appreciate them being here and getting a good with of the conservative republican air here 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 and 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. but it's -- 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 indistinctly]

>> 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 beautiful," one of my favorites. purple mountain majesties. there's another first verse that 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 america's military smaller. 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] ♪ [bob seger: "born free"] ♪

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never know if we don't let go to the things that control us we're catching up never a moment run for your life we're going to break through the fire and come out alive run for your life no one will -- if we survive ♪

far's not that it's not that far hold un, hold on, hold on ♪ ♪ run for your life we're going to break through the fire and come out alive so, run for your life no one will -- tonight, if we survive

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ oh, how you tried to put me down inside my own father to an endisn't coming he said, walk like a man talk like a man ♪

>> this is veterans memorial park in new hampshire. this is alive and from manchester. voting continues in new hampshire. political editor says that rick santorum told him that he would be, "lucky to come in third in the new hampshire primary" and a second place would be a "dream come true." the voting bearer in the hearts location, 29 registered voters. mitt romney is garnering most of the votes there. rick santorum did not get any in the 29 cast. just a ninth of voters in at hicksville.

live from manchester in a veterans memorial park.

>> i just ran out. oh well. i've tried to make the. -- i am trying to make the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill. eventually it will be. >> this is where i was. >> not yet. >> whenever you are ready.

>> c-span cameras are all over the states. this primary day, first in the nation. we're giving you the chance to vote -- actually, to weigh in on your opinion of the super pac's. you think they had too much, too little, or the right amount of influence. we're going to bring you some of the past speeches, the 2000, the 2004, and the two dozen 8. al gore won the 2000 primary. john kerry won in 2004. in 2008, john mccain and hillary clinton winning the primary. all those victory and concessions speeches starting

this week -- tonight at 5:00 p.m. eastern. most of the polls closing in new hampshire at 8:00 tonight. our coverage starts at 8:00. we'll bring you the results of speeches from their headquarters and your reaction, too, by phone, by facebook, and by tweet. we have been showing you last day advance. newt gingrich held a town hall meeting with employees at the bae systems in nashua new hampshire. 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 assign to fort benning. i have a lifelong interest in milita 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 convinceme the stuff was re. 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 ver 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. -- sathone. 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 the guys and say, "however the potatoes? -- how are the pantihose?" if i was doing a professional day at a joint fors mmand. like youi 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 contl 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 thout 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 thatllow 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 technologicay. 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 13 are obsolete today. you are caught in a permanent process of defense in which we have to understand our compitors, come up wit 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 meand 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. ani 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 moy. 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 wantedo 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 theirotives as well. >> i regard pakistan as a country which is neither and eleanor and enemy. -- neith 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 domtic issues question. i do not hear a lot about conser protection. what is the proper role of the federal government in consumer protection? >> tre 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 alth 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 safe to micromanaging our choices. there is a big difference in those jobs. how abouthis gentleman, right here? >> tha 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, gegia, which was building the f-22, a really cool aircraft. i would gue 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. ---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 rious. 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 athing 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 cris. 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 cservative. 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 pla 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 somethin 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 ople 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 moe. 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 wted anything signed into law i had to get bill clinton's gnature. 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 hrs. this went on for weeks. it is sile. 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 wonderg 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 diffict 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 eve 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 and shoulder to shouldero get this done. from every poll, this election is wide open. it is a classic new hampshire

last-mine -- 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, 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] >> and our coverage of the new hampshire primary starting this evening at 8:00 this evening. we will bring you the results. the speeches from the victors and the concession speeches as well. of course your phone calls, your facebook postings, your

tweets. on our web site, c-span.org day, you'll be above the see the results about 7:00 or so. the house has been holding session every couple of days to stop the president from making recess appointments. he went ahead and made an appointment last week anyway. a couple of times they passed a few pro forma sessions. democrats have tried to get recognition and speak on the floor, in particular about the fact that democrats are calling for republicans to come back to work. they're saying this really is not a recess. they want them to come back to finish a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut.

the past couple of times that this has happened, democrats remained on the floor. sometimes up to about 10 or 15 minutes or so. we will see what happens today as we wait for the house to come in at about 2:00 eastern. as we wait for that, we'll bring you a conversation from "washington journal" on the training for new hampshire workers and how the vote will be counted tonight. here andactually joining us is the assistant city clerk. tell us the role of the clerk's office on primary day. >> the city clerk's office is the chief election official in of the city. we end of trading all of the election officials who work for the city. we do that a few weeks before the election. we are also responsible for compiling all the data at the

end of the night. all the paperwork and reporting to the secretary of state's office. >> what type of training do you do for the officials who are here? the moderator, those folks or try to keep the voting process going smoothly? >> we have over 200 elected officials in the city. we bring them up into their individual roles. a lot of the officials have done this for years. we kind of keep them up-to-date with the new election laws or refresh their memories. >> what is the role of the moderator? >> they run the election here. >> you talk about the ballots. what happened? the polls opened this morning here at 6:00 a.m. what time did they close? what happens next? >> the polling place closes at 7:00 in the evening. at that time, it will take the ballots from the ballot box. they will count them. then there will take them to the

city hall where they are put in a vault. then the paperwork is done showing the results of the ballot -- the votes on the ballots. >> is there a second or third look before they are sealed? >> the elections to go through the accounts twice. >> is a digital? >> no. it is all done by paper. it is done by hand and at the end of the night the paper does go to the secretary state's office. >> once the ballots are sealed, then what? >> their transported to city hall where they are put in a vault. >> you said all of the 12 wards here in manchester, they're collected. what did they do next? >> they will record up to the city clerk's office. they will show the displayed on

the screen of all the ward's reporting. there is no school in manchester for kids today. >> talk about the undeclared voters. not the independent voter. you do not call them that here. why not? top la can go from voting in the democrat party to the republican -- talk about how they can go from voting in the democratic party to the republican? >> if a voter does not wish to register with either party, we call them undeclared. those voters can vote in either the democratic or republican primary. if a voter has previously voted in a primary, either democrat or republican, they have the opportunity to go back to and declared after that election or any time up to the next primary. and then that i declared a voter can come into today's primary

and choose which ballot they want to vote on. >> tonight, when all the ballots are counted, where is it announced and by who in the state? >> the >> the secretary of state. he predicted i believe last week 42% turnout. >> thank you very much, assistant clerk for manchester. thank you. >> the u.s. house is a gambling in momentarily for a brief pro forma session. we will have eight live for you. a campaign consultant for california says a congressman plans to announce his retirement. live coverage of the house now on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker.

the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. january 10, 2012, i hereby appoint the honorable robert b. aderholt to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain, reverend anthony craig, from the blessed sack crament blessed church in minnesota. the chaplain: heavenly father, you protect, provide, and establish us. we praise you for who you are, the source of eternal salvation. we give you thanks for all the good things that you give us, your children. we look to you today, lord, holy father, to be our strength this day. please protect us in your mercy. provide for the needs of our nation. and establish us in truth which will guide our decisions. draw near, almighty god, and

grant that we may ardently desire, prudently examine, truthfully acknowledge, and perfectly accomplish what is pleasing to you for the praise and glory of your name. amen. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 4-b of house resolution 493, the journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. pursuant to section 4-a of house resolution 493, no organizational or legislative business will be conducted on this day. pursuant to section 4-c of house resolution 493, the house stands adjourned until 11:00

a.m. on friday, january 13, 2012. >> and jim moran of virginia taking to the well, seeking a regulation seeking to bring republicans back to extend the payroll tax cuts for a full year rather than two months which was passed before the house went into the holiday recess. we will have another pro forma session for you on friday at 11:00. today is the new hampshire primary, and our coverage from all over the state. here is a look here live from manchester, one of the locations where our cameras will be focused tonight for the jon

huntsman campaign. as a matter of fact, it will be one of the locations where we are streaming live on c- span.org. later tonight, the jon huntsman campaign will be here, one of four locations that we will be covering this evening.

>> i will tell you this. you may remember tom ridge, the former governor of pennsylvania. he did advise all americans to get [unintelligible] i will recommend the same thing for the same reason. i can finally revealed the truth. [unintelligible] [car horn honks]

>> one of the candidates that you saw right there, vermin supreme, one of the democratic candidates on the ballot this year. he was in one of those lesser known debates that we should do earlier at c-span.org. a few minutes ago, you saw the house gavel in for a brewery -- for a very brief pro forma session. jim moran was trying to get recognition from the speaker. he stayed on the house floor for four more minutes or so before he left the floor. those cameras are controlled by the house gallery. another pro forma session coming up on friday. on facebook, we are asking you about the influence of super pacs. you can log on and cast your vote. also this afternoon, we are

going to bring you a look back at the victory and concession speeches from 2000, 2004, and 2008 starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern. our live coverage tonight from new hampshire starting at 8:00, but some of the results will be coming out as early as 7:00. you can follow those at c- span.org. our coverage of the results, interviews, and speeches tonight on c-span, c-span.org, and c- span radio. this morning, we talked with the political director of wmur for about 25 minutes. host: joining us now is the political director of wmur tv in manchester. good morning. guest: welcome to primary day. well -- host: welcome to you as well, to our viewers as -- and listeners. tell us what the polls are

revealing to you. mitt romney with a sizable lead. take us from there. guest: mitt romney does have a sizable lead, 41%. second place in the poll, and we stopped calling people at 6:00 on sunday night. ron paul was strong in second place. rick santorum, then after that newt gingrich. you have a race that is shaping up for second, third, fourth, and possibly fifth place. what has changed, i think, since sunday, is a lot of momentum, buzz, and interest amongst those classic undecided voters toward jon huntsman. the key question this morning

is whether or not jon huntsman has overcome ron paul. it is not like ron paul's voters will be going away. the question is, on the poll on sunday night, we had 56% of likely republican primary voters still making up their mind. many may be late deciding to vote for john huntsman. host: folks were joking on twitter that there were back- to-back debates on saturday night and sunday morning. there have been a lot of advertisements towards voters. how influential is the last couple of days? guest: very influential. new hampshire voters make up their minds in the last couple of days.

new hampshire voters really like to meet their candidates. maybe they have met them at a house party. the explosion, the amount of people coming in to these events, is pretty typical. beyond getting to know who that person is, or a story line in that campaign, they have a decision to make. 15% of and not make that decision until today. host: james pindell, joining us this morning. you can join the conversation. for democrats, 202-737-0001. for republicans, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. if you live in new hampshire, 202-628-0184.

what about the other candidates? we mentioned that there is a race shaping up for two, three, four, but possibly even lower down. who else is even in play right now? duking rich? -- newt gingrich? rick perry? guest: following the iowa caucuses there was a lot of conversation about what this meant for rick santorum. would he be able to come in here with a full head of steam and become the obvious anti- mitt romney candidate? in large part, it is not happening because of bricks and form and the demographics of the new hampshire primary electorate, which is not like iowa in that case. also, newt gingrich has not gone away. he has a strong campaign, even though it is a fairly new organization.

he is polling pretty well and getting good crowds. rick perry, wanting to get to south carolina, kind of has a flat line campaign. in our last poll, he was just at 1%. a former louisiana governor, buddy roemer, who is not qualify for these debates, is pulling ahead of rick perry at 3%. you have a number of these candidates who are down on the ballot. there will still be a lot of competition and questions, even though it may not be as consequential. host: let's get to the phones. steve, chicago, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good, go ahead. caller: i am from chicago and really pulling for ron paul. i am a liberal. my whole family is liberal.

i found out this morning that new hampshire's model is live free or die. that sounds great. i hope that everyone votes for ron paul. guest: in terms of the early primary states, wanting to take the five or four, this is probably the one say -- one state where he is the strongest. in terms of new hampshire, he has put his foot down. he has consistently been in second place over the last month. he will have a very good showing here, we expect, later tonight. host: what about the role that money is playing in the campaign? there is a story today about a las vegas billionaire who has pumped $5 billion into a group backing up newt gingrich.

