ohio, republican line. thanks for waiting. caller: good evening. how're you doing, sir? i just called to say -- i am doing fine. i called to say my wife and i are becoming more and more fans of jon we are anxious for him to come to ohio so we can see him some more, and bob went, my nephew is down there with you in a blue and white checkered shirt. you tell him i said hello. host: rick, from akron, ohio, thank you. wycombe, you are not old enough to vote. why did you come out tonight? caller: i think any candidate that can add to the

conversation is good. host: can you give someone an idea of what the politics is like here? you saw it as an 11-year-old and now as a teenager in 2012. guest: i have lived here my whole life, the entire 15 years, and you still cannot win in hampshire without shaking hands. no matter how many outside groups did involve, you just cannot win new hampshire without shaking hands. host: a political future for you down the road? guest: i do not know. after college, that is what i would like to do. host: thank you. let us go to and. what about tomorrow? guest: i will be voting tomorrow. i'm a vote for jon huntsman.

i am an independent, so i get to choose which one i broke in. host: what will force you to decide one way or the other? guest: a guess whoever has the most power in terms of beating the other people. one of the swing voters that since there and thinks about to best use my one vote. host: one of the things we have been asking, how would you compare this process, this cycle to previous years? guest: it is like it got started later this year. i am not sure why. people are on the ground a little bit later, and it is more intense than in the past. fastow the activity outside of what we have seen tonight? >> the last 48 hours. it has picked up quickly. i think it has been depressed season, compared to years

before. 10 to 12 years ago or whatever, we used to see more candidates over a better period of time and smaller venues. host: thank you for being with us. through the course of the evening tonight, we will show you many eat -- many of the events. we have ron paul, mitt romney, newt gingrich, all tonight on our schedule, and all of this is available on our website at c- span.org. tomorrow on "washington journal," the latest in the polling, and we have our affiliate yahoo! is allowing us to share with you and the national audience how things are playing out locally. coverage tomorrow evening with the results and the speeches by the winners and losers and the new hampshire primary. 12 delegates at stake, half of

what would have been up, because others are moving their primaries from february to january, said they are being forced to news 50% of their delegates. all eyes on super tuesday in march. up next, from earlier in the day, congressman ron paul as he held a town hall meeting, one of many in the last several days. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you for putting this little reception together. i understand originally we were starting to have this at your home and the meeting outgrew the home.

i'm glad we were able to come here and still have this little gathering. before we get started, i would like to introduce a few members of my family. my wife is over here, carol. [applause] i have one daughter in law and her daughter. [applause] thank you for coming out. i guess you have noticed that the campaign has picked up a lot of steam and a lot of interest. there are still some that are undecided, and hopefully we can reach them with the program i have been talking about and why i think we are in trouble and what i think we have to do. no matter where i have gone around the country, whether it

has been in iowa or different places, and also the talk shows and tv programs, actually, the big issue has been the economy. the first time i ran for office was in the 1970's. i felt some big changes being made in our monetary system. if one understands how the monetary system works and how financial bubbles are formed, we should have come to the conclusion that we had embarked on a very dangerous. in our history. that was a long time ago, but it is still very important history.

it is still a serious problem, the fact that we embarked on a financial bubble, the biggest in the history of the world. the marketplace always tries to unwind the mistakes made by politicians and by central bankers to correct mistakes -- that is, if you have a system that encourages debt, and you equate that with prosperity, it will keep the building until you run out of production. we had too much debt and not enough production. we cannot fight to the books any longer. this is why people have grown very interested in my subject of the federal reserve system and why at the very beginning, at the very least, we have to have a full audit of how the federal reserve system has been operating. [applause] because of the monetary system, it contributes to this distortion, but the worst distortion and why people feel bad about how the economy is going right now, even if it they have a job, people feel frightened about what might come -- the destruction of money, history shows that you destroy the middle class.

destruction of money means devaluation of the money. nobody has wanted to talk about it, even though the founders knew and understood this and warned us against it and say we don't want to go through the destruction of the continental dollar like they went through. that is why they put in the constitution that the only thing to use its gold and silver for legal tender. you cannot print money. when you have free markets, private property rights, and contract rights, like we enjoyed for so long, you have a large middle-class. america was always known for its huge middle class, the wealthiest middle-class ever. it is not true anymore but the middle classes shrinking and the well is shrinking. characteristic of what happening under these conditions, the wealth is taken from the middle

class and it goes to a select few, the insiders. that is what happened, the people know about it. sometimes the anchor is directed at the unfairness of the system -- they get a little bit confused about the economics, but it has a lot to do with the monetary policy and the influence in washington. instead of the government being the protector of liberty, the government has become a distributor of wealth. this is why big money talks. money has more control of our system. that is why lobbyists get paid a lot more than politicians, because lobbyists run the show. this is what we have to overcome. one of the things what is so challenging and in this campaign, people have been supporting me know darn well to undertake it. we are involved in a foreign policy that makes no sense.

we need a foreign policy that offends america and not pretend we can tell the -- world the to let th -- that defends america and not pretend we can tell the world how to live. [applause] a lot of times in the debate, the moderator's come in and say, "tonight we will talk about economics," which is fine and dandy. i like to talk about economics. but they don't want to talk about foreign policy paid other times to talk about foreign policy but don't talk about economics. but you have to talk about both together, because war is connected to the economic system. war drains wealth. there is no way in-that you can get out of a depression or recession -- no way in high heaven that you can get out of a depression or recession during the war. doing almost anything overseas is a drain on the economy. we are not producing like we used to. that is why the economy is being drained.

that is why we have to address foreign policy. it is really simple, it is not complex. it simply says that we should never send anybody to washington that won't promise -- and you believe that they will obey the constitution. [applause] since world war ii, we have had numerous wars, and these last 10 years have been very bad for us because we were fighting countries, we have been involved in nation-building and occupation. countries that were far from perfect, but they never attacked us. what has it done? it has added $4 million worth of debt by being engaged overseas. we are not safer for it. i don't believe for a minute that we are safer. i don't think people want to

come and kill us because we are free and prosperous. that has just gone way astray. what we ought to do is think about a foreign policy that follows the golden rule -- we shouldn't do anything to any other country that we would not have them do to us. [applause] if we were to follow the constitution and require that people give permission to go to war through their members of congress by voting to go war, believe me, we wouldn't have had probably any of these wars in the last 20, 30 years, because the congress would not have done it, because they could not prove there was a threat to our national security. this is important that we follow the rules. we know what our government is supposed to do.

it is supposed to protect our liberties. that is the number-one job, protecting the liberties of every citizen to begin at liberty and natural way. we gain and not from our government, but from our creator, and we should protect those liberties. we should not be telling people how to live,, or telling the rest of the world what they ought to be doing. [applause] but by changing the foreign policy, one of the easiest ways to do this, we can start talking about the necessity of dealing with the debt. debt is the problem. by now it is similar to if you were indebted way over your head, and you get to many credit cards, and what you are learning to take care of your daily needs, you don't have anything left to finance your debt. that is where we are today. we don't have enough growth or people left where we can tax and pay for the debt. what we have to do is eliminate the dead. -- the debt.

when the individual is in debt, they either have to sell stuff or declare bankruptcy did the market insists on the bankruptcy. when our financial system became evident that it was truly bankrupt, in 2008, a lot of people were doing a lot of gambling, people who made a lot of money when the financial bubble was being blown up. when they went broke, the establishment people, the federal reserve and treasury and all of the bankers and the corporations under the gun came screaming and hollering that there is going to be a depression, you have to bail us out. well, they did not deserve to get bailed out. the bank should have been liquidated, not on the american people, and that is what has happened. [applause] so we're still paying for that debt. what about the people who made the money during the financial bubble, they're back in business again.

their corporate leaders are making big bucks, and they're making a lot of money, getting money from the federal reserve for at practically zero and rest. it has changed dramatically from our fending -- founding, because the emphasis is not on liberty anymore. the emphasis is on special interest and controls. right now, the american people have the weekend. -- have awakened. they, all of a sudden, realized -- even those with jobs, even those who seem to be doing ok, there is a sad and discontent in this country. i think it is the worst our country has ever experienced we have gone through a lot of rough times. great depression in the 1930's, world war one and world war ii. but i think a lack of confidence in the future is more significant than ever before, because the foundations have been undermined. the foundation of the free market and property rights, we do not really own our property anymore.

also, the foundation of the monetary system and the foreign policy that does not serve our national defense needs. and then the people know this. they're begging and pleading for some answers. this is a story i have talked about and offered solutions and tried to point out the financial bubble, but there was not much attention paid to it. and i never really thought one way or the other whether anybody would pay attention to it. but right now, it just happens they are very interested in it. the world has changed, our country has changed, from four years ago. i was involved in the campaign. there was a lot of support, but there was still, you know, not enough to say it is coming, let's prevent it. no, but it hit. it hit in 2008, and now people are looking and wondering about what we can do about it, and there is a lot we can do about it. we have to cut spending that is the top priority. get spending under control, get debt under control.

you cannot keep running the debt at $1.50 trillion a year and is put in the money for it. it is a road for disaster. my proposal is, and the very first year, we should cut real spending by $1 trillion. [applause] and then immediately, where are you going to cut $1 trillion? well, if you do not start cutting, everything goes to pot. everything is totally destroyed because the money will not work. even the people you're trying to help out, you cannot help them. the more you print the money, the less it has value, and its compounds itself. we have to propose these cuts. i do it with priorities. i do not say -- i think the worst place to start would be child health care or social security or medicare benefits.

we can work our way out of it, but you have to be willing to cut some other things. and that is why we, as americans, not only as conservatives, moderates, liberals, everybody else, we should agree that it makes no sense to spend much over $1 trillion a year overseas. why do we spend that money -- why don't we spend that money here at home? [applause] half of the cuts would come from overseas. i do not believe for one minute it undermines defense. cutting military is a lot different from cutting defense. they say, he wants to cut all the defense -- no, i do not. i want month -- i want more money for defense. i want to defend this country and not be spent getting involved in wars that do not help us at all. the other money spent, we would have to cut back here at home. i have five departments i would cut. the first department i would cut would be the department of education.

[cheers and applause] if we look at education, both in a constitutional fashion, along with a moral responsibility, education in a free society is the responsibility of parents. [applause] certainly, if there are no provisions for the state to be involved in education, there is no authority at the federal level. but what the federal government better make sure they do, as well as state governments, is make sure there is never a law that prohibits homeschooling or private schooling to compete. [applause] other departments, department of energy committee permit of commerce, department of interior, hud -- just think of all the damage hud did. all this with good intentions. we're going to take care of the port. everybody will have free health care, free education, houses, everything can qualify for a loan.

sounds like it will work. we have students graduating from college, education is poor. they're not trained to do the jobs we need. as with that, $1 trillion debt and cannot get a job. so it failed. so the hud program and afford a budget -- a firm of -- affirmative action, everybody can qualify. people ended up with a house and thought they had a money tree. the prices of houses keep going up, keep borrowing. borrowing, borrowing, and borrowing the this is wonderful. yes, and the bubble burst. and the people who were involved in the mortgage derivatives, they were making a lot of money. so what happened to the middle class? they got the debt. they lost their jobs, and lost their houses. so even with the best intentions, you cannot provide the goods and services through the government. this is what we have to come to realize, that if you want goods

and services, if you want the maximum distribution, you have to pay attention, and you have to believe that the free market is a much better distributor of wealth than the u.s. government. [applause] and one of the shortcomings that we come up with, whether we call ourselves libertarians, constitutionalist, or conservatives, is that we have -- we compete with people who are well-motivated, and they believe themselves to be humanitarians. those of us who believe that the market should work and protecting liberty is most important, they call us cold hearted. if there are ideas did not work and ours do, wouldn't it be logical to conclude that we are the humanitarian, not them? [applause] we do need to cut back, and we can do this with protecting certain programs and work our way out of it, but we cannot do it without working at the

monetary system and in foreign policy. we have to look at property rights. but we also have to look at individual liberty. because all these things we have been talking about, it is individual liberty that would protect us all. the right to your life, the right to liberty, and you should have the right to keep the fruits of your labor. [applause] it is individual liberty which is under threat as well today, because once you have a perpetual war atmosphere, personal liberties at home have always been under attack. and today, they are. we have more attacks on our personal liberty -- whether it is the patriot act -- quite frankly, i do not think we need

a patriot act to undermine your personal liberty. [applause] and also now, just recently, the government gave the president the authority to use the army to arrest an american citizen without charges and held indefinitely. that is not protecting the american tradition. those kind of infractions and insults to the american people have to be addressed. we have to get confidence in ourselves once again that a free society and free markets work. we cannot continue to depend that the federal government will always take care of us. what we need is a free society where we are allowed to take care of ourselves. i believe in it that. [applause] i believe in that. we have a wonderful opportunity to express those views. it will be tomorrow night. i am encouraged. the young people that i meet really encourage me because they are enthusiastic about hearing the truth. even if it is negative and that u.s. big debt, you have a mess and talk about the war's going on, all of the sudden i am

excited and optimistic that at least if you admit the problem, maybe you can solve that problem. despite all my concerns, an optimist because the things i am seeing across this country. people are starting to once again look at the great issues and the great ideas and all those principles that made america great. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> we have time for a few questions. we want the questions from the non-media. and so if you would just take ron's lead. >> all of this microphone, and we will try to get as many questions as we can. we have a little bit of time. >> go ahead and pick somebody.

>> i believe that many americans think that the value in keeping the bases overseas is because by pulling the bases out of the overseas countries, like germany and japan, it sort of recognizes that our empire is shrinking and maybe they cannot handle that. how can you get them to see the benefits in doing that? >> well, empires always end, not because another military power comes along, but for economic reasons. sometimes they end even though we have to stand up to them and paid them. they had a lot of these weapons, but they have been bankrupt and had to be developed for economic reasons. and then they were foolish and went into afghanistan.

we will come out, but it is the way we come out. you talk about germany and japan, why should we -- we're not on the verge of being attacked. one of the greatest successes in our country has been that we have a strong national defense. nobody is about to invade our country or to attack us. i think people have to be convinced that bringing troops home is one way we will not have a dissolution of our country completely. obviously, i want to discourage people from that -- i do not think that empire serves the interest of the freedoms of individual americans. [applause]

>> i feel strongly that protecting our environment is a very urgent issue, and i was wondering how, through the enforcement of property rights, what exactly is property rights violations? that would be our environment. how would you determine who to prosecute when that a violation happens? >> people get worried when you talk about free markets and property rights, but they will not be good environments -- that they will not be good environmentalist. when you look at a government with the most extreme amount of government, they have been the worst protectors of the environment. if you look to private property, most people who own property, i have an interest in taking good care of it.

but that comes up with the subject of pollution. but if you have a strict understanding of property, nobody has a right to pollute anybody. you cannot dump your garbage in your neighbor's yard. you should not be able to dump your smoke in their yard. you should not be able to dump chemicals, you should not be allowed to pollute the water. you should be immediately held accountable. the big problem occurred in the industrial allusion with collusion between big corporations and also a big government. in the city of pittsburgh, it was probably one of the most filthiest cities in the country, and the rivers where sewers. governments dumping their sewers in there, and the skies were filthy black. that eventually got filled up with the protection of rights by the city a long time before the epa. so the epa is a bureaucratic special interest answer to a problem that should be answered with private property rights.

but the basic principle is that if you really enforce contract rights and property rights, you would probably be much tougher a lot sooner than we have been. and i just do not believe that the bureaucratic approach can ever do the trick. [applause] >> can you address the agenda 21, please? >> you're talking about the u.n.? well, agenda 21 and the u.n. is a little bit more than i can take, especially since my position is that i do not think we should be in the united nations. [applause] so any plan that the u.n. will undermine our national sovereignty, i am absolutely opposed to it and would want to

protect it. right now, the biggest threat to the international governments is in the monetary affairs. because they know what we know about the monetary system, and they know there is a big crisis coming. they are talking about monetary reform, and they're talking about an international paper currency run by the imf, which is a part in the united nations. that is, indeed, a big threat. that is why we should not be in those organizations. [applause] >> two more. >> [inaudible] >> come towards the microphone. >> [unintelligible] south america, a lot of work in the private sector can be compared to slave labor. how you feel that should be addressed?

