grade you didn't tell me we were going to go back to 1972. question,ng to ask a as to policy and how they felt about the vietnam war. or did you beat your wife lately? i want you to come in and answer the questions of the philosophy that you had then. you do not talk about how during the eisenhower administration, we were the very people that the nixon people were supposed to. you don't want to say anything about angst of that nature. my opinion is this. well and on that challenge these people and challenged their americanism. it is the lowest thing i've ever seen in my 32 years in congress.

>> mr. speaker, if i may reclaim my time. let me say, first of all -- >> i move we take the speaker -- down. from 35 yearsghts of house coverage on our facebook page. sees been created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service. >> the lead palestinian , calledor, saeb erekat on benjamin netanyahu to call on a solution to the palestinian conflict. he is introduced by jane harman. >> and the security in this building. backus to welcome someone

who is a wonderful friend of the wilson center. i am jane harman the president and ceo, a recovering politician and someone who cares very deeply about the work that saeb erekat is doing. tracking the ever shifting tectonic plates of the middle east. signaturef of our ground troops featured experts in hotspots around the globe. commented on breaking news and , serious, egypt, iran ia, and the middle east process. there have been 63 events in the last year alone. that program is keenly interested in the latest leg of the peace process. two weeks ago on the sidelines

visit,amin netanyahu's we hosted a chief negotiator here at the center, as well is the minister of intelligence. as a member of the u.s. congress over 17 years, i traveled more than 25 times to the region, and i continued to visit. i just invited myself to saeb home next year, along with my large family. i was in gaza in 1998 when they removed the provision of the charter, calling for the elimination of israel. saeb erekat was there too. dennis ross who was just a few feet away from me was crying. we all thought that peace was at hand. since then, there've been countless missed opportunities. i strongly believe, this is my personal view that without a two state solution, both sides lose. israel forfeits her legitimacy as a jewish democracy.

especially once the ball to within the borders becomes the majority. the arab peace initiative has been on the table since 2002. b calls one ofe the greatest missed opportunity so far. one of the people on the small list of the most important people, keeping the dream of a two state solution afloat is our friend and the palestinian authority's lead negotiator, saeb erekat. this is a second visit to the wilson center and is only, thank you, major address. was born in 1955 and still lives in the same house in jericho. he is a consummate scholar and policymaker. he began a career as a professor

of political science at the national university. and as aaron david miller has friend, saeb erekat has seen it all and remains a champion of the palestinian narrative. he has remained a constant. the last time he was here, he said, my tv is one line, to go --eting with the israelis negotiating with the israelis. we agree. we hope to add another line soon or replace it with another line soon. or within other words soon. that word is, peacemaker. saeb decided not to make opening remarks. startd, he wants to

a conversation. following that, we will take your questions. i want to recognize the league hereab stage who is somewhere. who is not here. yes, he is. there he is. welcome, mr. ambassador. now, let me turn the program over to two very special people. >> thank you. >> thank you for your leadership. we have known each other for a very long time. , through the oslo david,, through camp through the collapse of camp david, through the darkest years of the palestinian confrontation.

had our arguments, disagreements, and we have led -- yelled at each other. shed a few tears. know, you to maintained a relentless belief conviction.ry i agree with that, as well. it is the notion that, only through negotiation, as imperfect and in flood as the processes can be conflict be resolved. negotiations are not perfect. they are based on human weakness and frailty. they are based on the need to make extraordinary decisions. and force people to give up dreams and aspirations. they are imperfect. as i get older, i realize, the peace process, like old age, is a very imperfect thing, but it

beats the alternative. my real concern, frankly, and my own analysis has been quite sober on these matters for some years now. my real concern is the idea that talking and negotiating cannot resolve the conflict. one that wille is bring challenges for all of us. your willfulness and stubbornness, and conviction, has made you a formidable part of the negotiations. you are present the palestinian narrative, but with the capacity to understand the needs of the other side. i want to welcome you once again, saeb erekat, to the wilson center. i will start with the obvious. what can you tell us about the meeting with barack obama yesterday?

>> thank you. i look forward to seeing you in jericho. i have many grandchildren now. >> i am ahead of you. [laughter] >> i think the meeting was , and long.ficult contrary to what people expected would come out of this with an official document, this did not happen. we are still at the stage of but i think nos, one benefits more from the success of obama and kerry then

the palestinians. we really want to do it. i am doing this for me. i am not doing a favor. palestinians to have a state of their own. 2014, 27 house finance died of starvation. this happens in 2014. it is becoming difficult to be a palestinian. ry toker bama succeed. that means that palestinians will have a home to come to. these nine months,

we have until april 29, will bring with it the solution. it can be done. it can be done. >> what is the expectation? you mentioned there was a sense that maybe, out of the meeting would come a piece of paper or formal document. what is the expectation on your side, with respect to what the americans will put on the table? >> i hope that americans will put on the table something that is fair, and i hope that the americans, you know better than anybody else, i discussed this with you as an american format and peacemaker. the day the americans will from the square of what is needed, we make no. what is possible is what the israeli prime minister can do and cannot do. this, they come

to us trying to convince us of their idea. you know the story. i hope that the americans today will move in the direction of what is needed. >> it is really two states. organized the state of .srael's right to exist i hope the prime minister of israel will stand tall and say i recognize the right of palestine to exist, so that palestine and israel can live in peace and security. the irony is that when we began the negotiations on july 29, i think it has been 7.5 months. 10,000 housing settlement units. and is supposed to be a palestinian state? four times the natural growth of new york?

wait to kilo's in jericho and 100 kilos in washington. i really cannot. you need to have your constituency believe that you can do this. why the dictation? why the settlement activities? why the demolishing of homes? i agree with you that the most important thing for palestinians and israelis to realize is that negotiating in peace and frustration for five years is cheaper than exchanging bullets for five minutes. when people we cannot solve our -- it is a talking disaster. it is a nightmare. the palestinians do not want to do this. and what is this? it is going to be two states.

i'm the most disadvantaged negotiator in history. i have no army, no navy, no air force. i do not stand a chance. and who said life is about fairness and justice? i am out there. i recognize the state of israel right to exist. 2014 i havel today, not heard any is really say america recognizes the palestinian right to exist. it is just showing and saying bad things about me and smearing mean. it is time for decisions. do the israelis see us as their neighbors? do they want to live and let live? do they want to have two state solutions? care less ifess --

someone is palestinian or israeli. those who are for peace want a two state solution. that this american administration, and look there is a different cell. kerry is different. >> i was going to ask about that. >> ask me. [laughter] >> you dealt with many u.s. presidents and secretaries of state. >> it is time to move on. [laughter] >> i was taller before he started this. how is kerry different? >> i have known john kerry for 26 years. number one, he knows me inside out. i cannot play games with him. he knows us inside out.

