the white house would agree that they can win without florida. for republicans, it is a must win state. >> that was a notable statement. florida is a must win for the republican nominee. they see virginia in the play and colorado in play because the economies are good their relatively speaking. the hispanic vote is putting states like nevada and new mexico in play. florida amount for a must win. you have a lot of electoral votes. >> quick follow-up? >> it means he knows his matte. if president obama wins nevada, new mexico, colorado, and he wins new hampshire, which may be unlikely if mitt romney is the nominee, and i will, he would be at 270.

he would be able to win without ohio, virginia, florida. >> nbc news and the hotline represented at the table. thanks for being with us on "newsmakers." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> we have live to pompano beach, florida. mitt romney is leading the republican pack in florida by 11 points. earlier today, his main rival, newt gingrich, spoke at a retirement community that mitt

romney will visit tomorrow. if you missed gingrich's appearance, you can find it online at c-span.org. expecting mitt romney to appear shortly. ♪

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>> some of the crowd here at the mitt romney rally. we are on the east coast of florida. neither of the top two-and it's -- two candidates got a boost from the most recent debate. the one candidate that did well after the debate was rick santorum. he gained five points. but he is not in florida today. his eldest daughter is sick and he is with her it -- his youngest daughter is sick and he is with her in pennsylvania. we are waiting for mitt romney. we have heard that his boss has arrived. -- bus has arrived. ♪

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andlive in -- live in pompano beach, florida. earlier today, newt gingrich spoke at a retirement community that mitt romney will visit tomorrow. the candidates are crisscrossing florida. if you missed new gingrich's earlier appearance, you can find it on c-span.org. we will be coming back as soon as it looks like mitt romney is arriving in iran. he is running a few minutes behind schedule. until then, we will take a look at some of the information that was released last night.

>> we have 10 television markets down here. retail politics is not as effective as it is in the smaller states. those television ads are basically has what brought mitt romney back. >> during the debates last week, it has not made a huge difference would rick santorum or ron paul. >> santorum and called, and

neither one are running television at all. if you do not run television in florida, you have no chance of having any kind of significant showing. it will be interesting to see what the centaur and may have gotten that of the debate performance aunt bridget santorum may have gotten out of the debate performance thursday night. host: let's dig into some of the numbers and look at the issue of early voting. about 10% of florida republicans have cast their ballots. as you look at those to support mitt romney versus nude gingrich, 47% of the early voters supporting mitt romney. what does that tell you? guest: it tells me that mitt romney has a bunch -- has a much better ground organization that gingrich. he was able to target his voters

and get them to go ahead and vote early. early voting has become increasingly popular in florida. mitt romney was getting 47%. he has banked votes that gingrich will have to overcome with election day turnout. we will see how it holds up, but it is a good sign for mitt romney that he has been able to turn these people out and get them to vote early. that is going to be a major factor on tuesday. host: the hispanic vote is critical for any candidate to become a democrat or republican. we had thisdeportation, a propot mitt romney put on the table. it was mocked by newt gingrich.

what do you attribute that to? >> first of all, the hispanic vote in the republican primary in florida is very different than the hispanic vote nationwide. it is heavily cuban americans who have been here for generations. people to come here from cuba and are already -- automatically granted political asylum. illegal immigration is not an issue in that part of florida. the political establishment in the cuban community is almost uniformly all lined up behind mitt romney. marco rubio is in neutral. on two occasions this week, he called all speaker gingrich on a couple of things he was trying to do. it almost created the perception that rubio was more inclined to support mitt romney. that is a big difference between florida and, say, texas.

the hispanic vote here is not as attend to the immigration issue as they are in places like texas. tot: let's take a look at hypothetical matchups in florida. in a head-to-head matchup of the election held today, mitt romney would get 48%. the president would get 44 percent. explain these numbers. >> the take away is that mitt romney would be the much stronger general election candidate. gingrich's problem is once you get outside of republican voters and bring an independent voters and democrats, his negative rating is on favorable

