thank you for coming out. have a good weekend. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> starting monday, watch republican convention coverage. next, mitt romney's campaign. next, mitt romney and the mormon church followed by a third-party candidate. republican presidential candidate mitt romney and his running mate rally at the long family orchard farm and cider mill in commerce township michigan. this is about 40 minutes.

♪ >> here they come. romney! romney! romney! >>, ok, we got to keep cheering, to let them know. ♪ i see them. they are right in front of the bus, waving. let's give our best welcome to our comeback team, mitt romney, ann romney, and congressman paul ryan. ♪ >> thank you, everybody. what a welcome. this is great. look how far back this goes. >> romney! romney!

>> sisters, how are you doing? good to see you. thank you, everybody. thank you so much for coming out. thank you for standing in line, and thank you so much for what you are about to do. you are going to let this man be the next president of the united states. it is great to be back home in big ten country. i represent the west part of the western shoreline of lake michigan. you've got the sand, and we have a rocks.

we all come from the same place. i want to tell you something. we got a big decision to make. we are going to be deciding the kind of country we want to be, the kind of country we are going to have, not just for the next four years, but for a generation. president obama has put our nation on a path to debt, to doubt, and a nation in decline. it is up to us to get this country back on the right track and to retrieve the american idea, and that is the kind of leadership mitt romney is going to provide for our country. the problem we have had is

president obama and too many politicians like him in washington have been more concerned about their next election than they have about the next generation, and that has to end. we need leaders. i see pete hoekstra over here. you need to send him to the united states senate so we can turn that place around as well. we will lead. we will honor you, michi- ganders, by giving you a choice of two leaders. we will not -- the issues. we will take responsibility. we will not transform this country into something that it was never intended to be. we will reapply our founding principles.

over the last few years, we have seen a pretty good glimpse of what the president thinks, of what he believes, where he thinks the country should be. do you remember joe the plumber? it is a belief that the economic pie of life is fixed, that someone's gain comes at someone else's loss. that is not true. we do not think that the job is to re-slice the pie. we want to grow the pie so everybody has a chance at the american dream.

there is no other system in the history of earth that has done more to help the poor, that has done more to give the people the right to rise, and we do not want to replace that. we want to renew that. remember four years ago when he was talking to a bunch of donors in san francisco, and he said people from states like ours, we like to cling to our guns and religion. i just have one thing to say. this catholic deer hunter is guilty as charged and proud of it. that is who we are.

or how about what he said the other day in roanoke, virginia. we can probably all say it together. no wonder our economy is where it is. no wonder 23 million americans are struggling to find work. no wonder unemployment has been above 8% for 42 months. 9% here. no wonder nearly one in six americans are in poverty today, the highest rate we have seen in a generation. the president's notion of a government-centered society within a government-driven society does not work. it is not working in europe, and it will not work here, and the winner we need to get back on track is mitt romney, and that is why we are going to get the country where it needs to be.

the president cannot run on his failed record of leadership, and so he will try to divide us, distort and distract and demagogue to try to get people to vote for him by default. we are not going to fall for that, and neither are you. we will give the country an alternative vision. we will give the country a choice of features that shows exactly how we can reaffirm our country. that is why i am so proud to stand with this man, a man who is meeting this moment in history. a moral compass, a vision for the future, and the ability, the

experience, the character, and integrity to execute that vision. ladies and gentlemen, that man, with that experience, with that integrity, is the man standing next to me. his name is mitt romney, the next president of the united states of america. >> thank you. thank you. what a guy, huh? quite a vice president he is going to be. what a welcome. you have touched ann's and my hearts.

wonderful to be at this cider mill and orchard, to have you welcome us on a friday at noon time. it was not easy getting out of work today, and i appreciate you being here to say hi to us. it brings a tear to my eye. it makes us recognize how important you feel this election is. i brought with me two people i am very attached to. one is the one i have been in love with for my whole life, it seems, and i saw ann in elementary school. she was in the second grade when i was in the fourth grade. when she was a sophomore, i noticed again, and this time i paid a lot of attention. we went to a party at a friend's home, and she came with someone else.

i went to him and i said, "i live closer to ann than you do. how about i give her a ride home for you?" sensing i was giving him a favor, i gave her a ride home, and we have been going steady ever since. please say hello to my sweetheart, ann romney. >> hello, michigan. i love coming to a place where i put up my hand and everybody knows what that means. mitt and i grew up here, and this is a special place for us, and we want to have a big w next to michigan in november. i have to say, when i got on the stage and i did not appreciate

how many people were here, i got quite choked up. it is amazing. it is amazing that people in michigan have not forgotten the promise of america and the promise of mitt's father and my father who made their livings here, and who came here. both of our fathers came here and made their livelihoods here, and they came from nothing. we know we offer that promise to the next generation, and that is why i get such a response from so many women across the nation who say to me, number one, "i am praying for you, ann." i love that.

number two, it is like "please tell mitt he has got to save the country." we are going to save the country for your children so they can have the same promise we had as children. i feel as though we are standing on great shoulders coming to michigan, knowing that george romney is an institution in this state. how much we love that man, and how i owe so much of our life to the example he gave of service. we're standing on his shoulders today, and we will make michigan and george romney proud, and i cannot wait for you to hear how mitt will lead america to a better place. thank you so much. >> she is quite a woman. she will be quite a first lady, i tell you that.

our hearts today are touched by people i know are suffering. you heard there was a shooting in new york city at the empire state building, one person killed, others injured. we pray for those injured and the first responders that were there, we appreciate their service and the dedication, and that is true all over the country. we love and appreciate their sacrifice and willingness to help our fellow americans. an oakland county executive was in a terrible auto accident, still in very serious treatment, our prayers go to him, and also the driver of his vehicle, so please include brooks and his family in your prayers. i love being home, where both of us were born.

no one asked to see my birth certificate. they know this is where we were born and raised. we went to elementary school together, and we went to high school together. we were the cranbrook cranes. they were the kingswood aardvarks. could we not do better than that? it feels like coming home to see this beautiful state and to see our friends here. it is been quite an experience to watch my dad and mom in their campaign. i got to visit every county in michigan. 83 counties, right? i went to county fairs. the people of the state responded. they did not always vote party line. they voted for the person who thought they could get michigan working again. and my dad did, and i will.

i have had such an extraordinary experience going across the country seeing the passion of the american people. we are a patriotic people. i have seen sons and daughters in far-off places. i have seen men and women from the state and my state now of massachusetts serving our land. i appreciate them. those in the armed services, please raise your hands and be recognized. thank you, ma'am. thank you, sir. this is a time when america faces an extraordinary challenge. the economy is affected by competition that is global by jobs that have left, technology that is being developed by other

nations. we face extraordinary challenges in government, where year after year politicians have been spending more than we have taken in. these challenges we can overcome in one way -- by coming together and being united. it is time to have a president that can lead by uniting the american people, not dividing the american people. we will be having a convention in tampa. i am told the weather may be a little iffy there. we will be there. we will not just talk about platitudes, small things, we will talk about these big challenges and how we will overcome them. we will talk about the soul of america, what makes this nation exceptional. we will do everything in our power to bring people together,

republicans, democrats, and independents, to understand that our way is the only way for all americans, for the richest and poorest, and everyone in between. this president tried. i'm convinced he tried. he was heading in the wrong direction is the problem. i saw someone outside the zone here that had a sign that said "four more years," and i felt like stopping and saying, "you want four more years of 8% unemployment? you want four more years of record numbers of foreclosures and declining home values? you want four more years of trillion-dollar deficits to pass on to your kids? you want four more years of business not wanting to hire people?

do you want four more years of government becoming more and more interested in your lives and businesses?" i do not want four more years of what we have, do you? i want to get america on a different track, of strength and vitality. what i have done is watched the leaders of america's past. the founders had it right when they looked and recognized what would make this nation powerful was not a government under a king or these special advisers in washington that will tell us how to live our lives, how to build our enterprises. instead, by letting individuals pursue happiness in their own ways, which would create the most powerful country in the history of the world. it is the free american people that make what the nation is, not the government. paul said something the president said, and it's so revealing.

