conservatives are moving in at the same direction. let me start, if it is up there, there is. ok. let me talk about how many participants took a straw poll this year. we had 3408 people participate. that is the second highest straw poll turnout in the history cpac. give yourselves a hand for that one. [applause] the type of people who participated in the straw poll, there is similar to what we have seen in previous years, roughly 45% were individual registrants. 44% more students. [applause] 8% were participating or did it -- were also said it would

participating organizations. -- associated with participating organizations. what are your core beliefs? there were three fundamental choices. i believe in the free market and individual freedom. my goal is to promote traditional values, protecting the lives of the unborn, stopping the marriage. the last is, security, anti- terrorism, protect the homeland. as you can see, 63% and seven smaller governments, personal freedom -- said smaller government, personal freedom. even conservatives nationally, the same thing. while slightly different margin,

at the same overall think motivates both groups of people. ,et's talk about our friends the future former occupant of the white house. barack obama. your fellow conservatives, for the people in this room, he has no approval for the job he is doing. here -- we asked about the job approval of republicans in congress. it is interesting. there is some difference.

buy a pretty wide margin, you all are much more supportive of what the republicans in congress are doing versus your fellow conservatives throughout the country that is very interesting. that item means they are perceiving something differently about the congressional republicans are doing than you are. whatever the case maybe, the fact that national conservatives are somewhat less pleased with what the conservatives in congress are doing should be a warning sign for them over the next several months. we asked a couple of questions about priorities. the priorities we ask about work what was more important, passage of a balanced budget amendment, at national debt reduction plan, passage of the tax reform plan. for both groups, debt reduction

and balanced budget amendment work more important than passage of tax reform. it is a central theme that we seek consistently. conservatives want to see government spending and debt range again. -- reined in. both groups favored a flat tax over a national sales tax. [applause] we start to get to the juicy stuff. ago would be your choice for vice -- at would be your choice for vice president?

interestingly, your fellow conservatives have the same idea that you all did. that is florida senator marco rubio. [applause] following senator rubio was governor chris christie, governor bob mcdonnell, congressman paul ryan. you'll notice that your fellow conservatives across the country are a lot more undecided venue all are. one of the things that is true, you all have opinions. they need your help. we had a high number of people who chose to volunteer any -- a name for vice-president. it was an impressive list.

the two leading contenders, allen west and rand paul. [applause] you will also remember, we ask the question. i am putting not telling you the present results as long as i can. which is more important to you in selecting a candidate for president? is it the candidates' positions on the issue is or is it their ability to beat barack obama? it is the candidates' positions on issues. when the media says it is electability that is driving this campaign, they are wrong. [applause]

the moment you have been waiting for. -- at a broken into two slides. the first slide is the national survey of your fellow conservatives. ok? i think you will see that among your fellow conservatives, you have a very close contest. mitt romney edges out senator santorum. for you cpac of tenders, the results are a little bit different. it is the same order of finish, but gov. romney does a couple of

points better. [applause] thereto many age groups to list them out. the big break here and the age groups were under 55 and over 55. as you can see, this straw poll, 83% of the people who voted were under the age of 55. compared to only 41% a fellow conservatives. the group here, while younger than the larger conservative audience, still shared by virtually the same position, the same opinions, and the same choices. that is good news coming forward. last, but not least, and gender. the national survey was split between males and females. the cpac survey participants

skewed male 60-40. thank you for your patience. see you next year. [applause] >> thank you, tom. thank you, tony. >> sarah! sarah! >> ladies and gentlemen, to introduce our guest speaker, i want to introduce my co-chairman of cpac. [applause] ♪ she is usually on time.

♪ >> i know. i am going to be fast, i promise. >> [inaudible] >> let's savor the moment, folks. this is the moment that the mainstream media is going to go nuts about. [applause] for the past three days, we have been romneyed, santorumed, and sort of pauled. they can all be easily categories much more than this last speaker. she has hurt thebeat of a very different drummer.

it is one that resonates with independent thinkers. she is the embodiment of limited government, personal responsibility. she has the pioneer spirit of a true alaska ann. ise, and now she is .avvy, something happened along the way of that losing campaign. people started to listen more. people started to valuer point of view more. people started to loved sarah more.

a conservative thinker and a force that will not be silenced. she has our gratitude and she has our love. let's welcome gov. sarah palin. [applause] ♪ >> thank you so months. thank you, cpac. thank you so much. what an otter, thank you so much. thank you so much. [applause] thank you so months. thank you, cpac.

>> happy birthday to you! >> thank you for the birthday greetings. you are wonderful. thank you so much. to millie and all for good work at the nra, i appreciate her efforts protecting our second amendment rights. thank you. i am honored to get to be here. last time i was in the d.c., my family and i were here cruising on a harley-davidsons. the umbrella to honor america's

finest, are dead -- the rally to honor america's finest, our veterans. nothing says a miracle louder or prouder than harley hogs. when labor here last, my husband was able to drive one of those 400,000 machines that day. he is back, gearing up for the race across alaska. my girls are here, though. i am glad they are with us. do you know why rowling founder chose washington for their rally? they wanted to make their engines their voice. that is why cpac started in the

1970's. conservatives wanted the republican party to hear us. at the 1975 cpac, ronald reagan laid out a blueprint for rebuilding the gop under a banner of bold colors. ever since then, cpac has been the rally for conservative action. that is why i am glad to be here today with all of you. the conservative movement has never been stronger or brighter. the federal government has never cast a bigger shadow. for the last three years, we have been waiting tables banner that shouts, -- we have been waving a banner that says

don't tread on me. our movement, it is bigger than one person. it is bigger than one candidate. it is bigger than one party. it is about one country united under god. americans.ed we are not a blue americans. we are red, white, and blue americans. president obama, we are through with you. [applause] we paid for three years of his administration and we cannot afford four more. candidate obama promised to

fund -- fundamentally transform america. transforming the shining city on the help into a sinking ship. promising to cut deficits in half. he has piled on the chileans more. -- he has piled on it trillions more. he muffed it up. [applause] this government is not too big to fail, it is too big to succeed. it is too big to ignore and it is too big to bear any more. what did we get in return for

the president's spending spree? 8.5% unemployment, a 13 million americans who cannot find work. 46 million living in poverty. government dependency under obama has gone up 23%. for the first time in our history, folks are fearing that our future is going to be worse than our past. look around. you can see decline and failure, but it is not a failure of the american people. it is not a failure of america itself. it is the failure of our leadership. [applause] we know how to change that. yes, we do. yes, we can. [applause]

hope and change. you gotta hope things change. to borrow another phrase from our president, we cannot wait. our country hangs in the balance. [applause] u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.! [applause]

