it? jacob, are you here in town? >> yes.

>> is not bill wonderful? >> yes. >> he is a wonderful pastor. >> one of the most wonderful pastors. >> yes, he is. >> i remember seeing you before christmas. >> thank you. thank you. good to see you. do you go to church here? >> no, i do not. i am traveling here with my mom. >> is she a reporter here in this state? >> know, in california. >> have a great that you came today. i am glad that you are here, chloe. hi there, nice to see you. hi, paul. well, thank you.

are you may begin here at this church? >> yes. >> thank you for your service. god bless you. it is a pleasure to meet you. are you the main man, yo not? of course, you are. it is a pleasure to see you. we enjoyed worshiping with you today. thank you. how are you? >> very good, very good. we appreciate you coming. >> a good to meet you. >> thank you. >> we know you are busy. >> it is a pleasure for us, too. hi, what is your name? >> kathy. >> hi, kathy.

thank you. this is marcus, my husband. nice to meet you. are you going back to school tomorrow? >> no, tuesday. >> william, are you an usher year? >> yes. >> thank you. >> you are doing a good job. >> thank you. >> hi, there. how are you? >> we are in the final few minutes of our live coverage of the presidential candidate michele bock men. we have a couple of technical issues. if you missed any of this, you can see it in its entirety at c- span.org. we will continue this afternoon with mitt romney. he is making campaign stops at

the family table restaurant. then we will follow newt gingrich at 5:30 p.m. in waterloo, iowa. you can follow the candidates to the iowa caucuses here on c- span. not a look at some of the campaign ads running for rick perry, rick santorum, and michelle bachman. >> i am anita. . -- i am anita perry. we grow up with christian values, values we still believe in. we know that washington, d.c. can use some of that. >> i am rick perry and i really approved this message.

>> i am rick santorum and i approved this message. >> michele bachman, when she first appeared on the scene. >> i like her stand on

immigration. >> i feel like that is very important. >> she stands up for which she believes in. she listens to what the american people say. >> i hope she has a really good campaign from here on out. >> tuesday, the road to the white house goes to america's heartland for the iowa caucuses. .

county republican chair judy davis is the host of this event. this is an hour and 40 minutes. we're going to go ahead and get started. thank you all very much for coming. as you can see, we have a great crowd. i did tell the media center to set up for 130. you can see they only had 80 chairs so we had to scramble. that was confusion not on our end, it was on that end. so we're trying to accommodate as best as we can. we would like to start by

standing and saying the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag. of the united states of america for the republic one nation under god indivisible for liberty and justice for all. >> thank you. i know many of you. many of you are new people. i'd like to welcome you. to be involve in the grassroots process of scott county republicans. i would like to take a minute to introduce the rest of our committee. the rest of you who served on the committee you know who they are. those who are new might not. so my name is judy davis. and i'm with republicans. don ortega is one of our vice chairs. tom may is one of our vice chairs. melissa, probably back in the

kitchen, she's our director of social media. jan murphy, i don't know if she's back there too, also serves on the executive committee. so i'd like to give a big thank you to all of them. this is a wonderful class. for me, it's very fun. might not be as fun for everybody. but the executive committee has really worked hard. and getting everything together, especially carol and jay and i. i have a message for all of you. we today started our -- everybody says why does it take so long? all our number 12s stuck in every packet because every packet is individual because none of the things are percentages of things. i appreciate their help. it's not glamorous work. everybody is good workers. in the packets, i would like to talk about a few general comments regarding the caucuses

coming up. if you have not had a chance to meet your counterpart tonight, please try to do so before you leave. as we sent the e-mail to you, the caucus chairs we were really saying it was crucial for you to come. secretaries also crucial. 99%. reporters -- it's not necessary for you to attend. be uh you're welcome. if you haven't had a chance to meet your secretary or reporter, look on the list, find their name. get a chance to introduce yourself to them. thank you all also for your service and your dedication. i really appreciate it. i know it's a busy time of year for all of us. january 3, would not have been my choice. unfortunately, florida kind of put us in that predicament. so we had to step it up a little bit and i appreciate you taking this time at this busy time of the year and devoting it to

scott county republicans. this is grassroots activism at its best and you'll have a chance to take part in history making. a couple of the strategies, though, as we were thinking of this year's caucus that i want you to be alert of. in terms of projected attendance in 2008, a big caucus year, we had 730 caucus attendees voters. for this caucus, we planned for 20% more. we hope we're accurate and very close to that. we feel good about that. that means we're anticipating close to 7,000 caucus voters. 7100. so the caucuses will be very busy. if you know of somebody that might be able to come and help you, as i said, we have a caucus chairman, a secretary, and a reporter for all of the precincts. but the more in terms of registration process and so on. it will be good to meet your secretary while you're here.

