listen everybody i don't think , there is anybody who is before government waste. including me. i am opposed to government waste. [laughter] after that, it's time to get to work. you saw the other stuff that is bankrupting us. we have done, as i has set in new jersey, a lot of things to combat that . we had less employees now than when i started. that is making government smaller. have to deal with other things first. we are bankrupting our nation.

and we will have more people going hungry. >> time for one last question. gov. christie: ok one last question. >> hello governor. and with the college republicans at dartmouth. i agree with a lot of your social policies on social security, but one thing that has concerned me are a lot of news article about new jersey's drop growth. i think it was -- job growth. i think it was 49th in the nation last year. i just wanted to give you a chance answer that criticism. gov. christie: first, when i became governor of new jersey in january 2010 under -- unemployment was 10%. we have had an entire decade of the 2000 without any drug growth.

-- job growth. before i came government, the state increased taxes and fees hundred and 15 times. there is no doubt in my mind that we had the second-highest text state in america and while i'm proud of the fact we have a hundred 75,000 new private nectar jobs, we need to do better. here is part of the problem. i've been able to persuade democratic legislators do a lot of things. reform pensions, reform teacher tenure. past six balanced budget without raising taxes. the one thing i haven't convinced them to do is to cut individual taxes in new jersey. the states that grow are the ones that cut taxes. the ones that are not growing are the ones that have not. as governor of new jersey, i would love just for me being one

week, to have a republican legislature, or be the emperor. [laughter] one or the other. if i was, we would cut taxes steve jobs grow in the private sector -- c johnson of private sector grow. but with the awful situation we inherited, we had no drive it set growth projected -- for a decade. since i became governor, we have a hundred 75,000 new private sector jobs. we are pretty proud of what we have done and we are working hard. thank you for your questions. thank you for letting me come today. i will see you again in new hampshire. [applause] >> thank you so much. [applause] gov. christie: thank you all

very much. [applause] >> thank you for that great introduction. i have had a blast his last 24 hours in new hampshire. jeb bush: thank you. you know how to be a magnet for candidates. there is only 55 people thinking of running for president, as i can tell. [laughter] i believe we are probably going to be an economic driver for creating jobs for new hampshire, for which i want to play my part today. thank you for letting me come. everybody knows me as george's boy, w's brother, i have other family members, but if i'm going to run for the highest office in the land, have to share my heart and share my experience.

for those who have family members, i think you can appreciate this. we are not always like our mom and dad, our brother or sister we have unique dna and unique experiences. and when i woke up in midland, texas and there she was, the greatest mom, i didn't know at the time -- [applause] i am not a big gambler, it turns out i won the lottery. i wish everybody would have had the upbringing i had, the two decent beautiful parents i had who loves me with heart and soul. my life -- my transformation began in many ways when i was in one of what though, mexico. --this guanajuato, mexico at the , age of 17, on a sunday afternoon where i met my wife.

literally, she was in a car. i was sitting in a -- in the time -- in the square and ice -- and i saw her and it was love at first sight. it happens. [laughter] my life was organized in a way that i cannot describe for you. it wasn't love at first sight for my wife, sadly. in fact, it took a couple years for her to get going. some of you may have had that experience. but she finally consented and we have been together 41 years. we got married in austin. [applause] i had just turned 21 years old she was 20. i got out of the university of texas and started my life's journey with her. it has been a great ride. we lived in venezuela, came back and it worked with my dad. we were in miami, i worked there as a business person. i forgot to mention three other important people, that is my three kids. jeb is my business partner, he lives in miami.

two great granddaughters and a wonderful life. -- wife. my daughter lives in orlando and my son is a statewide elected official in texas. i am proud of him, he brought a baby into the world four days ago. [applause] so as i think about this journey, i think about little georgia, little p -- prescott, and jack. what will the world look like for them? will it be a world of abundance and purpose, or of greater insecurity and fear, where people feel compelled not to dream the biggest possible dreams. where they sit back and wonder what it is like? my personal belief is we have a chance to make it the greatest time to be americans. my son also served, he volunteered at the age of 30 to serve and naval reserves.