-- $5 million into a group backing up newt gingrich. host: there is a story in "the new york times," today, showing the court impact of the supreme court's decision, giving more free reagan. there is a last minute injection of cash by mr. adelson. saying that that underscores how last year's landmark supreme court ruling has made it possible for a wealthy individual to influence a race. james, how is money playing into what candidates can do in new hampshire? guest: it has not played a significant role.

we are in almost uncharted territory. it was first introduced after watergate. we are almost to the situation where any campaign finance rules do not exist. as i mentioned before, buddy roemer. when it comes to this primary process, it is important to note that no one drops out because they lose particular states. they drop out because the campaign is broke. following the citizens united campaign decision, that sort of changes the rules. because of donations, like this $5 million coming in, he can continue to stay in the race.

similar to jon huntsman. the hampshire is the only question -- the only state where we have seen a superpac , in that was largely funded by his father. candidates in the past, typically, need to perform well enough. they tend to not take president's down the field. but if the situation is that if you can fund a superpac, you may be able to stay in the game. the political impact of that on this particular election, we had a large west. -- large twist. if jon huntsman can stay in this race and can convince one person put him in this race, you

will have all of these other candidates on the ballot. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, and possibly the nomination. host: brian, iowa. -- from clearwater, fla. caller: i would like to make several comments and have this fellow respond to them. i think that in large part, the national media elects our elected officials. i do not think that it has a lot to do with the ballot. secondly, and i understand that this is what i have heard, that most of the election will cost about $1 billion. who would spend $1 billion to acquire a $400,000 per year job?

and the broadcast airwaves, the spectrum, is not owned by nbc, cbs, and abc, they are owned by american taxpayers. part of the reason they need all this money is to run these television ads. why should these ads not be free? let's take the money out of this rat hole. i would like to hear your observation, sir. guest: in terms of the national media dictating who our elections are about, that is the beauty of these systems in iowa and new hampshire. you have national figures coming in, able to raise much more. they come into these states and there is magic. spontaneous moments where you have to personally connect with voters that have to sign you up.

absolutely, in a national primary system, the media would dictate who is up and down. money would have a humongous factor in terms of who could run the campaign ads. we will basically have that, starting later this week, where the candidates will begin to run in south carolina, which is a bigger state. florida, and much more expensive state. -- florida, a much more expensive state. we are pretty white in terms of diversity, up here. but there is a very empowered electorate here, people that asked tough questions and are very informed. we see that situation in iowa.

what was the second point? do you remember? guest: -- host: you addressed the largest part of it. let's check the twitter. guest: we did. well, let's be fair. there are 30 republican candidates on the ballot. it takes $1,000 to get on the ballot. or you can go around and get petitions. open in the process. at wmur, and new hampshire media in general, we take this sick -- process very seriously. there are very minimal threshold for coverage. basically, if you do not

campaign in this state, and if you are even covered -- we are basically the only state television station, so we will cover you. we get -- give a significant amount of coverage to candidates you may not have heard of as much around the country. in new hampshire, we generally cover every candidate they make. call let's go the next that we have lined up to speak with us. tim, good morning. caller: jon huntsman is willing to start world war iii by attacking iran, which is very scary, as our ships are headed to the gulf.

ron paul is the only one who is standing against the war for israel agenda. americans should take a good look at it, unless they want to send their sons and daughters to war for iran. or for israel, because they are pandering to the neocons. newt gingrich, with his rabid, neo conservative jewish donor in las vegas, he wants war as well. he is probably the one responsible for saying that the peloponnesus do not exist. -- palestinians do not exist. go to ushighdebt.com for more. host: how much has foreign relations and foreign policy experience, and goals, shape this race? guest: it is a race that has

been largely shaped by two things. the economy and jobs. new hampshire has a lower unemployment rate at5.2%. the general mood that we try for, in this country, who do you think is best on the economy and jobs? from the republican perspective, these are primary voters that we are talking about this morning. who is best to be barack obama? -- beat barack obama? foreign-policy has been a major subplot that you here in town hall meeting after town hall meeting, house party after house party. and what to do with the iranian perceived nuclear buildup? it has been constantly talked about. the ron paul position on iran is one thing that separates them from the rest of the field. it has been controversial, as

you have seen. host: our guest, in manchester, new hampshire, james pindell, on his website you confine his analysis, news, and commentary on what is happening in new hampshire. james pindell has been the political director since august 2010. he has also worked for "the boston globe," and "the indianapolis star." lucy, tennessee. welcome. caller: thank you for having me on, c-span. i will be voting for president obama. why let someone to put us in there who has already gotten us in a mess in the first place. i do pray that what ever

candidate leads this country in a way that would be decent and acceptable host: is there a republican that you would like to see when the primaries? someone that you think that president obama can beat them like guest: the he can be the mall -- caller: he can be the mall. they all speak the same. -- he can beat them all. they all speak the same. guest: i am glad that c-span this year for another primary. you did such excellent coverage, and i think you for that. after everyone leaves on wednesday and thursday, new hampshire remains a presidential swing state. this is one of the dozen or 13 states that you even see barack obama or the chicago headquarters even talking about. in fact, barack obama has more campaign offices in this state, 7, then all of the presidential

candidates competing combined. he has 28 staffers here. after this primary moves on to other states, this will still be a hotly contested states when it comes to the general election. host: clinton, republican, good morning. caller: i love c-span. it is probably the only fair and balanced news out there. one of the things when you look at elections that they're able to bring in, more than just the party, is capturing that independent vote. when we look at obama and the promises that he made and how things have come out, the only candidate that can beat him is ron paul. ron paul is the only one out of the republicans and obama that stands for habeas corpus, one of the things that obama campaigned on. he said that he would restore

habeas corpus, but he has weakened it even further by recently citing the defense authorization act. i would like your views on that. how come there has been no media coverage at all of the fact that the advertisement that they attributed to a ron paul supporter was basically somewhat pejorative towards john huntsman and his adopted daughter, but it was actually created by the john huntsman campaign in an attempt to create that media coverage for ron paul. it was produced and existed only on the jon huntsman website, showing that it was an act of treachery. i am curious, why is the media talking about habeas corpus? why is ron paul the only one willing to defend america's rights in a fair trial?

what about jon huntsman and his pursuit of active treasury in attempting to influence the views of the american public? guest: there is this unique space that ron paul has been carving out in american politics. there may have been a number of new hampshire political events. staking out how different he is from republicans and democrats, basically that is where this goes in terms of a third party conversation. if ron paul is unable to win, what do you do with these passionate supporters who feel they have no home in republican or democratic parties? you can see the body language in the conversation between mitt romney, who looks to be the nominee, though we do not

know where that will go, and on the park of ron paul -- it seems like they are teaming up. as far as the ron paul jon huntsman dynamic, that is one thing to watch tonight. while the republican side on the right in new hampshire seems to be making a choice between mitt romney, rick santorum, and newt gingrich, there is another battle for 40% of voters today that is likely to be independent, and going ahead in has been under explored, but is very important. host: what about this video and this story, where the ron paul campaign called this anti- manchurian candidate disgusting?

what have you heard about where this video came from? guest: i have not read a lot about it. primary week, there is often something that does not get a lot of coverage or impact. there is always a much happening in this state. my sense is that if it pops up again, and it may not, given the coverage that occurred, it happened in the 10 days after new hampshire and south carolina. as for those particular details, i am not well versed enough to be on national television, talking about it.

host of this story from a couple of days ago does not attribute ultimately to any campaign, simply an individual that put it up. the caller things that came from john huntsman itself, we need to make that clear, that that is a new story. guest: that is my understanding. host: good morning. tom from phoenix, ariz. caller: you just said something that i wanted to talk about. that the new hampshire republican right is for romney, santorum, and gingrich? you have got to be kidding me. this political campaign seems to be about the economy. and yet i do not know, can you name one significant cuts that mitt romney is going to do? one significant cut that newt gingrich is going to do?

one significant cut the jon huntsman is going to do? yet all of these guys want to expand. none of these guys are offering cuts, except for ron paul, $1 trillion. all these guys want to disband tsa. they want to expand the wars. they want to expand the police state. every single one of the republicans, except for ron paul, is for the bailout. none of them are coming out that much against the federal reserve. newt gingrich is touching the corners, but nothing about the federal reserve. i just saw mitt romney says he wants to give more money to the international monetary fund. that is our money. what right does he have to give our money to this international thing? they are all for higher inflation. they are taking our civil liberties. jon huntsman said he was for the national defense authorization act, which is

totally taking our civil liberties away. host: let's get a response from james pindell, who has been watching this unfold in new hampshire. guest: ron paul did have the second most support among republicans. the growth for ron paul will have to be among independents. that is where we have seen that interplay. in terms of the other republican candidates, i believe they have all released plans the telling that. a lot of them are looking at entitlements. rick santorum is looking at entitlements. none of them have increased paul ryan's plan to do that. mitt romney has talked about defense with his 59-point plan. i do not think any of them have come close to ron paul's plan to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit in the first

year. host: wmur tv conducted a poll, and there was some change in the numbers in the couple of days of time. ron paul fell by about 3%. there were some folks who gained ground. rick santorum and jon huntsman gained four to five percentage points. you stopped polling on the eighth. what did you learn from some of those changes? guest: in all polling -- i know your next guest has some different numbers. the lead of mitt romney has not collapsed more.

traditionally, when folks come into new hampshire with a large leads, that shrinks. one example, 1980. ronald reagan came into the state with a 49-point lead into the final week of the new hampshire primary. jimmy carter had a 29-point lead over ted kennedy. that lead collapsed in the last week of the primary, down to a 10-point lead. one thing that has been very surprising -- mitt romney's lead not collapse more, especially as the focus has been turned on to him, as his opponents see that this may be the last chance to stop him. of course, the other surprising thing is rick santorum was not able to coalesce conservatives behind his campaign. i think it is something similar to what we saw with mike huckabee if you years ago.