-- 53%. mitt romney is only at 29%. voters are split on president obama. his ratio is 43-41. his job approval number is split 46 approving, 49 disapproving. if he think about four years ago, and he only beat john mccain by three percentage points. even the slightest drop in support is going to make this race tough for him. the difference between mitt romney and newt gingrich is their appeal to non-republican voters. their numbers among republicans are somewhat similar. mitt romney does a little bit better than gingrich. the big difference is between where mitt romney is running even with the

president. against gingrich, obama has a 14 point advantage. in democrats, mitt romney gets a crossover vote. gingrich only did 8%. the margin debts run up when you get beyond just the republican primary. >> the latest numbers conducted by mason-dixon polling. our guest is the managing director and pollster for makes in dixon -- mason-dixon. >> we're back now to our live coverage of the mitt romney rally. ♪

♪ >> welcome to broward county. i want to thank the mayor for learning as the room. i want to make a few other announcements. are brouwer chairman -- our broward chairman, commissioner

-- [applause] our co-chair. most importantly, i want to thank the republican national committee co-chair for being here. i stand before you as a republican and i want to reflect on something that is very important. a lot of you are my constituents. let the governor, i am from massachusetts, and i m also a republican. they state it is tough to be a broward republican. the other romney has a proven record.

he is our only chance at the beating barack obama in the white house. [applause] we all know how important the state of florida is going to be. tell everybody that is a registered republican to go out and vote on tuesday. make sure their vote is for mitt romney. [applause] it gives me the honor and pleasure to introduce you to our 37 attorney general, the first female attorney general. [applause] >> it is great to be here with you. i recognize so many of you out here you helped me so much. thank you. i love you, broward county.

are you ready to bring back hope and real change to america? [applause] we have a positive leader who is going to run our country by example. [applause] this is a man who has the executive experience to lead our country in the real world practical experience of building in jobs and creating jobs. that is exactly what we need now in our country. [applause] >> mitt! mitt! >> mitt romney is the right man for america. he is an exemplary man of

character who has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. [applause] all of you in this room know my strong pro-life stand. i have a niece with down syndrome and i have been very active in my pro-life stand and i want to thank governor romney for becoming a champion for pro- life issues. he vetoed every bill that came across his desk as governor that would hurt our pro-life stand. we know how difficult that was to do in a state where he's from. thank you, governor romney, for having the courage to do that for america. thank you. [applause] >> mitt! mitt!

>> governor romney is a pro- constitution. he believes the the founding fathers believed that the powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined. he will stand with us in doing everything we can to defeat obamacare. [applause] as attorney general, as you know i am leading that lawsuit, along with 25 other states. the majority of the states to have signed on to our lawsuit, guess is they have endorsed for president? mitt romney. he is pro military trade he supports our allies -- he is pro-military and tea is a friend to israel. that is what we need is now.

this is a leader who is experienced and determined and will bring our country out of this economic recession. i am proud to introduce our next president, mitt romney. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. great to be here. thank you, guys. thank you. thank you. thank you. those are some great people. thank you, commissioner, for welcoming me here. thank you for your comments and your support. she is one of the first attorneys general to get behind me, and i appreciate it very, very much. some people behind me, next to be senator connie mack, and next to him is an congresswoman from

concordia college in california, who happens to be his wife. [applause] and then, let's see. i have my youngest son. this is crag. he is northern 5, northern 5, and this is his son. -- this is correct. he is northern 5, northern 5. -- number 5, number 5. they are a great source of joy in my life. when i was in elementary school, i was in the fourth grade, and there was a girl in second grade. i knew we pass each other in the hall, but i do not remember seeing her, but when she was almost 16, i noticed in a big way, and now she is my girlfriend and my wife. ann romney.