he is a man who is really a believer in the two state solution. he has no doubts whatsoever it can be done. the difference today is that yemen, the middle east is changing. it is different than the middle east you saw me in a few years ago. and yet, mr. kerry believes that the key to stability and region is a this solution to the palestinian as it really -- and is really process. he does not believe it begins there. he believes the region it's peace between palestinians and israelis.

you do not need to have the apple from a cart. mutually agreed swaps and so on. that the second element that the region needs is democracy. are notho says arabs for democracy is racist. this is a, nation of delivering the middle east toward stability of delivering a middle east toward stability. he's a firm believer of that. >> one more question about the americans then we will go to the audience questions. , as well site, that the traditional -- and i say this with ultimate detachment and objectivity -- and the american strategy in negotiation, at least since the first bush administration, has been to operate in the arena of the possible, not in the arena of what is required.

our traditional method of operating has been to take israeli ideas, alter and change them, and try to market them. i am just reporting here. it is not a moral judgment. it is simply an accurate assessment of the way that american peace teams of operated. there may be legitimate reasons for all of this. it is your point of departure. i would like you to come in for a minute. is the administration operating in the area of the possible rather than in the area of what is actually required to reach an agreement? if so, how do you reconcile that with praise for the secretary? because, at least with president obama and secretary

kerry, i'm allowed to speak about what is possible first is what is required. we discussed about it. i do not believe that the u.s. border is canada, mexico and the two oceans. the world has shifted. the borders or sometimes with iran, turkey, china the gulf, serious, egypt. the function roles of nations has changed. what do you want to do? the possible does not get us anywhere. it does not get us anywhere. i told you my situation. and i know that israel has 3000 tanks. nuclear weapons. and they have options. number one, is my option could two states, live and let live.

believewo, if israelis they want to call my hometown the hebrew name for they can talk to me that it. i have a racist. i'm recognizing in 1967. accepted the swaps. it exempted many things that i cannot elaborate on now. and they're still building settlements next to my bedroom in jericho. your actions on the ground, there is no such thing as a one state solution. reality a one state being created by the situation on ground. we cannot do this.

oneore wrong when they say state solution. there can never be a one state solution. israel will never accept a one state solution. eye-opener. people might listen to what i say. there are things i cannot use as a palestinian. only israelis can use. muslims, christians, blacks, can be racist. withpeople fight bigotry sociality, economic tools. it is not good for any society. what are the options?

what do they want to do with me? three --im to walk -- mer my hometown through my whole town. [indiscernible] and once they finish negotiations, coming yohere. then they start a smear campaign and blaming. i believe this american administration is showing some genuine move toward what is needed good but i will not be a will to answer the question without seeing the product. >> two more questions. then we will go to the audience. one concerns israel. the other palestinians. the history is the history of

transform talks. bones.he breaker aron disengaging from gaza. is the current prime minister of israel a potentially transforming talker? is he able to make the kind of choices necessary, forget the peace agreement, but at least advancing this agreement to the next phase. >> i saw him one year ago. , stops to me like this smearing me. i tell them, repeat after me. states, 1,9,6,7.

>> he could not say it. he could not utter these numbers did i have not heard him. i do not know of anyone has heard him saying that i except to state the 1967. bring him someone to have him under these numbers. i was there in washington when he was speaking to the conference. and then i seen him saying that they're going to be a part of israel. what is that? he has to make up his mind. he really has to make up his mind. i'm not going to get into the blame game here. i know that our labor pains of taken us a much. i'm not comparing this conflict with any other conflict. this conflict is about history

and religion. this is difficult for me in them. at the end of the day, it is time for decisions. yes, i do this and that. it is time for the israeli prime minister to start preparing these people for what it takes to make peace. i have not done this. none of them have done this. and i really urge him to stand toward this. just the neighbors. we brought 200 israeli students in. speak to them, prepare them. 300 week, we brought in houston and students. speak to them.

two states, 1967. agreed swaps. thatday i wake up and hope there will be 300 israeli and palestinian students to say, i am on board. i want to bring the two state solution from 1967. he didn't do that. ok, final question. i was this question a lot and you're here. i will ask again. israelis and palestinians have masters of the blinking. -- blame game. line from the man in the mirror for michael jackson. >> man in the mirror. >> he said you want to make a change, you really want to make a change? the place to start is by looking in the mirror. now, i believe that song. i really do believe that.

we have all taken long looks. what we've done right, what we've done wrong. if i were to ask you, if you were to look in the mirror come as a palestinian, how would you critique your own approach to these negotiations? what responsibility, and i know party in theeaker negotiation, and you are the one owner occupation. and you are living it. if you could attach yourself for mama, what is it you would've changed? have palestinians made no mistakes during the course of the negotiations? me, ifink it will take i'm going to count palestinian mistakes, it will be a long, long list.

look, we are a young authority. very young. younger than 20 years old. i am colic. when mistakes happen, it is not that when i wake up in the -- i'm doing it because i don't know otherwise. you make mistakes. they are a nation of 2000 years, and they make mistakes. situation, i am palestinian authority. i cannot leave my hometown jericho without the permission of the israeli commander. i have complexities in every part of the transformation i'm going through. mistakes can be my life in the situation. i am not excusing myself. but, are we learning from our mistakes? yes, we are. are we making mistakes?

we are making mistakes. we woke up one morning and thought we were perfect grade we justot perfect good we are like the israelis, and nigerians, and argentinians. we're normal people. we have good people. we have bad people. we cannot be perfect. so stop looking at me and expecting me to be perfect. that is the irony of things. israelis and americans when they speak to me they have the expectation that i will be perfect you are perfect and why did you do this? why did you do this? i am not perfect grade but we have come a long way. and we are coming along way. and i know palestine will come back. we will not compromise. the democracy, human rights, accountability, prosperity, overflow, women's rights, that is what palestine will be about. the stakes will be committed. people will misuse their

offices. that will not stop. but i can assure you, that we are not going to hide it did you're going to hear about it. >> thank you, saeb erekat. >> i see jane harman's hand up. >> my grandchildren are perfect. >> i agree. [laughter] you.ank yours are, too. wonderful conversation but hamas.mentioned a word, many people here are for a two state solution but not for a three state solution. what are the plans to reconcile, whatever the right word is, to annex -- the russian word of the day -- or some other way to make

part of the palestinian side in this negotiation? >> they are a political party. it must be a state with one authority with the reload law. this is on me, right? -- it must be one state with one authority and the rule of law. we want to have that reconciliation and there is only one way to do this. differ,itical parties they resort to ballot boxes, not to bullet boxes. hamas understand this. -- must understand this. resolve withr, we

ballots and not bullets. was a dark day when hamas made the coup d'état in gaza. hamas must understand that we have an obligation, one authority, one gone, the rule of law. we are moving. i'm not saying it's done. in 2006 toi was did be on the legislative council. the first time in 40 years, we are in the minority.