he was an intelligence officer who served in afghanistan. i am proud of him, particular proud of that. and i'm proud of the men and women here and across the country that have served our country to keep us free and it is an obligation for all of us to pay our respects for them and with the best care that they deserve. and honor them by keeping america strong, so they are -- their sacrifice was not in vain. [applause] i did something when i started my life's journey, i learned how to sign the front side of a paycheck. i built a business with my friend and it started with only three people. then we became the largest real estate company in florida. -- south florida. it got up to about 260-280 people.

it doesn't work the way that the progressive liberals in washington want to make you believe. that we have to march 1 step forward, back and forth, do what you are told. that is not america. america looks like the life journey of many people here, it is dynamic. you take risks, you may have a failure, but you dust yourself off. the interaction of all of us and the pursuit of our unique dreams, in a free society, this has created the greatness of the society. not the top down driven approach of the liberals. i learned this by doing it. i think it is important, if i have to take the one thing i value the most that makes me feel confident that the future of this country is bright, is the exact thing i said, citing -- signing the front side of a paycheck, growing jobs, having challenges that exist in the real world. i got to be governor of the state of florida, some of you may know. maybe some of you secretly go

down there in january, february. [laughter] i have seen you on at the streets of miami and tampa. it is an incredible state, it's big, dynamic it's kind of wacky, it is definitely purple. it is a place where i got to apply conservative principles in a way that moved the needle for people to have a chance at life. i did it with passion, diligence conviction, and the , state is better off because we shifted toward a conservative philosophy, not just talking about it, but we did it. we did it in florida, when i was governor, i said we needed to cut taxes. we never raised taxes during a eight years. we cut them every year. [applause] $19 billion of the cumulative tax cuts, back into the pockets of people who wanted to pursue their dreams.

we reduced the government workforce by 13,000 people, more than 10%. [applause] not many states can make that claim, particularly a state that was growing at the pace of florida. we rebuilt our reserves. reserving for irene a day is what conservatives do. -- rainy day is what conservatives do. spending money you don't have and what liberals do, saving for a rainy day is what conservatives do. we started with $1 billion of reserves and when i left we had $9.5 billion of cash reserves. [applause] the result was we became the only state that went from aa to aaa bond rating. it used to be that the agencies would look at states and say you have to tax everything. tax the air you breathe, tax the broad-based tax code, that is

the one that would generate the most solvent state. we went to the bond rating agencies and said no, we need a dynamic state, limited government or the economy grows and personal income grows faster than the size and scope of government and in doing so you create more as a solvent state. and they rewarded us. the only state to go up to aaa bond rating. we took on the trial bar. we took a balanced approach to our court system. so the uncertainty of business was made better. we did something that was important, i don't know how it is in new hampshire, but we had the second-highest premiums for workers compensation, a huge driver for lessening the opportunities for job growth. we reformed it to that those making money off the system, we created $400 million a year of

reductions in premiums. i guarantee you that money went into the pockets of small businesses and help, so that their businesses could expand in jobs were created. i was called veto corleone [laughter] actually i was caught a lot of things. particularly by the left in my state. they did not agree with everything we did. i was called that because i vetoed 2000 separate line items in the budget, totaling $2 billion to bring order to the budget process that allowed for personal income to grow at about 4.5% and government income to grow at about 2.5% [applause] . and the result was, we created 1.3 million net new jobs in florida during my eight years. the business folks in florida, 1.3 million, second only to california.

find that of those eight years we led the nation in job growth. we did other things. we eliminated affirmative action by executive order and replaced it with a leadership model that didn't discriminate based on race, but applied leadership principles to allow for more minority students that were qualified to attend universities. during my eight years, more hispanics and more african-americans attended universities, but we did not use a policy that discriminated from one group against the other. we affirmed and expanded second amendment gun rights in our state. if you look at the record, florida is a model for those who believe in the protection of the second amendment. we defended the sanctity of life from beginning to end in our state. and we reformed the things that were most important, my set of values believes that the most vulnerable in society should be at the front of the line. republicans do better when we show our consciousness to do the

same thing, whether it is child welfare, the people that are struggling, we should give them attention and help and reform the system's to make sure that they have a better chance to rise up. in florida, i do believe that more people had a chance to rise up, because we reformed the education system. we were languishing near the bottom or at the bottom, we were 50th in graduation rate when i started the journey. by expanding school choice, the most dramatic expansion of any state in the country we became , the first date with a statewide voucher program. we expanded the scholarship program has begun here. we have 70,000 students taking advantage of that. we are the first state to have a voucher program for kids that have learning disabilities where their kids can send them -- parents can send kids to private options. we have the largest number of students attending virtual school in the country. we eliminated social promotion