>> [crowd chanting "sarah."] >> see how easy that is? we must come together as constitutional conservatives to save our republic. ameritech that has reached her tipping point. the door is open. the door is open. if they keep trying to tax and take and spend our way to prosperity, we know where we will end up. look to the old world to see the new world's future. it is the future of downsizing

and downturns and downgrades. that is the future of the far left drained. that is not the american dream. it is not a future we will ever accept. [applause] president obama has a different view. a conflict of divisions. when i listen to his state of the union, i was struck that he barely mentioned unemployment. what did he talk about? he gave us more promises, promises to give us "an economy built to last." mr. president, we do not want an

economy built to last. we want an economy built to grow. we certainly do not want your economy. we want your administration to end. [applause] in the history of our republic, it never has there been such a gaping disconnect between how our own president sees the state of the union and how the americans seized the state of the union. he believes that we are heading in the right direction, even though seven in 10 americans are

saying we are heading in the wrong direction. we believe our real recovery cannot get underway until government gets out of the way. [applause] the president wants to raise taxes so he can redistribute wealth. we want to cut taxes so we can create more wealth. government is digging us deeper into debt. it is because it spends too much. [applause] we know how to deal with facts. you caught it, and got it -- c ut it, gut it. he says he has a jobs plan. a jobs plan to win the future.

wtf -- i know. [applause] wtf plan. he will invest your money and bullet trains to nowhere, but he will stop boeing from building airplanes anywhere. bankrupt energy companies kept sweet lumps and grant offers -- loans and grants offers. we say his plan is not winning the future, it is losing our country. we have a better jobs plan and it is called the free markets. it will work again after this president. [applause]

he says we need more of his financial regulations. we say ago asked mf global customer is how happy they are with his regulations. remember. they did not prevent the financial meltdown. these folks have helped cause did and you helped to bail them out. the president says, small-town americans, we cling to our religion and guns because we are frustrated with his pace of change. keep your change.

we will keep our god, our guns, our constitution. [applause] prof. obama may have forgotten the bill of rights, but we shall not forsake its, including the rights are founders rest their lives for. freedom of religion, our right to bear arms. we will rise up, we will defend them. the president believes your tax dollars should subsidize planned parenthood. we believe that every child is

created equal with that right to life. [applause] i ask you to stand up for those who cannot stand for themselves. if not us, then who? [applause] thank you. the president believes we need to consolidate power, centralize power, because you cannot be trusted to make decisions for yourself. not about your health insurance, your gas mileage, not even about your light bulbs. we believe it is time to return power to the people. that is where the founders intended it is. that is where the constitution

entrusts it. that is where it belongs today, people. [applause] perhaps this distrust of us is because he seems to believe that america is a destructive force in the world. we should apologize to enemies. he believes that we should share our missile defense technology with the kremlin. he believes we should make cuts in our military while other nations are building up their military. cuts to our troops why we keep on spending wildly on everything else. talk about priorities. the white house is trying to negotiate with the taliban. they are watching helplessly as iran moves close to developing their nuke.

wsip the number one duty is protecting the american people and our allies. god bless israel. [applause] our president needs to understand that. he needs to understand what you understand. they are asked to lit -- risk their lives for. this is not some international community organizing we're talking about. we will never apologize for america's strength and our greatness and we will refuse to

accept that a week america means a better and safer world. [applause] we are going to put our confidence in the strength of the armed the forces, not the hollow promises of our adversaries. not the cleverness of our diplomats. we will gladly and route the fight to defend this land of the free. we must be the home of the brave. one reason our president has such a skewed view. he does not get out to see much of real america. 11 months from now, he will have

his chance to spend time outside of d.c. -- all of it. when he comes down from his lofty office and he is finished rolling back the tides and a lowering the sea levels and snowdrifts or whatever all of those promises were. when he is finished with all of that, and then he is going to see that the facts on the ground are much different. in the divided between washington and the rest of the country has never been greater. it has never been more dangerous. while america struggles, washington prospers. while our real-estate market's crash, washington is strong. washington is hiring, but they are hiring for what?

they do not manufacture. they do not drill. they produce nothing. the services that they provide, they increase dependency, not freedom. they do not create wealth, they take it. this is obama's washington. it is not the washington of our founders. it is something that our forefathers never envisioned. they would not have sworn their lives and fortunes -- it would have sworn their lives and fortunes to change. it is now home to the highest per-capita income. he even have a a lamborghini dealership here. not that there is anything wrong with hot wheels. this is the playground of for

the government rich. they are hoping you work really hard to keep it going. the people need and demand urgent reform from this growing out of touch government. it is for freedom's sake. it is to grow our small businesses and hire more people. we know things must change rapidly in order to let the private sector growth. there is no such sense of urgency here in washington. life around here is a really good materially. our permanent political class is content. they are immune to the realities that the rest of us face. they play by a different set of rules. look at the epa.