it was a lower level position. i remember the day i told him. are not the prime minister of hamas. you are my prime minister. you are the people's prime minister. please act as such. some of -- separate between these roles. he changed the name of his country yet he committed to all of the obligations of this country. so do governments who came after with the opera sees, autocracies, coups. i was sincere and telling him that he was the prime minister of all palestinians. he chose to tell me since he won the election that the u.n. must sign the charter so i had to respond to him that day,

democracy worked and hamas failed. i hope that hamas will accept our logic that when we differ, we go back to the people. are elections and these are the only way to have consideration. >> thank you. i've only known you 23 years. good to see you. >> you knew me when i was 13 years old. i know. [laughter] >> when we both had dark hair. explain to us what the big deal is about calling israel a jewish state. theeems to me if that is only price you still have to pay to get your state that it that it's not just a big price and it is implicit and and everything that the plo has accepted in all of the years. thank you. >> we have a question about

hamas, john kerry, and now the jewish state. number one. i do not talk to the israelis tell them howand to define themselves. they defined themselves in any way they want, but i promise you, barbara, i would never interfere in their basic law, constitution, or seek for them to. that is number one. number two, i agree that we have a range of issues and we define neighbors, security. no one can bring in anything without negotiations. three years ago they decided to introduce the jewish state. as individuals, we have

objectivity. my mom went to the minister of health and they addressed my name on the birth certificate. they also have a birth u.n..icate dated at the it is named the state of israel. they call themselves the state of israel. i do not deny their right to .xist september 13, 1993. recognize that i do not know what they were thinking but israelis cannot deny the fact that i have my own narrative. i have my religion. i have my story. i must ask them to believe in this.

we believend up and in the palestinian narrative. i come from jerico. built thousands of years before it was known and then my hometown of jerico. that is my narrative. i'm not asking them to come and sign this narrative than that the wall of my hometown became something. i believe this story. don't ask me to change my narrative. recognizesk me to israel as a jewish state, they are asking me to change my narrative. now it is jewish land. i was intruding on this land. that's another case, not my story. and howng to interfere israel defines itself in its

books, constitution, and so on? i don't know if there are any israelis in this room. what does her nationality say on your past port? i do not think christians,, muslims. i think it says israel he. right?-- i think it says israeli. it defines nationality as israeli. say jewish, me to muslim, christian? sometimes, we say, what can we create for saeb erekat to say no to and smear him? that's what they do to me. the second story they come to me

that theme constituents are security and we must stay there for how many years. you have a border with jordan, for god's sake thomas south and north of jerico, 510 kilometers. the threat will come from your border with jordan and not from my hometown of jerico. why is it that whenever you palestinians you insinuate that? let's talk about what we are here to discuss and that is what we can do. then israel can define itself in its textbooks and constitutions, whatever they want to say. i will not interfere with that. >> did you have a question? taking you back to hamas and gaza.

what do they understand under the two state solution or are they 100% against a two state solution. >> i'm not a hamas spokesperson but i know they want two governments one by when they own their elections and another with us. they said the political negotiations was under the jurisdiction of the plo. once an agreement is reached it must be put to a national referendum. you know what? i accept that. we except the state of 1967. they don't say that they recognize israel. they have their own vocabulary, their own technology. as i told you, i am under .bligation when the state of palestine was

born, it was a state. one authority, one gun, the rule of law. this is my obligation. i believe once an agreement is that hamas wanting to put it to a national referendum is a fair demand and we will do that. andink it is for the best it will pass with a huge majority. i'm a palestinian journalist in town. i think congresswoman harman should list you -- visit you very soon. having said this, i want to ask you about the ongoing negotiation. you said yesterday and you repeated today that basically there is no document, no proposal, nothing in hand, all it is is conversation. are you telling us that this has been no more than a conversation

yo? how is this different than the time he negotiated with mr. miller 20 years ago? >> when i say we don't have an mean,al document yet i stating a fact, that the americans have not submitted to us in the official document. to submit an official document, we need more discussion. when we have discussion, i'm not saying that these discussions are meaningless. to reach a document, you need discussion. we are talking very seriously, you,in-depth and as i told no one -- maybe you don't want to believe me, but i believe this is a palestinian negotiator, but no one benefits this ban you and i and no one loses more if they fail

than us. we hope and we are doing everything possible to ensure about it conversations and the subject of the settlement was there. president obama showed him the extent of what happens since we in july. it's a very ugly map. this was supposed to be the land of the palestinian state. the israeli government at foured settlements times the natural growth of new york city. it's putting me in a very difficult situation convincing palestinians that it's doable. we need to keep the hope alive. that's the most important element of what we are doing.

i hope that we can continue ouring so we can achieve joint endeavor by the end of february and i hope before that even. now, we are going to have to isk about another day which march 29. march 29 is the date where israel is obliged to do so. we paid for this with the meeting with mr. john kerry. we committed not to go to the agencies and talk about conventions for nine months and senator netanyahu agreed to give us prisoners. thise you will honor because i'm hearing from the israeli ministers that it is not encouraging. the question to any palestinian would be if mr. netanyahu cannot deliver an agreement, do you

expect to believe us that you will deliver on jerusalem border crucialnts? it's very that the israeli government on .s its commitment it is separate from the agreed not tot we go to the human agency protocols and conventions for nine months. when i came under attack from my colleagues, i believe it is worth it. giving peace a chance is worth it. it's worth it. people in politics have their choice. they can take the comfortable position or the right position. i know this will take the comfortable position. i don't think they will make a

difference in their movement in the societies. i have that march 29 will be a day of honor and obligation with the israelis. >> third row here. >> with the national defense university. said theyt, you cooked up a deal with israelis and brought it to you, present company excluded. changedeel that it has now or that it is somewhat the ase? >> i feel a difference this time. obama is someone who is genuinely trying to achieve between thenge palestinians and israelis. solution to the

palestinian-israeli conflict. we know. we know that we do not have something like what these people used to do. they would come to us. today, the difference is there. i hope that once the end product is brought to the table that it will reflect american ideas. that is the key to success. needed? what is required? what is fair? and relationships between humans, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, if we miss it the term -- miss the term

"fair," nothing will work. no relation can be sustained without an amount of fairness. what we need from this president , what we need from the secretary, who has done more than anyone else. until march6, 2013 17, yesterday, this man held 46 meetings with president abbas, 27 meetings with me on my team, more than 100 meetings. and he says the secretary has his full backing. we want them to succeed. success means fairness and what is needed. let us hope for that.