they basically had the same amount of bounced from 3% to -- of bounce from 3% to 11%. obviously, jon huntsman coming on late. he is really peaking now. host: dayton, ohio, on the line for independents. caller: here is my objection. should the pundit class, like msnbc -- most of them are the 1%. i go back and forth between c- span and msnbc in the morning. of course, they did not have ron paul on. last night, i watched msnbc from 4:00 until 10:00 last

night. i do not support ron paul's stances on domestic issues. clearly, he runs through all independents, republicans, and democrats. chris matthews called ron paul -- the only thing he said about ron paul, because somebody brought him up, was that he was unelectable. should chris matthews be determining -- they should just give us the bloody information. they should not try to determine who we are going to vote for. guest: i hate to go back to this point, but that is the beauty of the new hampshire primary. chris matthews does not have a vote. he is another moist in the national media. -- voice in the national media. you do not have to rely on his voice. you can't interact with these

candidates -- you can interact with these candidates yourselfs. we have a chance to size them up and talk to them directly and get information from them directly. host: even though you have talked about the ability of voters in new hampshire to have the one-on-one contact and hear from the candidates themselves, the national media descends on your state. there is some information in the papers today. i will grab this one in "the washington post" that shows a gaggle of reporters waiting to talk to presidential candidate jon huntsman. you can see them huddled there. they're in a bakery's kitchen. they're trying not to get in the wake of the candidate. you are flooded with the media. how does that change the flavor of the debate that happens there?

what is it like? guest: yeah, this week is a circus. the most magical week in american politics, between iowa and new hampshire. there is so much movement. some candidates drop out. others change their positions. there's a lot of jockeying going on. there's been this flood of media that has developed. i cherish the early moments in the campaign when you can ride in the car with the candidate and drive around the state. i believe ron paul had to cancel a breakfast event yesterday in manchester because of the throng of media. rick santorum is having problems holding some of his events. he is having to do them in parking lots because of all the interest. clearly, these candidates want the interest. clearly, they want to be covered. the only way for south carolina

voters to have any understanding of what is happening is either by seeing rick perry or by watching some of these news shows. clearly, they gain money from people that may be in dayton, like yourself. you get a better understanding of where these candidates are. there is a whole other element when all the media comes to town. it is harder for these candidates to talk directly to the people. the smarter campaigns are the ones that can manage that a bit. for example, mitt romney has still been able to talk to voters directly. host: james pindell, political director of wmur tv in new hampshire. welcome, donald. a democratic caller from arizona. caller: i just have a couple of comments. as far as these wars, i think the only way we will keep out of these is to bring back the draft. i am a pretty strong democrat.

i would vote for ron paul. given his age, i think this is his last try, so i think he ought to run as an independent. guest: well, the third party option is something that he gets asked about a lot. he has not closed the door on that. some people say that he is laying the groundwork for his son, rand paul, who has been on the trail with him in iowa and in new hampshire. he has obviously announced that he will not run for reelection to the house. he will try to reshape the republican party. i do not see any scenario -- that no one drops out because they lose, but because they are broke. ron paul raises money week after week. he will probably be in this

race until the convention in tampa. host: donald said he was a democrat and is willing to cross over and support ron paul. james pindell, you mentioned earlier that a big question will be, can ron paul get some of these independent voters to go his way? what are you looking at as far as how influential these undeclared or undecided voters will be today? guest: two things. they are a group that makes up their mind at the very last minute. they are totally up for grabs. in that sense, ron paul and any candidate really wants to find a way to get some of these independent voters. as to the caller's point, we talked about foreign policy a bit earlier. it is the concept of a nuclear iran. it is how we deal with the

challenge of china. is it a friend or a foe? how do we deal with russia? how do we deal with the european debt crisis? that is the type of foreign policy conversation we're having. you could throw in afghanistan, where jon huntsman and ron paul basically have the same position on that. future wars, that's not a conversation we've been hearing a lot independents lot talking about. they are more concerned about the economic condition. our polling has shown that. host: betty, a republican in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you. i was trying to save my call for later in the game, but i do want to speak out to jon huntsman. they barely let him on the stage in the beginning. his first comment at the start of all of this -- i thought, wow, i like the fact that his sons are participating in the navy. teddy roosevelt had the right

idea. walk softly and carry a big stick. my husband served as a pow. i am not personally a military person. i just think there's a lot of danger in our world today. i feel mr huntsman is a worldly person. i feel he is an american. please look at his record and put him in the white house. thank you. bye. guest: thank you to your family for your service, and obviously, you sacrifice, as well. in terms upper jon huntsman, -- in terms of jon huntsman, he spent a lot of money starting off. they have had some financial problems. he is pretty much under the radar. until last week, i have been very down on jon huntsman's campaign in new hampshire, even

though this is a state where he says he is putting all of his eggs in the basket. this never caught on. it was always in the seven to nine-point area. he never seemed to have much momentum. in new hampshire, strategists say it is like catching lightning in a bottle. he is catching lightning in a bottle. he is picking the right time for people to tune in. host: who could be a deal breaker today? guest: i think new hampshire will decide the makeup of this race going forward, or what kind of presidential nomination process we are going to have. if one person emerges to be a clear alternative to mitt romney -- for example, gets second place within single digits of mitt romney, or maybe

10 points away from mitt romney with mitt romney under 40%, we could have a very fascinating and long process. given the way the republicans changed their primary process, which we do not have to get into -- but the most likely scenario will be mitt romney on top. he may even under perform a little bit. maybe the national republican fund-raisers are not too impressed. if we have a lot of candidates in the second through five bunch, and none of them drop out, and they all go to south carolina, then mitt romney does not have to get 40% or 50% of the vote. he just has to have more than everybody else but if that's the situation, i think it will be difficult for anyone to stop mitt romney from the in the nominee. host: new york, independent line.

caller: thank you, c-span, for be in the organization you are. i am a big ron paul supporter but i would like to discuss what everybody calls ron paul's achilles' heel. we already overthrew iran. we put in a dictator. the united states was dictators. -- loves dictators. they are easy to control. when are we going to stop the cycle of men as we are trapped in? how propagandized are the american people? host: jim, you think this is ron paul's achilles' heel. do you think it is enough to sway voters? caller: i do not consider it his achilles' heel. with the attention he gets from the mainstream media and the

other candidates -- they're definitely going to play to the military industrial complex and we're going to be stuck in the cycle of madness. ron paul has the most sane foreign-policy, yet a sane foreign policy is like an insane idea these days. how did we get to this? host: let's hear from james pindell. guest: the biggest achilles' heel from ron paul -- they do not think he can beat barack obama. they're willing to compromise on not finding the perfect candidate. the perfect candidate has not emerged for many of these republican voters. they do want to beat barack obama. there is no question about that. he is viewed fairly or unfairly as a candidate who cannot build a coalition to get to 51% or

270 electoral votes. you may disagree with that, but i think that is the biggest perception problem he has. when i talk to ron paul's strategists in new hampshire, they knew this was his biggest problem. they've been trying to make him more of a mainstream candidate. they've worked very hard at that in new hampshire. they knew that was his biggest problem. host: james pindell is the political director at wmur tv in manchester, new hampshire. thank you so much. guest: i think you will be simulcasting our coverage tomorrow. >> one way or the other, win or lose, we expect newt gingrich to be speaking here at the radisson hotel, the headquarters for the campaign tonight. c-span cameras will cover this evening.

"the washington post" says newt gingrich was planning to speak this morning at a stop at webster elementary school but he realized it was out of the question when the number of journalists was well over 100. >> this is the view that newt gingrich will have as he looks out to the risers ahead of him. our coverage tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. i also want to tell you that our facebook poll is up for this primary day.

we are talking about super pacs. one billionaire wrote a $5 million check to newt gingrich's super pac. what are your thoughts? what is the influence of super pacs in the residential campaign? cast your vote. this afternoon beginning at 5:00, we will bring you speeches from past primaries from 2000, 2004, and 2008 ahead of our prime time coverage starting at 8:00 tonight. we will hear from newt gingrich and all the candidates, victory and contests and speeches tonight. also on c-span radio and c- span.org. the results will start coming in at 7:00 or so.

earlier today, the house and dabbled in for a brief pro forma session. once again, the democrats tried to get recognition from the speaker pro tem to talk about the extension of the payroll tax cuts. jim moran was not recognized by the speaker. the speaker gaveled the session. out. shortly after, democrats released a press release, saying they are urging to oversee the payroll tax cut to bring the committee back together to extend the payroll tax cuts for one year. jim moran made some brief comments to reporters. we will show you those later in our program scheduled on the c- span network. coming up next, back to new hampshire and a final look at the poll numbers ahead of the

primary. host: how do you scream at likely voters? guest: hit screens out for very likely voters. also a portion by census-based demographics, geography, and so on. they have to pass a screened question in terms of self- identifying their intention of how likely it is they will vote in the upcoming election. unless they say "very likely," we screened and. a casual observer would be screened out. we are only interested in getting those who are most likely to vote. it varies from year to year,

election to election. in 2008, we used a looser screening process because you had independents jumping out of different primaries. on monday night in 2008, you could have a person voting for john mccain in the republican primary and then on thursday, you could have that same person voting for hillary clinton. in that case, a loose screen was appropriate. in this case, we opted for a tighter screen so we can hopefully reach the more reliable voter. host: a brand new poll is out this morning looking at january 8 and 9, likely gop voters. mitt romney at 37%, ron paul at 18%, jon huntsman, 16%, rick santorum at 11% 10.

7% undecided. what kind of movement is that? what are you reading from this numbers? guest: it is an incredible margin for mitt romney. we had him sliding four to five days prior from 43% down to 33%. he had a great overnight last night as did jon huntsman. jon huntsman exited ron paul but because we maintained the two- day tracking rolling average, ron paul is still in second place by 2%. jon huntsman in third place. the idea is to pick up movement and momentum. it is a very short 10-question scripts to screen at the respondents and then to ask important questions.

so you hope that it works out plus or minus 4.4%. we opted to pull right up until last night because of the late debate schedule. there was an abc the base saturday night, and nbc debate on sunday morning. in order for us to capture in a two-day period post-debate review by voters, we had to be in the field on sunday and monday, last night, with 250. we think the debate drove some good responses for jon huntsman and 4 mitt romney who seems to be pulling back people from the undecided category temporarily and back into his column. host: ron paul, 18%. very close between the two of them. what do you read in that race

for second place? guest: is going to be very close and it will come down to voter i.d. and pool. jon huntsman has momentum from last night and the previous two nights. the question is can he harvest that momentum? he has planted the seeds. it has grown. now he needs to harvest them and bring them to market, to the polls. i do not know if he is set up to do that. ron paul has the infrastructure to bring his support on. ron paul's support -- region, the northern and central parts of new hampshire where pretty favorable to him. when you are getting the returns tonight, look in those counties and those that border vermont.

those counties are small counties but we see ron paul doing very well, very competitive with mitt romney. counties, he willve lead in the early returns. in some counties, ron paul should have margins of 25% or 30%. 20-ill provide the 15 to point margin. his other demographic are younger voters where he has traditionally done well and in new hampshire is doing well. host: let's look briefly at the "the washington post." it ties into directly what you are talking about and it shows where candidates are excelling and what parts of the state might have more appeal to them. there is an independent

southeast block. rick santorum has been able to make some ground there with blue-collarit's not clear whethl be enough. mitt romney, it says, is focused on the mccain terrain. it calls rick perry the nowhere man. he decided to skip new hampshire and take his campaign on the road to south carolina. guest: the jon huntsman numbers are interesting. he is everywhere, except when you break them down by party affiliation. this may be why he does not get to second place, and maybe even scrambles into third place. although, our momentum shows he is doing very well, at least overnight. the problem with jon huntsman's

campaign, he polled 23%, which is a big number among independents, but only 9% among registered republicans. registered republicans will make up a larger share of tonight's vote. the race going forward -- florida, for example, has a closed primary. there are no independents eligible to vote. only registered republicans can vote. jon huntsman is showing that much of a discrepancy between parties. he may run into problems in states like florida with closed primaries. host: we will talk more about your polling results of independents. first, let's talk to wanda from st. louis on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. my concern is that none of the presidential candidates are

speaking about taxing the wealthy. they want to tax the social security, the disabled, the elderly, and the military that are coming back that will be wounded and probably receiving social security, but none of them want to tax the wealthy, which is paying 1% versus the lower class and middle-class. guest: it is an excellent point, but keep in mind who they're playing to. the republican primary voter is a different profile than the general election voters. in the republican party, you are looking at tea party activists and you are also looking at self-labeled conservatives and moderates, some of whom are in that bracket.