it is hurting our energy independence to be secure. it is enslaving us to these foreign dangerous supplies of energy instead of tapping into our own god-given forces of energy under our foot. that is what the epa is about. you have to ask yourself, when is the last time you saw epa prevent constructing a new government building? maybe instead of calling washington a swamp, maybe we should call it a wetland. maybe that will slow down the growth of government. [applause] now, the old washington of our founders, it is a place where you came to serve for government and not prosper on it. you left your home and your

farm. you left your industry behind to serve the common good. this washington is a place where politicians arrive as men and women of modest means. they become plutocrats. the money-making opportunities are really at less. they don't just enrich themselves off of you for themselves. they spread the wealth around to their pals. this is called crony capitalism. i said in a speech over the summer, this is not the capitalism of the free men and free markets, of risk and sacrifice and innovation and hard work. it is the capitalism of connections and of government

bailouts and hand out and waste and corporate welfare and corruption. this is the capitalism of barack obama and the permanent political class. it is why i think occupy protesters, you are occupying the wrong place and protesting the wrong thing. this crony capitalism is a root of our economic problems. it has spurred the expansion of government. it diminishes freedom and opportunity for all to rise and to succeed. some politicians get elected by promising more programs and a new freebies and favors. government grows to accommodate their promises. it never shrinks. that crowds out the liberating

individual initiative and the equal opportunity that america was built upon. it swallows of the work ethic that we try to teach our children. often they come to washington, d.c. denouncing the place as a cesspool of corruption. after one year or two, they decide, no, it is not a cesspool. it is like a hot tub. they are jumping in and enjoying the jacuzzi. it is time we drain the jacuzzi and we throw the bums out with the bathwater. [applause]

we took a good first step in 2010. as much as the media wants you to forget, tea party won a historic victory. we, the people, we rose up and step up. we said we do not want a big government agenda. we will not pay for it. now these points that i make about congress, i want to be clear. i toast the tea party members there and congress. many of them who have fought so bravely against the status quo. they have agreed with us that you cannot get out of debt digging deeper into debt. some have an voted to give the president and other plastic credit card that our grandkids will have to pay off for us.

barack obama has dismissed them. he has lied about them. they have held their ground. they have kept their promises to the people who hired them. now they need reinforcements. will you help them? [applause] this november we will take back the senate and we will fortified the house. be aware patriots, we will elect more and this time we will expect them to get leadership in congress. [applause] but to fix obama's washington,

to return power to the people, we must replace obama at the ballot box. he is sinking our ship of state. when the a ship is going down, and the last thing you need is the community organizer reorganizing the deck chairs while singing "let's stay together." we should not forget that for all of his lofty rhetoric, he is a chicago politician. britain " -- quid pro quo, that is the chicago way. though you do not make any friends in the establishment doing it, i fought to the corrupt political machine.

barack obama used it to advance. he never challenged it. he never changed it. he brought it here with him. now in the campaign, he will try to reinvent himself as the champion of the workingman. well, sorry, but no. he is the champion of the power player who will bankroll his million-dollar campaign. world only knows how many more solyndras are out there who he promised to finance them. we do not know who our nominee will be to come up against the barack obama and his policies in the fall, but we know this election will be hard fought. our nominee must be ready,

strong, up fortified, passionate, a fighter for american ideals. [applause] be somebodye must who can instinctively turn right to constitutional conservative principles. it is too late in the game to teach it or spin it at this point. it is either there or it is not. [applause] all of these challenges facing america. all of these questions -- our candidates are trying to articulate the right answer. it is through often defog the filter of a biased media.

these campaign managers are not ready to run for dogcatcher but they will tell candid it's what to say. a candid its true intention, they can be found in that candidate's view of government itself. my view comes directly from the most incredible blue print, it seems providential lead that they were crafted back then. our charters of liberty. they asserted that liberty is in the power of the people. the government originates within the power of the people's ideas. he who inherently believes that, that is who i am looking for. that is who we are looking for in our nominees. we have all heard from these experts that we have to name our

nominee right now. wrap it up. no debate for you. cut it off. as if competition weakens our nominee. in america, we believe competition strengthens us. competition elevates our game. [applause] competition will lead us to victory in 2012. i believe that the competition has to keep going. let's make sure this competition brings out the best in our party. we know that the far left and their media out -- media allies cannot be us on the issues. they will smear our record and smear our reputations. they will attack our families. let's not do the job for them.

ok republicans? ok, independence? -- independents? the attempt to destroy it will continue. we cannot let the next ticket go through that. we cannot let them divide us. we must stand as conservatives with common sense and with a servant hard for the good of our party. more importantly for the sake of our country, we must stand united. whoever our nominee is, we must work together to get him over the finish line so that he can start rebuilding the defense of our republic. [cheers and applause]

and then next year at this time, this time next year we will have a true conservative in the oval office. next year maybe he be here speaking to us at cpac. we will have a president who defends our way of life instead of apologizing for it. we will have a commander in chief worthy of our troops. [applause] our troops, those in uniform who are serving something greater than themselves, sacrificing much around a dangerous world so that we at home can enjoy the blessings of liberty, and they represent the best of america. in their honor, please note we

are so blessed to live in the greatest nation ever known. do not squander this. remember ronald reagan's inaugural address. he acknowledged we had been set aside in a very special way. we must not stray from our noble beginnings. he reminded us we be a free people living in faith with our makers and our future. standards of right and wrong to exist, and they must be lived up to. we are the heirs of patriots who cast off the chains of tyranny. immigrants who braved the seas. of pioneers who pushed into the great unknown. of soldiers who stormed foreign shores. farmers and workers laboring in farms and factories from dusk to

dawn. they toiled so their children could have a better life. that is the america, and that is freedom. that is why we are exceptional. [cheers and applause] as president obama lacks a vision to lead, we will lead it. the door is open. our vision is as bold and strong and free as the country that we loved it. it is the vision of government that works for us and not against us. it is rooted in the old washington of our founders, not the washington of today's political class. of liberty and of empowerment.

it is a vision that our heroes throughout history proved through liberating strife, their selfless love of country. it is the enduring vision of this land that god had shed his grace upon. we will cherish it and fight for it. the door is opened. god bless you, patriots. god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

♪

[chanting sarah] cpac >> ladies and gentlemen, e 2012 cpac conference is officially adjourned.