>> yes? wait for the microphone. >> thank you for being here today. i'm a student at georgetown university. that johnned earlier kerry genuinely believes that peaceful relations between the israelis and palestinians will lead to changes in the middle east. do you also believe that? "peaceful relations" as israel has with egypt and jordan ultimately also lead to changes in the middle east or would people not take that as seriously? come at this question from three dimensions. any solution could be whatever people want to say.

look what egypt went through in the past three years. stood.aty with israel whatever happened in the middle east, jordan, the peace treaty with israel, there was also changes of ideology in egypt, changes of inking. there was a muslim brotherhood president who accepted the conditions. the second i mentioned is for israel to understand that bilateral is him works and unilateralism failed. of course it did not work. time andthe test of with gaza and lebanon, we went

down. amber three, i believe that fair peace agreement between palestinians and israelis will culturehe course of the in the middle east. as jane said in the beginning, there is a document called the arab peace initiative which, in my opinion, is the most advanced strategic document since 1948. it's very simple. 1967 borders and they will have full, normal relations with israel. this document was authored by a saudi king and that is the most important element in this. it has the full backing of arab and muslim countries. >> we have time for one additional question, i think. >> thank you.

i think the elephant in the room, namely the right of return , because when you speak about rejecting the idea of a jewish state, both palestinians and the arab league have tied it with the position that every palestinian in the world, millions of descendents of refugees can come back into the state of israel. one of the reasons it in rejected is because you don't want to get up -- give up this right of return. this is what makes it important from an israeli perspective and i'm curious to see what how you would respond to this israeli concern. i think the refugee issue is a core issue and we have an agreement with israelis all the time. nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

i did not speak about jerusalem today, if you notice. i did not speak about security. i did not talk about border modifications. i did not speak about any of the core issues because i'm not talking about what is going on behind closed doors because if john kerry gets mad, he really gets angry. i don't want to do that. refugees is being negotiated on the table. i know that we cannot sign on .his without agreeing believe me, there are issues that they will not even look at the document without.

if i was an israeli coordinator, i would talk about the end of conflict and the end of claims. , this isd of the day at the heart of the core negotiations. israel to signng anything they don't agree on. this is the difference for negotiations. this is not putting me on the corner, blaming me. i don't want to be part of defining your nature. number ofoverwhelming committees trying to talk about putting my nose in your affairs. >> i think we reached the end of our time. for coming to the

wilson center again. --haps next time you come you will get an invitation to come and you will come back. i want to thank all of you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] at 8:00 p.m. eastern, russian president vladimir putin speaking to a joint session of the russian parliament and with the sweep of his pen adding crimea to the map of russia today. we followed his comments with secretary of state john kerry at a town hall meeting that college students this afternoon. he says russia is "on the wrong side of history here of that begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. reince priebus today said the midterm elections will be a sin

on me for the gop. he answered questions from reporters this morning at a breakfast hosted by "the christian science monitor." we will follow that by questions answered today by the democratic chairman debbie wasserman schultz. >> it looks like we're all here, so i will start. our guest this morning is reince priebus, chairman of the public and national committee. his last meeting was in april 2011. we welcome him back and we wish him happy birthday. our guests seem destined for a career in politics. he and his wife sally's first date was at a lincoln day dinner to hear speeches from harry hyde . with a beginning like that, it must be true love. he earned his bachelors at wisconsin whitewater. he worked as a staffer in the wisconsin legislature before moving to warmer climates to

earning with education his law degree from the university of miami. he practiced corporate law and ran unsuccessfully for the wisconsin senate and in 2007 elected chairman of the wisconsin republican party, the undiscovered to hold that job. in 2009, he became general counsel of the rnc and in 2011 elected chair. he was reelected january 2013. thus ends the biographical portion. recitationhe ritual of ground rules. we are on the record. no live blogging or tweeting, other means of filing, while the breakfast is underway. there is no embargo when this ends. if you would like to ask a question, do the traditional thing and send me a subtle nonthreatening signal and i will attend to one and all. we will do opening comments and then do questions around the table.

thanks for joining us. >> thank you, david. thank you for being here today. i appreciate the invitation. i just want to begin today by are of capturing where we as a national committee by telling you about a person named aurora. she's a republican field staffer in colorado. her job and her title is asian coalition regional director of colorado. her mission is connect a new community with your publican party so that in november they can be proud to cast their votes for our republican ticket. she's been on the ground since september last year, much earlier than feel staffers like her are usually hired. she was not alone. following the release and the growth and opportunity report, we committed ourselves to a permanent coast-to-coast, year-round ground game. we immediately began locating and hiring field staff all

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important to each individual donor. we have been improving how people can access the data to provide it back to us. our new roster and relationship management tools, the gop beacon, makes it easier to download and see the data. the new api allows committees, candidates, and vendors to receive our data automatically and send it back to us in real time to ensure that we recruit the best talent to develop the best tools to launch the start ups i'll -- start up style initiative and we opened a field office in silicon valley. in addition to all of these new s, they have aservic playbook with information on important surrogates as well as

access to training, research, social media for help. this is not just one person's story. it is a story of our field staffers, field director's hispanic, black, asian american engagement staffers, data directors all across the country to help our staff, state parties . everyone between the rnc and the ground, data directors to help assist the direction and the use of this data. we have hundreds of staff fanned out across the country especially in midterm state supporting candidates and growing the party. today, 91% of our entire staff is not at the rnc and washington . they are outside. ofy support whole teams precinct captains. we have 12,000 captains right

now nationwide. they have teams of volunteers whose job it is to maintain lasting relationships with sets of people in their communities. listening to their concerns, making sure they hear issues that these voters care about. the is done alongside of state parties and sister committees and that is why we have invested millions in the state parties. weaddition to groundwork, are looking ahead and changing the 2016 primary process. we have hand-picked moderators conventions, stronger nominees. it has been one year since we have announced the first actions in response to the growth and opportunity project and today i can report, and i hope you can tell, that we have fundamentally do business at the rnc. this is just a snapshot. we have a lot more work to do.

