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>> you just had the opportunity to watch the candidates in a forum in new hampshire. a debate on fox will have a smaller group. twittere has had the voters first hashtag is number one. we have a chance to talk to you for the next 30 minutes. you can call us. tweety us. use the hashtag and we will get

some of them. jack will take calls and comments. let's go to steve. steve: how are you? >> did you learn anything? steve: i liked what kasich and christie had to say and the talk on some of the issues. >> what is the most important to you? steve: job creation and the economy. also, the immigration issue and a how they will approach that will be important to me. 4 >> thank you. the newspaper that organized

polled people and those with the top two subkeject. hi eric. your comments? eric: most of them want to cut welfare programs and they said that tax cuts will create wealth. the party line will necessarily produce language that is against intelligent innovation. it is my observation that the necessity to identify with a party will always produce linguistic terriers t -- barriers to pragmatic innovation in politics. >> thanks. one more call. mark?

you are on the air. mark: thank you. i am pleased to talk to you. dr. carson came across as very articulate and had a definite program on tax reform. also, the other candidate that came across extremely well was pataki. not knowing much about him, i was certainly impressed i what he had to say and about his experiences in his life. >> thank you for calling in with your comment. jack is with us. well, there was a lot of conversation going on and it was the #1number one topic on twitter.

it was like republicans need speed dating. >> how did you put that? >> speed dating. >> i'm not sure -- yeah, well just do the math. the point was to allow voter questions to set the field and you have a large field and the goal is to get as many questions as you could and those who organized it looked at the clock and they only had two hours. there could not be a debate. the rnc would not have sanctioned and and of candidates would not have shown up. donald trump chose not to be here. as the caller before the last one said, you got to hear carson

and pataki. given the parameters and the reality, it was as good as it could have been. host: what was it like for you? jack: um just, focused on listening and not get too absorbed in what was next, in case there was a point of follow-up. just staying focused and staying in the moment. these are very talented people and one of these people could well be the next president. to have so many of them on mammoth is jewssues was fun. host: secretary clinton and obama -- you've watched to this political

process a long time. did you have that same observation? jack: clearly, the republican candidates are going to tie the democrats to obama. on a number of issues, the economy reall y rose to the top. it was one the voters cared about. jobs have two different pictures that the democrats and republicans are painting. obviously, hillary clinton carly feeiorina has been consistent in going after clin ton. i do not think anyone really went at each other. i expected a few of them, because trump was leading.

as a moderator my goal was not to bring him up. he has been on my radio show. none of the participants brought him up. host: what was the challenge for you and for the candidates here in washington in the c-span studio? jack: the challenge? i thank c-span. there was a little bit of a delay. i got into the rhythm. because there was a forum and they were interviewed i think it flowed with mr. paul and mr. rubio. i think it is interesting that senator graham decided to miss the vote. host: thursday, the fox debate,

won't be as nice. let's go to wayne in florence. wayne: i thought it was a good format that you had and jack did a good job. pretty much, i enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the candidates a little bit better. one of the questions that jack asked, i have a good answer for. he asked if it was time to have a woman on the $20 will and i think it is. i think we are missing the point if we do not pay attention to important women, namely the first ladies.

it would be great to start with martha washington and have her on the bill for a year and go through each of the first ladies. it would take 45 years. do you would get a lot of support from republicans and democrats. i do not think the bushes would mind having a bush on the $20 bill and i do not think the clintons would mind having hillary on their. -- there. jack: i appreciate the feedback and there is no one better than the c-span viewers out there who pay attention to the important stuff to get some validation that we tried to do and it reflects the early states and the voters and what they feel is important. i appreciate the feedback. host: what is the mood it with

the voters. you have seen the electorate in different states of mind. how are they this time around? jack: it is interesting. that is a good question. this time around, with no incumbent, both major parties avenue factions within them. on the -- have factions within them. on the republican side, we have the libertarian side of the aisle and a more conservative, outright conservative, and a moderate side. a story the national media is missing is the big difference with the democrats. bernie sanders is shooting from the hip and drawing a crowd.

i am hearing he is drawing a lot of younger voters. obama did better and im not sure that hillary is drawing. -- i am not sure that hillary is drawing. you have jim webb and martin o'malley trying to break out. both groups have disenfranchised voters who are looking for the real deal and one of these people. it is interesting that bernie sanders is doing pretty well and i think one of the reasons donald trump is doing well is because he is unbridled. he is not managed and he has good name recognition. all the candidates have learned in a communicative sense of why trumpet is scoring on the right and why bernie sanders is scoring on the left.

host: next, you have travis on the air. travis: i did not see that they had differences about their views and i did not get any concrete differences. hillary clinton and bernie sanders they are different from each other. jack: yeah. i think the caller makes an interesting point. host: go ahead and respond. jack: a good point. i tried to ask questions to differentiate the candidates on planned parenthood or immigration and there was uniformity. maybe the biggest -- a good-sized difference was rand paul and rubio. senator paul made a point to criticize rubio.

that was a difference. i think the caller is right and there is a more stark contrast between clinton and sanders on economics. host: next, jeffrey is watching us in contact the. -- in kentucky. jeffrey: i think it was great to get insight on what they stood for and i think that -- had the most compassionate answers that came from the heart. host: what you looking for? jeffrey: what they stand for. some of them are not well-known and it was a pretty good conversation and a lot of the questions were really good, i thought. host: ok. jeff: i agreed with him.

