of a speech about his fate for his religion. the chairman was interested in saying religion doesn't matter specifically. it matters what your relationship is and what you believe. also a pragmatic sense. the voters i have talked to in south carolina say there is more of a pragmatic stance. -- pragmatic sense. he is suggesting there is an open field for everyone. newt gingrich has as much of a chance as anyone. he was hinting around the edges. the top concern of voters is it electability. it will be interesting to see how these candidates come out of new hampshire in position. it is a head-to-head race, it is going to be fascinating to watch. it is the last band and the

chairman come from that. >> 10 days between new hampshire and south carolina. that is a lifetime in politics. >> i think it is a lifetime in politics. it is not long enough to reverse the trajectory of the race so far. it is definitely going to propel whoever the winner is out of north carolina. it is going to allow some people one last shot. the direction of the contest is not going to be able to be reversed entirely. it is one of the reasons you do not see senator santorum advertising a lot in new hampshire. south carolina is the new new hampshire. it will be fascinating to watch. >> there are four regions in south carolina that will be important. we heard chad connelly talk

about the upstate, the low lands and the midlands and markell beach. myrtl will be- -- and beach. they are more likely to be people are native south carolians. they are more culturally liberal. i should not say culturally liberal, but not as conservative as folks upstate. that is where mitt romney will do best. the key is for romney to make as many inroads as he can and to gin up turnout in the places he will do the best. >> he did not talk about the role of bob jones university. >> we have not seen candidates

go to a lot of these religious universities. none of them have played the same role that they have in elections past, except for oral roberts law school, who granted to michele bachmann. this year, none of the candidates have given a speech at bob jones university. that tells you a little bit about the changing face of the republican party. even the evangelical voters that played such a pivotal role in iowa may not need you to check that box anymore. they might want to hear a speech about your beliefs on social policy. >> jeff, final thoughts? >> he is right about that. this election is about the economy. the republicans are trying to unseat the democrat in the white house. the biggest question is, how much money do people have come in and out of new hampshire's going into south carolina?

some will not be able to compete there as aggressively as they would like. it is mitt romney's to lose at this point. some republicans hope that is the place to slow his path to keep these other issues allies. we will see of that will happen. >> gentlemen, this has been "newsmakers." >> take a quick look at the spin room where the nbc facebook ebay just wrapped up. let's listen to what people in the back room are saying. >> we have no expectation of winning. we have every expectation of coming here and doing what every candidate should do, which is run in every state in order. we have said from the very beginning that south carolina

was the place we had the best chance of winning. new hampshire was simply to keep the process going. i will be back tonight. i am flying down for the day. i feel good. we are in a great position to go into south carolina with a lot of momentum. it showed the real inconsistencies and problems governor romney will have as a general election candidate. that is going to be something people in new hampshire [no [unintelligible] the entire attack against me was that i was too conservative. ron paul calls me a liberal. i am not a libertarian. i am a reagan conservative.

that is the vision of the republican party. it is common-sense conservatism. that is what i have always been for. i stand by that record. >> senators santorum, can we get a word for wmur? [unintelligible] >> doing all right?

>> i'm doing fine. [unintelligible] >> i think he presented himself well. he has a great leadership quality. the arguments against him are false arguments. that is one of his assets. he was a leader in business. government needs to lead outside. he shows a knack for business. i want him to get second. not first. he is polling about 40% in new hampshire and 45% in south carolina. he is doing pretty well. the competition is for the rest of the vote. people who have gravitated to around a know his record and have decided that that is

acceptable to him. we are trying to get part of the rest of the holiday. the rest of the vote is someone -- the rest of the vote. he has appointed so many big government programs that have to think to remember all of them. medicare part d was the largest entitlement program since the great society. his support for doubling the department of education -- it is hard to say you are a reagan conservative. gingrich does the same thing. gingrich was also for doubling the size of public education. he traveled around with al sharpton promoting president obama's agenda on education. [unintelligible] >> been think he feels like he

can get traction by going after -- >> those who gravitate to ron paul are staying there. we can get away from candidates who are fair weather conservatives. we are getting some of them back as they learn more about the other candidate's voting record. >> he does not slam the door shut, which keeps the questions coming. >> i do not think he will do it. we are still hoping for a first. the road to getting first in new hampshire is attracting independent voters. we doubled the independent turnout from 2008. we won the independent vote 3 to 1.

brown also did well. new hampshire is a state that was for letting independents all tech. he is still a long shot for first. >> what is the chance of taking independents from the around the camp? >> it will be a reasonable and less reckless foreign policy. it attracts independence. -- independents. the idea that whoever is our commander in chief needs to be in charge of our nuclear arsenal. we need someone who is reasonable and not reckless. the president does not have unilateral power to take our country to war. for many on the right, that is

the achilles heel. that is why it attracts these young kids, because of his foreign policy issues. >> what is his position on pell grants? will he get rid of them entirely? >> i do not know. we got rid of the department of education on my budget and we kept the pell grants and put them in another department. i cannot remember every detail of the plan. >> senator? [unintelligible] >> we are a campaign about ideas, uniting the country.

he said he was about ideas. that is what its campaign is about. governor huntsman is not going to like tehran on fire. he is about uniting, not dividing. >> there was a suggestion that huntsman might run as a third-party candidate. >> when you start the race with zero -- right now, if you look at the polls, we are heading in the right direction. the ron paul campaign starts attacking you before noon.

it sounds like someone is nervous. >> can you go on to south carolina? what is the strategy going forward? >> we have a ground game. we have a small staff that has been working there since the beginning of this campaign. we have been to the coastal area. we have been to the central part of the state. we believe we can compete there. >> do you believe governor huntsman has not been able to differentiate himself from other candidates? >> he is not about liking his hair on fire. it is about policy, a substance, ideas. it is about uniting this country and not providing it. we have a trust deficit when it

comes to wall street. [unintelligible] >> he is driven by a policy. that is not conducive to sound bites. he is not going to be mitt romney and say what the crowd needs to hear. he is going to be himself. at the end of the day, new hampshire voters are going to reward him for who he adds. we have worked this state harder than anyone else. what happened in iowa, you may see something similar happened here. >> this is the spin room in concord, new hampshire.

sorry about that interruption. our live coverage of road to the white house continues when we will hear from mitt romney. he will be joined by minnesota governor tim pawlenty live from rochester, new hampshire at 11:55 a.m. eastern time. after that, congressman ron paul and his son, rand paul, at a town hall meeting. and jon huntsman will be at the home of some of his supporters. this is live coverage on c-span and is streaming on c-span.org. next, we will take you back to the new hampshire primary awards dinner from september. it was hosted at st. anselm college.

it is for people who have demonstrated strong support. this dinner honors john mccain and john kerry and the late david broder. [applause] >> i will share with you what i think people considered new hampshire moments. it is bipartisan like this events. it was 1996 when bob dole won the republican nomination.

that summer, dick gephardt came to manchester. he needed to pick up some items at a drug store. he stopped at brooks drug store on daniel webster highway. he put his items on the counter. the kit at the register looked up at him and said, you are a dick gephardt -- the kid at the register looked up at him and said, you are a dick gephardt. i do not believe its. . bob dole shops here too. [laughter] degette part said, we do not know what bob dole was -- dick gephardt said, i did not know what bob dole was buying in the drug store. but we know now. if you will direct your attention to the monitors around the room, we have special video bank to the folks at wmur.

>> let me start that answer again. >> if he never had a chance to meet david broder, that was your loss. >> he did not alienate anyone. he could not do it. it was not him. >> i have a stake wanted to see this political system of hours worked. >> he was a titan in washington political reporting. you would never realized they were standing next to a pulitzer prize winner. >> he wasn't the world's best dresser. he would wear a flannel shirt with a tie. he can across with an easy

matter. >> a powerful outcome when he wrote that column. >> i think the media -- the late peter jennings looks to see what broder was doing. he was that mad professor out on his own doing a story on the candidates. he really like getting out and talking to other people on the street, at events. he would pick out not the individual you would think he would pick out. >> he meant as a cub reporter, he was drawn to politics. he witnessed a lot of it. from gene mccarthy --

>> he was right there and wrote about that. he was here for a lot of the other significant moments. >> i remember him stressing to me like a student, even though he would always make you feel important, that what is great about the primary here and what you guys are doing is you are seen them before they become presidential timber. you are seeing the real person here because they have to be. >> he was not content to talk with the leaders, the political leaders or thought leaders of the area. you go around knocking on doors and talk to some of the new hampshire folk and try to understand what made us tick. >> one example of that came in the summer of 2008 when he approached the secretary of state and asked for a list of four small new hampshire towns

because he wanted to get a feel of what voters were thinking. >> he said, i have never been out there. what is a like? >> i said, it has a general store right in the center of the village. oh, good, good. he went there and he spent three hours in the afternoon. >> that night, he would write an article that barack obama would easily carry new hampshire in the presidential election. just a result of a few conversations. >> just from his personal contact, knowing that the town had been close in the previous election. he felt it would not be closed. >> if david broder played ball, new hampshire would be his world series. >> you know what it is? he loved it.

he said on it -- fed on it. >> he was who he was. he worked his way. that is what made him a national treasure. [applause] >> to make the presentation of our next award tonight, let me introduce to you a senior from st. anselm college, melissa sarah c. now -- serafino. [applause] >> good evening. i am a senior international relations major and president of the student government association at st. anselm

college. i am also a proud ambassador of the -- like all of you, i have a love for politics and the political process. part of that love is the appreciation of influential journalist david broder who covered some of you, interviewed many of you, and was friends with mostly all of you. although he has passed, his work will continue to influence my generation and generations to come. david's exceptional character should be mirrored by all. he acquired an impressive resume throughout his long career. he never lost sight of the people and the voters he works to inform. this made him the perfect reporter, to walk the streets of

manchester, meeting people every day and providing a real view of what was happening in the primary. by taking an objective approach, david was able to see individuals and candidates for their accomplishments and credibility rather than their party affiliation. david also stayed true to what he loved, covering elections, including every president delays since 1956. -- president joial since 1956. to david, every race was an important and needed coverage. he spent a lot of time in the granite state. he is a across generational role model.

the best tribute is to follow his example. do what you love and do it with integrity. in commemoration, david broder is given the new hampshire primary award. i am honored to give this award to his son josh broder. [applause] >> thank you. young people like you inspired my father. one of my brothers and i went out to sydney steel to see our mets play my father -- to city field to see our mets play my

father's favorite team. these were two dog teams fighting it out for last place. by the end of the second inning all of those years ago, the cubs were down by a bank runs. as the indians would pass, a -- 8 runs. as the innings would pass, they showed no sign of life. when the cubs scored an dracula's rally in the ninth inning, -- miraculous rally in the ninth inning, it supported his lifelong delays in another underperforming and ill used institution, american electoral politics. my father felt reassured that

this institution he loved was entrusted in such a significant way to the voters of new hampshire for their primary. it is not too strong to say my father loved the voters of new hampshire, not just for their kindness to a stranger appearing on their winter doorstep bringing them and size for a warm cup of coffee and sharing their thoughts about the issues of the day. like my thoughts are, the voters of new hampshire have never given up hope in the promise of american electoral politics. for that reason, on behalf of my mother, my brothers, and in my father's names, i am honored to accept this award for him. thank you very much. [applause]