>> i do not know, can you fit any more people in this room? it is kind of pact in year. it is a wonderful for such a warm reception. we are really determined to do you proud, and we want to make sure that we do not do anything that you are embarrassed by and just make sure that we -- you know, i have been married to him for 42 years, and i have to say it was not easy raising boys. this one here was not easy. they do not all, civilized. -- they do not all come civilize. it is hard to campaign. he does not quite understand what is going on. the one that i obviously care about the most was how he was a as a husband and a father, and, you know, we had some difficult

times in my life. i will tell you that i have had to struggle, both as a young mom, and he was so supportive, but also, i was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and with breast cancer, and it is a wonderful to know that this guy has just been so supportive and helpful to me during my struggle. [cheers and applause] when i was a young mother, mitt would remind me when the boys were being especially naughty that my job was more important than his job, and the great thing is that he really meant it. we had an equal partnership, and he said, look. my job is temporary. your job brings forever happiness, so that is the kind of guy he is, the kind of character he has, and the kind of person you can trust. i have seen him in all sorts of

difficult situations, he and people, when they run into trouble, who do they turn to fix anything going wrong, whether it is the government or the olympics, they turn to him to fix it. [cheers and applause] i am looking forward to see what he can do to fix this country. >> thank you. thank you. >> i listened to the president give the state of the union address the other night. >> crowd -- [crowd boos] we want to make sure that is the last date of the union address we have from barack obama.

he keeps saying the same thing again and again and again. 20% of the foreclosure and as -- of the foreclosures are right here in florida. that does remind me. talk about excuses, the last few debates sure have been a heck of

a lot of fun. you know that. and speaker gingrich said he did not do so well because the crowd was so quiet. and then the second speech he said he did not do well because the crowd was so loud. there is something to say about the problem of his campaign and the fact that he is seeing less and less support -- and florida. as people have had a chance to watch us each performer, they decided they liked him less, and that is because he was paid $1.60 by freddie mac. he stood up and supported freddie mac. let me ask you this. how many people in this room have been touched or have had family members touched by the

housing crisis, one way or another? wow. look at that. look at that. i will work to get them out of our housing market and to get what we expect in a a real estate economy. i think this is going to be a historic election, and i know that politicians are fond of saying their election is an important one. i think this is an important time in our nation's history, one of the inflection points. it will define what the world will be liked, because we have the president today who, if he were elected, would take american in a direction -- in and it -- in a direction i do not think we would like. the role of citizens.

people think they know better than free people, and instead of turning america and transforming us into something we would not recognize, it is time for america to return to the principles that made us the greatest nation on earth. this president, this president is comfortable with $1 trillion deficits, and he has now put together over $5 trillion of public debt. by the end of his first term, his only term, by the way, by the end of his first term, he will have amassed almost as much public debt as all of the prior presidents combined. think of that. this is at a time when nations of the world are looking at places like greece and ireland and saying you can hit a wall at some point, when people stop

loading your money, and you go into catastrophe. we cannot anticipate the time that would occur, but sometime in the next five-years, 10- years, that is going to happen. i will cut federal spending. i will cap federal spending. we will get that job done. here is another difference. the president looks at something like health care, and he believes that given all the challenges that we ought to have health care run by government bureaucrats. they do such a great job running amtrak and such. my view is that we should return this to our citizens and others.

i think our president looks at america and things that are time of the greatness is passed in some respects, and so he reaches out to some of the world's worst actors. he said he was going to visit ahmadinejad and castro. kim jong il was one of those he was going to visit, and how did they respond? they said, no, thank you. distancing ourselves from our friends has not made america is stronger and more respected nation in the world. the right course for america is to stand by those nations, and i will stand by our allies and our friends. he went around the world and said that america had been dismissive of other nations,

that we had dictated to other nations. no, mr. president, america has freed others. i will not apologize for the united states of america. [cheers and applause] he has one place he seems to want to cut. very interesting. the military. he has cut in the most recent proposal about $450 billion from our military budget over the decade. you realize, our navy is smaller than at any time since 1917? our air force is smaller and -- than any time it was founded. at a time when the world is not safer, look around the world. are we safer from north korea? no, they're in transition with a new leader right now.

