and we kept saying really? we said do you want to stay and talk more after the speech, and he said ok. it was clear that even after all of the republican debates and primary encounters, that the people who ran against mitt romney were not really fond of him still, even at the convention. > we had boehner saying i ner read those platforms. this is after the convention. he said you are going to get at all on one page. nobody reads the the platform. >> we did. what a waste of time. >> what can we look for in the next two weeks between now and election day? what do you anticipate? >> fasten your seat belt. you have seen some of the silly

rhetoric we will get for the next two weeks, but more than that, what you are not seeing is what is going on, and that is those get out the vote efforts, and those are the most intense things. both these campaigns are doing year oldsave these 14- talking to their friends on the social network, so there is a lot of stuff going out there that is not apt -- obvious to the camera's eye, and that is read the election is. this has always been a base election. it has always come down to this. whose base is more excited? who will get their people out president obama at a storybook turnout and election team. i do not know if it is there, because they are driven by energy and passion, and we're

not sure if it is still there. this is about the phone calls, the pickups -- we will pick you up at 8:00, bringing four of your friends. >> and make sure you bring an i.d. to the polls. we looked at this to the veil of how can we tell this story, and it is hard to tell the story in hiding. we gauge what they think is important by where they campaign, "the tonight show," a couple states in between. and mtv. we're trying to figure out how do we get to the store that does not want to get told. we were having a discussion, how do you get inside this voter turnout operation? how do you figure out how people are using technology to get to

voters? whether we missing? that will be the thing where there will be some crazy thing that comes out of the blue, all those distractions will happen. donald trump will say something. what is happening to drive to turn out and drive the outcome, i agree it is the base, it is new is more excited. now the republicans see a potential that they can take this, they are more excited. >> one of the things we can do, and all three of us have done it, and to the extent we can, is talk to voters. i will go out the last weekend. to me, that is the point of contact. if you can get voters to talk to you about what they're thinking, if you talk to enough, you will get a sense of what is going to happen. granted, it needs to be in an area where there is a variety of views, but you will pick up from

the die-hard democrats and republicans, and honesty, and that will come through perry, if you go -- come through. >> the vaunted i-4 corridor, the motorcycle bikers, people in sun city, standing in lines to see their candidate. in the end, they are speaking in ways that strategists and pundits and we do not. if we are smart, we listen. >> i confess, i get this tinkle on election night up and down my back, and i get teary when i think about we are one of very few paces, on the planet where we can change our leadership without firing a gun. as many years as i have been doing it, i get so excited. >> it is amazing. [applause]

>> would agree, is going to be most motivated to get out of bed. one of your observations, in the immediate aftermath of the primaries, the defeated candidates were not serve, but they see more trouble now now that the race is close. it will be very interesting to watch what happens over the next couple weeks. now i would like to take some questions from the audience for our distinguished panel, our own of thehall version program. as those from the audience approached the microphones to ask any questions, they might have, i will ask you all if all three of you have twitter handles. as the social media changed, affected the way you cover politics? >> we have decided -- i have a

twitter account, and i have on occasion tweeted, but i feel like you are 140 characters away from being fired. it seems dangerous. i'd look at it and i follow a conversation, but i'm pretty darn cautious about the sorts of things -- wen did twee. - tweet. i use it as a news-gathering tool. you can use it as a promotional tool. if people say nasty things to you, you block them. there is no other reason to get offended. i find it useful, i find it as a way -- i find out things from

twitter, i would otherwise not know. it would take me the stories i would not otherwise read. it is useful. >> the campaigns are using it big time now. >> we are going to take questions from the audience, and as we do, i would suggest that our panelists, if you get up and starts circling each other, i will call the gendarmes to separate you. >> my name is emily. i want to thank the three of you for your excellence in journalism. i appreciate what you are doing for women in journalism. i'm curious come out based on your experience, what do you think needs to happen in contemporary society in the last before a woman could be elected president? >> someone has got to come up with a campaign that wins. i'm not sure if it is a question of contemporary society. hillary clinton came close last time because she ran a good

campaign right up until the time she did not. there is always going to be something that is a block. none of us can say that this time four years ago or maybe five years ago that we thought that barack obama would be the first african-american president. it did not seem like a sighting was ready for it. society is ready for the case to be made. it can happen if it is the right campaign. i do not see any reason why we would not see a woman president. >> it could happen in 2016, very soon. >> both conventions demonstrated a real depth of potential winning candidate. that is one of the things that came out of the conventions this year from both parties. yes, please. >> i have talked to members of the commission that had been told one of the problems is

with the journalists moderate is is they want to keep to try to ply their trade. 'm glad you are trying to ply their trade, because voters what advocates. a wonder, do you see yourselves as advocates for the voters, and the ec commission or the campaigns trying to get rid of the problem of the journalists trying to ply their trades? >> you know, i do not know. i commit acts of journalism every day and it is a natural thing to make. they want journalists. the commission was great to me, and i never felt smushed by the commission, like they did not want me to go out and moderate

in the broad parameters of what they gave us. i did not have at all any problem with the way the commission did this. look, i considered myself an advocate for voters. i consider myself incredibly privileged to do, have this, the front-row seat in history, to have seen what i have seen, and i feel an absolute commitment to share what i see and to share what i learn whoever is willing to listen and is -- in an honest way. applying that to moderator, to me, bob is a journalist, jim lehrer is a journalist, i am a journalist, marked as a journalist, so we went there to

be who we were and have a debate. i did not feel like they are trying to -- >> it is not advocacy, but it is doing what we do every day, which is providing clarity, asking questions, and hoping and pressing for answers. it is a different format for doing that. >> yes, sir. >> this year we have seen the rise of the fact checker, and increasing the statements in both advertising and by the candidate that's. it seems that that has been on an uptick for a long time. i wonder, the thought occurs that -- >> >> watch this event that c- span.org. we will now take you to byrd park in richmond, virginia.

this is just getting started here live on c-span. ♪ >> helloo, virginia. are you fired up? are you ready to go? i'm sorry, are you fired up? are you ready to go? it up forn by giving your outstanding united states senator mark warner. and the man who is going to join him in the united states senate,

tim kaine. these guys are great friends of mine. they were great governors of this great commonwealth, and they will be an extraordinary team fighting for you in washington. you also have a great congressman coming out of virginia, bobby scott, in the house. your mayor dwight jones is here. and all of you are here. could i just say this is a nice- looking crowd here. [cheers] now, you may notice that my voice sounds just a little hoarse. we're right in the middle of our 48-hour flight-around campaign

extravaganza. we pulled an all-schneider last night. we just came from florida. we were in iowa and colorado and nevada before that. we are heading up to ohio later today. and i am going to stop in my hometown of chicago to vote. i cannot tell you who i am voting for because it is a secret ballot. but the good news is michelle said she voted for me. she did. and i have come to virginia today to ask you for your vote just 12 days from now. i need your vote. i have come to ask for your help in keeping america of moving forward.

you have now seen three debates, months of campaign events, and way too many tv commercials. so you have heard what the argument is about here. you understand what the choice is. you have heard governor romney's sales pitch. he has been running around -- ] [boos] vote., don't boo, he is saying he has a five-point plan for the academy. it turns out to be a one-point plan. folks at the top it to play by different set of rules than you do, they get to outsource jobs. they want to roll back wall street reforms that we put in place to make sure we do not have taxpayer-funded bailout. that was his philosophy in the boardroom.

that was his philosophy as governor. if it sounds familiar, that is exactly what we tried in the last decade. before i came into office. it led to falling incomes and record deficits and the slowest job growth and a half a century and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we have not been working for four years to clean up the mess this policies left behind. and now governor romney wants to take us back to those policies, but he knows they are probably not very popular. he knows his plan is not any different than the policies that got us into trouble. in the final weeks of this election, he is counting on you for getting. -- forgetting. he is hoping you come down with a case of romnesia.

he is hoping that you do not remember that his economic plan is more likely to crate jobs in china and america because it rewards companies that ship jobs overseas. he widoes not want you to remember that he will raise to more taxes or blowing a hole in the deficit. he is hoping that you will come down with a severe case of romnesia for you cast your ballot. richmond, i want you to know this -- this is a curable disease. if you feel any symptoms coming on, if you are starting to get a little woozy, your eyes are getting a little blurry, some ringing in your ears, if he cannot remember what you said just a week ago, cannot remember the plans on your own website,

and you are worried he might be coming down with a case of romnesia, i want you to know that "obamacare" covers pre- existing conditions. we can make you well. but you got to do is vote. now -- hold on. -- know, >> four more years! four more years! four more years! four more years! >> i want to explain something, we joked about this, but this does to a pretty serious issue. the most serious issues of any presidential contest, and that is the issue of trust.

trust matters. you want to know that whoever is in the oval office is quantify to for you. you want to know -- is going to fight for you. you want to know that they will not take just the expedient path, that they will be guided by compass on how to make sure the american people have a chance to succeed if they are working hard, and more importantly, that the next generation will have the kind of america what we want them to have. you know what? you know me. you know i say what i mean and i mean what i say. [dheers] we have not finished all the work we set out to do in 2008 just yet, but every single day i set foot in the oval office you know i am thinking about you, i am fighting for your families, and with your help we have met

major commitments that i made four years ago. would end thele war in iraq. we did. i said we would be ending the war in afghanistan. we are. out tied it is on the path to defeat an osama bin laden is dead. there is a new tower rising above the new york skyline. our heroes are coming home. i have kept those promises. i was proud and hubble to learn ahat we have colin powell's port in this campaign. i'm grateful to him for his lifetime of service to our country, but as a soldier and diplomat, and every brave americans who wears this uniform of this country should know that as long as i am your commander in chief we will sustain the

strongest military in the world. we will be relentless in pursuit of our enemies. that is our promise as i kept. four years ago i promised to cut middle-class taxes for families and small businesses, and we have. i promised not only to end taxpayer-funded wall street bailouts, but i said we would get every dime of money that was used to rescue the financial system we have with interest. i promised we would repeal don't ask don't tell. today you cannot be kicked out of our military because of who you love. i said i would make sure that americans do not go bankrupt when they get sick. and we have pass "obamacare," and it was the right thing to do. i promised that we would give help to young people so they could afford to college, and we would help -- and we have.

i have bet on american workers and american ingenuity and saved a dime on this -- saved an auto industry. after losing 9 million jobs in the great recession, our businesses have now owed it -- added more than 5 million jobs in the last 2 1/2 year. manufacturing is coming back. our assembly lines are humming. we have a long way to go, virginia, but we have come too far to go back now. we cannot afford to go back words to the same policies that got us into this mess. we have got to go forward with the policies that are getting us out of this mess, and that is why i am running for a second term, and that is why i am asking for your help. i have got a plan that will

actually create jobs, not just talk about creating jobs, a plan that will create a middle-class security, not just use the words but not deliver on the promise. unlike my opponent, i am proud to talk about what is in my plan, because the arithmetic works. if you want to take a careful look at that, go to barackobama.com/plans. there still people turn to make up their minds. bibby somebody in this crowd got dragged by your boyfriend or girlfriend, your granma said you got to go to the obama rally. and you said, all right, grand ma, but you're not yet convinced. compare it to what governor romney's plans are.

see what plans you think are better for you. i want you to have the information you need to make an educated choice about this issue, about america's future and your own. the first thing in my plan i want to end tax breaks for companies who are shipping jobs overseas. i want to help small businesses and manufacturers create jobs right here at home. that is a priority. number two, i want to cut our oil imports in half by 2020 so which control more of our energy. because of what we have done, to make sure that we are also investing in the clean energy sources of a feature like wind and solar and biofuels, we today are less dependent on foreign oil than any time in the last two decades.

we have passed regulations to make sure that fuel standards on cars and trucks are doubled so that you will go twice as far and a gallon of dgas, which is good for our environment. i do not want the cars of the future, i do not want the made in china. i want them made right here in virginia. i want to put people back to work in here in the united states. we can do that. number three, i want to make it a national mission to educate our young people, to train our workers. what to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers. we got to step it up. what to train 2 million workers in our community colleges so they have the skills to get the

jobs that are out there right now. i want to work with colleges and universities to cut the growth of tuition in half. i want to make sure that young people are not burdened with debt. we can do that. number four, my plan will cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years in a balanced way. yes, we will cut spending we do not need. we have already cut $1 trillion, but i will ask the wealthiest to pay more. so we can invest in the research and technology that will keep new jobs and this is coming to america. and i am in the process of making sure that we are reducing our deficit, i will not turn medicare into a voucher program. no american should spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.