it revealed something about his views on america that is quite extraordinarily unusual and a departure from america's founding principles. the founders understood that individuals pursuing their dreams are what make our country grow, not the government telling us what to do. they recognized that our rights came from the creator, not the government. those rights include life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

i met at people who did build their business. i met people who got promotions at work, and they did that themselves. i met young people who made the honor roll. i met boy scouts who got the eagle scout award, and they did accomplish those things themselves. government did not give it to them. we are a nation which is founded on the principle of individual liberty and greatness. we recognize the spark of divinity in every single human being. we celebrate achievement and accomplishment. this idea that government knows better than free people how to lead america is simply wrong, so we will take america on a course that is consistent with that set by the founders. we will restore principles that made america great and keep america the shining city on the hill.

there are five things that paul and i are going to do, five things that will get this economy going. i want to see michigan taking off again with huge job growth and rise in take-home pay. i appreciate the work being done by your governor. he is making michigan once again a friendly place for small business and entrepreneurs and innovators. i want to take some of the things he is doing and put them in place in washington by doing five things. number one, we agreed to take advantage of our energy resources and get north america energy independent. we have coal, 250 years of it, natural gas that is cheap, oil, nuclear, wind, solar. we're going to take advantage of those energy resources, and that will create three million to four million jobs, one million in manufacturing. number two, we're going to make sure that our people have the

skills they need to succeed, that we have the right kind of training programs for our adults. and we have finally fixed our schools and put the kids first, teachers first, and the unions behind. number three, we're going to have trade that works for america. look, trade is good for us. it creates jobs. it helps raise incomes. opening up new markets in latin america, really expanding their. one thing i want to make sure we also do -- that is when people cheat like china has been cheating, we will crack down on them and not let it continue. number four, you're not going to get entrepreneurs to take their life savings to open a business or get a business that decides to build a new facility here in

michigan or somewhere else in this country or maybe even a big foreign company who comes here to build a big research center unless they know we're not going to become greece or italy or spain. they want to know that america is willing to deal with our financial issues, so i will do something politicians have talked about for a long time, and paul ryan has shown the courage to do -- as we are going to work hard to find america a balanced budget by cutting the deficit and getting it to zero. number five, i am going to champion small business. i want to help entrepreneurs and innovators to build their businesses and add more jobs. 65% of the jobs created in the last 15 years in america were created by small business. i want to help these small businesses. right now, the president wants to raise the tax on small business from 35% to 40%. that would kill jobs.

do not raise taxes on any american. keep our taxes competitive, get them down. make small business the driving engine of economic growth. that is number one on small business, taxes but also for small business, we have to make sure that regulations are up to date and that regulators see their job as encouraging small business, not crushing it. big companies are usually able to deal with all the regulations because they have hundreds of lawyers, but small business cannot. we have to get regulations pared down to size for small business. number three, that big cloud has been hanging over small businesses -- we have got to repeal and replace "obamacare" with something that gets the cost of health care under control. if we do those things from those five things, energy, skills to succeed, education, opening up new markets and cracking down on the cheaters in trade, finally

getting ourselves to a balanced budget and an opening an era of encouraging small business -- we do those five things and you are going to see america come charging back economically. we are on the cusp of an economic rebound of the world will be surprised with what they see in america and in michigan. we can compete with anybody in the world. we will compete. we will win. and by the way, if we do those five things, we will create 12 million jobs and finally see a rise in take-home pay. from our standpoint, we do not want four years of what we just had. we want four years of what i just described, a brighter, more

prosperous america with a strong and prosperous future. >> this counts. this counts. paul mentioned it. there are 23 million americans today out of work. 23 million. 8% of our people are unemployed. about 15% are either unemployed or stopped looking for work or cannot get full-time jobs that need them. half the kids coming out of college cannot get a job or a job that is consistent with a college degree. half our kids. one out of six americans has fallen into poverty. the gap between the haves and have-nots have gotten larger under this president, small -- not smaller. this president's policies have not worked. it is important get america on the right track so we can get those people back to work.

so our kids will know that when they finish school, they have got a good job waiting for them. so we pull people out of poverty and build a bigger middle-class with rising take-home pay. isre's another reason this important, and that is because a strong america is not only good for americans, it is good for the world, good for liberty, good to preserve liberty. i was in great britain some time ago and one of the leaders said to me this, he said, if you're lucky enough to be elected president and did you travel around to foreign capitals, you will uoubtedly have rehearsed for you all of the mistakes they think america is making. but please do not ever forget this, the one thing we all fear the most is a weak america. america's strength, strength in our homes and values and families, strength and our

economy and strength in our military, america's strength is the best ally peace has ever known. and paul ryan and i commit to you that every day in office, we will make americans strength our priority. we will do everything we can to strengthen our homes and values, to strengthen our economy, and to keep our military so strong that no one would ever think of testing the might of the united states of america military. that is our commitment to you. now i need your commitment to me and to us. i need you to go out and find at least one person who voted for barack obama and get them to change their mind and come to vote for us. we have got -- i do not know, 5000 or 10,000 people here. 5000 or 10,000 votes than they did different in michigan. i want michigan to vote for romney and ryan.

if michigan does that, he and i will be the next president and vice president of the united states and america will stay strong and prosperous and free and the hope of the earth. thank you very much. thank you, michigan. thank you. dd [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪

>> now a discussion about governor romney, the mormon faith and the role of religion in the 2012 presidential campaign. this is from "washington journal." host: meet thomas burr. he is washington correspondent for "the salt lake tribune." thank you for being here this morning. nbc just did a special on the mormon religion and many americans are now learning more about it as this campaign progresses with the first major party representative being a mormon. guest: people want to know who is mitt romney? part of mitt romney is being mormon. a majority of americans don't know much about the l.d.s.

church. so you and do i want to vote for this guy? they want to understand a little bit about the mormon church. host: in 2008, there's a great deal of discussion about the jeremiah wright connection in his church, whether obama would have a church in washington. how interested do the public seem to be in either candidate's religious faith? guest: in 2008 there was a lot more interest in his background in the mormon church. not so much this time. the same thing with president obama. people want to know the same thing about romney. where did he come from? what kind of values does he have? where did he go to church? and this time around obviously there's interest.

there's not as much interest because again, both candidates have kind of been vetted. that has not been an issue this time around to some degree. we did see last sunday, for example, both candidates went to church. i am not sure that was planned. they both figured out that we will go to church on the same day. we saw president obama walking across lafayette park. and romney was in new -- new hampshire and went to church. i guess both candidates are probably trying to show to some degree that they are regular people. not sure that they will talk about their beliefs on the campaign trail every single day. but like many americans, they go to church on sunday. host: we want to open up the phone lines and involve you in the conversation could it have questions about the mormon religion and its involvement, it has any, and the political life of the church, how mormons are reacting to been increased spotlight on their faith -- we welcome your participation in this discussion. we'll put the phone numbers on

the screen and you can send as a tweet or you can send us an e-mail and you can do that with the graphics on the screen. thomas burr is going to be with us for about 40 more minutes and we would like you to take part in the conversation. the recently reported on polling data. eight in 10 voters ok with romney's mormon faith. dig deeper into what the polls suggest. guest: i found that interesting, especially looking back at previous polls. there were polls that were done in 45 years when george romney for started running for president. what we saw was back then 30% of americans or so were wary about voting for a mormon. now we see with romney as a republican candidate that most people are saying, you know, we're not really concerned about that. it is almost fascinating. they are lockstep behind the republican candidate. maybe in some ways politics trumps religion.

evangelicals who may not have wanted to vote for a mormon but because romney is the nominee and want to beat president obama, they want to go for governor romney. guest -- host: an article of faith and the candidates. now want to share use something a treated to mitt romney about this. he set up a " people are certainly free to learn more about my religious beliefs and the practices of my faith. i was very involved in been pastor of a competition where i attended church and have pretty extensive and direction with a large number of individuals and families that were the potential beneficiaries of my counseling advice." i'm sure there are many misconceptions about any religion. i feel it is the responsibility of the faith itself to clarify those misconceptions. my run for office is devoted to the needs of the nation and not to the needs of my church. my church might have to clarify its positions.