to differentiate themselves, these candidates are absolutely not attacking to the middle. if anything, the candidates are going to the right of each other with the strategy that they can capture pockets of republican conservative support. then, obviously, the strategy they're after is to tack that to the middle. host: if you are a new hampshire resident, you can join the conversation. let's run through the rest of the numbers. again, that new hampshire number. ray on the line for republicans. good morning, ray. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question about how you do your polling. more people are getting rid of

their home phones and going to sell phones -- to cell phones. i guess you just call landline phone. how do you do your polling? do you go out and stop people in the streets? how do you do this? host: have you been getting calls from campaigns? a lot of voters talk about how they get a lot of calls around dinnertime on their land line phones. do you get that on your cell phone? caller: i do not. guest: let me clarify a couple of things. one, we do include cell phones,

in addition to land lines. it is a little bit more expensive. there's a misnomer that just because you call cellphones, your poll is more accurate. what we do is we purchased the actual cell phone only extensions and put those responded -- age, gender, demographics. we supplement the calling program with the land line. there are times when we think we will call a cell-only and they will say, "call me back on my land line." the key is the allocation and to make sure the result matches the sample frame that you set up. the sample frame is set up on historical trends and the conditions of the election in

terms of whether or not you are weighing other things, if you are polling a state that might have a contested primary. it's a little bit more complicated than that, but we do call cell phones. we think it adds a valuable component, at least going forward in the general election. i do not think it will matter too much in the republican primary, based on the demographics of the republican primary likely voter. in the general election, it will. there was a pew study that suggested a non-cell phone samples to republicans by 4% to 5%. i think that is something we all need to take a look at, even if there's an increased cost. host: arizona, judy, republican. caller: i would like to make a comment.

the gentleman you have speaking now was stating that on the demographics that ron paul voters ranged in age from 18 to 30's. could this be the reason that most of them do not realize it takes more than just stating what you are going to do when you get into the white house? they do not realize that while mr. paul has some excellent ideas and over 20 years in congress, the man has accomplished nothing. guest: an 18-year-old vote is as good as my vote or your boat or anyone's vote. state farm those opinions based

on the information they receive, that's the process. that's america. it's up to the other candidates to convince the 18-year-old of what you just articulated. the important piece is that not all of the votes are 18 to 34, but a chunk of them are in that demographic. that is also the demographics that helped barack obama. i would not discount the 18 to 34 demographic in terms of their wisdom. one could say that older voters have a better perspective. i understand what you are saying. i agree with it. that's probably why mitt romney is doing so well in new hampshire older -- in new hampshire. older voters have seen good and bad economies. perhaps mitt romney is doing so well because they are linking romney with the look back period. they see him as a dove tail between the leadership in solving economic problems.

host: david paleologos, suffolk university pollster, and also the director of the political research center. let's look at a poll checking in with independents. romney at 34%. huntsman, 26%. ron paul, 22%. santorum, 6%. gingrich, 3%. david paleologos, tell us more about it. guest: it's an interesting dynamic. mitt romney led independents on january 1 by 23 points. so much has happened, especially with jon huntsman and how late he has rallied. he is really relying on independents or what new hampshire folks call undeclared voters. in terms of a successful model to win, romney only needs to break even, which he is doing

and then some among independents. where he is laying the margin out is in the registered republican demographics, as well as others, like older voters and women voters. host: kansas city, kansas. mike, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning to you. with all the money that's been spent towards ron paul -- you might agree with him, like him, or hate him. between mitt romney, the guy is the biggest flip flop i have ever seen. the republican party used to stand on not supporting flip- flop first. it blows my mind. i am glad that a lot of americans are waking up. regardless of how you feel about ron paul, he does not waver. host: mike, you called in as a democrat.

are you willing to cross party lines and vote for him? caller: absolutely. you see this from the calls that are coming in. more and more people are waking up to ron paul. i understand how people feel about ron paul. he is not the perfect candidate. you'll never find the perfect candidate. he never wavers. he stands by the constitution. he has my vote. thank you. host: david paleologos -- guest: i would like to ask him a question. i was one to ask him if ron paul was a third-party candidate and it was barack obama, mitt romney, and ron paul, whether he would still feel the same way, or whether he would vote for barack obama. host: i'm sorry we lost him before you could ask him that. tell us why you think that is significant. how does that change the race? guest: the idea of a third-party candidate is very important.

it will become a bigger issue as we get into the spring and summer. being in massachusetts, we had a very similar situation with barack obama with the governor -- with governor patrick. a landslide win, african- american, hope and change, great support from younger voters. three years into his administration, similar to barack obama, governor patrick had the same kind of numbers barack obama now has. low job performance, low favorability. with a third-party candidate on the ballot, the democrat -- patrick prevailed. he won the reelection easily by six or seven points, despite only getting 49% of the votes.

maybe not for today's discussion, but i think what the caller was touching upon was the kind of loyalty to ron paul is something that may transcend the republican primary. you may see a candidate emerged as a third-party candidate, which i think would help barack obama. host: david paleologos, how significant our crossover votes? those who would cross over -- i will read you an e-mail from ben in ohio. host: how much do you see that happening? guest: when barack obama and

hillary clinton seemed like an endless primary in 2008, in the later primaries, the opposite happened. depending on the state and the state's rules, when it was apparent barack obama was going to win, you have the meddling on the other side. we saw that in several states. it does happen. we would like to think people would stay true to their core beliefs and vote on the primary that is the primary of their political philosophy. certainly, there are practitioners in terms of political tactics. that happens. it may be 5% to 8% of the votes, but we saw it a lot in 2010, as well. host: republican in uniontown, pennsylvania. welcome. caller: i just wanted to make

one more endorsement of congressman ron paul. based on his voting record, i feel like he is the most solid candidate we have. host: let's throw david paleologos's question to you. if he does not make it to the primary but runs as a third- party candidate, would you vote for him? caller: i think i would. i think i would draw my republicans that is, as well, to vote for him. for over 30 years, he's the only one who has been speaking out about the military- industrial complex and everything and the federal reserve issues we need to deal with. host: would you have any concerns about being a spoiler? caller: i just feel like more and more people are waking up and looking for people running on principle, running on values, rather than running on this party or that party.

host: david paleologos. guest: it is fascinating. that is why i love this so much. the attitudes, the changing attitudes. there are some candidates that have a following. ron paul certainly has a following. there are conversations happening right now in virginia or in d.c. trying to deal with this whole dynamic, especially from the republican point of view. a ron paul candidacy could have an effect in one of the seven or eight key states in the general election, like ohio, florida, or even new hampshire. the intensity for ron paul is a dangerous thing, especially in terms of the infrastructure of the republican party right now. host: a couple of tweets about

this debate. host: there was a question earlier if ron paul was a bonafide republican or not. one of our listeners brought that up. what has happened to the tea party this election? guest: the tea party has not gone away, but it is less of a factor in some states than it is in others. for example, in new hampshire, it is less of a factor. being part of the tea party is a little more complicated. it's a little bit more of a cut and dry situation. a perfect example is nevada. tea party mattered in nevada. suffolk university was the only live polling outfit in the

country that picked up sharron angle winning in 2010, and coming out of nowhere, by the way. there were many candidates. what she did was exactly what we are talking about. she captured the imagination and the support of the tea party in nevada such that it propelled her through the nominations. you do not have that dynamic. it's much different in new hampshire than nevada. host: lisa, independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. i am the person was a fervent obama supporter, but i have been -- i could see going to a third party for buddy roemer. what is this issue you are finding out? is it the name recognition? is it that he entered into the

thing a little late? buddy roemer is somebody that i would go to america's elect and make him my third candidate to go up against the two of them. guest: a couple of nights ago, he had more support than rick perry. that got a little bit of interest, even though it was a difference between 1.7% and 1%. you raise an important point about the third-party dynamic, because third party voters are an accumulation of many other voters. they include people who like the candidates. like yourself, you like buddy roemer. or they feel the third-party candidates are underrepresented because, unlike in europe, where you have many parties running.

we only have mainly two. some people like to pull for the underdog. if they feel like their party will win, and they want to make a statement, they will vote for the third party candidate. it's a little bit complicated in terms of ascertaining it. successful third-party candidates have sort of transcended all of those factors. they have personal appeal. they captured a time that was an anti-democracy feeling. they have accumulated all these subsets of voters to try to piece together the campaign. host: here is what jim says on twitter. guest: i agree. i agree 100%. the frustrating part -- at suffolk university, we tried to

get to the matters that matter and drill down. unfortunately, as you know, the horse race results and the ballot test results -- the crazy circle we are in. it is the issues that are provocative, that gets people to thinking. at suffolk, students are encouraged to drill down and get to the core issues. host: david paleologos, suffolk university pollster. he directs the school's political research center. he has worked since 2002 in partnership with whdh 7 news. that is nbc-tv boston, and foxes miami, conducting statewide polls in massachusetts and elsewhere. let's look at some demographics and breakdown information of new hampshire.