and you know what -- i think we have seen this week, i cannot think any mail politician -- any male politician should make health-care decisions for women. i did not think your boss or your insurance company should be making those decisions for you. i believe women are capable and should make their own health care decisions for themselves. that is why the health care law we pass put its best choices in your hands where they belong. that is where they are trying to stay as long as i am president of the united states. finally, i will use the savings from the ending of the wars in iraq and afghanistan to put our people back to work to do nation-building at home. fixing our roads and bridges

come repairing schools. broadband lines in the rural communities said they can commit, and when our veterans come home, which will make extra -- we will make sure we have the resources. nobody who fights for this country should have to fight for a roof over their heads when they come home. this is the plan we need, virginia. this is how you build a strong, sustainable economy. this is how do great good middle-class jobs. this is how you encourage new businesses to start here and to stay here. this is how you increase take- home pay. this is how you build an economy where everybody who works hard as a chance to get ahead. that is what we can do together. but it is up to you, virginia. we are content to make a choice, something for young people here

to decide what kind of future you want. it is up to people like me and some of you to make sure we make the right choices for future generations. we can use the top-down policies that got us into this mess, but i think we have to choose the policies that are getting us out of this mess. she's a foreign policy that is wrong and reckless, or you can choose one that is steady and strong. you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years for women and immigrants and gays, or in this election, you can stand up for that basic principle enshrined in our founding documents that we are all created equal. that everybody has a voice in america, that it does not matter who you are or what you look like or where you come from or who you love the, black or white, hispanic, asian, young,

old, rich, poor, gay, straight, able, or disabled, it does not matter, you have a place in america. you can make it if you try. that is what is best in our country. that is what we are fighting for. virginia, we have been through some tough times, but we always bounce back. the american people are always tougher than any tough times. we always come out on top because we pull together. because we look after one another. because we do not leave people behind. we do not close the doors behind us if we are successful. we open it up wider so folks can walk through. we did not turn back. we look forward. at that this the horizon, at the next destination, our destiny is not written for us,

it is written by us, and we will write that next chapter together. that is why i am asking for your vote in this election. that is why am asking you for your vote, and i promise you, you give me four more years, you will have a president who always here's your voice, a president who will always fight for you and your family, a president who spends every waking hour trying to make your lives a little bit better. virginia, i believe in you. i am asking you to keep believing in me. and if you're willing to roll up your sleeves with me and work with me, not on some doors with me, take some phone calls with me, we will win it rich month, we will win the commonwealth of virginia again, which will win this election, which will finish what we started, and we will

remind the world wide the united states of america is the greatest nation on the earth. god bless you. they, of virginia. god bless america. ♪

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪

oc

>> president obama wrapping up

in richmond. he is heading to chicago and then back out on the campaign trail later today. this is the second of three stops today. a lot of tweeds coming in. -- tweets coming in today. to let you know about our debate coverage, it gets underway tonight with 7:00 ohio senate debate. nd josh brown a nd j

mandell. and then at 8:00, the iowa fourth district house debate. king and vilsack. and then at 9:00, the new mexico senate debate, all live on c- span. over the weekend, george mcgovern, presidential candidate in 1972, pass away on sunday. today is his prayer service held in sioux falls, s.d.. vice president biden will be in attendance. the funeral tomorrow, and we will have live coverage at 7:30 on c-span3 and a funeral service on c-span at 2:00 eastern.

>> you are watching one of 10,000 homes -- these are houses that are never coming back. [indiscernible] >> no, not right now. >> it is going back to the prairie, and these houses are disappearing from the landscape. >> recently, 164 firefighters were laid off as part of this downsizing, this effort for getting finances under control. firefighters detroit needs, because it must have the highest numbers of cases of arson in the country. when you look to find out where

that money came from, it is the department of homeland security that has a fund for things like that. i do not want to overstate, but that is something you want to think about. the department of homeland security needs to step in to keep detroit as safe as it can be for the moment. we are talking about, and i wondered making this film, we have seen the auto industry bailout, the bank bailout, are we heading into an era for bailouts for cities? is this a failed city? >> sunday at 8:00 on c-span's "q and a."

this didn't -- the studentcam video competition. fine more at c-span.org. >> in 15 minutes, a joint news conference with leon panetta and the chairman of the joint chiefs. this is the military saying that two service members have been killed by an insider attack by an afghan police officer. a man wearing an afghan police uniform turned his weapon on soldiers. until then, we talked of viewers about what issues were driving their vote in the 2012 election. host: want to get right to some

of those polls on the horserace leading up to the election day. two polls released in the next 24 hours showed the race remains a dead heat with romney gaining ground in one survey, but losing steam in another. despite the deadlock national numbers, obama seems to be retaining a small but significant lead in pivotal ohio. mr. de a poll found a candidate tied among likely voters. the results were flat from a week prior. both results were within the margin of error. another poll showed romney leading obama.

the president's campaign was underserved by new numbers. this showed the running lead twiddling to three points. romney outpaces the president among all likely voters. the gap has closed significantly since last sunday. i want to take the two maps in their "the new york times" today. hours. on tuesday and wbined 11 citiesn six states covering more than 3,000 miles each. the president started in florida into ohio, nevada, denver, colorado, out to los angeles for

an appearance on "the tonight show" last night. the president traveling again back in that crucial swing state of ohio. mittomney's camp alsgoing to ohio, out to nevada in rena and also to colorado. we will be tracking all those movements today. we want to know which issue is driving your vote. we will start on the democratic line. robert, what is driving your vote? caller: the republicans made the statement that they refuse to work with thisresident and they were going to see that he was going to be a one-time president. because of that, i think we should send this president back to the white house to work with republicans. otherwise we wld be

rpetuating a dysfunctional government. we should put him back in the white house and forced the republicans to work with this president. if we do not, we are perpetuating the prophecy of this president being a one-ti president. host: : ward 2 mitt romney's trips yesterday, here is the article from "the washington times." mitt romney campaigned in nevada wednesday and had another stop in iowa. he now cngs to a lead with less than two weeks to go.

that story of course has gotten lots of headlines in today's papers. here is a few of them fro"the chicago tribune." the lead story -- "the washington post" headline

-- and "the arizona republic" -- i want to read to you from the indianapolis star, the headline on that story --

the story goes on to note -- i want to take a few more calls from you about which issue is driving your vote but we will continue to cover these stories. winchester, virginia, is next. caller: a pretty simple concept but one that does not seem to get much coverage.

who is going to be picking the next batch of supreme court justices? we need to keep the supreme court as balanced as possible whether you are a conservative or liberal. it does not matter. we get closest to having the supreme court doing the job it is intended to do when it is balanced. not all the way to the right, not all the way to the left. supreme court justices may be getting ready to retire. ginsberg is the only one on the left. more than likely, mitt romney is getting my vote so we do not end up with a more unbalanced supreme court. host: thanks so much. one other headline on that richard mourdock story dominating the news. this is from the abc news.co

site. i want to bring you a little bit from that debate on tuesday so you can see his comments. >> i believe life begins at conception. the only exception i have is in that cas for the life of the mother. i struggled with it myself but i came to realize lifis a gift from god. even with rape, it is something

god intended to happen. host: we are taking your calls th morning on what issue is driving your vote. anita is next on the republican line. caller: hey. my issues is our president obama. he said he was going to unite. all he has done was divide. in four years, we have heard blame. he has played the race card so much, and class warfare. he is trying to divide the people. i just don't trust him. he spends money like it was water, and we're i ebt. so, my vote goes to romney. thank you for calling

this morning. james, thank you for calling the "washington journal." caller: thank you. the issue i see going on is mitt romney is trying to win the election just because the majority of people in the united states are white. this is what i want the white democrats to realize. if you do not support president obama, it is going to be hard for african americans to come out and suprt another white democrat. the white democrats are not supporting statewide black politicians. that is the reason why no black democrats can get elected in the senate. look at florida. you best come out and support president obama because it will be hard to get blakcs outf

[indiscernible] host: a comment from joe on twitter -- a headline from "the washington post" toy --

one other story, this from "usa today" this morning.

we want to hear what is driving your votes with just 12 days to go before the election.

charlie from virginia on the independence lin t line. caller: i will be supporting the libertarian candate gary johnson. the only candidate who can turn this country around. he wantso stop intervening in all these wars and balance the budget now. our government is broke. yeah, everyone should check out gary johnson. he is a libertarian and running for president. host: from tenneee on the republican line, you are on the "washington journal." caller: thank you for taking my call. voting for someone because they are black is just as racist as voting for somebody because they are not black.

how come you guys have not covered the leaked e-ñ morninge "washington journal." we will go now to marry and from ohio on the democratic line. caller: i am 47% of the people mitt romney was talking about. i worked and i paid into social security and medicare and now he wants to mess around with a stomit? flops around and sticks his foot in his mouth. i am voting for obama. i think he is doing the best he can do. i think the republicans are a bunch of racists in my opinion. that is all i have to say.

host: a comment on c-span's facebook page this morning -- let's go to the republican line. nancy is waiting from austin, texas. caller: i find this conversation so depressing. i vote on somebody based on their adherence to the constitution. are all now like gimme, gimme, and who can give me the most. our government has bankrupted us. we are $16 trillion in debt. both of them did it. we have 30,000 drones that have airspaced to fly in our

of. we have a president with a kill list. no trial, no nothing. pick you up and send you to gitmo forever. no trials, no lawyer, no nothing. is this still america, people close to you are worried that you cannot get a government paid for abortion? have we lost our minds? that is my comment. host: a common from bill king on twitter -- -- comment from bill came on twitter -- i want to also talk to you about the vice-presidential nominee paul ryan's speech

yesterday on poverty issues. he express's empathy is the headline from "the new york times." i went to give you a bit of that speech now. >> government's approach has been spend a lot of money on top down anti-poverty programs. the mindset is a nation should measure compassion by the size of federal government and how

much money it spends. the problem is starting in the 1960's, this approach created and pertuated a debilitating culture of dependency wrecking families and communities. this was so obvious that when a major lfare program was reform, the law was passed by the republican congress and signed by a democratic president. we saw welfare enrollments dropped dramatically as millions of our citizens gained new lives of independent. child poverty rates fell 20% in four years. fewer welfare checks going out. if it meant more money for states to spend on child care so more moms could go to work and support themselves. welfare to work worked because

it encouraged the best in people. it made major strides toward getting the government out of the business of fostering dependency. here is the problem. welfare reform mindset has not been applied with equal vigor across the spectrum of our programsms. in most of these programs, especially in recent years, we're still trying to measure compassion by how much government spends. not by how many people we help escape from poverty. host: cq qeekly last week had a good chart dealing with the poverty issue, noting that the share of americans living in poverty has ranged from 10% and 15%. in 2011, the poverty rate went down for the first time in five

years. the number of people in poverty sits at about 46.2 million in 2011. the poverty rate was about 15%. we ask you this morning on which issue is driving your vote heading into the election. john writes in on twitter -- also, independence day writes in on twitter -- a will now go to kansas city, missouri, on the independent line. caller: hi. thank you for c-span. a lot of issues are driving my vote. social issues are driving my

vote. i have a problem with mitt romney going back and forth. i think it is a war on women. i do not think it should be know where that a man has a right to tell a woman what she can do with her body. what have women ever done to men so bad that they start democrat and us so bad and poorly over the issues of abortion? i have a daughter and she is married. she has two kids. they planned their kids. they do not want any more kids. if you take birth control away from her, she is going to have more kids than she wants to have been been the republicans all they think about is getting the children here and after they get here we do not care nothing about them once they get here. it is a shame we are going to

take away your health care and your medicaid. we just want them to be born when they are born. this is ridiculous. i am a woman and i feel strongly about this. when i heard what that man said, this is the democrat's party. they have an agenda. their agenda is repealing obamacare, getting rid of roe v. wade. it is their agenda. it is not about jobs. host: this viewer writes in on twitter -- let's go to the republican line. david is from indiana out there

where the richard mourdock campaign is taking place. caller: my vote is driving my vote due to obamacare and the risk distribution of wealth. i do not think someone should have to get in there and redistribute wealth. he don't care about the country. he cares about social values. if he is so concerned about obamacare, why did he exempts senators from that? let him read this to be his wealth. there are a lot of people out of work -- let him read distribute wealth.te hite his host: of this from "the financial times" on bank of

america.