>> josh, that was terrific. it is a real honor for me to be asked to participate in this dinner. i would like to take the institute for honoring david and for having josh up here. i do not know where to begin technology people. this is probably the biggest assembly of talent and political brain power ever assembled except when david broder died at the fair. there was a memorial for david. the most memorable part of it were the comments by john ash and his brothers. -- josh and his brothers.

david would have been embarrassed by all of the intention -- attention. marissa catcher david just right. he knew everybody in this room in some way or another. everybody in this room knew him by reading him or watching him on television. he was on meet the press 401 times. many of you know him because he covered you personally in the state where he talked to you because you were the advisor of a campaign. many of you would call him a friend and you would still his loss as deeply as those of us for whom he was a mentor and a colleague. david loved new hampshire. he liked other places, but new hampshire was his favorite. whenever we were dividing up assignments at the beginning of a campaign, he would always say, you go to iowa and i will wait for you in new hampshire.

he enjoyed almost everything about his time here. he enjoyed the pace of the primary, his people. one of his favorite things was the brown bag lunch with reporters on the afternoon of the primary. he always looked forward to that year after year. he was called the dean for a reason. he brought to his reporting a seriousness of purpose, and believe be keen insight -- unbelievably keen insights. he was thought of as a pundit by many people body never thought of himself that way. he never believed he had all the answers. he knew that answers and inside came from dogged reporting. and area of big foot

journalism, he walked very lightly and made other reporters on "the washington post." it was unfailingly generous and e-mails that many of us got when he died and by people who did not know was a tribute to him. he and i traveled a lot of miles around the country and particularly in this state. i have a lot of vivid memories of him. we did a dinner one night in 2008 with a lot of younger reporters who did not know david as well and we got them together the night before the primary and david was dressed in his old court rejected an flannel shirt loved of pencpants but he the moment before the primary when the voters were about to speak.

you could never quite predict what the voters here would do. one of the young reporter said to him, do you have any observations or wisdom? >> he said what ron paul. he was a reporter's reporter but was not flawless. i was a young political editor of "the washington post" 1980 and we had two aces on the trail, one of which was david. there was the night of the first branch of debate, not the national weather debate, -- not the nashua debate that the earlier one. they would call as the event was starting and they said we have a little problem. he and lou had misread the sequence of what was happening. they decided not to go to the debate as they watched on tv. local tv carried it on a delayed

basis. radey was carrying it but they did not know what radio station was carrying it said david s. to someone in the news could cover this for half an hour while we get our bearings and figure this out. they always joked about it afterwards but we never trusted them on the road after that. [laughter] another funny memory of david in new hampshire -- in 1984, this was the first cycle and we are all using laptops. if you knew david, he had a complicated relationship with technology. he set off for new hampshire for the first time armed with his laptop proudly. as insurance, he carried along his battered old portable typewriter and when he got up here, merrilleef ord remembers him typing his stories on his typewriter and retouched get into the computer.

[laughter] those are some of the fun memories and there were serious moments as well. i can remember the night before the new hampshire primary in 1984 when he had done tracking with abc, the first time we had done it. the tracking it can that night showed that carry--- gary hart was in a tie with walter mondale. everybody had expected that walter mondale would easily win the primary. there was some confusion in the room and somebody asked what it means and david said it means that kerri heart is probably going to win this primary and walter mondale will have a very long ride before he concealed his nomination if he can. david had those kind of instincts always. he could see around corners and it was also obvious to him at other points in other races how things were moving. he was here for everything. was here to record the jimmy carter rise and for ronald

reagan's wind and for the george h. w. bush crucial victory here in 1988 and the bill clinton come back, the pitch fork brigades of pat buchanan, senator mccain's straight talk express, senator kerry's bounceback and the remarkable events of 2008 which was his last primary. his most famous story was probably the one that was alluded to in the video which was the 1972 story about edmund muskie3 . david described him weeping and choked with emotion. that was a controversial story and if you have never read his accounting of it and re- examination of it that he did in his book, i commend it to you. example ppro's prose revising someone's work. he never believed he always had it right. even when he was convinced he had it right, he was prepared to

reexamine it. i want to close by talking about what david liked best about politics which was talking and listening to voters. he once said you can learn more about a campaign by talking to voters then you can learn by talking to a politician or to a political strategist. nobody in journalism paid more attention to the concerns of voters or cared more deeply about what they had to say. that is why he liked the state in particular. he admired the independent spirit of voters here. he knew they would not be dictated to by conventional wisdom or herded into supporting this or that candidate because of something that was happening elsewhere in another state. he admired the sense of responsibility that people here have about putting candidates through their paces. i think we will hear more about that later he was always grateful for their willingness to share their views with him. in honoring dave with this award, i think your honor

yourself in the rich tradition you have created. thank you very much for remembering our friend. he was very special, thank you. [applause] >> if you will direct your attention to the videos, we have one more for you. >> join me in welcoming the man who will take back the white house from george bush [applause] >> in 2004, senator john kerry won the new hampshire primary by a couple of touchdowns. >> i love new hampshire. [applause] >> then again, that was how it was supposed to be even from the early days of his campaign. >> your courage, your courage can make sure that we do what is right for our country. >> he can add in that campaign

as the front runner. >> he did not give up. >> he seemed like the dominate candidate and a front runner to many people. he came in and out of new hampshire and campaigned all over the place. >> [inaudible] >> a funny thing happened on the way to that primary win. many people diluted support. no matter was still not really sure about this senator from massachusetts. .> he's got some money >> there were not sure that anybody from another new england state with quite get how you make the granite staters are and believe they are. it may have taken him a while.

>> i believe there is a better way to do business. >> as he was adjusting to the learning curve, the governor of neighboring vermont was making history. the race has certainly shifted. howard dean seemed like a love of the democratic party. the campaign to become fractured. >> it was a real sense of the company -- competition in the party between friends. >> the republican strategists were gearing up for a bush-been shut down in a general election. >> it would be natural for the press to take a look at what this race with look-alike. >> this race is not over until the votes have been cast and counted. >> it was at that point that people began to see who john kerry was.

he was not going to give up. he made some critical decisions. >> among those suspect -- decisions was the firing of his national campaign manager which led to the departure of two other top aides. he refused to let his campaign or the media take their eyes off the ball. >> the people want to know what we're going to to provide baseball -- to provide health care. >> he gave his supporters the ideas to put the fire in their bellies. >> we want to bring in the firehouse and introduce you to our folks. we will send out invitations for people to come to the fire house to eat chili. he spilled more chili on himself than he actually served. >> is the chili good? anybody have been altered? >> -- have an ulcer?

>> he seems to catch fire. >> when need to turn this country around and those are not just words. >> gary! gary! >> it felt like a new launch and it began to access people that we need leadership, not commercials. >> it is interaction with real people that make a difference in the primary. that was a perfect example. when everyone had written him off and said he was gone, he kept working here and he came back and he won them because he went out and made his case to the people of the state. >> is relentless approach paid off in new hampshire but also in iowa. the wheels were turning. there were falling off of other campaigns. >> we will go to d.c. and take the white house, yaaah! >> john kerry took his big step

toward the nomination >> unbelievably grateful to the people of this state. they kept their hearts open and their minds open and willing to take a look again. i'll never forget that. it is a bond that will be with me the rest of my life. >> he was a believer and he made his case with the people varian. [applause] >> to present our second award tonight, please welcome the united states senator jean shaheen. [applause] >> thank you very much,

everybody, thank you. please be seated, thank you. please sit down. i am truly honored to be here with all of you, so many distinguished new hampshire politicians and luminaries to celebrate the new hampshire presidential primary and three of my personal political heroes. david broder who is a legend and then -- in american political reporting -- john mccain whose service we all know well -- and of course, i get to give the word to john kerry. you may remember that in 2004, i shared his national political campaign for president. my husband billy was his new hampshire campaign chair. in our household, it was john

kerry for president every day all the time 247. stephanie can tell you that is true. as you heard in that video, early, when he got into the race, everybody thought john kerry was going to be the of the democratic party. but then, as the video showed, by this time in 2003, as the new hampshire primary was really keeping up, the pundits and pollsters have pretty much written off john kerry. his lead had dropped in the polls and people thought he did not have a chance. but they did not know john kerry. he hung tough and he decided to take his message directly to the voters of new hampshire.

he showed not only what he was made of but what the voters of new hampshire are made up. of course, that is when the new hampshire firefighters came up with their idea of the chili suppers. they pounded out they had a candidate as hot as the chilly they were serving. i think john kerry probably 8 50 pounds of chile during that campaign. there were a huge success and they were a success because john kerry took his message and his candidacy directly to the voters. he did not give up. he showed the courage, the tenacity, the intellect, and the commitment one and the democratic nomination. i remember he fought for every vote.