get a profile of the state. 1.3 million people. the population change has been a bump of 6.5% in the last 10 years. 13.5% are 65 and over. the new hampshire median age in 2009 was just over 40. the national median age in 2009 was 36. we're getting those numbers from the u.s. census bureau. guest: significant. i'm glad you put that up. the difference does not look bigger between the national average and the 41. new hampshire is fourth in terms of median age in all of the states. it is technically an older state by that standard. as you look at that list from

the census 2010, six of the top 10 states ranked by median age are from the northeast. host: why do you think that is significant when it comes to voting? guest: it's really important in terms of the republican primary. traditionally, it's the institutional voter is the most reliable voter -- they are the older voters. they are the people who watch more tv, read more policy, with the advent of social media, and now part of that, research more candidates, watch c-span and other programs, and basically are more informed than the more middle age or younger voter that might be more emotional for a candidate or a policy. in the case of middle-age folks, they did not have enough time because of whatever is going on

in their lives, raising kids, working, and have a limited attention span for political debates candidates, debates, researching issues. the older voters is important. especially in new hampshire given the median age statistics. host: matt, a democrat in virginia. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a registered democrat only because my state requires me to register to even vote in my general election. i wanted to vote for john kerry a few years ago and i saw them throw my vote into the trash can because i was not registered. i made sure i got register the next time voting for obama. obama has not done exactly what he said he was going to do. he has gone quite the opposite in some cases. i am one of these voters that will cross over. it is interesting that some of these republican pundits and pollsters -- i'm not sure exactly sureun-- sure unsite of a term you want to use. spoiler -- before you address

that, the other day, they're coming up with this facts, and people are asking questions about things like the defense authorization act. if you run mitt romney, he is going to lose to obama. that just seems plain and simple. he is basically the same candidate. guest: ok. let me address both of those. in terms of the spoiler issue, that is not personal opinion. my job is to read the numbers, both pre-election and the exit polling, and determine whether or not a third party candidate share the demographics of the losing candidate. if there's a correlation between

the losing candidate's demographics and the same demographics of the third-party candidate, scientifically, we can conclude that if the third party candidate was not in the race, the losing candidate might have had a better shot. it might not have changed the margin, but it would have impacted we saw that happen in massachusetts two years ago -- but it would have impact. we saw that happen in massachusetts two years ago. regarding the state's votes and flipping, i think it is very important. in the analysis that i wrote in the huffington post piece, i suggested that in vienna, virginia, and north carolina would most likely slip back to republican -- that virginia, north carolina would slip back to republican, based on the economy and based on the predisposed bias of those

states. living in virginia, if you go back 10 elections, virginia, indiana, and north carolina have voted republican eight of the last 10 times, or nine of the last 10 times. virginia being one of them. based on the models that we are developing, those three states will probably fly back to republican, unless something unusual happens in the next six to eight months, either in terms of the economy or the republican nominee. host: daniel in connecticut, republican, you are next. go ahead. caller: i support ron paul because he does represent the values that i hold as a christian. i want to tell other ron paul supporters that they should vote for him no matter what, even if the polls suggest that he might not win in the general

election. they still need to vote for him. if he gets enough done, we can change the republican platform to be closer to the values that the constitution sets forth, which is what ron paul stands for candidate and no for does. i wanted to ask your guest if he uses charged questions, like all other pollsters do, like, considering mitt romney is already leading, who the want to win, instead of who you want to win? they say, "said his data provide a starting point and a series of screening questions. questions involve voting history and likely voting attention." that sounds like you're screening people out.

caller: thank you for your time. guest: i will only screen out a person if they will not be voting on election day. i want students, by the end of the 14-week course, to be able to leave the classroom and go out and poll. the class addresses all of the components of polling. questionnaire design, sample frame, executing a survey, analysis, across tabulation, presentation of results. it is all important. because polling is important, it should be important, not only to me as a pollster, but to all of us. i am not suggesting either that people not vote their heart. the whole idea of this framework, this political framework, is that everybody

does have a vote. ron paul voters, if they they should get out and vote for him and not vote either for or against a candidate based on the polls. it is my job to be as accurate as possible. we are not perfect. we have a pretty good track record. it is our responsibility to exactly reproduce what the conditions are on election day. i am not going to allow someone who is not a likely voter. let's say if we are working 8 screen, i want to be able to test that. they can tell us when election day is, whether it is a month away with the name of their polling place. there are ways we can screamed that person down.

again, it is the pollsters responsibility to determine whether this election or another primary is a loose screen or a tight screen. host: good morning, eric. caller: i would like to suggest to all of the voting people out there to , first, research [unintelligible] and then see the film, "inside job." and then which candidate reflects those principles of. i do not understand why the mass media says ron paul is unelectable when it seems he is surging in the polls. host: are you contributing money to his campaign? caller: i have been a ron paul

supporter for years. i voted for him as an independent. i think he is the only one who really talks about what this country needs to turn around. host: he mentioned before that ron paul supporters are committed. how does that play out in new hampshire? guest: it is all about getting the vote out. ron paul lead in the iowa caucus polls four or five days out. the rick santorum surge in iowa did not make it possible for him to keep that standing. so, the most important thing if you are focused on a is to get out and vote and get your friends to get out and vote. i think it is worthy to note that after tonight, you are only going to have two candidates who

would have finished in the top three, with not -- mitt romney and ron paul. so as different as they are, they are showing us a singularity in terms of -- and a continuity -- in terms of which two candidates have passed the test. both of them have run before. they have been around the track and have learned from running. we will see going forward whether or not that sticks. host: he also directs the school's political research chestecenter. thank you for joining us. >> our coverage this evening will start at 8:00. we will also bring you the latest results, speeches from the republican candidates, take

your phone calls and read your facebook post as well. all that getting underway at 8:00 here on say spent -- here on c-span, c-span radio, and c- span.org. later we will look back at 2000, 2004, and 2008 of victory and consistent speeches starting at 5:00 this afternoon. they are debuting a mobile app that will make it easier for directing volunteers. we are asking about the role and influence of super pacs. you can weigh in with your thoughts. up next, the new hampshire primary awards banquet, an event that honors individuals who have demonstrated so on -- strong support for the primary.

this year's nominees were senator john kerry and senator john mccain. from manchester, it is an hour and 20 minutes. [applause] >> thank you very much, everybody. thank you. please be seated. thank you. please sit down. i am truly honored to be with all of you distinguished politicians and luminaries to celebrate the new hampshire presidential primary and three of my personal political heroes. david broder, who is a legend in american political reporting. john mccain, whose service we all know so well. and of course, i get to give the

award to john kerry. you may remember that in 2004,i chaired john kerry's national political campaign for president. my husband billy was his new hampshire campaign chair. in our household, it was john kerry for president 24/7. stephanie can tell you that is true. as you heard in that video, early when he got into the race, everybody thought john kerry was going to be the nominee of the democratic party. but then, as the video showed, by this time in 2003 as the new hampshire primary was heating up, the pundits and the pollsters had pretty much written off john kerry.

he dropped in the polls and people thought he did not have a chance. but they didn't know john kerry. he hung tough and he decided to take his message directly to the voters of new hampshire and showed not only what he was made of but what the voters of new hampshire are made of. of course, that is when the new hampshire firefighters came up with their idea of the chili suppers. as dave lang says, they pointed out they had a candidate as hot as the chili they were serving. i think john kerry 8 50 pounds of chili during that campaign. they were a success because john kerry took his message and his candidacy directly to the voters.

he did not give up. he showed the courage, the tenacity, the intellect and the commitment that won him the democratic nomination. i can remember that he fought for every vote. i can still see him on granite street at 6:00 a.m. on election day shaking hands in the blistering cold. he stayed out there right up until the polls closed. he won the new hampshire primary that day, and it was a victory as much for john kerry as it was for new hampshire voters. and, you now, i supported john kerry because i thought he had the leadership this country needed. at a time when we really needed it. i never thought i would get a chance to serve with him and with senator mccain in the united states and and to see up

close and personal the kind of leadership that he still provides to this country in the united states senate. i have had a chance to serve with him on the foreign relations committee and to see the commitment and the passion that he brings to everything that he does. when this administration needed a diplomat to go over to pakistan after the raymond davis affair, after osama bin laden was taken out, they called on john kerry. when we were trying to pass the new start treaty, it was john kerry who led that fight. he, more than anyone else, it deserves credit for getting that done. and i think one of the things i

like to think about is that throughout his success, he still remembers those cold new hampshire days of politics. john care brought out the best in the new hampshire primary, just as the new hampshire primary brought out the best in john kerry. please join me in rewarding this award to john kerry. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much, folks. jane, thank you very, very much. i think i can come back here and say with equal passion, i love

new hampshire. [applause] this is very, very special. just been in the presence of some many good friends. one of the things that comes out of that, and i think john will feel the same way, you just make lifelong friends. and you have a sense of the people in the state and in the country that is simply unique. i will never lose that ever no matter what i do in life, and i thank new hampshire for that. you made me a hell of a better candidate. you made me look deep inside and get down deep and get at 8. i was with rob portman the other day. we were chatting about it and he reminded me that i only lost the presidency by half of the people in the ohio state stadium on saturday.

i said thanks. "you better make it up to me." we are going to get this done. i cannot tell you how special it is for me to be here with my friend john mccain. if you days ago, he sent me a photo of the two of us sitting at the state of the union address. on it he wrote, "the two losers -- together again." [laughter] it was real sweet. here in new hampshire, john mccain and john kerry are 3-0. so tonight, we are here as winners. that is very special. [applause] john and i got here this evening. we took one of the jon huntsman flights. bypassed iowa, straight to new hampshire.

[laughter] governor, congratulations to you. it will be an extraordinary year as you get there and i am sure everyone here is appreciative of your public service. [applause] john was talking about the new media and the social media and tweeting and facebook. i do not tweet a whole lot because i think it is much more important for senators to make their mistakes in person. it is a pleasure to be here. i am a great admirer. he never would have made it in washington today. this event brings us together to celebrate one of the most

important attorneys in america and how we choose our leaders. this is a room full of great memories. and full of those friendships that they talked about a moment ago. one person who is not here that i would like to thank is a great friend of many of you in this room, judy reardon, who is battling a form of leukemia. everyone of us loved her dearly and we send her our passionate hopes and wishes and prayers for a complete cure. we admire her enormously. [applause] john mccain and i have been through a lot of battles together, and for some of them we were not together but there were battles. both of us come here with a

special respect for david broder. he was a reporter's reporter. and i think he represented something we have lost in american politics which is a tragedy. a guy who did not get swayed by sponsors or interests or the inside game, but who really always looked to the people. he was a people's reporter. he was a reporter who hung his hat on the truth for which we are all very, very grateful. i also think we can say that he would be very proud of the way dan balz carries on in his tradition. so thank you for sharing us this evening what you do.

let me say a few words about new hampshire and where we are today. then i will sit down and john will speak. i first heard about or sensed new hampshire as something special and different when i was a young naval officer in the gulf of tonkin, 1968. 1968 was a hell of a year that year. i got all of that news drifting in. i will never forget. i had an interest in public policy. i remember listening to the vote count and getting a sense of what gene mccarthy was doing and the power of new hampshire win in new hampshire told the president of the united states it is over and you cannot run any more. a huge impact on the nation and the course of history. in 1999, i was up here campaigning for al gore.