bank of america rejected the claims of that suit. bank of america has stepped up and acted responsibly. again, we have been asking what is driving your vote this morning. we will go now to pensacola, florida. what is driving your vote? caller: voter suppression. i have listened to i don't know how many people now, and i agree with a lot of people that the women issues -- the guy that talked about abortion and god, that is just obtuse.

i have never seen a more obtuse party in my life. i had four children then big three of whom are daughters. one i have one who lives on the street today. no food, nothing. than you say people are victims? in the world. the only country that supports mitt romney is pakistan. there is a reason for that. they want more war, and they want to draw in more people to that kool-aid from bush. let me tell you something. you have to walk through airport security to get to him.

he is in the civic center, saying he is going to come in and throw his people in there and give some jobs. host: a few e-mails that have come in on this question of what is driving your vote. barb writes in -- one more e-mail from jerry in iowa this morning --

one last call on this issue of what is driving your vote. will go to new hampshire on the independent line. frank, you are on the "washington journal." caller: hello. i believe we have one chance to -- we could fix all the we'll take you live to the pentagon now for a news conference with secretary of defense leon panetta. >> we wanted to open with a few comments and then i'll turn it over to the general for his comments and then we'll open it up to your questions. one of the questions that i've kstly been asked is how the

u.s. military is going to be able to project power and to maintain presence in a global world, in an era of declining resources. we believe that the new defense strategy that we put in place, plus the budget that we have sent up to the congress is designed to allow us to accomplish that goal. but one important way that we are going to do this is to strengthen our network of defense alliances around the globe. indeed, i think it's fair to say that a vital pillar of the new defense strategy that we released this year is the important work of developing and deepening ties to other nations, developing their capabilities and building new alliances and partnerships to

promote security. this is one of the keys to the defense force that we're trying to build for the 21st century. this system of defense alliances and security partnerships is one of america's greatest national security assets. no other nation in the world really has this asset. these relationships are sound investments in an era of fiscal challenges and they do pay dividends. they allow us to defend our interest while developing more military that is can should ter burden of the international security environment. let me give you a few examples of how we've been focusing our attention on these alliances. yesterday, as you know, i met with our south korean counter part as part of our regular dialogue with allies in the asia pacific region.

our goal there is to strengthen the alliance with the south correens with very for the future. earlier this month i consulted with a number of european allies where we came together to affirm our commitment to the international mission in afghanistan. n.a.t.o. is a proven alliance. one that has conducted successful operations in libya and afghanistan. before the n.a.t.o. meeting, i met with my count parts of the western hem steer and at that conference, nations of this hem is fear agreed on a concrete plan to improve hugh maine man tarne and decster relieve. one of the first steps that group has taken in a way that brings all of these nations

together. what they did reflects a new era, i believe, of broad and constructive defense cooperation in the americas. our goal is to continue these efforts. in early november, general dempsi and i will be traveling to australia with secretary clinton and our australian count parts and i'll be meeting with defense ministers at the defense ministers meeting. the general will also be traveling soon to the middle east and before he previews that triplet me just note that this month t u.s. military and the israeli defense forces are conducting an exercise. it's the largest exercise we have held between our two militaries. the goal of this historic three-week exercise is to improve our combined ability to

defend against missile attacks by exercising our active missile defense and air defense forces and systems. as with all of the exercises that we conduct alongside our allies and partners, this is all about team work and making sure that our forces have the capability to be able to cooperate when necessary. using rotational deployments under our new defense strategy, we will be conducting more of these kinds of exercises with nations across the globe. if i may then, i'd like to briefly turn to another subject which is closer to home. when congress returns to town after the election, there is a great deal of critical work that needs to be done. work that is vital to the defense strategy that i just referenced. there are four things that

stand out for congress to take up during this upcoming session. first, congress must act to avoid sequestration before it takes effect on january 2, 2013. there are only 70 days until that happens. and congress is certainly on the clock when it comes to that potential sequestration occurring. second, congress should pass -- we would like them to pass a defense authorization bill. but in the very least we do need a defense authorization bill so we can don't implement our new defense strategy. and third, it really must pass a cyber security bill, cyber

security legislation. as i made clear this month, we really do need strong cyber security legislation to ensure we can help defend the nation against a cyber attack. and lastly, i'm hopeful, obviously, that general john allen will be confirmed in their new positions at the. we'll have the opportunity hear from both of them in their confirmation testimony on the important work that lies ahead in afghanistan. but i want to thank congress for taking up these important nominations and hopefully they will be confirmed. this is a full agenda. it's one that requires democrats and republicans to work together. and after a tough national election, the american people, i think, will expect both parties to roll up their sleeves, work together to solve the problems facing the nation and to protect our national security. with that let me turn it over

to the general. >> thank you mr. secretary. as you mentioned i just finished hosting the 36th annual committee meeting. we used this annual forrum to reinforce our commitment a come bind defense to keep our capability lings and plans aligned and to guarantee that we are always ready in the event of a north korean provocation. we also had progress in alliance 2015. thanks to the leadership and our combined forces commander, it is on track to become a reality. i look forward to seeing them both again soon. as part of my trip to australia i'll be stopping to spend time with our troops on veterans day. i had just a few days to reinforce another essential relationship. this is a long-planned trip.

this exercise sbe grates our land, air and sea born capabilities with israel's missile forces. i look forward to comparing forces and i look forward to getting his per specive on regional security issues. each of these relationships run deep. trust eninforces our common interest. and it's this kind of trust and confidence that makes our strategy work. i look forward to questions. >> mr. secretary, do you know there is been a lot of discussion about the fact it could take weeks or maybe months for western nations to mobile laze support for mali. prior to that happening, do you intend to authorize spending for u.s. troops to help do the training that will be pulled

out to mali from before? will you send those trainers in sooner and is the u.s. providing intelligence support in the region there in order to find some of the insurge jents that some believe may have been involved in the benghazi attack. and for mr. chairman, on benghazi, there is been a lot of questions about why there was no military support earlier on the attack. can you explain why there was no additional military support sent in sooner and what went into that decision? >> with regards to the situation in mali. as i've stated, our approach is to make sure that al qaeda and elements of al qaeda have no place to hide. and we've gone after al qaeda

wherever they are, whether it's in yemen or somalia or north africa. our goal in mali, because of our concern about a.q.i.m. is we need to work with the nations in the region. they all agree that we are facing the same threat there from a.q.i.m. so because of that working with those countries and developing a strategy that develops the kind of intelligence that is needed in order to be able to go after them effectively, develop that kind of intelligence, one, and two, to be able to develop what kind of operations would be used to then go after them has to be done, i believe, on a regional basis. and so our goal right now is to

try to do everything we can to bring those countries together in a common toferte go after a.q.i.m. >> so on the events in libya, clearly the american people deserve to understand what understand benghazi. there are reviews here and in the department of state so we'll better understand what happened. it's not helpful in my view to provide partial answers. i can tell you, however, sitting here today, that i feel confident that our forces were alert and responsive to what was a very fluid situation. >> one of the reasons we've heard there wasn't a more robust response right away was there wasn't a clear intelligence picture over benghazi to give you an idea of where to put what force rs. but when there was a drone over the c.i.a. and there were

intelligence officials fighting beside the annex, with those two combined assets why wasn't there a clearer picture that would have given you what you needed to make some moves, for instance, ply flying over the area to drop missiles or flying more in. >> there is a lot of monday morning quarterbacking going on here. we quickly responded in terms of deploying forces to the region. we had ships that we deployed off of libya and we were prepared to respond to any contingency and certainly had forces in place to do that. but the basic principle here is that you don't deploy forces

into harm's way without knowing what is going on, without having some real-time information about what is taking place. and as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who is on the ground in that area and i felt strongly we could not put forces at risk in that situation. >> so the drone then and the orderers inside the annex weren't giving enough of a clear picture is what you're saying? >> it happened within a few hours and was over before we had the opportunity to know what was happening. >> after the south korea [indiscernible] launch rockets tomorrow, so

some say american is [indiscernible] >> we've been dealing with the threat from north korea for a long time now in terms of their developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach our homeland and could reach other countries in that region. that is a threat. that is a threat. in addition to that, they have developed nuclear weapons, that's a threat. in addition to that, they continue to enrich ewe rain i can't in violation of every rule and that's a threat. as a result of that we're doing

everything we can to defend ourselves against that threat and that includes efforts of south korea. it's for all those reasons we are working with south korea and japan and other countries in the region to make sure that we can defend ourselves against the kind of provocation and threats that emerge out of north korea. >> the attack occurred on the anniversary of 9/11, whether or not that anniversary had anything to do with the attack. did you have forces on any heightened alert in that area because of the approaching anniversary? >> we did. let me point out it was 9/11 everywhere in the world. >> on iran on the joint exercise with israel, do you see any message to iran in

conducting these exercise now? and do you think that it is the time for the problematic and economic pressure on iran is over? >> and mr. secretary i'd like to ask you do you support the idea that the united states needs to talk to iran? >> to the question about are we messaging anybody with the exercise. first of all, this is an annual exercise. it's an exercise for not only the capabilities iran might deploy but shorter range missiles. so it's intended to demonstrate our commitment to israel for their defense against ballistic missile attacks, rockets and missiles. and as far as whether i think it's time to abandon the current path, that certainly isn't my job to determine. but i do think that there is

reason to believe that political and economic path we're on is working. and so i think i'd be in the camp that suggest we should let it keep working. >> everything we are doing with regards to iran, the sanctions that we put in place, the diplomatic pressures that we bring on iran, all of the efforts to try to pressure them to back off of their efforts to develop a nuclear capability, all of that is aimed at trying to get them to the negotiating table. so obviously, of course, we want to be able to get them to a negotiating table, not just a talk, but get things done. and unfortunately we still haven't gotten things done. and that is what we're looking for now is the kind of negotiations that are productive and lead to real progress in terms of them

backing off their nuclear program. >> i wonder if you can turn to afghanistan for a moment. we keep hearing the afghanistan forces are in the lead, they're taking more territories, more districts. if that's the case, do you think more u.s. troops can be withdrawn by year's end or wiser to wait until next year to see how the taliban are? >> i really believe that the best thing we could do now is to stick with general allen's plan. he's put a solid plan in place. it's endorsed by n.a.t.o. it's a plan that we a tremendous amount of confidence in. it's working to accomplish the transitions we're trying to accomplish. i really think the best thing we could do at this point is stick to it and make sure that we implement it the way it was designed to be implemented.

>> let me add, we've asked john allen that question. there is a time line for these decisions to be made and he's doing his assessment. we won't do this alone, we have 44 nations we have to coordinate with as well. >> the current time line calls for to us determine what our enduring presence will be post 2014 as the first step sometime in late november, early december. >> over in afghanistan -- >> i'm head of the joint staff. >> he was saying he would prefer to see 68,000 troops well into next spring. >> we want to have general

allen's best recommendation on that. and i think as marty was pointing out, the initial step here the is what should the enduring presence look like in 2014, what is that going to look like? and then what kind of path should we take in terms of being able to draw down the 68,000. and so what we're going to do and we've all decided is the best thing to do is to allow john allen to make that recommendation to us. >> mr. secretary, this is a two-part question, sir. what is the future of afghanistan? this is what the afghanistan people are asking. and second as far as the strategy is concerned, what do

you think the u.s. strategy will be for the region in the 21st century? >> i think with regards to afghanistan our goal has always been that afghanistan can govern and secure its and be a solvent and independent country in that region of the world. and one that is sufficiently secure that al qaeda never again finds a safe haven from which to conduct attacks on our country or any place else. that's the goal and the kind of afghanistan we're trying to work towards. and i think it's the kind of afghanistan the afghanistan people want to have for the future as well. india is an important country na that region and ovek whatever india can do to try to develop stability in that region both working with afghanistan as well as pakistan would be helpful to the

prospects of peace in the future. >> i have a four structure question for you. what are the budget redness of the plan 100,000 marine reduction by 2017. there have been proposals to do that. and mr. secretary in your speech about cyber, you implied short of saying it that it could have been iran. i want you to elaborate on that was iran involved or could it have been a non-state individual and a hacking network that did it as opposed to a state actor? there is a lot of speculation on this. >> i'm not sure what you mean by could we reverse decisions made because let me say the issue is about which way the budget is going to go.