>> are you talking about what we're going to do about -- >> [unintelligible] >> i do not think it is true slave labor. they work for very little, but i do not have sovereignty over other nations on what they should do and should not do. so i cannot go down and change it. my job is to make sure that we do the best in setting an example in this country so others will do the same thing. >> [inaudible] >> what we want to do is protect civil liberties in this country and make sure we have sound money and a prosperous economy and have a foreign policy were people -- you see, right now, we have a policy where people believe that america is an exceptional nation. i think we are. but what they believe, because we are exceptional, that we have the responsibility to invade the country and force that country to do exactly as we do, and i do not agree with that. i think we are exceptional, but i think we are slipping. so i think we should work much

harder to be an exceptional nation, to practice what we preach, to follow our constitution, protect all civil liberties, to make sure we have a market and have prosperity and have people look down and say, you know, america is a great place. why don't we try to copy what we're doing, and that would be a much better way than as forcing them to do something. [applause] >> what is your stance on legal and illegal immigration? >> i am against illegal immigration. we shall not have that here. my approach to that is not to report something that is illegal. so if states are forced to provide services and benefits to

illegal immigrants, they will make benefit of it. illegal immigration is down now, t how weak this economy is, because of the jobs. even today, welfare both for illegal immigrants as well as our system encourages people not to take jobs they might have to take if they did not get these benefits. so we should not be forcing free schools and free medicare on people who are here illegally. i think we should have a revamping of the whole thing about the workers program. i think the people -- we should, you know, keep the doors as wide open as we can. i have had many to come to me in my congressional office looking for work. even today, they're coming because our people are not as well-drained. that is -- we do not want to ever close that off, but we should not have this big problem with illegal immigration. i think we should have more control and a different system on our borders. i am disgusted that we spend so much time, money, and lives worried about the borders

between afghanistan and pakistan. we should worry more about our borders here at home. [applause] >> one more. >> i serve on a local score -- school board, and i support the many things in the department of education. the system is really broken. how are we going to fix it? how do we get the power out of the unions and the influence? >> well, union power is -- and union power is the right word, it is not workers' rights. it is union power. and they get it legislatively. voluntary contracts is the basic principle of the marketplace. so if a businessman -- and there are no laws prohibiting

unions from forming in the private sector. but there should be no power to force unions on a businessman that does not want to voluntarily have them. but you should have a voluntary union, and the businessmen to make those choices. as long as you understood the principle of voluntary association. but when it comes to government, that is for the bigger problem is today, with the government unions. but it should be our officials who are representing us as to the private marketplace, so they should not be signing these contracts. in state, it would be different. i know you are finding the right to work laws up here. right to work is very, very important, and the federal government has, you know, cause of the problem with the national labor relations board and the act from 1935. that was to give artificial power to a certain group. but the market is the most powerful force to raise wages. we do not want to throw out the whole system of volunteerism, because the problems of the depression had nothing to do with the lack of labor union.

yet the labor unions said, if we could just force labor prices at -- matter of fact, to correct some of the problems, the problem we're facing today, you want prices to go down. prices of houses are still going down, but it should have happened in six or 12 months and then been overwritten. it is indexation of wages that makes us less competitive -- it is the fixation the wages that makes us less competitive. jobs are lost. we have more right to work, but jobs go overseas. there is a lot of other regulation but you cannot avoid that discussion if you really want to change our environment and get our economy growing again. thank you very much for coming. [applause] >> just a quick question for you, dr. paul?

>> to try to phase out social security. and more from this final day coming up. >> we are less than 3.5 hours from the first in the nation primary. the folks will get their traditional midnight vote in, a tradition that goes back to 1960. we will bring you all of our coverage beginning at 8:00 eastern on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. we will have the voting results as they come in and will take your phone calls and watch your facebook posts, as well.

our coverage begins tomorrow with new hampshire, and we will start with the chairman of the new hampshire republican party. we are also joined by the political director from our partner in new hampshire for the primary, and with the university, perhaps some poll numbers tomorrow morning, all of that getting under way at 7:00 eastern here on c-span. looking ahead a couple of weeks to the virginia primary, part of the so-called super tuesday, a story from the national journal. they have been ordered not to mail absentee ballots. in the district, they ordered the state electoral boards not to start mailing absentee ballots for the march 6 will begin primary, a promising sign for four gop candidates who are suing to get in after failing to

meet requirements, and rick santorum and others in form them that they were refrained from mailing them out until after the hearing. it was initially filed by the rick perry campaign. rick santorum, one of those mentioned in that story, they were wrapping up in new hampshire. this is about 20 minutes. >> excuse me. i am going to go outside. >> i have got to go.

>> hi.

>> oh, my goodness. >> thank you. sorry. thank you so much. good to see you. new hampshire, right? >> keep moving, guys. >> here you go. >> all right.

>> a terrific big crowd. >> very good. we feel very strong, and we are going to finish well. >> new hampshire. new hampshire, about setting expectations with carolina? >> it is. to win new hampshire. mitt romney has been campaigning for years. too late to get on the air and do things. we will keep working hard and keep the message and keep the momentum going. >> he is more electable?

>> he is trying to run as a conservative, and he has never won a race as a conservative. >> after tomorrow night, you are not going to go to carolina, and a scenario at all? >> doing really well. thank you. >> let's go, guys.

>> everybody out. come on, guys. let's go. the come on, guys. come on. come on. >> outside. >> to go out. >> i am not going to say anymore to the cameras. i will be happy to -- let's give these diners -- come on, everybody. no more comments. >> this man right here.

>> bring them out. much to my dismay. out the front. out the front. >> coming through.

>> great.

beautiful. >> thank you. i do not know. >> mitt romney.

>> the right. >> earlier today, you talked about being second. >> i have been running pretty hard. i and a great trip down there. folks are anxious to get us down there, and we have got a great team. a lot of energy.

obviously, a short run up, and governor romney pretty much lives here, and as the other candidates, they have spent a lot of money. we did not have it. we decided to come here to keep our message out here, not just with the folks in new hampshire but in the country, and our hope is that the grass roots effort and the team that we have built here and the ideas we have been talking about will resonate here, and i think that they have. we have gone from 2% to 3% in the polls to being in the pack. >> second place. >> a static. oh, my goodness, yes. ron paul has been here about 17 times, so to do as well as him, i am not sure that is possible, but if we do that, it to me,

that would bait -- >> mitt romney. in electable. >> he has run three times. he has run as a liberal, moderate, and a conservative. i have run five times and won four. i have won four out of those five races. it is an absurd statement because of a bunch of folks you are giving mitt romney money who want to see an establishment candidate when. we lost with john mccain and bob dole and jerry ford. to run a conservative like ronald reagan, we have been able to win, and that is what we need. this is a party that understands ultimately that we need a strong, conservative voice out there to be a strong

alternative to barack obama, and we are a bad alternative. it will not be this primary or the next. we have several down the road. mitt romney against rick santorum. and we will win. >> what are you going to do to keep people in their homes. >> i am sorry >> home foreclosure is an economic -- >> we need to state housing got up and people being able to pay their mortgage. that is the best way to do it. we have had this prolonged recession because this president has continuously crushed the american economy by issuing regulations. he issued 150 regulations last year. never before. 2.5 times the average.

he just does not get that more government, a higher taxes is destroying the economy. >> senator, one poll has u.s. had a little bit and then falling back. is that concern and could >> i have seen polls that have been tied it at third place that came out today. it is all within a margin of error. i think your poll and other polls are showing a huge percentage of undecided korean and number of the polls were taken before the debate. we think we did exceptionally well in the debates and made the claim that we are the canada to have the best ability to go to joe with the establishment. and fiscal conservative. barack obama. >> is mitt romney a conservative? >> i think he is on some issues,

but we are looking for someone you can make a stark contrast. someone usa record of being a strong, convicted conservative, and energizing the party. with my policies and the work i have done in the past, being able to reach out. the manufacturing base. we need to win if we are going to win this presidency. i am the one you had the track record of winning on those. the policies that fit in with the kind of voters we need to be barack obama, and that is what i think we are the best. >> and go to the back. >> do not let them come in.

>> three people came up and talked about a question. declare war. >> i would do a military strike. >> the united states allowed to do that without declaring war? >> yes. >> we are proof does congress have to approve it? >> commander-in-chief. we are not talking about in particular rate -- to give a military strike on the

particular target. what president obama and me permission -- a similar situation, a kid? >> to say a low. >> hi, guys. >> hi. >> thank you very much. thank you.

>> good luck. thank you. >> hey, guys. >> i did not say the word --

look at my track record. opportunity and helping people. look at my record of employment. look at my record of working in the community. you guys, it is really sad. >> put him in the car, put him in the car. >> the republican in recent memory. >> senator, jon huntsman.

>> will l, political right , rick santorum is seven and only two jon huntsman in terms of campaign appearances in new hampshire since june of last year with 86. jon huntsman far and away the winner with 158, and mitt romney with 75 appearances. well, it is about three hours from now but the folks in new hampshire will start voting. they will get their votes counted shortly after midnight. we'll clear politics looks at the 2008 results, and they say that the results were -- all of the candidates were busy on the final day campaigning.

newt gingrich had some eight or nine events today and this evening is to and probably what a lot of television and sports people are doing today, watching the game of lsu and alabama as his final event of the day. we covered a final event, and we attempted to coverthey had to ct appearance because it was swamped by ron paul supporters and occupy wall street supporters. there was one playing speeches by president of canada that ron paul. that event for route 9 -- for newt gingrich a campaign headquarters and 6:00 this evening was canceled. this, however, was not. it is a visit to bae systems and is a half hour. [applause]

>> i do not have any notes. let me say first, and just to remind all of us why we are here, i am running for president. i would very much like to have your support tomorrow, everywhere. only during the campaign. i want to take a couple of minutes and talk about something other than the campaign, because this is the first stop we have been on where we can really talk about national security in a very sophisticated way, with an audience that understands how important this is. i am an army brat. my dad spent 27 years in the infantry. i grew up in places like fort riley, stood guard, germany.

i got to georgia when my dad was assigned to fort benning. i have a lifelong interest in military affairs and national security. i decided in august 1958 that i would do what i am doing now, largely as a function of national security. i was 15 years old and my dad had convinced me the stuff was real. i think what many politicians and reporters do not realize is the extraordinary capabilities of the american military start at places like this. what you are doing is fully as much a part of national security as the person in uniform at the point in afghanistan, are much -- iraq, or somalia, or an intelligence operative who may be covert, or the state department diplomat. the various capabilities to help develop, and companies that you

across the country. we have an integrated capacity to bring science and technological knowledge to bear through a manufacturing process which enables our troops to have enormous advantages over our competitors. i think that is very important to understand. when we first went into afghanistan, there were very small special forces teams that were sent in. but nobody has really written about how it actually works. these are brave people. they are trained people and courageous people. but by themselves, they would not be dramatically more capable. they might be more capable by a factor of three to one or four to one, what 300 to one. when the teams arrived,

particularly in the north, the people they were dealing with fighting the russians and the taliban -- they got the fight. they have been doing it their lifetime. initially, they were puzzled by these very small teams, who pulled out sat phones. the pulled out capabilities that went into space and then down somewhere. they began pulling back visual imagery from overhead. all sorts of things that began to come to bear so that the person at the point had the support of the entire nation. one of the stories i was told by the deputy commander in that period was that when they first began meeting with the northern alliance, the northern alliance said, "we will ride in the morning." i scared of them and said, "what do you mean?"

they said, "we are going on horseback. it turned out the special forces field uniforms have a very large in seems -- have very large ins eams, which, when you ride a horse, create a big problem. this was physically painful. they got on a cell phone. -- sat phone. they found that if you got extra-heavy, super large pantihose, three pair provide a buffer with you are riding a horse. i have never recommended anybody go to fort bragg and walk up to one of these guys and say, "however the potatoes? -- how are the pantihose?" if i was doing a professional

day at a joint forces command. like you, i broke out laughing. ist people don't realize think about the capacity to encounter the problem you have never thought of, the in the middle of nowhere -- this is central asia. pick up the phone. make an of order. within 36 hours, had it airdropped. and not have a clue going in which thing you will need this time. you are an intimate part of the system. i will tell you one of the stories. i will talk about the president if utterly destructive policy proposal this week. i was down at yale university, teaching a course about 1983. i ask them to give a briefing. there had been a syrian-israeli

engagement which was 101-one. that is, the syrians lost 101 aircraft and the israelis lost one. in my mind, this was the moment, lots of theories came together. you are now looking at a new reality. i asked him to put together a special briefing for me on what had happened. he said you have to understand the nature of the emerging battlefield. i have been involved a lot with the army command, designing since 1979, when i came as a freshman. i understood in general what had been going on, but i wanted to get a feel for this. the israelis had what we all take for granted. they were flying of the mediterranean coast in a 707, and they were picking up all the electronic emissions from the syrian air force.

as the israeli pilots are sitting around having coffee and chatting, they are monitoring. when the syrian pilots get in their plans and talk to the control tower and say, "our flight is ready to leave," they are listening. they have arabic translators. they are calling the ready room. we think given their flight time there will be entering the space where you can kill them in about 11 minutes. why don't you plan to takeoff in six minutes? we will vector you to where they are. he then showed me footage of this. the syrians, who were still fighting world war ii style, but, with no electronics, are flying blind. they are taking off. when they get to a certain distance that is within the range of the israeli missiles, the airborne warning and control

system says to them, "fire your missiles in this direction." these are hunt and six missiles. and go home. they never dogfight. the syrian planes get killed. they pick up them getting killed on the radar. they say, "that wave is gone. go back and rest. have coffee. watch a movie. we will let you know when the next wave comes." when they got done with this briefing and showed me this footage of four beyond visual range missiles being fired, and each was killing a syrian aircraft, i turned to the guys. this was 83. it happened faster than i thought it would. i thought it would take 20 years, and it only took 291. i turned to my briefers and said, "if we have entered an age of instantaneous theater-wide warfare, and the soviets believe

the xerox machine is a state secret, they are dead. it is impossible for a highly- controlled information- compartmentalized system to compete with a free-form system- wide"-- now it is worldwide. the reason i am telling you this is this is what you are part of. if the components you make do not work, people died. if the components to make do not work, we lose battles. all our capabilities are wonderful, courageous young people, reinforced by lots and lots of people working hard to design and implement the next generation. because of russia and china, you have pretty good competitors technologically.

we are in a permanent process of upgrading, because the first set of problems will not be the last. the weapon systems that were magic in 1983 are obsolete today. you are caught in a permanent process of defense in which we have to understand our competitors, come up with solutions that overmatch them, manufacture and implement those solutions, trained to those solutions, provide logistic support, and integrate into a seamless, worldwide system. that is why the president's comparison of our defense system with any other defense system in the world is sophomoric of foolish. we are the only country in the planet which seeks to provide stability and security on a worldwide basis, the only country which seeks to minimize casualties to our young men and women. we deliberately create an overmatched to save american lives. i am against any president who

would willingly take risks that are going to get young american men and women in uniform killed, or risk of losing a city to an enemy. and i think his proposals this week are the most irresponsible defense proposals of my lifetime. i think the congress should repudiate them and insist on this model. what threatens us? what do we have to do to defeat those threats without losing americans? how do we make sure we have a margin of safety? if we are going to make a mistake, let us be too safe, not too weak. until you decide that solution, you do not know what to defense budget ought to be. i am not just talking about throwing money at defense. during the reagan buildup, i helped found with dick cheney the military reform caucus. our theory was we were hawks, but cheap hawks.

i think you can take layers of bureaucracy out of the defense department. i suspect many of you deal with the bureaucracy. you know it is cumbersome and we can save money. but i want to have a very powerful defense system in a very dangerous world, and i would rather take the risk of being too strong over the risk of being too weak. i wanted to share that. this is a rare opportunity for me to talk about national security. i am personally grateful. you make america strong. i would like to take questions. if there are any questions. who would like to ask questions? yes, sir. >> a lot of times, you have to question their motives as well. >> i regard pakistan as a

country which is neither and eleanor and enemy. i think it is a country in turmoil. they have different interests and we do. -- then we do. we have not begun to understand how convoluted it is. all you have to do is ask yourself -- is there anybody who believes osama bin laden could be hiding in a large compound 1 mile from a national defense university four years without the government at some level knowing it? it is inconceivable. the first reaction was not who has been hiding him, but who helped the americans. pakistan is in many ways a battleground in which the government has a tenuous hold on

security, and in which the government is riddled by factions, some of which are deeply hostile to us. it should worry us that they have between 102 hundred nuclear weapons. people talk about the iranian bomb, which they should. -- 100 and 200 nuclear weapons. people talk about the iranian bomb, which they should. but pakistan worries meet every day. we have no idea whether there will be a leak, a takeover, a coup. this is an unstable country for us to rely on. somebody wake up at the back. >> more of a domestic issues question. i do not hear a lot about consumer protection. what is the proper role of the federal government in consumer

protection? >> there should be strong laws that allow you to protect yourself from getting ripped off. second, we ought to have constant statistical monitoring. for example, hit the product is made which leads to a crib deaths, we want to know immediately and withdraw it from the market. that is legitimate. i think there is a role for the government, on the public health and safety side, or if a flammable material is being turned into toys and is in danger of catching fire and burning kids -- that is something you want to have. but i would not micromanage. i do not want a consumer protection agency that goes from protecting our safety to micromanaging our choices. there is a big difference in those jobs. how about this gentleman, right here?