we work very hard. tom may was in charge of all of the caucus sites. another thing that we saw from 2008 is that it's not necessarily good to have many caucuses at one building. parking is a problem, registration is a problem. this time we have a total of 29 buildings. some of the larger caucuses like b-52, we're anticipating will have 500 people, it has their own site in pleasant valley in the theater. we're hoping that will relieve some of the congestion. be sure i've been finding this is a question when i talk to a lot of people, be sure to spread the word to tell the people that, number one, you do not caucus at the same place that you vote. that's a big misconception. when we talk to people, they say to me, well, i voted at mark

twain school or i voted at paul norton. you do not caucus at the same place. the other thing that is crucial is to let people know that where they caucus in 2010 or 2008 may not be the same place that they are this year. so we are trying our best to get the word out to everybody through e-mail. we're going to have two ads in the quad city times. i hope the times will do a story on a all of this. we sent out press releases to all of the sites, sent out the radio stations. we're writing a blog. we're doing some twitter -- we're tweeting about it. we're doing our best to try to get the word out. but i know people will still go to the sites where they voted or maybe they went last year. >> what about putting a sign on the doors of the voting precinct buildings saying if you voted in

5-1. >> we have it. got it. it niece the packet. we're going to review that a little later. we have that in the packet. we'll go through that later. signage, when we talked about 2008 and 2010, we got comments from people saying they didn't nope what door to go in, where to go. it was confusing. so, we have these handy-dandy outdoor signs that each of our site leaders, we have 29 buildings, one person is in charge of each of the buildings. so, tonight, we're going to have a 15-minute meeting, those of you, site managers here after, is i'm going to ask you to take two of the signs and a brick. the brick in the car. the brick goes right in there. to hold them down. i meant to bring one up to show you, i figured you could visualize a brick. so, a couple of the bigger sites we have three signs for.

but we hope that that might help and then in the packets, as you'll see later, we have directional signs. we have signs to say precinct, b-4, b-3, b-5. what you see here. we're doing our best to try to alleviate any confusion, congestion, questions. okay? let's see. if something should happen and you cannot serve your role as caucus chair or secretary, please give us a call. the earlier we know we can try to fill that spot. if something happens that night, maybe started throwing up at 5:30, probably not good for you to attend. that's why we have it out in your packets, the names and phone numbers of your counterparts. so if as a chair you know it's 5:00 and you cannot attend,

could you call your secretary or your reporters. and then they can come and get the packet and take over running the caucus. please give us acall ahead and we'll make accommodations to fill it out. i'm very proud and pleased to say we have caucus chairs for all of the precincts. but we were able to do that. and we also were charged with the state parties for finding secretaries for all of the precincts and reporters. we're full except five. that's 190 slots. everybody does have a causes chair. a secretary or reporter that might still be missing. i'm pretty proud of that. that's due to all of the people stepping up here. i know we're getting tired of calls the last couple of days. so, i'm happy with that.

site managers, i would ask that you get there at 5:30 and we'll go over it after the meeting at the site manager meeting. bring chairs we're expecting a large crowd, caucus chairs. i would ask that you arrive by 5:30. if you would like to get there early and make sure that everything is set up. the doors will be open at 5:00. we have found with all of our republican events, that republicans tend to get to places early. so, the earlier you can be ready, the better. the official word on when we're letting people in is 6:00. caucuses start at 7:00. if you get to your building, everything is ready, everything is set up, your site manager is good with it. your caucus chairman is good with it, everything is ready go. people are standing outside on a cold winter night, and it's all right for you to let them in early, that's fine. we're not saying you have to have them standing outside until