i can still see him out on granite street at 6:00 a.m. on election day, shaking hands in the blistering cold and he stayed out there right up until the polls closed. he won the new hampshire primary that day and there was a victory as much for john kerry as it was for the new hampshire voters. i supported john kerry because i thought he had the leadership this country needed at a time we really needed it. i never thought i would get a chance to serve with them and what senator mccain in the united states senate. and see up close and personal the kind of leadership that he still provides to this country in the united states senate. i have had a chance to serve with them on the foreign relations committee and to see

the commitment and a passion that he brings to everything he does. when this administration needed a diplomat to go over to pakistan after the raymond davis affair, after osama bin laden was taken out, they called on john kerry. when we were trying to pass the new start treaty, a significant piece of nuclear disarmament, it was john kerry led that fight and more than anybody else deserves credit for getting it done. i think one of the things that i like to think about is that throughout his success, that he still remembers the chili suppers, the cold days of new hampshire politics that john kerri brought out the best in the new hampshire primary just as the new hampshire primary

brought out the best and john kerry. please join me in awarding this new hampshire primary award to john kerry. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. i can say with equal passion that i love new hampshire. [applause] this is very, very special. just being in the presence of so many good friends, one of the bags that comes out of that and john mccain will say the same thing -- you just make lifelong

friends. you have a sense of the people and the state and the country comes out of it that is simply unique. i will never lose that, ever, no matter what i do in life and i thank you hampshire for that. you may be a hell of a better candidate and forced me to look inside, dig down deep and get at it. i was with rob portman of ohio the other day who serves on the super committee would meet and we were chatting about it and he reminded me that you only lost the presidency by half the people in the ohio state study on saturday. i said thanks,. [laughter] i'm counting on you to cut a deal. we will get this done. this is very, very special. i cannot tell you how special it is for me to be here with my pal john mccain. he sent me a photo of the two of us sitting at the state of the union address and on that he

wrote --"the two losers, together again." [laughter] it was really sweet. so being here in new hampshire actually is very special because here in new hampshire, john mccain and john kerry are three and zero. - 3-0. [applause] tonight we're as winners and that a special. john and i got here this evening and took one of the john hulsman flights, bypassed iowa straight to new hampshire. [laughter] i was listening to governor and congratulations on an extraordinary -- it will be an extraordinary year. everybody here is appreciative of your public service. [applause] john was talking about the new

social media at tweeeting and facebook. i don't tweet a whole lot because i think it is important for senators to make their mistakes in public which i have been known to do occasionally. it is a pleasure to be here under the auspices of st anselms. i'm a great admirer of sand and some st anselm who was chased and brilliant which means he would never have made it to washington today. this event brings us together to celebrate one of the most important journeys in america, how we choose our leaders. this is a room full of great memories and full of those friendships i talked about a moment ago. one person is not here for want to thank and single out and that is a great friend j ofean

shaheen and others come betty riordan who is battling leukemia. everyone of us got to know her love her dearly and send her our passionate hopes and wishes and prayers for a complete cure. we admire her. [applause] john mccain and i have been through a lot of battles together and some were not together but there were battles. both of us come here with a special respect for david broder. a reporter'ss reporter. i think he represented something that was lost in american politics which is tragic. he was a guy who did not get swayed by sponsors or interests

or the in game but who always looks to the people. he was a people's reporter as well as a reporter's reporter. he was a reporter who hung his hat on the truth for which we are all very grateful. i also think i can say safely that he would be very proud of what josh said tonight and he would also be varied cry ofdan balls and the way he carries on his tradition. dan, thank you for sharing this night with us in doing what you do. [applause] let me say a few words about new hampshire and where we are today and want to sit down and john will speak and we will have a chance to talk a little bit. i first sensed new hampshire as something special when i was a young naval officer in the gulf

of tonkin, 1968. 1968 was a hell of a year of. i got all that news drifting in. i will never forget since i had an interest in public policy and life and i remember listening to the vote counts and getting the sense of what gene mccarthy was doing and the power of new hampshire win new hampshire voters told the president cannot run every more, it is over. that was a huge impact our history and later in 1999, was up here campaigning billy shaheen for al gore. never in my imagination did i think five years later that i would be up there with some of those same people on my own journey because i thought al gore was going to win and we would have eight years and that would be that.

we all know what happened, remembering tim russert and the famous florida, fla., florida, change the course of history for us in the country. i never forget all the personal parts of campaigning appear. , -- up here, traveling around in a van and tooling around the city and listening to their bravado stories about their knights of the irish rover. [laughter] a well-known bar here. i was left in the morning driving around. i was struggling with the frosty heaves and they're struggling with the dry heaves. [laughter] that is another story. what stood out to me and still stands out to me is when i come back here tonight, is the sense of loyalty.

the loyalty is amazing. when newi hampshiretes make up their mind, believe me, they are your friends for life and when i make up their minds, they go the distance and they are tough and the making up their minds. that is the beauty of what happens here in new hampshire. i will never forget going to visit would dave lange and the firefighters and fire house two in hampton and dave came on board early and ultimately the firefighters came on board and that had those incredible to chillyfeeds which confounds me still to this day wi thinkkileaks has an insight -- i think wikileaks has an answer to everything in government except for de's de chile recipe. i feel guilty now the court -- because michelle obama is campaigning about good nutrition and we were serving 2,700 pounds of chile.

the truth is that that loyalty was carried on by a fellow by the name of bobbaines who after his own campaign kept his promise made way back when i was the front runner. he said i will endorse you but i have to wait to my own campaign is over. bob could have taken a duck and he did not. he stood up, came out, and he endorsed as he said he would and he fought like hell to help us turn things around. read about the same time when i was first introduced, san jeqan shaheen came on board to help me make tough decisions. i will never forget going to vfw hall in dover, the same place where bill clinton gave his last

speech and paul cameron said something about -- talking about dead dogs and here is the kerrey campaign and we have this to say. [laughter] our number one supporter, demint said the reason i am supporting you is you look like the old man on the mountain. [laughter] a week later, the old man on the mounting -- this is not a good omen. a couple of days later, my campaign pollster said the only way you will win new hampshire is if you save a drowning baby and the merrimack river. i decided that i definitely believe in what you believe them. i will never forget the images of people sitting cross legged in houses, taking notes, writing down what you said, comparing it to what you said a month ago, asking you the tough follow-up questions. it was an extraordinary process

where people really look inside your gut, your heart, your soul and a measurement about you as an -- and a measurement about you as a human being. that is the value of new hampshire. that is the value that i think is precious, the -- in the entire process of how we choose a president of united states in this country. i say that you at a time when we are trouble. d. john mccain and i have spent a lot of time working together to get democracy in libya or egypt or burma and other places. we're proud of standing up for those things. he would agree with me that right now we have a desperate challenge to improve our own democracy right here in the united states of america. we need to get rid of this

shrill, almost a desert of dialogue if you can call at that. it is shocking to me, the degree to which critical issues facing our time today are lost and i sort of parallel universe that has so little to do with people's lives and so little to do with the challenges we face in this country. i know we can get there. john mccain knows we can get there. the question and the next days is whether or not we will be able to find this critical mass that puts country at a party, that gets rid of the folderol looks for the facts. i will end by telling you a quick story -- late 1980's, early 1990's, john mccain and i decided we really thought it was time to make peace in the. yet on

-- in vietnam. that may sound strange but it was a time when the pows less mia issue was crisscrossing the country we had a desperate sense that people have been left behind and it was a big question mark. here is a place that were in the hearts of many people that we were still at war. we understood that we thought our interests, our nation's interest, our future lay in trying to get that behind us and in moving on. john and i banded together, an improbable to some who have had differences over the war but who found a common path to work for the interest of our country. for 10 years, we slugged it out against some people who actually challenged his bonafide experience as a senator labeled him the manchurian candidate, challenged his patriotism, this man who spent six years in prison and that's what we faced.

ultimately, john and i found our way back to vietnam together and i'll never forget standing in the hanoi hilton, the prison where he was held for a period of time, standing in a very self that he had been imprisoned in alone, just the two of us as he described to me some of what had happened. at that moment, i felt to myself and i thought about it afterwards -- if we two can get over our feelings about the war, if we can get or the difference of an arizona republican and a massachusetts democrat, we can come together to do what we are doing here and find common ground -- than all the rest of these things should be easy they are in the greater interest of our country. when ben franklin walked down the steps of constitution hall, a woman walked up to him and said that after they had finished their work designing our nation, she said what we

have? a monarchy or a republican? he looked at her a he said""a republi if you can keep it. that is the work we face today and i am very, very proud to be engaged in that work with john mccain and with others in the senate, people want to reach across and find not just common ground but find the higher ground. that is what builds our nation. the history of the senate is a place where people disagree vehemently. people can have different ideologies and different believes but when the nation's interests are at stake, those people found a way to come together and put those interests ahead of all else. i think new hampshire will contribute the hugely to the effort to help us do that once again in this presidential race.

i think david broder once said that perhaps in the bible there was a line that said -- and new hampshire shall lead, amen. i believe it will. thank you for the pleasure. [applause] >> if you will direct your attention again to the video monitors -- >> you cannot buy an election in the state of new hampshire, my dear friends. >> he is the guy that invented the town hall meeting style of campaigning. >> we are working hard for you. >> there is something beyond charisma there. >> many politicians are to

scripted all the time. the format of new hampshire and and how you interact with reporters was tailor-made for a guy like john mccain. >> thank you to this greatest generation them up before he became john mccain, who's just a senator from arizona. nearly days of 1999, that did not mean much to primary voters. >> we had some difficulty enticing people to come out and. hear him free ice cream, meet john mccain. >> to jump-start things, he and his advisers turned to veterans and then to students, the latter provided one of the fire moments during a trip ke toane state. >> he is doing his five minutes speech and open up to questions. the very first question from a college student was could you tell me your position on hemp? he was truly flustered. he is looking around. and he says you have to be more

specific. the only a h line aboutemp is that we -- the only thing i know about and is that we baker about it in the navy. >> another student had the gall to ask him if he had the energy for a campaign. >> thanks for the question, you little jerk. [laughter] >> it was that kind of humor that was turning the tide in john mccain's favre. >> i am not exaggerate when i tell you a man came and told me he had been to five of my town hall meetings which i allege was a testimony to my inability to close the deal. >> it turns out he was closing more deals than he thought and by late summer of 1999, the momentum was building a >> it was literally a month by month rising three or four points. >> i had a small gathering at my house i promised i would have least 20 people. lo and behold, over 150 people came. >> 400 people lined up for it

arizona senator john mccain's book signing. >> what is most surprising and shocking is that we had a campaign for him, we followed it, and very little to cut off -- to g offer ourame. >> , primary night 2000, the evening was his current >> thank you very much thank you and god bless you and welcome to our 115th town hall meeting here in new hampshire. [applause] >> not to many of us were surprised the next day. >> it would go down as a textbook primary win but then came 2007. this time around, things were different. >> it is good to see you again. you have not aged a bit. >> the first half of 2007 was a

very difficult time for everyone involved in the campaign especially john mccain. >> we did not have to introduce john mccain. everybody knew him. he was probably more under the microscope. the questions were tougher. the crowds were beggars >>. along with the crowds, the campaign coffers grew as well. >> they set up the apparatus, one of the sixth. the people -- 160 people. the fund-raising was not there. it became pretty clear that we were spending at one level and raising at a much lower level. >> more people were hired and should have been hired. there was a big bureaucracy of a campaign. >> it seemed like the john mccain campaign might not survive out reporters smelled blood on the water. >> they asked him under what

circumstances he would drop out and john mccain said only applies to come to a fatal disease or the primary. >> the man known for straight talk wanted some of his own for his top advisers including the late governor walter peterson. it was a reckoning that did not start well that not everybody went back and forth. >> that was a tough meeting. john mccain was looking for honest advice body had is make mind made up that he would stick it out. john mccain is not a quitter. hearing governor peterson and other folks reaffirmed that he could not win was really a poignant moment. >> he knew how to run in new hampshire. he knew what he needed to do. it was the smartest thing he could have done, going back to basics. >> thanks very much. >> after focusing on a rancher

once again, things started to shift in the fall of 2007. >> people said he did not drop out. >> i talked to the people of new hampshire. i reason with you. i listen to you. i answered you. sometimes i argued with you. [laughter] >> by primary night 2008, john mccain stands once again. he would once again fall short of the white house but his new hampshire connection was set in granite. >> he has done as much for the primary here in new hampshire as anyone. >> he is a remarkable person. it is a great h life >> i love you and keep smiling. ♪ caller: [applause] ♪ [applause] >> to present our third award

tonight, please allow the united states senator kellyayaotte. [applause] >> to is really an honor and it is overwhelming to be here with all of you tonight. so many of you have worked so hard to preserve the first in the nation primary. it is truly an honor that we have given this award to a journalism icon tonight, david broder and my colleague, john kerry. very well deserved and is an honor to serve with you in the united states senate. it is very much so real to be up here tonight. , to give this award to john mccain, someone who i have great

personal admiration for he has an extraordinary record for service to the people of this country and a long history with the people of new hampshire. i thought about it and i don't think you can understand or appreciate that special relationship and why new hampshire took to john mccain so much without understanding a little about his background. he comes from an extraordinary family. , a distinguished military family with four generations of naval academy graduates. his grandfather was an admiral who served as commander of the air force in world war two and his father served as commander in chief of the pacific forces during the vietnam war. his son jack is also a naval academy graduate who flies helicopters in the navy now. breaking ranks is his son jimmy who enlisted in the marines and served in iraq.