>> thank you for visiting with us today. could you share your thoughts on the f-35 fighter program? >> i have a certain bias here, because i used to represent lockheed martin in marietta, georgia, which was building the f-22, a really cool aircraft. i would argue a slightly cooler air plan and the f 35. the a 35 is a good plane, but it is a cool air plan. the f-35 is the heart of our strategy for the next 30 years. we have to make it work. we have to recognize how -- my hunch is -- this is a hunch, not uninformed opinion. my hunch is the phase beyond f- 35 is an unmanned vehicle. the f-35 will be a mainstay of delivering ordinance and providing air superiority has at

least 30 years. i think we want to make it there. we want to make it a worldwide product. if you look at the f-16 experience, it has been terrific for our industrial base to continuously sell f-16 half a lot of places. -- f-16's a lot of places. i cannot imagine what would fill the vacuum if we cancel the program. the chinese and russians will not wait to move into next- generation fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missiles. it is a lot more complicated very fast. how about right down here? you are getting a workout today, carrying that microphone. >> thank you for coming and taking our questions. i was curious. as i am sure you are well aware, presidents with visions

are great, but do not necessarily get policies accomplished. from your role, how does president do you make things happen and turn it into real policy? >> let me draw a distinction. presidents who have visions that do not get accomplished are just making speeches. you are not getting anything done. we do not hire them for that purpose. i came in as a freshman under carter, who was not getting much done. in fact, he carter had 13% inflation, 22% interest rates. we were sliding into a recession which would end with 10.8% unemployment. we had the hostage crisis. the soviets invaded afghanistan. they were in nicaragua, starting to go into costa rica, el salvador.

we had gasoline rationing every other day based on the last number of your license plate. i had a good friend who was 13 that year. he remembers it vividly because his job every morning was to go out back with a screwdriver and make sure the car that needed gasoline had the right license plate. i have always thought it was a great test of whether you are a liberal or conservative. by telling you we had a policy so stupid we retreating 13 year olds to get around it -- a conservative says we should drop the policy. as a liberal, you said that is proof we need a license plate police of every gas station. that is an easy task. -- test. reagan demand. people forget. in 1980, there were serious articles written. "is the presidency to big? -- too big?"

by august of 1981, nobody would write the article. reagan had been head of the screen actors guild. he negotiated and led a strike. he was governor of california, six of eight years with a democratic senate. he really rim to achieve something, not just a posture. reagan understood two key things. one was that his power was directly related to his ability to communicate with the american people. he tried to shine the light at the american people so they would turn up the heat on congress. all the speeches for educational, to get people to understand why he was doing what he was doing. that was the first basis of his presidency. he understood every day that if he did not have independents and democrats, he could not govern. i did a movie.

we have a scene where gerald ford invites him to come to the convention and speak. reagan's opening line is, "my fellow republicans." he pauses. "ms those democrats and independents around the country who agree with us." he knew instinctively he had to be inclusive. he could not just be a republican president. i helped to develop a piece of the '80 campaign. i helped organize the first capitol steps event in history. the minute the election was over, we had won control of the senate. we won six senate seats by a total of 75,000 votes. i thought the capitol steps helped each of those marginal candidates just enough to get over the top. but we did not have the house. tip o'neill was speaker. he was a hard core boston-irish

politician who believed in liberalism. this is a sincere guy. he is going to defend the whole thing. we realized we had to get one out of every three democrats to vote with us. from day one, here reagan and the house republicans are working to find that one out of three democrats, and we did. when i got to be speaker -- jumping ahead to president. that is from a future speech. when i got to be speaker, it was patently obvious if i wanted anything signed into law i had to get bill clinton's signature. i could posture and schedule votes and play games. in the end, through our constitution, he could not get anything if i would not schedule it, and i could not get anything if he would not sign it. would hit each other at a press

conference, and then meet for five hours. this went on for weeks. it is simple. you walk into a room. you close the door. you say, "i have to do this." is hard to build a box and figure out what can i give you that does not violate my beliefs. frankly, you maneuver a fair amount. we knew the election was coming. we knew 90% favored welfare reform. we finally passed a third time, and he signed it. he claims credit, and he should. he was the president. he reformed welfare. but i can claim it because i passed it three times. jim baker in our movie comments reagan always believed the purpose of a negotiation was to

get what he needed. -- get an agreement. he would rather get 80 percent when come back later for the other 20%. when the go to reykjavik to meet with gorbachev, reykjavik offers to dismantle the entire soviet nuclear arsenal if reagan will give up ballistic missile defense, and reagan says no, because it is a step too far. by holding tough, six months later, gorbachev comes back and years of reagan and virtually everything he wants to produce nuclear vessels. it is not like reagan will take a bad deal, but he is always trying to find a way to say what can he get done. callisto and i have talked about this at length. she used to be on the agricultural committee. i served on public works, which

is very bipartisan. we wanted to reach out to every elected democrat as well as every republican, and find a way to break the logjam and get a deal done. that is a great question. that lady right there. >> i understand from my colleagues that you are a huge proponent of six sibma. -- sigma. you asked the house subcommittees to come back, with the help of academia and practitioners. and i was wondering -- come back with results for how they could leave out some of the procedures they do every day. i was wondering what the results were of that. >> nothing. the you use something like lien six sigma here? does it make you more

productive, less wasteful? >> yes. >> i think i am the only candidate who can describe that and can say that as president i would ask the congress to go through a training -- training program, both members and starks. i would ask every incoming appointee to go through a training program. the only way you can go through something like this is you learn it. it is not a magic formula you do on your blackberry. it is a different culture, a different mind set. that is one of the reasons i am running. let me summarize and ask your help. the reason i am running is i believe our problems are so complicated and difficult that we need somebody who actually understands them intellectually and has a chance of managing the change, and has the willpower, the drive, and the discipline to get it done, but can also articulate it so every american could be part of it.

i do not think 537 elected officials are good to fix it. i think the country is going to fix this. the job of the next president is to work with the american people together. i do not ask you to be for me and say, "i hope newt fixes it. " i want you to be with me and stand shoulder to shoulder to get this done. from every poll, this election is wide open. it is a classic new hampshire last-minute -- you thought you understood us, and boy were you wrong. i really do ask for your help. i ask you to be beside me. i hope you will talk to your friends and neighbors and encourage them to vote for me tomorrow. if you do not like what i am doing, i hope you will say nothing to anyone. i know we are running late. we would love to meet you, if we

can. are we going to do it next door? but io what i am told -- would like to meet you if i possibly can. thank you very much. [applause] >> newt gingrich at one of his nine scheduled campaign appearances today in new hampshire, that one in nashua. at about 6:00 this evening, he was scheduled to visit his state headquarters in manchester, but was met by protesters, both ron paul supporters and some occupiy folks. here is a look. the scene outside newt gingrich's campaign headquarters

in new hampshire. mr. gingrich picked spokesperson said the private security detail decided to table the event because of security concerns regarding the entrance and exit to the building crude before march bigger wrapping up his of bentonite, like a lot of folks -- regarding the entrance and exit to the building. the former speaker rubbing up his might, like a lot of folks. -- wrapping up his night, like a lot of folks. talking about mitt romney's jobs record. meanwhile, the president holding to campaign events in washington, the last for 700 people, where he criticized republicans in congress, and the candidates running in new hampshire. he spoke before 700 people in washington. this event from a short while

ago is half an hour. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applause] >> hello, everybody. hello, hello, hello. [applause] thank you. thank you. thank you. happy new year, everybody. it looks like they got you all fired up. a few acknowledgements i want to make.

first of all, the virginia state director is here. which just want to thank our directors in the state, because they do such hard work every day. give them a round of applause. the chair of our event this evening, spencer over to an -- thank you. -- overton. thank you. one of michele's favorite singers, and her band. we are grateful to them, and i am grateful to you. i love you back. but i am here not just to say i love you. i am here because i need your help. and more importantly, i am here because the country needs your help.

there were a lot of reasons many of you got involved in our campaign and worked your hearts out back in 2008. it was not because you thought it was going to be easy. it was not because you thought it was a sure thing. you decided to support a candidate named barack hossein obama -- hussein obama. you did not need a poll to know that might be an uphill struggle. but what evolved during the course of that campaign -- people became aware of the fact that the campaign was not about me. it was about us. it was about our shared vision of america. it was about a vision of america and the was not correct. it was not an idea that in america everybody fence for themselves and plays by their own rules. - cramped.

it was not an idea that everybody in america rends for them -- fends for themselves and plays by their own rules. it was a compassionate america, where everybody who works hard has a chance to get ahead -- not only those at the very top, but everybody. it was a vision that says we are greater together than we are on our own. it was a vision that says everybody who deserves a fair shot, and everybody needs to do their fair share. everybody has to play by the same set of rules. when that happens, we all advance together. that is the vision that we share. that is the change we believed in. you help me believe in that change. it was not just me. it was you. we knew it was not going to be easy. we knew the change we wanted was not going to come quickly. i was talking to a group

reminiscing about the 2008 campaign. you guys are engaged in selective memory, here. first of all, 2000 a was not easy at all. there were all kinds of setbacks. the were all kinds of miscues her. there were times i screwed up. but just over three years later, because of what you did in 2008, because you have faith, because you had confidence in the possibilities of this country, here we have begun to see what change looks like. think about it. think about what has happened over the last three years. the first bill i signed into law says an equal day's work should mean an equal day's pay, because our government -- [applause] changes the decision we made to rescue -- change is a decision

we made to rescue an auto industry on the verge of collapse, even one politician said which would let them go bankrupt. a million jobs were saved and local businesses were picking up today. we have the big three, making money, hiring workers, and efficient cars are rolling off the assembly line stamped with "made in america." that is what change is. [applause] changes the decision we made to stop waiting for congress to do something about our oil addiction, and find a way to raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. by the next decade, we will get 55 miles to a gallon. that is going to help our environment. that will help our economy. that will help our consumers. that is what the changes. change is the fight we want to stop him and $60 billion of subsidies -- handing $60 billion

of subsidies to the student loan program and give it directly to students. as a result, young people have greater access to college than ever before. change is the health care reform which passed after a century of trying that will ensure that in america nobody goes bankrupt because they get sick. already, he to 0.5 million young people have health insurance today because that law month and stay on their parents' plan. seniors are already saying discounts on their prescription drugs. preventive care is available to everybody. fox with pre-existing conditions are in a position to get insurance instead of being left out in the cold. because of you. that is what we were fighting

for. millions of americans who can no longer be denied or dropped by their insurance companies when they needed the most. that is what change is. changes the fact that for the first time in our history, you do not have to hide who you love in order to serve the country you love. don't ask, don't tell is history. it is over. and change is keeping one of the first promises i made in 2008 -- ending the war in iraq and bring in our troops from. it is over and our troops are home. instead, we refocused on the terrorists who attacked the attack us on 9/11. thanks to our brave men and women in uniform, al qaeda is weaker than it has ever been, and osama bin laden will never again walked the face of the

earth. [applause] a lot of these changes were not easy. some of the more risky. they all came in the face of tough opposition, powerful lobbyists, special interests spending millions of dollars to keep things the way they work. it is no secret i have not always taken the politically popular course. certainly not with the crowd in washington. but this progress has been possible, nevertheless, because of you, because you did not stop believing. you stood up. you major voices heard. you knock on doors, made phone calls, kept up the fight long after the election was over. that should make you proud. but it should also make you hopeful. it should not make you

satisfied. it should not make us complacent. we have so much more work to do, and everything we fought for during the last election is at stake in this election. the very core of what this country stands for is on the line. the basic premise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, this is a place where you can make it where you try, though we are in it together and look out for one another. that is its stake in this election. watch, all of these debates in new hampshire. -- do not take my word for it. watch all of these debates in new hampshire. the crisis that struck before i took office put more americans out of work than any time during the great depression -- since the great depression. but it was the culmination of a decade in which the middle class lost ground. good jobs in manufacturing left

our shore. our prosperity was built on risky financial deals. we rack of greater debt. wages flat line. the cost of everything from college through groceries went through the roof. these problems did not happen overnight and will not be solved overnight. it is going to take as a few more years to meet all the challenges that have been decades in the making. the american people understand that. what the american people do not understand how our leaders to refuse to take action. they are tired of watching people who are supposed to represent them put party ahead of country, and the next election ahead of the next generation. that is what they do not understand. president kennedy used to say after he took office what surprise to most about washington was that things were

just as bad as he had been saying they were. and i understand what he meant. [laughter] when you have the top republican in the senate saying his party is not to picks jobs or the economy but to beat me, that gives you a sense of the mentality. things are not on the level. that is how you end up with republicans in congress to voting against all kinds of proposals they supported in the past -- tax cuts, building roads, putting cops and teacher's back to work. these used to be bipartisan ideas. i've said i will continue to look for every opportunity during the course of this year to work with congress to move this country forward and create jobs. but we cannot wait.