6:00. we're saying that primarily in case there are problems that you might have to take care of, which we don't anticipate, but we're saying the latest the doors would open would be 6:00. the site manager situation is for some precincts, and i'm going to keep using kay as an example, here. for some precincts where kay is the only caucus chairman for her precinct, she's also the site manager. we'll meet with her after the meeting and give her -- each site will have a set of maps that are posted on back there. and some other things. they'll have some forms. there are a couple of buildings that have several caucuses, like todd, you are -- where are you? >> st. ambrose. >> so todd will be the building manager for that. and all of the people will have -- by next week, emergency phone numbers for you for those

facilities. if thre. >> so if there's a door lock or something wrong with that facility, you should be able to have a phone to call that night there. you must be a registered republican to vote in the caucuses. visitors are allowed. they cannot vote. if somebody is not 18, but they will be 18 by the november election, they can register and they can vote. >> come again? >> if somebody is 17 now, but they're going to turn 18 by november 1, which is before the november election, they can register and they can vote at the caucus. any questions on that? [ inaudible question ] >> november 6, i think. i meant to put that in there. i forgot. the rest is november 6. >> registered democrats? >> oh, no. >> if they're registered democrats. >> if they want to change their registration, that's okay. they can do it that night, yes.

we'll talk about that as we go through the caucus packet. it's like voting, unfortunately. you can do same-day registration. but they have to do some things to prove they are who they are. we'll talk about that later. we've gotten -- today and yesterday we've been doing stuff at headquarters, a lot of calls, more consistently for this than anything else. people wanted an absentee ballot for the caucus. somebody said that a campaign or somebody called them and told them to request an absentee ballot. that does not happen in the caucus. no absentee boll lot voting. you must be at your caucus and you must be republican registered republicans. >> you can change, right? >> yeah. you can change. >> earlier we were talking ab t

about. [ inaudible ] what do you do with the people who come in at 7:30? >> the caucus is called to order at 7:00. depending on how busy the caucus is, if maybe you can have a registration person there, a reporter, check them off. it's likely you might have already done a ballot by that point. if they've done late, they probably only want to do the presidential ballot. gauge that by how busy you are. we're going to try to have somebody at the entrance of the building all the time so they can come in and change and register. but that may not always be the case. the rule is you need to be there at 7:00. >> but not going to lock the door? >> no, we'll take them, oh da kay? talking about the registration process. two-step process. if you look in your bag, your high v bag.

can i use your stuff here for a minute? can i use you as an example. you should have a check-in procedure. who has a check-in, an outline right there. can i use this one right here, simon, to show people. you all should have these little sheets. these came off of the press from state in illinois. this was one of our 12 hours of stuffing today. these sheets are current registered republicans in your precinct. when somebody comes in.

you should have in your bag instructions for caucus sign-in sheets. looks like this. so when somebody comes into your precinct, you have your registration forms here, you ask their name. the easiest thing is, their name is on here. you follow the instructions and i believe you have to fill in the little why saying they are attendance. you should all have these instructions. if they are not on here -- >> the big bag or the little bag? >> big bag. should have a pink sheet on top, maybe. if they are not on here, then they have to complete a registration form. now, the problem may occur that somebody went to the office between now or perhaps the last two weeks and january 3 and registered as a republican.

in which case, their registration update probably didn't make this list. if they tell you, i'm a registered republican, i just registered a month ago, it hasn't caught up to the list. they have to register again. not going to hurt them if they register on december 31 at a republican and do it again on january 3, okay? so just have them fill out another registration form. >> do you have those forms? >> in the other packet, yep, yep. i'll go through the other packet. >> they have to fill in the bubbles, the y for yes? >> it says right here. make sure the person at the correct precinct caucus because sometimes they might be at the wrong one. make sure the spelling is correct. if they are not there, fill out

a form, how to sign in on the form. verify their address, fill in the circle with a on the right side if the name is on and on the wrong side, place an x. give them instructions. >> it doesn't matter. >> so -- thank you. you also have in that bag, some of yours might look a little different, just a plain registration form like this. this is for our information. and you may notice there's an e-mail address on that form.