i think about the changes we have made at the committee with full-time field operations, a massive investment in data and , the obvious reshaping of our primary process, the debate calendar, we have taken a 14 state message across the country that we are unveiling that speaks to what it means to be a republican. i'm sure you saw that there we put out the other day. it's going to be a lot of work to run a nationwide operation that does not quit, just does not show up five months ahead of time. like vince lombardi said, the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary. i believe that. i believe you are seeing some of

the changes we have made up the rnc come to fruition. >> i will do one or a two and then we will go around the table. >> let me ask you about republicans and women. singled out as a key demographic in your growth and opportunity program. president obama had a 36-point victory over romney among single women. today inst points out an article, 59% of women surveyed in a recent cnn poll said the republican party does not understand women. in terms of women running for office, in 2012 there were 108 and this year only 74. why is the progress slow? is it slow, if so why? >> as a national committee, we are taking steps to unite the

district committees in training women across the country. share and date, our cochair, i'm not sure if many of you have met her but she goes full time around the country in recruiting and training women everywhere. we have a program that we has put together with other committees, the senatorial committee, the congressional committee, the rga, training women, recruiting candidates across the country. our job at the committee level is to put together the best field operation that mccann can which also means recruiting and identifying young women to become campaign operatives, trained them, promote them and either put them in the field working with candidates or maybe promote women to run for office so there are more republican women that are running. isould say though that there a little bit of laziness on the

part of people who want to claim that simply do republican party has some kind of woman problem. we basically have a single woman problem under 35. when you talk about women over 35, married women, women with , why does the democratic party have so many problems in their engagements with married women or women with children? you can spin this any way you want. torecognize that we need speak to single women under 35. it's a demographic issue we want to do better with. you might note that canada to ccinelli did ken cu better than mitt romney with the women in virginia. there is some slicing and dicing going on. at the committee level, we are trying to do our best in improving our position with

women under 35. it's going to take work. it will not happen overnight. we are working on it. you will see some success especially with obama care being on the table and issues like which bode well for the republican party. >> a bunch of people in the room would like to hear your latest update on convention cities. if you could make an announcement, that would be really helpful. friday, denver, las -- i'mand cincinnati sorry, dallas, cincinnati, and las vegas will be at the rnc because they could not make the official call back because of the snow we had about 10 days ago. we had eight cities who bid on the convention. four years ago we had three. there's a lot of interest in the convention. i'm not sure because it's going

to be an open seat or with the increase is all about in the interest. .aising money is difficult we are excited about where we are going. i don't have any news for you, but we will make the announcement on what city we will pick in august. that might be something there you have not heard. my guess is that we are going to probablywn the cities to three sometime in may or june, then two, then the announcement in august. we will probably have the convention on one or two start dates, june 27 or july 18. those are my guesses for the start dates. >> bill douglas. but last week, paul ryan some critical comments about the work ethic. >> become for the people in the

back. ryan made some comments critical of the work ethic of inner-city men in. in articulately but he is still meeting with the black caucus. do you think congressman ryan's comments hurt your recruitment efforts because the rnc is working to increase african-american participation? do you think there is a problem with the work ethic of inner-city men? last point.r as far as whether it hurts our paults, i think that admitted that he was an articulate. i would just circle back to you and say why was paul talking about this issue? is devoting a large part of his to come up with, i would say, message, policy, political approaches, all the above, to

help tackle policy in this country. i think we would've these agree is a civil rights leader in this country. he is a protége of jack cap -- jack kemp/ he has a heart of gold in this area tackling issues regarding poverty. he made his comments because he's devoting part of his life to this issue and it is commendable. we need more of it in our party. these are things that we would like to promote across the country. eric cantor has been speaking a lot about this. marco rubio has been speaking a lot about this. know, paul ryan does as well. i think it just illustrates the fact that we have party leaders that are venturing into areas that i think our party should venture into, the war on poverty.

>> the window looks very good for republicans in the senate with a lot more options out there. what would republicans do with control of the senate? in the long-term picture, is a good for the party in 2016? how could you possibly satisfy the republican or conservative base with president obama's role in the white house? is not exactly your question, but there is no other way to look at 2014 other than if we win the united states senate edits a home run for the republican party. it just is. i suspect that we will win the majority in the senate. i don't think there is any other narrative other than it's a big win for the republican party. i think i understand your point though. there is very different analysis

in regards to our party as it relates to mid terms and presidential elections. there's no doubt that our record had a pretty good in midterm elections and a poor record when it comes to presidential elections. we are trying to address both. would've to your final point in a second. i think i know what exactly your question is but i do want to say that as a national committee, we cannot get to becoming a better presidential party unless i can build the tools, the data, the infrastructure right now in 2014 to test what we are doing in a broad fashion, measure the success that we can build on the ground whether it be talking to voters, data, absentee ballot program unless i can beta test everything we're doing in 2014, and that is our intention and we

are doing it in an unprecedented way that you've never seen the rnc do before. i do think that that if you have a republican senate that you have a much greater opportunity to box the president and on issues you don't have an opportunity if you cannot get a bill on his desk. i think that's right and i also think that i'm not going to speak for mitch mcconnell or the leadership in the house, but i do think that harry reid made a big mistake in this nuclear option ordeals that he pulled off over the last several months and you have to be careful what you pray for, i guess. you, mr. chairman. following up on the previous question, many people have applauded the national party for encouraging people for running in the senate notably

congressman gardner in colorado and, very likely, former senator scott brown in new hampshire. is theother hand, there proverbial argument from some of the grassroots that the national party should not be involved in the recruitment status. they're picking nominees ahead of time before they vote and trying to edge others out. i've heard that from people i have spoken to in colorado and just yesterday in new hampshire. where do you draw the line on encouraging candidates and a pre-primary involvement? >> we don't get involved pre-primary without a rule 11 letter. other committees made, john. the entirees on actions of everything republican in the world. we have to have a rule 11 letter signed which is a letter that three voting members of each

state of the state affected with have to sign in order for us to get into a particular state to give direct help to one candidate over the other. i will put that aside, but i do be a that there ought to role for the party and recruiting the best possible candidates that can be recruited. that may mean multiple candidates to be recruited. a problemink there's in saying i think you want to so that wening here make sure that in the field of options we have somebody that is in the best position to win a general election. i guess i can go either way on that question but as a matter of clarification, the rnc cannot get involved in the direct benefit of one candidate over another.

