with former pennsylvania senator, rick santorum. during the interview, he talked about his life and why he is running for president. this is part of a series with conversations with potential presidential candidates as part of the road to the white house coverage. this interview is about 40 minutes. the republican presidential candidate, rick santorum, this is not your first rodeo. you ran in 2012. we have done this before. sen. santorum: we have. host: let's talk about you in this race. how is this one different? sen. santorum: a lot more candidates, that creates confusion in the minds of voters. i have done every county in iowa

and i am doing town hall meetings and most reaction i get from people is, there are a lot of good people out there and it is hard to make a decision. so it is a job distinguishing yourself out from the pack. the advantage is having done it before, people know me, certainly a lot more than last time and it makes it comfortable. i left a good impression. -- i amle know that i someone that can handle the stress and strain of the campaign. not somebody who will change position or back down and flip flops. somebody who believes the things amrticulate and and for -- for. and and trustworthy if you give me the baton to run with it. that is what this thing pushes me. i think it will be key to our success. host: so when you are thinking

about this bid -- were thinking about this bid, what questions were you asking yourself? sen. santorum: you ask, is this what i am supposed to do? i am a person of air and my wife and my kids, we prayed about this. is this what god wants me to do? just because god wants you to do it doesn't mean you will when. maybe he wants you to win and you mess up and it doesn't happen. i don't know how that works. all i know is, how i look at it, is this the right thing for us and our family? can you offer something to the country that is important, different, that you think you can bring to the table that is really going to make a difference for the country? that is the big question. once you get over doing this for our personal situation, is this something that can make a

difference for the country, and it is always a tough question. there are a lot of other good people out there, but i felt like we had a message and a track record and it was of experience and not just experience in a campaign, but experience in washington that is unique. ofeone who stands for values americans, a conservative, a limited government, pro-economics, strong national defense, the values of faith and family, all the things i think are essential for a good and healthy country. and experience in washington dc that has accomplished things that really nobody else in the field has. and a vision that is centered a a lot offferent than

other candidates, a vision that talks about how we will help t behind in-- lef america, those who are suffering with economic problems, they are not succeeding, we have a whole group of people who are wage earners who see wages go up maybe a nickel a year for the last 25 years, that is not high. you are not succeeding if your wages are only going up a nickel in our -- hour. that group has always been at the heart of why i am out there. my father was a coal miner. i want to make sure that the american dream is for everybody and that is the main part of why i run. -- that is why this whole campaign comes out of this area of insulting you. i don't see other republicans with these policies, everything from economic policies, trade

policies, energy policies, all of what i am about, i wrote a book called blue collar conservative, it is about what we can do on the economic front and on the family side. it talks about the family, the integral role that the family plays in creating a healthier economy and america and how we can, as government and leaders, how we can help improve prospects for families. differents makes us and i think it is what is needed to have common sense in these commonsense solutions that address these problems of a continuing breakdown of the family. middle the breakdown of america and opportunities for people to rise. that is what excites me. to be able to have a message that can take these things and create a better and more hopeful future. i think that is the key to getting america winning again for republicans it is the key to

start winning again. host: it sounds a lot like george w. bush's message in 2000, is it? sen. santorum: it is different. our message is focused on the issues that are creating barriers to success. structuring an economic model that brings back manufacturing, which i think is essential and key to creating ,pportunities for the economy for workers who are high school graduates who have abilities, but don't have skills, to be able to get apprenticeships and learn trades and provide for a family, just at those levels of working on the factory floor. being able to rise to foreman.

don't,t think -- i having been part of conservativism, this is a kinder gentler government as opposed to a real vision for how we can have the economy work better, a vision for what we can do to strengthen the nuclear family. i wish we had focused a lot more on that issue of what the government can do. more importantly, what society can do. one thing i believe and i say this on the road, part of the thing the government can do to strengthen the family, one thing, i was campaigning in wisconsin and the state senator there did a study that said if you are a single mom making $15,000 a year and you have to children, you get $30,000 in welfare benefit. if you mary, you lose them. as a result we have

systematically told mother's who are receiving benefits, even those who are not, maybe you are pregnant, should i marry the father of my child or stay unmarried, he can work separately and i can have this child and get welfare benefits and he can support me by living here. it would be better economically. that is why for the first time in american history, it the majority of children born out of wedlock have cohabitating fathers, living in the home, because we have a system that says don't get married because you are better off not married. people have told me they have gotten divorced because they are better off economically with the father not concerning to the income -- contributing to the income. this is insane. this is a government program that breaks families apart. some stopbeing --