i never in my imagination did i think five years later i was going to be up here with some of those same people on my own journey because i thought out or was going to win and we would have eight years. but we all know what happened, remembering tim russert and that famous board in florida. it changed the course of history for all of us and the country. i never forget all the personal parts of campaigning up here. traveling around in a too tight van and tooling around this and listening to their stories about a well-known bar here. i was left in the morning driving around. i was struggling with the forst

heaves, and they were struggling with dry heaves. what stands out to me as i come back here tonight is it the sense of loyalty. the loyalty is amazing. win new hampshire makes up their mind, they are your friend for life. when they make up their mind, they go the distance and they are tough in the making up of their minds. that is the beauty of what happened here in new hampshire. i will never forget going to visit with dave lang and the firefighters. dave came on board early and the firefighters came on board and that we had those chili feeds. i think wikileaks has an insight on everything in government but they do not have dave's recipe

for chili. i feel guilty about that now because michelle obama is out trying to campaign with good tradition. 25,000 pounds of chili is not a good standard but a got me where i needed to go. the truth is that loyalty was carried on by a fellow who right after his own campaign kept his promise to me made way back when i was a front runner and said he was going to endorse me. every reason in the world given what the polls were saying. he stood up, came out, and he endorsed me as he said he would. he fought like hell to help us turn things around. right at about the same time, the person who introduced me, senator shaheen, came on board

as the national chairwoman at a time when it was tough to help me make some tough decisions that began to turn things around. i will never forget going to the hall in dover, the same place where hillary clinton gave a speech. i remember something said about dead dogs, the kerry campaign, and this is what we have to say. "the reason i am supporting you is because you look like the old man on the mountain." [laughter] "a week later, the old man on the mountain fell." that is not a good omen. a couple of days later, my pollsters said the only way you win new hampshire is if you

save 8 drowning baby in the river. i believe in what you believe in. i will never forget the image of people sitting at houses taking notes, writing down what you said, asking do the tough questions. it is an extraordinary process. people look inside your gut, your heart, your soul and made a measurement about you as an individual, as a human being, and made a different kind of judgment. that is the value of new hampshire. that is the value i think is precious to the entire process of how we choose even a president of the united states in this country. i say that to you at a time when we are troubled. done mccain and i have spent a lot of time working together on trying to get democracy in libya, egypt, burma, and other

places, and we are proud to stand up for those things. right now, we have a desperate challenge to improve our own democracy right here in the u.s. we need to get rid of the shrill the almost desert, of dialogue if you want to call it. it is shocking to me the degree to which critical issues are facing us today that are lost in a parallel universe that has so little to do with people's lives and the challenges that we face as a country. i know we can get there. john mccain knows we can get there. so does gene shaheen. the question is whether we can find the critical mass that gets facts and makeshe

common sense decisions. i will end by telling you a quick story. late 1980's, early 1990's, john mccain and i decided that we really thought it was time to make peace in viet nam. it was a time when the pow and mia issue was crisscrossing the country. there was a big question mark. here was a place that in the hearts and minds of many people we were at war. we thought that our interests and our future lay in trying to get that behind us and moving on. so john and i banded together. we had differences over the war, but we found a common path that worked for the interests for our

country. for 10 years, we slug it out against some people who actually challenged john as a senator, labeling him as the manchurian candidate, challenging his patriotism. that is what we faced. ultimately, john and i found our way back to vietnam together. i will never forget standing in the prison where john was held for a period of time, standing in the very cell he had been imprisoned in, alone just the two of us, as he described some of what happened to. at that moment, i felt to myself and i thought about a lot afterwards. if we can get over our feelings about the war, if we can get over the differences, we can come together to try to do what we are doing here and find common ground.

then all of the rest of these things ought to be easy because they are in the greater interest of our country. when bang franklin walked down the steps of constitution hall, a woman walked up to him and said after finishing the work, "what we have, dr. franklin?" "a monarchy or a republic?" he said, "it republic if you can keep it." that is the work that we face today. i am proud to be engaged in that work with john mccain and with others in the senate, people who want to reach across and find not just common ground but higher ground. that is what bill tarnation. the senate is a place where people disagree vehemently. people could have different ideologies and different police. when the nation's interests were

at stake, those people can wait to come together and put those interests ahead of all else. i think that new hampshire is going to contribute hugely to the effort to help us do that once again in this presidential race. i think david broder once said that perhaps in the bible there was a line that said "and in new hampshire shall lead." amen. i think it will. [applause] >> oakton. if you will direct your attention to the video monitors. >> you cannot buy an election in the state of new hampshire. >> he is the guy who invented

the town hall meeting style of campaigning. >> thank you, senator. >> we are working hard for you. >> there is something beyond charisma. >> too many politicians are too scripted all the time. the format of new hampshire was tailor-made to a guy like john mccain. >> before he became new hampshire's john mccain, he was just a senator from arizona. in 1999, that did not mean much to the voters. >> we had difficulty in enticing people to come out. >> john mccain had 13 people. >> mccain and his advisers turned first to veterans and then student's. providing one of the funnier moments. >> he tooled his five-minute

speech, opened it up to questions. the first student was "can you tell me your position on hemp?" john mccain is truly flustered, looking around, and he says, "you are going to have to be more specific." >> there are a lot of john mccain stories. >> one student asked if he had the energy for a campaign. >> thank you for the question, you little jerk. [laughter] >> it was that kind of humor that was turning the tide to his favor. >> a man came and told me he had been to five of my town hall meetings which i allege is a testimony to my inability to close the deal. >> it turns out, he was closing

more deals than he thought. the momentum was certainly building. >> it was rising four or five points. >> i had a small gathering at my house and promised i would have at least 20 people. over 150 people came. >> 400 people lined up for arizona senator john mccain's book signing. >> what was most surprising is we had a plan, we followed it, and very little if anything took us off our game. [applause] >> primary night 2000, the evening was his. >> thank you very much. thank you and god bless. welcome to our 115th town hall meeting. [applause] >> i do not think too many of us

were surprised the next day. >> it would go down as a textbook primary. then came 2007, and things were different this time around. >> you did not h a bit. >> the first half of the year was a very difficult time for everyone involved in the campaign. >> >> we did not have to introduce john now. everybody knew john. the crowds were bigger. >> along with the crowds, the campaign staff grew as well. >> 150, 160 people. we had the offices. we geared up for it. frankly, the fund-raising was not there. it became pretty clear the we were spending at one level and raising and much lower level. >> more people were hired then

should have been hired. for all intents and purposes, a big bureaucracy of the campaign. >> at one point, it seemed the campaign might not survive, and reporters smelled blood in the water. >> "the washington post" asked him, "under what circumstances would you drop out?" john mccain said, "only if i succumbed to a fatal disease." >> the man known for straight talk wanted one from his advisers. it was a reckoning that did not start well. >> maybe we should be doing this or that. >> that was a tough meeting. john was looking for very honest advice, although he had his mind made up he was quick to stick it out, because he is not a quitter. hearing governor peterson and other folks reaffirm that he could not win -- that he could win and had a chance was a very

poignant moment. >> he knew how to run in new hampshire. he knew what he needed to do. it was the smartest thing he could have done, going back to basics. >> and after focusing on new hampshire once again, things started to shift in the fall of 2007. >> people were starting to listen. he has not dropped out. >> i have talked to the people of new hampshire. i have reasoned with you. i have listened with you. i have answered you. sometimes, i have argued with you. >> by the primary night of 2008, john mccain would stand call -- stand tall again. while he fell short of the white house, his new hampshire connection was set in greenock. >> he has done enough for the primary out here as anybody. >> he is a remarkable person. one of the great owners of my life.

>> i do not know if this will make the cut or not, but john, i love you. he is smiling. keep shining. -- keep smiling. >> to present our third award tonight, please welcome the united states senator. [applause] >> it is really an honor. it is overwhelming to be here with all of you tonight. so many of you have worked so hard to preserve the first in the nation primary. truly an honor and that we have given this award to a journalism icon tonight, david broder, and

my colleague, john kerry. very well-deserved, and it is an honor to serve with you in the united states senate. it is a real, actually, to be up here tonight, to give this award to john mccain, someone for whom i have such great personal admiration. john has an extraordinary record of service to the people of this country, and a long history with the people of new hampshire. i thought about it, and i do not think you can understand or appreciate that special relationship, and why new hampshire to john mccain so much, without understanding of a little bit about john's background. he comes from an extraordinary family, a distinguished military family with four generations of naval academy graduates. his grandfather was an admiral who commanded a carrier force in world war ii.

his father was commander in chief of pacific forces during vietnam. his son is a naval academy graduate who now flies helicopters. breaking ranks is his son jimmy, who enlisted in the marines and served in iraq. finally, someone in the mccain family made something of themselves. as a pilote service in the navy -- on service as a pilot in the navy, and his character, is what drove so many in new hampshire to want to meet him. you will always find a veteran at a mccain town hall meeting. we have come to admire him for his bravery, courage, and integrity. he spent 5.5 years in prison in vietnam, tortured by his captors. when he was offered early release because of who his father was, he refused.

john mccain put its principals first -- puts principles first. based on his personal experience, he fought members of his own party, and spoke out against torture, leading to the effort to pass the detainee treatment act, to ensure we would live within our values. [applause] john mccain has never hesitated to do what he thought was right, rather than what was politically expedient. a rare individual in politics. and new hampshire is the place where his commitment to truth and politics found a name -- straight talk. it was travelling across the state on his straight talk express that senator mccain's unique brand of candor and politics caught fire with

discerning new hampshire primary voters, not once, but twice. but senator mccain would become a primary legend. in my view, new hampshire's de facto third senator. it was far from certain when he started campaigning in 1999, with texas governor george bush wrapping up endorsements and leading early in the polls. the arizona senator faced an uphill climb. true to his character, uphill climb as do not stop john mccain. moving from town hall to town hall, john mccain made his case for reform in washington to anyone who would listen. he answered every last question that he was asked. although his early town hall attendees may have showed up just for the ice cream, they left knowing they had just witnessed something rare in politics -- an honest, confident leader with integrity, who

respected their views even if they differed from their own. they also saw someone who was firmly committed to changing business in washington, and have a record to prove it. during his first new hampshire primary, john mccain disproved what the pundits have to say -- had to say and the insiders thought about the race, and he won our primary by 19 points. while he may not have gone on to win the nomination that year, the senator left a lasting mark on new hampshire politics. since 2000, the free-flowing, unscripted town hall meetings have been a hallmark of the new hampshire primary. to be taken seriously by voters here, you have to be completely accessible. you cannot get away with sound bites or poll-driven answers. you have to go voter to voter, house party 2 house party, a town hall to town hall, and meet

the people of new hampshire. eight years later, the people of new hampshire and john mccain once again proved the pundits wrong, when john made one of the greatest comebacks in political history. they talk about bill clinton being the comeback kid. john mccain is the comeback kid in new hampshire. after being the early front runner in 2008, john literally fell to being fifth in a four person race. he was out of money, carrying his own bags. he was hoping steve would pick him up but the airport so we should have arrived. the media had -- so he would have a ride. the media had declared his candidacy dead. he went town to town, a voter to voter. the crowds at the town halls crew from a handful to dozens to hundreds. and the people of new hampshire listen once again to the man who everyone had written off.

so many of us have personal memories of our time with john mccain. for me, it was during my own primary. i did my first town hall meeting with john mccain. i went home that night, and i said to my husband, "even if i lose this race, that was the experience of a lifetime, to stand on stage with john mccain." i would like to share with you and especially moving story from the campaign in 2008. after a town hall meeting in wolfeboro, the mother of a corporal who died in iraq asked senator mccain to wear a bracelet bearing her son's name. senator mccain promised to do everything in his power to make sure that his death was not in vain. true to his word, when so many others wanted to give up in iraq, john mccain stood up for the surge, said we could succeed

even when it was not popular to do so. and i know that senator mccain still wears corporal stanley's bracelet today. in 2008, the people of new hampshire again saw mccain's integrity. when the results were in, his powerful message of reform beat out money, defied washington conventional wisdom, and again propelled john mccain to victory in our primary. and eventually, of course, he became a republican nominee. we were proud to have that role here as the first in the nation primary to propel him to that victory. [applause] the new hampshire primary has no greater friend in the republican party than my colleague, john mccain. when our first in the nation status has been threatened by

bigger states, john has shown in word and in deed why new hampshire must remain first. for that, and for his decades of distinguished service to his country, i am very honored to award him tonight with the first in the nation primary award. i want to say on a personal note i consider john mccain and mentor. he is someone that today is still working very hard to reform washington. it is my privilege tonight to introduce john mccain. [applause] i almost called him john kerry. [applause] thank you.