[applause] whenever this congress refuses to act in a way that hurts our economy and puts people at risk, i have an obligation as president to do what we can without them, on behalf of the american people. i am not going to let members of congress put party ideology ahead of people there were elected to serve. not when there is this much at stake. this is a make or break moment for this country, the middle class and folks that want to get into the middle class. for example, that is why last week by appointed richard cordray as america's consumer watchdog. this is a man whose sole job is to look out for the best interests of american consumers, to protect families from the

kinds of unfair, deceptive, abusive financial practices that help bring the economy to its knees. that should not be controversial. why would somebody be against that? yet for almost half a year, republicans in the senate blocked his appointment. they would not even vote on it. not because they said he was not qualified, because they could not say that. former attorney general. you had democrats and republicans throughout the country saying he was qualified. they just wanted to weaken on wall street reforms. -- we can wall street reforms. they thought this might be too tough on these financial firms. does anybody here think the reason we got into this financial mess is because we had too much oversight? too much accountability? we should not be weakening these

rules. we should be strengthening these rules, when it comes to american workers and american families. we should be looking to protect them more, not less. that is what we have been doing, and that is what we are going to keep doing. it is also why i fought so hard last month to make sure congress did not go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million working americans. and i am glad. i am glad republicans finally came around and agreed to extend the peril tax cut for working families into this year. but they have to now extended for the entire year, you know? a lot of these republicans have sworn an oath. i will never raise taxes on anybody as long as i live. well, how do not make an exception for ordinary folks. it cannot just applied to the wealthiest.

now is the time to prove you will fight at least as hard for middle-class folks and folks trying to get in the middle class as you do for americans. we have a clear choice this year. people are hurting out there. they are going to a tough time. everybody understands the economy is not where it needs to be. it is growing. it has had five consecutive months of job growth in the private-sector. but everybody understands we still have more work to do. of course it has got to move faster. of course the economy still has a long way to go. everybody understands that. the question is what are we going to do about it. the debate is about where we go from here. the republicans in congress and

the candidates running for president have a specific idea for where they want to take this country. they say they want to reduce the deficit, but they are going to do it by cutting our investments in education, research, technology, and infrastructure -- our roads, our bridges, and our air force. i have already signed a trillion dollars worth of spending cuts, but it is time to reduce the deficit by asking the wealthiest people in our society to pay their fair share. there is nothing wrong with that. people like me can afford it. republicans in congress and on the campaign trail want to make medicare a form of private insurance that seniors have to shop for with a voucher that might not cover all the costs. i think we can lower the cost of medicare with reforms that still guarantee the dignified retirement of seniors, because they have earned it.

republicans in congress and these candidates think the best way for america to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom. they figure china pays low wages, so we should pay low wages. let's roll back minimum-wage. let us prevent folks, for organizing or collective bargaining in this country. since other countries allow pollution as much as they want, why not get rid of the protections that insure our air is clean and our water is clean? i do not think when we should have any more regulations than the american people require. we will save businesses billions of dollars. we are creating a smart government. we have issued fewer regulations than the bush administration. i do not believe a race to the bottom is one we should be trying to win. we should be trying to win the race to the top.

we should be competing to make sure we have the best schools in the world and our workers have the best training and skills in the world, and we have a college education within reach of everybody that wants to go. that is the race we should be trying to win. we should be in a race to give our business is the best roads and airports, railroads, and internet access. we should be in a race to support the best scientists and researchers, who are trying to make the next breakthroughs in clean energy and medicine. those should happen in the united states of america. that is the race we should be trying to win. [applause] we should be in the race to make sure that the next generation of manufacturing, the new products, new services, are not created in asia or europe, but are created here. they are created in detroit,

pittsburgh, cleveland, and baltimore. virginia. [applause] i do not want us to just be known for buying stuff from other places. i want us to be known for building stuff and selling stuff around the world, made in america. that is what i want us to win. the competition for new jobs and new businesses, and middle-class security -- that is a race we can win. we cannot win it if we just go back to the same things that got us into this mess in the first place. it is the same old tune. hand out more tax cuts to folks that don't need them. let companies play by the rules. hope everything eventually trickles down to the rest of us. that does not work. it never worked. we tried it.

it did not worked in the great depression. it is not what led to the incredible postwar boom of the 50's and 60's. it did not work when we tried it between 2000 and 2008. it will not work now. we cannot go back to this brand of on-your-own economics. we are not the country that was built on the idea of survival of the fittest. we were built on the idea that we survive as a nation. we thrive when we worked the other, all of us. -- work together, all of us. every race, every creed. we believe we have a stake in each other's success. if we attract outstanding teachers into our profession, give her the pain she deserves, the support she deserves -- she is going to teach the next steve jobs, and we will all benefit. it would provide a faster internet out in some rural

community, that owner is would be selling goods around the world, going to be able to hire more workers. that is good for all of us. we build a new bridge that saves shipping companies time and money. workers and customers all over the country will do better. that is our idea. and that idea has never been democratic or republican. that is an american idea. the republican president, abraham lincoln, launched the transcontinental railroad, academy of sciences, first land grant colleges. republican teddy roosevelt called for a progressive income tax. republican dwight eisenhower build the interstate highway system. republicans voted with fdr to bring millions of returning heroes, including my grandfather, a chance to go to college under the gi bill. this is an american idea. [applause] you know what?

here is the good news. here is the good news. that same common purpose -- that still exists today. maybe it does not exist here in washington, and maybe not on the presidential debate stage up in new hampshire, but out in america, it is there. it is there when you talk to folks, here on main streets and barbershops and town halls. our political parties may be divided, but most americans understand we are greater together. no matter where we come from, we rise or fall as one nation or when people. that is what is at stake right now. that is what this election is about. i know this has been a tough three years. i know the change we fought for in 2008 -- we have had to grind it out to make it happen.

after all that has been going on in washington, all the nonsense that takes place here sometimes, it is easy to believe it might not be possible to do everything we've worked. but i want to remind everybody of what i said in the last campaign. big changes hard. it has always been hard. it takes more than a single term. it may take more than a single president. it takes you, ordinary citizens, committed to fighting and pushing, inching this country forward, bit by bit. until we get closer to our highest ideals. that is how this country was built. it is how we free ourselves from an empire. it is how the greatest generation was able to overcome more than a decade of war and oppression and end up building the largest middle-class in history. it is harder and people beat

back the billy clubs and the dogs and the fire prices -- fire hoses to make sure race was no longer a barrier to what you could, in this country. changes hard, but it is possible. -- change is hard, but it is possible. i have lived it. if you want to change the point scoring in washington, this is the election to send a message that you refuse to back them. you will not give up. you intend to keep hoping. you intend to keep fighting for the change we talked about, the change we believe them. [applause] you know, i said in 2008 -- i warned you all. i said i am not a perfect man. i said i won't be a perfect president. but i promised you -- i promise

you this. i made a commitment to you, and i have kept this commitment. i will always tell you what i think, i always will tell you where i stand, and i wake up every single day thinking about you, fighting for you, and trying to figure out how we can make sure everybody has access to the american dream. if you stick with us, if you keep pushing, if we keep going through the tough times, if you keep reaching for a vision of america that i know you still hold in your heart, then change would continue to come. [applause] this election may be harder than the last, but i promise you we will finish what started in 2008. we're going to keep going. we will press forward. we will remind the world once more why the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. thank you.

god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [music: stevie wonder "signed,

sealed, delivered"]

plays ♪] >> president obama at one of the fund-raising events in washington. we will open up our phone lines and focus on the election in 2012. and we asked earlier who you think the strongest candidates to come out of new hampshire to take on president obama. the numbers are on the screen. in just about two hours from now

at midnight eastern, the voting will get under way. the president's name is on the ballot on the democratic ballot in new hampshire. at the actual ballot. the sample ballot from new hampshire on the democratic side, randall terry, bob green, john hayward. a number of these folks were part of the lesser-known candidates debate, which is airing at this hour on our companion network c-span2. it is about an hour and half. here is newcastle, pa., frank on the democrat's line. caller: a couple of comments. i voted for obama. i was excited to vote for him after eight years of bush.

once he got into office, in my opinion he has restricted our freedoms and our rights. i firmly believe that by back home,ur troops stockhol our troops can stimulate our own economy. forget about parvin of their economies overseas. >> you approve of the president's efforts in terms of bringing the troops back home and ending the war? caller: i am not because i think he is reallocating the force to go to and other nation. -- another nation i firmly believe that we will need congressional permission before we go into other nations. guest: that is the position that -- host: that is the position that congressman ron paul has taken. caller: ron paul is getting my vote this time around.

host: this is a republican caller from north carolina. ellen, go ahead. you are on the air." we will put you on hold for accetta and then go to claremont, new hampshire, american -- but we will put you on hold for a second and then go to claremont, new hampshire, mary. caller: i am watching the tv. i am republican. this country elected barack obama over a republican because george bush, the republican, is what got us into this big mess. no matter how you figure it. host: who you think coming out of new hampshire is the best candidate to take on president obama? caller: did not like any of the republicans. -- i do not like any of the republicans.

i think newt gingrich is talking about the way politics was way back when. this is a different world today. it is more dangerous. it is more complex host: the president gets your vote in 2012? caller: i do not know. i am undecided. host: thanks for weighing in. here is worn on the democrat's line in new york city. -- warren on the democrat's line in new york city. caller: i would be most fearful as a democrat of jon huntsman. but i'm not sure republican process that we have in new hampshire that would get him on the ballot. host: how well you think he will do on the ballot in new hampshire tomorrow? caller: i think he will do much better than people expect. he could even do better than rick santorum. i think he is articulate.

i think he is very middle of the road politically. i think he is very common sense. i think mitt romney is not the candidates yet. host: those numbers for mr. huntsman, according to the poll that just came out, he is tied in third with ron paul. mitt romney has 41%. let's go to ellen in asheville, n.c., on the republican line. go ahead. i think we have lost ellen on that line. here is hazleton. is it hazleton, north carolina, joe? >> hazleton, pa.. -- caller: hazleton, pa..

host: go ahead with your comment. caller: i will vote for ron paul. and no one is talking about the government restricting our rights from us, censorship and other things. no one is speaking of what this except for ron paul. jon huntsman, he is issuing for the vice-president spots. host: what is he likely to do there in pennsylvaninorth carol? caller: i live in pennsylvania. host: sari, it is late. this is john. go ahead. caller: ron paul wants to give right back to the people. he is a libertarian. he wants to stop spending money is overseas.

i am a teacher and i see the of the places that we could potentially be spending money and that is not happening right now. i want to fix our infrastructure. i think ron paul is the guy to do that. host: if he comes in third or fourth, how long can he carry- on, the thing? -- do you think? caller: i do not know how long he can carry on. but he has got my vote and i want to do everything i can to make sure he gets as close to second or third in the primaries. host: what time will you vote tomorrow? caller: i will probably go during my lunch break. about 12:00 p.m. host: thanks for sharing your opinion and how you will vote.

this is ellen on the republican line in asheville, north carolina. caller: i am a democrat. though line was busy on the democrat line. host: we ask that you call in on the line that best reflects your views. caller: right, and i just think it is one to get worse before it gets better. it is getting better finally. host: what, to you, is the sign that things are getting better? caller: there are so many things. as he said in his speech tonight, since day one he has been working toward getting things better. but no one gives him any credit for everything he has done from day one. it is a hard job to get us out of the mess that bush left us in. host: we will give you another chance to see the president's comments later.

we will show you lots of events from today in new hampshire, the final day of campaigning with newt gingrich, mitt romney, ron paul, jon huntsman and present form. john lewis is on the republican line. go ahead. and we lost st. louis. catherine in kentucky. are you there? caller: yes, i am. the host: ahead with your comments. -- host: go ahead with your comments. caller: i'm very proud of our president and i think is wrong for the congress and the senate and the people of this nature have worked against our president the last three years. it takes away the morale of the country when you see that.

there are a lot of things going on in these states that really need federal will and regulation. i think he deserves the nomination again to help him finish his job for a country, and the people in our country. i think he needs more notoriety on the good things that he has done for our country. and i think the republican party needs to back down a little bit and show this man and a bit more respect and help him to get the job done that has been meeting to be done for 50 years. i am 60 years old, and i have seen a lot of politics going on in this world. he has been one of the best presidents that we have out in the past 35. host: this is covington, tennessee. ashleigh is on our -- is that

you in covington, tennessee? caller: yes, this is me. thank you for taking my call. i want to sit by and a barack obama supporter, but if there was someone else out there cannot -- i want to say that i am a barack obama supporter, but if there was someone else out there, i would vote for ron paul. host: but go to new hampshire. hi, wade. caller: i want to congratulate the older lady there that was saying that we need to give our presidents and respect. in my opinion, i think it is time that we all start waking up and put our country's future and our children's future ahead of our agendas, and our opinions, and everything else and start moving this country forward. for mitt waiting

romney or any of the so-called leaders in this state to give me an explanation as to how they are using the judicial system to build up an insurance company and not give me due process. the only people that are helping me are a few, select people in the legislative body. with that, the last thing i would like to be able to say is, god bless president barack obama. i hope that he start putting some foot to the road for our country. host: thanks for all of your calls. you will get another chance to call in tomorrow morning when we start of the "washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. when mcdonald, the republican chair in new hampshire. and we will also hear from james

pindell. finally, david paleologos. perhaps he will have a poll number or to a vote for us. "washington journal" getting under way at 7:00 p.m. -- 7:00 a.m. eastern. live coverage at 8:00 p.m. eastern at c-span, and -- of the primary at c-span and at c- span.org. and we will start with two events tonight. mitt romney in bedford, new hampshire. we will also hear from jon huntsman and rick santorum. new gingrich at a town hall in nashua and ron paul in hollis. starting with mitt romney, his final appearance. one caller mentioned she was at the appearance in bedford, new

hampshire this evening. it is about a 45 minutes. >> good evening new hampshire. are you ready? are we ready in the "live free or die" stake to cast a vote that will be heard are on the world -- state to cast a vote that will be heard around the world? are we ready to put governor romney in the white house and turn our economy around? are we ready? [cheers] are we ready to ensure that governor romney is the next president so that none of us will ever have to apologize for being an american? are we ready? [cheers] i am ready. you are ready. and i have three friends to introduce who are ready.

three great american patriots. first, senator kelly aiot and her veteran husband from the air force, joe. the center is a rising star in washington, doing a great job for all of us. and i have another good friend of new hampshire, gov. tim pawlenty from minnesota. [applause] from the liberal land of hubert humphrey and gene mccarthy, this guy cut taxes and balance the budget and is a leading conservative voice across our country. ladies and common, senator kelly aieot. >> thanks so much.

i'm here with my wing man, joe daly, and i'm so what to have him here. our country is in trouble. this president has added close to $5 trillion to our debt. we cannot stand for more years of barack obama. [applause] but i am so encouraged tonight about america. we have mitt romney running for president. he is someone who, unlike this president, has actually balanced budget both in the private sector and as governor of massachusetts. he eliminated a deficit, bounced the budget, but money in -- balanced the budget, put money in the rainy day fund and that is what we need in the washington d.c. [applause] he is someone who knows how the economy works.