them from being formed. there are policies, but there is a president that can use a powerful tool, the most powerful tool is the pulpit, the ability to speak to the american public and cast a vision for what society should be and this president has used a lot of his ammunition and he will, to cast a vision for the greatest problem that concerns america today, climate change. you can be for or against what the president wants to do, but i would make the argument that a power to who use his cast that vision, to cast a vision on how we can help could bestruggling and of theinto lives because decisions that parents made, into lies that will lead them -- lives that will lead them to

jail or a nonproductive career because they are not getting the support they need to get education they need. i think if we focus more on what is a real situation of what seems to be generational poverty and chronic abuse of drugs and things like that, that is a bigger problem and that is something that is here and now and we can do something about it. there are lots of examples and i , it takes a called family, and they read about how communities can come together, not government, but communities in the educators, business people, nonprofits and actually do something about this problem. america has the ability. we have the ability within our own institutions to address this problem and turn this around, but we have no leadership.

without leadership, without vision, people will perish. host: you are from western pennsylvania and this is the midwest, towns and cities decimated by the fact factories and jobs have left. how do you change the -- that? vision,torum: we have a a 20-20 vision, that is a flat tax on income, corporate income. it is a dramatic reduction and it is a flat tax, so you know, everybody pays taxes. we have provisions to make sure that people are not paying more taxes than they are now. it is a tax code that is simple, gets rid of corporate welfare. it is a pro-manufacturing code, because it allows manufacturers to expand capital and expenditures on voting and

equipment. it is an incentive. sohave a 20% tax rate, manufacturers will want to expand plants and we have a provision that says if you are a manufacturer and you have earned money overseas, right now you pay 40% tax, bring that money back because of the territorial taxes done, bring it back and you will only be taxed a maximum of 7%. we think a trillion dollars will come back to the country and we will invest it. we have changes we can make in trade structure and regulatory structure, all of which, not all of which, but the regulatory things we can change immediately, because a lot of things have been put in place to hamper manufacturing in the country, this is been put in place because of the obama administration. you can repeal it on day one and he can suspended and immediately

change administrative interpretations. there are things we can do to create a huge attraction for businesses to expand and for companies to relocate to america. that will create job opportunities for good pain jobs -- paying, not in downtown cities, but where manufacturers will go. they left small-town america, but those of the best places to and things, you have land an able workforce and a quality-of-life conducive to a manufacturing environment and not have to deal with city dwellers. it is a burden to these areas. we talk about problems in the inner-city, these are difficult problems, but people are not moving to small-town america from the cities. the reason they move to cities is because that is where the jobs and opportunities are.

a lot of people would like to leave these congested areas and go back to a smaller city, but there are no jobs. we need to create that opportunity and we will create the opportunity for revitalization for the areas that has been struggling. and that is a good thing. it even out the playing field. we will not create just robust metropolitan areas that have all of money and success and higher unemployment rates being in the small towns of america, we can create opportunities now for small-town america again and it will be based on resources and manufacturing. host: foreign policy, this is a complex issue and there are hotspots in relation to different regions, but probably speaking what with the santorum doctrine look like? sen. santorum: it would look like america taking leadership in the world again, because america does not lead, the

people who will lead, they will not do things in our interest. the reason i say that is, if you saw negotiations on iraq, there are several countries, one of them was a very public about the concerns with this administration and what they concessions to iran. their people will not let them lead, internationally. whether it france or britain or germany, there is no appetite for any of those countries to lead internationally. it is america that will do it. and if we do not lead and they do not lead, then the leaders become forces that are not so friendly mode whether it is -- friendly, whether it is china or radical. putin is a very happy to take center stage.

i do not think that is in the best interest of the security of our country or the economy of our country area it is -- of our country. it is not good for the world. lead,rica has to leave -- the question is if we will lead in our best interest and be inconsistency with the best interests of the world, or if we will lead in the way in terms of our response abilities to other -- responsibilities to other entities and to just play a cooperative role. that would be a huge missed. we need to change it -- huge mistake. we need to change it. look at what is happening in the middle east, china, central and south america. we decided that are job it was just to be friends with our enemies. i have no problem engaging our enemies, but we can engage in a lot of terms, not theirs. our most recent example, cuba.

we did things on their terms. they now, they have what have always wanted and they have given nothing up. they have done more to disrupt and return government against -- and then probably last 10 years, then since the revolution in the 1950's. and we let them. and they have-- entered the community of nations in a way that we have always sought. they have probably done more harm recently they may have in a long time. that sends the wrong signal. as america is not standing for anything, we don't have a vision of the world that is we believe in freedom and we believe in self-determination. andave to stand for this how we implement it is a trickier thing.