he knows what could happen. we have china saying they would have the south china sea. they are saying our nation have to get permission from them to go through the south china sea. go across the world, you have got pakistan in a state of tom jon with nuclear weapons, and you have the arabs spring in full bloom, and some going well and some not going well. for them to shrink our military is unthinkable. he is say we should reduce our personnel by 100,000, slowing down the number of aircraft that we build. that is the wrong way that we go. i believe america is the greatest ally that " -- that peace has ever had. i believe it is essential, i believe that it is essential that we invest in our military to make sure it is so strong that nobody would think of

testing it, so i want to add personnel to are active duty personnel, to our armed services. i want to add ships. i want to go from building nine per year. -- i went to go from building nine per year. -- i want to. i am not want to take that money to go pay for obama care or some other program. i want to take that money to rebuild america. there is the care for our veterans and the way they deserve to be treated. [cheers and applause] this is a time of choice. this is a time of choice in america about which course we're going to go down, and by the way, the republicans running for president, we agree in the general direction.

we have differing views, but by and large, the other fellows agree and most of the things that we mentioned, but we have different experiences. what we need is not just some of his says we agree but submenus says i know how to lead. hong and not just someone who says we agree but someone who says i know how to lead -- what we need is not just someone his says we agree. after four years, he had to resign in disgrace, and he did not serve our party. by the way, but the time he left the speakership, his approval was 18%. it did not work out so well. if you are judging someone, if you have ever tried to hire someone for a job, you look at not only what they say but what they have done and what their record is, and his record is one of failed leadership.

someone who does not have the experience of being an effective leader. let me be first to the knowledge, i am not perfect. you may not agree with everything i have done or every position i have, but this i can tell you. i have had the chance to lead four things. one, a business that got in trouble. i helped turn it around. number two, helped start a business that became highly successful, and number three, the olympics, helping to turn them around, and number four, took the reins as the governor of the state that is struggling at that time, got it back on track, put in place a budget, established a rainy day fund, so i have learned from that experience. i believe that america needs a leader that have led successfully, and i have, and i will lead this nation back to greatness.

[cheers and applause] i love this country. i love this country. as a boy, my parents took me around the country to see the beauty of america. i fell in love with the country as a little boy. we came to cypress gardens in florida, went west and saw the sequoia's, the mountains. what a great experience that was. and then i fall in love with the people of america, getting a chance to see americans, and day in and day out, you recognize what an extraordinary land this is. somehow, the dna of americans is not different. what makes us different is the values that we have, because when the founders wrote the declaration of independence, they said this would be an unusual nation. they said in this nation, and in all others, by the way, the creator gave us inalienable

rights, among them life, liberty, in the pursuit of happiness. in this land, in this land, we would not just say those words. we would live those words. in america, people would pursue their happiness as they would choose, so all of the world, innovators, pioneers, people who believe in a future for their children and grandchildren, they came here. this is the land of opportunity. it still is the land of opportunity. i believe these principles make us a powerhouse nation. it is critical that we hold true. i love those principles. i love the hymns of america. our national anthem. america the beautiful. "oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for waves of amber grain, four purple mountains' majesty

-- for purple mountains' majesty." you know those words. liberating strive. who love and mercy more than live. our veterans and the armed services personnel, please raise your hand. national guard, reservists. wow, look at that group. family members. thank you for your service. there is one more birds. let me mention. "oh, beautiful the patriot's dream, betsy's biondi years --

that sees beyond the years" instead laying out a vision of permanence, and enduring vision for america. this is not the time for us to abandon those principles. it is time for us to return to those principles, to fight for freedom, free enterprise, to make sure our constitution remains the blueprint of america going forward. i am convinced that if we have leaders understand and love the constitution, declaration of independence, and the principles of america, if we have leaders that will tell the truth and live with integrity and rely on the patriotism of the american people that we will rise to the occasion as we always have in the past, and despite our challenges, we will overcome them, remains strong, make permanent the greatness of america, and keep america the shining city on a hill.

i will do that. thank you. vote on tuesday. thank you, guys. [cheers and applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> good to see you. hi. ♪

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♪ togetherme to come it is up to you

what is your pleasure? everyone around the world, come on! ♪ >> ♪ yahoo! ♪ celebrate good times come on! we are going to have a good time tonight let's celebrate it's all right let's celebrate it's all right we're going to have a good time

tonight it's all right ♪ yahoo! ♪ yahoo \ ♪ >> celebrate good times, come on celebrate good times, come on celebrate good times, come on come on and celebrate celebrated times -- celebrate the good times ♪