god bless you. now, please go home and -- ♪

♪

♪

>> that is the 39th annual cpac conference wrapping up. you can see past sessions at the c-span library. mitt romney to weeded -- tweeted his thanks. he won the straw poll. rick santorum came in second with 31%. newt gingrich was in third, and ron paul in fourth. we will hear from ron paul leader with his rally live from maine. maine has been conducting week long the caucuses wrapping up

tonight. arizona and michigan have primaries on february 28. washington caucuses on march 3. super tuesday on march 6. primaries in oklahoma, tennessee, georgia, ohio, vermont, and massachusetts. today, the wrap up of the maine caucuses with results at about 7:30 eastern. at 8:00 we will bring you ron paul from portland, maine. what that is at 8:00 on c-span. earlier today bobby jindal addressed the gathering on the last day of the cpac. his speech lasted about half of

an hour. >> thank you very much. thank you for the generous reception. let's get chris a round of applause for the work they do every day. i came here to talk to you today about the fact if you put conservative ideas into action, they yield great results. that maybe a startling assertion for a city like washington, d.c. i found it too often in washington d.c., congress seems to be like a debating society. there is a lot of talk about conservative ideas and a lot of rhetoric. the reality is a lot of the best action happening today is happening across our states across this great country. you look at great conservative

governors like scott walker in wisconsin, rick scott. [applause] i am here today to tell you that in louisiana we have not just been debating and talking about conservative principles, we have been putting them into action. when the added those conservative ideas and put them into action, they actually work. i want to talk about that. before we talk about that, i want to spend a couple minutes on another topic. i came across a passage from an interesting old document. it is about 223 years old. people here in d.c. have not have seen it recently or may not have read it. i want to read a passage from the document. congress will make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free

exercise thereof, or abridging free-speech or the press or the right of people to assemble in a petition of government for a redress of the grievances. [applause] two simple questions. if you e-mail that language over to the obama white house right now, would they even recognize it or would they want to suggest changes and edits to this language? yesterday the administration finally began backtracking on their most recent assault on religious liberty. here is the most important thing to understand. you and i know that the mistakes made here violated the first amendment of the constitution to the united states of america. [applause]

the administration does not even admit it. they do not even get it. they do not understand what religious freedom means. the very briefly let the american people see what is behind the curtain. they gave us a glimpse of their free -- their true colors. to them religion is so 1900's. what is the fuss about? can the catholic bishops take a joke? i remember another time when president obama briefly give us a glance behind the curtain. remember when he was in a fundraiser in san francisco. he characterized default like us as an unsophisticated ingrates who are bitterly clinging to our guns and religion. as a governor of the great state of louisiana, i have a message for president obama.

he is exactly right about us. [cheers and applause] in louisiana and across america, we love us some guns nod religion and we make apologies for it. [cheers and applause] i want to talk about what we have done in louisiana. i want to show you the conservative principles that work. i will start with a lesson i learned from my father. mark twain said this better than me. it is amazing how much smarter your parents get the older you become. there were certain things my dad always told us when we were growing up. they would make us roll our eyes. there were certain things they

said that he swore he would never say to your children. we have three beautiful kids and i find myself say more and more of those things to our little kids every day. when i was a young boy my dad would tell me, you better eat your vegetables because there are starving children in china. i never understood that. i said if the one my vegetables, we can mail them. everybody wins that way. another thing my dad would say is, some, if all of your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you? i had no idea what that meant. one thing my dad would tell us every day. he would say, sons, you should be so grateful that you live in america. [applause] he would say every day you should get up and thank god you

were blessed to be born in the greatest country of the history of the world [applause] what else was i going to be? i did not appreciate what my dad was trying to teach me until i got a little older and started having my own children. then i started realizing how amazing their example and a story really was. my parents came to louisiana in search of the american dream. my mom was pregnant with me. the my dad was so confident he got the yellow pages out and started calling company after company until somebody would hire him. he wanted a job so he could feed his family and pay for his unborn child. they had so few resources, the actually went to the hospital and the insurance company refused to cover the cost of my birth. they said i was called a pre-

existing condition. i did not preexists to marriage, i do not want you to get the wrong idea. my dad literally paid in installments to the doctor. he paid it in full but paid in installments. how do you pay for a baby in installments? if you miss a baby, will they take the baby back? he said, if they would have taken you back i would have skipped a payment so they would have taking you back. my dad's story is even more amazing than that. he is one of nine children who grow up without electricity or growing -- or running water. he is the first to get past the fifth grade. if you ever try to complain to my dad and say you need an allowance for the chores i do, he would say how much do you think you should pay me for the

food you eat, and the roof i put on top of your head? [applause] the reason i tell you that, i am sure you have parents like this. if you ever complain anything, you got a lecture about how they walk uphill to get to school and how they walk uphill to get home from school. they were so poor they could not afford downhill. the reason i tell you this is because my son's -- my dad would say, i will not give you an inheritance or a great last name. but if you work hard there is no limits to what you can accomplish in the united states of america. [applause] to me that is the american dream. i ran to be governor of the great state of louisiana because too many kids could not pursue those dreams at home without

leaving. we were the only state that consistently exported our sons and daughters to other states. i campaigned to turn that around. we had a special session on ethics. we are going to keep our dreamers and our rs right here.lis one of the most important things you can do to keep us in your state is crackdown on corruption. think about some of my predecessors and stories to have heard about politics in louisiana. i told the press that it is my oath when of the most boring but hopefully one of the most effective governors in louisiana history. my wife tells me, you got boring done. he fulfilled that promise.

let's work on the second. we knew we had a start on ethics. the congressman used to joke and say, half of my people are under water. the other half are under indictment at any point in time. as long as people thought who you knew was more important than what you do, people did not want to invest in the state. we went from the 41 worst to number one in the country. we were one of the bottom five of the integrity index to the top five, but we did not stop there. we had a special session to cut taxes. not only did we institute the largest income tax cut, we got rid of taxes for companies on that, and utilities. i have two philosophies. if you want to encourage activity, do not tax it.