>> what about the budget and redness of keeping that00,000? >> if the budget control act remains in effect and if we couldn't touch manpower to do it we will hollow out the force because we couldn't touch manpower. it's difficult and timely and takes a long time to touch infrastructure. that leaves operations maintenance training and modization. >> if you want to keep the number -- >> the budget number of $487 billion remains in effect i would hollow out the force. >> tony, with regards to the cyber attack and the speech that i made with regards to the attack on ram co-, i'm not go

to get into classified information here. but i think what i was trying to point out was the attack involved a pretty sophisticated tool and that tool basically is one of the first we've seen that can actually take down and destroy computersen. and it took down their computers to the point they had to be replaced. that's a very sophisticated tool. there are only a few countries in the world that have that capability. but it raises tremendous concerns for the use of that tool to our financial systems and government systems. and that was the concern that i was raising. >> individual or a non-state network of hackers given the sophistication of the attack? >> i just don't want to comment on specifically the kind of information as to who was involved in that particular attack.

>> on turkey, general [inaudible] could you give more details about the person you have deployed on turkey since the crisis in syria has began. and the admiral went to turkey this week and there is a huge expectation [inaudible] could you please give more details about yesterday? >> on the issue of have we demroid additional forces to turkey in response to the crisis in syria. there have been times we've sent teams to do planning with

them on humanitarian zones and some of their counter terror concerns related to an unstable northeastern syria and the p.k.k. and in fact my vice chairman just returned back. to your point, we've been having an intelligence sharing regime with turkey for about the last five years and one of the things we're looking to do now is learn lessons in the last five years, recognize a different situation on their border and see if we can assist as well as reduce the threat of ballistic missile attack inside turkey. so it's a work in progress and we go as we need to do have those consultations. >> [inaudible]

the turkey prime minister replayed it's a different situation. this kind of negotiation you mean -- >> what the prime minister said, that's his country and i wouldn't question his approach to this. he's been doing quite well actually. but we offer partners and turkey is not only a close bilateral partner, they're part of our n.a.t.o. alliance. we share expertise and learn from their experiences. and sometimes they take our offer and sometimes they don't. i wouldn't read anything into there is a disconnect any way. >> what have you learned thus

far from the strategic choices process that's been going on here over the past few weeks? >> so the secretary and through the depth device they run that port fole i don't. i supplement it by gathering the chiefs in seminars to inform our choices. and what we learn, we learn a lot about how issues that are regional are no longer limited to region, that they tend to be trance regional, they tend to actually impact back upon the homeland so there are issues and choices to be made and investment in that way. we do learn a lot about cyber and the future 24re9 in the cyber domain. we learn a great dale about which resources are under greatest pressure and how we

should invest more heavily in those particular resources or find different ways of accomplishing the task. it's a very dynamic situation. we'll run another one in another couple of months. >> it really is a process of looking at the key elements of our strategy on defense. and looking at the world that we're dealing with and making sure that there is a fit here. obviously, first point is we know we're drawing down, but how do we develop the kind of ajillty we have to have to have the kind of quick deemployability we need in the world today. secondly, the forward presence to be able to project force into the pacific at the same time we're projecting force into the middle east, how do you maintain that kind of

forward presence in a way that doesn't put undue stress on the force and at the same time gives tu kind of capabilities that you need to respond to situations in those areas. this is not an easy challenge to make sure we have that kind of balance. secondly the presence and alliances we talked about, how do we develop that whole set of issues. and lastly, the investments that we make. let me share with you one of the problems here is that in some ways, we're developing a 2014 budget that to some extent is not based on what congress has done because they haven't done it. we don't know what the 2013 budget is going to be. i've got a six-month cr on the 2013 budget so i don't know what am i going to get for

2013, much less what is congress going to provide for 2014. and the issue -- this is a strategic issue, what kind of stability am i going to have in terms of defense spending for the future? and i recognize what we've had to do in cutting the defense budget by almost $.5 trillion. but for me to make the choices we need to make, i have to have some stability with regards to where are we going from here and i don't have that right now and that is a major concern. >> on sequestration, have they indicated when you start planning for it yet? and what about that p-day clock tick down [inaudible]

? >> we have not received that word from and i guess in line with the president's comments and everybody else's comments the shown sequestration won't happen. >> mr. secretary, yesterday it was said that north korea was their nuclear test. are there any indications that test might occur around the time of the election? >> i have not seen any intelligence that says this is iminnocent. i have not seen at least intelligence that i've noted that indicates that it's imminent.

>> as the pentagon briefing wraps up on an update on c-span2 coming up at 3:00 this afternoon the national counsel sill is holding it's national policy makers conference, the current libyan ambassador to the u.s. set for 3:00 eastern on c-span2. and lots of debapet coverage this evening beginning at 7:00 with the ohio senate debate. at 8:00, the iowa house race.

wrapping up at 9:00 eastern the new mexico senate race. that starts at 9:00 eastern. coming up in the next hour or so we're going to show you part of our battleground series leading up to the election. today the focus was on nevada. we'll here what democrats and republicans are doing to win that state but first some background from a reporter who covers nevada. >> we'll be highlighting the key battlegrounds states of campaign 201. yesterday we featured florida today we put the spotlight on nevada with its six electoral votes in this election.

we are joined by a reporter. i want to start with a few statistics between the end of 2006 and 2011 home values have tanked nearly 60% higher than any other state out in nevada which and in 2011 home prices fell to 9 preponderate 4%. that's on top of the state having the largest unemployment rate, about 11.8% in cement. so talk about this election using those numbers as a backdrop right now. >> well nevada is very much a poster child of as bad as it got in the recession and since this election has been -- it is about the economy. these numbers can matter very very much. so nevada's housing market continues to be really bad. almost 70% of homes are under

water at this stage. the unemployment rate that you mentioned just dipped below 12% for the first time in september, i believe. and your half of the pop lakes is contending with the economic cries is. the president has been polling slightly alead of romney and i mean very slightly because as you know, the margins are incredibly close. but when these candidates come to town, romney on tuesday and obama last night, their hammering home this economic message and sell trying to sell their fillties as being the cure for nevada. romney said i can bring the unemployment rate back down to 6% which seems a bit of a stretch given how bad things are in nevada. and there are anchors in the economy that are going to continue to weigh it down probably longer than other states.

so the people know they're in for a long hall because the housing sector got so bad and there is so much bad equity in the housing market that it's going to take a while to buy that back out. people are estimating it's going to be 20 years before the prices fully recover. >> are those numbers right now the difference for obama, going back to 2008, he won this state by 12.5%. is that solely the reason why this is a neck in neck race out there? >> it's certainly having an affect because people are realing still and surfing still and they know they are in for a long hall. people understand when yire economy is based bargly around gaming which is dependant on people's disposable income, it takes a while for things to trickle back in. it's been so bad and so hard

for many of the residents here for the last four years. so you're seeing that gap which was 12 points four years ago down to something that's within the margin of error. obama has been holding a pretty steady lead after the polls closed after that first debate, romney the closest he got was within a tie. and the polls from this week show him about two points behind and that's from a g.o.p. leaning firm. so obama seems to be holding a slight lead and democrats have a voter registration vong in this state as well which would be a way for him to hold on to the state. >> going back to 2008, i want to talk about another key shift in the state since that last election the latino vote out there in nevada. the stat tistics from boomberg

news shows nevada has the largest shift since 2008. latinos cast 15% of the ballot in 2008 and three quarters voted for obama in 2008. talk about how that is impacting the election now. >> there is a huge push to turn more voters out to the polls. to play up all of the rostered issues that seem to matter the most. it's a very large population in the state, it's about 20% of the population is latino organize gin and that goes up in clark county which is where lave is which is the main population of the state. this voting block cares a lot about the economy, a lot about education and immigration disease not rank as the highest

issue of interest to these voters but it becomes an issue that is an underlying across the board, are you saying the right thing on this pop sick and it could be 2/3 one these voters are split on that. this is an issue candidates on both sides have been fighting about because obama made a promise to address it his first year in office and did not do that. he said he did not have time and did not have a cooperative congress which are both probable true. but that has not stopped republicans from saying we are the ones who can bring comprehensive immigration reform and trying to make that a sales pitch. if you turn on spanish radio you hear both sides making a plea at all levels for this race. it's a swing state for the president and senate and one of

the two congressional races on here as well. host: we're talking to karen of the las vegas sun. she has been out there covering the race for a little while now. you can call in on the republican line or democratic line and we have a special line set up for nevada residence. >> in talking about demographics out there talk to us about the mormon vote in nevada. we hear a lot about it in utah but there is a significant mormon vote in nevada that might impact this race. >> guest:, yeah, it's a community that is very loyal -- you can count on the mormons to turn out. usually in elections this is not a community that needs to be get out the vote.

it's also a community that goes very heavily republican. there has been a push this year led by hair reed in this state, because hair reed is also mormon to highlight how the democrats are making end roads of the community and how it's possible to turn out a mormon democratic vote as well. but that does not seem to be anything that has developed any mon men tum or enough to rock the boot here. it's a significant population but not big by any stretch of the imagination as it is in utah. it's been a good base for romney in terms of being a welcoming community when he comes here and a good source of fund racing when he's been moving through the state and in this election it will probably also be a republican strong hold. host: since we're talking about the make nicks of voting out there in nevada talked a little bit about early voting out

there, what are the rules for early voting and are there any special rules if this goes to a recount? guest: okay, well early voting started on saturday. the period of early voting goes from october 20, to november 2, so that's 13 days. there are polling stations all over the place, in supermarkets and schools. some are on a rotating schedule. not every polling station is open for the entire period. we have mostly electronic voting machines in nevada. there were still some counties that count by hand. but in the big population centers and this is a state that is over 80% urban, most people congress gait over lave and ree know, it's pretty mechanized. voter reg station went online this year as well. there is been a push to get people to turn out early and more people have than four

years ago because basically it's been drummed into them this is a good way to go because it gives the parties some peace of mind that people are turning out. you mentioned recount which is always a scary word. it is something that i think people are -- there is rules in the nevada laws basically that say if somebody is contesting a recount and should know that in a number of counties -- in at least 5% in the precincts in the counties they are pointing to be being suspects, the secretary of state makes the call, appoints the people to go do the recount. there is oversight by all the campaigns. and there are no rules about thuning can take. but we can assume if that happened in one of the larger counties that would take a long time. luckily nevada hasn't had

recount issues. there was an extended recount that happened with the republican party in february during their caucus season because there were a bunch of ron paul supporters that contested the outcome until it was official. so that ended uptaking two days and i know that got a lot of headlines about what was nevada doing with its caucus process. that is not the same process as for the general election. this is now the whole thing. host: as goes nevada often so goes the country. herehost: as goes the data, ofto goes the country. here is the alleged as those nevada, often goes to the country. one of the big political reporters out there has put out a blog post on how nevada could really mattered.

this is from sunday. he gave hypothetical on what could happen on election night that could make nevada be deciding state. it involves president obama winning ohio and losing florida, colorado, and most other battleground states. when the polls are open in the to 265 for romney. i have callers waiting to ask you about nevada politics. jeffrey is a democrat from north las vegas. good morning.

caller: i am calling in reference to the two candidates. president obama is considered to have win energy. he has done practically everything a president can do for his constituencies. i have not seen anything from candidate romney.