let's parse that a little bit more. can you talk about his reference about being involved as a pastor of a congregation. guest: that is a term that most americans deny use. i think that is a term that mitt romney uses because most americans can understand what a pastor of a congregation is. romney's title was bishop of the belmont mission in massachusetts. he says pastor because there were 400 people in his congregation. he was also state president, which is more like an archbishop. the -- he was in charge of a new wide variety of wards in the boston area. yes, the bishops job is difficult. he is the guy that regular mormons see when have problems. he got to see that. he talked in parade magazine coming out this sunday that that's how he can equate to

people who are not as well off as him. people who need help, need to go to the bishop to get milk or things to survive or help paying the utility bill that kind of thing. you will see ronnie talk about -- romney talk about that possibly in his convention speech this coming week. host: is this a fine line for the campaign and the canada on how much of his involvement with the church to it -- and the candidates on how much of is involved with the church to real? it does bring up more of a connection to the church. guest: there is a fine line that he is trying to draw. he does not want to be the defender of the l.d.s. church. his line is that six years now i've been running for president of the united states, commander in chief, not pastor in chief. these are the values i was brought up in and these are the things that i worked on with other people in my faith.

host: i wanted to put on the table that mitt romney is by far not the only mormon in public life. this is from a publication called "church news." there are 15 mormons currently serving in the u.s. congress, including harry reid, the majority leader, and also other senators, like mark crapo from hollywood, mike lee of yoirkts tom lee -- mike udall of new mexico. they're both democrats and republicans. it sounds like you can generalize that mormons would tend to be more one party. guest: you will see that there are more republicans than there are democrats. harry reid is the highest-ranking mormon in public office right now. obviously romney wants to trump him on that. there are democrats who are good mormons.

i know several who believe that actually if you're a good mormon you should be a good democrat. the republicans obviously disagree with that. it is monolithic, though. you do not have to be a republican if you are mormon. there's a fascinating history with mormons and republicans. the first platform that the republican party had was anti-bigamy, which is the polygamy of the l.d.s. church in the 1870's, 1880's, 1860's. the relics of barbarism and slavery. now they've come around and now we have a mormon republican nominee. host: we will begin with south carolina. mary, a democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question. a couple months back, i received a "book of

mormon." and did some stay with the young gentleman that came by. they work with both, but i am not shureks because they did not stay long because i got kind of confused on what they were trying to tell me. do they believe in both the regular bible that we study or do they actually believe in the book of mormon? because there's some weird stuff in here if you really read it that don't make sense to me, especially being african-american. host: mary, a question for you. does a candidate's faith shake -- shape your vote? caller: yes, because more men and other religions are considered cult religions which are not the standard christian belief that most americans have. i feel that what you believe in religiously has a lot to do

with how you proceed yourself towards your fellow man, you know? so i do think that your religion has a lot to do with your outlook on everybody, with everything that you personally. host: thank you so much for your call. there's a lot to deal with in that question. first of all, do they believe in the bible? guest: yes. i do not want to get in the position of explaining the l.d.s. church. yes, absolutely. there is no question that mormons believe in "the book of mormon" and the bible. you will see mormons carry around a huge book that they have. the book of mormon, the drocket twin and cove nantz. these are all cannon of the religion and she mentioned weird stuff. i love hearing these comments. i hear them from voters all the time. every religion has some odd stuff. it is not just the mormon church that has something that

sounds a little bit crazy when you think about it in different ways. but everything has something that is a little bit odd. the one thing that the mormon religion has is that it is a new faith. it is 150 years old. host: despite its youth, the mormon religion is one of the fastest-growing in the world. it currently has 14 million plus members worldwide. headquartered in salt lake city, utah. right now, the members of the church comprise about 1.7% of the u.s. population. mary used a couple of words that i wanted you to respond to because they are touch points for potential voters, wondering whether or not it was a standard christian religion or a cult. and those kinds of questions you read a lot about people on

the campaign trail trying to address. guest: exactly. you see people talking about it as a cult. it is hard to understand exactly what they are trying to infer that this is a cult. yes there are mormons to do six things in temples. but it does not mean that they are doing them because -- if they do it because they believe in god and that is the way they do things. the l.d.s. church has fought against videos describing them as a cult. it is something that the church is very concerned about being labeled like that. that is one of the reasons they are trying to have an education campaign. you might have seen the i am a mormon campaign. new york was covered with those ads. they are just normal people out there who are mormons. they are not some odd cult in

salt lake city with multiple wives. they are regular people. they live lives just like you and me. host: on twitter -- religion should be a private relation between a person and his god. one organization in washington that has us thinking about candidates and their faith is the national cathedral. let's show you the cover story of their summer edition of "cathedral age." faith in the election. interviews with president brack obama and governor mitt romney. on the line with us is the reverend dr. francis wade, who is the dean of the cathedral. how was it that you got the attention of the two presidential candidates and got them to fill out a survey on their religions? guest: part of our mission is

-- as the national cathedral is a house to pray for all people. we have been doing that for over a century. we work closely with the government in a lot of ways and with the office of the president. so the trust level is very high in terms of that. we think, because our job is to facilitate the great conversations, we think, as you all were talking this morning, that these are really important things. that is why we asked the questions. and i think because the trust level is there, that is the reason they responded to the questions that we asked. that's part of our mission is raising those questions and they trust us and they responded to us. they were very gracious and very open to our suggestion that they answer these questions. host: did they respond in writing or verbally? guest: they responded in writing. host: you knew your time would be limited. there must have been discussions on what were the most important things to last.

guest: yes, there was. we tried to give an opportunity for this to be revealing because faith tells a lot about a person. and we think that is important. the two candidates and their campaigns obviously agree with that. they think it's important too. so the questions that we fashioned were questions that gave them an opportunity to reveal what faith reveals about these two gentlemen. i think they came through with that in a good way. host: would you give us just a sense of your take away from each man's response? equal time for both. guest: ok. let me say that there is a great deal of agreement between them. that has not been greatly featured in the recent campaigns. but they do agree. they come off as orthodox christians. one of the differences is that governor romney's experience in his faith is that he has really functioned as a focal point of

leadership in the mormon church. that has been a very important part of his background, of his life and what he is about. president obama has drawn great strength from a variety of christian mentors and pastors and writers and that sort of thing. so he has been far more individual and private in his faith formation. they both, when you shake it out, they both are orthodox christians. their understanding of the christian faith and the impact it has on the airlines, in both cases, are well within kind of the green zone of orthodox christianity. they clearly are motivated, both of them, to service to other people. that is a strong part of the christian message. that is a strong part that both of them have picked up.

it has informed them greatly. clearly, they both have different ideas on how to do that. that is with the election is about. but their faith motivates them well beyond the private spiritual devotional life. i think those things are characteristic. your point about giving them their differences. the differences are not that great in terms of how their faith has drawn them to do. host: we will invite people in our audience who are interested in this aspect of the candidates to find your publication online. while i have you, ? -- this is a milestone week for the cathedral. it is the one-year anniversary of the earthquake we had in washington and the national cathedral was damaged. the repairs are very expensive. how was the restoration coming along? guest: well, we -- it's coming

along well. the damage total is $20 million, so it's a substantial enterprise. one reason it costs that much is that the cathedral was built entirely by hand. you can't just go and get spare parts for a cathedral and put them back up there. it is also the damage 300 feet in the air. so it is a complicated process. it's $20 million worth of damage. we received a $5 million gift from the lilly endowment, which is a marvelous thing that allows us to take the first steps in restoration. what we have done so far is we've raised money and used money to stabilize the damage. now we -- yesterday we made the first positive step of actual restoration -- restoration. if we had $20 million, which we