finally, someone in the john mccain family made some of themselves. [laughter] his own service as a pilot in the navy and his character is what drew so many in new hampshire to meet him. he will always -- you will always find a better and at a john mccain town hall meeting. we all come to admire john mccain for his bravery and his courage and his integrity. he spent 5.5 years in prison in vietnam, tortured by his captors and when he was offered early release because of who his father was, he refuse. d. john mccain put principles. first one example -- based on his own personal experience, john mccain thought members of his own party and spoke out against torture leading to the effort to pass

the detainee treatment act to ensure we would live within our values. [applause] john mccain has never hesitated to do what he thought was right rather than what is politically expedient. a rare individual in politics. new hampshire is the place where his commitment to truth in politics found a name, straight talk. it was traveling across the state on his street talk express that senator mccain's unique brand of candor and politics caught fire with very discerning new hampshire primary voters, not once but twice. that senator mccain would become a primary legend and in my view new hampshire's first senator was far from certain when campaign here in 1999. with texas governor george bush

wrapping up endorsements and leading early in the polls, the arizona senator faced an uphill climb. true to his character, up zero climbs don't stop john mccain. moving from town hall to town hall, john mccain made his case for reform in washington to anyone who would listen and answered every last question you a. asked -- he was asked. and his early attendees showed up for the eyes above the left witnessing something rare in politics -- an honest, competent, leader with integrity who respected their views even if they differed from their own. they also saw someone who is firmly committed to changing business in washington and at a record to a. prove it during his first new hampshire primary, john mccain disproved

what the pundits had to say and the insiders thought about the race and he won our primary by 19 points. he may not have gone on to win the nomination the. that year senator mccain left a lasting mark on new hampshire politics. since 2000, the free-flowing, unscripted town hall meetings have been the hallmark of the new hampshire primary. to be taken seriously by voters here, you have to be completely accessible. you cannot get away with sound bites. you have to go voter to voter, a house party to a house party, a town hall to town hall and meet the people of the state of new hampshire. eight years later, the people of new hampshire and john mccain once again proved the pundits wrong when john mccain made one of the greatest comebacks in political history. they talk about bill clinton being the comeback kid but john

mccain is the comeback kid in new hampshire. after being the early front runner in 2008, john literally fell to being fifth and a four- person race. he was out of money, carrying his own bags, he was hoping steve dupree with the commodity airports and he would have a right and the media declared his candidacy dead. he came to new hampshire and he went town to town, about certain, voter and the crowds at the town hall grew from a handful to dozens to hundreds and the people of new hampshire listened once again to the man who everyone had written off. so many of us have personal memories of our time which. john mccain for me, it was during my own primary. i did my first town hall meeting with john mccain. i went home that night and i said to my husband -- even if i lose this race, that was the

experience of a lifetime to stand on the stage with john mccain. i would like to share with you and especially moving story from the campaign in 2008. after a town of all madewol infesboro, the mother of corporal stanley who served in iraq asked john mccain to wear a bracelet bearing her son's name. senator mccain promised to do everything in his power to make sure that his death was not in vain. true to his word, when so many others wanted to give up in iraq, john mccain stepped up for the surge in iraq even when it was not popular to do so. i know that senator mccain still wears corporal stanley's bracelet today. in 2008, the people of new hampshire again saw john mccain's character, his integrity, and when the results were in, senator mccain's

powerful message of reform without money and defied washington conventional risk -- wisdom and propelled john mccain to victory in our primary. eventually, he became our republican. nominee. we were the first to propel him to that victory. [applause] the new hampshire primary has a greater friend in the republican party and my colleague, john mccain. when our first in the nation status has been threatened by bigger states, john has shown in word and deed why new hampshire must remain first. for that and for his decades of distinguished service to our country, i am very honored to award him tonight with the first in the nation primary award.

i want to say on a personal note, i consider john mccain and mentor. he is someone that today is still working very hard to reform washington and it is my privilege tonight to introduce john mccain. [applause] >> thank you very much, kelly, for those kind words and a wonderful introduction. i am very pleased and proud to tell you that kellyayaotte and jean shaheen both serving on

the senate armed services committee fighting every day for the men and women serving in our military. then make a great team together and i know that new hampshire can be very proud of both of them and their service not only to the state of new hampshire but to the country. i thank you, kelly, for your kind words jean thank you for your wonderful service to the state of new hampshire, thank you. [applause] i have to begin by asking your sympathy for the families of the state of arizona. barry goldwater for hours on a ran for president of united states. morris udall for hours on a ran for president of the united states. bruce babbitt from arizona ran for president of united states. and i come from arizona, ran for president of the united states. arizona may be the only state in america where mothers don't tell other children that some day they can grow up and the president. [laughter]

i am very honored to be here with my friend john kerry. as he was talking, i was thinking about when he and i first came to the senate not to far apart, there were a number of senators who had served in the vietnam war. at the beginning of 2013, there will just be two of us remaining. i would again point out that our effort on behalf of normalization of relations between the united states of america was driven by the fact that back in that, time into the 1980's, the war was over 1973, into the 1980's and 1990's, the wounds of that war were still fresh and unfortunately still divided our country. in many respects, it prevented a lot of our vietnam veterans from being able to come all the way home. i am very proud of the work john

and a. i did if you live long enough, most and i think and. happen there is a destroyer based in japan named after my father and my grandfather, john mccain. last september, it paid a port visits to thed port ofanang which shows that if you live long enough, anything can happen especially the chinese are behaving the way they are. but anyone -- [laughter] my beloved barry goldwater once said if i had been elected in 1964 and beaten lyndon johnson's ass he said you never would have spent all those years and a vietnam prison camp. it would have been a chinese camp, i said. [laughter] he was not amused. josh, thank you for moving words

about your dad. i'll never forget being a freshman congressmen read your dad came to my office and i literally was tongue tied. i was so honored to meet the great david broder. i think one of the things that you could be very proud of in this day of polarized media of msnbc and fox and back and forth -- i could not tell you to this day that david broder was a democrat or republican or libertarian or a vegetarian. [laughter] he judged and reported on american politics with complete objectivity and i know you are proud of himd. an, you are carrying on that tradition. i suspect you are a vegetarian -- [laughter] chalrie bass qu frankinta, thank you for your service.

have to mention the irascible but sometimes local joke mcquade. thank you for your guidance and insults' as we try to win the affection of the voters of new hampshire. steve dupree and others, thank you for your kind words endure years of friendship. governor lynch, he is a unique fellow. i had a town hall meeting in hopkins and he brought his daughter. i was honored that he would be there. i think he proved that you can govern with the approval of people of all parts of the ideological spectrum and we appreciate your outstanding service as governor. that moves me to tell the story of the two inmates in the state prison chow line and one turn

to the other end said the food was better in here when your daughter. [laughter] -- when you were governor. [laughter] you cannot tell the joke in illinois. [laughter] or several other states. phil gardner thank you for your steadfast advocacy and support of the first in the nation status. a lot of would-be candidates for president, and visit me and i tell them if you want to understand a little bit about new hampshire, you should read that wonderful book that bill has written about the first in the nation. if you are a united states senator, unless you are under indictment or detoxification, you automatically consider yourself a candidate for president of united states.

i cannot conclude without mentioning that my beloved friend warren rudman who we cherish his continued service and hope and pray for his good health as we know, he has been having those problems lately. hugh gregg is an institution in new hampshire and is a great guy. walter peterson continued to give me and all of us leadership and guidance throughout the years. we had a wonderful opportunity of being in his press. since -- his presence. i can only say to you from the bottom of my heart that i have been probably the luckiest person you'll ever have the opportunity of knowing. i have had such great good fortune in my life to be able to be a part of this great nation

and a part of the incredible experience of running for president of the united states but my fondest memories, quite frankly, would be of the experiences i have had here in new hampshire. it is such a unique place and the people are so you need. they believe a live free or die. they believe they should examine every candidate. they take it as a privilege and responsibility. it has been my great honor to make some of the most wonderful acquaintances and spend time and sometimes in a very high forge of a presidential campaign with so many wonderful people. what you have done has contributed enormously to the democracy that people all over the world today like people in our spring are looking at and

want to emulate in the next election, there will be people from libya and egypt and hopefully syria and other countries around the world who will be coming here because they were inspired by the example of united states of america and what you do here in the great state of new hampshire. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> thank you senator mccain and senator kerry. for the next 59 ,dan balls will facilitate a discussion about the new hampshire experiences during the presidential primary campaigns. >> i got a little help

formulating these questions from political operatives. i think they have a future in this business if they stick with it. let me start with what we have seen in the videos from both senator mccain and senator kerry which was the remarkable roller coaster ride that each of you had. for the record, it was not me who asked the question that elicited your famous response of contracting a fatal disease. i think that was susan page of "usa today." i was at the press conference i remember that as one of the low moments you had. at that moment, why did you have faith in new hampshire as a place that could sustain and bring you back as a candidate? when did you begin to sense that was going to happen or was possible? >> i thought was possible at

least a new hampshire because i did with the people of nn 2000. and also the context i would like to mention as john mentioned our focus now is on the jobs and the economy, and i understand that, and this campaign is going to be about jobs and economy. in 2008 it was the surge. and i believed that we had to support the surge. and i believed that we had to win in iraq, and i believed that we could win in iraq with that strategy. and so i really did base a lot of my campaign, not just here in new hampshire but in south carolina as well and in florida on the issue of whether we should support the surge or

whether we should leave and face the serious consequences of losing a conflict in that part of the world. so i think that mattered, too. and i think that helped -- >> senator kerry, in your campaign as the video clearly showed that fall was very, very difficult for you. you made a strategic decision that was a little different than senator mccain. you decided that iowa was also important to you in order to facilitate coming back to new hampshire. tell people why you thought that and why the desire was important to you and why that contributed to what you were able to do here. >> well, iowa was important because it was an event that came before new hampshire and i thought that to get people to listen again, it was important that i shake things up and change the dynamic.