he is the one who stated, that the people go into bankruptcy and then we can read their property out for the rich. host: here's your story from the las vegas son from yesterday. obama finds his old groove in the las vegas rally. what did he present talk about what he was out there yesterday? guest: he addressed many of the points jeffrey just brought up. he mentioned energy. that has been something obama has been pushing. there has been some pushback from the republicans. there is a corridor of nevada that is tapped into the california grid.

jeffrey also mentioned the housing market and the obama surrogates being in nevada all the time. there was an editorial board interview last year where romney said the housing market should be allowed to bottom out. you cannot say that in nevada. there are so many people who need some sort of assistance.

the parties cannot agree about whether it should take the fund washington should be trying to force some kind of principle reduction program. they are not sure the government should be pushing the banks around. people criticize romney about being callous about the particular problems of nevada and how severe the problems were when he made those comments. host: we have another caller from nevada. caller: i am looking at the bat

out of 50 states -- nevada being 49th or 50th in education. i just moved to nevada. i cannot see where they are on education. host: carrie brings up some of the personalities in nevada. guest: education is a huge issue in nevada.

nevada has not qualify for a race to the top funds. it is a turnaround school system. we will see where the education issue those. you mentioned the sheldon adelson's and steve wynns of this world. adelson has put a lot of money into this campaign against obama. that has been the new twists to this election.

it is the citizens united decision that allows this to happen. this is the first full election cycle where that has played a role. you have ideological divisions and some people have enough money to put behind it and pushed the way this election conversation is going. host: a question from twitter. i heard the front hall supporters were so dissed by the gop that they may give from the some trouble in nevada. guest: many are disenchanted with the republican party. they want to stay part of the republican party. they will more than likely turn out to vote for around the.

the question for the ron paul supporters is do they turn out at all. if they do, they were trying to make inroads into the republican party. if they do not, it will be because 2016 is not that far down the line. ron paul supporters seem to be more interested in waiting for his son, senator rand paul, to decide to throw his hat into the ring than they are to find somebody else in this election. the 2016 cycle start sooner than we want to think about. host: another question from twitter. has the population shifted out of las vegas from high unemployment and has that affected the core of the democratic vote? guest: that is an interesting question. i cannot say with full authority one way or the other.

the nevada population has risen over the last several years. it is why we got an extra seat in congress and why we have an extra electoral college vote. it seems to not be affecting the fervor with which people are turning out to vote. the early vote numbers are higher than they were before. you may have had flight at both ends of the political spectrum. host: we have special nevada line set up for residents in nevada. we will go to a caller on the democratic line from wisconsin.

good morning. caller: i have a problem with this whole election. you have one party who is only thinking of the middle class, only of the wealthy, only those that can benefit from the republicans being in office. what about those who were born into poverty, whose parents did not have the opportunity to go to school because they have to work? what about those forced to live paycheck to paycheck because of the economy or do to they are because they are a minority. who is thinking about the drugs that are killing our people? what about those who are not financially stable enough to go to school? no one cares. it is all about who can benefit from doing what. it is completely unfair. i think something should be done about it. it should not be about who is going to benefit more or who is

going to pay more taxes. it should become who is pointing prosper, who is one to make this country better? know what to make it better if everyone is thinking about themselves. host: a couple more statistics from bloomberg insider on nevada's makeup. the ethnicity in 2011 is 53.6% white, 8.6% black. the annual median household income in 2011 was $65,000. from go to larry stockbridge, ga.. you are -- let's go to larry from stockbridge, georgia.

they have a question about the nevada election we can talk about? caller: how do the latinos feel about that stuff. guest: what you've brought up are issues that everybody in the nation is talking about a little bit. i do not know if they are the number-one issue for the latino block. economic issues, family centered issues, immigration seem to be a much larger part of the conversation. and the caller before, she is right. poverty is not getting a

mention in this cycle. people are talking about the middle class and the upper class. there has not been a detailed conversation about the poor. both candidates will tell you they care about people on the lower end of the economic spectrum, but it has not come up much or as much at all in the conversation in 2012. host: someone writes on twitter, is there a information on the results of early voting? the democratic firewall in clark county is at 25,000 as a result of early voting. gop playing catch-up. guest: the early vote numbers are oneupsmanship from both parties.

if you are a registered democrat, you are probably going to go to a democratic and if you are a registered republican, you will probably vote republican. democrats have registered more voters than republicans. it ends up being a 90,000 voter advantage by the end of the registration season. they are trying to push that out. the more they can do that before election day, the more momentum they build behind these candidates. this is a swing state at various levels of this race. obama has had a pretty consistent polling advantage over romney going back several months.

that is something hope their registration advantage can push her over the top. there are congressional races that depend on that turnover machin host:e. host: is it unusual that obama

is showing a lead while heller is also showing a lead? caller: it is likely. the republican candidate -- that turnover machine. heller's advantage is the northern part of the state. she has to perform well. she does not have to be able to win them. obama performed well in that county that years ago. district 2 has always been in republican hands. we have another swing district given the redistricting.

the sitting congressman is probably gone to have a challenger,obama has an advantage in the southern part of the state. you could have split tickets there. it is a likelihood in many nations corners of the state, butthe parties, when they go to these sorts of events, they are presenting a united front. everybody turns out. obama makes sure he mentions everyone on the ticket. romney does the same. that is true on both sides. host: we have a caller on the republican line. caller: i live in colorado

springs and a lot of people that i know are out there getting food stamps or welfare. it comes to the bad point anymore, that he even pays for people's food. that is disgusting. if you do not get ahead in life is your fault because nobody cut you off to get an education. they laugh about it. they think the government owes it to them. nobody knows you nothing. nobody is talking about libya and nobody is talking about nothing like that. it is another thing that even spanish people -- i am spanish myself. they are not saying anything about those fast and furious

guns. remember, spanish people. if you mess up with any black people in your lifetime, obama is coming after you. he is the president and he cares about the black people and that is it. host: do you want to talk about fast and furious and policies play into nevada races? caller: the foreign-policy issues are not coming up very much nationally. we have a large veteran population. we have one of the droned basis. we have a large fighter pilot training base in the northern part of the state. we're listening to the sequestration conversation. . fast and furious --

foreign policy does not seem to be driving this election. fast and furious -- it has not come up to a large degree in this election at all. it ties into the cross border issues as a group package and is the other side of the immigration issue. nevada is next door to arizona. we had a lot of immigration issues. those issues have gone to the supreme court. that has been a pervasive concern. we are not talking about the fast and furious issue particularly. immigration laws have been a pervasive concern for people in the states. your caller mentioned race issues as well. that is an undercurrent that has been around that no one discusses very much. it is an issue if you look at the numbers. obama won with most minority

categories in 2008. the same thing happened in 2010 when harry reid was running. the numbers are there which sometimes can contribute to the tensions you heard from your caller. host: key counties on election night itself. guest: like i said before, much of this comes down to two pockets of the state. clark county i think has over 70% of the population. the northern part of the state with another 20% of the population. with the republicans are going to be making a huge push to turn people out from rural counties. those are counties that count and will matter for the congressional district 4 race which is the new district. i will be looking at different sorts of groups of. people have been talking to blocks of voters whether it is women, seniors, or veterans.

i am going to be looking to see how these messages are playing out, how this war on women message is affecting people to go to the polls. how is the medicare conversation actually affecting seniors? they are another block in nevada that did not go for obama in 2008. if you vote in republicans, goodbye to medicare as you know it. i will be looking to see how and whom these talking points are really selling at home with. host: one more call for you from now that at this morning on the democratic line. caller: hi. listen, what they want to know

is that senator from indiana said that rape was preordained by god. i was wondering how that would affect the vote in nevada and that is such an offensive statement for you to make. guest: i cannot predict exactly how that statement is going to affect nevada but the democratic candidates, especially shelley berkley, have been driving that point home saying because the republicans are not disavowing murdoch, they are supporting him. they are trying to build this connection between these been very feminist. that has come out in the last few months. you have seen democratic

candidates it just driving home this point bringing it up as much as they can. host: karoun demirjian, thank you for joining us this morning. >> more about nevada coming out. obama won that state by 12 points in to designate. polls now show he holds an advantage. more looks at the democratic and republican perspectives. george mcgovern who pass away over the weekend, his funeral service is tomorrow. we will cover the prayer service this evening at 7 up 30 on c- span3 and the funeral tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow on c-span. >> would you support military action in iran >> if need be,

yes, as a last option, yes. >> under what conditions? >> if sanctions do not work, if they are close to and about have the ability to develop a nuclear bomb, we use every option possible as will israel and that would be the last option we would have to use. we would have it ready to use. >> we stand with israel and did not allow a nuclear weapon. the military option should not be on the table. >> under what conditions? >> i think we better exhaust everything else, and at the end of the day, but that is what is needed, i will be the first to bomb. maybe i can wash when seattle -- maybe i can wash windshields para >> follow the key races on c-span, c-span radio, and c-

span.org/campaign2012. >> i like c-span's coverage because it is well diversified. it covers all sides, independent, democratic, and republican views. current events, which is interesting to me, i am a current events junkie, and i love what is going on now when they are talking about issues that matter. >> michael mccarthy watches c- span on cox communications. c-span, created in 1979, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> back to the discussion on the battle grand crist battleground state of nevada. our guest, a democratic analyst. ed

host: we are back with nevada ramirez to discuss president obama strategy for winning the silver state. andres ramirez, we spent a lot of time in the last segment talking about unemployment and under water mortgage rates. how much of a liability are those stats for president obama? guest: no doubt that nevada has been struggling to recover from the economic disaster that has happened both with unemployment and on the housing effect. the area i live in is the highest foreclosed zip code in the country. the unemployment numbers in nevada have gone down. in the unemployment in. and las vegas have continued to decrease which is a positive sign. anticipated home values are beginning to rebound in las vegas.

all of these things are happening at a crucial time in this election. nevada voters are going to the polls. they are positive signs for obama. obviously we would like unemployment numbers to be lower and the foreclosure crisis to be better, but the indicators we are seeing are showing positive momentum. host: mitt romney and paul ryan were on the ground out there on tuesday. romney talked about what his time in all this would bring for the state. >> can you afford four more years with 23 million americans looking for a good job? can you afford four more years with housing prices going down? can you afford four more years

of doubling of the gasoline prices if you are paying? how about this? would you like to have four years where we create 12 million new jobs? how about four more years of rising take-home pay again? how about four years getting now that unemployment down to 6% or lower. host: your thoughts on some of his promises in that speech. guest: they certainly make for great tv sound bites but he has been on record saying he would prefer people to lose their homes and the foreclosure crisis to bottom out. mitt romney has a good record of creating jobs but not in the

united states. most he created were offshore or overseas. voters looking at this will begin to really look at what mitt romney is offering and what he is really bringing to the table. i think voters are going to determine that the economy is improving and it has nothing to do with what mitt romney has done and has everything to do with what the obama administration has put forward. host: we have the phones open for your call if you want to talk to andres ramirez, president of the ramirez group, and former harry reid staffer.

of the nevada economy? most people realize party time is limited. what else goes on besides gambling and glitter? guest: one of the biggest industries we have is we have a large mining industry. in the rural parts of nevada, they have been experiencing rapid growth over the past few years as prices have increased. we have been able to add new dimensions to stabilize the economy over the last several years. we have the hoover dam, red rock canyon.

they are great avenues to create jobs and revenue in our state that are completely off the strip and have provided a diverse stream of revenue. host: zach is on the independent line. caller: good morning. i just muted my button as you started talking about tourism but that is an area that can be expanded. people back east probably do not realize how big the county is. there are a lot of possibilities. there are a lot of other issues that are coming into play up here this year. i want to talk about mitt romney. i think everyone wants what he says. i think obama would like to see 22 million new jobs but you have to say how you are going to

do that. that is all my comment was. it is good to hear from you this morning. host: we will go to wisconsin on the republican line. james, go ahead. did we lose you? caller: hello? i am from louisiana. mitt romney makes and lot of promises. how is he going to prove what he is saying? i am going to turn down my tv. host: if you want to talk a little bit about how the obama campaign has gone after the mitt romney campaign on nevada issues.