don't. we have $8 million. but if we had $20 million and started on it this afternoon, it would take five years to 10 years to restore the damage that's up there. so it is a significant project and a significant issue. but we think we've made great progress and the lilly endowment has been marvelous in doing that, in helping us and helping the historical trust for historic preservation. host: you'll be happy to know, the story is in the paper this morning, geologists are telling us that that was a once in 2,000--year event. so you have plenty of time to make repairs. guest: that is comforting to know, when you come to the top and you know that you're up there because of an earthquake, it is very scary. so it is good to know that it is well in hand. two thousand years is a good framework as far as i'm concerned. host: thank you for joining us. there survey with president

obama and mitt romney on their faith and how their faith and form their and their approach to policies in their new the issue of "cathedral age." the washington cathedral, of course, a great historic connection with presidents. woodrow wilson is buried at the national cathedral. thank you for joining us. back to thomas burr and our discussion on the mormon religion. let me ask you -- mitt romney's response to this, which i flagged -- he was asked about the role of faith and what it tells about a person. he writes -- what's your reaction to that? guest: he talked a lot about that. in 2007, he gave a speech, which was quite a gamble, where he talked about how his faith does inform him and what he has done with his faith and try to

explain that, yes, he does believe in jesus christ and his church may have different theology than some other faiths, but he does believe in the same way as everyone else. that is something different than many other candidates had to do. you didn't see president obama have to do that on the campaign trail. you never saw senator kerry or other candidates have to go out and explain that. again, mitt romney could have years ago said, you know, this mormon church thing may be a bit of concern while i am running for president and maybe i should disassociate myself with that or not talk about it as much. mitt romney knew, in many ways, that's who he is. it's something he was brought up with it really does say who

he is. for him, it is something that he has to talk about. host: drake sanders offers this on twitter -- how does the rough-and-tumble work of a campaign comport with church values? guest: that's tough. i would never say that mr. romney is lying to anyone in any form. you don't want to do anything that brooches the pact you have with god. it is not easy running for president. there are a lot of things thrown at you. there are a lot of things that happen in the campaign world. mitt romney tries to stay above it to some degree. but he has advisers and consultants and ways that they have to do it. if we were to run the campaign just on the nice guy, then he

probably wouldn't get very far today. mansfield, texas, a republican. good morning, edward, you're on. caller: i designed three questions. i want to present them to thomas. is that appropriate? host: sure. caller: what is the definition of sin? the second question is, what do you represent? and the third question is what is the essence of a thought? host: those are rather exis stern questions. are you concerned about thomas's views on this for mitt romney possible. caller: religion is very popular and everyone is claiming all of these different titles. which is ok, but i believe these are the basic fundamentals. we'll just go with what is the definition of sin?

guest: i am not here to defend the l.d.s. i am not a church official. i'm not run for president. i won't get into the theology of the faith for the caller. i apologize about that. mormons are very much in the mainstream of christianity. there are some obviously who do not believe what the l.d.s. church believes in. there are differences and i think the voters and the caller himself may want to go to the l.d.s. website and search some of these things to find out the l.d.s. position on that. host: one principle of the mormon church is that people have to serve a year on mission. what do we know about mitt romney's mission service? guest: mitt romney served in france for about two and half years at the start of the vietnam war. mitt romney spent his time as a

mormon missionary, over there knocking on doors. he obviously learned french. there's a fascinating story from his mission. he was actually in a car wreck where someone died and they were hit by a drunk driver in france. there was obviously nothing wrong with mitt romney at the time. they did write that they thought he was dead for a little while. and his parents thought he was dead for a little while but he was not. but he spent his time knocking on doors and having a lot of doors slammed in his face. it is probably difficult to be in france for two and a half years and not take a sip of wine. as far as we know, mitt romney did not. host: rockville, maryland. thank you for calling. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to know the differences and similarities of mitt romney with mormonism and president obama and christianity. guest: i'm sorry, can you -- host: he wanted to know about the differences between mitt

romney's mormonism and president obama's connection with black liberation theology. does this go back to the jeremiah wright in the 2008 campaign. guest: sure, it does. mitt romney is very much a part of his faith. i have been to one of these churches in massachusetts. what you see there is a very much family values -- we believe in jesus christ, in the afterlife, in being good people. those are things that are open to anyone in america to go see. you can obviously read a lot about mormons online. i don't know that there is a similarity for the church has had some positions in the past, for example, they did fight against proposition eight in california and they actually did ask people to donate money

for the proposition, which is church has pillarred for later on. i don't know that there is necessarily -- the church was pillared for it later on. i don't know that there is necessarily anyone crazy about the church going after something like that. host: the gay marriage issue, was that something unusual for the mormon church or do they often get involved in public policy issues? guest: that was a little rare of a moment for them to actually use their membershipship roles to fight against it. they have in the past with the equal rights amendment. they say, look, this is what believe. this is what we would hope would happen. but they will not tell people exactly what they have to do. in fact, mitt romney did talk about it in a 2007 speech. he was clear that no authority of the church will tell him

what to do. host: atlanta. a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. my question is basically, well, it is a statement and a question. up until the late 1970's and the early 1980's, the mormon church did not even allow black people in their faith. my question to romney is, you know, black people, just like many other nationalities in this country, was a great part of the founding of this country. now, how are you going be a part of an organization that just 25 years ago or so started letting black

people be even a part of your organization? and number two, real quick, from that stance of black people not being very important in their, i guess, their heaven, well black people are to, if wie somewhat as lucky enough to make it, we would serve them like slaves in the hereafter. this man is running for the president of the united states. >> thanks very much. is his timeline and facts correct? >> in 1979, the l.d.s. allowed black men to have full rights in

the church. up until that time, black men could not hold the higher levels of priesthood and could not serve the sacrament in church and those kinds of thing. host: you were careful to say black men, could african-american people join the church but not be in leadership? guest: yes. and the reason i say women, women, black women an other races, are not allowed to hold high offices -- hold the priesthood, they have other roles in church, they don't have the priesthood rights. host: has mitt romney ever spoken about this aspect of his religion? >> he has to a degree. he was at b.y.u. when black men were still not allow to have full preeshood rights and he said he was against that at the time and was very sad about it. in 1978 when the church came out and said, in any male can have the full right of the l.d.s.

church priesthood. mitt romney said he pull over his car and cried. that's what he said at the time. he also, another thing, i'm not sure where he's talking about black people would serve in heaven other members of the l.d.s. church but i believe that mormons say that all people are equal when it comes to heaven. if you're in heaven, they have three tiers of heaven, but all people are equal and no one will be serving anyone else. >> lee roberts on twitter says c-span, "washington journal" is always good about following the money. can you ask about l.d.s. finances, please? guest: the church itself or mitt romney. host: let's start with the church and does it -- it's got so many people in politics, is there a connection between it and money to campaigns in any way? >> i think it was "time" magazine once upon a time wrote a story about mormons inc., or maybe it was "newsweek," but the mormon church is one of the wealthiest churches in the world.

they have a lot of corporations all over the united states and in fact, they have a huge cattle raj in -- ranch in florida, they have a huge media corporation in utah. the church has built up a great great amount of wealth. all mormons are asked to give 10%. they also have a good part of their faith that's built on succeeding. they want to do better than -- than i'm asked. enge you saw the nbc special last night a lot of businessmen, the founder of jetblew, the marriott family, are mormons. and they started their businesses and worked very hard to build them from the ground up. and as far as -- >> tomorrow on "washington journal." foreign policy staff writer josh rogan looks at the views of president obama and presidential candidate mitt romney.