in third grade. that may not sound like a big deal, but it is a policy in our country that is shameful. we have a policy that says a third grader going to fifth grade, it's ok that they are functionally illiterate. moms and dads know this, if you can't read by the end of third grade, you can't acquire knowledge. and in some places, we don't have the courage to take on the teachers unions and bureaucracy. we need to move into a child centered system where their god-given abilities can learn. the net result of training the system upside down with high standards, robust accountability accurate assessments, with school choice, was that florida has been a leader in that. i'm proud of that. it's not that washington is going to be the place where the next president ends up being the head of the school board, but it is important rather than just

talking about things, it's important to look at people's records. what have they done in their lives, have they moved the needle? have they focused on making sure that everybody has a chance to rise up? we are moving into a world, we are at an intersection today where we will be in decline, because we refuse to change things that are broken, or we are on the verge of the greatest time to be alive. if you think about it, today we are challenged. we are in the sixth year of recovery but majority of , americans believe we are in recession. we are in recovery, but business start up rates are lower than business failure rates. and that is a challenge. we are in a recovery and workforce participation rates and business participation rates are lower than they were in 1980. i know we can do better. in fact, it has to be done better and we can do better.

but it requires the kind of leadership to create strategy of high sustained economic growth where more people have a chance at earned success. that is how we will win. we will win if we offer a compelling alternative, grounded in principle, using commonsense leadership to be a book to fix things. we are -- my little boy jack four day old jack will live until he is 130 years old. your children and grandchildren will as well. we are on the verge of finding cures of diseases, using science that defies our imagination. every sector of the economy is being transformed through innovation. the question is that we have in front of us is, are we capable of making disruption our friend or will it overwhelm a?

-- us? none of this will be possible unless we restore a sense of security in the lives of americans. a sense of security that is based on american leadership. this is the first president in the post world war ii era that does not believe that the us's presence in the world is a force for good. i do and i hope you do as well. [applause] we need to read various -- re-nourish alliances that have kept us safe. we need a president that does not disrespect our friends, like israel, and it tries to cater to enemies like iran. we need a president that does not unilaterally give away things, but negotiates based on principle and strength and is engaged where our friends know we have their backs. not just today, but over the long haul. that is how you create a more secure world.

if we do those two things, it would be growing our economy at a rate where people no longer believe that the end is near that their children will have more opportunities, that they are willing to take risks again. for filling capacity so that everyone has a chance to achieve success. and we abdicate a strong america, a presence in the world that creates greater security than what we have come of this will be the greatest time to be alive. i hope you agree with that and i hope you will support candidates that have this hopeful optimistic vision. that is how we will win. i know we will not win if we just complain about how bad things are. what we have to do is the principle of in our opposition for the status quo, but we also have to offer a compelling alternative so that more people join us in our cause. thank you very much. [applause]

thank you. thank you. thanks for coming. >> we welcome questions, raise your hand. hold on. we need new people who have not asked questions yet. jeb bush: this guy is clearly in charge. >> i have the clipboard. [laughter] governor jeb bush: i think i might move over here, just in case. [laughter] jeb bush: yes, sir. >> you have a wonderful family let me say that first of all. you should be very proud of the

service your family has a given. [applause] that being said. what concerns me and a lot of republicans for your candidacy number one, we are obviously talking a lot about stop hillary, because essentially the democratic party is having a coronation and there is no competition. what concerns me is that it seems a little bit like the establishment is backing you as the candidate and we have a lot of viable candidate and i hope that there is more of a fight -- not a fight literally, but a spirited debate among republicans and may the best man or woman win. i don't want a coronation on our side, by any stretch of the imagination. government jeb bush: i don't see

any coronation coming my way. [laughter] just running for president. >> i think after the last couple of elections, a lot of us are not looking for a republican in name only, somebody that claims to be a conservative, and when i say conservative i mean a free marketer, somebody who believes in capitalism. i'm just hoping that your candidacy and your platform is going to be more, not trying to appeal to everybody and please everybody and in a pleasing no one. can you comment on that? governor jeb bush: first of all, i hope you absorbed the record. it is a conservative record, not a republican in name only record.

