mr. pataki: cuts to mental health in iowa and what can we do to change that. first of all let me say i think of an arrest said is a terrific governor and one of the finest governors -- that the governor is a terrific governor and one of the finest governors. he is still governor long after i served in he set the record for longest-serving governor in american history. he cares about iowans. specific items and specific agents -- i can't comment on. i love governor branstad. mental health, first of all -- i'm going to digress a little bit because to me when i think of mental health, i think of how this government is failing our veterans.

all types of health, particularly mental health. one of the roles the government provide a safety net for those who can't take advantage of america upon saw opportunities. and certainly no one deserves that a net more than america possible veterans. we are letting them down. any veteran who served, they are not going to wait in line to see if they can get services out of the ea system. we will given a card where they can go to any health facility in america they need. we are going to make sure they get the mental health support, the vast majority of them don't need it, they come back stronger and better, but for those who do, it is the federal government and president's role to make sure they get the mental health support and counseling they need. we have seen horrible incidents of violence in america. you will say, we get to do this, we got to do that trade in almost every one of those

incidents it was someone who was mentally ill, and others knew that he posed a threat of others, to himself or and we did not do anything. we don't need to change the gun laws. we need to change the mental health laws so we can protect ourselves from those who are clearly violently mentally ill or it -- ill. one of the laws i changed in new york after a horrible incident is i got the state legislature to pass a law allowing new york state to put in a secure mental health facility violently ill mentally health people, even against their wishes, when we had a panel of experts say it was necessary to protect them and protect society. that is the role the federal government can play to make sure we protect people from these horrible incidents. [inaudible] one last question. time.ving a great

[inaudible] what he said is you go to the vietnam war memorial. i have too many friends there. you can see the names but you don't know the story of what they actually did and what their lives were. that is something that touches me because if you go to ground zero today and see the memorial, which i'm so proud of because it really shows the magnitude of the loss and the courage of the response and go down to the museum, we have every single person who died in those

horrible attacks, their picture. you push their picture and it tells their story. i think that is a terrific idea to honor those who lost their lives protecting us in vietnam and in other wars. if we, i and my team have the opportunity to leave -- lead this country, this will be one more symbol of respect we show veterans, not just those here today but those who served our lost their lives and their families in the past. i'm being cut off. this was great fun. i will be here again tomorrow morning, 4:00. it won't be as hot. let me thank "the des moines register" for having me. thank you all for being here. this should be a time when we feel the most optimist it, the future.ited about our if we get the right leadership, we will. god bless you and god bless the

united states. >> thank you, governor.

>> governor george pataki on a 90 degree day at the iowa state fair in des moines and on the "the des moines register" candidate soapbox we are back in two morrow at the fair with three more candidates. we are here -- we here in the morning from wisconsin governor scott walker. the afternoon, carly fiorina at 1:00 eastern and lindsey graham at 4:00 p.m. our coverage will continue throughout the day tomorrow. you will go back to the iowa fair right now. there's a little indoor setup where the candidates come and answer some reporter's questions after they have spoken on the soapbox. our live coverage continuing here on c-span.

[indistinct conversations]

>> you mentioned you grew up on a farm. i was wondering how you can use that for iowa voters and what is the most important issue facing farmers today? mr. pataki: i did grow up on a farm and spent my whole life on a farm. we're running our farm now and every saturday we take some of our grass fed beef down to one of the farmers markets. it's a way of life that really taught me the value of hard work and the value of it doesn't matter what you say, what matters is what you do. one of the largest problems facing farmers today is the tremendous fluctuation in

prices, whether it is corn or wheat or soybeans, the market can fluctuate greatly. the best thing to do about that is to open up and expand markets to new possibilities and new countries. thatther thing of course we experience when i was a kid, we would have a great peach truck looming and then you get a hurricane, and what looked like it would be a good year became a terrible year. crop insurance because of the vagaries of nature. you have to >> what do you think of the state fair so far? i have been here five-six times. i will certainly go see the pork shed and do some grilling and make the rounds.