>> thank you very much, kelly, for those kind words and that wonderful introduction. i am very pleased and proud to tell you that kelly ayotte an serves on the senate armed services committee, fighting for everybody in our military. i know new hampshire can be very proud of their senators'service to the state of new hampshire and the country. thank you for your kind words and wonderful service to the state of new hampshire. [applause] i have to begin by asking your sympathy for the families of the state of arizona, because barry goldwater from arizona ran for president of the united states, and morris udall, and bruce

babbitt, and i, from arizona, ran for president of the united states. arizona may be the only state in america where mothers do not tell their children that some day they can grow up and the president of the united states. [applause] i am very honored to be here with my friend john kerry. i was thinking as he was talking about when he and i first came to the senate, not far apart. there were a number of senators who had served in the vietnam war. i guess it's the beginning of 2013, there will be just two of us remaining. our effort on behalf of normalization of relations between the united states of america was driven by the fact that back in that time, into

the 80's -- the war was over in 73. into the 80's and 90's, the wounds of that war were still fresh, and unfortunately still divided our country, and in many respects prevented a lot of our veterans from being able to come all the way home. i am very proud of the work that john and i did. it shows you that if you live long enough, most anything can happen. there is a destroyer in japan named after my father and grandfather, the john mccain. last september, it played a court visit to the port of danang. if you live long enough, anything can happen, especially if the chinese are behaving the way they are. [laughter] my beloved barry goldwater said to me, "if i had been elected in 1964 and beaten lyndon johnson's ass"-- he had colorful

language. "you would never have spent all those years in a vietnamese prison camp." i said, "you are right. it would have been a chinese prison camp." [laughter] he was not amused. josh, thank you for your moving words about your dad. i will never forget being a freshman member of congress one day. your dad came up and i literally was tongue tied, i was so honored to meet the great and david broder. i think one of the things you can be very proud of in this day of polarized media, with msnbc and fox, i cannot tell you to this day it david broder was a democrat or republican or libertarian or vegetarian. he judged the and reported american politics with total and complete the objectivity.

i know you are proud of him. and you are carrying on in that tradition. i suspect you are a vegetarian. but anyway. and charlie and frank, thank you for your continued service. i cannot come here without mentioning the irascible but sometimes lovable joe mclean -- mcquaid. thank you for your guidance and insults as we try to win the affection of the voters of new hampshire. steve to pre -- dupree, mike, and moe, thank you for your kind words and friendship. governor lynch is a unit fellow. i had a town hall meeting in hopkins, and he brought his daughter. i was honored that he would be there. i think he proved that you can

govern with the approval of the people of all parts of the electoral spectrum. john, we appreciate your outstanding service as governor. which moves me to tell the story of the two inmates in the state prison in the chow line. one of them turned to the other and said, "the food was a lot better in here when you were governor." [laughter] you cannot tell that joke in illinois, i will tell you that. [laughter] or several other states. bill gardner, thank you for your steadfast advocacy and support of the first in the nation status. a lot of would-be candidates for president come and visit me, and i tell them if you really want to understand a little bit about new hampshire, you should read

the wonderful book that bill has written about first in the nation. it has often been said if you are a united states senator, unless you are under indictment or detoxification, you automatically consider yourself a candidate for president of the united states. and i cannot conclude without mentioning that my beloved friend warren rudman -- we cherishes continued service, and hope and pray for his good health. he has been having problems lately. hugh gregg -- an institution in new hampshire, and a great guy. walter peterson, who continues to give me and all of us leadership and guidance throughout the years. we had a wonderful opportunity of being in his presence. i can only say to you, from the

bottom of my heart, that i have been probably the luckiest person that you will ever have the opportunity of knowing. i have had such great good fortune in my life to be able to be a part of this great nation and a card of the incredible -- part of the incredible experience of running for president of united states. but my fondest memories, frankly, will be the experiences i have had here in new hampshire. because it is such a unique place, and the people are so unique. they believe we live free or die. they believe we should examine every candidate. they not only take it as a privilege. they take it as a responsibility. it has been my honor to make some of the most wonderful acquaintances and spend some time in sometimes a very hot forged a of a presidential

campaign, -- forge a of a presidential campaign, with so many people. what you have done is contributed enormously to the democracy. people all over the world today, in the thing they call the arab spring, are looking at it, and one to emulate you and the like you. i guarantee in the next election there will be people from libya, egypt, and hopefully syria and other countries around the world, who will be coming here because they were inspired by the example of the united states of america, and what you do here in the great state of new hampshire. thank you, and god bless. [applause] >> thank you, senator mccain, and senator kerry.

for the next 15 minutes, a little discussion about those new hampshire experiences during the presidential primary campaigns. >> thank you. i want to say at the outset i got a little help formulating these questions from a couple of aspiring political operatives, who i think have a future in this business, if they stick with it. i want to start with what we have seen in the videos and have heard from senator mccain and senator kerry, which is the remarkable roller-coaster ride that each of you had -- senator kerrey in 2004, senator mccain in 2008. for the record, it was not me who asked the question that elicited your famous response of contracting a fatal disease. i think that was susan page of "usa today." i was at that press conference. it was obviously one of the low

moments you have had. at that moment, why did you, or did you, have faith in new hampshire as a place that could sustain and bring you back as a candidate? and when did you actually begin to sense that that was going to happen or was possible? >> i thought it was possible because at least in new hampshire, i did have that relationship that i had established with the people of new hampshire in 2000. and also, the context of like to mention -- our focus now is on jobs and the economy. i understand that this campaign is going to be about jobs and the economy. the 2010 economy was about jobs and the election. in 2008, there was a surge. i believe the we had to support the surge and win in iraq.

i believe it could not win in iraq with that strategy. i really did base a lot of my campaign, not just here in new hampshire, but south carolina as well, and florida, on the issue of whether we should support the surge or whether we should leave and face the serious consequences of losing a conflict in that part of the world. i think that mattered. i think that helped mobilize some of the veterans' vote, which is significant in new hampshire as well. >> senator kerry, your campaign was very difficult for you. you made a strategic decision that was a little different from senator mccain. senator mccain hunkered down in new hampshire. you decided iowa was also necessary to facilitate coming back in new hampshire. tell people why you thought that. how was i was important to you?

how did that contribute to what you were able to do here? >> i love -- iowa was important because it came before new hampshire. i thought it could get people to listen again. it was important that i shake things up and change the dynamic. really, my problem, the problem that occurred to me, was twofold. most importantly, on the iraq war, the vote in the nine state senate, i did what i believed was a presidential decision. if i had been president of the united states and we were trying to leverage saddam hussein in order to get inspectors in and do what we needed to do to protect our country, i would have wanted the power the president was asking for. because of colin powell,

scowcroft, and a couple of other people who went very public about how that power could be used, i thought we had elicited from the president of the united states guarantees specifically that we would only go to war as a last resort, that would only go to war if we built a legitimate coalition, and that we would only go to war based on -- with other countries, this sort of imprimatur of those countries, if you will. that was important to us. john and i learned what happens if you go to war and do not have the support of their country. i do not want to interject here, but in my judgment, every one of the promises made by the president were not kept. we did not go to war as a last

resort, but as a choice. we rushed to war, and so on. it is now a record about the weapons. i knew what was going to happen. it was clear to me. i had some people on my team who advised me. "senator, if you vote for that, you will have a hell of a hard time winning the nomination of the democratic party." i said, "that is probably true, but i will do what i think ought to be done as a matter of interest to the country." it is very easy if you are outside the senate to say, "i would have voted against it." if you are in the senate, you have to actually vote. so i lived with that through the entire spring and fall. the money started going crazy. i think, frankly, i was not as good a candidate. i was still talking senatese. i had not broken out of the habits of the legislator.

i had the help of great people. the work a lot of folks who are here tonight, and others. they all beat me up enough that i just changed, i think. throughout the campaign, i changed. i think the was a better candidate toward the end. i think you feel the same way. you learn as you go through that. in the debates with george bush, i felt like i was on top of the game. but my conviction was i could turn it around if i had a chance to meet people and explain my thinking, and really talk about what the priorities were. in the and, i think the people of new hampshire listened. they put you to the test. they did not buy into the stereotypes. that is the value of what happens here. it is interesting. it happens in this debate on both sides of the aisle.

that is the interesting thing about new hampshire. it has the capacity to separate according to the democratic the use and the republican values. -- democratic values and the republican values. new hampshire has been able to choose a winner, not always, but again and again. >> is there something unique about campaigning in this state, compared to other states? >> as succinctly as possible, they expect to see you. they expect to see you, and they expect to be able to question. they expect to examine new. the old mall udall joke -- mo udall joke. "would you think about mo udall for president?" >> i don't know. i only met him twice."

in california, they think you are not going to go to every town and city. it is something people do reserve judgment. but more important even than that is that people in america believe they should vote. people in new hampshire believe they have a responsibility to examine the candidates and to make a judgment. i am not saying people in the rest of the country do not feel they have that responsibility to vote. but they do not have the unique responsibility that people in new hampshire have about how important and what a determining factor what happens here in new hampshire is all about. that is why it is so key that this first in the nation status be preserved. [applause] >> at the risk of sounding a little bit like a heretic -- >> i was at someone's home.

after he finished two hours, he said, "that was great, but people in my neighborhood are mad, because you have not been in my neighborhood, and you are not going to get that vote." bob said, "give me your name and address." she lived two blocks away. [laughter] >> how would it change if there were a change in the calendar? i know neither of you is in favor of moving the primary, but what impact would it have a new hampshire and iowa were not at the front of this process? >> some state has to be first. and i think this proven process has served the country very effectively. i know john will agree with me. there is just way too much money in american politics. this is a state that succeeds in getting the money out of the process. yes, there is advertising.

yes, there is still money spent. but i do not think new hampshire is as swayed by that as the car by the process of getting to know people. if you want to make real decisions in the country, you do not want the power of money in some other place. what are you going to choose? california, where it would be all money? new york? florida? the state has a spectacular diversity, but i think is a microcosm of the country. high-tech, low-tech, manufacturing, education. i think it is a terrific balance. there is obviously a strong, strong taxing antipathy here, which reflects a lot of the country. but new hampshire has historical it also found the way to do the things it needs to do for its citizens. i think for a lot of reasons it is a virtue to the state.

it would be very hard to convince somebody -- convince me that an unknown state with unknown dynamics is going to replace that more effectively. >> i would comment -- i do not mean this as a criticism of iowa. but i think history shows that the winner of the new hampshire primary, more than likely, is going to be the nominee of the party, whereas more than likely it is not in the iowa caucus. don't get me wrong. i enjoy the state fair and having a pork chop on a stick and a deep-fried twinkie. do not get me wrong. but it seems to me -- a cow carved out of butter. it is wonderful. anyway. [laughter] but it does seem to me, when you look at the results over the past -- modern times, the last

30 or 40 years -- the iowa caucuses are not the determinant. and these straw polls are the worst thing since probably ethanol. but anyway. [applause] >> i remember being in iowa with you a few times when you told people you felt good because you had your glass of ethanol that morning. >> me and chuck grassley. >> senator mccain, you won here twice. both victories were distinctive. which was more satisfying? >> i think each for satisfying in a different way. the women here in 2000 obviously was the huge upset. the one in 2008 was survival. they are very different. each had their own -- after winning here in 2000, i knew we

had a very tough goal to get the nomination. after 2008, i was reasonably confident that once we won here, the nomination was pretty well in hand, if we did not screw up -- which i have never done. [laughter] i hate all these anecdotes, but in 2009, they said, "i hope you would like to meet mr. -- he was 101 at the time. finally, i said, "what was your favorite candidate? you met all those people? they have all come up here. who would you favor the most?" he said, "mr. roosevelt." i said, "fdr was quite impressive." he said, "it was teddy roosevelt." i am not making that up.