the funny thing is in florida, those who are on the left are upset that people are calling me something i am not. it is amusing, the liberals in florida are angry that people do not see me as a conservative outside of florida. my record is a conservative one, it is a i'm not kidding conservative one. it is a record of accomplishment. i did it, i didn't talk about it. i was in an era where you could do more things, we need to restore that in washington dc, we need to stop arguing about what we want to do and stop -- start doing it. which means we have to win. back to the question, i will have to earn it. if i get into the arena, i will have to earn it. nobody will give it to me. that is more than apparent, i will share my heart, i will share my ideas to help people move up. i will share my record, because that is the leading indicator of what i can do in the future in terms of leadership.

i think one of the differences for the presidency that other -- that somebody sitting behind that desk need to make decisions. you cannot be an empty slate. we have elected a president that was a phenomenal speaker, but he was two years as a senator and had no record of accomplishment, and before that, he was a state senator with a little record of accomplishment and what did we get? we got the most liberal president in modern history. i hope i will be able to share the belief that accomplishment matters, leadership matters. that who sits behind the desk at the presidency, is it different then perhaps united states senator other jobs. and i appreciate what you are saying and i will work hard for your support if i get in the arena. [applause] >> hello governor, i'm a young

republican, and i find that most young republicans are supportive now of same-sex marriage as opposed to older generations and i see this as an issue that will divide the party more and more. i want to hear your thoughts on that, the change and the culture of the country and -- what do you think will happen going forward? jeb bush: i think everyone is waiting for a supreme court decision. that may change the dynamics of this. i am for traditional marriage. [applause] to be fair, this is a view that transcends politics, this is not a focus group, you poll in, this is informed by my faith. the architecture of my life is not driven by politics, it's just on by my faith. traditional marriage has been part of the glue that has kept our society intact.

having said that, i have no animosity, no hatred, no bitterness in my heart for people who have a different view. if i get involved in this, it will be about, how do we restored high sustained economic growth for our country? that will benefit everybody irrespective of whether they agree with me or not. how do we create is more secure america for our children and grandchildren, so people can believe again that they are safe and free. while i may disagree with you on that subject, i think we need to be finding ways to unite behind broader issues, where there is broader support. >> the woman in the back. jeb bush: you are good. [laughter] >> thank you.

my name is linda. governor bush, where do you stand on common core? jeb bush: i am for fixing a simple fact that will make it harder and harder for us to be successful. we have 80% graduation rate in high school, after spending more on students than any other country in the world, except for maybe luxembourg, maybe half of those students are college or career ready. think about that. think about how dreams are shattered, because we don't -- because we dumb down everything and we have low expectations for children, and then we excuse it away. in florida, that is what happened. in florida, we had what my brother called a soft a country -- soft bigotry of low expectation, so i am for raising standards, if you assess them

and assess them accurately, it means we have college and career readiness. whether it is common core or standards created at the state level, to me it is not as meaningful as the fact that it should be higher. high standards assess the right way, combined with account ability, that is what we need. here's what we don't need. we don't need the federal government involved in this at all. [applause] lamar alexander and his counterpart, in the cap -- a democrat, the reauthorization has been passed and in that provision, with my support and encouragement, they have provisions of that say the federal government should not be involved in the creation of standards. of the curriculum and content. that is the proper place for the government, to stay out of it. that means that state and local communities have an obligation to raise the bar up, the cost of this for our society is daunting.

if we are going to say, some kids will learn, that others can't, and that is the way it is, we will create social disruption like we have gone through for the last few months. we've seen it. it will be bigger and bigger. for us as conservatives, we need to challenge the orthodoxy of our times, that is focused on 13,000 government run unionized and politicized school district's, focus on the economic interests of the adult we should not tolerate this. god is given every child the ability to learn. we need to make sure they do. [applause] >> renee from portsmouth, new hampshire. governor, tell us who you get along with on the others -- the

other side. which democrats do you work well with? i want to president works well with everybody. gov. bush: in washington, i don't have a lot of experience in the ways of washington. the contagion has not spread to my body, i guess. in washington, governor mansion who served while i was governor. governor tom ben sasse, mitch daniels it -- and me and two others traveled to afghanistan to see our national guardsmen who were training the national police. we developed good relationships. this is not as hard as it appears. this is what presidents have done since the beginning of time. if you develop trust first, you don't assume the person who doesn't agree with you, they may