>> the three members, for example, in wisconsin when the state party came in, scott walker ran against congressman mark newman. thatdorsed scott walker in election but we had a rule 11 letter signed by me and the two committee members from wisconsin which then enabled everyone to directly benefit scott walker primer to the primary election -- prior to the primary election. >> i would like to take you back to the opening statement and all of your efforts on gathering data on voters i can recall both parties boasting about this some years ago. they were saying that they have files on voters that contained 175 data points on each voter. you seem to be happy to be taking it to a new level and i

wanted to ask you about your resources. we are in an era of big data that has some people nervous about how it's being used by .ntelligence agencies how sophisticated has your own operation become? how many data points do you have on your voters? what is it that you can do with his information? >> generally we have 300 points of data we can decide on voters across the country. however, i will say in some states, it is more so than others. just think about it. if you have a national party that shows up once of a four years in 10 states across america and spent $600 million, those 10 states in that data would be a lot greater than states you do not play in a whole lot. just imagine how sophisticated

the data might be in ohio, right? as compared to maybe idaho. from the republican standpoint, direct data, to your point, back ,n the terry mcauliffe days direct data is not the biggest problem. if you wanted to know from me everyone who votes at least once every two years, female with one over $40,000 per year and lives in this is it code and has ever taken on a hunting license or anyone in that household in wisconsin, in 10 seconds i can get you that list. that's not the issue. what i want to know is if john let's say he's in alexandria and we figure out that for whatever reason, he is only at about a six out of 10 intensity supporter for mitt romney. ?ho are his immediate neighbors

maybe he is on the boys and girls club of alexandria and i found three people around his life that are nines or tens for mitt romney and i'm going to get those to talk to john because he's going to listen to them more than is going to listen to some guy named reince priebus or any guy calling him from the volunteer center. one might facebook, one might e-mail, one might walk -- knock on his door. i'm trying to put together a platform to get to the influencers of my prime target. up and asks if you would make 10 calls for mitt romney between now and election day? would you give $10 between now and election day? it is not just the data. are the people who got their insurance canceled the?

who are the influencers of those people you're hoping to turn out? that takes a tremendous amount of work on the ground. you have your handheld devices and you're interviewing people door to door, sending and real-time information back to this data center and it is up rating and real-time with an open api, that is the type of hard work. what are we doing? that's the type of stuff that has to happen in order to capture and execute in 2016 across the country. it's got to take time. like so many people are worried about the nsa doing it. -- >> so many people are worried about the nsa. >> i'm not assuming with the nsa is doing or not. things but i'm not reviewing your e-mails. i can find out if you've taken

out a hunting license or not. .t's all public information it's 20 years of fieldwork we've gathered over time. at the republican party wisconsin, every single house race, governors race, all of that data over every voter that has been taken is in a file. that's the type of stuff we're talking about. census data, too. you can get it. you can buy it. i have two questions. want to continue on the field. you do really well in midterms and you want to translate that to presidential. the democrats have the opposite problem. arewondering if you thinking that with spending 60 million dollars and hiring people they can become more effective in the senate races?

>> if you multiply, what numbers that -- x $3.5 million a week in payroll. >> it's a joke. i don't know where that comes from but i would love to see someone calculate the math on that. in the case of the u.s. senate we have a lot of things going for us. obama care is in the tank and it .s total poison it's an issue they cannot get away from. they are running in states with the president in 2012 did not montana,1% -- alaska, south dakota, arkansas, louisiana, west virginia. they are upside down to start. the president's

popularity and obama care's popularity is sinking these candidates even further into the abyss and it bodes very well for us. now we are extending the map to virginia, north carolina, colorado, and michigan. what ends up happening of course is when you start expending the map on potentially new hampshire and it just goes on and on and on. i'm not going to rattle off 27 states but inc. of the effect here. you're on the democratic side and you're already behind the eight all in the state you are dealing with as a matter of fact and now you have obama care in the president's unpopularity. map expandinghe into incumbents that help you raise the money and the senate committee at the dnc who want to be taken care of. tom and mark udall are not just going to sit around and handle it by themselves. they will go to the senate committee and ask that they are paying for the absentee ballot

or graham. here are my operatives? where are my people? we have these states here, kay hagan in north carolina, behind in michigan. becoming this toxicity that spreads, i think, within the democratic party that they will not be able to contain. 20 talked about trying to get to 35%.anic vote, 27% can you do that without immigration reform? >> nbc did a poll that showed the favorability or positive image on republicans within black voters was 11% in january 2012. in january 20 are tenet went to 16%. i'm not obviously saying that we are carpeting the world here but i will tell you that i think engagement, being there, showing up as a big heart of the battle.

look at congressman pearson new mexico. he does not agree with the senate version of the immigration reform bill out all. he putsny of it, but 90,000 miles on his car and keeps winning because he is there. our problem as a party was more fundamental than just one version of an immigration reform package. of folkshe positions within our party. unanimity with rand paul, ted cruz all talking about serious immigration reform bills they are proposing that we need the past. , they wento tomorrow to the hispanic chamber and in his words, we need comprehensive .mmigration reform

everyone's version of what comprehensive immigration reform is also ae different leap of logic that you or some people make in that they assume it is the policy that simply or willhe improvement drive the improvement for the republican party. tell you is 37% of the systematics identify themselves as conservative -- 37% of hispanics identified himself as conservative. those thoughts can never be connected. that's what i'm saying. fundamental issue is if you are not in the community addressing the then you're not going to see the improvement you have coming your way by simply being who you are.

>> the congress is currently nearly completed the action to cut act the $18 million that each party gets from the campaign fund to checkoff dollars. what happens now? do you make the host cities make up that money? will the rnc make up that money? >> we will work with congress and the senate on this issue. i don't have an issue with taking away money for the convention, but i do have an issue of blocking the party from being able to raise the money on the half of the host events. me, my position is i don't care if you take the checkoff money away. in fact, i probably agree with then allowed the

national party, the dnc and the rnc, to go and raise the money. that seems pretty reasonable to me. that restrict the national parties, and me in particular, from soliciting soft money on behalf of the host committee to pay for the convention and i would like to see that restriction lifted. done, whatof that is do you do? >> the host committee will have to raise $17 million or $18 million. i'm confident we will come up with a fix to allow that not to be as big of a problem as it appears to be today. they have made a big push for immigration reform to get detroit up and moving again and i was interested in your thoughts on how republicans may be outside of congress, what they are doing on immigration reform to help the party boost

its interaction with latino voters? >> i don't think there is any one-size-fits-all result on this issue. we have heard every angle on this from hispanic voters across the country, some wanting immigration reform as we traditionally see it being played out. others don't believe that others should not be able to get in front of the line or treated differently from anyone else. i have heard that, of all of the issues, the issue of self deportation is far worse on the radar screen than the issue of what's going on with immigration reform. i go back to what i was just talking about before. committee, arty campaign committee, the most fundamental issue is being in communities and in many cases communities we don't represent in congress, the assembly, or

the state senate in those particular communities. it is incumbent upon the national party to put people in those communities to help address, i think, a major communication gap we have in those places. jobs, said, issues like the economy, freeing up capital, and would be in achilles heel to a democratic candidate running. if no one is there to point out the difference, we cannot make inroads in that community. >> i wanted to ask about for 15. -- 415. analyze been able to and learn more about what you did that worked? anything that needs improvement? to you quantify in any way