but we have to stand for those things and try to score them in a consistent fashion. here if the president was he would disagree, he would say we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect the same result . it is time to engage with cuba and bring them into the fold. sen. santorum: what we have seen over the last administrations and maybe more, america is disengaging from central and south america, we have had our attention in other places. during that time, cuba and venezuela have had a run at flipping government against us. withhave been aligning china and russia and in some cases radical islamists. say has not worked, we have not tried anything. he -- posted 9-11, have they done anything to shape what is happening.

it has been a disaster on both sides. to say well, has not worked, if you do not work, it will not work. if you do not have a policy, it will not work. if you just let things happen organically, what has happened is these country saw an opportunity and seized it and we are saying now it doesn't work. that is completely invalid in my mind, you cannot say that the policy has not worked when you have not done anything to try to transform that region. host: let's talk about immigration, we covered your immigration itself. you are from a family of immigrants, what is your personal story? sen. santorum: my grandfather came to this country after serving in the first world war for austria, hungary. i remember going to his photographs -- going through his photographs when he was a

soldier and they all had these little mustaches, they look like little hitlers. everyone had these mustaches. all of your buddies here look like hitler. and he said, i actually met hitler. he actually met hitler and he had unkind things to say about him host:. host. host: what did he say? sen. santorum: that he was a hothead. i don't think that he knew him not well, but he doesn't. oner the war, he almost died the russian front, good stories about that. to his hometown in italy, which was near a lake called lake garda, in the northern town. after the first world war, his last name is santorum, which is

latin or italian. the whole neighborhood was an italian speaking community, but it was part of austria at that time. after the war, it became part of italy. he got married and had children and mussolini came into power. this is 1942. my grandfather in 1943, he was a republican, he was a very mussolini., he hated he absolutely hated him, had served in the army, he wanted nothing to do with mussolini and he decided to come to america. the interesting part is that he came at a time when italian immigration was being cut back. they had cut back italian immigration to a couple thousand a year. i remember after the last campaign, during that campaign when i was talking about immigration policies, one of the

publications wrote that rick santorum's grandfather came in 1923 and was italian and nobody came, he must've come here illegally. never, howurse, i would you ever know, it is not something that you talk about. so subsequently, i didn't find out during the campaign, but finally got my mom to go through my dad old stuff and we actually found immigration papers. the reason he was able to come, even though he was italian, was because when he was born he was born in austrian citizen, he had an austrian birth certificate and a passport. he was able to come as an austrian. could not come, his family. so he had to wait until he became a citizen, seven years. he had to spend time in fascist

italy, marching in brown shirts. the fascist doctrine, all this stuff. it was a hard time, at least for him. they asked, could they separate people, was it right, it happened to my family. my grandfather could have tried to get them here illegally, or decide not to separate or leave, but he thought it was. thought it was best. and he followed the law and brought his family over in 1930 when they were able. so my story is exactly what people are going through right now. i remember asking my father, do you ever resent the fact that america kept you separated from your dad, but he said america was worth the wait. that is what i tell everybody. the great thing about this country is we are not a country of men, we have women, they are

based -- we make decisions based on the law. and we abide by the laws and they apply to presidents, judges, and they apply to immigrants. the law,not adhere to if we say because of circumstances we will ignore the law and then we lose something that makes this country a beacon that people want to come to. if we abandon that, i am a lawyer, i remember learning that bad facts make bad laws. we have people out there saying this is a horrible situation, but it is, but we cannot forget the importance of holding to the law and in the long run it will be best for everybody if we encourage everybody to abide by the law and don't put ourselves in a situation by encouraging the breaking of the law by rewarding people who do. cold, but ind, --

fact it is the most compassionate thing in this country, everybody gets the same treatment. when we break that down, we have people who can talk and give the speeches about how compassionate you are about people, but these are the same people who think they are above the law and i think they are the ones you should be concerned about. host: you were born in virginia, raised in pennsylvania. in high school, they call you rooster. sen. santorum: it started in seventh grade, i was playing basketball. when i would go out, i had much inger hair, i had a cow lick the back and my hair stood up and it looked like a little roosters comb. i got the name rooster and it stuck, literally all the way through college. host: how did you meet your wife?