if you want to discourage an activity, tax it. my second philosophy was even simpler. i made a promise. i said as long as i in your governor, we will not raise any taxes as long as i am governor of the great state of louisiana. [applause] we did have to make tough choices. the reality is in a tough economy, you only have two choices. we cut spending by 26%, we cut our budget by 26%. we cut government positions by 10,000. we did things like privatize group homes that were costing us $600 per day to do it. we got out of the groupon business. we sold over 100 cars out of the state's car fleet. we did several other things.

two signs you were on the right track. our credit rating to -- while the american credit rating has gone down, louisiana's credit rating has been improved to its best rate ever at any point in time in our state's history. the cato institute gave louisiana one of only four states to get an a grade. i just submitted my budget this week. it is the fifth budget in a row that reduces spending that is balanced without raising taxes. we created a work force training program that is number one in the country. we will retrying companies and workers if they are not ready to work on the first day for free. the bottom line is it is results. after 25 years of losing people

for four years in a row, we have had more people move into louisiana rather than leaving the state. we have reversed the howard migration. -- the howard migration. -- outward migration. we were named the most improved state in the country, no. 14 per capita development. number one in the south for three years in a row. highest ever shrinking for business friendliness. we are the most improved state in the country. unemployment rate below the national and southern averages. every single month since i have been governor. we have shown that conservative principles work. we have shown if you cut taxes and spending, you can create good things. [applause]

i am grateful the people of louisiana reelected me with a record margin. a lot of people would have said, why not just stop there and defend what you have accomplished? we are battling two proposals in this upcoming session. i want to spend time talking about both of them. the first is reforming our pension debt for public employees and the second is educational reform. we are going to do what washington does not have the courage to do. we are going to tackle our long- term debt. we spent $2 billion in tax payer money every year on our retirement system. if we do nothing the debt will increase by $3 billion by the end of the year. i predict every state here has some form of this public debt problem. politician after politician made promises that they knew they would not have to keep.

they simply sent to the debt to future generations. you contrast that to what my dad told me as a child, if you work hard you can pursue your dreams. what father would want to mortgage his kid's future? that is what we are doing right here in the capital. let's be honest, if you do not reform pension debts, your only choices are you break your promises -- you break your promises to employees. we are proposing a comprehensive reform that accomplishes three things. for new employees, let's move them into a cash hybrid system so they have a portable retirement plan that goes with them and they share the risks and reap -- risks and rewards with taxpayers. by the way, only 20% of private -- if you look at the private sector, most are already in the

plan. very few private companies provide with the public sector does. it just makes sense to catch up with the private sector. let's raise the retirement age to the social security age. let's also make other reforms to make this more affordable. back in the 1980's, taxpayers paid 60% of the retirement program costs, public paid 40%. today it is 75% and 25%. i just want to restore it back to about two-thirds ratio. that will bring some relief to our taxpayers making employers pay a little bit more for their own retirement benefits. [applause]

not increases benefits until we can afford to do so. it makes no sense to continue increasing benefits before we could -- before we pay for benefits already on the books. we have forced the retirement plans in the state of louisiana? why not combine some of these? you can save billions in overhead without impacting one employee retirement benefit. this would save taxpayers $500 million in the first year. think about that. saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and addressing this retirement issue so we are not mortgaging the future. it seems to me like washington can learn something from the states as they think about tackling social security, medicare and other long-term retirement programs right here in the capital. [applause]

i want to spend a little more time on comprehensive educational reform. the reason this is so important is that we live in an absent -- aspirational society. unlike some of the protesters trying to come in here before, you are not entitled to equal results. [applause] you do not have the right to your neighbor's car or house. nobody owes you a fancy home or luxury vacation. you are entitled to equal opportunity. the promise of america -- the american dream is that your last name, years of code, your risk, your gender does not determine your outcome in this country. one thing that makes america such an amazing example to the rest of the world. that starts with a great education.

our children will only have the chance to succeed and inherent more opportunities than we inherited from our parents. that is what every father and mother once for their child if we give them a great education. in louisiana we made some progress. 80% of our kids post katrina are in charter schools. we have a lot more work to do. we passed some bills and my first term. we increased public education funding by 9%. student funding has gone up. we brought teachers paid to the southern average. we said let's a volley our teachers and students at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. let's compare the difference and evaluate our teachers by how their students are doing. largestouisiana's

teacher unions said it publicly, we are ok with evaluating teachers as long as you do not link it so heavily to student achievement. that is liked asking how the football game was without looking at the final score. the most important thing is a student achievement. it has to be about the children, not the adults in those schools. [applause] we also passed a teacher bill of rights to put discipline back in the classroom. the number one reason we lose good teachers is a lack of discipline. [applause] i do not know about you, but when i was growing up, if i got in trouble at school i was spanked. if you try to tell my dad -- if i said i did not do it, he would

say i know you too well. i know you got away with something else today. i will spank you for that and we will call it even. we have done other things as well in our first term. teacher said it is not fair charter schools have more than we do. i said you are right. as long as you can learn -- as long as you can prove children are learning. the unions turned around and sued us in court. they did not want us to take away their excuses. they wanted to hide behind the red tape and bureaucracy a little bit longer. [applause] what we are doing is not enough. that is why we have proposed six bills going into the new session that will overhaul education to make sure every child is getting a great education. let me focus on two components. the research shows the best

thing we can do for our kids is to make sure they have a great teacher. it is by far the most important. it is more important in class size and facilities in. there was research done from stanford showing the economic impact on the child's future earnings. there was recent research showing a good fourth grade teacher can increase the chance your child will later go to college and decrease the chance that they will become pregnant as a teenager. all by having a good fourth grade teacher. i guess we could get a bumper sticker -- which should have a great teacher in every classroom. look at our policies. they are not designed to do that. we have tenure policy and louisiana where 99% of teachers are rated satisfactory. we have one-third of our kids below grade level.

