? anybody taking care of you?" i think if we can drive home that we all matter, that we all count, that the strength of this country rest upon us, and our commitment to making a difference -- we are not looking for sainthood. i'm the most flawed person in doing thisbut i'm election in this campaign for one basic reason -- the lord has been good to me. he has given me some tools, and i have an obligation to use them . people ask about these other candidates, this guy or that guy -- i do want to thank donald trump because he got 24 million people to watch the debate. that was good. just as peoplee holding office or running for office commit ourselves to just doing the right thing as we see it? realizing that we don't hold the

monopoly on truth, that together we can build a stronger country. that's what i'm all about. if i am elected president, you ,nvite me back here, right here and i will tell you what i'm doing because i never run from my record. i will come right here, and then i'm going to ask you what you are doing. , we willit together have a stronger country and more inspired people, and that is what america is all about. thank you. [applause]

>> built the trustee is going to ask a couple of questions today. .- bill the trustee i haven't got my ice cream yet, and i laid out on my posture. it. i sat on those beautiful chairs over there, and my staff is like, "you got to do this. you got to go to this." i go to the fair, i go to the fair." be mythat was going to question. do you always eat like this or is it just because you are at the iowa state fair? : it's so crazy. you wonder what it's like -- monday -- or sunday night, i flew to birmingham, alabama, and

i went to church there where for -- an immoralirls for little black girls were killed in a bombing in the 4 little black girls were killed in a bombing in the 1960's. the history and the struggle was overwhelming to all of us. i was with him of my rents who traveled with the, and they're sitting on the credenza was a bible that was on the altar that day of that explosion turned to the 23rd psalm. that is pretty remarkable. the next morning, i got up, and i went to the -- think about this. i went to the university of alabama sportscenter. i graduated from ohio state university. you talk about -- huh?

the governor of alabama endorsed me for president of the united states. i was flabbergasted. i did not even ask him. he called me up and said he wanted to do it. to columbia, south carolina, and we had meetings where i signed to get on the ballot and interview with cbs and some other things, some other meetings, and then we got back on the plane and flew to myrtle beach. we had meetings there. i had about four meetings there including a forum, and then we flew to iowa. and then tonight, i fly to new hampshire. ain't not eating, i functioning, ok? i'm a believer you've got to be awake. some people want to get 3, 4 hours of sleep. i'm not going there. i want to be arrested because i want to be happy when i do this. so i exercise. i eat. i call friends. i say my prayers. i talked to my wife and my daughter's -- well, you will

know how hard it is to get 215-year-olds -- two 15-year-olds on the phone. then i had a chance to come here, and it's not just a great fair because i'm here, but you know, ohio state has a great there. we had 980,000 people. you will have 1.1 million. i love it. it has been great. and i ain't leaving until i get my ice cream, ok? a celebration of agriculture. what is your vision for agriculture? : i'm for agriculture, let's be clear. we are a big agriculture state, too. you know, you think about agriculture, and we think about traditional agriculture, but what we really have to begin to news think about what agriculture is going to begin to look like in the next 20 or 25

years. i have the former head of the ohio farm bureau with me, and i believe there are so many products you can come from traditional agriculture that can improve the lives of americans, and i keep pushing our people to think about that, to use universities to do the research, to make sure that agriculture and businesses closely linked together so that we can spawn new industries out of agriculture. we're lucky in ohio. we found natural gas. one of the great things about that as it is allowing us to become energy independent so we do not have to kowtow to the saudi's anymore when it comes to conducting our foreign policy. you can clap for that because it is a good and. industries and ask what are the new industries. what can come from it? 9/11 -- i'm giving you a long answer. is it ok if i give you a long answer? invited to theas