really my problem, the problem that occurred for me was i think sort of two-fold. most importantly, the iraq war vote in the united states senate, i did what i believed. i made what i thought was a presidential decision. if i had been president of the united states, and we were trying to leverage assaad in order to get -- leverage saddam hussein in ord to get -- i would have wanted the power the president was asking for and because of colin powell and others who went very public about how that power could be used, i thought we had elicited by the president that

specifically we would only go to war as a last resorlt and only go to war if we had a coalition and only go to war based on -- with other countries and a sort of perimeter of those countries. and i thought that was really important to us. because john and i learned what happens when you go to war and don't have the support of your country. in my judgment,every one of the promises made by the president were not kept. we didn't go to war as a last resort and now it's record and the record about the weapons. so i knew what was going to happen. it was clear to me, i mean, i had some people on my team that advised me and said senator, if you vote for that, you're going

to have a heck of a time winning the nomination for the democratic party. i said i know that. but i am doing what i think ought to be done as a matter of the best interest of the country. it's easy if you're outside the senate to say i would have voted against it. if you're in the senate, you actually have to vote. so i lived with that through the entire spring and fall and money started going crazy. and i think i frankly was not as good a candidate. i was still talking senateeeze. i hadn't broken out of the legislature. it took me a while to do that. i had people some who are here tonight and others who beat me up enough. and i just changed. and throughout the campaign i changed.

i think i was a better candidate at the end. i had changed. i think as i came through the debates with george bush, i was on top of the game. but my conviction was i could turn it around if i had a chance to meet people and explain my thinking and really talk about what my priorities were. and in the end i think that's why i said the people of new hampshire listened. they put you to the test. they didn't just buy into the stereotype and that's the value of what happens here. and it's interesting, because john, you know it happens in this state on both sides of the aisle. that's the interesting thing about new hampshire. it has this capacity to sort of separate and discern according to the democratic values but it also does the same thing with respect to the republican parties and so forth, and again, new hampshire has been able to choose a winner. not always, but again and

again. and it's an interesting process. >> what would your vote say is unique if there is about campaigning in this state compared to other states? >> very succinctly as possible, they expect to see you. they expect to see you. and they expect to be able to inspect and exam you my beloved -- [inaudible] guy in manchester said what do you think about -- for president? i don't know. i only met him twice. in other states they do not expect that. i mean, california, you think are they going to go to every town and village and city? and you know, it's a -- it's something that people do reserve judgment. but it's more important than that. that's people in america believe they should vote. people in new hampshire believe

they have a responsibility to exam the candidates and to make a judgment. and i'm not saying that people in the rest of the country don't feel they have responsibility to vote. they don't have the unique responsibility that people in new hampshire have about how important and what a determining factor of what happens here in new hampshire st is all about. that's why it's so key that this fist in the nation status be preserved. [applause] >> at the risk of sounding a little bit like -- real quick, bob dole one night was at someone's home and after he finished an hour 1/2 or two hours said that's great but people in my neighborhood are mad because you haven't been to my neighborhood and you better get to my neighborhood if you want our vote. he said give me your name and address. she lived two blocks away.

[laughter] >> what do you think should happen to the process of nominating candidates. i know neither of you are in favor of moving the new hampshire primary but what basket would it have if new hampshire and iowa were not at the front of the process? >> some state has to be first, and i think this proven process has served the country very effectively. and i know john will agree with me. it's just way too much money in american politics. we got to get -- i mean, this is a state that succeeds in getting the money out of the process. yes, they are advertising and there's money spent. but i don't think the people in new hampshire are as swayed by that as they are by this process, getting to know people and if you want to make real decisions about the country. you don't want to empower just

money. this state has proven its ability to also have a spectacular diversity that i think is a microcosm of the country. high-tech. low-tech. light manufacturing. different components of education. i think there's a balance of education and talent and it's a good debate to have. but new hampshire is historically known for finding a way to do what it needs to do for its citizens. so i think there's a lot of reasons there's a viverage to this state being first and it would be very, very hard for someone to convince me that an unknown state with an unknown set of dynamics is a better deal. >> i think history shows that the winner of the new hampshire

primary more than likely is going to be the nominee of the party. where as more than likely it's not in the iowa caucus. and don't get me wrong. i enjoy the iowa state fair and having pork chops on a stick and a deep fried twinkie. don't get me wrong. [laughter] >> and a cow carved out of butter is very good. >> wonderful. [laughter] >> anyway. but it does seem to me that when you look at the results over the past modern times, anyway, the past 30 or 40 years, the iowa caucuses are not the determinant and the greatest ripoff are these quote-unquote straw polls which are probably the worst thing since -- i don't know -- ethanol. [laughter] [applause]

>> i remember it being in iowa a few times when you told people you felt great because you had had your glass of ethanol that morning. [laughter] >> senator mccain, you won here twice. both victories were disstinktive. which one was more satisfying? >> i think each were satisfying in a different way. the one here in 2000 obviously was the huge upset. the one in 2008 was survival. so they really are very different, and each have their own -- i -- after winning here in 2000, i knew we had a very tough road to get the nomination. after 2008 i was reasonably confident that once we won here that the nomination was probably pretty well in hand. if we didn't screw up. which i had never done. [laughter] >> well, there's always

anecdotes. in 19i was at the balksons and they said how would you like to meet mr. delicson. i said i'd love to. he was 101 at the time i think. so i was sitting there and said what was your favorite candidate? you've met all of these people. they have all come up here and met with you. who was your favorite? >> he said mr. roosevelt. >> i said really? >> he said yes. f.d.r. was quite an impressive. >> no! it was teddy roosevelt! [laughter] >> did i make you mad? i'm not making that up. [laughter] >> is there a particular moment you remember most either a moment of humor, a poignant moment, a moment where you learned something that you hadn't known or was driven home

to you in a different way? >> well, i'll never forget waking up the morning of the 27th of january at the taj hotel. and the water had frozen. we couldn't take a hot shower or shave. i had to heat my water in the microwave. and there was something -- i said something didn't feel right. this was not a good omen. but it came together, and there was just a lot of these great moment trying to get used to -- on the refrigerator there was pictures of every democrat that had ever been on there and there was no space for my picture. so i was, like, ok. >> so many house parties where something funny happens. people open their homes and the

stories of the kids are always wonderful and the journey. there's so many of them. you can't even pick between them. but it's a life-changing experience. i can't help but sit here and listen to john all night talking about twice up here and i only did it once and my juices are flowing just sitting next to him. >> really? >> oh, come on. [laughter] >> so many wonderful and amusing and entertaining signs. i dare say. a convenience store there's a woman that's very important. >> yes. mary hill. they say you got to go see mary hill. she's really important. so i went in there and she came walking out and she had a hillary clinton button on. [laughter] >> i said steve, thanks for sending me over there. [laughter] >> he -- of course he was at

the town hall meeting and matthew stanley's mother who -- you know, asked me to wear this bracelet. i always have. [applause] >> we've got a couple of minutes left. i want to turn lens around minute and ask you to talk about my side of the business, because we spend so much time up here as reporters trying to get it right. very often don't get it right. but that's thanks to the independence of the voters here that keep surprising us from time to time. i want to direct this first at senator mccain with a specific question, but i want senator kerry to also talk about it. in the fall of 2009 you launched the straight talk express and got on the bus and

invited us to the back and sad for hours answering questions on the record to the point that i occasionally had to get off the bus and get on another bus to get work done, because your stamina was quite remarkable, and you were willing to take questions about everything and it was always on the record. we are now in the age of instant messaging and twitter. i was wondering could you do it again in a new hampshire and iowa environment and how is social media changing presidential politics? >> i regret to say it would be much more difficult today. and i have to say if you remember the people that were on that bus again and all due toronto today's media, were pretty seasoned, experienced, pretty mature judgment members of the media where the top people that are assigned to

presidential campaigns are top individuals. i have to say i don't think that's the case today. but having said that, i do belief that opposed to the 2000 campaign or even the 2004 campaign or even to some degree the 2008 campaign, there is now access to information in a way that is like drinking from a fair to hose. there is a myriad of opinions. there's a plethora of information. we have as you said the twitter, facebook. all these different ways of people getting information. in 2000, they got the information from what the reporters on the bus told them. now it's pretty obvious that they can get information -- you can remember and i can remember when we all waited for the

evening news. does anybody wait for the evening news anymore? and i tweet every once in a while but the tweet of the year in 2010 was a tweet where snooki wrote and said i'm so mad at president obama for raising taxes on tanning beds. she said senator mccain would never do that, because he's so pale. [laughter] >> so i tweeted back. you're right, snooki, i would never raise taxes on tanning beds. it's the situation. that was the tweet of the year. so but i just want to finally mention this arab spring would not have been possible without the social networking and there's a tremendous downside to social networking, but there's a tremendous upside to the flow of information which then gives knowledge and i think probably a better informed voter at the end of

the day. >> senator kerry what's your view on that? >> well, i agree with john, but i also would say there's no accountability today. i say this with all due respect. you are an commeppings and there are a few reporters who were not impacted by all this outside. but frankly, you got some candidates that are running for the president of the united states that think planet earth is only 5,000 years old and there's no -- there's a complete discounting of what's factual and the changes in the climate. i mean only 48 states in the united states are now currently dealing with disasters because of floods and fires and it just is enormous. but people can assert that the earth is flat and it gets

reported. so and so said the -- so there's no accountability for truth. and we have a serious problem in this country as a result of that. you know? it's you know? you read the paper yesterday or today and s.a.t. scores are down and everybody knows the challenge we have in our education system. you go to china and other countries they speak our language fluently as kids find out how many kids in america speak a second language. so i think the lack of accountability in our system for some basic standard of truth allows this chaotic kind of confuse non-violence to take place which is based on anything but the real needs and concerns of the country. and where else are we going to

find it, dan? if we don't have the papers of record and the institutions of record with respect to news giving actually help people discern or hold people accountability for things that are patently absurd. and it's getting ard harder and harder. and in a democracy, if people don't get good information or there's no accountability, you can say anything. big 34u7b has the ability to say what it wants to sy. it can buy the message, and that's what's happen where -- happening now in some places that money is put zpwhoo that and the average push's concerns are not as well represented as those who have the ability to be out there. that's what threatens democracy

and either anarchy or ignorance or bad decisions and so forth rule us. and i think that's where we are today. [applause] >> one ca yacht i would give to that, john, and i understand exactly what you're saying, and there's a polarization likes of which we haven't seen before but there is access to information for people. all you have to do is have a computer and frankly all you have to have is a cell phone. and i agree with you about the citizens united decision. the thing that scares me most about this decision is the lack of transparency. that's what's the most dangerous thing that scares me of it. but i do think that information is available to people that in a way that it was never

available to people in times past. now whether that information is -- but it is out there but i do agree with you about lack of accountability. >> senator mccain gets the last word. thank you both very much. thank you-all for letting me be a bart of this. i think this has been a wonderful evening and we honor two very important senators and posthumously my great friend, david. and we thank you. [applause] >> senator mccain, senator mccain, senator kerry, josh? >> now to live coverage of mitt romney the campaign event in rochester, new hampshire. 35 miles east of concord and he'll be joined by governor tim pawlenty who is also a

candidate in the 2011 race but withdrew and -- >> before i want to introduce a very special friend of new hampshire to some really good and in my case all friends of new hampshire who are now on the romney team. former congressman my good friend bill zelous. stand up. former commissioner of safety, richard flin. [applause] former county commissioner mark thursen. [applause] and john a very successful business person from the coast. [applause] welcome to the mitt romney team. and now it's an honor to introduce somebody who is already changed the culture of washington.