he will get the private sector working again, and on like this president that we have right now, he knows that our jobs are not created in washington d.c. , they are created by the small businesses here in new hampshire, and a large businesses all around the country. [applause] and finally, my husband and i, we come from a military family. joe served in the iraq war as an a-10 pilot. [applause] one of the reasons we are supporting mitt romney, one of the most important reasons, is that he will be an excellent commander in chief. he will be a commander in chief who will listen to his military commanders, and not his pollsters or political of geysers, and has just says, he will never apologize for the --

political advisers, and has jeff says, he will never apologize for the united states of america. we will be proud to have him in the white house. [applause] we have seen around the country that strong, conservative leaders are coming forward to support mitt romney for president. it is my honor tonight to introduce one of those strong conservative leaders for our country, the former governor of minnesota, tim pawlenty. [applause] >> thanks a lot. i appreciate it. do you agree with me that new hampshire has one of the greatest united states senators in the congress today? [applause] kelly is awesome. have you had enough of barack obama? have you had enough of his rhetoric and then he does not deliver what he has promised? have you had enough of barack

obama as saying he will cut the deficit in half during his first term and then he'd triples it? have you had enough of barack obama hurting our defense capabilities? have you had enough of judges who will apply the law like it is written on the back of a napkin is that of the way it is written? are you ready to support mitt romney? [applause] i want to give you two messages before i make an introduction of our featured speaker tonight, the next president. one is this, i grew up in in the packing town. my mother was a homemaker. she passed away when i was young and my lap -- my dad lost his job not too long after that. one of the big challenges for the next president is to make sure that we have a country that does those things that encourage job growth in america, not

discourages it. when you ask people all around this country who run small and medium-sized businesses, as mitt romney did until not long ago, what can you do to make it more likely that we grow jobs, and you know what they say? they say, get the government off my back. [applause] some talk about taxes, some talk about regulation, and some talk about energy, but it is the same message. it is not based on a lifetime in washington d.c., secure life time and politics, but on the growing businesses and providing jobs in the private sector. there's only one candidate cut meet that description, and it is mitt romney. -- that needs to that description, and it is mitt romney. [applause] all across america people want to know if they can get their kids in college, can they pay

their of insurance, is my family going to be ok. the main way that we will answer the question is whether they have a job. it has been a real treat to get to know mitt romney. we traveled together on various trips when i was governor. i got to know him behind the scenes, so to speak. he is a great man of character and integrity. he loves his family. you watch him and ann romney and it is obvious they loved each other and they have been married 40 years or more. he is a great dad. he is a great grandpa. he has an incredibly loving relationship with his grandchildren. it is great to see the strength of the character of his family. i will not just introduced the next president of the united states, but i will introduce within the group of people that

helped keep him grounded, that shaped his values, and you will see not just him, but the next great first lady, ann romney. i would like to introduce a very large portion of the tremendous run the family. not all of them, but a very large portion of the tremendous family.ey ladies and gentlemen, mitt romney. [applause] ♪ >> [crowd chanting "mit!"] >> thanks very much. i hope you'll give me a bigger

margin of victory and then the eight votes i got in iowa. [applause] i want to thank you for being here tonight. you may wonder who are all of these people. on the far right, that is not my son. that is my brother. scott is albany, by the way. and then there are three of my boys. my oldest son is a doctor. craig, the youngest of my five boys. he lives in california. his wife is separated. there they are. they are together again. there is joe with his dad. this is confusing. there are from california with their four children. this is nick, chloe, mia, and

make the grade. -- nate, the great. [applause] if i did not have a family that was behind me and encouraging the and if i did not have a wife quitting yet to this, i do not think i would be -- putting me up to this, do not think that would be doing this. last time round i decided i was uncertain and i did not think i wanted to do it again, but she said i have got to. my sweetheart, ann romney. [applause] >> i see a lot of people that we have known and loved for a long time. thank you. it's great to have my family here. we are so appreciative of everyone who has been here for us. i think you have heard me say before that after the last election, you one thing was certain, i was never going to do that again. it reminds me that i said that

after each pregnancy. [laughter] and you notice, i've got a few sons. off but about a year ago, miffs and i were figuring this out. -- peskov mitt and armitt and is out and we were going to all of the roadblocks, which i was aware of. and i said, i just want you to answer one question, just one. can you turn america around? and his answer was yes. then i said, no question, you have got to run. [applause] we are in it because i believe america is in peril. we are in stormy seas right now. and who knows what is coming down and what kind of difficulties this country will face.

but i know something else. if the life -- the light that ronald reagan talked about, the shining light on the hill, that life is fading. i need someone to get in there and turn up that fight. let's hear it for the next president of the united states. [applause] >> she always says that, you know that? she speaks like the and people say, why shouldn't she be president instead of you? it is so frustrating. thank you, sweetheart. i want to thank all of you for being here this evening. you have a border security problem here in new hampshire. some folks from massachusetts made it is across the border. you have a republican delegation from massachusetts. and greg johnson, the leader of the republican house.

and as you know, our legislature is about 85% democrat, so i appreciate you being up here. thank you, guys. it is good to have you [applause] -- not to have you here. [applause] -- is good to have you here. [applause] we announced that i was going to run for president. it's i know a number of you were there. and we have been coming to new hampshire for 40 years. we would go slowing in the lakes here with our children. -- swimming in the lakes here with our children. we taught our little guys how to ski here. taught them how to water ski kfaand we love the people of new hampshire.

we love the yankee spirit of " live free or die." i do not know who captured the phrase, but it so typifies the people of this state that you love your freedom and the founding vision of this great country. i appreciate your welcoming us here tonight. if i am president of the united states, will not forget new hampshire. i will make sure that new hampshire has a place in the warehouse. if [applause] ordaz -- in the white house. [applause] america faces a very stark choice of direction. i happen to believe that we are now seen played out before the american people a very stark difference between the two courses that we can take. i have seen a president that has faced the 35 straight months

of unemployment he said he would borrow $87 billion and unemployment would drop. it has not been below 8%. 25 million people are out of ford or have stopped looking for work. -- out of work or have stopped looking for work. people who were thinking of retirement now wonder if they can retire. people who were wondering which college they might go to are now looking at whether they should get another minimum-wage job to make ends meet. this is a detour for america. this president attitude is "well, it could be worse." that is not my view. i believe we can become the job-

creating machine we once were. i believe we can once again make it the best place in the world to be middle income. we can also not just talk about, if would be better, but in fact, it must be better. if i were president of the red states, i would use all of my energy to create a and -- of the united states, i would use all of my energy to create a better job environment for the people of america. [applause] we have a president who said he was going to go out and be critical of the president. you recall president bush, saying that he borrowed too much money. now we have are three times as much. he is on track in four years to put against america's future as much debt as all of the prior presidents combined, almost.

and think about that. he has put us on track to become the italy or degrees of the future. -- or the of greece of the future. it is wrong. it is bad economics. it is not moral. if i am president of the united states, i will cut federal spending, balance the budget, kowt how much the federal government spends. -- cap how much the federal parliament spends. the federal government spends. let's get spending under control. on the one hand, we have a president who thinks with our health care challenges we have all of the answers. he thinks his plan will be imposed upon the entire nation soon. he thinks government can do a better job of guiding our health care system than for people making their own choice.

-- free people making their own choice. i will repeal obamacare on day one. [applause] i will need the help of congress to get that done, but i will also make sure that while we are waiting for the repeal to occur, the direct the secretary of health and human services will grant a waiver from obamacare to all 50 states true, happen to believe that the people who should guide health care -- to all 50 states. because i happen to believe that the people who should get health care in this country are not government. [applause] we have a president who thinks that his job is to stop all of the forms of energy that we are used to. kohl, a drilling -- coal and drilling for oil, and we fall

further and further behind in demand. if i were president, will develop the oil and gas and nuclear to finally become energy secure and independent of the oil cartel's. [applause] i really think this is a campaign about the soul of america. the question is, are we going to hold fast to the principles upon which this nation was founded, or are we going to take a different course? when the founders wrote the declaration of independence, they said we were endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. in america, we have the right to pursue happiness as we choose. we can decide what we want to be by virtue of our education, our hard work, our risk taking, our

dreams. we can accomplish things that the whole world marvels at. that is what america has always been. i believe in that kind of america. it is a merit-based society, an opportunity society where people come here not for handouts, but opportunity. [applause] it is a nation where we know that our kids future will be unencumbered by the circumstances of birth and will be as broad and bright as their dreams, as their education, as their willingness to work and take risks. i believe president obama would change the culture and the nature of this country. i think he wants to make this more like a european welfare state. if i am not willing to make america more like europe. i want to make america more like america. [applause]

>> [crowd chanting in distinctly] -- [crowd chanting ina distinctly] aho >> instead of shouting, why

don't you say your views? madam, what you think? >> [inaudible] >> and what is that? and who is the president that is spending more money than in the history of america? [cheers] the answer is, this president is spending money and has spent money, more than we have over our history. this president has been the first two throws of the public spending program, to break all of those barriers, and to spend massively more than any other president in this country's history. we know better than to hand over a second term. [cheers and applause] i get a chance to see these guys

come out here and protest and ask them, what would you replace america with it? what kind of system which you have? they don't know. [laughter] and the truth is, there has never been anything in the history of the earth that has freed people from poverty like america. [applause] you can't places like china. even china -- you look at places like china. even in china, they realize it is free enterprise and capitalism. now it's up with the way we practice it, but the principles of america and of freedom will prevail that is why we are going to stand for freedom for us and for our kids. -- freedom will prevail. that is why we are going to

stand for freedom for cost and for our kids. [applause] you guys, i love this country. i learned to love america when i was just a kid. my mom and dad -- there are a couple of kids right there. hi, you guys. my mom and dad took me to the national parks. i saw the beauty of the land. i also heard from mom and dad, their views about the founding of the country and their passion for the founders and their view terror -- their views on the future of america. i often heard my parents talk about their favorite national hymns. not only "the star spangled banner," but "america, the " one of my favorites. purple mountain majesties. verse thatther first

i love. will the veterans in their room , acting national -- the veterans in the room, acting national guard and reservists, will you raise your hand? [applause] thank you for your service. there is one more verse, and that is "oh beautiful, for patriot dream, that sees beyond the years." i believe that this vision of the founders, this passion for freedom and opportunity, that it was not designed just for their time, but ours as well. it sees beyond the years in terms of its impact and relevance. if i am president of the united states, i will restore a passion for the founding principles of this great land to get americans back to work, to rein in this government and to make sure that we are strong run the world.

i am dismayed as i watched the president talk about shrinking our military. the president would take us in a direction that would make smaller. military we are a patriotic people. we love america. we're going to come together and make sure that we keep it as it's always been, that shining city on a hill. i love this country and we will do our best to keep america strong and free together. let's take kdot -- let's take it to the next stage. give me the boost i need, i hope. [applause] ♪

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ eger: "born free"]

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>> former utah governor john huntsman campaign monday evening. this rally is 20 minutes. [cheers] >> thanks, everybody. i love the baby. -- battle ladthat lady. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, can you feel the momentum in the air? [cheers] can you feel the energy, ladies and gentlemen? [cheers] i have gone from one end of this state to the weather today and

at every stop along the way the same thing, something is happening out there. i have no idea what is going to mean tomorrow night, but i do know this. we will surprise a whole lot of people in this country tomorrow night. [cheers] thank you all for being here. we came on june 21 to this call. if we had a few people standing around and many of them came, and many of you are now old friends. with this look of disbelief. a sense of indifference, what is this candidate all about? tonight, we stand here with a great following in this state. you are all part of a movement, and i'm grateful to have you as part of it. but since june 21, and last night, we together have done 170 public events in the granite

state. of [cheers] [applause] 170 events, ladies and gentlemen. that is incredible. we have out worked every body and the people of this day, they do not want to be told for whom to vote, and they do not want the establishment giving them the same people. they want a new generation of leadership, a new generation of energetic leadership that will get the job done, and you are part of that movement. you are part of that movement, folks. but let me remind you before we shake hands and move out, because do we have work to do tonight and tomorrow? we have some work to do. but let me remind you first i am grateful to be standing with you, who are friends and colleagues and volunteers and supporters. i cannot thank you enough.

ladies and gentlemen, we have people from all over the country who are here. we have some folks who got in cars at the other end of the country and just drove. people who got on buses because they believe in a better america. that is who you are. that is who you are, ladies and gentleman. [cheers and applause] i do not want it lost on anybody in this room that i travel round the state. and i looked at every sign that i pass. and i am reminded that somebody, somebody put up that sign. somebody volunteered in our name, took its way out to the other side of the state, and had enough interest in the future of their country to put that into the ground. for those of you that have not run for president before, that is a pretty awesome deal when you are going down the highway and you see your name on a signed. it is pretty cool.

and then you stop to think about how it is all about volunteers from all about 18 who did it. some of our -- all about a team who did it. some of our volunteers have called off thousands of folks. we have people who have put up signs, who are ready to get out the vote, if people who are organizing all of the 10 counties around here. are we going to rock and roll tomorrow? we are ready to rock-and-roll. [cheers and applause] #2, this is bigger than all of us in this room. you know what i mean? this is america. this is our country. we are here not to play politics, ladies and gentleman. we are here as americans, first and foremost. and we are here to put our country first. did you like the debate yesterday morning?

[cheers] i think we were reminded by certain other candidate in the race that our team and our movement is here to put the country first. we are tired of people putting politics first. [cheers and chanting] we want a better tomorrow and what we are about to hand down to the next generation is unacceptable. it is not who we are. we are a bunch of blue sky, problem solving, optimus to people. if we are americans at the end of the day -- optimistic people. if we are americans at the end of the day. this is who we are. [applause] we are in a whole and about to get out with new leadership. this is bigger than all of us. this is about a country that we love. it is about the next generation of americans who we will fight and prepare this nation for because they deserve it.

ladies and gentlemen, when we leave tonight and we put in this hard work tomorrow that i know we will all be prepared to do -- all of you will be up bright and early and we will work our tails off all day long. i want you to remember as we carry on tomorrow that this is about a country we love. it is not about politics. it is about us as americans. it is about the greatest people on earth, the greatest nation that ever was, the united states of america. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting "usa!"] and i want you to remember as we think about tomorrow and what tomorrow might bring to my body to think about what we will accomplish together. because when we get to the end of the road, the white house, we

will get a few things done. if we are going to get term limits for congress, finally -- we are going to get term limits for congress, finally, once and for all. [applause] and we are going to close that revolving door for lobbyists, members of congress coming out and screwing things up. [applause] and we are going to tell congress, we are going to dock your pay until you balance the dam budget. [applause] and then we are going to stand up and tell the american people this, we have been at the war on terror for 10 years. and we love our men and women in uniform. they are the best of our nation. [cheers] and we have something to show for the work we have done. we have routed the taliban, we dismantled al qaeda. osama bin laden is no more.

we have strengthened the will focus -- civil society and helped the police and military. folks, we are coming home from afghanistan. [cheers and applause] and we will begin to rebuild this nation of ours. we will we build this nation. if we are going to get our core strong because we all believe that we have no effective foreign policy, no effective security strategy with a -- a weak nation right here at home. we will strengthen this nation and we will remind the world what it means to be americans. a [cheers] , and we will protect those values that have become so well known for -- liberty, democracy, human rights, open and free markets. [applause] because when our nation is

strong, we move people, we change lives, we change history. nobody does it like the united states america. but it starts with a strong country right here on the home front. that is what we are all going to work toward. do you know what else we are going to do? we're going to right size those banks that are too big to fail. [applause] i say, what kind of deal is this? we have been there and we have done that. the we are not going to bail anyone out, for heaven sakes. [applause] just remember as you wake up tomorrow morning and you get out and are energized as you are making calls, rounding up your friends so that they vote, this is what we are all going to do, right? are you with me? are you with me? we're going to do it with the idea in mind that this movement of ours is going to nail the economic deficit, because we are not passing $15 trillion down to

the next generation. i'm sorry. but just as importantly, we are going to work on the trust deficit of this country. i am sick and tired of there being no trust by the people toward their institutions of power. [applause] we are a nation founded on trust, and we are going to get back to trusting one another, and we will work toward trusting our institutions of power and coming together. we are going to come together as americans. this divided stuff, no more. and we are coming together as americans to start solving our problems. [applause] [chanting>> we have some work t. this is what i have been asking everybody recently. i am a shameless salesman at this point. i was even at a bakery this

morning. the lady running the cash register was on the phone to the dairy company and i said, "give me that phone. i have to ask that person for a vote." [laughter] i got a vote on the other end. it worked. every vote counts. when you walk out of here, here it is in the name of pulling this nation together, putting our country first. it is in the name of working tirelessly for the next generation. what i have been asking people for is their vote, and here is the deal. when i asked people for a vote, i am also asking them for their trust. just like to have all of you. every volunteer, friend, associate -- you are here because you trust we are going to do the job. you trust we are going to hold true to our word, which is rare in politics these days. i have gone around this great state and asked people for their vote, and i am also

asking people for their trust, because let's face it. at the end of the day, there is nothing more valuable you can give to another person and trust. it is a big deal. all of us in this room and beyond are going to be fuelled by a trust. it is what makes this country work. we need a system that in fuses that notion of trust into our system once again. as you are working tomorrow, i want you to remember the word, "trust." it there is one word that summarizes everything we are trying to do -- everything is trust. that is what this movement is about. that is what this campaign is all about. i believe that trust is going to take us all the way to the finish line tomorrow night, and we are going to surprise the world. thank you all for being here

tonight. let's go to work. thank you. thank you. [applause] [music: u2 "beautiful day"] ♪ chanting huntsman]

♪ [unintelligible]

[cheers and applause] [unintelligible] >> you guys are great. thank you so much. [unintelligible]

>> thank you very much. >> all right. >> what explains this momentum? >> hard work. [unintelligible] >> you have to wind. >> we are going to make it happen. [unintelligible] >> the road to the white house

coverage takes you to the candidate events. >> thank you and good luck to you, governor. >> thank you. >> once again, thank you, governor. >> sorry about the house. [laughter] thank you very much. i appreciate it. all i want is the endorsement of the people of new hampshire right now. >> as we follow the candidates, meet the voters. >> i am for very strict rules. you control the border, that is a big fur step. -- first step. [unintelligible]

>> tomorrow night, watch our coverage of the results of the new hampshire primary with candidates' speeches on c-span television starting at 8:00 eastern, and join the conversation on your phone along with comments from facebook and twitter. >> earlier on monday, rick santorum and as wide stop in for about 20 minutes at a restaurant in derry, a third of five campaign stops for the day. >> i have got to go. [unintelligible]

[unintelligible]

>> we will try to do the best that we can. thank you. hi. thank you so much. good to be here. new hampshire, right? [unintelligible] keep moving, guys. there you go. you are welcome. keep moving. terrific crowd.

oh, no, we feel very good. we go very strong and we're going to finish well. >> what about setting expectations for south carolina? >> when i first came here, i said that we had no expectations. not run any broadcast television -- at that time, that was needed. -- that was new. we're going to keep working hard and keep active. [unintelligible] >> the argument that running keeps making that he is more electable. -- that romney peacemaking that

he is more electable. >> he keeps saying that he is a conservative but he never won a race as a conservative. >> any scenario that you would not be going to south carolina? >> we're going to do very well. [unintelligible] if you let these folks get out -- thank you. how was hoping that people would wait until after right -- thank you. [unintelligible] ->> everybody out, let's go.

come on, guys. c'mon, c'mon, let's go. everybody go out. out of respect for the honor, i am not one to say any more to the cameras. i would be happy to speak to you outside. let's give these diners some room, everybody. no more comments. this man right here.