pentagon with former secretaries of defense to talk about the threat against us, and i began to realize that people who lived in caves in some ways had a technology advantage over us, and i suggested to donald rumsfeld that maybe we get some of the best minds in the country to come in. two of the people showed up and called me back and said they want to do it. i took in thes went to california and i went back with them, and they showed up for dinner with their in-line skates tied to the top of their volkswagen. now they tied the top of their skates to the top of the boeing 707. they started a little company called google. future to look into the on all of these things, agriculture, energy. that government

cannot work is baloney. just treat it like a business. fix it. -- and youother day know this to be true -- how dare a city keep goober -- keep uber out in order to protect the taxi industry. that's just wrong. are you going to stand in the way of progress? so free uber. bill: you briefly touched on the issue of people who have committed felonies having trouble finding work. this is a country that incarcerates about as many people as any place in the what. should there be changes in the nation's criminal justice system? let me tell you a few things about that. we have performed our criminal justice system, and i was meeting with attorney generals and other states saying that the system of blocking people up when it is not even appropriate does not make any sense. second, we are performing all of our systems inside our prisons now where we have a 37%

with national recidivism being 47%. we're giving people a chance to work their way out of prison and work there way into jobs so when they can find work. i have been criticized by some in my party for having expanded medicaid. i want to talk to you about this -- we have 80% of the people in our prisons involved in substance abuse. in our prisons have mental illness. let me ask you a question -- does anybody here think we ought to lock up somebody who is bipolar and schizophrenic and ? t them in prison we are treating them now in ohio, giving them a way to get on their heat. for the drug addicted, we take this money and we rehab -- we brought our substance abuse people right into the prisons, and they work with them and release them into the community

so they do not come out and meet the drug dealer on the street corner, and the recidivism rate is 10%. that's a miracle. the fact is we give people a chance. if you are a drug dealer or gang banger, we will lock you up for a thousand years. that's the way it's going to be. but if you want to try to get your life in order, we're going to give you a chance, and i think that's what we ought to do. i was with some people the other day, and a guy says, "i'm a conservative, but i have a big heart." i said, "why don't you change that? what are you say at this way -- i'm a conservative with a very big heart." because they are not mutually exclusive. i'm going to tell you one last story, and then we got to get going. i want to tell you how i got started in politics. i told you about that little town, and i left to go to ohio

state, and i was in a dormitory 23 floors high, and i had 15 college roommates. i was there or a short time. there were things i wanted to get changed, and my uncle told me favor when the to change anything, start at the top, so i called the president of the university's office and asked for a meeting, and they would not let me in, but i kept calling, and they and only let me in. i went in, and the president of the university was a very impressive guy. very tall, deep there a tone voice. big office. very impressive. concerns to him, and i looked at him and said i had been in school about a month and i was undecided. looking at the rugs, the desk, the furniture, the assistant and all this, maybe this is the job for me. what exactly do you do? so he told me about his fundraising responsibilities, his academic responsibilities, and he said tomorrow he was going to fly down to washington and have a meeting with

president accent. number ofre were a things that i would like to talk to him about also. could i go with you? and he said no. i said but if i write a letter would he give it to the president. he had never seen me before and said i guess i could do that. i penned out the letter basically inviting myself to the white house. sincerely john kasich, ps, if you want to discuss this further, let me know. carries the letter to washington. a couple weeks later, i go down to my mailbox, and there is a letter from the white house office of the president. i open it up, i go up stairs to my dorm and i call home, and my mother answers the phone, and i said i'm going to need an airline ticket because the president of the united states inld like a meeting with me the oval office. my mom is shouting, "honey, pick

up the phone. something is really wrong with johnny." i went home at the end of my first quarter, and my parents finally agreed to buy me an airline ticket. i fly down to washington and go through the gates, and i'm hitting on a little bench right outside the oval office. today.ch is still there a guy walks up to me and says, "young man, you are going to get five minutes alone with the president of the united states. what you think? pretty amazing." jacket, new new tie, new pants, i'm not coming out in five lousy minutes. they opened a door, and i walked in, and he greets me, and i greet him, and i sit down at his desk. 20 good news is i spent minutes alone with the president of the united states as an 18-year-old first-quarter freshman in college. the bad news is i spent 18 years in congress, and if you add up