somebody who fought through a tough primary and tough election and has gone to washington and is restoring common sense in our nation's capital. let's give a warm, warm new hampshire round of applause to the senator and let's finish the job on tuesday! [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you-all. it is so wonderful to be here with you in rochester. are you ready to go out and vote on tuesday? yes. [applause] >> i'll tell you why i'm here today, because i'm so worried about our country. we are at a turning point right now. and under this current president, we have added nearly $5 trillion to our debt. we've lost close 1.7 million

jobs. ladies and gentlemen, we're losing the american dream, and i feel very blessed to be here today with my husband, joe daily. and we have two -- [applause] -- we have two wonderful children who are 4 years old and years oiled, and we need to preserve the american dream to support mitt romney because unlike the current occupant of the white house, he understands how to balance a budget. he's done it in the private sector. he's done it as governor of massachusetts and he knows we have to get our physical house in order in washington to preserve the american dream. unlike the current occupant of the white house, he actually knows how our economy works and how the create private sector jobs, and he will get americans working again and make sure

those trunts there for my children and your children on the greatest country on earth. we come from a military family. joe served in the war an a-10 pilot. [applause] >> i trust mitt romney to keep us safe. as the commander in chief of this country, he will listen to our military. and make sure that we protect america instead of listening to pollsters or political advisors. this is a very important election. i ask you to get out on tuesday. you have the ability on january 10 to nominate someone who will lead our country forward. we'll get our house in order and make sure we are protected.

and talk about a wonderful family. i've got an chance to know -- to get to know mitt romney and his family and we will be proud to call mitt romney president of the united states and his wife, ann, first lady. [applause] one of the things we see happening in this campaign is that conservative leaders around this country are coming together to support mitt romney. and today, i have the privilege of introducing a wonderful kev >> someone who understands fiscal responsibility and is pro family. it is my honor to introduce governor tim pawlenty and to welcome him back to the granite state. [applause]

>> thank you very much. thanks a lot. it's great to be back in new hampshire. are you ready to be done with barack obama's declineist views of america? [applause] >> are you ready to elect a president of the united states who doesn't strangle the economy by its economic throat? [applause] >> have you had enough of president obama appointing judges who don't sfwrept law as written but make it up on the back of a napkin? [applause] are you ready to do everything you can in this room and beyond the make mitt romney the next president of the united states of america? [applause] and new hampshire, once again, it's in the position to catapult mitt romney toward the

white house, and you've got such a great responsibility and opportunity in front of you and you've exercised that wise judgment time and time again. you've just elected kelly ayacht. you are so important to to have her as a united states senator. before i introduce mitt and anne romney, first from the campaign trail, it's a true story. i met a 10-year-old boy. he came up to me outside of a campaign event, and he and his mom, he in particular, wanted to tell me his thoughts on some of the economic problems facing america. i said go ahead. he said governor, if you keep the taxes low then people will have more money. and he said if people will have more money then they'll buy more things. and if people buy more things,

then businesses will be busier. and then he went on to say if businesses are busier then they'll hire more people and people will make more money. ladies and gentlemen, we should not have a 10-year-old boy know more about the economy than the president of the united states. [applause] >> now a little bit about the challenges that mid mitt as a conservative leader of the governor of the state of massachusetts has. it's no easy task being a conservative governor of the state of massachusetts. >> i'm from massachusetts. the home of jesse ventura and now united states senator al franken. haven't voted a republican for

president since 1992. i love my state. it's filled with great people but i know the challenges as a conservative that mitt faced for a republican in massachusetts. he cut taxes. he cut spending. he grew jobs. and he did the important work on behalf of the conservative momentum in so many other ways. i want to share one other point with you. that's in addition to the other governor, leader of the olympics and private business leader, i hope you're proud and pleased to support a candidate and with the character of mitt romney. and the future first lady of this great nation. anne romney. these are two individuals who don't just talk the talk. they walk the walk, and if you look and see the way they live their -- and there's not going to be a day that we pick up the newspaper and see that mitt romney has done something

stupid or something that's embarrassed the nation. he's a man of great character and integrity, so they will be a great couple for leading america. i want to make sure you give him a warm welcome and introduce to you the next president of the united states mitt romney and the next first lady, anne romney. [applause] ♪ i was born free i was born free free ♪ >> what a wonderful welcome

here in rochester. i am so delighted to be here. i have not stheen extraordinary place. it's comfortable to be in and it's warm just to be in this room with all of you. not just temperature-wise but emotion-wise. i'm moved by your willingness to be here today. i can't believe -- i can't get over how many people pay attention such close attention to the politics in this state. it's something you do well and serve the nation. but last night if any of you were watching the debate instead of the lions-saints game. how many of you watched it? be honest. there. that's what i would have been doing. now how many were watching the debate? oh, wow. look at that. that's something. and then the rest were doing something more interesting altogether. i felt we shouldn't have stopped. we should have just gone straight through the night.

cure insomnia. but i have family here. you're going to introduce the family. this is the number one member of the family. as you know. [applause] i think most of you have heard by now that i saw nean elementary school. i didn't know who she was. she was in second grade. i was in fourth. you don't pay a lot of attention to kids until second grade, but when she became 16 i started paying attention so my wife of 42 years, anne romney. [applause] >> come on. wow. thank you guys. and thanks for coming to cheer us on. we're going to get across that

finish line on tuesday. and i want my kids -- see if i can get their names straight. when i'm angry i done. that's for sure. as a young mom i had five very rambunctious sons, and i would tell mitt when he called and he was traveling and i would be exasperated, i would say i'm really having a hard time with these kids, and he was great. because he would remind me my job was more important than his job, and he meant it. that's what's cool about that. now being a grandmother is all about revenge. and when these little ones here are naughty, i look at my sons and say you guys deserve it. so i love it when these kids misbehave. i'll start with my youngest son, craig. [applause] his wife mary. my oldest son, taggert.

his son, joseph. no. yes. you can wait. number two son, matthew. his wife, lori. nicholas and chloe. they are twins. and we have mia and nate. thank you-all. >> i know. you know people always say to me, mitt's been so successful at everything he's done. but you all know about his success. he was successful in business and successful turning around the olympics and successful as governor but the success that matters to me is the success that you see here because that's the treasure and where we measure our happiness, so for me, i am always grateful that in a young married life, mitt had the right perspective on what was the most important thing in life.

and now as we face this future, i look backwards to the heritage that i got from my grandfather who was a welsh coal miner and the opportunities i had to live in this wonderful country, and now i'm thinking what's going to come for these kids sitting on the stage and what kind of opportunities are they going to have? that's why about a year ago i told mitt, i'm sorry, sweetheart, you got to do this again. and people ask me how did you get to that place? because four years ago tamp end of the last campaign i said i know one thing for certain. never going to do this again. mitt laughed when i said that because he said you said that after every pregnancy. you know. you can understand that, too. so i -- the reason i believe he needed to run was because i

believed in my heart that he was the one person, you know, i couldn't predict whether or not he would win but i knew if he did, he would be the one person that could turn this country around, and that's why we need him so desperately. so let's go. >> thanks, sweetie. thank you. the boss. the boss. thank you, sweetheart. senator bradley, thank you for being here. senator ayotte. thank you so much. and governor tim pawlenty a hero from minnesota. all right. thank you. you know you think about all the blessings we have and all the great gifts bestowed to us over the years, and there's nothing that comes to mind so much as being born in this country and being a citizen of the united states of america. the fact that this is the land where for hundreds of years,

people who are seeking freedom, people seeking opportunity or hoping to rise above trauma or anything else choose to came here. it's the shining castle on the hill. morally, economically, militarily, america has been the greatest gift in the world and to be born here to be born and raised hereer, it's an extraordinary privilege. but i hope our kids know that with that gift comes enormous responsibility to pursue education and find work and work hard in our jobs to be innovate and creative. to raise families if that's part of your desire, but raise them in a way of responsibility. we have such great responsibilities as citizens in part because of the huge blessings we have as americans. my wife introduced almost all

the members of the family. they are the black sheep and, no, these are her two brothers. one from california who is a doctor and the other who is an entrepreneur in utah. stand up, please. you don't have to applaud. i see they are sitting next to each other. thank you. >> jim and ron davies. when i think about the blessings of america, i think -- my dad by the way my dad was born in mexico by american parents living there and came to the u.s. at the age of 5 or 6 and he was able to become a successful business person. but it's anne's dad and those two guys' dad that their story touches my heart a bit, because anne mentioneds their dad was a coal miner in whales and was

injured in a coal mining accident and what do you do if you're in wales with four children and unable to work there. you would hope to come to america. and that's what they did. not as a family but one-by-one and he came first and earned money in factories then would send money to bring back other members of the family one-by-one and finally they all came here and recognized in order to pursue the dreams they had not just for their generation but for the generations beyond that they needed to pursue education and found it was expensive here. if you wanted to go to college, so the family, the children and the parents got together and decided that if they all saved their money from all their jobs, and everybody had a job. all the kids and parents. if they saved their money and pooled their money together they could afford to send one

to college and chose anne's dad. i thought gosh, can you imagine as a brother or a sister saying i'm going to work. scrimp, save, put the money in the jar in the center of the kitchen table so my brother can go to college. can you imagine? that's the kind of spirit that fills the hearts of people that come here and made this their home. he went to the general motors institute of technology where by viverage of working part-time while you're there and going to school, the cost is relatively modest and then he came out and became an engineer and did what many do, started his own business. made machines that washed windows for a while and made parts for ships, steering gears and so forth and built himself a wonderful living and by the way employed his brothers and husband of his sister and sister in the business and helped pay them back in some