>> much to my dismay. >> deal was to go out the front of the bag? -- do you want us to go out the front or the back?

[unintelligible]

>> i do not know. >> wow. >> i know nothing. [unintelligible]

>> come by here, too, ret. rick. [unintelligible]

[unintelligible] >> earlier today you talked about being in second place. >> i have been running really hard. i went down to south carolina last night -- yesterday and there is a lot of enthusiasm. folks are anxious to get us down there. we have a great, great team there. hear, too. we have a lot of great energy here.

he has spent a lot of money on television and we did not have it. we wanted the opportunity to keep our message just out there, not just for folks in new hampshire, but around the country. our hopes that our grass-roots effort and our team that we built here in the ideas we have been talking about will resonate here. i think that they have. they have moved up from 3% into the pack of those who have spent a lot more time and money than we have here. [unintelligible] oh, my goodness, yes. ron paul is right here about 17 times. to do as well as them, i am not show that as possible but if we do it, that to me would be great. [unintelligible] >> mitt romney says that he is electable in your not.

>> he has run three times and lost twice. he has run as a liberal, a moderate, and now is a conservative. i've run here -- i have run five times and won four, i have always run as a conservative and run four times out of five. it is an absurd statement because of budget people giving mitt romney money to see the establishment candidate when, we lost with john mccain, we lost with bob dole, we lost with jerry ford. and when we run with conservatives like ronald reagan, we have been able to win. that is what we need. this is a party that understands ultimately that we need a strong conservative voice out there to be a strong alternative to barack obama and we are that alternative. over time, it will not be this

primary are the next, but we will have several races down the road, it will be a one-on-one race, and you'll see mitt romney against rick santorum and we will win this. >> what he's going to do to keep people in their homes? home foreclosure is an epidemic. did in the best thing to do is improve the economy. get the economy going again, so we can see housing values going again and housing starts go up, and people being able to pay their mortgage bird that is the best way to do it. we've had a prolonged recession because this president has continued to crush the american economy with more and more regulations. it cost businesses over $100 billion. never before, two. time -- 2.5 times the average over the past few years. they did top-down, higher

taxes, destroying the economy. >> our poll has you moving ahead a little bit and falling back and forth place. >> i have seen polls that have been tied for third place. that came out today. look, it is all within the margin of error. i think your poll and other polls are showing a huge percentage of undecideds is still. none of those polls are taken before the debate. we're doing exceptionally well in both of those debates. we are the candidate that has the best ability to go to to toe with mitt romney and beat the establishment and have a strong, conservative, principal candidate tim take on barack obama. >> is mitt romney a conservative? >> i think he is on some issues. but we need a strong contrast. he is good on some issues but he has a record of being a strong,

-- i have a record of being a strong conservative deck and make a difference. who can energize the conservative base as well as through my policies and the work of done been able -- i have done in the past, to reach out. the stakes that we need to win, i am the one that has a track record of winning in those states. the policies fit in with the kind of voters that we need to defeat the bar " -- to feed barack obama. >> said a third -- senator -- >> [unintelligible] >> we are going to go through and go to the back. >> thanks. >> do not let them come in.

>> i asked you if you would declare a war. is the analysis states allowed to do strikes without declaring war? >> yes. >> does congress have to approve it? >> weird not talking about a full-scale war, but targeted strike. i will certainly consult with congress. if you're talking about

president obama needing approval to do strikes and libya, that is a different situation. >> good to see it there. thanks. >> how are you? thanks. >> can i take a picture here? [unintelligible] >> all right. cheese. >> thank you so much. >> thanks, guys. >> by. good luck.

[unintelligible] >> hey, guys. [unintelligible] >> i got my tongue tied. i did not say the word black. look at my track record. look in my record of helping people, of employment, of

working in the community. you guys, it is really sad that you keep bringing this up. >> put him in the car. >> i have done more for the african-american community than any republican in recent memory. [unintelligible] >> i am going around. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> hey, guys. >> newt gingrich's schedule on monday included a of a town hall meeting in nashua. this is about 40 minutes. >> i do not have any notes. we lost the teleprompter on the bust. [laughter] let me say first, and just to remind all of us why we are here, i am running for president. i would very much like to have your support tomorrow, everywhere. only during the campaign. i want to take a couple of minutes and talk about something other than the campaign, because this is the first stop we have been on where we can really talk about national security in a very sophisticated way, with an audience that understands how important this

is. i am an army brat. my dad spent 27 years in the infantry. i grew up in places like fort riley, stood guard, germany. i got to georgia when my dad was assigned to fort benning. i have a lifelong interest in military affairs and national security. i decided in august 1958 that i would do what i am doing now, largely as a function of national security. i was 15 years old and my dad had convinced me the stuff was real. i think what many politicians and reporters do not realize is the extraordinary capabilities of the american military start at places like this. what you are doing is fully as much a part of national security as the person in uniform at the point in afghanistan, are much -- iraq,

or somalia, or an intelligence operative who may be covert, or the state department diplomat. the various capabilities to help develop, and companies that you across the country. we have an integrated capacity to bring science and technological knowledge to bear through a manufacturing process which enables our troops to have enormous advantages over our competitors. i think that is very important to understand. when we first went into afghanistan, there were very small special forces teams that were sent in. but nobody has really written about how it actually works. these are brave people. they are trained people and courageous people. but by themselves, they would

not be dramatically more capable. they might be more capable by a factor of three to one or four to one, what 300 to one. when the teams arrived, particularly in the north, the people they were dealing with fighting the russians and the taliban -- they got the fight. they have been doing it their lifetime. initially, they were puzzled by these very small teams, who pulled out sat phones. the pulled out capabilities that went into space and then down somewhere. they began pulling back visual imagery from overhead. all sorts of things that began to come to bear so that the person at the point had the support of the entire nation. one of the stories i was told by the deputy commander in that period was that when they first began meeting with the northern

alliance, the northern alliance said, "we will ride in the morning." i scared of them and said, "what do you mean?" they said, "we are going on horseback. it turned out the special forces field uniforms have a very large in seems -- have very large inseams, which, when you ride a horse, create a big problem. this was physically painful. they got on a cell phone. -- sat phone. they found that if you got extra-heavy, super large pantihose, three pair provide a buffer with you are riding a horse. i have never recommended anybody go to fort bragg and walk up to one of these guys and

say, "however the potatoes? -- how are the pantihose?" if i was doing a professional day at a joint forces command. like you, i broke out laughing. what people don't realize is think about the capacity to encounter the problem you have never thought of, the in the middle of nowhere -- this is central asia. pick up the phone. make an of order. within 36 hours, had it airdropped. and not have a clue going in which thing you will need this time. you are an intimate part of the system. i will tell you one of the stories. i will talk about the president if utterly destructive policy proposal this week.

i was down at yale university, teaching a course about 1983. i ask them to give a briefing. there had been a syrian-israeli engagement which was 101-one. that is, the syrians lost 101 aircraft and the israelis lost one. in my mind, this was the moment, lots of theories came together. you are now looking at a new reality. i asked him to put together a special briefing for me on what had happened. he said you have to understand the nature of the emerging battlefield. i have been involved a lot with the army command, designing since 1979, when i came as a freshman. i understood in general what had been going on, but i wanted to get a feel for this. the israelis had what we all

take for granted. they were flying of the mediterranean coast in a 707, and they were picking up all the electronic emissions from the syrian air force. as the israeli pilots are sitting around having coffee and chatting, they are monitoring. when the syrian pilots get in their plans and talk to the control tower and say, "our flight is ready to leave," they are listening. they have arabic translators. they are calling the ready room. we think given their flight time there will be entering the space where you can kill them in about 11 minutes. why don't you plan to takeoff in six minutes? we will vector you to where they are. he then showed me footage of this. the syrians, who were still fighting world war ii style, but, with no electronics, are

flying blind. they are taking off. when they get to a certain distance that is within the range of the israeli missiles, the airborne warning and control system says to them, "fire your missiles in this direction." these are hunt and six missiles. and go home. they never dogfight. the syrian planes get killed. they pick up them getting killed on the radar. they say, "that wave is gone. go back and rest. have coffee. watch a movie. we will let you know when the next wave comes." they just kept doing this. when they got done with this briefing and showed me this footage of four beyond visual range missiles being fired, and each was killing a syrian aircraft, i turned to the guys. this was 83. -- 1983. it happened faster than i

thought it would. i thought it would take 20 years, and it only took 291. -- it only took till 1981. i turned to my briefers and said, "if we have entered an age of instantaneous theater-wide warfare, and the soviets believe the xerox machine is a state secret, they are dead. it is impossible for a highly- controlled information- compartmentalized system to compete with a free-form system-wide"-- now it is worldwide. we have assets that allow us to shift information around the planet in virtually real-time. the reason i am telling you this is this is what you are part of. if the components you make do not work, people died. if the components to make do not work, we lose battles. all our capabilities are wonderful, courageous young people, reinforced by lots and

lots of people working hard to design and implement the next generation. because of russia and china, you have pretty good competitors technologically. we are in a permanent process of upgrading, because the first set of problems will not be the last. the weapon systems that were magic in 1983 are obsolete today. you are caught in a permanent process of defense in which we have to understand our competitors, come up with solutions that overmatch them, manufacture and implement those solutions, trained to those solutions, provide logistic support, and integrate into a seamless, worldwide system. that is why the president's comparison of our defense system with any other defense system in the world is sophomoric of foolish. we are the only country in the planet which seeks to provide stability and security on a worldwide basis, the only

country which seeks to minimize casualties to our young men and women. we deliberately create an overmatched to save american lives. i am against any president who would willingly take risks that are going to get young american men and women in uniform killed, or risk of losing a city to an enemy. and i think his proposals this week are the most irresponsible defense proposals of my lifetime. i think the congress should repudiate them and insist on this model. the model is simple. number one. what threatens us? what do we have to do to defeat those threats without losing americans? how do we make sure we have a margin of safety? if we are going to make a mistake, let us be too safe, not too weak. until you decide that solution, -- design that solution, you do

not know what to defense budget ought to be. i am not just talking about throwing money at defense. during the reagan buildup, i helped found with dick cheney and a number of other people, the military reform caucus. our theory was we were hawks, but cheap hawks. [laughter] i think you can take layers of bureaucracy out of the defense department. i suspect many of you deal with the layers of the bureaucracy. you know it is cumbersome and we can save money. but i want to have a very powerful defense system in a very dangerous world, and i would rather take the risk of being too strong over the risk of being too weak. i wanted to share that. this is a rare opportunity for me to talk about national security. i am personally grateful. you make america strong. i would like to take questions. is that ok? ok. if there are any questions. who would like to ask questions?

yes, sir. >> a lot of times, you have to question their motives as well. >> i regard pakistan as a country which is neither and eleanor and enemy. -- neither and allied nor an enemy. i think it is a country in turmoil. it is deeply penetrated by our enemies. they have different interests and we do. -- then we do. we have not begun to understand the tip of the pakistan system and how convoluted it is. all you have to do is ask yourself -- is there anybody who believes osama bin laden could be hiding in a large compound 1 mile from a national defense university four years without the government at some level knowing it? it is inconceivable. the first reaction was not who

has been hiding him, but who helped the americans. pakistan is in many ways a battleground in which the government has a tenuous hold on security, and in which the government is riddled by factions, some of which are deeply hostile to us. it should worry us that they have between 102 hundred nuclear -- between 100 and 200 nuclear weapons. weapons. people talk about the iranian bomb, which they should. -- 100 and 200 nuclear weapons. people talk about the iranian bomb, which they should. but pakistan worries meet every day. we have no idea whether there will be a leak, a takeover, a coup. this is an unstable country for us to rely on. somebody wake up at the back.

>> more of a domestic issues question. i do not hear a lot about consumer protection. what is the proper role of the federal government in consumer protection? >> there should be strong laws that allow you to protect yourself from getting ripped off. second, we ought to have constant statistical monitoring. for example, hit the product is made which leads to a crib deaths, we want to know immediately and withdraw it from the market. that is legitimate. i think there is a role for the government, on the public health and safety side, or if a flammable material is being turned into toys and is in danger of catching fire and burning kids -- that is something you want to have. but i would not micromanage. i do not want a consumer protection agency that goes

from protecting our safety to micromanaging our choices. there is a big difference in those jobs. how about this gentleman, right here? >> thank you for visiting with us today. could you share your thoughts on the f-35 fighter program? >> i have a certain bias here, because i used to represent lockheed martin in marietta, georgia, which was building the f-22, a really cool aircraft. i would argue a slightly cooler air plan and the f 35. the a 35 is a good plane, but it is a cool air plan. the f-35 is the heart of our strategy for the next 30 years. we have to make it work. we have to recognize how -- my hunch is -- this is a hunch, not uninformed opinion. my hunch is the phase beyond f-

35 is an unmanned vehicle. you are seen the evolution of unmanned vehicles. the f-35 will be a mainstay of delivering ordinance and providing air superiority has at least 30 years. i think we want to make it there. we want to make it a worldwide product. if you look at the f-16 experience, it has been terrific for our industrial base to continuously sell f-16 half a lot of places. -- f-16's a lot of places. i cannot imagine what would fill the vacuum if we cancel the program. there would be nothing there to fill the vacuum. the chinese and russians will not wait to move into next- generation fighter aircraft and next generation surface-to-air missiles. it is a lot more complicated very fast. how about right down here? you are getting a workout today, carrying that microphone.