all the time i spent in the oval office, i peeked out at the age of 18. good to see you all. thank you very much. [applause] >> iowa republican governor john kasich, latest that "the des moines register" soapbox at the iowa state fair. the weather has been bad today. opening up our phone lines to get your response on what you heard. if you are an iowa resident, the -- er to call you can also send us a tweet. we'll take calls for the next 15 minutes or so. we do want to show you marco rubio's speech and about 20 minutes or so.

let's get to our first caller. you are on the republican line. this is richard. thanks for waiting. go ahead. i just want to say i like a lot that john kasich is talking about. his message seems to be that of separatingad of people into different groups, which i feel the current administration does too much. and he seems to be a sincere whatn that's focused on needs to be fixed in america. i think he would be a very good leader, and if the election was today, he would have my vote. scottsdale, arizona, independents line. i am independent

registered, and i was a big supporter of bill clinton, and i voted for obama twice, and i'm interested for the first time and possibly voting for a republican, john kasich. i'm really interested to know why he is a republican. typically, publicans i've seen stand for corporate interests before social issues, but he seems to put social issues first. i would be interested to hear from him why he is a republican and not a democrat. host: he did talk a little bit about being a democrat early on. if we have a chance, we will take you to hear some of his comments with the fairgoers. the weather has improved a bit in des moines. kenny is in los angeles, democrats line. what did you hear from john kasich? was commont i heard sense and something of not heard from one other republican prospect, in that he actually real world solutions instead of hyperbole. i preface this by saying that i am a bernie sanders supporter. has absolutely the

demeanor, the intelligence, and the heart, as other candidates have spoken about, to run a race that is worthy of the american people. i would love to see him in a debate with bernie sanders because i think that would elevate every one of us, republicans who are for people like donald trump or jed bush or anybody else -- you really need to listen to this man because this is a man who represents the values that everybody says that they are for, but it is so impressive. host: there is kenny in los angeles. he said let's try to listen to john kasich or he lets try to do that. let's listen in on some of the comments that he is hearing romp fairgoers in des moines -- from fairgoers in des moines. mr. kasich: the next time you

go, you want to go up north and see [inaudible] >> hey, 10, we're stuck. ok, we'll be in touch. [inaudible] mr. kasich: you have such a

young looking girl. that's good. what do you do now? >> communications and public relations. >> masters in history. [indiscernible] good luck with that. >> thank you. >> i've been here for 10 of days. [indiscernible] god bless you. thank you very much. >> [indiscernible] >> do you have any plans to get big money out of political elections? i'll let you know. i have to come up with something that makes sense. >> where only talking to everybody once. [indiscernible]

mr. kasich: i do think people are different no matter where they live. some people may have a different view of how you solve problems, but, you know, in south carolina, i've got to talk different than when i'm in iowa. i don't treat people that way. everybody's got the same concerns, you know, and --ically, they may like you you know, he basically, you give them some of your own solutions. they may like you, and if they do, great. i'm really free about all of this. i don't think about polls or this. i think i want to do and stay focused. [indiscernible] think trust.

trust and performance. i'm not sure who i trust anymore. tesco is you tell me something a measure i believe it. i think the record really matters. when you have a good record, people look at you a second or third time. i've only been in this race three weeks or so, and i'm in a virtual tie in new hampshire. >> i wonder who that a chance to take a look at donald trump's immigration plan that he released. no, i probably won't. i have my own plan. my plan is to miss the fence and make it clear that if you sneak in we are sending you back. no more debate about it. robust guestworker program so people can come in and go back, and the 11 million or 12 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime, they pay a penalty and take some time, and they can reach a legal status. that's what i favor. that, to me, is the heart of it, and i think that is what can