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♪ only in america dreaming in red, white, and blue only in america of -- in

america ♪ ♪ only in america dreaming in red, white, and blue only in america where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance

everybody gets to dance only in america ♪ ♪ america ♪ ♪

>> it is good to see you. jennifer. [cheers and applause]

>> mitt? mitt? mitt? ♪

♪ the whiten's wrote to house coverage continues tomorrow beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern. michael reagan, the son of the late president ronald reagan. we will also showed mitt romney in a campaign rally at 6:10 p.m. eastern, but live tomorrow here on c-span.

the u.s. army chief of staff spoke with reporters about how the pentagon's new budget proposal will affect the army. he told reporters that two u.s. army brigades would lead europe, and he said that they hope for attrition in the next years. >> for the past 236 years, the history of the u.s. army has been marked by decisive action, including warfare, humanitarian assistance operations, and support for civil authorities. over the last decade, our army has been fully committed to combat operations in iraq and afghanistan. the secretary and i are incredibly proud the work our officers and civilians have done. we do remain a nation at war, committed to the mission in afghanistan. we will also remain an army that is globally and gauge. we currently have 90,000

soldiers in support of operations and another 96,000 stations -- stationed overseas. over 150 countries around the world. we remain mindful of our primary purpose, to fight wars. this is not all that our nation requires of its army. in today's complex and certain strategic environment, it is imperative that our army remains responsive to the geographic combat -- combatants. predictability is imbedded in our active guard and reserve components, meeting the challenges of an uncertain and complex environment requires an army that is adapted an innovative, flexible and agile, integrated and synchronize.

with that in mind, the army must maintain capacity and diversity to maintain a wide variety of military options to our national security leaders. the president and secretary of defense recently provided new guidance to focus our efforts. the creation of this strategy was inclusive and comprehensive. the secretary and i were deeply involved in this unprecedented and collaborative process. the defense strategic guidance was clear. we will strengthen our presence in the asia-pacific region and maintain a global vigilance is, especially in the middle east, where we will continue to build and strengthen partnerships and alliances around the globe. over the last five years, we grew the army to meet the requirements associated with light scale operations in new york and afghanistan. there is the continued transition of operations to the

afghan security forces and reduction of the u.s. presence in afghanistan. our strategy no longer calls for large-scale operations. accordingly, the time is strategically right. even given a fiscally constrained situation, we will conduct things and irresponsible and controlled manner. the secretary and i are committed that we are at the ready. rather than running our nation's army off of the cliff. we will reduce our strength from 570,000 to 490,000, which will include a reduction of at least eight brigade combat teams. it is important to note, however, that an army of 490,000 in 2017 will be fundamentally different and more capable than the army of 482,000 that we had in 2001. we are an army that is seasoned by combat. we will continue to increase our

investment in special operations forces and the sadr domain. we have drastically improve our command and control capabilities, significantly enhancing mission command. we have modernized our brigade combat teams, making them marketable and lethal. we have increased our aviation assets. our national guard and reserves are truly an operational reserve, giving us increase to death and capacity. finally, we will leverage the lessons learned from 10 years of combat as we look into developing what our future force might look at. going forward, the army has three principal and interconnected goals. prevent, shape, and win. we prevent conflict. we do this by maintaining credibility based on the army capacity, its readiness, and modernization to prevent miscalculation by potential adversaries. moreover, the army has a critical role in shaping the environment by supporting combatant commanders and sustaining strong military relations with allies, building

the capacity partners to maintain internal and regional stability and operating alongside our joined forces to facilitate access around the world. and we stand ready to win our nation's wars when needed. if all else fails, the army will always be ready to reach -- rapidly apply its combined arms capabilities to dominate and the environment and win decisively as part of the joint force. as we look ahead, the secretary and i have several priorities. foremost, we will provide trained, equipped, and ready forces to win the current fight. second, we will develop the army for the future as part of a joint force 2020, of course atomics and capabilities, formations, and equipment. we must sustain our high- quality, all-volunteer army. we will continue to transform the ways we modernize equipment by better align requirements, resources, and the acquisition process. we must invest in energy