and we look at the history of election practices and whether they've changed since the 2008 recount. that's live on c-span. >> four score and seven years later, abraham lincoln called on the american people to renew their dedication of, for and -- to being of, for and by the people. isn't it once again time to renew our pledge to freedom. to pledge to each other -- to pledge to each other all that is best in our lives, all that gives meaning to them for the sake of this, our beloved and blessed land? together, let us make this a new beginning. let us make a commitment to care for the needy, to teach our children the virtues handed down to us by our families, to have the courage to defend those values and virtues and the willingness to sack feese for

them. lettest pledge to restore in our time the american spirit of vol tire service, of cooperation, of private and community initiatives, a spirit that flows like a deep and mighty river through the history of our nation. as your nominee, i pledge to you to restore to the federal government the capacity to do the people's work without dominating their lives. >> ronald reagan's 1980 speech is just one of the speeches from past republican conventions we'll show you on saturday. the lineup also includes dwight eisenhower, barry goldwater and later that night you'll hear from richard nixon, george w. bush and john mccain. watch them all this saturday starting at 7:00 p.m. on c-span. >> watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of the republican and democrat conventions live here on c-span, your front row seat to the conventions. next we show you the acceptance speeches from some of the third

party candidates. you'll hear from the no, ma'am neefs libertarian, constitution, green and reform parties. as we look at third parties in national elections, quin monson joins us for some background. he's the director of the study of leches at brigham young university. who are some of the candidates running on third party tickets and which ones do you think could have an effect on the election? >> every election we have dozens of people that declare for the presidency. and most of them you never hear about which makes the question harder to answer. we really haven't heard about many of these. the one that has gotten the most attention, epping, so far is gilly johnson, the former governor of new mexico who would be the nominee for the libertarians. i think potentially he has some chance to have an effect,

typically these candidates don't get more than a percentage point or two in any given state, they have little chance of win -- of winning a state and getting electoral votes but they can affect which of the other candidates wins the state. >> do you see any way they could affect the national election in november at this point? >> i don't see anybody with that kind of traction yet. the truth is, in a close election, very small things can make a different. -- a difference. in terms of johnson, the trouble with predicting which direction he might affect things is that as a libertarian who espouses this idea of personal freedom, he appeals, i think, to social conservatives on the one hand who want lower taxes and less government spending but he appeals to social liberals who want the government out of personal decisions regarding abortion or gay marriage or any

number of other things. so he could end up taking from both obama and romney based on the preferences. i think it's hard to predict. >> what's the third party spoiler effect in national elections we hear about? >> well, it can happen in two ways. it can happen both in terms of stealing votes, and also it can happen in terms of affecting the level of turnout. most of the time we think about it in terms of stealing votes, that ralph nader, stole votes from al gore in 2000. or ross perot perhaps stole votes from george bush in 199 . affected the outcome in -- because of the swing that those votes to the third party candidate had on the overall outcome. but if the candidate is popular enough and has a lot of charisma, like perot did, has a

popular -- populist appeal like jesse ventura who won in minnesota, sometimes they can motivate people to turn out and vote who otherwise wouldn't get involved because they're uninterested orties illusioned in politics. >> you mentioned some notable cases. are there any that are thought to have affected the election? >> ralph nader is thought to have affected the election. the reason is that that was so close. the other person who comes to find 2000 is pat buchanan because of the way he was on the ballot. that was in some ways more election administration problem than third party candidate appealing to major party voters.

but in any case, he got more votes in florida, by far, than expected. and part of that was the butterfly ballot and so on. >> what are some of the qualities that allow a third party or third party candidate to gain traction in an election? >> before we get to that, i think you have to talk about the obstacles. and the calls are what help them overcome the obstacles. the obstacles i think of in two forms, a mechanical or constitutional barrier, we have election laws that allow the plurality winner, the canada that gets the most votes, that win the plurality to take all the electoral votes in the presidential case. this has this winner-take-all effect for -- a plurality rule takes -- has the evket of leading voters to think about

the fact that they might be wasting their vote. the mechanical -- the institutional effect and psychological effect interact. there's also a lot of barriers in the american system with third parties getting on the ballot. some states make it easier. you have to get wrureblly signatures on a petition. but in many states, the numbers are quite high and so the qualities candidates often have to get over those are, they have money, ross perot had a lot of money and was able to buy his way onto the ballot with his personal fortune and hire people to do that for him. or they often have some kind of charismatic appeal that generates a following. that following is what mobilizes the troops necessary to get them on the ballot. if you have both, and i think ross perot, fair to say, had both charisma and money, then you have a chance to really make a dent in terms of picking up a fair number of votes. >> quin monson, thank you for

the information. we've got questions on our facebook page about third party leches. margie write, i left the republican party, they are g.o.p. progressive. looking for third party. josh wagner says, i am voting for gary johnson. and tommy winer says, i'll be voting for jerry white of the socialist equality party, and he includes a link to find out more. go to c-span's facebook page, facebook.com/c-span. the libertarian party selected former new mexico governor gary johnson as its presidential nominee at the party's convention in las vegas in may. he said his goal was to reach 15% in the polls to qualify for the national presidential debate and at least 5% of the vote in

november to secure public funding for the party in 2016. former california superior court judge jim gray is the vice-presidential running mate. here are governor johnson's acceptance remarks. >> i humbly accept the nomination. thank you very much. [applause] i'm going to make a pledge to all of you and that is that none of you are going to regret what happened here today. i really -- i really want to thank my parents. they are both here, earl and lorraine, i talked about earl last night my mom, lorraine, she's the reason that we ended up in new mexico.

she was with the bureau of indian affairs, she got transferred there. she's the one who in the third grade had me doing tap dancing lessons in a tap dancing school that had one boy and 40 girls, i being the one boy. she's who had me playing the piano. i was perhaps the best fifth grade piano player you could have. i love my parents, i want to thank them both. i want to thank kate mitigating circumstance fiancee, i'm in love -- my fiancee. i'm in love, it'll be a white house wedding. [applause] i want to thank my sister, my sister and my brother-in-law are here. lori and scot. -- and scott. my son eric is here.

eric, where are you? eric, where is eric. eric quit his well-paying job in denver two and a half years ago to come and do this with me for two years, unpaid. if that isn't about as loving a gesture as anything that i have ever received, it's a fact. thank you. my daughter gave me a call and said, i'm the worst daughter in the world. i said what are you talking about? she said, i'm not going to be in the convention, i'll be in brazil for three years. she's there with the aspen santa fe ballet. a bit about my daughter. she was valedictorian university

of colorado boulder out of 9,000 students. my daughter's car broke down outside of gallup, new mexico. she happened to have her tools with her. she knew that it was the alternator. she hitchhiked into gallup, got an alternator, went back and installed it herself. my brother scott, last night, scalled -- called me up and said, i watched the debate on c-span. you did great. you got your ass kicked by lee rice. lee rice. where is lee rice. lee rice.

what a gentleman. what a gentleman. what a pleasure, what a delight it has been to debate lee rice a dozen times. >> let's get this guy elected. >> lee rice said it along the way, and it's true, we made each other better candidates. i can't think him enough. and like i say, no one, in one could have been more cordial or more gracious. no one could have been more articulate regarding libertarian ideals and beliefs. so -- so where do we go from here? this is about winning.

this is about winning. and so this is your decision but i want to ask you the following. and that is, please consider jim gray as my running mate. i -- [applause] i believe that jim gray affords the best opportunity to winning. and i want you to know that in this process, we interviewed a lot of candidates as potential vice-presidential candidates. without question, i think jim gray does a better job when it comes to articulating libertarian ideals and beliefs than anyone else. i go back to the year 2000 when i met jim gray for the first time, which ended up to be the first time of a dozen times we came across each other, an he was very outspoken regardinging the war on drugs. i think that arguably he was more outspoken than anyone in the country on the war on drugs

and he brought -- he brought an expertise to this as a superior court judge in california that was just undeniable. and it isn't just drugs. jim gray ran as the libber teenager candidate for -- libertarian candidate for senator in california and i think he does a -- he does a terrific job when it comes to articulating libertarian ideals and beliefs that go back to the -- because back to the cry tier wra for candidates, that needs to be the number one criteria. this is your choice. i recognize that this is your choice and all i'm asking you is to just give jim gray a listen. and i think if you'll do that, you'll understand what i think we have come to the conclusion on and that is, this affords us the best opportunity to win and believe me, that's what the goal needs to be. to actually win in november.

thank you very, very, very much. thank you, thank you, thank you. >> in april, the constitution party held its national convention in nashville, tennessee, where delegates nominated their presidential candidate, very manier virginia congressman vergil good -- vergil good. he talked about abortion, same-sex marriage, gun rights, immigration and the war in afghanistan. this is 25 minutes. >> let me call the meeting to order. thank you. thank you for coming back in here.