>> thank you for coming and taking our questions. i was curious. as i am sure you are well aware, presidents with visions are great, but do not necessarily get policies accomplished. from your role, how does president do you make things happen and turn it into real policy? >> let me draw a distinction. presidents who have visions that do not get accomplished are just making speeches. you are not getting anything done. we do not hire them for that purpose. i came in as a freshman under carter, who was not getting much done. in fact, he carter had 13% inflation, 22% interest rates. we were sliding into a recession which would end with 10.8% unemployment. we had the hostage crisis. the soviets invaded afghanistan. they were in nicaragua,

starting to go into costa rica, el salvador. we had gasoline rationing every other day based on the last number of your license plate. i had a good friend who was 13 that year. he remembers it vividly because his job every morning was to go out back with a screwdriver and make sure the car that needed gasoline had the right license plate. i have always thought it was a great test of whether you are a liberal or conservative. by telling you we had a policy so stupid we retreating 13 year olds to get around it -- a conservative says we should drop the policy. as a liberal, you said that is proof we need a license plate police of every gas station. that is an easy task. -- test. reagan demand.

people forget. in 1980, there were serious articles written. "is the presidency to big? -- too big?" by august of 1981, nobody would write the article. reagan had been head of the screen actors guild. he negotiated and led a strike. he was governor of california, six of eight years with a democratic senate. he really rim to achieve something, not just a posture. reagan understood two key things. one was that his power was directly related to his ability to communicate with the american people. he tried to shine the light at the american people so they would turn up the heat on congress. all the speeches for educational, to get people to understand why he was doing what he was doing.

that was the first basis of his presidency. he understood every day that if he did not have independents and democrats, he could not govern. i did a movie. we have a scene where gerald ford invites him to come to the convention and speak. reagan's opening line is, "my fellow republicans." he pauses. "ms those democrats and independents around the country who agree with us." he knew instinctively he had to be inclusive. he could not just be a republican president. i helped to develop a piece of the '80 campaign. i helped organize the first capitol steps event in history. the minute the election was over, we had won control of the senate. we won six senate seats by a total of 75,000 votes. i thought the capitol steps helped each of those marginal candidates just enough to get

over the top. but we did not have the house. tip o'neill was speaker. he was a hard core boston-irish politician who believed in liberalism. this is a sincere guy. he is going to defend the whole thing. we realized we had to get one out of every three democrats to vote with us. from day one, here reagan and the house republicans are working to find that one out of three democrats, and we did. when i got to be speaker -- jumping ahead to president. that is from a future speech. when i got to be speaker, it was patently obvious if i wanted anything signed into law i had

to get bill clinton's signature. i could posture and schedule votes and play games. in the end, through our constitution, he could not get anything if i would not schedule it, and i could not get anything if he would not sign it. would hit each other at a press conference, and then meet for five hours. this went on for weeks. it is simple. you walk into a room. you close the door. you say, "i have to do this." is hard to build a box and figure out what can i give you that does not violate my beliefs. frankly, you maneuver a fair amount. we knew the election was coming. we knew 90% favored welfare reform. we finally passed a third time, and he signed it. he claims credit, and he should. he was the president.

he reformed welfare. but i can claim it because i passed it three times. jim baker in our movie comments reagan always believed the purpose of a negotiation was to get what he needed. -- get an agreement. he would rather get 80 percent when come back later for the other 20%. when the go to reykjavik to meet with gorbachev, reykjavik offers to dismantle the entire soviet nuclear arsenal if reagan will give up ballistic missile defense, and reagan says no, because it is a step too far. by holding tough, six months later, gorbachev comes back and years of reagan and virtually everything he wants to produce nuclear vessels.

it is not like reagan will take a bad deal, but he is always trying to find a way to say what can he get done. callisto and i have talked about this at length. she used to be on the agricultural committee. i served on public works, which is very bipartisan. we wanted to reach out to every elected democrat as well as every republican, and find a way to break the logjam and get a deal done. that is a great question. that lady right there. >> i understand from my colleagues that you are a huge proponent of six sibma. -- sigma. you asked the house subcommittees to come back, with

the help of academia and practitioners. and i was wondering -- come back with results for how they could leave out some of the procedures they do every day. i was wondering what the results were of that. >> nothing. the you use something like lien six sigma here? does it make you more productive, less wasteful? >> yes. >> i think i am the only candidate who can describe that and can say that as president i would ask the congress to go through a training -- training program, both members and starks. i would ask every incoming appointee to go through a training program. the only way you can go through something like this is you learn it. it is not a magic formula you do on your blackberry. it is a different culture, a different mind set. that is one of the reasons i am running. let me summarize and ask your help. the reason i am running is i believe our problems are so complicated and difficult that we need somebody who actually

understands them intellectually and has a chance of managing the change, and has the willpower, the drive, and the discipline to get it done, but can also articulate it so every american could be part of it. i do not think 537 elected officials are good to fix it. i think the country is going to fix this. the job of the next president is to work with the american people together. i do not ask you to be for me and say, "i hope newt fixes it." i want you to be with me and stand shoulder to shoulder to get this done. from every poll, this election is wide open. it is a classic new hampshire last-minute -- you thought you understood us, and boy were you wrong. i really do ask for your help. i ask you to be beside me. i hope you will talk to your

friends and neighbors and encourage them to vote for me tomorrow. if you do not like what i am doing, i hope you will say nothing to anyone. i know we are running late. we would love to meet you, if we can. are we going to do it next door? i'll do what i am told -- but i would like to meet you if i possibly can. thank you very much. [applause] >> he was scheduled to speak to his supporters monday night but the event was canceled because of security concerns. here's a few minutes of the scene outside. [unintelligible]

[laughter] [unintelligible] >> i love you. thank you. >> all set for the arrival here. >> we're very pleased to have you here. ♪

[car horn] >> remember, all you have to do to get retweeted by me is just to retweet me in the first place. [unintelligible] >> about what happened here. a block and a half from here.

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[cheers] ♪ >> ron paul! ♪ >> c-span to road to the white

house coverage of politics takes you to the candidate events. >> thank you in love to you, governor. >> thank you. >> sorry about the house. >> all i wan as an endorsement of the people of new hampshire. >> we follow the candidate on the campaign trail, meeting voters. re>> that is a big first step. thank you.

>> tomorrow night watch our coverage of the results of the new hampshire primary with candidate speeches. join the conversation on the phone, facebook, and twitter. watch at c- span.org/campaign2012. >> a half hour event. >> thank you. [applause] thank you very much. ron and leslie, thank you for putting this reception together. i understand we were starting to have this may be at your home. it looks like the meeting outgrew the home. i am glad we were able to come here and still have our gathering. before get started i would like

to introduce a few members of my family that have been traveling with me. my wife is sitting over here, carol. [applause] one daughter-in-law and her daughter, peggy. [applause] thank you for coming out. i guess you have noticed the campaign has picked up a lot of steam and interest where vertigo. there has been a lot of questions but there are still some that are not decided and hopefully we can reach them with the program i have been talking about and why i think we got into trouble. and what we have to do. no matter where i have gone around the country, whether it is in iowa or different places and also on the talk shows and tv programs, the issue has been the economy. of course when -- the first time

i ran for office was in the 1970's and i ran at that time because i saw some big changes being made in our monetary system. if one understands how financial bubbles are formed, we should have come to the conclusion we embarked on -- in a dangerous time. that is a long time ago but it is important history. the bubble that has burst and the correction we're going through and why employment still a serious problem. we've embarked on a financial bubble, the biggest in the history of the world. the marketplace tries to unwind the mistakes made by politicians and by central bankers to correct mistakes. if you have a system that encourages debt and to equate that with prosperity, it will keep building until you run out

of production. that is what happened. we have too much debt and not enough production. we cannot keep up and we cannot fudge the books. this is why people have grown very interested in -- my interest in my subject and why at the beginning at the least, we had to have a full audit of how the federal reserve system has been operating. [applause] because of the monetary system, it contributes to this distortion. the worst distortion and why people feel badly about how their economy is going even if they have a job, people feel frightened about what might come. that is with the destruction of money. history shows you destroy the middle class. destruction of money means to valuation. the history has been lousy. nobody has wanted to talk about

it. even though the founders understood and warned us and said we do not want to go through the destruction of a continental dollar like the winter. that is why i put it in the constitution that you could use gold or silver. it could not print money. we have been doing that for way too long and we ended up with this undermining of the middle class. when you have free markets, individual liberty, private property rights, contract rights like we enjoyed for so long, you have a large middle class. america was always known for its large middle-class and the wealthiest ever but this is not true anymore. the middle class is shrinking and their wealth the shrinking but it is a wealth -- is the wealth of the world shrinking? characteristics of what happened, the wealth is taken from the middle class and it goes to a select few who are the insiders and that is what has happened. the people know about it. sometimes the anger toward -- directed at the unfairness of

the system, they get confused about the economics, but it has a lot to do with the monetary policies influencing washington. instead of the government being a protector of liberty, the government has become a distributor of wealth. this is why big money talks. money has more control of our system. that is why lobbyists get paid more than politicians. the lobbyists run the show. this is what we have to overcome. one of the things why it is a challenging in this campaign, the people have been supporting me know darn well we're undertaking challenging decades of control of our government, undermining our personal liberties. involvement in a foreign policy that makes no sense. we need a policy that defense america and not pretend we can tell the world how to live. [applause]

the moderators will come in and say we're going to talk about economics which is fine. i like to talk about economics but they do not want to talk about foreign policy. they say tonight will top foreign-policy but they do not want to talk about economics. but you've got to talk about both together because this is connected to the economic system. we want -- there is no way you can get out of recession or depression with war and people -- we have been taught that in school. the war goddess of the depression. complete nonsense. every penny you spend overseas, almost anything overseas is a drain from the economy and that is why since we're not producing like we used to, that is why the economy is being drained and why we have to address foreign policy.

the very best thing to do, it is simple, it is not complex. it says we should never send anyone to washington that will not promise and you believe that we will obey the constitution. we can stay out [inaudible] [laughter] [applause] whowe have had numerous war sine world war ii. these wars were very bad for us. we have been involved in nation- building in occupation. countries that were far from perfect but they never attacked us. what has it done? it has added $4 trillion worth of debt by be engaged overseas and we're not safer for. i do not believe we're safer. i do not believe people want to come and kill us because we're afraid and prosperous. that is -- has gone way astray. what we ought to do is think

about a form policy that follows the golden rule. we should not do anything to any other country that we would not have them do to us. [applause] if we were to follow the constitution require that the people give permission to war -- go to war, believe me we would not have had any of these wars in the last 20 or 30 years. because the congress would not have done it. they did not what the debate. they could not prove there was a threat to our national security. this is important that we follow the rules, we know what our government is supposed to do. it is to protect our liberties. that is the no. 1 job. protect the liberties of every citizen and we gained that liberty in a natural way. we gave our liberties not from our government, but we gained them a from our creator and we

should protect those liberties, we should not be telling people how to live, how to run the economy are telling the rest of the world what they ought to be doing. [applause] we change form policy, we can start talking about the necessity of dealing with the debt. that is a problem. it is similar to if you were indented over your head and you get to any credit cards and what you are learning to take care of your daily needs, you do not have anything left to finance your debt. that is where we are today. we do not. to finance our debt we do not have enough growth or people left where we can tax them and pay for the debt. what we have to do is eliminate the debt. the debt, an individual has to sell stuff, pay down or declare bankruptcy. the market insists on

bankruptcy. when our country, when our financial system became evident it was bankrupt, in 2008, a lot of people were doing a lot of dealing with derivatives. people paying money when the financial bubble was being blown up. when they went broke, they pay the bankers and corporations, they came screaming and hollering and there would be a depression. you got to bail us out. they did not deserve to get bailed out. that that should have been liquidated -- the debt should have been liquidated. [applause] we're still paying for that. what about the people who made the money during the financial bubble? they're back in business again. their corporate leaders are making big bucks. they're making a lot of money

out of getting money from the federal reserve at practically zero interest. the system is very biased. it has changed dramatically from the time of our founding. the emphasis is not on liberty anymore. the emphasis is on special interest and controls. right now the american people have awakened. they all the sudden realize, even those with jobs, even those who seem to be doing ok, there is a subtle discontent in this country. it is the worst our country has experienced. we have gone through a lot of rough times. the great depression, the two world wars. i think the lack of confidence in the future is more significant than ever before because the foundations have been undermined. the foundation of the free- market and property rights. we do not own our property anymore. also the foundation of the monetary system and the foreign policy that does not serve our

national defense needs and the people know this and they are begging and pleading for answers. this is a story i have talked about and offered solutions and tried to point out to -- the financial bubbles but there was not much attention paid to it. i never really thought one way or another whether anyone would pay attention. right now it just happens they are interested. the world has changed. our country has changed from four years ago. i was not involved in a campaign three or four years ago. there was a lot of support but it was not enough to say it is coming, let's prevent it. it hit. it hit in 2008 and people are looking and wondering about what we can do. we have to cut spending. that is top priority. to get the spending under control and get the data under control. you cannot keep running a debt and keep printing the

money. that is a road to disaster. in the first year we should cut real spending by $1 trillion. [applause] worry going to cut $1 trillion? if you do not cut, everything goes to pot. everything is destroyed because the money will not work. even the people you are trying to help you cannot help them. the more you print the money the lesson has the value. the only way we can work our way out is proposing these cuts. i do not -- the workplace -- the worst places to start with child health care or social security. or medicare benefits. we can work our way out of it but you have to be willing to cut other things and that is why we as americans not only as conservatives but moderates and liberals, we should agree that

it makes no sense to spend much over $1 trillion a year over -- overseas. why do we not spend that money here at home? [applause] half the cuts would come from overseas. i do not believe for one minute it undermines defense. cutting military is a lot different than cutting defense. people say he wants to cut all the defense. i do not. i want more money for the defense. i want to defend this country and not be involved in wars that did not help us at all. the other money spent would have to cut back at home. fire departments. the first department would be the department of education. [applause] if we look at education in a

constitutional fashion, education in a free society is the responsibility of parents. [applause] there are no prohibitions for the state to be involved in education. there is no authority at the federal level but the government had better make sure there is never a law that prohibits homeschooling or private schooling to compete. [applause] other departments, the department of energy, commerce, interior, hud, think of all the damage had dead. we will take care of the poor. everyone will have free health care and education and houses. everyone can qualify. for a loan. we have students graduating and

they're not trained to do the jobs. i have a $1 trillion debt and they cannot get a job. ud, forced theha bankers to make loans to risky lenders. the price of the house keeps going up. keep growing. this is wonderful until the bubble burst. the people who were involved in the mortgage derivatives were making a lot of money. what happened to the middle class? the got -- they got the debt and lost their jobs and houses. you cannot provide the goods and services through government edict. this is what we have to realize. if you want goods and services, if you want the maximum distribution, you have to pay attention and you have to believe that the free-market is a much better distributor of wealth than the u.s. government.

[applause] one of the shortcomings that we come up with, whether we call ourselves libertarians, conservatives, or constitutionalists, we have -- we compete with people who are well motivated and they believe themselves to be humanitarian. those of us who believe the market ought to work in protecting liberty as most important, the cold hearted. it would be logical to conclude that we are the true humanitarian, not them. [applause] we do need to cut back. we could do this with protecting certain programs and work our way out of it but we cannot do it without looking into the monetary system and foreign policy. we have to look at the property rights. we have to look at individual

liberty. of all these things i have been talking about, it is individual liberty that would protect us. the right to your life and liberty, you ought to have the right to keep the fruits of your labor. [applause] individual liberty is under threat as well. once you have a perpetual war atmosphere, personal liberties have always been under attack. today there are. we have more attacks on our personal liberty, whether it is the patriot act, i do not think we need the patriot act to undermine your personal liberty. [applause] also now, recently, the government gave the president the authority to use the army to arrest an american citizen without charges and held indefinitely. that is not protecting the

american tradition. those kind of infractions and insults to the american people have to be addressed. we have to give confidence once again that a free society and free markets work. we cannot continue to depend that the government wallace to care less. what we need is a free society where we are allowed to take care of ourselves. i believe in that. [applause] we have a wonderful opportunity to express those views, it will be tomorrow night. i am encouraged. the young people i meet that really encourage me. because they are enthusiastic about hearing the truth, even if it is negative and you have a big dent -- debt. they become excited and optimistic. if you admit you have a problem be consulted. -- maybe you can solve it.

people are starting to once again look at the great issues and the great ideas and all those principles that made america great. thank you very much. [applause] >> we have time for two or three questions. if you would take ron's lead here. >> we are going to try to get as many questions as we can. we have a little bit of time. >> go ahead and pick somebody.