initiatives in order to reduce the cost of energy within our budget. we will adapt leader development to meet our future security changes. and finally, we will foster continued commitment to profession of arms, a noble calling founded on the bedrock of trust, which will be key as we move forward and develop our future army. we are an army in transition. while continuing our missions abroad over the next several budget cycles, we will refine, adjust, and adapt as we move the army towards the future force needed. our approach to the current and future budgets cycles will remain strategy-based and fiscally prudent. adjustments will come through deliberately balancing 3 rheostats. the first is a string force structure and personnel. second, modernization, and third, readiness. we will continue to meet our obligations in afghanistan and

around the world. the army will continue to play a role in the missions identified in this strategic guidance, including counter-terrorism, in regular warfare, deter and defeat aggression, protecting power, defending the homeland, providing support to civil authorities, and conducting stability and counterinsurgency operations. we will increase an engagement with allies and new partners in the asia-pacific region, home of seven of the 10 largest armies in the world, to enhance our collective security and and promote economic prosperity. we must utilize unredacted to existing relations with their friends and allies to ensure stability by building part of capacity in the middle east. we will decrease our european footprint by two heavy brigade combat teams, with the first one coming out of europe in 2013. in order to continue our strong engagements with nato and other european partners, we will deploy a rotational forces to conduct training and readiness exercises, with our allies and our new partners.

in latin america, africa, and elsewhere, we will use innovative, -cost, and small- footprint approaches to conduct engagements, maintain stability, and build partner capacity. end-strength reductions will occur over the next six years. we will follow a drawdown ramp that allows us to dig your soldiers and families while maintaining a ready and capable force to meet any requirements, including our current operations in afghanistan. will also continue to look at our optimum design of our brigade combat teams and enable units, leveraging the lessons learned in combat. this analysis is ongoing, and we do not expect any reductions -- any decisions for several months, but it could lead to a reduction of additional brigade if we decide to increase the capability of our current brigade combat-team structure. the national defense authorization act and the dod budget request of 2013 reflects

the army's modernization priorities. that includes the network, a replacement for our infantry fighting vehicle, the joint light tactical vehicle, and our soldiers systems. as force requirements continue to decrease in afghanistan, we will reshape the army's fourth generation model. we will implement a progressive readiness model that meets combat commander requirements her and takes advantage of our combat experience in both are active and reserve component. this requires continual training and modernization. this will ensure we maintain readiness across the entire force and avoid tears readiness. -- tiered readiness. as we look to the future, there are efficiencies we need to reduce costs. secretary mchugh has been clear in this regard. energy security forces us to reduce our energy requirements,

in terms of operational fuel usage and home station initiatives. we need to reduce the cost of doing business as part of a new beginning risk to our strategy. this includes eliminating redundancies and streamlining our headquarters. in terms of pay and benefits, the secretary and i agree with the secretary of defense budget request. the all-volunteer force is a foundation of our military, but the cost of military personnel has grown at a substantial, unsustainable rate over the last decade. we will not reduce pay, but reductions must occur in the rate of growth in military compensation and other personnel-related costs and benefits. it is imperative that during this transition in end strength reduction, we maintain a commitment to our soldiers and families that is commensurate with their service and sacrifice. today, the army and sure as mission accomplishment, guarantees national security interests, compels adversaries,

prosecutes military campaigns, and forges a positive difference around the world. it is what the american people expect and what our own freedom demands. the secretary and i will continue to assess and make adjustments as necessary to ensure we have the right army that is agile, flexible, and prepared for a full range of operations and threats. thank you very much. that ends my prepared comments, and i like to open it up for questions. >> all right, general, can you expand just a little bit on the european plants, particularly in light of, as you take two out, can you give us the date, when the second one will be coming out? and can you talk a little bit about how to and vision support for nato allies, how you envision support for saw the smaller allies that have been participating in afghanistan, for example? and also, are the two heavily armored divisions, brigades that are coming out, do you see them going away, or will they just moved to a different location?