it is now my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce the presidential nominee for the constitution party. he was born in tennessee in 1946. he received the b.a. from the university of richmond. he served in the virginia army national guard. he's an attorney by trade. he was elected to the -- he served as legislator in the virginia general assembly, virginia state senate, he was -- he served 12 years as a u.s. representative in the u.s.

congress. he's married to lucy goode. and they have a daughter, katherine. i would point out that with his 12 years service in the u.s. congress, he served in federal office longer than barack obama or mitt romney combined. and so with that, for his acceptance speech, let's welcome virgil goodee jr. -- virgil goode jr. [applause] >> first, i want to say thanks so much to all of you who worked

hard and supported me and this nomination -- in this nomination battle for the presidency of the united states under the constitution party label. when you win by one vote, you know every vote counts. i want to say to those that also ran for your nomination this it was an honor to be associated with daryl castle. and i want to thank, again, joan and daryl for all that they have done other the years for the constitution party. [applause]

and robbie wells, is robbie here? robbie, thank you. [applause] the energy and enthusiasm exhibited by robbie wells on this campaign have been tremendous. and if he will continue to work with us, if we don't get to the top of the hill this time, we will get to the top of the hill in 2016. [applause]

i also want to recognize susan doocy and thank her for her campaign and for sharing with us her life story, which every person should hear and listen to because it is a true pulling yourself up by the boot straps story under the free enterprise system. susan, thank you so much. i'm not sure whether lori ross is still here but i want to

express appreciation lori for focusing on issues and for having the presence that a radio talk show host has and i hope i can call her up and get some pointers for jazzing up and going with a few, well-placed, reasonable zingers that will get you on radio and television. and ron from california, got to really thank ron. he allowed the california delegations to vote for me. we wouldn't have won by one vote if it hadn't been for you, ron. thank you very much and thank you for standing for traditional marriage and for your speech

yesterday. our party officers have worked very hard in bringing about this convention, getting persons here from all over the country, and our staff persons, gary odom and alison potter, are in the background, get little recognition. but i think we all should give them a round of applause. [applause] 4 our party chair, jim climer,

is not running again for chair. i want to thank jim on behalf of all of you for his time, energy and personal contributions to this party. he and several others have been mainstays in providing funding over the years to the constitution party and you've got to have some funding just to keep the doors open. jim, thank you so very much. [applause] i won't list all the party officers, but -- and i know they have all worked hard, but i do want to mention specifically our

treasurer, joe sanger. [applause] joe has done oweman's work -- has done yeoman's work in the detail needed to have treasurers' reports that are informative but also comply with all the federal election commission regulations. joe, thank you for steering us straight and keeping us out of trouble. are you ready to take on mitt romney, barack obama, and the establishment in washington, d.c.? if you are, say yes! [cheers and applause]jim mention

the u.s. house for 12 years. i did. peter from louisiana asked me, i know you cast a lot of votes and a lot of them i agree with, but tell me one or two that you may have cast wrong. you remember that, peter? and i did. i made some mistakes. it is not too difficult to do. and one, in particular, i voted for the patriot act. i know that most in the room

are very much opposed to that measure. i want to say that my association with the constitution party over the last three years has given me a better perspective in analyzing legislation from a constitutional viewpoint. and i want to say that i made a mistake in voting for that measure as it applied to u.s. citizens in this country and to legal permanent residents. i do not favor, although this may not comport with all federal court decisions, extending constitutional rights to persons from foreign countries or those illegally in the united states. [applause]

as president, i would work with the congress to repeal the applications of the patriot act as they apply to u.s. citizens. [applause] i also voted for support for the troops in afghanistan. i never favored rebuilding the country's with u.s. taxpayer money. like many, who voted yes on those actions early on, i suspect in the u.s. house and senate, you would have very close votes in extending the war in afghanistan.

it is time to come home in an orderly and reasonable manner. [applause] we can talk about some other issues. in most instances, i was right in line with the thought of this party and with a significant number of american citizens. i have a pro-life voting record. [applause] that distinguishes me from president obama, who has one of the most pro-abortion records and positions ever for a president and certainly during

his service in the united states senate. i also would like to submit that over time, my pro-life voting record is better than that of mitt romney, who has converted more recently to our position. [applause] with regard to marriage, i have always supported the proposition that marriage should be between one man and one woman. i was in the virginia senate, the u.s. house of representatives. if you look closely at president obama's position, you can see that he is moving ever slope directly in a direction of pro-civil unions and pro- homosexual rights.

if i am president, i will veto legislation advancing the cause. second amendment issues, i have always consistently supported the right of the individual to keep and bear arms. one of the first amendment's that i proposed in the u.s. house of representatives was to give that right to citizens of washington, d.c. when we were in the apartment of there, it was against the law for us to have a firearm in our apartment for self protection. thankfully, that has been changed in d.c., but we need someone in the executive office

of this country who has a history of supporting the second amendment and who you know you can count on one and comes to the right of your cells to defend yourself and have a firearm for protection of your person and property. [applause] in the u.s. house, i was one of the democrats who did not go along with the democratic leadership. time to vote for our budget resolution. the republican leadership would come by and say, you know, sometimes you just have to vote with us on these on balanced budget resolutions loaded with deficit. i would not go along with them.

that was not liked by the senior leadership in either party. now we are in a situation where our debt is $15.70 trillion and a deficit, under the obama budget, is $1.30 trillion, and under the ryan budget, it is $600 billion. with the constitution party is philosophy and viewpoints, with which i agree, we need to cut now and balance now. [applause]

we must have the courage to cut. from the department of education no child left behind to the department of education and general, we could go on and on, and i would say, look at record and mitt romney's record. just on those two issues. education, no child left behind, and foreign aid. i am for slashing and cutting, and they made before taking a paring knife and slicing off just a thin layer of cheese at the top. obama is not even for that. he wants to throw them out another ream of cheese. go to it, gang.

i was honored to be in ron paul's liberty caucus. i support and audits of the federal reserve. i do not think you will get barack obama or mitt romney to even mention the issue. [applause] another area, a big distinction between us and the republicans and democrats is illegal immigration and legal immigration. i cannot thank the national committee of the constitution party enough for having the courage in the face of political correctness to say, we stand with arizona in support of their legislation.

if i am president, you would not have eric holder as attorney general. our attorney general would go and be of friend-of-the-court to say let's uphold what arizona and alabama are doing to control their immigration. [applause] i said during our campaign, i want to thank robbie wells for having this position, calling for a moratorium, with a few exceptions, on the continuing issuing of green cards when we have unemployment between 8 and 9%. last year, 1.2 million green

cards were issued. a significant number work to working age individuals. one we have american citizens that need work, you should not be bringing an so many from foreign nations to take jobs that our citizens have longed for and indeed so they can get off the unemployment line before we extend the benefits of this country to those from other countries. it is time to put the american worker first. [applause] in the house, i was always a supporter of ending diversity visas. 50,000 persons per year that can come in on a lottery system.