be wrong and you may disagree with them, but do it with civility. it's not that their motives are bad. it should just that they have bad ideas. you have to rebuild trust. this is where the president has let us down more than any other thing. he should put aside his rigid ideology. he pushes down people who disagree with them to make himself look at her. the next president has to reverse that, and rebuild personal trust and not assume that everyone has bad motives. my experience is, most people in public life have a view about this that they care about the country, they want to move forward, and we have to assume that is the case. and then, argue out where they are wrong and where we might be able to force consensus. you are right. if we keep arguing, with the most complicated tasks in the world, the most bizarre

dignitary system in the world with an entitlement system that will explode in our lives to where every young person in this room cannot receive benefits and will pay for the sins of the past, where we don't fix a broken immigration system, or where we do nothing to embrace this energy revolution in our midst, if we let that language we will be in decline. it is important to move towards consensus. my experience in florida, we strategically thought that way. a lot of times, we just one. we won the argument. the first instinct is to try and find support from the other side. it ought to be the first instinct every time. >> this young man has a question. >> my name is sean, new england college. what you feel about obama's plan to normalize relations with cuba? gov. bush: normalization of

relations with cuba? i don't agree with the way he is doing it. i don't agree with the fact that he did it in secret. he can't do the complete normalization. it is an embargo that is legislatively driven. i don't agree on how he negotiated, making unilateral concessions for our country with nothing in return. the objective ought to be that we do what we should do, which is to say, here are the things that would change our relationship with you. more freedom. release the lyrical prisoners. allow elections and the startup of more businesses. freedom of movement, freedom of religion. the things we know will move cuba towards freedom. until you release the terrorists that you are holding, whether they are eta terrorists or cop killers in the united states that have found refuge there until you disavow terrorism in

general, we can't open up relations. had we done that, let me tell you what would've happened. had we shown enough restraint and made it clear what our objectives were, which is the freedom on the island, and we didn't give things away before eliminating our leverage cuba would be in a different place right now, because the main sponsor outside our own currency that goes into cuba for people who are traveling, the main benefit cuba gets is from subsidized oil from venezuela. $45 per barrel oil is about to make venezuela a different country that won't allow them to support cuba. that would create a better climate for negotiations than just unilaterally doing this and believing somehow that the sheer force of the guy's personality would make a transfer -- transformation. despots do not go quietly into

the night. [applause] thank you. you do a good job. take care. [applause] >> thank you for being here. i was here in new hampshire back when i was a very young man and i was thinking about running for president. i have a fond memory of this. we used to do coffees. we didn't do town halls, because nobody would show up. but we used to do coffees. i was in this lady's house standing in her kitchen and we were communicating and things , were going just fantastic. we were talking about all kinds of things. i'm thinking, i've got this lady. she will support me if i decide to finally run for president. she looks at her watch, and looks to me, and says, what time do you think the candidates are going to get here?

[laughter] that's when i knew it was over. let me tell you a bit about myself. some of you, i could redo for you who i am. i grew up in a little town outside of pittsburgh. it was a blue-collar, democratic town. i never met a republican until i went to college. in fact, they used to put up roadblocks to keep the republicans out. they said, my uncle harry was a republican, but we don't listen to uncle harry. it was an interesting place, because if the room -- if the wind blew the wrong way people , found themselves out of work. my father was a mailman. he carried mail on his back for 29 years, delivered it to our home. his father was a coal miner. they did not have a lot when my father was a kid. his father would go to the coal mine, and then he would come home at night, and he would not eat all of his lunch, because he would have to share it with the kids. my uncle george told me, when

they would eat my father's leftover lunch, it still tasted like the coal mine. tough circumstance. my mother, very smart, very opinionated, where i get it from. but never got the education she deserved. her mother lived with us for a while, barely spoke english. my mother and father told me when i was a kid, johnny, you can be anything you want to be. never let anybody tell you what you can be. you go become whatever you can. i left, i went to ohio state and i graduated from that school. the next thing i knew i was , running for the state senate. i did not have a single relative in the state of ohio. people thought i was crazy, said you cannot run and win. i spent two years at it and i was running against an incumbent democrat who was a household name. he had a dam named after him in columbus, and he took me