respects for their extraordinary sacrifice. this nation is so unusual. there's nowhere else in the world that stories like that just fill the countryside. where people talk about having come here or ancestors who came here and built a brighter future for themselves and for their loved ones. it's in the heart of what it was that this country became what it was when this family made the brilliant observation. the state did not give us our rights. the creator gave us our rights and if the king was not the sovereign but the citizen was the sovereign and when they wrote the declaration of independence, those powerful words that we were endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. in this country each individual could pursue happiness as they

might choose. the circuses of birth wouldn't be a barrier. people could by viverage of their hard work and education that they might be able to achieve and the risk the taking and their dreams could pursue a course that could perhaps provide a great reward for them or not, and so we became a nation that attracted the pioneers of the world. the noverts, the freedom-seekers. it's in our d.n.a. it's kind of who we are. it's part of the american sfoirt love freedom and to cherish the capacity to set its own course in life. it's what makes us the economic power we are today. i know these are tough times. a lot of people suffering, and i'm concerned as to why that's gone on so long. don't forget of course america

has 50% higher income than does the average european. we have challenges but i want to stay true to the principles that made us the nation we are. [applause] >> i look at these last three years and i shake my head. i don't think the president gets it. i don't think he gets what's so unique about america. i don't think he gets the power of people pursuing their dreams, the pursuit of happiness as described in the declaration of independence. he describes it by viverage of having lived in the real world. there's nothing wrong with spending your life in politics, but it's kind of a bubble and outside that bubble is where i lived the first 40 years of my career and i learned what it's like to sign the front of a

paycheck and not just the back of a paycheck and know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times i worried about whether or not i would get a pink slip. and it frightens me to see a president who has made so many mistakes when people are hurting so badly. you have so many americans out of work or stopped looking for work or just get a part-time job but need full-time employment. 20 million americans and i believe it's because of policy that didn't work. the president borrowed billions of dollars saying he fashioned a stimulus and would hold unemployment below 8%. that was his bogey, 8%. it has not been below 8% since by his own definition he's failed. we need someone who will

succeed. [applause] and everything from obama care to cap and trade to card check to dodd-frank. all these initiatives, he proposed and pushed. did the one thing small business can't deal with. small business can deal with bad news. it learns how the accommodate the changes and can step up to them. what it can't deal with is uncertainty. and every pediatrician of legislation created more uncertainty. if you're in the health care sector do you want to make new investments and hire people with obama care hanging over your shoulder? if you're a bank and see a 200,000-page bill with all new regulations yet to be written, are you willing to give a loan

out? no. he did not cause this recession. he just made it worse. and he is not the author of a recovery. he just made it slower. i want to have a president, and i hope i'm that guy, that will put a prospect on the horizon that's better for our kids andly do it with your help. [applause] >> now because you're almost all sitting down i feel like i can just go on forever and you're going to want to get rid of me here, but there's so many frustrations watching the president. i don't think he's a bad guy. i just don't think he understands how our economy works. i think he's over his head. let me give you an example of that. having spent my life in small business and then bigger business, you know for a while

i worked in what's called venture capital. what is that? well we got money from other people and we would use that to help start businesses or acquire businesses in trouble or not doing so well or make them better or get them to grow. and when you have other people's money and your own invested in something, you're very careful with it. a contrast of how the government works and how private sector works. when we decided to get behind a company called staples, which i knew you would know well. we decided do you know how many people by the way work at staples? 90,000 people work at staples. we opened the very fist store. we helped stock the shelves. guess how much money we put in to get that first store snope and it was about $5 million if any memory is correct. we knew if it worked well we'd

open a second store. that's how we did it. contrasting that with the president's investment with cri len dray. $530 million. he puts it $530. they have 2 taj ma hol where they put their offices. our offices were the office in the back of a shopping mall. our chairs were -- because it was the private sector, wemp pulling ourselves up by the private sector. so what happens to the $500 and some odd million? it failed. let me tell you something else which is i think the president believed that by choosing a solar company and putting money in it he would encourage solar

technology. he doesn't understand that what he did discouraged solar technology. why do i say that? because across america i'll bet there were 100 different people who had different ideas for solar companies and we're -- were trying to get investors to give them $5 million or $2 million but when the government picks their winner and puts in $500 million. everybody says oh, the government's already picked the winner, so in fact what it did was make it harder for our technology. i'm not perfect, but i do get it and i will use what i know to get america to ordinary care work. -- to get america to work. [applause]

for those of you who heard me last night at the debate, and i know about half of those who put their hands up actually saw it last night. i'm i had canning. but for those who did see it i said i know this election is more than just about jobs and more than just shrinking the size of the federal government, both of which are important and have enormous human cost associated with making it a success but i said this is also a battle for the soul of america. it's in my view where america will ask who are we as a people? what does america stand for? i do believe that the vision of the founders with freedom and the pursuit of happiness through opportunity, with individuals working hard, getting education, taking risk, hopefully a little lucky now and then and also having great dreams that that builds the

strongest nation in the world economically and most fulfilled citizenry. but there are people, and i believe the president is one, who has a very different view and will try to make a more european welfare state where they say how do we take from some and give to others? and the message of that vision is to try and replace our ambition culture with en -- vy. that's not their intent. that just happens to be the outcome if one begins to divide americans. i believe america is great because we come together and sacrifice for this land. i know it gets a little discouraging as we see the challenges around us but i got to tell you the chance to run for president of the united states, i never imagined i'd do

it. it's just unusual to be in the middle of it. i mean, i was just a high school kid like everybody else with skinny legs. and i imagined i'd be you know, in business all my career. and somehow i backed into the chance to do this. it's given me the chance to go around the country and meet people and make friends all over the country and find everyday people living everyday lives. not the people in the news. by definition the people in the news are people doing something unusual. we're not interested in seeing the average american. we want to see people doing something unusual. so i get to meet the average american person and see what's in their minds and i come away more optimistic. we're a pate outic people. we like work. we do work more hours than the germans or french or japanese. we are a hard-working people. we love our country.

we're a patriotic people. i have several pate outic hims i love. -- pate out i can himself -- hymns i love. o'beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife who more than self their country love and mercy more than life. do we have any veterans in the room? would you please raise your hands so we can recognize you? thank you. [applause] >> thank you. by the way, with all this talk about cutting budgets, i'm not going to cut the base budget of the department of defense, because i want to make sure -- [applause] -- i want to rebuild our navy and -- our navy is smaller

since 1917 and it's not a safer place. i want to update our air force. it's older and smaller than when it was founded and i want to build our troops so we don't have to see the rotations we've seen and add at least 100,000 troops and have the resources to care for our veterans in the way they deserve to be treated. [applause] >> there's one more verse to that song i might nention. it says o beautiful appear pate dream that sees years. the patriots, the founders of this dream when they crafted that, they did not just embodyy those years but saw beyond to our times and beyond.

the principles are the principles that made us the most powerful nation on earth and they are the principles that will restore america and right now as people are deciding which way to go and the president that would take us in a foreign and unusual direction, i hope we recognize that the founders are right. that a nation founded upon opportunity. i will keep america strong and fight for the people of america and i hope to be your president, and i need your vote. get out and vote. thank you, guys. ♪ i was born free i was born free ♪ [applause]

♪ ♪i was born free ♪ i was born free born free

♪ ♪

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>> thank you.

>> thank you very much.

>> great job last night on this morning. >> thank you so much. good to see you guys. thank you.

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♪ >> good afternoon. just finished live coverage of a campaign event with mitt romney. we're watching the crowd outside. cable take a few minutes to take your phone calls in reaction to what mitt romney had to say.

going to listen to joe from georgia. he is a regular season and a viewer. what you have to say about mitt romney? >> i think he made a great speech. i think he will be elected president. he will go down in history as the greatest president. i am so fired up, susan. i am having a hard time sleeping. c-span is doing an incredible job of covering the event. >> thank you, joe. always involved in politics. next up is detroit, michigan. caller: i would like to thank you and your shoat to keep viewers informed of what is going on. i have a question.

i am the working poor. i have seen my income slowly declined. i had to get food stamps. by the cuts that have been taking place in detroit, and in the school system, my check has declined dramatically. i am considered the working poor. my check does not cover my bills, my rented. how will these candidates represent the working poor? host: we will be back to your phone calls in just a couple of minutes.

>> mitt! mitt! >> thank you.

thank you. thank you so much. good to see you, thank you for being here. how are you? >> mitt! mitt! mitt! >> hi, how are you?

>> romney! romney! >> mitt! mitt! >> thank you. oh, my goodness.

thank you, the whole team is here. this is my cousin.

>> senator romney? governor. governor? sorry. governor? governor romney?

>> hi guys. how are you? appreciate your help. thank you hi. how are you? thanks for being here today. i need to sign this. >> just one for this guy. >> thank you. >> this one. we got to get going. >> ok. this goes? all right. hi. how are you? >> thank you so much, sir. >> thank you. good to be with you today.

i think i've signed all that. >> can you just sign this? >> thank you, guys. yes. you bet. you bet. great. thanks, guys. thank you. thank you so much. >> appreciate your help. >> thank you. how are you doing? >> good luck, governor. >> hi there. thank you. appreciate it very much. good to see you. >> thank you, mr. romney. >> mitt, we love you! [laughter] >> which one, guys.

>> oh,. you're going to be freezing here. >> congratulations. how's you had a dray doing? >> great. >> how's audra doing? >> great. >> can i shake your hand? good to see you. how are you? thanks. >> sorry about that. thanks guys. hi. how are you?

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>> we're going to have more live coverage from new hampshire and the road to the white house at 3:00 afternoon we'll hear from ron paul and he'll be joined by his son ran paul. that will be at a town hall meeting in new hampshire then former utah governor ron paul will be at the home of some of his supporters set to start at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. you can watch both of those events live here on c-span or you can stream them at c-span.org. >> if you really want to see the candidates. c-span's road to the white house political coverage takes you on the campaign trail. >> he was going to come out.

it's encouraging. i'm pleased we're seeing the kinds of crowds we're seeing. go to town halls, rallies and meet-and-greets. >> thank you for coming. it was enjoyable. >> it was a pleasure to have a listening ear. thank you for giving one. >> i do have a question. you talk about bringing manufacturing back here into the united states. what are some of your plans for tchining? are you planning on asking some of these big countries? >> i want a tax code.