there isn't on the bubble sheet. it's a lot of stuff to fill out. this is not mandatory, you're not required. this is for us to had to our master list. if it gets crazy and you have 100 people standing there and you want to disregard this, i understand. the additional forms is for our purposes. yes, roger. [ inaudible ] >> one of the three, hopefully two or three of you. >> we need a number of people to do that. >> a lot of people will come early but most come all at once. they become very impatient. these voter registration lists are incredibly inaccurate.

they may live in the precinct for a number of years, may not be on the list. they have to sign a new registration form. sometimes frustrates them. patience, a lot of patience on our part. but i will have ten volunteers to sign in and i encourage you to have as many people as you can to sign in. because you will not get started on time. it will make the whole process prolong. so please start recruiting your volunteers. >> you can use your secretary and reporter but you need more people. okay? you see an indication how many you're expecting in your precinct as we go through the envelope. we'll tell you how to figure that out, yes? >> some times, the chairs the. [ inaudible ] >> helping with that. yeah. okay. steve? >> the voter registration form. what does it look like? i don't seem to have one -- >> that form. >> which we're going to go

through now. >> all right, never mind, thank you. >> okay. any questions about -- all we're covering now sh the state registration form and our information form, i guess, maybe we should call it. okay, so people have come in, registration has gone great. everybody knows where they're going to be. they're all at the right site. >> what if they aren't at the right site. >> we're going go through that in this packet. we're going to start going through this packet. so can you take everything out. put all of your registration stuff away. take out the stuff from our other packet. >> what? >> nothing, a lot of stuff, i

guess. >> maybe verna has it? is she in your precinct? verna probably has it. >> this is 2 secretary -- >> okay, i see. >> signing our forms and checking these here. [ inaudible ] they won't have to sign in on our form. >> there's not an e-mail address on there, is there? we want their e-mail address. at a bare minimum. if they don't want to miss around with the address and everything on, ask if they can print their names and put their

e-mail address. that's how we're communicating. at a minimum, a name and e-mail address. i asked the state party, i said it would have been nice to have e-mail addresses right on there. but that doesn't happen. so that's why we have the additional ones. >> we cannot ask them to add their e-mail address to that form. >> no. no. no -- no. >> i would have them do it while they're registering. i have them sign in, take the form, responsible for someone collecting it later. that again slows it down. it's amazing how it's so simple but it can be very time consuming. >> you can pass out our registration form, when the caucus starts. you can pass it and people can fill it in. that's fine too. but i don't want you to get all hung up with that form, okay? there's a choice of getting everybody in, seated, going and getting the caucuses going, that's the priority. if you have a bottleneck and

these are becoming too much of a pain, take them into your caucaus. when you start to pass them around, ask people if they can complete them as they're seated. okay? any other questions before we move on to the other packet? >>. [ inaudible ] >> thomas has it. i apologize, everybody's packet is not necessarily in the same order. we give you time to look at them and find them as we talk about. i would suggest that you pull out the orange sheet, the caucus agenda. that's what we'll go through right now.

county convention leaders that they're different on this agenda. make sure that everybody has signed in on the computer sheet. if they haven't signed in on a computer sheet, they need to do so. if they are not, they need to complete a registration form. when you sign people in, you need to give them two things. they give you the completed republican registration form, you sign them on the sheet, you can hand them a presidential ballot, which is in your packet. can i see that?

they're probably in a rubber band like this. we estimated 20% more ballots for everybody than 2008. okay? now, if you look at your little rubber band here, carrie says d-82, we wrote a number, 84. that's the number that we calculated. that's the 20% higher in attendance. so you can look at your number there and you kind of know how many you might be expecting at your caucus. okay? if by chance -- let me move on to the first -- then you also give everybody the tv color packet ballots. which, i have to thank the republican women who were here that spent probably 12 or 16 hours stapling 7,000 of these. by hand. >> i didn't get any.

reasonable doubt they in there, do you have them? we'll get them to you. they're in a paper plastic bag. we anticipated the same number again, 20% higher. okay? these are to be used for if you need, you may not use them. there's a couple of other votes happening in the caucaus. you have to vote for your permanent chair, your permanent secretary. you have to vote -- we'll go over all of this later, precinct chairman and county convention chairman. most of the time, you can just do that by hand vote and count. most of the time, it's not a problem. if for some reason -- there's a lot of interest in what's happening this year.