-- that is more detailed what we will see from the committee on the ground in 2014? >> i talked about some of this, will try to repackage it. we were fortunate in the fact that when we deployed our first innd of hiring, we started florida before the race was on the radar screen. there are two paths we are working on at the rnc. there is one path that is saying we are going to fund a battleground state operation -- fourts for years. years. wen there is another avenue have a responsibility for, which is the ground operation and the targeted senate, house, and governors races.

thelorida, we started on first path by hiring the field staff early. we were built up in florida along with the gop in a huge way in the state. opened up in florida and we move those resources into florida 13. we were in florida on the ground early. identifying precinct captains early. the quality of the ground operation was one of the differences between the two races. i would say that the data, the door to door precinct operation, was important because as we went your to door to determine what a was -- if i was to score a voter, i would say 5, fiveof a 1, 2, 3, 4,

being the person in the box and one being a person who is never our supporter, we now go on a 1-100 system. but that takes a lot of time on the ground. once those operations were in place, we identified early on who are voters were going to be that were completely going to be on our side early. that allowed our absentee ballot program it and early vote program to be better developed on the ground. to find out in real-time how we were doing on the absentee ballot program. and then follow up and make sure all that was happening. the system that was in place in florida in 2013 may sound butonable, and intelligent,

it is not how we have been operating for a long time. to have that direct communication and absentee ballot program that is simply uploaded and communicated with. that program is only going to improve further. wheree can get to a place the issues i was talking about can be integrated into the walk program, and we can identify the influencers of our prime targets, it will be even more valuable to us in 2016. >> will you be as advanced, given the time element and the work that goes into it -- we be as advanced in the expanding senate map as you were in florida? can you quantify financially is -- what you are investing? >> quantify it? in -- hmm.

tens of millions of dollars. a lot of money. we are going to take our walk application that we do florida 13 and make it available in all of our target senate races. that is something we decided in -- on about a couple of weeks ago. the walkinvest in application and all the senate races. everything will be duplicated in the senate races and hopefully improved further. i can't put a number on it. just so you know, the data operation and digital operation -- it has to be fundamentally quarterbacked by the rnc as a matter of law. imagine if you were all heavy hitters in either party, and you said whatever party want to be involved with, you would build the voter data.

spend millions of dollars doing it. you can't take improved voter data and headed up to this person running for a federal office. that is an improved product with soft money. he can't take it. you have to have the national parties involved in improving voter data in order to legally hand off that improved product to the candidate. how did they do it? obama built it. under the law, the federal candidate that wants to spend $100 million can use his own system he created. and understandal how this works together to understand campaign-finance laws. it -- have you given thought to running again for a third term? haveof these reforms that

not been popular with the grassroots and even some members of the rnc. if you step aside, how will you make sure these reforms will stay permanent on the nomination calendar? i were to run again, it makes it easy. if i do not run, you have secession planning. to make sure there are at least people in line that would run that you feel understand the court mission of the republican national committee. maybe initially there was some resistance on some of these things, but if you look at what we are tackling. 90% of my life in the permanent ,rand game -- ground game tackling this mess of a primary system -- and you go to a lot of

rnc meetings -- i would say there is 95% support for the things i deal with most. i don't see a big resistance out -- i to read books where don't see a big resistance out there. >> where are you leaning? >> i am leaning to make sure we win the senate. that is number one. >> you mentioned that the republicans will have moderators for the debate. >> only to harass you all. journalists will not be moderating a db -- debate? >> he said, don't offend him, he has a big twitter feed. >> who was blackballed? -- um, i can give you the category.

i don't have a list. i know it when i see it. i think -- i don't know who it is. are peopleooking for who actually do care about the party, the process, the candidates. what i don't want to see are basically my biggest issues -- having 23 debates. i think it is too many debates to have. i've said this before. it is not supportable i reasonable people to have having twoin a week and three debates, sometimes to debate in a row. -- two debate in a row. i don't have a criteria. i will end up doing a couple of rounds. one will be to work with all of

the potential media outlets, both traditional, nontraditional -- people you think of immediately. maybe some folks he would not think of. coming up with some basic ground rules for how we want to operate. get as much agreement as possible before moving forward. another concept would be to have a committee set up at the rnc decide the frequency of debates, the partners, the field of moderators that might be workable for each of the debates. to negotiate dates, partners, and negotiate the process of who might be a moderator. i think -- those of the types of conversations i am having right now, to give you a better picture of what direction we go. i understand there has to be a level of cooperation as well. it will not work if there is dictates whathat

you have to live by. i understand that is not the most workable way to move forward. all in all, we need to take control over the nominating process. i don't think we did in 2012. >> let's go something you talked about earlier. when you are looking for people who have influence with someone who you are trying to persuade, you said you were looking for people whose insurance was canceled? >> i know it sounds bad. >> i am curious about how you are finding those people and how many you are finding. any other ways you are using the affordable care act in this process. going to get into exactly what the data team is doing. it is an ongoing process. not easy, of course. nothing earth shattering as far as -- is not the easiest thing

to do. yours a lot of public information out there. other ways through media, direct communication, e-mail, to get information as far as who has been adversely affected by obamacare and use that information to our benefit in order to explain to voters that the person appear on the ballot on the democratic side is the person responsible for your situation that you are concerned about with regard to obamacare. it a lot of data mining. a lot of work. it is intensive. it's an area we will keep pursuing. opportunityowth and --it report a year ago, the it says we must embrace and champion immigration reform. if we do not, our party's appeal will shrink.