sen. santorum: i recruited her. i was a lawyer and i was working for a firm in pittsburgh and she had been offered a position with the firm as a summer associate, she was a second year law student and they asked me to take her out to convince her to take the offer as a summer associate. and i recruited her and she said yes and then a year later she said yes again. host: seven children? sen. santorum: yes and we had a little boy and have been, which we wrote a book about. his book about the trials we went through and having a baby that had a severe defect and did not live long after he was born. we were fortunate enough to have five other children after that and -- wait, for other children after that and now, they are

with raising kids, some are in college, high school. we have a little girl who became well-known in the campaign, bella. we wrote a book about her. we wrote together, separately, we are co-authors of the book. our firstn for chapter, about an hour into it, we decided we had different perspectives on things and it would be better to tell her own stories and let people get two different perspectives, a father's perspective and a mother's perspective, we ended up -- we divided the book in half. she wrote 11 chapters, i wrote seven chapters. i think it is a pretty compelling book about what also whats like, but

marriage is like going to a stressful situation, with a child that has severe health problems. it is a good marriage book, and book on life. hopefully it has helped people. host: you can be happily married, just don't write a book together? sen. santorum: i think the book is a better book because it is in her voice and my voice, we didn't do chapters we didn't need to, you can tell her voice versus my voice. it probably was -- it will probably be more helpful to people to get those perspectives. and maybe important for us to have our own voices be heard. together ando work come up with a combined story, but that is not how it was lived. it was lived in our own -- it

gives you insight into what we were thinking and the challenges between the two of us, they were real. when people read the book, they say it is so raw, you really laid things out. why did he do that -- you do that? because you can't help people must it is real, unless you tell them what you went through, it was not just easy, it was not just dealing with problems, but challenges in the relationship and among the other kids. those were happy, joyful, parts of our family and we would not trade it for the world. she is doing great right now. host: how old is she? sen. santorum: seven. she just lost her two front teeth. host: i want to ask you about your son, gabriel. if is every parent's worst nightmare, how did you deal with

it? sen. santorum: not well at first. karen wrote the book, i didn't. she wrote it as a diary that she kept during the pregnancy and she turned it into a book. letters to him, it was a diary about, she always keeps a diary , so thatt is going on kids can experience that and she would have something to share with them with early lives were like. she starts at the time we find out, we got that think -- pink strip. and it turned into an outpouring from her, pleading for his life. i dealt with it -- i was angry, a lot of things going on, i was in the senate at the time. i was elected in 1996 and i had done something i had never done

before, i stepped out and took on an issue on partial or -- b irth abortion, i was defending all human life and talking vividly about children who are disabled who are being aborted because of their disabilities. pregnancys late in through this procedure. a week after the vote on president clinton's veto, all of this happened. seemedeems this -- unfair to me that he would be fighting for these lives, but then your own personal situation is being taken from you. it was a difficult struggle for me. host: were you angry at god? sen. santorum: yeah, i didn't think that he was giving me a fair shake. i was fighting for life and then

he takes my son. i was fighting for the dignity of all of his creation, if you will, and then on a very personal level he says, well, i want this one for me. andi was angry, i was angry i didn't -- i didn't understand, how does this make any sense? by with this happened -- why would this happen? so i prayed for understanding and i went to wise counselors and did with pastors told me to do. counseling helps a lot. looking at all the impact that that story has had, people still come up to me and have me sign the book, even though i didn't write it, i am in it. they coming how their lives have been saved, thousands whose

lives have been saved because child aked at their little differently, maybe they found out they were having a child with a disability and they were not sure, and it gave them courage to respect that life and not have an abortion. you look at that and think, god has us all figured out. he has a plan, i don't know it, i didn't like it, but it taught me things. one of them and great comforts, i know that my son was in heaven. he was born, we baptized him, held him. he knew only love in his short two hours of life and i know with confidence that my little boy is in heaven. i thought about this, in the end the role of the father in my opinion is get your kids to heaven.

ok, it sort of focused me a lot more on my role as a father, because in the end what matters if you are being the kind of father and parent that gives your children a faith that is real and transformative and personal, then i am good. things,of the other obviously i am a high achiever and we want our children to do well, we are not high pressure parents. i mean, we're high pressure on making sure you are doing decent lives and you have a vibrant faith. all of the other things take care of them selves and that is what gabriel taught me. host: what is your biggest challenge, being a public

servant, hello -- politician, or a dad? sen. santorum: i don't worry -- they say, you are worried, stressed out, i am not. i think i have something to i am this country that, excited about that, i am excited or thefighting or -- fl heart and soul of our country, to be a beacon of hope for the world. it energizes me. was you know what, as it four years ago, if it does not happen i will get up in the next day, go on, make a difference somewhere else. lossesgone through other -- sometimes it is hard to get up the next day and go on. it is in you. aree kids and my wife, they

everything, they are the reason i am here. and so when things go a little astray there, it is tougher. but i do worry, when my 17-year-old daughter is past her curfew, you bet i worry. on thed not do well polls, there is another poll another day. if you have a bad day on the campaign, it can be a good day tomorrow. anything can happen to my kids in any way, that is something to worry about. host: if you are elected president, what type of person or cabinet members when you surround yourself with? who haveorum: people the same vision for a good and healthy america as i do. you promised the american public that it is -- that this is your vision and he was make sure that people you put in place have