guest: mitt romney as a lot of great platitudes and sound bites with the media but if we look at his record, he constantly says what has obama done in the past four years? mitt romney's record is not a positive record of creating jobs and improving the economy in the united states. a record of creating jobs and improving economies here in the united states, he does not have that record. where is he going to create 22 million jobs? what are they going to pay? his previous record does not have a great indicator of helping to improve salaries of american workers or the quality of life. let's judge people on their records.

mitt romney's record is just a tragic example of what we would want in the white house to move our country forward. host: another nevada caller for you from las vegas. caller: i want to know why no one is talking about the oil company that mr. mitt romney owns in china and pumping out to iran. in illinois, he is closing down, sending jobs to china for his other companies. this guy is a liar. he lies all the time. host: something you can speak to? guest: sure. again, mitt romney has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for his campaign and he thinks by spending that money on

commercials and campaign propaganda people are going to forget that he has a record of shipping jobs overseas, hurting american communities and workers, and hurting our economy. we have 24-hour access to media and the internet and fabulous companies called google where we can access information independently. all of the money mitt romney thinks he is going to spend about his record, it is going to come to light. we know you are spending money to ship jobs overseas. we are not going to fall for it. we need strong leadership in this country. host: let's talk about the tens of millions of dollars being spent on advertisements in nevada. here are the top state's

overall. ohio is number one with $177 million spent in commercial advertisements this year. how effect of is that spending at this point? has nevada been saturated? guest: nv is over saturated at this point. you cannot open your mailbox without being inundated with political mail. nevada is a battleground state and it is notorious for being independent. we have ticket splitters, libertarian voters. these candidates are investing significant resources to ensure

they will turn out there bases and persuade undecided voters. the democratic party has invested significant resources over the past year so we enjoy a 90,000 voter advantage statewide. we have been able to turn out our voters in significantly larger numbers than republicans. these investments have continuing diminishing returns as more and more voters will vote early. host: for those of us not in nevada, i want to show some of the ads taking place right now on the air. this is a mitt romney advertisement. >> there is a soft spot in my heart in nevada. unemployment is probably double

digits. i voted for barack obama. i really lost faith in him. i am supporting mitt romney. i think we have heard enough excuses. i do not think we can afford four more years. host: just to get your quick take on that ad. guest: it sounds like a very compelling ad. it was surprising that he supported obama in the 2008 election. no surprise that he has left his roots and pushes the republican party agenda. host: i want to show you an obama ad that is being shown in nevada as well. >> so much is at stake.

comprehensive immigration reform, education, making sure every young person in this country has access to good schools, and i could go on and on and on. that is why the vote is critical. host: mr. ramirez, a democratic strategist, i want to get you on the phone with michael from wisconsin. michael, go ahead. caller: how are you guys doing today? i got some things i want to say. i am really heartbroken about that lady who said president obama is a racist. i am an independent and that offends me. another thing is i don't understand how many latino in their right mind could vote for mitt romney because of

everything he says and what he does behind closed doors. they will not respond to accusations of millions of dollars in d.c. that is ridiculous. nobody wants to be poor or on food stamps. we don't want this. if i am doing really well, i would not mind paying extra to help out my neighbor. host: could you talk about the importance of the latino vote in nevada this year? guest: the latino vote has been growing every election cycle.

then senator obama received 76% of the latino vote in the state of nevada. in 2010, the election was also extremely decided by the latino electorate here in nevada. we are expecting latinos to continue to play an important role. over the past year, spanish surname voters have registered at a higher rate than the general electorate. 26%. it is extremely exciting to see latinos are engaged in this process. what we have been seeing for early voting so far has been

very encouraging. a record number turnout for spanish voters for the first week so far. we are very excited about the role that latinos will play. we think they will exceed the numbers in 2008 and 2010. both candidates are investing resources to communicate to the voters in spanish and english. to use one of the most well- known figures in the spanish- speaking community bodes well for president obama. host: a question for you on twitter. a viewer writes in -- guest: yeah, well, we are blessed that we have a

competitive presidential race and senatorial race. it makes for a very exciting opportunity for us who are political junkies. it is the home state of harry reid and could help determine whether the democrats keep control of the united states senate. a lot of money is being invested from outside groups, super pacs, independent expenditures. shelley berkley is running against dean heller. the democratic machine who helped deliver harry reid to victory is in full force to help president obama and shelley berkley. we are going to continue to see positive successes up and down the ticket this cycle. host: i have a caller on the

republican line this morning. caller: thank you for c-span. as a republican, i know most of us are concerned about growing democracies and so forth because it anybody who works for the government does not contribute to revenue and it takes more money away, compounding the problem. which party would be contributing more to a bureaucracy and which party will in nevada as well as the country? thank you. guest: that is a great question especially coming from a state like nevada which helped to grow las vegas and it billed ourselves economic determination several decades ago with the construction of the hoover dam. 85% of nevada land is owned by the federal government.

the department of interior, the department of defense. we have the department of energy locations here. i take a negative reaction from people who say government employees do not contribute to the economy. i think most historians, republicans or democrats, would agree if not for the construction of the hoover dam, we would not see las vegas as we do today. we have significant resources forth. all these employees of the federal government are buying homes and paying taxes when they buy their homes. they are buying groceries and shopping at these private industries and it visiting our casinos. for people to suggest because

you are an employee of the government you do not contribute to the economy or our community, i think it is a false statement. host: let's go to emma from texas on the democratic line. caller: good morning. my comment was for the mexican lady who called in during the last segment talking about president obama. president obama has done more for the mexicans than blacks. i am black. the mexican women have all the jobs here and are very disrespectful to black women. i don't know where she got her education. the: let's go to ohio on republican line. caller: my husband happens to be mexican so i understand a

little about the mexican community. they are hard-working, pro- life, religious people and are all the things the democrats are against. they are all about -- they took god out of their platform. they are all pro-choice. everything i see the mexican people are not. the only other thing i want to say about that is there have been democracies before ours. it starts out people are in bondage. they go from spiritual faith to courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to great abundance, from great abundance to selfishness. host: we have about a minute

left for you to get a response. guest: i am an american with latino descent. as a mexican american here in the united states, i like to have this conversation with my republican colleagues. go to church frequently -- i am a small business owner and go to church frequently. these statements are simply a fallacy and it is untrue that the democrats removed god from their platform. i am a proud democrat and am proud of my religion and christianity. so far, i have not seen anything coming from the republican party that will make me feel they are better for the latino community then what the democratic party has to offer. that is why we have the same poll numbers of latino voters

choosing to vote for democratic candidates. host: andres ramirez, thank you for joining us this morning. >> coverage of nevada at continues any minute. tonight, coverage with debates beginning at 7:00, where we take you to ohio between brown and mandel. at 8:00, steve king and democrat christie vilsack. bennett 9:00, -- and at nine a, -- and at 9:00, heirich and wilson. right now, real clear politics

as the president slightly up over romney by 2 1/2 points. week from "the las vegas sun." predicting that mitt romney will lose the race in nevada this year. i went to get your thoughts on that story and what you think is going to happen in the race this year. guest: it could very well be. i think governor romney has a good chance if we can keep democrats to about 45% in las

vegas and republicans up around 35%. i think governor romney has a great shot. in 2000, the democrat came out with 51% in clark county yet george bush still won. there is a good chance that governor romney can make it. host: as the race come down now to one or two issues in nevada? guest: everybody is going after the last three people who have not made up their mind. we have such an ad war going on here. both democrats and republicans are working like mad to try to get people to get out to vote.

what is not too bad is republicans tend to vote later. you will see this gap closing, closing, closing the closer we get to election day. host: i want to play you a clip from president obama yesterday and some of the comments he made. >> there is no more serious issue in the presidential campaign then who can you trust? trust matters. who is going to look out for you? and here is the thing. nevada, you know me by now. you know i say what i mean, and i mean what i say. we have not finished everything we set out to do in 2008 but

you know every single day i set foot in that office i am thinking about you. host: do you think that argument is going over well with voters out there? guest: i don't really think it is. we have the highest place of unemployment in the country and the highest foreclosure rate in the country. president obama has not been good for nevada. all these statistics show that we are worse off now than we were four years ago. it is time to put somebody else in there. that is why you see the polls narrowing the closer we get to the election. host: we are taking your calls in this segment. this is former state party chairman dan burdish. give us a call.

will go right now to joe in richmond, indiana, on the republican line. caller: thank you very much. i appreciate you taking our calls. nevada definitely has a need as far as support and things like this. i truly feel president obama has had four years which we hear a lot of rhetoric but the truth is in the fruits of the person. we need to desperately turn our country to where our economy can be brought back. i feel governor romney would fill that for us.

we need to take a stand for what is right. we need to take a look at what they have done. the background parts of the world with a reach out and do things that are right. i just encourage all the voters in nevada to truly look at what their needs are and what promises have been given. host: will go to one of those voters in nevada on the democratic line. caller: how are you today? basically what i wanted to know is when the democrats took the presidential race, they inherited a tremendous mess. do you really think that the

republicans could have cleaned up what was created by a republican party in four years? guest: thank you for your call. it was not just the republicans. we had a republican president. republicans and democrats created this mess and it is something that has to be cleaned up by both parties. the democratic president has not tried to clean it up. all he has tried to do is jam down obamacare in our throats. the over-regulation that we have. it is almost impossible for you to start a business in hawthorne or anyplace else to create jobs.

what the president is trying to do is have the government do that. that is not the government's job. the government job is to create a stable economy said the individual can do that. host: a viewer writes in on twitter -- we have talk about the latino vote out there. i want to get your take on how well the republican party has done this time around. guest: i think they have done a lousy job. we have marco rubio out here. instead of taking him into the latino sections of las vegas, they take him out to green valley and anderson. we need to go to the latinos. we cannot sit back and expect them to come to us.

the democrats have done a great job on this. they unions push their members who are predominantly hispanic host: is it too late at this point for republicans to get that vote? guest: i don't know if it is too late. we need to get latinos explaining to latinos why the republicans should be their choice. i start to see that. host: let go out to california on the independent line. caller: i think all american citizens should be protected. what happened in benghazi is our military was put on alert right away and our president

made our military stand down and not protect american citizens because it is political. what is really going on? it is a new world order and we need to stop this. we need to think about america and america only right now. guest: i would think form policies should be focused on because we have such a large concentration. up in hawthorne, we have the depot for munitions and a lot of servicemen but i do not see it as a major issue. we are hurting so economically that we tend to need nothing but jobs, jobs, jobs.

host: right wing writes in on twitter -- again, we have about 15 minutes left in this segment on nevada. opening it up to your calls. we will go to a new york resident right now on the republican line. good morning, bill. caller: hi. could you remind the people of nevada how obama went after all the corporations, bringing their corporate jets into las vegas and stopped them from coming in which literally destroyed the economy of las vegas? i don't understand how people do not see through this. could you say something about

that? guest: do not comment throw your cash away in las vegas -- he said do not comment throw your cash away in las vegas. host: when did he say that? guest: in 2009, he was talking about corporations coming in here and having their -- my mind is not working. pardon me. bringing trade shows and having their annual retreats here. he said do not come to vegas and throw your money away on the table. that was a big issue in the 2010 campaign but is less of an issue here. it is not a big deal and it should be. when you have a president telling people not to come to vegas and you are in vegas, shouldn't that be a part of the campaign? host: what are you going to be

looking for on election night to tell you which way this election is going? guest: in nevada, if they can keep president obama to 51% in the las vegas area, we can eek out a win in nevada. the race -- statewide races in this state tend to be won in the reno area. las vegas always good democrat. the rural counties always go republican. they tend to even themselves out. we win or lose in reno. that is how it is going to be. that is how it has been since 1988. it is going to be that this year. that is why i think everyone is talking about how close the dean heller-shelley berkley race

is. i think that is going to be a four-point race for dean heller. host: let's go to james on the democratic line. you are on with dan burdish, a former executive director of the nevada republican party. caller: a lot of the things you are saying are misleading and incorrect. mitt romney does not have a good jobs record. a lot of other things he claimed to have done bipartisan, i think democrats are more willing to work together. that has been shown throughout the years. as far as obama not having any jobs plan, republicans do not want to vote for them or put

their own ideas into place. there is really nothing that mitt romney can do. that is just plain and simple. guest: it is not just plain and simple. governor romney has a five- point plan to bring jobs to this country. you can go to his website and look at it. i do not mean to put down government workers. however, you cannot build this country by putting us deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into debt. it just does not work. host: do you think mr. romney can get to the 6% unemployment rate he talked about in that speech yesterday?