you can be from the middle east, africa, asia, where ever. even though you are nowhere near the front of the legal immigration line, you apply for the diversity visa pool, and you get into that lottery system, and they pull your number, in you come. why bring in so many persons, many of you are working age, when unemployment is so high? it is the wrong course for the nation. if i am president, i will sign an work for the legislation to end those of diversity visas. [applause] and other big distinction between myself and president obama and likely candidate mitt romney, i do not support

automatic birthright citizenship for the children of illegals in this country. [applause] eliminating automatic birthright citizenship would also significantly help the budgetary situation of the united states and of several other states. you should not be able to comment, have a child in this country, get food stamps, get public assistance, medicaid, and some other type of public aid, all that is being paid for by long-term citizens who are paying taxes. we need to end that practice,

whether it is by statute or by constitutional amendment. i do not know of another country in the world that is that liberal with regard to illegal aliens having children in their native country. we have one of the most liberal immigration, may be the most, in the world. we need to turn that upside- down. if we do, our budget situation will be enhanced. most importantly, as my campaign literature says, we need to save america by focusing on the fact that citizenship should matter and should count for something. [applause]

the last thing i want to mention as a key distinction between myself and candidate romney and candidate obama is campaign fund-raising. they are hawks and they are adept at getting $10,000 out of couples for the primary and for the general election, and really sharp at getting big money from big pacs. i am not taking, aside from a few leftover funds from congressional campaigns and from

my family, no dollars from pacs. it is time that average citizens had the same voice in this country as the head of google and all of those companies. elect me and the constitution party ticket in 2012 and we would give america the change that is needed and it will not be the barack obama change of 2008. [applause] >> watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of the republican and democratic conventions live here on c-span, your front row seat to the conventions. we are showing you acceptance speeches from some of the third- party candidates in the 2012

presidential race. next, you will hear from nominees in the green and reform parties. as we look at third parties in national elections, the director of the center for our the study of elections and democracy at brigham young university joins us. who are some candidates running on third-party ticket, and which ones do you think could have a chance? quakes every year we have people declare for the presidency, and most of them, you never hear about, which makes it harder to answer

we really haven't heard about many of these. the one that has gotten the most attention, epping, so far is gilly johnson, the former -- gary johnson, the former governor of new mexico who would be the nominee for the libertarians. i think potentially he has some chance to have an effect, typically these candidates don't get more than a percentage point or two in any given state, they have little chance of win -- of winning a state and getting electoral votes but they can affect which of the other candidates wins the state. >> do you see any way they could affect the national election in november at this point? >> i don't see anybody with that kind of traction yet. the truth is, in a close election, very small things can make a different. -- a difference. in terms of johnson, the trouble with predicting which direction he might affect things is that as a libertarian who espouses this idea of personal freedom, he appeals, i think, to social conservatives on the one hand who want lower taxes and less government spending but he appeals to social liberals who want the government out of personal decisions regarding abortion or gay marriage or any number of other things.

so he could end up taking from both obama and romney based on the preferences. i think it's hard to predict. >> what's the third party spoiler effect in national elections we hear about? >> well, it can happen in two ways. it can happen both in terms of stealing votes, and also it can happen in terms of affecting the level of turnout. most of the time we think about it in terms of stealing votes, that ralph nader, stole votes from al gore in 2000. or ross perot perhaps stole votes from george bush in 199 . -- 1992, andaffected the outcome in -- because of the swing that those votes to the third party candidate had on the overall outcome. but if the candidate is popular enough and has a lot of charisma, like perot did, has a popular -- populist appeal like jesse ventura who won in minnesota, sometimes they can motivate people to turn out and

vote who otherwise wouldn't get involved because they're uninterested orties illusioned -- uninterested or they are disillusioned in politics. >> you mentioned some notable cases. are there any that are thought to have affected the election? >> ralph nader is thought to have affected the election. the reason is that that was so close. the other person who comes to find 2000 is pat buchanan -- comes to mind in 2000 is pat buchanan because of the way he was on the ballot. that was in some ways more election administration problem than third party candidate appealing to major party voters. but in any case, he got more votes in florida, by far, than expected. and part of that was the butterfly ballot and so on. >> what are some of the qualities that allow a third

party or third party candidate to gain traction in an election? >> before we get to that, i think you have to talk about the obstacles. and the calls are what help them -- qualities are what help them overcome the obstacles. the obstacles i think of in two forms, a mechanical or constitutional barrier, we have -- institutional barrier, where we have election laws that allow the plurality winner, the canada -- candidate that gets the most votes, that win the plurality to take all the electoral votes in the presidential case. this has this winner-take-all effect for -- a plurality rule takes -- has the evket of -- the effect of leading voters to think about the fact that they might be wasting their vote. the mechanical -- the institutional effect and psychological effect interact. there's also a lot of barriers in the american system with

third parties getting on the ballot. some states make it easier. you have to get wrureblly -- usually signatures on a petition. but in many states, the numbers are quite high and so the qualities candidates often have to get over those are, they have money, ross perot had a lot of money and was able to buy his way onto the ballot with his personal fortune and hire people to do that for him. or they often have some kind of charismatic appeal that generates a following. that following is what mobilizes the troops necessary to get them on the ballot. if you have both, and i think ross perot, fair to say, had both charisma and money, then you have a chance to really make a dent in terms of picking up a fair number of votes. >> quin monson, thank you for the information. >> thank you for having me. >>we've got questions on our

facebook page about third party leches. -- third-party candidates. margie write, i left the republican party, they are g.o.p. progressive. looking for third party. josh wagner says, i am voting for gary johnson. and tommy winer says, i'll be voting for jerry white of the socialist equality party, and he includes a link to find out more. go to c-span's facebook page, facebook.com/c-span. physician jill stein is this year's green party nominee. she outlined her so-called green new deal. it includes a moratorium on foreclosures, for giving student loan debt, and creating community based jobs in the

transportation and energy sectors. also speaking was her running mate. so far, the green party has qualified for the ballot in 21 states. this is just under an hour. another round of applause for those next leaders of this country. nothing ever goes easy for us from the neighborhood. very few people know, but these guys got ready to leave at 4 in the morning to come appeared to be here today. but the story gets even better. of course, nothing goes easy. they got a flat tire on their way here. but they are here right now. they are not going anywhere.

i bring you greetings from poor and working people in the united states of america. i stand here today as a formerly homeless mother, a single mother of two children, and i proudly accept the green party nomination and for vice president of the united states. [applause]

this journey began at many years ago for me watching my poor mother struggle to survive and provide for five hungry children. i never knew why we had to go hungry, especially when i saw so much food in my home state of minnesota. i did not understand. i grew up watching my mama cried night after night about the bills. i grew up watching farmers lose their farms. i grew up watching indigenous family's struggle for something as basic as their land. something just not seem right to me, especially that day when i had to tell my nine-year-old son that we were no longer going to be living in an apartment.

instead we would have to move into our car. on a cold winter night in minnesota i lost my home, the car. when i parked my car and a drug driver hit and total debt. unable to find shelter in the dead of the winter in minnesota, i faced an important decision. occupy a heated abandoned house or risk freezing to death on the streets of america. i chose to live a. i chose to keep my son alive. [applause]

we moved into that abandoned house. we moved thousands of families into abandoned houses for the last 25 years. something changed way deep inside me that night. my hunger for justice was born. i figured that if me and my son mark were left to die on the streets of the united states of america at this have to be happening to other families across my wealthy country. here i stand today, some 25 years later. now i have a burning flame for justice.

[applause] we now suffer from the worst economic equality ever. the new movie be a hundred games -- the hundred games -- hunger games makes the fights for the basic necessities of life look like a cake walk. one in every two people are in poverty. 6 million families have lost their homes. we spend more on building prisons than educating our children. the disabled and immigrant youth and elders have been told about in clear from our elected officials that they just do not matter. you see if they do matter. -- you see that they do matter. so do the 40,000 children that

die every day around the entire world. they matter. [applause] we the green party of the united states of america are here to stand at and take on our historic role in history. we refused to proceed with the politics of fear and scarcity. we know that we live in a land of abundance. a land that is controlled by the corporations, 1% and agreed a -- and the greedy. we also know that we live in a land where people love their children, love their country. where we will no longer sit by

while ronda and ms. fran who sit in the front row here lose their homes to the banks. we will no longer sit by as the united states continues to have politicians in the house of representatives that proposing cutting 300,000 children from free school lunch programs. we will no longer sit by and watch as family members are deported. we are the new and unsettling force that dr. martin luther king spoke up. [applause] and the doctor and a woman and the doctor that will help lead this new and unsettling force to create another country and

another word that -- world that values the human rights of all human beings. it is my distinct honor to introduce my running mate and green party nominee for president of the united states of america, dr. jill stein.