>> i generally agree with it. i would also caution you as to not to impose your definition of what comprehensive reform is. that is where you are seeing all this -- there is a general agreement that we need to have serious immigration reform. i don't believe that there is agreement as to what that reform is. i don't think there is general agreement in either party. yeah. >> we went to be flexible on what our definition is. can i get something from you on what the question of embracing and championing? a the republican party champion of immigration reform? if you were listing the top five things that republicans think about, would you say they champion immigration reform? >> you are asking the wrong person. i want to make

this picture clear to everyone. the growth and opportunity report is a report to the party and all. we are the committee -- one piece of what that puzzle looks like. we are an important piece. however, there are some things that that report speaks to him legislative parts of our party. to the communicators of our party. to the committee, the state parties. there are parts that speak directed to third parties. that if it groups cooperated with would not be legal for me to do. i have been of -- pretty open with my opinion on that subject. i think we do need to tackle this issue. i think there's general

agreement in the party that needs to happen. there is not agreement as to what exactly that package looks like. chairman, do you think we are in for a wave election or her traditional midterm election? >> we are in for us to nominate type election and .14 -- in for in 2014. type election my belief is that will be a big win, especially on the senate level. we may even add some seats in the congressional races. to at the and we need rnc, make sure that we can capture the positives and the benefits that we have been able to provide in 2014 and build on that.

to have success in 2016. which is a very different type of election with different issues that move the electorate. of they mindful differences between the two. >> you see signs of a soon him he. -- tsunami. one of the clues? -- what are the clues? >> you look at the san diego mayor's race. these are races where the candidate did a nice job of offering a positive vision. which the did a decent job at. you had the nationalization of barack obama, obamacare, and both of those places. it is a poisonous issue for democrats. just like there were national issues that really hurt us in 06, 08.

assembly races you are losing because of national issues. that is what is happening across america. it will happen in 2014. the question is whether we can build on that to get to 2016. put a candidate on the ballot that people want to sit down and have a beer with. speak to hopes and aspirations and whether they like and relate to the people, the person that we have on the ballot in 2016. atmr. chairman, as you look young people and minorities the greatest opportunity to show improvement in 2014. [indiscernible] the second one is hard to tell.

we are going to work like dogs to try to figure it out as far as what particular demographic we have the most improvement in and where we need to work harder. we need to work on all of the above. asian, african-american, and hispanic communities. i go back to what i said before. i'm not filibustering. upant to to know, showing and being in the community. talking to people. getting to know folks on a year-round basis, not just for five months but five years, is fundamental. i'm just guessing here. women, among youth and you will see the greatest increase in 2014. because of, number one, obamacare. it is very very personal among women. losing your doctor, getting your insurance canceled -- i think it

is going to be an issue that will cause us a great krugman among especially single women improvement great among single women over 35. and then young people. obamacare was designed to screw people over. actuaries sat down in a room and figured out how they are going to pay for this monstrosity of a program. they decided that screw everyone he five or younger. -- 35 or younger. privacy areunding issues young people are concerned with. the proof is look at ken cuccinelli. he won all voters between 18 and 24. are ourthese narratives own fault. we don't push back on them, about young people. we have some demographic

challenges. but the democrats do as well. for whatever reason, we seem to be overly obsessed with our own greed -- with our own. the started their technology operation. ononder if you could expand the mission and purpose of the silicon valley operation. fundraising, technology and fieldwork? >> it is a go where we think our blessed opportunity to recruit we thinktalent is -- our best opportunity to recruit the vest thing talent is -- best talent is. he did some big things there. he heads up the operation. we want to make it easier for software engineers and data architects to work on behalf of the rnc by not forcing them to

fly across the country but allow them to connect in san mateo. we think that is important. we hired one of the five folks involved in the linkedin platform. we also brought on board chalk who created the 2004 digital platform at the rnc. that was 10 years ago. we want to make sure we had a good mix of both top-level political folks that understood the committee structure and candidates, and also bring in straight up broad talent to help us fix the problems we have. i did two words of google and twitter and facebook. met with folks that helped champion and pioneer this sort

of thomas edison environment of the west. do you see that operation growing in san mateo? what be a chicago type hub of your gated development? >> that is the hope. amnously, chicago was offshoot of a presidential candidate. which is obviously easier to do. easier to raise the funds to be able to finance that moscow -- massive operation. we have a good foundational structure with lots of folks out there. a's my hope that will become large operation over the next couple of years. a central hub for whoever the nominee will be in developing the tools and data structure we need to be successful. when you get the presidential level, we are talking about a different stratosphere of work.

my view is if you get the foundation set right now, and it is working, when you can add --ther half billion dollars not to mention the nominee site, that is where you see your massive exponential growth. when that happens, you can launch into a different world. we didn't have the foundation or the emperor structure or tools ucture built.rastr we are talking about doing some important things for the committee. drinkingrgue you are milk. you have to drink milk before you eat solid foods. success.ving a lot of people recognize it. i'm not trying to oversell everyone.

i just want you to know we are making improvements and they are big. i'm proud of what we are doing. >> last question. >> there was a washington post poll that showed democrats have an advantage on a number of key issues like environmental policy, immigration reform. has election-year paralysis in congress and persistent focus on obamacare hobbled the republican party's ability to play in 2016? and how do you pivot to be advantage post 2014? >> if you look at which party is doing well and writing high right now, who was in the dumps, the democrats are in the dumps. these are interesting conversations about how the committee can get stronger and what we're doing to be stronger. to be successful this year and next year. if you look at the fundamentals,

you analyze -- in order to ratings -- raise money, we have to sell a product. the rnc raised almost $20 million more than the dnc. i don't think in recorded history, at least what i have been able to find -- maybe there is a case or 2 -- we have not found a case where the party out of power out raise the party in power. that measure, people believe in what we are doing at the rnc. people believe that fixing the ground game, the digital, taking control of the nomination process is important. regardless of what may be happening or not happening in congress, the rnc is enjoying a lot of success. look atoint, if you where people are viewing 2014 --

is anyone writing stories that it does not look like a disaster for democrats? it looks like a disaster for democrats. we are heading into a big year for the republican party. forward, 22016, -- to 29 016, we have to make sure we put together a process and operation that gives our nominee the vest possible -- best possible platform to be successful. over the last many years at the party -- as a matter of mechanics and infrastructure -- things had flipped. a we stronger than the democratic party, but the reverse came true.

i'm not putting the blame on any one particular person or year. i would just say slowly over time, the rnc had become basically a u-haul trailer of to athat got hooked up presidential nominee for a short. period of a short i am saying thatti circular problemme. thatam saying that circular problem has caused us to atrophy. , i'm not trying to come in and say we have carpeted the world. i am saying we have recognize some of the fundamental issues we have faced as a national party. i have tried to address those in the vest ways i know how.

we have been successful. there are things that cannot be denied as far as our success as a campaign committee. we have a long way to go. >> think you've are doing this, mr. chairman. thank you for help setting up. >> i appreciate it. god bless. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> democratic party chairman also spoke in washington today. she said the republican party minorities,d women, immigrants, and gay people. she spoke for half an hour.

>> thank you for being here today. ago, after losing up and on the ballot in 2012, the rnc chairman stood in this building and unrevealed what has been known as the autopsy report. they admitted they were relating ating huge swathes of voters. we