>> first, the plan is to have one brigade come out in 2013 and the second brigade would come out in 2014. that is the current plan. they will come out of the force. they will not be stationed at in the united states. that is the plan right now, as we look at this. as we look ahead, i really see this as a model of how i see us doing things in the future. " we are going to do is we will have the rotational base out of the united states as we do our force generations. we will rotate our units, for example, into our training complex we have act -- at hohenfels/grafenwoehr, but will allow us to train our nato partners and also with some of our other partners in europe. in reality, in the long run, i think this will benefit all of us and cause more of our units involved and shorting with our nato partners. fibonacci speed limited to those stationed in europe.

-- it will not just be limited to those stationed in europe. if you want to have a light and ago, we can have a light. if you want a stryker unit to do it, or have a unit, so it will enable us to really, in my mind, diversify our relationship. it will be an advantage to us as we move forward. >> thank you. >> thank you, general, for your time this morning. i wanted to talk about the balance between and the strength and a national strategy. -- between end strength and a national strategy. use in our comfortable dropping the 490,000.

>> the factor we were engaged in afghanistan 48 to 10 years, so the thought process is we might do, we will still do stability, but it will get a much smaller scale. it will rely more and other partners to assist us as we do stability operations, so we know a lot of uncertainty. if, in fact, we end up having to do a large-scale stability operation, we will depend on our ability to reverse and expand, which will be highly dependent on the reserve component initially, in order for them to help us meet our additional requirements, which would then by this time to potentially look at expanding the army again, and that is the thought process behind it, and i feel comfortable with that strategy. >> i would like to follow up on the question about troop strength. we keep hearing that one of the things you're concerned about, and yet, we are going back to a figure that was essentially

considered hollowed out numbers. you talk about expanding. you talk about where the united states goes and the mission it conducts itself in. what was that number considered a hollowed out northern 10 years ago, and now, it is not? and also, can you give us any more details about restarting brac? >> first, i do not believe that the force was hollow prior to 9/11. i'd think we had some problems when we came down a significant number, over 300,000 in the army. the way we did that. i think we have recovered from that. but i will fear, as i look at the 490,000 number, it is about how that matches up. if you structure in there that is not ready, so when you have a lot of structure, but if you do not have a lot of money to study and training to ensure that they are equipped properly, then you have that.

i believe how we are right now, we will be able to do that. that is the thought process. in terms of brac, i think it will ask for two more rounds. i do not know when that will be. that will be something, so we expect to be to go through two more rounds. we have to work that will congress, and we will see what their thought is. the army went through a very significant brac, and we did a fairly significant change in the army. i believe this would not have as much impact with the army. we a pretty much done what we want. we will have to do some minor things as we go through, and we will find something, but i think for the most part, we have established these installations.

what you'll see in the army except for some of the overseas, in the continental united states, alaska and hawaii, you might see a reduction in the installation, but i do not think you'll see a big installation being asked to close. we think we have the right foot print, but we will see. >> with regard to the aviation act, there was information about delaying a modernization. and i would also like to ask you about the air force position. this has been a controversy. do you plan to sign the m.o. you -- the m.o. you -- mous? >> with the aviation, we have all the modernization and the program that you need. we have slowed down a bit, but we are very comfortable with that. this is because of the reset we

are doing as it comes out of the war's end in iraq and afghanistan. we are still doing a reset. it will be a bit of a slower pace, and we are fairly comfortable with that. i signed the mou this morning. we have been working this for months. it is important that we of direct support to our units in afghanistan and wherever we might deploy. it is a concept we actually tested while i was the commander in iraq, and i thought it was a very successful test, so i think -- i am comfortable with that, so we will mitigate the loss of the c-27. i am not sure we will be able to completely mitigate it, but that will help. >> 14 years. [cheers and applause]

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. >> next weekend, booktv and american history tvx or the culture of beaumont, texas, where the texas oil industry got its start. this is on c-span2. a book owner on the literary culture and the challenges of running an independent bookstore. also, a beaumont author on the teddy roosevelt trip to africa and europe, and on american history to be on c-span3, sunday at 5:00 p.m. eastern, 1901, changing the economy of texas and helping to usher in the petroleum age, and with the oil can the roughnecks. there was an infamous brothel. crime thrived