guest: i would hope so. we have such a pent-up demand in this country. corporations are just looking for a reason to start rebuilding. there is so much cash, like $500 billion in cash. a has to be more than that. i was thinking 500 trillion dollars but that is too much. there is so much demand and corporations have no idea what to do. our congress is just sitting by being partisan. we cannot have that. let's go to another las vegas voter. caller: i lived in north las vegas.

leadership has been dismal. we are in bankruptcy right now. the city of las vegas is bankrupt. we have no republican leadership. the leadership here is in the tank. let me say something else. if it were not for the jobs act, we would not have -- harry reid has been a great thing getting our watershed. that is federally funded money that is helping two areas, with the rain water and our roads. outside of that, we have nothing. the swap meets are doing much better than anything else in the north las vegas. they do better than the casinos'. who want to spend their money in this economy in the casinos? host: he brings up harry reid. how is he playing in both the presidential and senate race out there?

guest: harry reid has put together a machine that is second to none. i think that is the only reason barack obama is doing well here. he made a concerted effort to put together a machine for the democrat party that was going to do nothing but support him and who he wants to support. as far as north las vegas, it is near bankrupt for one reason. they have the highest public union salaries of any city in the state. their city council and there may have rolled over to the unions and have done nothing but to increase salaries. that is why north las vegas is going broke. that and the fact they had a perfectly good city hall and decided we wanted a taj mahal. they built something that is only 25% to 40% occupied at

this point. number las vegas was mismanaged and that is why is going broke -- north las vegas was mismanaged and that is why it is going broke. caller: above the other caller who called about las vegas and not going there and what obama said, i think that was in 2009 right after aig got the bailout. the only part of aig that made a profit and spent i think $700,000 or whatever, and then barack obama just slammed them. they never mentioned corporations award their workers for being profitable.

it is not free. they do pay taxes. i don't understand why they do not mention that. host: this is from february 3, 2010. speaking about the economy at an event in new hampshire, mr. obama told americans when times are tough, you tighten your belt. that is from february 2010. guest: she is right. when you come out here for an awards banquet or a trade show, corporations do not just spend money to spend money. they bring people out here to

increase productivity. a trade show let your competitors know what you're doing. we are the number one convention destination in the united states because we built that up. when you have a president's saying do not go to vegas, it hurts us. host: we will take a call now on the democratic line. denise, are you there? i want to ask you about the question of ron paul voters in nevada and how they are going to play in this race. at the nominating convention, some of his supporters tried to challenge what the state was trying to nominate. correct?

guest: yes. i was an alternate to the convention. i was there. they voted against what our rules were. there is a controversy here on that. there are two different ron paul supporters. there are those who could care less who it is as long as it is not ron paul. then you have the rational ron paul people who are going to look at barack obama or mitt romney. to those people, there is a major difference and they are going to come down on the side of mitt romney. the others are saying the republican party did not nominate ron paul so we are going to vote for obama. host: are there enough of this to affect the election? guest: i doubt it. it is a very, very small minority.

host: let's go to mary from ohio this morning on the republican line. caller: yes. i would like to question president obama on one thing. about the morality of -- he supports abortion and all these things, but i am an evangelical christian and my bible tells me what things are wrong and what is not. he seemed like he is on both sides of the fence. he wants to have abortion but he does not pay attention to what god's words are. host: i want to get your

thoughts on how the issue of rape and abortion especially after the comments from the republican senate candidate in indiana are going to play out their in nevada. guest: we do not have a big social conservative following here in nevada. we are more of a libertarian state. there have been times -- i did not have anything to do with it. we did not even take a stance on abortion. the evangelicals are not a major influence on the republican party here. what we are looking at for republicans and democrats is jobs, jobs, jobs. that is what it comes down to. we don't have anyone running on any of the social issues in this state. host: want to ask you about the

role of the mormon vote in nevada. guest: the mormons are about 11% of the population and tend to be both parties. . reed is a mormon. some of our major political figures are mormon. i think a lot of mormons whether they are democrat or republican are going to be voting for mitt romney. host: let's go to michael from florida up on the independent line. caller: good morning. here is my point. we are all americans. the republican party is like gang-related. they fight and tell us this and that, but nothing gets done.

i am going to vote for obama because he was handed a crisis and he has done his best putting americans back to work. mitt romney says 47%. then he goes and insults them and nobody says nothing about that. host: we went to give you the last comment of what you think will happen in the next 12 days. guest: i have been very impressed with the mitt romney campaign. they are running on the economy and jobs, and i think they are going to do that for the next 12 days. mitt romney was here yesterday and the day before. president obama was here yesterday. i think they are going to stay

on message and stay on the economy. that is what they need to do. host: dan burdish, former executive director of the nevada republican party, thank you so much for joining us on nevada. guest: thank you. >> would you support military action in iran? >> if need be, yes, as a last option, yes. >> under what conditions? >> if sanctions don't work. if they are close to and about to have the ability to develop a nuclear bomb, we use every option possible, as will israel. that's the last option we would have to use but it will be ready to use. >> we stand with israel and do not let iran develop a nuclear weapon. the military option should be on the table. >> under what situation would

that be? i can't say, but we better exhaust everything else. at the end of the day, a i will be the first -- i don't need what -- maybe i can wash windshields, but we're going to have a darn honest discussion about what is needed. >> with less than two weeks before election day, all the key races on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> will have three congressional debates not on c- span. ohio at 7:00 eastern. sharon brown debates his republican challenger. this is their third and final debate and it is moderated by check, of nbc news. at 8:00, i debate from iowa pols fourth district. five-term republican congressman steve king faces his democratic challenger. she is the wife of the agriculture secretary.

the "new york times" says the district leans republican and she has raised more money than mr. king. at 9:00, a debate between democratic congressman martin heinrich and republican congress woman had a wilson, running for the mexico state seat of jeff bingaman, who is retiring. >> i like c-span's coverage because it is well diversified. covers all sides. independent, democratic, and republican views. c-span is not boring because it's so topical. there are events which are good for me. i'm a current events junkie and all of what's going on right now and they are talking about issues that matter to americans right now. >> michael mccarthy watches c- span. c-span -- created by america's cable companies in 1979. brought to you by your television provider.

>> congressman alan west was elected to congress two years ago in florida's 22nd district. after redistricting, he decided to seek his second term in the 18th district. his democratic challenger is a 29-year-old accountant, patrick murphy. they met for their only debate last week. this comes to us courtesy of wvpt tv. >> its one of the most closely watched congressional contests in that country. tonight, they square off in a when-hour debate. special presentation. >> good evening, and welcome to the debate between our candidates tonight. they are democrat patrick murphy and republican allen west. thank you for joining us. i will be the moderator.

as part of our coverage, joining me to ask questions are two of my colleagues. our format is simple. each will be asked a question and they will have one minute to respond. then a 30-second rebuttal. at the end of the broadcast, they will each have one minute to make closing statements. we will try to get through a lot of topics. the first question will go to mr. west and will come from george. >> your opponent has based a lot of his campaign on the controversial things you say. you have called members of the congressional progressive caucus communists. you have said joseph goebbels

would be proud of the democratic talking points. i think that was on the budget last year. you told a conservative women's group that they should stand up against liberal groups that were in your words neutering american men. your critics say that makes you a polarizing and divisive figure. it might be great for a cable tv, but makes you ineffective. how do you respond? >> look at my legislative agenda. i did not see any people from my campaign standing out hurling epithets at patrick murphy. we can see a lot from the ads. i have to tell you, we have to have the discussion about ideology in this country. when we talk about progressivism, it is very easy to talk about communism, marxism, socialism, because the principles of governance is what is separating this country. with regard to the comment about

goebbels, somebody asked a simple question, how do you feel about the majority of americans believe that the only people on capitol hill are republicans? there is a propaganda machine out there operating that goebbels could be proud of. i thought we lived in america where there was freedom of expression, and i will not be afraid of people because they get upset. >> keep an eye on the lights there. >> thank you again for being here this evening. it is an honor to be here. the reason i got into this, the extremism of the tea party. that is no way to move the country. whether it is your family, business, we have to be able to work across the aisle and do the best for americans, the district, and when you are spending your time comparing your opponents to communists,

that is not a good way to do things. there's no way we will be able to reach across the aisle and be able to work with each other. when i meet people, that is what i hear, what are you going to do with my medicare? >> jonathan, you would director question -- >> talk about bipartisanship, one of the things my opponent has done, he says he will not join the blue dog coalition. obviously you are not willing to work within your own caucus. i talked to dennis kucinich about when he came to me about working on libya because the president violated the war powers act. or when i worked about that

congressional gold medal for marines. my legislative record shows plenty of bipartisanship. >> thank you. >> those are the examples you always point to. when you only have two examples, is a problem. i am a new democrat, a business democrat, fiscally irresponsible and socially acceptable. at the end of the day, i used to be republican. i'm focused on doing what is best for america, not focused on whether republicans, democrats, independents think. >> given the tone the race has taken, can you look across the table and say your opponent is unfit to be a member of congress? >> we have different views as part of what makes the congress so great is it is the people's

house. voters are not happy with the representation, they can vote to people out. at the end of the day it is up to the voters. i got into this race because i think our country is at a tipping point. we face serious challenges, and we need people who are serious about getting our country back on track. i will focus on protecting that middle class, protecting the promise to our seniors. >> when you talk about the fundamental principles, you want to call it extremism, but we talk about limited government. that comes from the declaration. talk about fiscal responsibility. your party has taken us to over $16 trillion debt. we talk about freedoms and sovereignty. when you look at what has proposed coming out of the democratic party to raise taxes, that only yields you $85 billion in new revenue.

it is not sustain the government for more than 21 days. that is the position you have signed on with. but we are talking about stabilizing tax rates. but are not talking about the capital gains tax. death taxes -- i have been talking to farmers. that will kill our industry. i have been talking to people as well, but you did not go to the north palm beach county chamber of commerce. >> we will talk about jobs. let's talk about the improving trends in florida. unemployment in palm beach county down to 9.2%. an improving trend. st. lucie county, 13.6% to 11.7%. democrats argue across florida

and the nation, the trend line is headed in the right direction and that is a powerful case for continuing democratic policies. your response? >> i think when you look at the governors in the states where you have seen unemployment decreasing, these are republican governors. they are putting in job- creating policies. if you look at the computation, a lot of the -- underemployed and had completely dropped off the rolls, that is 14.7%. when you drive up the highway, you see too many close to storefronts. business owners are concerned about too many things. onerous tax policies, lack of

access to capital. >> we have to look at where we were four years ago. we were bleeding over 800,000 jobs and month. the dow was cut in half. the housing market had just fallen. it's things are slowly coming around. people are upset in this district because we have not come out of this recession quicker. we are on the path to recovery. we have had over 31 straight months of job growth. the stock market has almost doubled. we got to continue down this path and not go to the failed policies of the bush administration that got us into this mess in the first place. >> both of you have talking points for either party. what is the biggest proposal you have congress or with local

businesses to create jobs in our congressional district? >> the most important thing is how we are going to get stability and certainty with tax and regulatory policies. small community banks are suffering from the unintended consequences of the dodd-frank. florida is number one for foreclosures. st. lucie county is in the top two of the counties in florida. >> what is your solution for your district to create jobs -- not about policies that have failed or succeeded in the past. what are you doing? >> congressman west is great at blaming people. i have created jobs. the first thing i would like to push forward is a piece of legislation that allows businesses to expensed 100% of

their investment in the first year. this is something that came out of the jobs bill, and it incentivizes companies to invest. companies are sitting on cash and they are not investing in. we need to incentivize them to do that. >> how about repatriation? one of the things we have been talking about this $4 trillion of capital to come back here. 37 pieces of legislation i have voted on is sitting on harry reid's desk. >> i am not there yet. >> let's move ahead to george. >> you mentioned you were a small businessmen. coastal construction group is one of the biggest general

contractors in south florida. your father is the ceo. your family members are on the executive board. you are a vice president. how does that make you a small businessman? >> i went to work at deloitte % touche and i spent years going to numerous companies looking for inefficiencies. i rejoined the family business, and i started a small affiliate company, and that was because of the bp oil spill. oil was quite a comedown our west coast. i was putting people to work in the gulf of mexico. that is a small business and is affiliated with a larger company. >> i am concerned about you continue to represent yourself as a cpa, but you are not certified or registered in florida, so you are misleading

people. that is a big concern that i have. we have to be truthful with people. when it comes to small business, i have sat on a small business committee. every person that comes up there, we have to get them stability with our tax code. we're talking about a flat tax. we cannot -- if we raise taxes on those top two brackets, that will kill small business. it will affect 2.1 small businesses in the united states. that is what i'm fighting to do. >> a rebuttal on this charge? >> i am a cpa, in colorado. i was endorsed -- i am an active member of the florida institute of cpa's.