this vision, because their job is to execute this area -- execute this. an old friend of mine said, the people that you hire have as much to say about the policies you implement as what you articulate they should be. so surrounding yourself with the strong people who see vision for this country and the possibility for this country, i think this country is going through a difficult time. this is tough. we are saying fundamental things -- seeing fundamental things and problems that we have not seen before. i do not think that things will get better now and january. i think economically things -- the markets are going through a whatble turmoil because of is happening in this country, you look at the family situation, drug abuse, there are

also the things you can say, we are going through a difficult time. and fundamentals change on the structure of the family for example, these are big things that have huge consequence. if we try to sugarcoat it, this country is going to be great, we are a great country, but we need leadership and we do not stick to the things that made america to say, we're not going to be great matter what we do i do not believe that. some people believe that. i think like everything else, we are all great people, we have the ability to the -- to do wonderful things, but if you make bad choices you will compromise your ability to do that. i think america has made bad choices and we need good leadership to be able to remind us and focus on the good things -- good choices we can make

so we can leave prosperous -- le ad prosperous lives. some of those things are not popular. when i say this, they say it is old-fashioned. i am old-fashioned about things that work. we have thousands of years of human history, everything has been tried. people say we have new ideas and we will do things in a new way, things have been tried somewhere and maybe not very well. what we do know is there are certain principles that work well and we need the principles to articulate that. a problem that we have is the people who lead in washington and politics don't really believe the things that made our country worth fighting for. or thinkpromise

because things are not in fashion today, we shouldn't carry on the fight. because it is not popular. a lot of the things that are popular today want popular 30-40 years ago. had to fight for those things. they had a vision, they believed in it and they fought for it. lot.st a does that mean it is your retrievable, some people think so -- your retrievable, some people think so. many people have lost before they won and they never give up. , it you tell a public really wasn't working, because if it did, you wouldn't give up. you wouldn't walk away. you would be telling your daughter, don't do drugs. and then for some reason, he you say -- you say it is ok.

you wouldn't do that. if you do, that is not the right thing. now we need to get you to do the right thing. ofhave to have the certainty what we know to be successful in america to continue to fight for those things. that is why the republican party and establishment has gotten away from what we know works. we need to get back to that. rick -- host: rick santorum, thank you for your time. sen. santorum: thank you. >> more road to the white house coverage tomorrow with bernie sanders. he will be speaking at liberty university in virginia. that is the same location where republican candidate ted cruz announced his candidacy earlier this year. we will have live coverage beginning at 10:30 a.m. on c-span. " and high school students and

teachers were happy to announce the launch of the c-span's 2016 documentary competition. with 2016 being an election year, we are excited about this year's theme, the road to the white house. what issue do you want canada's to discuss -- candidates to discuss? grade-12on is open to and c-span is rewarding $100,000 in prizes. students can work alone or joint a group of up to three people. your goal is to produce a 5-7 minute entry and include c-span programming and also had opinions other than your own. at the $100,000 cash prize will andhared between students teachers. and the grand prize of $5,000 goes to the student or team with the best overall entry.

the deadline is january 20, 2016 and winners will be announced on march 9. join us this year. be a student documentarian. you can find information on our website. studentcam.org. >> monday night, on the communicators, gary at -- epstein will discuss the upcoming auction that will align -- allow parties to bid on airwave >> space. one thing i do want to emphasize, we are not take a spectrum from broadcasters, this is a voluntary action on behalf of broadcasters. to beasters consider this a valuable service, but congress passed this act that they will be able to relinquish spectrum

rights in return for a share of proceeds from the auction. what is is congress's determination and the implementation to use market forces to make available more low band spectrum to meet wireless needs. the need for broadband spectrum is moving by multiples, there is not a lot of good low band spectrum left and this is a new method that congress has put in place. ,> monday night at 8:00 eastern on the communicators, c-span2. tonight, q & a. the will be followed by prime minister of great britain taking questions from the house of commons. and conversations with candidate

♪ >> this week on "q&a," jennifer teege discusses her book "my grandfather would have shot me." she discovered her grandfather was not see criminal -- nazi criminal amon goeth. "r trade by ralph fiennes in schindler's list." >> you wrote, i and the granddaughter of a mass murderer. how hard is that? >> to find out was difficult, but now to live with it it is ok. a lot of time has passed and i came to terms with the fact. it is a big responsibility, but it is not a burden anymore. >> your book, called