for granted, and i created the notion of grassroots door-to-door campaigning. in that election, i was able to defeat the incumbent, and entered the state senate at the age of 26. it was pretty remarkable. and then, what happened was they took my district away. they wanted to kill me in the cradle. they didn't want me to go any further, so i decided to run for congress. in 1982, i started my campaign for the united states congress. now in 1982, for those who think , back, ronald reagan was not a very popular man. the interest rates were still high, the inflation was high the unemployment was high. when he came to ohio in 1982 nobody wanted to appear with him, except for me. because running for congress, i was running on the reagan record. let's cut taxes, shrink the government, balance the budget. and in 1982, running against an incumbent democrat, i was the

only republican in america that year to defeat an incumbent democrat in the united states of america. so it was a great win. [applause] when i got there, i went on to the armed services committee. they didn't have any other room for this 30-year-old. so i immersed myself in national security issues. i was on the armed services committee. that meant i had to take the resources of america, and apply them to the threat that we faced as americans. and that's precisely what i did. in the course of that, i was able to travel. i went to the soviet union before the wall came down. what an eye opening experience. i remember when we left. when the plane took off the ground and we were headed back to america, everybody cheered. they said it would be that way and it was spontaneous. i was able to go to el salvador as part of a delegation.

president reagan sent us to el salvador. it was a remarkable experience. i was in the gulf before the gulf war, talking to our soldiers about what we should do. it was a series of things i was able to do, and i was in congress for 18 years. don't hold that against me. and then after six years of , being just on armed services i got a call one night and a person called me and said you have been selected to serve on the budget committee. which most of you would remember, for those who remember me at all. i went on that budget committee and i did not go on because i care about numbers. i went on it because the budget committee told you how to run things. because basically i wanted to , run america. i knew that getting my hands on that budget committee, we can make big changes. so i was excited, but then i quickly got frustrated when i saw the politicians were not serious about restoring some fiscal discipline. i was at a gas station filling up my tank complaining to

somebody there and the guy , walked around the tanks and saw me and said i listen to you complain. what are you going to do about it? so i flew down to washington and i got my staff together and said, listen, we are going to write a budget for the united states of america. they said, there is only five of us. i said we are overstaffed, but i , think we can do it. we put together a budget for the united states of america. in that year, president bush had a budget, the democrats had a budget, the black caucus had a budget and john kasich had a budget. the vote on that budget that year was 405-30. i had the 30. so i walked back to my office and my staff was pretty upset. they had put lots of time into it. i looked at them and said i don't know what you are all down about. we had 29 other people who think

we know how to run the united states of america. we are just getting started. for the next 10 years of my life i dedicated myself to getting to , a balanced budget. the same way i served on armed services, i committed myself to streamlining the pentagon, to get the services to work together and i was involved in some historic changes in the law. in 1993, i jumped over seven people more senior than me because i had, every year, i kept introducing budgets. i said if i'm a lone wolf on top , of a mountain, as long as i'm sure in what i'm doing, it will work. and you know what i found? the harder i work, the more beatings i took, the bigger my group got. so i jumped over these seven people and became the senior republican in 1990 read and -- 1993 and wrote the , alternative to bill clinton's tax increase. in 1995, we win the majority.

john kasich becomes the chairman of the budget committee. i am going to finally get up that mountain. it we ended up in a government shutdown and i was part of it. , the reason i was part of it is because the clinton administration wanted to use smoke and mirrors to get with a balanced budget. my mother and father told me to do the right thing. don't play games. the government opened up again the administration approached me and senator medici and we sat down for a number of months and wrote the blueprint for the 97 budget agreement. get this, folks. after 10 years, we passed that agreement and for the first time since man walked on the moon, we had a balanced budget in america . we paid down the largest amount of publicly held that in -- publicly held debt in america. we were in balance we had a , projected $5 trillion surplus and america was humming

economically. the 10 years of work actually came through. [applause] so i had this ill-fated effort to travel around and see if people would want me. i was a young man. in new hampshire, they said we like you, but come back another day. so i left politics, walked away from it. i have this $5 trillion surplus and i went back to columbus, my hometown, and one of my buddies said you have to understand something, now that you and your friends are gone, they will blow the surplus. i said you can't blow $5 trillion. you have wake up every day trying to find a way to spend it. the republicans spent it all, and then some and put us back in , the hole. what a tragedy. i'm out of politics 10 years. i did a lot of different things. i worked at lehman brothers and traveled the country as a businessperson. i served on corporate boards. you might recall i was a huge , television star on fox news. [laughter] where i substituted for the