if for some reason there's a contested race for precinct chairman and those trying to get to the positions would like a written ballot, seven different sheets of color here. i say we're going to vote for precinct chairperson. everybody take out your pink sheets. . that's how you can get that straight. yes, linda? [ inaudible ] >> it's in there. we're going to go over that. when they've signed in or filled out a completed voter registration form. that should be on your orange sheet, give them one presidential ballot and one colored ballot. is that yours? so temporary chair calls meeting tored. yeah, terry? >> few of you are not going with the -- >> there's a sheet in there.

>> you have a yahoo that talked about -- then you have to go to voting. >> there's a sheet in there. thank you. meeting to order. electing a permanent chair. in most cases, it should be all of you. because some of you will precinct elected officials for the scott county republican committee. you're here tonight. you're going through the process of caucus chairman training and the same for the secretaries. so, since we called and made all of the appointments, that should be the case for all 63. but not necessarily. so you ask for nominations for caucus chairman and you as a temporary chair should be, of course, one of the first ones that raised their hands up and shouldn't be a call for that. so the secretary, then, records that on form a. records the name of the person who was elected caucus chairman. >> we can nominate ourselves? >> yes.

>> okay. >> yeah, you do. your putting in the time tonight, so you should have the honor of doing it. we count the votes. you declare the winner. secretary fills it in. we move on the secretary. everybody has a temporary secretary. same procedure. ask for a nomination from the floor. perhaps the caucus chairman might nominate the secretary that we've called on and we've asked to dedicate their time. the secretary takes a vote, put it on form a again. if you look at number seven on the caucus agenda, one of the new positions that the state party asked us to find this year was the reporter. i wrote this line before i was happy to say that we're filled except for i think four slots. there are four slots that don't have a reporter. if you do not have a reporter, you might ask somebody to serve as a reporter. they do not have to be elected.

their only job is to call in the results of the presidential ballot. okay? that should be fairly easy for someone to find. then -- the lincoln bag. most people, you'll find, are there at their caucus for the presidential ballot pull. it's unfortunate to say, but sometimes people leave after that. so, before the presidential balloting, we're going ask them yes, to help us defray the cost of the caucus, the renting of the facilities, the printing, the signs we had to pay for though we got them at cost. if you could please hold up the bag. tell them that we're going to be passing it around. it's the lincoln bag. if people have $5 or more or

less we'll take a dollar. if everybody gave a dollar and we had 7,000 attendees, i would jump for joy. we're going to ask for $5 bill. if you can throw in $1 or $5 whatever you feel appropriate or nothing if you can't. explain we don't receive any outside funding. we have to raise every penny in a we earn. this whole process costs a lot of money. pass it around. okay? yes. >> at what time do we take personal checks? >> check would be fine. write your number in the corner of the bag so you know where they're coming from. >> you could do that right now. >> if they give more than $5 -- it's important to send them -- >> the way it's supposed to work, and i know this is a

detail that some of you might not -- if they give more than $10, they're supposed to write their name on the back. we have to report that for disclosure. >> i need a -- >> need one? you can have this at the end. i'll give it to you. okay. questions? >> more than $10? >> not $10 exactly. >> $10.01 and up. thank you. then we move on to the petition papers. some of you have in your packets petition papers from candidates. they look like this. you may not have the same ones. because we have state representatives running in the 2010 elections. some precincts may be appropriate for them, some may not.

you have two choices. you can pass them along at this point. or you can put them at the registration area for people to sign. but that can cause another thing for them to sign. so i would suggest passing them around and having people sign. that does not mean that those people are voting for that person or endorsing them. it only gives the candidates the names they need to be put on the ballot. okay? which is it? thank you. conduct a presidential poll. use the ballot. everybody should have a ballot already. each presidential campaign is allowed one representative to speak on behalf of that campaign. five minutes per person only. they don't have to take the five

minutes. that's the maximum. i'm going to go from the top order. anybody here from the miss bachmann campaign. yes, okay. you have five minutes, can you come up and speak. is there anybody here in the herman cain campaign? he's still on the ballot. there may be. they need to be given the same opportunity. after everybody has a chance to speak, have people vote. >> as long as they don't go over five minutes, can this person talk for a few minutes too? >> no, only one person. a number of congressional candidates will make the circuit. or state representative candidates or state senators, those candidates are not allowed to speak. so if anybody comes to your precinct and says, i'm run ugh for state rep or senator, can i talk for a few minutes.