[chanting "jill, jill"] >> i love you back, all of you. it has been such an honor and an inspiration to get to know all of you or nearly all of you over this past year. together we are unstoppable. i am so very honored to be your nominee and to be running on the ticket with cheri honkala. together we are the 99%. this is the time we pay our country back. -- this is the year we take our country back. something wonderful is happening across america.

i have seen it traveling across the country this past year. in the face of severe hard times, oppression and intimidation, people are standing up and speaking out. we are occupying our city squares, our imperiled schools, and work places. with this election, we are preparing to occupy the voting booth. [applause] the need could not be more urgent. so many people know who are in this room. we're at the breaking point for our economy, for our homes, up for our democracy, and for our planet. the heat is rising. the ranks of the poor are

swelling. our young people are drowning in debt. there are not enough jobs. wages are shrinking. the rich keep getting richer and the rest of america gets poorer every year. an entire generation has grown to adulthood knowing nothing but a social decline. the establishment parties have taken turns leading the way. bush, clinton, bush, it now obama. while the party labels change, at the labels have stayed the same. on most key issues obama has embraced the policies of george bush and gone further with more massive bailout for wall street, more free trade agreements that send our jobs overseas and depress wages at home.

more threats to medicare and social security. more foreclosures in student debt. more attacks on our civil liberties. more plundering of the environment's end in less illegal wars. have we had enough? we have had enough. that is why people like you and me are standing up in a way the world has not seen in generations. we are a movement that is alive and well across america. we are here to stay.

let me tell you why i am standing up and how i come to be standing here today before you. 30 years ago i was a new doctor starting off the medical practice. even then it was easy to see that our broken health care system was failing the system basically need it. as a mother, i was deeply disturbed by it be a new epidemic of disease descending on our children. the rising tide of obesity and diabetes and asthma and cancer and learning disabilities and autism and more.

these were new. i became impatient with pills and sending people back to the very things that are making us sick to start with. i'm everything from pollution to poverty to industrial and nutrition and violence. i thought it only our elected officials knew of the amazing solutions that save lives and 10 money and create jobs while saving the environment. surely they would do something. like supporting local farms and clean energy instead of pouring our tax dollars into a toxic poison as of fossil fuels. [applause] i slowly realized that if you want to persuade electric officials, forget all that cost saving job-creating stuff. that is not really count.

what you need are giant bundles of big campaign checks. that was my wake-up call. if we want to protect children's health or anything, at the health care we need are the education or the job, we need to first that the broken political system. that is why i now say that i am practicing political medicine. it is the mother of all illnesses.

we have to get this one to fix everything else that ails us. i went to work to try to fix that problem. i joined a broad coalition in massachusetts to get big money out of politics. we won. so we thought we did. we passed a referendum to provide public financing for political campaigns. we passed it by a huge margin. our legislature which was about 85% democratic repealed the law as soon as it was passed on an unrecorded voice vote.

that was my real wake up call. if we want to change the broken political system what we need is not just a new law or lobbying efforts or a fresh face and a corrupt system. we need a new unbought political party that can put people of integrity into office. we need real public servants to listen to the people, not to the corporate lobbyists that final campaign chests.

this is what brought me to the only national party that is not bought and paid for by corporate money. here is why my resolve has only grown stronger. as a mother and a doctor, the concerns that captivated me 30 years ago have only intensified. i see that our young people are still struggling in every aspect of life, settling for good health, decent schools, struggling to stay safe on the street, struggling to afford a college education. shovelling to get a job, to get out of debt.

struggling to have a climate that they can live in for the future. they are losing the battle on every front. when people ask me why i keep fighting political battles and a bridge system the answer is simple. -- in a rigged system, the answer is simple. when it comes to our system, mothers to not give up. -- to our children, mother's don't give up. [applause] do you know what back neither do fathers -- do you know what? neither do fathers or sisters or brothers or sons and daughters.

young people haven't given up. they are the ones carrying the burden of this system. if they are not giving up, we are not giving up. we are not only not giving up, we are doubling down and rising up. we are a movement toward democracy and justice that is alive and well across the country. we are eviction blockades or brink of america protests. we are in protests against shoot first, in mass arrests at nuclear power plants and civil disobedience to stop mountaintop removal and stop the keystone pipeline.

they all market game over for the climate. we're not good to settle for that. to " alice walker, the biggest way people give up power is by not knowing they have it in the first place. we know we've got it. we are going to use its. one of the ways we're going to use it is by having a voice in this election in a choice at the polls that is not bought and paid for by wall street.

voting for either wall street candidate gives a mandate for four more years of corporate rule. every boat to they recede is be deadly to structure we are on for the american people -- every vote they receive is an endorsement of the shift delhi structure where on a for the american people. every vote we receive is one for the 99% and survival for the planet.

to achieve that future as president i will work to deliver a new deal for america. a package of emergency reforms to put it 25 million people back to work and jump-start the green and economy. that will put a halt to climate change and make wars for oil obsolete. the new deal reforms not only our economy but our financial system and our democracy. it is not just an academic idea. it is based on a program that works, it a new deal that got us out of the great depression.

it is time to bring it back and put to work. these reforms create living wage, community-based jobs. communities decide what jobs they need so that jobs in the grain area of the economy, a clean manufacturing, manufacturing, and claim renewable energy. i want to tell you about a young man whose life was transformed by this kind of job. his name is ricardo. and net him in massachusetts touring some of the small businesses that are thriving.

he had dropped out of school after being held back three times in the ninth grade. like most kids in poverty, his glasses were too big, underfunded, and too dominated by less than inspiring test prep. he found a program offered by a green energy cooperative called co op power. he was then hired by a small green energy business where he became a true leader. while doing all that, ed the high school drop out entered a program and graduated before his own high school class received their diplomas.

at age 20 he has now been leader of his crew for two years. this is a triple win. the community gets cleaner air and the climate gets a little more stable for us all. these jobs will be the rule and not the exception. they're coming to your community. the green new deal not only creates the jobs like ricardo's that make us sustainable, it also creates jobs and meet our

social needs. let's hire back those 300,000 teachers who've lost their jobs in this recession. let's hire the nurses we need and the child care and the home care in senior care and rehabilitation and affordable housing construction. these jobs will be nationally funded and democratically controlled. they are community-based small businesses. they are worker owned cooperatives. instead of going down to the unemployment office, you can just go down to the employment office and get the job being me.

to be clear. the green in new deal and unemployment in america -- the green in new deal and unemployment in america. this would never occur to washington politicians. you can imagine why. this depends on the threat of unemployment. and the unemployment is front and center for americans who need jobs.

it is front and center on the green agenda. we are committed not only to jobs but also to improving social conditions for everyone in america. we cannot afford to have even one more rhonda thrown out of her home. we're going to put an end to that. that is why the green new deal guarantees health care for everyone as a human rights through medicare for all. this not only provides quality comprehensive care for everyone, it will restore your choice of provider of piggybacking control of your own health care

decisions and said it you having them made for you by a profit sharing ceo. it will save trillions. it does not cost us trillions. it saves us trillions by streamlining the and wasteful health insurance bureaucracy and putting an end to run away medical inflation.

as part of the green new deal we will forgive the crashing student debt burdens. we will liberate an entire generation of young people who have been turned into indentured servants. we will provide tuition free public education from pre- kindergarten through college. this is an investment and our future. it pays off enormously. we know that from the g i bill that provided $7 in increased economic benefits for every dollar that we invested.

in order to create an economy that works for people we need not only jobs and secure working conditions, we need a financial system that is free from domination by big banks and well connected financiers who hijacked our economy and our democracy. instead we will create a system that is open, stable answers the real economy, not the phony and economy of high finance. we will and the bailout in the corporate giveaways and ensure the resources are available for investment and our community.

through these reforms we will break up the big banks that are too big to fail. we are going to restore the glass-steagall separation of banks. we will regulate of financial derivatives and require them to be traded on open exchanges. we will democratize monetary policy to establish public control of the credit creation.

we well tax capital gains as income, a tax wall street transactions to stop speculation and put a 90% tax on bonuses for bankers. in order to secure these reforms we must also an act political reform to give us a real functioning democracy. as you know, we do not have that yet. we must end the domination of our election by big money that makes government for the people and possible.

for this reason we need to amend our constitution to make clear that corporations are not persons and money is not speech. those rights belong to breathing human beings like you and me, not to business entities controlled by the very wealthy. the green new deal will also undercut the power of lobbyists and billionaires' to control elections. elections.