low-key bill o'reilly. you know in life, the lord calls , us for certain things. my dad and mom, simple blue-collar folks. their son became a member of the legislature, the united states congress, working with presidents, including the ronald reagan. i had a great career out of politics, but i felt the call. take the skills and go and apply them to your state. so, i ran for governor. and i won and i beat another incumbent democrat and it was narrow. let me tell you when i won, i , faced some of the hardest times the state ever had. we were $8 billion in the hole which was almost 20% of our general revenue fund. we lost 350,000 private sector jobs. we had $.89 in our rainy day fund. literally. and people said there was no way up and our credit was at risk. so i won the election, i have no

time for politics. i really have not throughout my lifetime had a reason to play , politics. we went to work at reinventing the government of the state of ohio. some people said you have to raise taxes. i said that's like having a , restaurant with no customers so the answer is to raise prices. what we are going to do is we will reduce our overhead, remake the state and lower the prices. we went to work and brought massive change. at the end of my first year, my approval rating was 28%. you have to work to be that unpopular. ok? but it did not bother me. because i was not in that business to be popular. i was in that business to try to fix the state. four years later, where are we today? we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 340,000 jobs over the last four years. [applause]

we went from $8 billion in the hole to running a $2 billion surplus. we have cut taxes by the most amount of any state in america $3 billion and we killed the death tax and we have made significant tax relief for small businesses in the state of ohio. [applause] ok? our credit has been restored and as all of this has happened, as we have become more prosperous when the state becomes more prosperous, it's like a mom and dad. when mom and dad do well, the kids do better. in my state as we've done better , we have not ignored those who find themselves in harms way. if you have a developmentally disabled child, we will help you . if you know somebody who is drug addicted, we will treat you. because just putting you in prison and releasing you and having you back and forth and

not dealing with your addiction, it doesn't make any sense. if you are mentally ill, we don't think you ought to live in our prisons we have 10,000 ohioans in our prisons have mental illness. that is just immoral. we are trying to treat the mentally ill. for the working poor we want the , working poor to be able to advance without being hurt because they are trying to earn more money and being penalized for it. whether it applies to the mentally ill or drug addicted, we are also reforming welfare. because we want you to get out of the ditch and on your feet. and then we expect personal responsibility out of you that , you can walk and realize your god-given purpose. i was 28% approval and we had an election last november. in ohio, the swingiest swing state in america, how did casey do? -- how did k sick do -- how did

kasich do? i won 86 out of 88 countries. i won 51% of the vote for union households. 60% of the vote from women. and my approval rating today is the same as my popularity was now it is 28% that don't like me and 60-something do. what is the lesson? ohio is doing better. i will not go to connecticut but in a campaign you never , know. here is the thing i want you to know. why has it happened? everyone in our state, well not everyone, but most people now if , you are in the minority, if you have a drug problem, if you have a problem with mental illness, we will include you.

because as ohio does better, we need to lift everyone. when you lift everyone you give , everyone hope. what is the lesson of leadership? no polls, no focus groups, no consultants in the back room telling you what to do or what to say, none of that. you as a leader need to know what you are for and you need to build a team around you who supports what it is you are for. then you need to take that , message out and get people who don't even agree with you to see the purpose, the high moral purpose behind what you are doing. in our country today, we are broken. you know we have severe , problems. that's why we gather here. we can't figure out what to do about immigration. we can't balance our budget. we are heading to $20 trillion in debt. we can't figure out how to lower the corporate tax. so companies can create jobs

here rather than in europe. we can't figure out what to do with our infrastructure. do you realize when all that is , going on, it shows that we are confused in the eyes of our friends and it emboldened our enemies. but let's get more down to earth. when we cannot do these things our children pay, our grandchildren pay, our families are hurt, our communities are hurt, our state is hurt and so is our country. you see, folks what i have , learned throughout my career balancing a budget in 1997 working with the administration after a shutdown, what i've learned in ohio bringing people together, you cannot run anything from a silo. what we have to do is realize that we can stand on principle yet we can solve problems in america. if we can deal with our borders and our immigration problem, begin to balance our budget and