no. if they give you a hard time, call one of us or refer them to -- they can talk with us. okay? yes. >> am i being told that one person can stand up and speak for their candidate? >> yes. >> one person? >> yes. >> and most campaigns will have identified somebody to do that. most campaigns are working hard now, finding somebody to either read a letter on behalf of that candidate or speaking. if you want to be that person, you can be that person, but then you should probably contact the campaign and tell them that you want to do it. >> that's not the way it was for the last caucus. >> yes, it was. >> not at my caucus. >> that's how it should have been. it could be -- you might say, is somebody here for michelle bachmann, nobody's there.

maybe somebody feels compelled to speak on her behalf and was not contacted before, in a's okay. that could well be the case. but most campaigns will have contacted somebody to speak. or they'll probably have a prepared letter to read. if not, offer the opportunity to somebody else. but it can only be one person. >> question. >> the chair do not make a speech? >> okay. >> if i would suggest it's inappropriate for the precinct chairman to do it. >> sure, so find somebody else. >> under boy scout rules. >> okay. >> i was going to say the same thing the gentleman was over there talking about. the last caucus i was a spokesperson for the candidate. i was contacted through their campaign to be the speech person. i didn't do much but to speak at

the caucus. my candidate won in my caucus. and that was really interesting to me. definitely contact through official channels. >> okay. another question over here. >> is it okay for the secretary to -- >> oh, yeah. >> the person conducting the meeting. >> okay. >> and if they're -- if there were two people who want to speak for somebody, do we do flip a coin or arm wrestling? >> they'll have to figure it out. let them figure it out. any other questions about that? >> more than one person that wants to speak, they get testy, then what? >> you pick them. >> only one. you do it by alphabetical order or however. do it in some ambiguous way. >> usually that doesn't happen.

>> rock, paper, scissors. >> okay. >> judy, on that -- where you can be a chair and also speak for a candidate, i was told that you could speak for a candidate. >> well -- [ inaudible ] >> had to step down. >> i think that's a good idea. then come back and -- >> i think if you -- if you're the only person who wants to speak on behalf of a candidate, i say you relinquish your job as the chair for that particular time. that owled -- would be okay. >> i'm having a problem with this. if these people are going to make an effort to come out in the cold weather to a republican caucus on january 3. >> yes? >> and they're going to speak their piece and they're not allowed to speak, i'm concerned about that. >> they're not going there to speak. this is a state party rule. they're going there to vote.

state party rule. they have one person, five minutes. they're going there to vote. yes. you could be there all night. yeah. >> that's the way it was the last time. we had to agree between ourselves who was going to read the letter. >> yeah. yeah. >> okay. >> when do they get the ballot? >> when you register them? >> they get it at that time. >> we're going to move on. >> if you do have more than one, what's the why? if there's going be -- >> state party rule. a state -- republican party of iowa rule. they sent me an e-mail. every candidate has one person, five minutes. okay? so, if there's a problem with that, they can call the next day, the republican party of iowa or contact your site manager and we'll have them contact the 125i9 par 2i. but i would say it's a state party rule. and that's what the candidates -- that's what all of the campaigns have been told. never has yet. should not be a surprise to any of the campaigns, they've all

been told that. we're trying to move on so we're not here all night. number 11. the one thing i must -- regarding number ten, the reporter, then, what happens is that you take all of your ballots. you can go count them. each campaign, again, has the opportunity to have one person observe the counting process. we have how many candidates? i should know by now. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight candidates. so, the caucus chairman is counting with the reporter. you could have eight observers there -- one from each campaign. so you tally up your vote. there's a new form i did not know about until 11:00 today or i would have written it on your thing -- an agenda. a form e, i believe, was probably in your big bag, the