under the current tenure system, 99% are rated satisfactory. you look at the way we compensate teachers. it is no exaggeration to say we basically pay teachers based on how long they have been breathing. think about that. what other business, what other venture could survive if they said we will not reward you or identify you if you put an extra effort or get better results. there will be no reward or compensation. where else do we do that except in education? that makes no sense. we are proposing to change the rules so that even if you have tenure, if you are in effective, you lose that tenure and after three years you lose your certificate. [applause]

that is why we propose to change the rules. we can finally pay our best teachers for what they are worth. for the aspiring teachers that want to become better, help is on the way. for ineffective teachers that do not want to be better, maybe they should look for another profession. maybe they do not want to be in a classroom anyway. the second changes to give families more choices. no child should be trapped in a failing school. every child deserves a great education. we are proposing to expand charters so that over half of our kids can take dollars and go to private schools and let the dollar's fall of the child instead of making the child follow the dollars. let's to liberate our kids. we are also proposing to give dollar to dollar tax credits to those who donate to charities

willing to help subsidize the cost of private tuition for those wanting school in a private education. whether you go to home school, online school, a traditional school, we want the dollars to follow the students so it is no longer a monopoly. no longer are you trapped in a failing school. listen to what union said about this. one union leaders literally said this. for parents do not have a clue --poor parents do not have a clue when it comes to making educational choices for their children. i met with moms the next day who said he we make choices for our children every single day. we know what to do for our children better than any bureaucratic person in that and rouge. [applause] if you want an example of that

kind, listen to that ". poor parents to not have a clue. if you or i had said that, it would be on the front pages of every newspaper every day. i have been calling for this union official to either be fired or resign. i have at least expected them to issue an apology. so far, nothing. that should be offensive to me and it should be offensive to you. we know what is best for our children certainly better than the government. [applause] i could talk to you more about educational reform. the bottom line is this. we live in a country where every child should be free to pursue the american dream. we believe every child should have the best chance to succeed. the government does not owe you

equal results. it does owe you equal opportunity. that starts with a education. our children only grow up once. we owe them a great education today. we cannot we 2 -- we cannot afford to wait until tomorrow. [applause] now, i can keep talking to you about louisiana. i want to close with one final story. you had a lot of speakers tell you we have to replace this administration because of their energy policies, especially given the keystone pipeline decision. you have had speakers railed about the idea of wanting to raise taxes, obamacare, and taking over our lives. rail against this administration for regulations. all of that is true and i second

every single thing they said. i want to add one more reason this is so important. during the oil spill that hit my state, i had the chance to work with the president and his people up close during an extended period of time. what i saw concerns me. what i saw and what i heard were people who may be very box marked who have never run anything in the the private sector. i will give you an example of what i am talking about. the president would talk repeatedly about his nobel prize-winning energy secretary. i was beginning to think that was part of his title. i did not know what that had to do with stopping oil coming to our coast. we do not all have fancy degrees or nobel prizes. we know our coast and we know our state. after a while of being frustrated and seeing oil coming into the coast, they kept

saying, do not worry about it. a local leader said to me, when bp tells you resources are coming tomorrow, it does not really me tomorrow. it just means not today. we were watching the oil eat our coast. a local fisherman got an idea. he said, why do we not just go back in the oil out of the water? the i thought, that is a pretty good idea. i tell of the federal government and said we are going to vacuum the oil out of the water. they said, you cannot drive a vacuum >> i said put a vacuum truck on the back of a boat. they said we never did it before. i ordered the national guard to build two prototypes.

[applause] >> they went out there and picked up thousands of gallons of oil and they had dozens of barges working along our coastment the first one was the funniest thing you ever seen. and one reporter said isn't that the same truck that used to clean the porta-pottys. they weren't using trucks strapped on the back of the boat. the white house said governor, we are shutting down your barges. this is one of the first things that is working and taking oil out of the water and i said we have to do our inspections. i said what do you mean you have to do your inspections? they said, we have to check the valves to make sure they aren't leaking drops of oil back into the water after they pick it up. [laughter]

>> i said why can't you do that in the bays? they said nope, those are the rules. i said this is absolutely absurd. the national media was all over it. and they said they need to count the number of life jackets and fire extinguishers on those boats. they realized how absurd and let the barges go back to work without the inspections and they wasted precious time while that oil was coming into our coast. they refused to listen to the people who lived along the coast that knew better than the experts. and i want to close with this final thought. i shared with you how conservative thoughts work in louisiana to cut taxes and attacking pension reform. i have one final thought. the white house, the presidency is too important for on the job training. we can't afford another four years of president obama.

god bless you all and thank you very much for having me today. [cheers and applause] captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> more from the conservative political action conference here on c-span. the results from cpac, mitt romney won with 38% of the vote, rick santorum came in second with 31%, newt gingrich, 15% and ron paul, 12%. and now back to some of the morning sessions. florida governor rick scott addressed the group this morning talking about his efforts to reduce the size of government in the sunshine state. >> the great of florida. [applause] you know we said at the outset

that the greatest things happening in america today are happening in the state capitals. we honored scott walker last night who gave an incredible speech. you heard from bobby jindal this morning who is doing incredible things in louisiana. and my good governor is doing very, very well and i'm very proud of him under very trying circumstances. you see, it's not just how well you're doing, but how well you're doing under the climate that you inherited. i would like to share a little bit of a personal story about him. rick scott, you know, was born and raised in a humble family. his dad was a trucker who got jobs when he could. you remember the old country song "momma did all she could." he also has a great wife and

makes a great team. it's her birthday and just had their first grandchild. what a wonderful family. he met her and married her and then went to the navy to serve our country. and she became a good military wife. and those of you who are know what that's like. when he left the military service, went to texas and worked hard while he was going to law school. got out of law school and started practicing law and got that entrepreneurship bug and put all the monies that the family had into buying their first hospital with some other investors. after a 15-year journey, he was chairman of the board, founder and creator of the largest hospital chain in america's history. [applause] >> he quasi-retired, got restless about doing something about the folks in our good

state and decided to run for governor and ran for governor without being known by anyone, without holding public office. the ultimate sit zen--- citizen-servant. highest foreclosure rate and deficit of $3.5 billion. a state that is fueled by the construction and agriculture and hospital atlanta industry all of which -- holt -- hospital ity industry. i'm proud to be a floridian under his leadership and join me in giving him the warm welcome that he deserves. governor rick scott of florida. ♪ [applause]