deal with entitlements in a fair but direct way, if we can reduce the corporate tax because we all work together, it weakens all of -- if we can solve our infrastructure problems, guess what happens? america regains our strength. i have to tell you folks in this , time, we need a strong america to send a message to our enemies and also to send a message to our strength that america is back and this can be done. i did it in washington, i did it in ohio. [applause] and my only goal and my only purpose is to build a stronger situation for the people that i serve. that is why i wanted to come here today to tell you this story. foreign-policy experience, actually success in washington in historic change, changing ohio and having people say

pretty good guy. not perfect, pretty good guy. whether i run for president or not, i want you to think about this. because ohio is a microcosm of america. we wait three days for the election results from ohio. i won almost 64% of the vote. the issue of solving problems and bringing people together and leaving no one behind will only result in a stronger america. that doesn't mean we don't stand on principle. but when we stand on principle we don't demonize our adversaries and our opponents. we don't want to poison those wells, because at the end of the day, we may be here as republicans, they may be down the street as democrats. but you know what unites us? we are americans. god bless america. thank you. [applause]

thank you. >> we have time for a couple questions. on this side. yes, ma'am. >> stacey from manchester. my question is, what are your thoughts on privacy? gov. kasich: i am all for it. i am concerned about privacy. not just from the government, but it seems like if we go to the grocery store they know what i'll we are walking down. i have friends in the software business and i told them one of the keys were all of us is the great invention would be one that protects my privacy in light of all these electronic devices and all this digital work that goes on in this country. in terms of the federal government, at the end of the day, we need to make sure that we have courts that are in a position to protect us when government wants to come and come into our lives. but there has to be a balance on privacy against security.

because we cannot have lone wolves in this country like we have seen in europe who are intent on coming in and destroying our people. but fundamentally we are free , and we need to be free and privacy is an integral part of it. i don't know what else i can say. but we can talk and i'm with you and if you have any software, i will buy it from you. >> governor, we have the last question right here. what >> i was originally from dayton, ohio. gov. kasich: move back. >> my wife and i had the pleasure of meeting you a few years back. we got to see all the great things you have accomplished then and since then. a lot of us are feeling the pressure to get behind one of the many candidates that are running. while it seems early to some it's actually not so early.

i am wondering what is between , here and your decision as to whether you will run again? gov. kasich: you want me to run again? i hear you. you know what? i'm trying to figure out what the lord wants me to do with my life. he has a purpose for everyone in this room. i want to fulfill my purpose. life is short. the next world, i will be accountable for what i did here. i have two suite 15-year-old girls. a beautiful wife. i have to consider all of that. and my friends. at the end of the day if i feel , this is my call, i will come back again and again and again. and in the meantime, i'm not going to change my message. i'm not going to ignore people

in need. i want them to get on their feet. i am not going to ignore the tough choices this country needs to make without regard to poles -- poles or focus groups. i am free. i like myself. i'm not heading into some political calculation, ladies and gentlemen. isn't it great to be free? to do what you want and say what you want? [applause] and be respectful for those who may disagree. you know, i am a fighter. i can fight with the best of them. i can come in here and spend his whole speech blasting barack obama and all this other stuff. that's not what i wanted to do. i want us as a party, we are kind of, we are needed with our conservative government as a

last resort, not as a first resort. power from the bottom-up, power to the people in the neighborhoods. but we have to win. we are not going to win if we just feel good about ourselves and don't take this message of unity across this great country. i'm so glad i grew up where i saw people who struggled blue-collar, middle-class, ethnic. it's in my minds eye and it's about fairness and it's about growth. so think about me, would you? , don't commit to soon. let us all have a chance to breathe and get out. you know what i look forward to? being out in your homes again. letting you get to know me and see me. that's what it's all about. that's why i love new hampshire and i love to be here. thank you all and god bless. [applause] >> tonight on c-span, q&a with

jessica stern. followed by the biannual debate in toronto about whether the west should engage more or less with russia. ♪ >> this week on q&a, our guest is jessica stern, co-author of "isis: the state of terror." she talks about the growth of the organization, its mission and methods and how it compares to other terrorist groups. there are several videos in this program that are violent and potentially offensive to viewers. brian: your new book is called isis. why didn't you call it isil? jessica: we could have called it