>> i believe many americans think that the value in keeping the bases overseas is because by pulling the bases out of the overseas countries like germany and japan, it sort recognizes that our empire is shrinking. maybe they cannot handle that. how can you get them to see the benefit in doing that? >> the empire -- [inaudible] for economic reasons. we had to stand up and pay them. i was drafted in the 1960's and served. they have a lot of these weapons. they had to be dissolved for economic reasons. they went into afghanistan and got bogged down in afghanistan.

we will come out. if you are talking about germany or japan -- where are not on the verge of being attacked. one of the greatest successes has been that we have a strong national defense. nobody is about to invade our country or attack us. people have to be convinced that bringing troops home is one way we have a -- [inaudible] if it is the desire to maintain an empire i will do my best to spare you from that goal. i do not think an empire serves the interests of the freedom of an individual america. [applause]

>> i feel strongly that protecting our environment is an urgent issue. i was wondering how to the enforcement of property rights, [unintelligible] how would you determine to prosecute when that violation is made? >> most people get worried when you talk about free markets and property rights. there will not be in good and -- environmentalists for it if you look at a government that has the most extreme amount of government, they have been the worst protectors of the environment. if you look at private property, most people who own property have an interest in taking good care of it. that comes up with the subject of pollution.

if you have a strict understanding of property, nobody has the right to pollute anybody. you cannot dump their garbage in your neighbor's yard. you should not able to dump chemicals or allowed to police the water. -- pollute the water. you should be held accountable. a big problem occurred when there was a collision between big corporations and big government. i was raised in pittsburgh and it was one of the most filthiest cities in the country. the rivers were filthy and the skies were filthy black. that got cleared up with the protection of rights by the city. a long time before the epa. the epa is a bureaucratic special interest answer to a problem that should be answered with private property rights. the basic principle is that if you and force contract rights and property rights, you would

be much tougher a lot sooner than we have been. i do not believe the bureaucratic approach can ever do the trick. [applause] >> can you address agenda 21 fax >> you are talking about the un? this is a little more than i can say since my position is we should not be in the united nations. [applause] any plan of the un to undermine our national sovereignty i am opposed to and would want to protect it. right now the biggest threat to the international government is in the monetary affairs. they know what we know about the monetary system. they know there is a crisis

coming and they're talking about monetary reform and they are talking about an international paper currency run by the imf which is part of the united nations. that is a big threat and that is why we should not be in those organizations. we have to more -- two more. [applause] towards the mic. >> [unintelligible] nikes made in south america. a lot of the work of the private sector can be compared to slave labor. how should we address this? >> are you talking about -- >>

sweatshops. >> it is not true slave labor. they work for very little. i do not have sovereignty over other nations over what they should and should not do. i cannot go down and change it. my job is to make sure that we do the best to set an example in this country so others will do the same thing. what we want to do is protect civil liberties in this country and make sure we have sound money and a prosperous economy and have a foreign policy. we have a policy where people believe that america is an exceptional nation. i think we are. what they believe because we are exceptional that we have the responsibility to invade a country and in force that -- force that country to do is we do and i do not agree. we are exceptional but i think we are slipping. we should work much harder to be an exceptional nation, to

practice what we peach, -- preached, to make sure we have a market and have prosperity and have people look and say, america is a great place. try to copy them? that would be a better -- better than forcing them to do something. >> what is your stance on legal and illegal immigration? >> we should not have any. my approach is not to reward something that is illegal. if states are forced to provide services and benefits to illegal immigrants, there will make benefit of it. illegal immigration is down. that tells you something about how weak the economy is. the jobs are not going begging. even today under welfare, this

system encourages them not to take jobs they did not have to take if they did not get these benefits. we should not be forcing preschools and -- free schools and for medical care on people here illegally. we should have a revamping of the whole thing about the workers program. we should keep the doors as open as we can. i have people come to me looking for workers, even today they are coming because our people are not as well-trained. we do not want to close that off. we should not have this problem with illegal immigration. i think we should have more control on our borders. i am disgusted we spend so much time worrying about the borders between afghanistan and pakistan. [applause]

one more. >> i serve on a local school board and i support the department of education. the system is broken. how are we going to fix it? how do we get the power out of the unions and to start teaching these children? >> union power is the right word. it is not workers' rights. voluntary contracts are the basic principle of the marketplace. if a businessman, and they no longer prohibit unions from forming. there should be no power to force unions on a businessman that does not want to have them. you should have a voluntary unions. as long as you understood the

principle of voluntary association of three it when it comes to government, that is where the bigger problem is, with the union. it should be our officials who are representing us as the private marketplace. they should not be signing these countries -- contracts. the right to work is very important. the federal government has caused problems with the relations board. that gave artificial power to a certain group. the market is the most powerful force to raise wages. we do not want to throw a out a system of a volunteers because the problems of the depression had nothing to do with a lack of labor unions. yet they say they could force labor prices to correct some of these problems. you want prices to go down.

prizes -- prices of housing is going down. this fixation of wages makes us less competitive. states lose jobs that don't have it. jobs going south. and they go overseas. there is a lot of regulation. you cannot avoid that discussion if you want to change the environment. thank you for coming. [applause]

guest: we have nine other states where we have reporters from news organizations that to do fact checking. the purpose is to take claims that politicians make and a research them and come to an independent conclusion of whether they are true or pants

.n fire hos host: what is your assessment? guest: >> allot of falsehoods yesterday. also the one on saturday night. what we are getting are a lot of talking points we have heard before. in many cases they are points we have researched and written it falls. i think this is the nature of campaigning these days that campaigning and is a matter of finding your talking point -- talking points and repeating them. in some cases they do not stand up to research. host: how you analyze these claims? guest: we go to independent sources. the goal is to do research and to find a source that is

independent and reputable, the census, we make an effort to find original data. we try to go beyond the surface and to dig deeper. we talked to sources on both sides of the claim that and try to find someone who is independent and come to a judgment. where is rigorous about our effort is to come up with a ruling, it requires three editors meet and decide whether the thing should be true or half true. host: if you want to ask questions about what is being said in this campaign, here is how you can ask your questions.

we're set aside a line for those of you in new hampshire. witter.com, facebook, we can try to do some of those. when you look at your web site, the new rate for truthfulness. you have a section that is from the debate looking at rick perry and what he said about barack obama. guest: his claim, he was asked yesterday if he agreed with john mccain who said he believed that obama was a patriot which was in response to tonsure -- charges that his tax plan was socialism. he was asked if he agreed with that and he said he was proud to say that barack obama was a

socialist. a remarkable statement by the governor of texas. we decided we would fact check that and look at his policies, is there anything in what is the president has done. we talked to some economists and said, you know the economic policies, would you consider them socialism? their conclusion was it is a ridiculous claim. host: let me show the folks what he said. >> i make you proud statement that we have a president who is a socialist. i do not think our founding fathers wanted america to be a socialist country. i disagree with that premise that reflects our founding fathers. he does not. he talks about having a more centralized more consuming

federal government. i am a believing governor. i believe that we need a president that respects the 10th amendment and that pushes back, how to deliver health care, how to do our environmental regulations. the states will do a better job than a one size fits all governor. >> you gave it a pants on fire. guest: in talking to conservative economists, they said there are policies we disagree with. but it is ridiculously false to call that socialism. this is the nature of the american political discourse. i think it is why it is important for news organizations to check these

things and to help people make sense. this is a claim that has been repeated over and over. people get numb to it. it is important for us to assess --it is important for politifact to assess these things. host: our first call is from fort lauderdale, florida on the democrat line. caller: yes. a question i'm thinking -- what percentage of jobs in the country does the government actually create? all the jobs, doing the work on the roads and the railways. i know that there are a 100 million contract. and a lot of the jobs around military bases that are private jobs -- a lot of jobs around

military bases. guest: you bet. i do not know the overall figure. as the economic stimulus money ran out, the mix of government jobs credit versus private sector jobs changed and there were some months when there were not any private-sector jobs created and nearly all of the jobs were government-funded jobs. that has now changed in the past few months. the private sector is create a lot of jobs. i do not know the overall numbers. host: san diego, california, republican line. caller: i find it interesting you're doing this topic on the republicans.

have you done that before? on obama? guest: you bet. i have been on "washington journal" a dozen times and talked about president obama. we talked about is campaigns and we do the same kind of research we do for truth-o-meter items. you can go to our web page. we have checked a couple of claims from an ad that president obama put up on the night of the iowa caucuses last week. we have checked president obama more than anybody, more than 330 times. we checked democrats and republicans. there were seven major republican candidates that we

are following. that is where our emphasis has been lately, but we also check democrats. host: newt gingrich was talking about the epa. guest: we have a great partnership with two newspapers in new hampshire and new hampshire public radio. the claim was that when asked about a landfill in nashua that the epa was confused and so we checked that. the reporter looked into that and talk to a colleague who had researched this and written an article about that. we determine that gingrich had accurate, that there was confusion about this on the part of the city of nashua.

they were not familiar with the fact that this landfill was listed on an epa list of sites. we gave gingrich eight mostly true on our truth meter -- we gave gingrich a mostly true. caller: the lie about medicare. he wants to give vouchers to buy medicare. they will tell you it is a scary prospect. that would end medicare as we know it. guest: we got criticism about our lie of the year. for the past three years, politifact has awarded a lie of the year.

we select the most significant falsehood. the first one was the claim that democratic health care law had death panels. the second year it was acclaimed by many republicans that the health care law was the government takeover of health care. we got criticism from republicans. we have done criticism from democrats because we shows the claim by democrats that the ryan plan would end medicare. the ryan plan does not end medicare. it protect medicare for people who are now 55 and older. it does change medicare and it

does go to a privatized system using what you could describe as vouchers. it is not accurate to say it ends medicare. they told us this was a scare tactic aimed at seniors, something that democrats have used over the years. this has been a successful strategy for the democrats. i have to disagree that this was not a significant fall sold last year and so we chose it as our lie of the year. host: here is a bit of what rick santorum had to say. clip: i just talked about --

this is an anti socialist idea in health care. we also structured the medicare part d benefit as a way to try to transition medicare. we did not pay for it. that was a mistake. host: there would give seniors the same benefits and that was rated as mostly false. guest: this is a popular talking point that we've heard from gop leaders. they have tried to say we will not be special anymore in congress. the health care will be available to all seniors and it is not a perfect comparison. there are some similarities. the ryan plan would rely on standards set by the office of

personnel management. there are some differences. by the best estimates, it would not keep pace with rising costs in health care, and the premium support will not be as generous as they are for those in congress so we raided that mostly false. caller: i believe the republicans do not empathize with average americans. the moderator on sunday asked jon huntsman and ron paul if they would support heating oil subsidies for people who cannot afford to pay for oil this winter? jon huntsman never addressed the immediate needs of the people this winter.

he talked about drilling for oil. this is typical. republicans make political points. it is still about big business and not average americans. guest: i watched that debate and that was the first time we heard the low-income heating assistance program discussed in the primaries. that might be the last time for a while given the next primary in south carolina and florida. we have not done any fact checks on that. host: are the trends during this cycle? guest: we have an iphone app and has a truth index. it abrogates the average from all the states and it went up

in the last week and was above zero, which means the average was more truth than false. i think that is a function of what happens in the final days of a campaign. the tv ads tend to go positive. we found a lot of them are mostly true. that is one sort of micro trend. another or the super pacs and what they have done in these big advertising buys that took place at the last minute in iowa and they are enabling supporters of a candidate to basically work around the standards that have put limitations on contributions to candidate campaigns.

but even those ads, we found a number of half true complaints. host: supporting newt gingrich. coming out with a film on mitt romney. guest: we will be looking to fact check that. we've had some requests about a claim that mitt romney has stated about how many jobs were created and the number of net new job, and i expect the pro- gingrich commercial will be critical of that. one thing we do at politifact is we define political speech broadly. we don't just fact check things like that.

we checked e-mails, web page statements by candidates, we checked with videos, any place where there's a political message, we will fact check it. host: barbara jean from georgia. caller: he said obama is not a socialist. he is talking to joe the plumber and said -- i meant to distribute the wealth. we already paid taxes. take it from some and give to others. i think he is a socialist. guest: i appreciate your opinion. let me put the joy of the plumber conversation in perspective -- joe the plumber. senator obama talked about

redistributing the wealth. joe the plumber said what obama would do it is practiced socialism and that led to sarah palin's comment about that. they were talking about a fundamental concept that goes back to abraham lincoln and that is a progressive tax system. it redistributes the wealth. you charged higher rates on wealthier taxpayers. it is fair to say you are redistributing the wealth. is that socialism? i don't think any economists we talked to yesterday would call that socialism. that is a progressive tax system. two very different things.

that doesn't mean they want government to take over the economy. the means of production. host: jon huntsman -- he talked about simpson-bowles and one from -- you rated that false. guest: this is one we heard before. the simpson-bowles commission was supposed to come up with a plan to reduce the deficit. there are frustrations if you talk to members of the commission. they say they wish president obama and the congress would have done more. there are a fair number of examples of things that the simpson-bowles commission recommended that ended up in

obama's budget. we rated debt falls on our truth-o-meter -- we rated that false. caller: i have two questions. have you look into governor romney's tax returns? president obama -- his tax records. nobody vetted his college records. to you believe obama suspended the constitution on new year's eve because he put us under martial law? ron paul seems to be the only one concerned about this. guest: let me start with -- the first part how to do with -- host: college records of the president. guest: let's start with mitt romney's tax returns. he has not released them.

we did a fat check about a month ago about this and the question was, is it customary for presidential candidates to release their tax returns? we looked at all the major candidates going back for 20 or 30 years and most had released their tax returns. hidingcorrect he is them. perhaps at some point the romney campaign will release them. records,ama's college i'm not sure that will yield a lot of useful data for anybody. you can look at my college records and i'm not sure what that will show except i could have done better in american history. we need to focus on the policies of this president and

that is what we do in the case of politifact. host: you looked at an ad by the president about promises made and kept. clip: i will be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. ♪ [applause] i will be a president who harnesses -- farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all. [applause] host: when you look at the website for the statements about the historic fuel efficiency standards, you can

read it -- -- your rate is half. guest: these are classic half true ratings. we define a hampshire as -- half-true as something that is partially accurate but leaves out important information. his claim was basically three parts. historic efficiency standards -- standards, yes. the efficiency standards are higher than ever. would they lower costs at the pump? yes, conceivably they will. but the issue is that they will actually force the manufacturers to make cars that cost more money. that is an important caveat. people would pay more on the front and to buy the car but the fuel would theoretically be less expensive. the final part -- reduce dependence on foreign oil. unproven. it depends, of course, on

consumption and really the greater market forces, how many domestic sources of oil there are. all in all, classic half-truths for us. host: dee on the democrats' line. thank you for waiting. go ahead. caller: a couple of statements. this idea about wealth redistribution is not just caller: a couple of statements. this idea about wealth redistribution is not just about wealthy to pour, it is also -- one publicly traded companies and private companies profit from war in afghanistan and iraq, that is a redistribution of wealth from the taxpayers to stockholders and owners and those businesses. secondly, this claim that rick perry makes about the obama administration being socialist, it is kind of hypocritical given the fact that -- using the stimulus money to close the budget deficit. finally, mitt romney is making his claim that he created more jobs in the state banned the