♪ >> since he's my governor, i wanted to publicly give him my i-card as card-carrying member of the conservative union. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much and thank you for the card. i will carry it with me every day. what a great day. it's great to be here. we all look forward to seeing you on fox, right? [applause] >> and i got to see governor jindal's speech this morning and he has done a great job and great individual to emulate. he has done a great job. [applause] >> and it's also nice to know, there are a lot of floridians here. so thank all the floridians for coming.

[cheers and applause] >> thanks for the warm welcome and great to come to washington in february to be reminded about how great it is to be in season florida in february. it's not the weather that makes d.c. different from florida, ohio, wisconsin. today, states are leading the way, governing on conservative principles. and it's very different than washington, d.c., but you know that as you are all the bedrock of the conservative movement. you are the individuals who stay true to the core principles of conservativism and you are the ones who hold our leaders accountable. here in washington and around the country, accountability is one of the primary themes of my administration in florida. in florida, and one of the key things on my campaign when i ran for governor, that's because i believe it is critical to success. so in speeches, during press conferences and just when i'm

talking to people, i ask them every day to hold me accountable. for delivering on the campaign promises i made and as governor, to hold me accountable for making the right decisions. there is simply too much at stake to pass the buck to the next generation. livelihoods are on the line. the american way of life is threatened. how many of you have seen the potential of your job or your business choked, not by competition, but by government that no longer has any idea how real people live? [applause] >> that's right by a government that has forgotten that it works for americans who are fed up with bailouts, tax increases, deficits, unfunded programs, regulation, frivolous lawsuits

and special interests. if you've ever created a job with your own money at risk, if you have ever imagined an idea for a business and for everything to turn into reality, if you have ever taken satisfaction in bringing about change to help create opportunities for others, if you believe anything is possible in america, then you know exactly what truly matters. these are the experiences and beliefs that propel our great nation to create hundreds of millions of jobs and build the mightiest economy in the history of the world. [applause] >> and you should also know this, if you have any experience creating real jobs, you have virtually nothing in common with the current occupant of the white house. [applause]

>> as al said, i have been blessed and i have seen the american dream, from all sides. i'm the adopted son of a truck driver and i started school living in public housing. by 11, i was serving school mates lunch in the cafeteria so i could get a hot meal. even then, an 11-year-old boy believed in the american dream. and i could sense the promise of this great country. i have faith then and i have the certain knowledge now, that with enough hard work and the willingness to get up when we fall, the birthright of every american is to rise above his or her beginnings. i have learned that personal failure should not be an invitation for government bailout. [applause] >> just as personal success should not be an invitation for

a government tax grab. [applause] >> after more than three years of the present administration, it is time to re-acquaint ourselves with the notion that the freedom to succeed also means the freedom to fail. [applause] >> it's a tradeoff that's at the very core of a country founded on the sacred right of the individual, the liberty of each and every american. it's government's role to do what he can to equip everyone to compete and offer a level playing field for the competitors. but it is not government's role to pick the winners and losers. [applause] >> the policies of our next president will likely decide whether the united states

remains the world's largest economy or whether we fall behind china and begin a slow, economic slide to global irrelevance. and thanks to president obama, china doesn't have to threaten us with miss wills to become the dominant economic power, they just have to threaten to cancel our national economic credit card. [applause] >> this borrowing sprees cannot last. none of us believe we can run our personal lives in the same manner politicians are running our government. why do politicians think they can run government with no accountability? it must be the mission of the next president to have the courage to stop this insanity and put america back on the right course. in this next election, the choices could not be cleareror the stakes higher. the issues, when i ran for

governor in florida in 2010, were not much different from the issues this year. in fact, there is one issue that stands head and shoulders above everything else, creating jobs for americans. [applause] >> i made that issue the central theme of my campaign, seven steps to 700,000 jobs in seven years. i called it the 7-7-7 plan. [laughter] >> they say i amtation is the sincerest form of flattery so you could imagine when herman cain surged to the lead with his 9-9-9 plan. [laughter] >> i was first. my 7-7-7 plan is absolutely working in florida. unlike the obama administration,

the first time ever in the great state of florida, the outlook for our credit rating was raised because of our responsible budgeting. [applause] >> for the first time in 20 years, florida paid down its state debt. as a matter of fact, it's the first time in 20 years, we did not increase our state debt by over $1 billion each and every year. [applause] >> but that's only the beginning. in my first year in office, unemployment has dropped more than two percentage points down from 12% to .9%. we shrank the size of government and reduced the government payroll and appointed agency heads for helping florida

businesses get to work. and guess what? it absolutely worked. in one year, florida businesses created over 140,000 jobs, well on the way to meeting my 700,000 job goal in seven years. [applause] >> but we didn't stop there. my administration eliminated burdensome regulations to make it easier to do business in florida and we are poised to get over 1,000 regulations in 2012. [applause] >> during my first year in office, we forced state governments to do more with less. we balanced the budget while covering a $3.7 billion shortfall. facing that kind of deficit, i ignored the newspaper columnists and so-called experts who said

the only way to fix the problem was to raise taxes. no. most of us here know the last thing anyone needs is higher taxes. what our state budget needed was some good old fashioned belt tightening, forcing our state government to live within its means just like every florida family and we bridged the $3.7 billion budget gap and balanced our state budget without raising any taxes. [applause] >> but we weren't satisfied with just that. the plan i campaigned on called for lower property taxes and a phaseout of the business tax. [applause] >> and i was elected to deliver on that promise and i was not going to wait for the economy to get better before taking action. so last year, i signed into law a tax cut that eliminated taxes