high-v bag. it says -- anybody have that handy? it says straw poll. can i have that for a second? i did not know we were going to have this until 11:00 today. so i apologize. this was from the state party they sent to us in the boxes. i don't know why they call this a certificate of straw poll results. it sort of is a straw poll. our real straw poll is in aug. this is certificate of results. you count up your ballots, this is where you record them. >> you're saying the chair -- him or herself is part of the counting process. they can stay right in the room and there's a little place, gathered around everybody waiting. >> very informal. >> requirement now that the chairperson do the counting? or can you have other

volunteers? >> yep. >> the point being we used to have other volunteers but then you have to continue with the gym measures. off give a red light to people. >> if you want a reporter to do it. that's a good point, thank you, kay. it w0u8d be better to have your reporter and maybe a couple of volunteers and observe. each campaign is allowed one observer, yes. >> to be diminish the chaos, is it okay to step out of the room? >> sure. sure. >> i like details. >> i do too. i'm with you. >> yeah. >> is that what they need to do that someone can come in and challenge -- >> you know what i would do, i would ask somebody that you know. because likely somebody there that you know could say would you be part of the person who comes to count? or your reporter which we do not ask the reporters to be here

tonight because we're limited on space. that's part of the reporters' job to observe and help out. >> but you mentioned someone from each campaign could count. >> you could tell them that. >> observed. >> you observe. they do not count. they're given the opportunity to observe. one person only. now, there is that's right.

to the caucus chairman or the reporter or your site managers. when i am alerted to that process, somebody in your caucus will know what to do. okay? so i was hoping initially to put a number on there saying reporter call in the number with this. they don't want to release that yet. >> are there backup numbers? >> they're going to figure them out. they don't want you to just have one number. i'm sure they will. they'll have 99 counties reporting in. so they'll have a way to do that. number 11. for me, the presidential poll is a good thing. yes, roger? [ inaudible ]

>> elementary. make sure you have a cell phone. >> i asked all of the reporters to have a cell phone. >> i invited representatives from each of the candidates to listen in. what gets reported that night is what is phoned in, those numbers. so there wouldn't be anything to stop this, yeah, yeah, someone there to stop -- >> however we reported it, we reported it, that's fine. thank you, roger. one of the most important part of the caucuses for me is 245i like precinct chair people. each precinct in scott county, 56 precincts has -- is, has two precinct leaders elected at the caucuses every two years. that makes up the central

committee. that committee -- that central committee we meet every other month on a tuesday night and they are the voting members of the central committee. they are the front line people when we talk about asking them to maybe make a couple of calls in the neighborhood, maybe walk through the neighborhood and get republican votes. help us with other activities. a detailed list of what precinct committee responsibilities is. next on the agenda, you can see number 11, you may read in advance. talk briefly. highlight a couple of things. if somebody is interested in being a precinct leader that want to read what it's all about, feel free to give that to them. each precinct is allowed two people. next vote is electing your

precinct leaders. please, encourage people that we will be asking them -- i don't want to scare people away, it's a little bit of time. that's why you're here. one of the most important elections in our national history. so we want to help with the precinct leaders. okay, any questions on that? the secretary records that again on form a. if you have to conduct a paper ballot, do that. if you can do it by a show of hands, do it by a show of hands. questions? john? >> sometimes you'll have maybe three or four people. [ inaudible ] would they be allowed to -- [ inaudible ] pretty turnout what they're

expecting. yeah. yeah. and i think whoever's the outgoing person should tell this new person what they have to do in order to be in the precinct. >> that's what that is about. on the orange sheet. thank you. and at that first meeting, we'll talk a little bit about what a precinct leader does more, a little more in depth, and some answer questions about the role of precinct leader. next order of business recorded by law is to elect county convention delegates. who's got the blue sheet we can look at here? i have one here. thank you. each precinct this, is where it comes to the packets.