pass in congress, and i think it is a common sense approach for congress and for the american people. >> you spent a lot of time talking about how conservatives need to be more empathetic. people are wondering what you would do to make americans more empathetic. mr. kasich: i'm not in here saying anything other than it is important that we do care about our neighbor because when we do things bigger than ourselves, we get that his faction, don't you act oh when you visit the nursing home tocall your grandma or talk your brother who may be down -- you just feel good about doing something good for somebody else. we are not looking for sainthood. it,the farthest thing from but, you know, i always feel good when people come up to me and say the child is autistic and now they can get insurance. makes me feel good. i think it's about people

realizing that they can make a difference. i think sometimes people feel like the system is so big and they cannot do anything. i think it is vital people realize that what they do does make a difference. it is in us. we just have to bring it back out, and leaders can help at all levels in politics, religion, sports, whatever. everybody can help us realize that we do matter, and i will do my job if i happen to be president, and i will be back at the soapbox. [indiscernible]

>> oh, ok, there we go. >> want to take a selfie? >> do a selfie. >> thank you.

>> thank you. mr. kasich: thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you. [indiscernible]

mr. kasich: i had a great time here, didn't i? >> that door is locked. >> can i get up? >> you can get in a few want to. to.f you want >> yeah, i'll get in.

while we've been watching a number of republican candidates, , and that may be the first candidate who has left the scene by john deere tractor. we'll continue taking your phone calls here on c-span. your thoughts on what you're -- what you're hearing from john kasich. philadelphia, go ahead. name is joyce meyers.

i'm calling from philadelphia. i'm democrat, but i was watching john kasich on television, and you know what? i believe if anybody republican should the president of this country, he is the one. i was so happy to hear everything he said. he is a good guy. that's what i wanted to say. of comments on twitter. kyle says -- this one says -- kimberly says -- one more from luke. he says -- will hear more from john kasich in new hampshire tomorrow on c-span. coming up next, we go to arlington, texas, and our republican line. daniel, hello, there. hey, there.

i tell you, i am impressed. that man, to me, is addressing finally the problem we have. the man has got a good heart, it sounds like. he is humble. i am impressed. i am very, very impressed. kasich's's go to john state, to cincinnati. caller: this is stephanie donovan calling from cincinnati. i live in ohio, obviously, and what i see is a man who is so worried about taking away , and we actually rallied at the statehouse when he was trying to make all the abortion rights simply go away for women. the only thing i can agree with was he did give us medicaid expansion, but he is a businessman. he's going to turn away millions

from the federal government. he gutted our education system in ohio. it's interesting -- everyone s he's done such a great job with our budget, but if you drive along, the we got up to your shoulders, and you cannot even see traffic coming. money by he can save not cutting the grass, but it's actually a danger to motorists. the bridges are broken, infrastructure is broken. what he tried to do to the unions when he first got into the office -- he used to brag he was going to be a one term governor. we are praying he is a one term governor but not president because he just does not have what it takes to run our beautiful, wonderful country. john kasich got his ice cream there at the fair. we continue with your calls. william from lehigh acres in florida. yeah, i think he's

great. i think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. he's got a better plan than trump. i don't see anything wrong with him, really. this woman, this malcontent in cincinnati -- she's a democrat. she's got an ax to grind. i don't see anything wrong with him. i think he's the best candidate they've got. kasich still working through the crowd at the iowa state fair. mr. kasich: when you go from eight greater ninth-grade grade, you really have to work on studying. she definitely does not have a problem with that. that is not a problem.

>> how are you? >> great. how are you? i have, like, a million pictures of you from years back. can i get a picture of you with my kids? no, not you. not with brad. >> thank you. good luck. [indiscernible]

: blue bunny. really good. >> produced ice cream all over the world.

grassley loves it. he helped bring it into washington, d.c., he loves it so much. : it's really good ice cream. really good. ask for helping us so much. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] correct governor? >> governor