>> watch on our website at c-span.org. >> now we'll take a look at last night's g.o.p. debate it is about 1 1/2 hours. >> the game has changed. and now everything is different. >> what do we need to do as a down get back on the right track? >> can anyone overtake mitt romney as he tries close in and seal the nomination. can rick santorum build on his success? >> we've got some tough decisions to make. >> we are going to take america back. >> believe me, this momentum is

going to continue. >> the voting has begun. the stakes couldn't be any higher. and tonight we put them all to the test. what's next in this campaign filled with so many dramatic surprises? live from anselm college, the presidential debate. your voice. your vote. now reporting, diane sawyer, george stephanopoulos and joining us from at any time political director josh mcelveem. >> and good evening to all of you, welcome to st. anselm college, voting the under way and george those h. votes in iowa reminded us on tuesday every vote counts. >> great to be here with you, josh. and now let's introduce the candidates.

former governor jon huntsman, texas congressman ron paul and massachusetts mitt romney and rick santorum and former speaker of the house newt gingrich and texas governor rick santorum. -- rick perry. >> and it's time to remind everyone of the rules. they were negotiated and agreed to by the candidates themselves. so let's take you through them. one-minute responses to the questions with 30 seconds for a rebutal and we're showing everybody at home that the candidates will see green and then when there's 15 seconds left will turn yellow and red when the time is up. >> the questions are chosen by saint anselm college and you can download an app on your iphone.

>> we saw 200,000 jobs created last month and some optimists are saying the country is turning around. >> we have millions of people who have been suffering too long. millions of people are out of work and stopped looking for work and people who have part-time jobs and need full employment. >> i hope we continue to see good news but it's not thanks to president obama. his policies have made the recovery slower from obama care to dodd-frank to a stimulus plan that was not as well-directed as it should have been to american businesses, he's made it harder for entrepreneurs to invest in america and grow jobs here, and so the president is going to try to take responsibility for things getting better.

it's like the rooster taking responsibility for the sunrise. he didn't do it. he made things harder for america to get going again. >> senator santorum you said we don't need a c.e.o. we don't need a manager as president. what did you mean by that? >> well, we need a leader. someone who can paint a positive picture for the country and has the experience to go out and be the commander in chief and i experienced it eight years on the armed service committee and headed legislature on national issues like iran which is the most -- you want to talk about the most pressing issue we're dealing with today, iran. there's no one that has more experience in dealing with that country than i do. that means we should let our allies know they can trust us, let our enemies know that they have to respect us and if they cross us, they should fear us. >> it was written you were

talking about governor romney. were you? >> i'm talking about a manager as far as commander in chief or the manager part? >> the manager part. >> of course i was talking about governor romney. someone who says i'm going to be -- i got business experience. well business experience doesn't necessarily match up with being commander in chief of this country. it's not a c.e.o. it's someone who has to lead and the president is not a c.e.o. you can't direct members of congress and the senate as to how you do things. you've got to lead and inspire and that's what i think the people here in iowa and new hampshire are looking for. someone who can paint a positive picture for this country and i've been able to do that and that's why i think i've been able to do that and do well in the polls. >> i don't think people who spend their lives in washington

don't understand real people. c.e.o.'s are not just managers. they come from regular people. and my experience is in leadership. the people in the private sect o who are every day making this country a stronger nation and hiring people. they are not successful because they are managers. they are successful because they are leaders. i wish people in washington had the experience of going out and working in the economy and understand some of the real leaders. >> let me bring in newt gingrich. run by one of your close advisors was put on scathing attack on governor romney as the tenure as the c.o.o. of the investment and calls that tenure a time of greed and made

spectacular profits by selling everything to the highest bidder and often killing jobs for big financial rewards. do you agree with that characterization? >> well, i haven't seen the film, but it does reflect "the new york times" story two days ago and i think people should look at the film and ask if that's accurate. i'm very much for free enterprise and for creating business, growing jobs, provide leadership. i'm not nearly as enamorate of a wall streetal model where you can flip companies, have leverage buyouts and take the money and leave behind the workers. >> that's not the model. >> you have to look at "the new york times" coverage of one company and ask yourself a question. i think it's a legitimate part of the debate to say on balance were people better or worse off

by this particular style of investment? >> you said governor romney made money by bankrupting companies and laying off people at companies. >> that was a story run two days ago. that's just a "new york times" story but it's just a story. >> governor, your response? >> i'm not sure i'm surprised "the new york times" would put free enterprise on trial. but we understand sometimes investments don't work and you're not successful. it always pains you if you have to be in a situation of downsizing a business in order to make it more successful. turn around and try and grow it again. i'm proud that the two things i led were successful. the olympics and in the business i had we invested in

over 100 different businesses and net, taking out the losses and additions, those businesses have now added over 100,000 jobs. off record of learning how to create jobs. >> there have been questions about the calculations of 100,000. some analysts say you're counting the jobs that were created but not the ones that were taken away. >> is that accurate? >> no. that's not accurate. it includes the jobs taken away. it's a net calculation. 15,000 with a children's company. staples alone, 90,000 employed. that's a business we helped start from the ground up. >> many of those jobs were created even after you left? >> oh, yes. those are businesses we started that continued to grow and we were just investors to help get them going and in some cases

businesses shrunk. we tried to help turn them around and sometimes successful, sometimes not. but this is a free enterprise system. we don't need government to tell us how it will work. we need -- >> let me bring in governor hundredsman on this. people have taken aim at governor romney's exa capital. so on balance should republicans worry about this attack? is governor romney's record a weakness or a strength? >> well, part of his record, and therefore it's going to be talked about, and i think it's fair for the people of this nation to have a conversation about one's record. and governor romney can say whatever he wishes to say about it. i also have private sector experience and combine a little of rick santorum talked about and romney. people will find something in any record but it's important

for people to look at our records, because everybody up here has a record that ought to be scrutinized. but it goes beyond the private sector. i served as governor. mitt served as governor. os have had positions of leadership and responsibility. take a look at what we did as gov. that's more telling. i put both proposals forward. i delivered a flat tax for my state. i took my stite number one in job creation with all due respect with what rick perry said about texas, we resmed health care without a mandate. we took our state to number one as the most business-friendly state in america. at a time in our nation's history where we so desperately need jobs -- >> governor romney, 30 seconds. >> i congratulate the governor with his success.

i actually think it's helpful to have people who have had a job in the private sector if you want to create jobs in the private sector. we have a lot of presidents over the years who have wonderful experience and now the background is in the government and private sector. given what america is facing globally and an economy that's changed its dynamics, you have to have somebody who understands enthusiastic works if we're going to be able to post up against president obama and say this is different than a president that does not understand job creation. >> you have a new ad up in south carolina taking direct aim at senator santorum and call him a candidate with a record of betrayal and senator santorum is standing right here. are you ready to explain? >> i think someone took a

survey and he took so much money from the lobbyists. but really what the whole -- there it goes again. >> but you're not telling the truth. >> it goes -- >> what really counts is his record. it's a big governor, big-spending individual because he preached the fact that he wanted a balanced budget amendment but raised -- voted to raise the debt to five times. he voted against right to work. he voted along with no child left behind to double the size of the department of education, and he also voted for prescription drug program. so he's a big government person along with him being very associated with the lobbyists and taking a lot of funds. and also where did he make his living afterwards? he became a high-powered

lobbyist in washington, d.c., and he's done quite well. we checked out newt gingrich on his income. think we ought to check out how much money he's made from lobbyists. >> let's talk about the -- the group that called me corrupt was a group called crew. if you haven't been organized and served by that, you are not a republican. they call all contributions from pacs corrupt. you should know better than to site george sore rose-type organizations. ron, i'm a conservative. i'm not a libertarian. i believe in some government. i do believe that government -- as a senator from pennsylvania, that i had a responsibility to go out there and represent the interest of my state. and that's what i did that

pennsylvania was able to get its fair share of money back. i don't apologize for that anymore than you would when you ear marked funds for things you did in texas. i think i'm known in this race and was known in washington, d.c. as a cause guy. i care deeply about this country and the causes that i think are at the core of this country. and when i left the united states senate i got involved in causes i believe in. i worked in the ethics in public policy center and wrote and lectured all over this country about iran. i got involved in the health care because i was afraid of what was going to happen. i don't know if you think board of directors are lobbyists, but they are not. i also worked for a coal company. as i mentioned, my grandfather

was coal miner. when i left the united states senate one of the big issues on the table was cap and trade and i wanted to stay involved in the fray. i contacted a local coal company and said i want to join with you in that fight and work together with you and help you in any way we can to defeat cap and trade. >> it is true. i believe congress should designate how the money should be spent. but the big difference between the way i voted and the way the senator votedas i voted against the spending. there's only been a couple appropriations bill i voted for in the past 26 years i've been in washington. so you're a big spender. that's all there is to it. you're a big conservative. and you don't vote for right to work and these very important things, and that's what weakens

the economy. so to say you're not a lobbyist, somebody thoops point out your record. >> i convinced a lot of people of it because my record is actually pretty darn good. i supported and voted for a balanced budget and line-item veto and used to keep track of all the amendments that increased spending and put it on a board called a spend ometer. i was rated at or near the top every year. i go back to the point i'm not a libertarian, ron. i agree with you. i don't vote against everything. you do. >> first i want to bring in governor perry on this. we'll stay on the subject. >> i'll let you back in here, ron. i think you've just set a great example of why i got in this

race. because i happen to think i'm the only outsider with the exception of jon huntsman who hasn't been a part of the problem in washington, d.c.we have to nominate someone who can beat barack obama, get the tea party behind them and go to washington, d.c. and stop the corrupt spending that's been going on. and it doesn't matter if you're an insider from washington, d.c. or wall street. that's what americans rightfully see as the real problem in america today. 24e79 someone who has a record of the right spending. i have been the governor of a state that's created a million net new jobs. that's a record that american people are looking for. that's what americans are looking for. and an outsider that is not corrupted by the process.

>> but you're saying congressman paul is an insider? >> i am telling you as many -- here's what frustrates me. you get 2 ear marks and then vote against the bill? congress paul in texas we call that hypocrisy. >> i call it being a constitutionalist. because i believe we should ear mark or designate every penny. you designate money to spend a billion dollars on an ambassador in iraq. that's an ear mark, too. i say congress has more responsibility. but he ducks behind this balanced budget. -- government's practically broke over increasing the national debt. it did it five times. what's your excuse for that?

that's trillions of delars. you didn't do much to slow it up when you had the chance. >> as a matter of fact i did. i was the author of the only tpwhail actually repealed an entitlement and promoted and tried pass social security reform and worked on medicare and medicaid and one of the only guys out there ron when we were running surpluses that was talking about the need for living room entitlement reform. when the government runs up a tab and you don't have the money to pay any longer, then you have to increase the debt ceiling. but every time we tried to reduce it with reduced spevending. now we've blown the doors off it and in the last go round i said no, we shouldn't increase the debt ceiling, because we've gone too far. >> if we can, i'd l