the 2010 election and the amount of republican votes cast, each precinct gets a number of delegates allotted to our county conventions and alternate delegates. so if you look at allen's grove. they're allowed two delegates and one alternate delegate. ask if anybody is interested in going to the county convention, it should be on your sheet. today is march 10 at the valley fairgrounds. there's a fee. i believe i have that down there. $15 per person. thank you, doyle. start registration at 12:30. convention begins at 1:30. you have three spots, two people want go. good. if you have four people who wanted to go and you only have two spots, maybe the other

people will say i didn't want to go that bad. >> what if they're unable to pay whatever the fee is that night. >> going to get to that. >> sorry. >> like i said, we tried to cover everything. we have a blue sheet. we have extra sheets. does everybody have a blue sheet. you have it. you have it. that's yours. is there one from the kitchen? we have extra forms for everybody. okay, so, county convention. $15 to go as a delegate. if they can pay that night, it makes us all have to call and hound everybody for their money. and we don't have to make another 300 calls, or probably

600 calls because sometimes we have to call people two or three times. if they can pay that night, and if they can, please fill it out on this yellow sheet. if they paid, put yes. if they did not pay, put no. okay? any questions on that? we have an envelope in your packet that looks like this. we have an envelope to put your money. make sure everybody writes their precinct on there. we know what precinct this is. if they cannot pay that night, we put self-addressed envelopes in your packet. could you hold up one of your -- self-addressed white envelopes. thank you, thomas. your dollar gets an envelope to put his check in to mail it to us. we'll probably still have to make 100 calls. so that's the process for that.

record the names on the form. the secretary records the name on the form. which is what? and we moved on to the alternate delegates for the county conventions, same process. everybody has usually it's half the number of delegates. so if you're allowed two regular delegates, you uh get one alternate. there's an alternate fee of, what did we say? $10. same process for collecting their money. if they do not have their money that night, that's okay. i don't want to hinder any attendance at the convention because somebody can't pay. and if you run out of self-addressed envelopes, that's okay. we'll call them and make that occur. >> attending without the pay for somebody else? sure. if somebody says can i borrow $10, that's fine. >> i can't hear you, i'm sorry.

if nobody steps up to be a delegate, there's nothing you can do about it. then we will try to find delegates to fill your precinct. just like we found all of you. i promise. >> as chairman -- >> yeah. >> okay. question? >> what about the last one? somebody asked if they could be a delegate -- an alternate when delegates hasn't been filled in totally. paying $5. are there any rules on not having to do that or -- >> there's no rule against that. if they put their $5 in the lincoln bag, we'll take them. all of that money we collect, it's not like we use them to go out and have lunch, we have a lot of material to prepare, a lot of printing, at the mississippi valley fairgrounds for that convention. we have to rent the starlight room. there's a lot of expenses

occurred. so those fees are only a portion of what we need though cover our costs for the caucuses and the county convention. okay. this is -- thank you, verna. okay, next, we did alternate. junior delegates. senator sean hamrlik -- he did last time, conducting a junior session at our county convention. any junior delegates are welcome to attend. the real -- i don't know if anybody 17 would want it. anybody under 18? most of the kids that go are 9, 10, 11, 12. no fees involved, no election is involved. so if somebody raises their hand and they might say, well, i think my daughter might want to attend, put their name down. even if they're not sure, put the name down and we'll contact

them. if they tell us, no, we can't go or we have a volleyball game that night? that's oh cape. i would rather have more possibilities than not enough. okay. any questions on that. next. we differ in some of the counties in the next process. we are asking for people to be -- to indicate the difference in attending the county or the state convention. in order to attend the district or state convention, you have to be a county delegate. so if you're not elected as a county delegate, you're not allowed to go to the district or the state convention. if people are interested in attending the district or state convention, ask for their names, and either they can fill out this green form as it says on your agenda, or you can fill it out. no money is collected. the difference being at our

county convention, we'll submit a list of names for the district and state conventions and we have to vote on those people. it's usually never a problem. because we'll -- we usually don't have quite as many as we need. but sometimes we have to find some additional people. okay? yes. >> where is the district in this -- >> the district convention site has not yet been determined. probably they're talking maybe tippen, one time, it was dubuque, we don't know. it's not on there. the state convention will most likely be in des moines. that's a 9:30 a.m. start time. people can go to both, county convention dell gaits can go to the convention or the state convention. that's just one. they're on that information. if somebody is not sure of their