>> is there a particular moment you remember most from your times appear -- up here? a moment of humor, a poignant moment, a moment where you learned something you had not known, or it was driven home to you in a different way? >> i will never forget walking up the morning of january 2at the hotel, and the water had frozen. i could not take a hot shower. i did not shave. i had to keep my water in the microwave. this did not feel right. this was not a good omen. but it came together. there were these great moments. and remember visiting mr. alessandro's house to get his support. he had his refrigerator covered

with photographs of every democrat who had ever been there. i was looking for space for my photographs. i said, "i am not going to win this." there are so many different things. there are so many times when something funny happens. people in their homes -- the stories of kids are always wonderful. there are just so many of them. you cannot even pick between them. it is a life-changing experience. i cannot help it, listening to john all night, talking about price up here, and i only did it once. my juices are flowing. [laughter] i don't know. >> so many wonderful, amusing, and entertaining science. -- signs. there was a convenience store, a woman who is very important -- mary hill. you have to go see mary hill.

she is really important. i went in there, and she came walking out. she came walking out, and she had a hillary clinton button on. i said, "steve, thanks for sending the over their." the other was at the town hall meeting in wolfeboro, meeting at stanley. mother, who asked me to where this -- stanley's mother, who asked me to wear this bracelet. i always have. [applause] >> we have got a couple of minutes left. i want to turn it around and ask you to talk about my side of the business, because we spend so much time appear as reporters trying to get it right. we very often do not get it right. thanks to the independence of the voters here, who can

surprise you from time to time, i want to draft this point to senator mccain, but i want senator mccain -- senator kerry to also talk about it. in fall 1999, you've launched the straight talk express. you got on a bus and watched as -- and invited us to the back of the bus and answered questions on the record, to the point that i occasionally have to get off the bus and get on the other bus to get some work done, because your stamina was remarkable, and you were willing to the questions about anything, and it was always on the record. we are now in the age of twitter and instant blogging. could you do that again in new hampshire primary environment? how different is it today, in the media environment, and how is it changing presidential politics? >> i regret to say it would be much more difficult today, and i regret saying that.

and i have to say that if you remember the people who were on that bus -- with all due respect to today's media, a pretty season, pretty experienced, pretty mature judgment. the top people are assigned to presidential campaigns. they are the top individuals. i have to say i do not think that is the case today. but having said that, i do believe that, as opposed to the 2000 campaign, or even the 2004 campaign, or even, to some degree, the 2008 campaign, there is no access to information in a way that is like drinking from a fire hose. there is a marietta of appearance -- opinions. -- there is a myriad of opinions. we have twitter, facebook -- all these different ways of people

get the information. in 2008, they got their information from what the reporters on the bus told them. now, it was pretty obvious. you can remember, and i can remember, when we all waited for the evening news. does anyone with for the evening news anymore? i tweet. i do it a lot, and i get in trouble every once in awhile. the tweet of the year in 2010, shooki wrote "i am so mad at the president for raising taxes on tanning beds. senator mccain would never do that, because he is so pale." i wrote back. i said, "it is the situation." that was the tweet of the year.

this arabs bring would not have been possible without a social networking -- arab spring would not have been possible without social networking. there is a tremendous downside, but a tremendous upside to the flow of information, which gives knowledge, and i think a better- informed voter at the end of the day. >> senator kerry? >> i agree with john, but also would say that there is no accountability today. i say this with all due respect. you are an exception. there are few reporters who, like david broder, were not impacted by all of this outside folderol. frankly, you have seven candidates, or eight, running for president of the united states, who think that planet earth is only 5000 years old. there is no accountability. you have complete discounting of what is absolutely factual.

i and others have been struggling with this for years, the changes in the climate. the 48 states are dealing with disasters because of floods and fires. it is just enormous. people can assert that the earth is flat, and it gets reported on equal footing. there is no accountability for truth, science, or what has been established as an excepted norm for years. we have a serious problem in this country as a result of that. you know? i read the paper yesterday or today. s.a.t. scores are down. everybody knows the challenge we have in our education system. china and other countries speak our language as fluidly as kids. find out how many kids in america speak a second language. i think the lack of accountability in our system for some basic standard of truth

allows this chaotic kind of confused, non-dialogue to take place, based on anything but the real needs and concerns of the country. and where else are we going to find it, if we do not have the papers of record, and the institutions of record with respect to news giving, to help people discern or hold accountable things which are patently absurd? there is not any accountability to things which are patently of certification, and it is getting harder and harder. in a democracy, if people do not get good information, or there is not accountability and you can say anything, big money has the ability to say what it wants to say. it can buy the message. that is what happened with the citizens united decision. people can secretly put

unlimited sums into the effort to condition outcomes. i would respectfully argue that as a result, the average person's concerns are not as well represented as are those who have the ability to get out there and change it. that threatens our democracy, in my judgment. you guys are what stand between us and either anarchy or ignorance or bad decisions, and so forth. i think that is where we are today. [applause] >> the only caveat i would give to that, and i understand where you are saying, and there is a polarization the likes of which we have not seen before -- but there is access to information for people. all you need to do is have a computer. all you need is to have a cell phone. i agree with you about the citizens united decision.

the thing that scares me most about that decision is the lack of transparency. that is what is really dangerous about the citizens united. [applause] but i do think that information is available to people in a way that it was never available to people in times past. whether that information is distorted are not -- but it is out there. i am glad to hear your response to that, but i do agree with you about lack of accountability. >> senator mccain gets the last word. thank you very much. thank you for letting me be part of this. this is been a wonderful evening, i think, for everybody here. two very important senators, and posthumously, my great friend, david. we thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2012] >> senator mccain, senator kerry, george broder, for all the people in new hampshire, thank you for being here tonight and the commitment you made. we will in a few months prove once again to the country how serious the hunters voters are. -- new hampshire voters are. you have helped bring democrats and republicans together. we really do cherished this first in the nation primary, and hope we have it forever. thank you. [applause] >> back live to new hampshire now. some of the polls closing at 7:00 eastern this evening. most closing at 8:00.

this is manchester ward 5, the polling place at the beach street school. we are keeping track of what some of the political reporters are saying as the cover the voting. wmur treating that for the third time in 24 hours, newt gingrich skipped a scheduled appointment with media and voters. odd strategy, i would say. you can follow with us on twitter at /cspan. some of the polls closing this evening at 7:00, most by the

clock. results start coming out at around 7:00 eastern. you can check those on our website at c-span.org. our live coverage gets under way at 8:00 eastern, with a simulcast on wmur-tv. you can call us and weigh in on facebook and twitter. months of coverage tonight on c- span, here come on line, and on radio. next, republican candidate rick santorum telling us he will pull off a surprise in the new hampshire primary. this was his final rally yesterday evening in manchester. it is just under 10 minutes. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you so much.

it is great to be here. thank you so much for the great crowd this year. i want to just say that i made 31 trips to new hampshire. people said new hampshire is a tough state. new hampshire is a place where someone with strong principals and conservative values is going to struggle. i think we are going to show them in new hampshire -- the same new hampshire than voted for ronald reagan in 1980 over a moderate who they said could win -- we are going to vote for the real conservative, because we know the real conservative can win this race and change this country, and that is what we are going to do. [applause] i want to thank -- because this is our ending rally here. i will be back again in the fall as the nominee. [applause] i want to thank my team up here.

obviously, the first member of the team i have to think is my family. this is my wife, karen, my daughter, and my son. the rest of the family is already deployed in south carolina, and they are working south carolina right now, but we are here for the final few days. i want to thank my co-chairs, and also clair, for all their help and support. [applause] when i came here, i came here to sort of see whether i was going to run for president. this guy who was a political guy appear who runs a lot of campaign said, "i want to meet with you because i want to work on your campaign fizzled he had just won a campaign for a guy here in new hampshire. after i got to know frank, i said, "i want the guy who got

him elected." frank is a great guy, but we come from the same heritage. we are both italian americans. mike has done a great job for us, not just running new hampshire, but he did such a great job running new hampshire he is now a campaign manager for my campaign. let us give mike a round of applause. [applause] this is a big election. there will be no election in your lifetime that will be more important than this. i was talking to somebody whose name you would know, let us just put it that way. he said, "you have to tell people this is it." this is it. this is someone who loves this country from afar, who has said to me, "please tell america that this is the election that we

cannot lose." this is an election whether we're going to have a president and we are going to have a country that continues to believe in the greatness of the american people, the believes in a country where we build a great things -- build great things by believing in free people, not that we build these horrible government contraptions that attempt to run our lives from the top down. we need a president who believes in the american people, and we need an american people who believe in themselves, believing and freedoms, believe in our founding principles. this is your moment. if barack obama is reelected, america as we know it will be gone. we will be a status country. we will be a country that no longer is independent. we will be dependent on so many

fronts. the government will have so many hooks into us that they will control us. you are given, in this country, a great country, by generations who sacrificed for freedom. [applause] it is now your turn. it is now your turn to make that sacrifice. and we are not asking much. our founders gave their lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor. i am asking you in 24 hours to pull off a huge surprise here in new hampshire, to give us that boost, to show that the momentum is continuing so we can go down to south carolina, kick a little but, and move on to florida and keep kicking until we have a strong, principled conservative in the model of ronald reagan, to be able to draw that sharp

contrast with the status decline view that america's best days are behind us. that is obama is view. that is why he is drawing down the military, focusing on growing the government. he is trying to manage decline instead of believing in the greatness of the american people. you in new hampshire say you are the live free or die state. [applause] this president does not believe that. this president does not believe it. and the establishment republicans -- they don't believe much of it either. you are the live free or die state. tomorrow, prove it. go out and vote for someone who believes in that model, who believes in the founding

principles of our country. you'll shake up not this country -- you will shake up the world. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] [chanting -- "rick"]

>> rick santorum last night in manchester, his final pre- primary event. a tweet that rick santorum said, "our momentum is real." we started our day this morning in manchester, talking with voters in ward 4. clip: the secretary of state is

expecting a 42% voter turnout. we are at ward 4. voters have been coming in since 6:00 a.m. this morning. roger is one of them. who did you vote for? clip: some fellow from texas. why did you choose him? clip: he delivered his message with clarity. i have a lot of respect for him. clip: when did you decide to vote for ron paul? clip: a few months ago. his lawyers were good -- his fliers were good. i like his approach. i going to do this. he had a definite purpose -- states a purpose. clip: what have you been paying attention to leading up to today's primary? debates?

town halls? clip: i read the newspaper. i read political magazines. i read everybody's fliers. i listened to them on tv. clip: what about the debates? clip: not at all. i do not like people cutting other people down. i do not go for that. that is not a way to make your position. clip: what about the so-called front-runner in new hampshire? the former massachusetts governor, mitt romney. clip: i think he is working hard. i do not know about mitt. i think there are some strikes against him. against him. his governorship