i thought cruz gave a heartfelt close. i thought rubio is emotional. i am trying to think of the other candidates that broke out a little bit. i think walker was relaxed. i must say that i do not think any were tense. i think kasich got more comfortable. i think carly was business-like. she is a ceo. bush he has to find his way here. he is relaxed. i do not know if he is as relaxed as some of the other ones. christie was full of energy. it was interesting to get a sense of how they all were.

the ones participating on thursday are hitting nervous that the format may not afforsd them the opportunity to be heard. host: you have a call from woodstock. glad to be with you. my comment is that i appreciate rand paul and cruz. they are the ones who tebest articulate policy points for the executive administration if they were to win the white house in 2016. host: thanks. did you find some candidates were more definite? jack: yes -- i think the sitting governors, the senators, they

tout the record of their states. the have that down. bobby jindal walker, kasich, they have that down. the senators try to paint a vision. paula n and cruz are criticized for being out there. or, "are they electable?" cruz showed each of the personable. i think the governors rely on their story of being governors. those two have been out there on issues and have become more known in a singular way and will have to broaden to get the nomination. host: on twitter, "it was great

to hear ideas instead of attacks." from georgia, a democrat. caller: it was nice to see a relaxed discussion of the ideas, rather than if asked paste -- than an fast-paced pitch. i know that kasich has become involved in that and promoted it. i liked that he speaks for people who are ignored. 60 million americans have some sort of conviction on their background. they're hiring is in need. -- their hiring is in need. i would like to see this addressed.

if one person is connected to a criminal background, you have votes for a fair amount of supporters. i would like to see them address this issue. jacvk: the point stands. she said, not to lump this in, i thought the comments on the heroin addictions, there are people with criminal records and, should they be punished? it will be a debate that continues and i think it will. host: governor bush tries to thread the needle with his family legacy. how do you feel that he did with that? jack: he did ok.

he did not have a breakout moment. he was comfortable. at the end we wanted them on the stage one last time and i asked him a question about differentiating himself from his mother and father. -- brother and father. he needs to get himself differentiated. i have to split in a minute. i have to do my radio thing. host: david is in twin lakes wisconsin. dacvid: i like chris christie's comments on the war on drugs. i really don't like scott walker and he seems egotistical in the ways he talks about it.

what he said before was not true. christie and rubio, i really like how they, how they, um were honest. i think chris christie's war on drug comments made me more open-minded towards the gop. host: was that the goal of the evening? jack: it was a chance to show the field without donald trump and mike huckabee. my coca be has not campaigned much in new hampshire. jim gilmore did not file in time. the other chanceshad a chance.

then carson said that he will be known by a lot more people. -- ben carson said that he will be known by a lot more people. thank you. c-span is the best. thank you for taking part. host: thank you for moderating. we will see you in the months to come with the new hampshire primary. jack: for sure. host: we will take calls for six more minutes and get your reaction. we will replay the forum. if you saw part of it, you may want to alert others in the country. you can watch it and make clips to share those with friends and colleagues. next, it is ben. you are on. ben: i enjoyed the forum. and i

thought it was great to hear everyone and get their take. i was impressed by paul, fiorina, and carson. i think they touch on a lot of the issues that we want to hear. whether it is the patriot act, planned parenthood, prison reform grassroots candidates and other millennial's side talk to are tired of establishment -- other millennials i talked to are tired of the establishment candidates. fiorina doesn't sound like a bully. that is unfortunate because that's what gets you up in the polls.

i was impressed by senator paul's "peace through strength" policy. i think a lot of people are tired of career politicians in washington and we are ready for a grassroots candidate. host: was there anybody who did not perform as well as you had hoped? ben: i was underwhelmed with bush. it does not feel like he really wants to do this. if feels like he is not in your face and he is not standing on specific issues. he does not stick out to me like the other candidates. host: next, this is bill. you were on. bill: thank you for giving us a

window into the democracy. it is educational for people who do not understand. i complement jack on his questions and his ability to not react to the responses. excellent format and i feel that candidates were in the sound -bite mode. what is the method where you can get a lasting impression? you want the president of the united states to be a deep and thorough thinker. host: let me ask you a question. if you were moderating, what techniques would you use to move the candidates beyond a comfortable soundbite? bill: my first question would be --

my next would be to take the devil's advocate position. host: so, it would have been better with follow-ups, even given the time constraints. bill: correct. i want to open a thorough debate. i give my compliments to c-span. a heck of a program tonight. host: next, we have scott a democrat. scott: i thank c-span. in my opinion, the only person who gives the democrats a run for the white house is bush and kasich. host: how do they do? scott: quite well. all the other candidates -- it is kind of a clown car.

the republicans want someone in the white house and bush and k asich are the best they can run. host: next is a call from teresa in georgia. teresa: good afternoon -- excuse me evening. c-span did a great job and i listened to most of the candidates and im very familiar with all of them, except k-6. -- i am very familiar with all of them, except kasich. iamb a female -- i am a female entrepreneur in the insurance business who has taken a great hit because of the health care reform. i did not hear anything about the middle class. unfortunately, we hear obama

speaking each time he gets the opportunity. he is working on saving the middle class that makes the country run. we give back to the local communities and pay higher taxes. i have to focus on who will support the middle class, who have taken a hit. do you agree? host: i will let it stand as your last comment. the forum is re-airing. will have one more. -- we will have one more. we invite you to join "washington journal." it was the union leader who took the