not only a member, but they have endorsed my candidacy. i am a cpa in colorado. i have never hidden that. >> congressman west, you campaigned against the stimulus package that barack obama has touted throughout his tenure. explain what your alternative method would be to creating jobs. >> creation of jobs means we go to the creators and give them the right policies that enables them to grow. when you look at the $1 trillion we spent, unemployment was never supposed to go above 8%. it was above 8% for 43 straight

months. when you look at projections of the stimulus, which are supposed to be around 5.8% unemployment. we are still two full percentage points lower than where the project said it would be. this is not about government spending more money. i would have rather seen that money be put into the pockets of small business owners, the people that can go out and create opportunities to get these storefronts opened up. >> a response? >> repeat the question? >> you support or have said you support the stimulus package. outline why you are in support of that. >> we got to remember where we were when the stimulus was passed. the chairman of the fed said if

we did not act quickly there would be no economy next week. i was not there when the stimulus was passed, but something had to be done. something had to be done to get our country back on track. that would have in turn brought down the rest of the world's economy. what needs to be done is focusing on building roads, bridges, and schools right here at home. we need to expand lending. we need to create an environment conducive to job growth, where we can lay out a tax policy that is predictable for all businesses. here is what the regulatory environment is going to be, not to burdensome on small businesses. >> any follow-up? let's move on to the economy and flat taxes. we move on to economy, taxes, and the deficit, your math.

speak to the constituents in your case in district 18 and talk about why when this country collects $2.50 trillion in revenue, why do we need more? why do we need to tax anybody more and speak about your stand on the expiration of the bush tax cuts? >> i do not support raising taxes on the middle class. i am more conservative than those in the party. the bush tax cuts should be extended for those who make less than $1 million. i would draw a line at the million dollars. a lot of small businesses are s corporations.

we need major tax reform. i have seen what companies do and individuals do, and there are way too many loopholes. the fact that shell and ge are paying basically 0% in taxes, that is not sustainable. >> what kind of impact would that have in terms of revenue? >> right now we have a progressive tax code system. before we departed congress this fall, we passed legislation that said let's go to 25% and 10%. that is exactly what we need for small business owners. as you lower it those rates, you can reduce the amount of exemptions and deductions, and

we want to get that revenue increased. they will reinvest their money and hire more people. you look at capital gains taxes, going up to 25%. that is a killer. dividend taxes going up to 44%. many seniors live off of those dividends. the death tax will go up to 55%, the minimum. we need to get rid of the death tax. we need to allow the repatriation of capital. >> at what point do you say we need to have a mix between revenue cuts and tax increases? >> i am not going to go to the

people and talk about raising taxes until we get our act together. $300 billion of programs that are duplicative in washington. it is insidious what we are doing. it is not just about fighting wars because that was borrowed money. you should not count that. we need to look at those agencies that are not functioning properly. we need to look at since the 1970's large expansion of the federal government. >> the congressman said he would never raise taxes ever. we will have to reduce spending. we will have to increase revenues, go back to the clinton-era tax rates. we need economic growth, and that is where the focus needs to be. i support bringing down the tax

rate down to 20%. we need to make sure our tax scale is competitive. >> do you see that there is maneuverability in the tax proposals? >> in 2007, i signed it the grover norquist pledge. in 2010 i was asked to sign it again, and i did not. >> you changed on that? >> i do not believe we need to raise taxes at this time and i do not need to sign a pledge to do that. >> we have to be realistic about what we are going to do and make tough decisions. i talked to people who are affluent and they do not mind paying more.

>> we will continue the discussion about the economy, and whether the math really adds up for the deficit. we will look at some of the numbers, all of that on the other side of the debate. please stay with us. welcome back to the continuation of our debate. with us today, congressman allen west and patrick murphy. we will continue our discussion with george bennett. >> we left hanging on the deficit. you are opposed to raising

taxes. the deficit this past year was $1.1 trillion. if you are not going to raise taxes, what are the things you can cut to get close to erasing a $1.1 trillion deficit? >> we should be about $230 billion, but we have to look at agencies that were created that are not meeting up to their mission. you look at the department at energy that was created when i was a teenager. it was to make the united states energy independent. what has happened with that department over the last 40 years? we look at the expansion of the

government and education. when we separated education out of health, education, and welfare. we have spent more money at education at the federal government level, money that could have been used better at the local levels. we have to look at these duplicative programs. we have got to move away from baseline budget to zero-based budget. >> the gao had a study that counted 33 agencies that are doing the same thing. we need to streamline these agencies. seven are focused on businesses and trade. let's streamline them. we have attacked medicare fraud and abuse. we need to continue to do that, in all government agencies. i spent years going into numerous fortune 500 countries -- companies looking for these

inefficiencies. i plan using my government to find this week. >> can either of you give me any numbers? the department of energy? >> close to $85 billion. you are looking at a guy, never been in politics before, and i found three wasteful programs in the government. the combined savings of -- if every single member of the house was going and looking for wasteful programs, think about what that does. >> it is going to be a balanced approach. we need to look into it the tax code and go after deductions and loopholes that far too many corporations and individuals are getting away with. we need to make it a more fair playing field for companies.

>> i wanted to get a break with my producer's questions, up because we hear from candidates all the time about what we are going to find wasteful spending. this is a chart, the u.s. debt clock, and viewers can see it, you can look into the cameras with viewers. the u.s. national debt, $16 trillion and counting. also, as you look at that, you look at $3.5 trillion in spending this last fiscal year. you talk about programs you can cut, but it is clear the three biggest drivers are medicare, social security, and defense, six out of 10 federal dollars. what are the tough choices that

you are willing to make when it comes to prioritizing cuts in benefits or defense, because it is clear that the only three areas you can make substantive differences, and for the tea party, the people who put you in office, state how you would make the tough choices. where do you cut? >> you included the overseas contingency operations. now we are now out of iraq, that does not count. my opponent said he would not support. cut the defense budget over the next 10 years. it is the sequestration that i am against. 62% of the budget is net interest on the debt. one of the things, stop with a payroll tax cut gimmicks, because we are driving social

security into a deficit situation. we have to look at how we can reform and protect and preserve programs like medicare. >> a question for you, mr. murphy. any serious discussion to look at programs like this and serious cuts? where does it start? >> you cannot look at these three in a vacuum. it is a problem, and that is why i want to get the congress, because i think i can help out. you cannot look at it in a vacuum. each department needs to be looked at to find these inefficiencies. there is a report that said congress is continuing to approve spending for our military where the generals on the ground to not want. i support everything in the defense budget that will keep our men and women abroad safe.

when congress is continuing to issue programs and approved programs that generals do not want, that does not make sense. we need to look at all three departments. we have gone off after medicare, continue to cracking down and find more examples of this. >> a lot of people will be forgiven to say same old, same old, same old, presented with harsh numbers. if it was your household budget, you would look at the biggest items and say, which one? if you have to prioritize, which of those three do you start cutting first? >> i would start cutting on defense. i've cut $487 billion over the next 10 years. we have to look if you want to talk about a balanced approach, you got to look at the mandatory spending side, which

is 62% that we're not doing anything to, and that is where you have to have the courage -- medicare, medicaid, and social security. when you look at the constitution, our primary responsibility is to provide for the common defense. >> a good point to segue into medicare. >> we need people who are serious about solving problems. that is what this is about. president obama and john boehner sat at the table, and they almost had a grand bargain, but the tea party and my opponent would not let boehner make a deal. now we're left with the sequestration. with the looming cuts at the end of the year that our economy cannot sustain is because of the extremism.

>> sequestration was obama's idea. it had nothing to do with the house. i brought the legislation to the house floor to stave off sequestration. i am taking action. >> we are talking about spending cuts that will affect defense and social programs. it is a good point to start popping off on medicare and health care. your question goes to mr. murphy. >> we have seen different numbers on what the paul ryan plan would do in the fact to increase costs to seniors, anywhere from $6,350 to about $200 a month. what kind of number can we look at and say this is what a cut

will look like under this plan because of a large area of the budget that needs to be looked at? >> that is the kaiser family foundation study. under the ryan plan, 60% of seniors will face cost increases. this is something that needs to be addressed. under their plan, we end medicare as we know it. we need to reach across the aisle and ensure that medicare is there for generations to come. i was talking to seniors and you could see the fear in their eyes, worrying that medicare will be taken from them. we cannot let it happen. we need real solutions. under the affordable care act, they found inefficiencies and they have taken back away from insurance company executives, from the pharmaceuticals, and given it back to seniors, this

is what we need to do to bring down the long term cost curve that is driving our costs through the roof. >> we would now like congressman west to answer the question. >> when you look at the thing about ending medicare, that was debunked. medicare ends in 2024. courage means stepping up to do something. the premium support plan paul ryan has proposed is something that came from bill clinton and his administration. it is indexed toward income. it provides you with the same

health care plan that we are able to select as a government employee. what you see with the affordable care act, think about the mandate that came down two weeks ago, where seniors, if they were turned down by hospital, the hospital gets a fine. that is no way to treat seniors. >> we will have to stop. first, george will begin this cycle. >> on medicare, when you ran two years ago, you campaigned against the affordable care act and its cost reductions. you have been critical of that. when you voted for the ryan plan -- you have been critical, but the ryan plan also includes the $716 billion in savings. what is the difference? >> i have not voted to cut $716 million from medicare, but i

voted against the the 3% withholding tax, the medical loss ratio. the affordable care act act is a tax law. there are 24 new taxes. we find out the individual mandate is a tax. we have financial transaction taxes, medical device texas -- these things were created for people to be able to earmark their income and it is now taxed. you also get 16,000 to irs agents that will be monitoring electronic records. that is not how we repair health care. i wrote an op-ed piece talking about free market solutions. one of those key things is tort reform. talk to any doctor, catastrophic litigation is their biggest problem. >> congressman, you're not being honest. when you voted for the ryan

plan, you voted to take $716 billion. i've never been in congress. let's be clear. this is future savings under the democratic version. they found waste, inefficiency and fraud, over-payments to insurance companies they are getting back to seniors through annual treating and closing down the hall. the difference here is -- closing the doughnut hole. the difference here is paul ryan top the seven and $16 billion was a good idea -- thought the $716 billion was a good idea. there is a big difference when it comes to the $716 billion. >> the affordable care act that

we were told would be $940 billion, is now $1.4 trillion. have you ever spoken to the palm beach society of health- care underwriters? these are the agents driven out of business. you are forcing more business to larger insurance companies. the treasury called -- treasure coast is getting hit with cuts, not because they are inefficient. >> i did speak to aarp, and they do not like the ryan plan. let's talk about the seniors. with the affordable care act, we have added eight years of life to the program. it is a step in the right direction. we need to make these baby steps to continue to improve it.

the affordable care act was not perfect. no piece of legislation is perfect. let's focus on how to improve it going forward. >> a conversation that will continue on the other side of the break. back with more on theback now wl debate, covering parts of palm beach, 10 -- county and saint lucie county. your question for the covers the -- congressman. >> the paul ryan plan has an option to continue in the normal medicare plan. explain how that is possible given that we are talking about how much costs we are associated with the program that we need to cut. >> if you allow people to have the option of whether they want their own insurance plan, or a medicare plan, eventually it does end bending the cost curve. this country should be