for nearly half of florida's businesses and cut the property taxes by more than $200 million. [applause] >> we did this because we understand, it's businesses that create new jobs, not government. [applause] >> it's businesses -- it's businesses who have created -- made america the number one economy in the world, not government. [applause] >> that's right. it's businesses who hire individuals who with their hard work, feed their families, purchase homes and provide a safe, nurturing environment for their children, not government. [applause] >> our actions, we are positioned in florida to lead the nation in job creation and economic growth. i won my campaign because

floridians were tired of politicians that played the blame game. they were tired of watching jobs go away and watching housing prices drop. they were tired of asking, who will accept the responsibility for making florida the number one place, the number one place in the world to start and grow a business. they asked, who will hold state government accountable. who will keep a sharp eye on state spending. who will create the number one business environment in the entire world. in my state, that call was answered loudly and clearly. i stood up and i said, i will. [applause] >> as governor, job one for me is helping floridians get back to work. that's why when the unemployment numbers come out every month, the press doesn't seem to ask who should be held accountable. they know i will. don't have to ask, who will make

the tough decisions that will balance the budget and hold state government accountable. they know i will. no one in florida wonders who will stand up for taxpayers against pork barrel spending. they know i will. and florida, nobody wonders who will protect the rights of the unborn or the rights of citizens to own a gun. [applause] >> they know i will, and i will make sure all florida children have an opportunity for quality education. floridians have an opportunity for a job. and government does nothing to raise the cost of living in our state. that is what leadership is about. [applause] >> leadership is standing firm in your beliefs and convictions, not swaying in the wind subject

to the latest public opinion poll. as you know, floridians just voted in the presidential primary, so if you were in florida -- i guess nationwide -- you heard a lot about the candidates and all of them have solid plans for ensuring american businesses are in the best position to succeed so they can hire american workers. while many of you may differ on who your choice is for president, i think there is one thing we can all agree on, any one of these candidates have a superior plan to turn our economy around and would do a far better job than the current occupant of the white house. [cheers and applause] >> that's why i'm excited about our chances this year. we all should be. the american economy is in

trouble. the world economy is teatering on the edge of a cliff. we need to remember how this great country was built. our president wants to grow the federal government. he has called for the creation of a gag will of new federal agencies. yet, there is no plan to reduce federal regulation, no plan to balance the federal budget, no plan to cut federal spending, no plan to make american companies more competitive in the global marketplace, no plan to fix social security, no plan to stop ruining our credit, no plan to give americans more choice as to how their hard-earned dollars are spent. we all know government should not bail out companies. we all know american companies cannot succeed against foreign competitors if america has higher taxes, more regulation and more litigation.

against this backdrop, people like you and i look around the country and we ask, who will stop this from happening, who will stand up and lead america into another generation of prosperity. you will. who will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to build their companies with american workers. >> we will! >> who will take responsibility for meeting america's economic challenges head on? >> we will! >> who will stand up and be held accountable for protecting job creators and the economic producers of our country? >> we will! >> and i'm encouraged by what i see, you and all of our presidential candidates have stood up and said, i will. we have some courageous candidates who are ready to

lead. and ladies and gentlemen, you, the folks in this room must hold all of our candidates from the presidential candidates, to state and local races accountable for making america the haven for the individuals to live their version of the american dream. [cheers and applause] >> as you know, in less than nine months the fate of our nation will be decided, the fate of the individual rights will be decided, the opportunity for american families will be decided. it's up to all of us to do everything in our power to put america back on the path to prosperity. we have to put american businesses in a better position to succeed in businesses in any other country. that is how we will grow jobs in america.

we, the conservative leaders of our nation, we are accountable for what happens between now and november. in november when the political dust settles, let it be us that answers the call as to who will take responsibility for america's future. let each of us say, i will. >> we will! [applause] >> thank each of you for your commitment to make sure every american has the opportunity to live the american dream and god bless each of you and god bless this great country. thank you. [cheers and applause] captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the 39th annual conservative political action conference wrapped up today and mitt romney

won the straw poll with 38% and rick santorum with 31% and newt gingrich with 15% and ron paul 12%. more "road to the white house" coverage. maine's week-long caucus wrapped up. and a ron paul rally live from portland, maine. >> shouldn't your president have the highest moral and ethical standards and be an example to our children and young people in this country? ask that question. shouldn't he be a role model for your future children? should anyone you elect to this office keep his promises? >> as candidates campaign, we look back at 14 men who ran for the office and lost. go back to our web site.

>> do they not have the right to protest and revolt against a government that they feel does not serve their interests? who apointed us to sacrifice the lives of young americans trying to weigh in on the side of a government that represents perhaps 15% of the people of lebanon and has little or no apparent support from the other 85%? >> c-span.org/thecontenders. >> when i first started the book i thought this must be an american story, this is about a country that wore ships self-reliance and individualism. but it turns out that we are laggers when it comes out to living alone and much more common in european nations, especially in scandinavia. >> in going solo, growing trend

of american adults choosing to live alone and what that means for the country. also this weekend on book tv sunday at 3:00, the second cousin of former secretary of state rice. and at 8:15, georgetown university's bonnie morris on one-woman play and book. book tv, every weekend on c-span 2. >> here is that wonderful moment when senator lott revealed his nostalgia for the states' rights see degree gationist south. >> we are proud of it. >> publisher josh marshall and on the internet. >> the media ecosystem is a

different world today than 10 years ago. i think things like that happen all the time now and there is many stories that we have had over the last decade, more and more. we have an editorial staff of 20 people. we are breaking stories right and left. i think the thing is it has almost become commonplace and it's not nearly as surprising today as it was back then. >> more about t.p.m. and josh marshall on sunday on c-span. >> this week on prime minister's questions, david cameron discuss changes to the national health service which opponents say will jeopardize the future of n.h.s. and paid tribute to q