appreciate so much as leadership and the support that he is given to me and to our family. i want to thank the sheriff. he also has become a great friend of ours overtime. thank you, dan. remember that earlier meeting? it was hot in the summer, we are trying to convince people that this campaign was going someplace, you believed it, i appreciate very much. all the things are building blocks, foundational building blocks to building a successful campaign around new hampshire and around the country. but the biggest blocks, even these folks will admit, are what we are doing right now. what we are doing right now is have a group of people who are willing to come out on a monday night and give me a listen, give me a chance to convince you that i am the right person at this

time in our country's history. and i love doing this. dan elevated my number of new hampshire town halls a little bit. 55 is an important number to me, because i'm the 55th governor of new jersey. i think that is where he got 55 from. this is our 43rd, but we will blow past 55 by the time he come -- we come back in the next couple weeks. i love every minute of it because it is what keeps me in touch with the people i am representing. when you are governor, you can get very taxed. you have troopers with you all a time, they ride you around in their suv's, they pull you up to

the back door of every place. when you are governor you never go to the front door of any place ever again. i've gone through every kitchen of every place in new jersey that has a catering hall. you go in those back doors and walked through the kitchen, you go through a pair of doors and see all these people in the room. you live in a bit of a bubble if you allow yourself to. one thing i did early on as governor was say to myself, i need to be out there meeting real people where they can ask me real questions. not only what is on their mind but i can also feel the mood. that will help tell me just as much is about how might leadership is being received and how they feel about where they live. it has worked great. it is a tradition here. so i am suited for doing these things

because i have done then. -- them. that is the theme for tonight too. you have to have done some of these things before you know how to do them right. for 13 years, i have been making decisions. every day for seven years as the chief federal prosecutor of new jersey, the united states attorney named on september 10, 2001. job changed- the significantly the very next day. arresting,ed on prosecuting, and convicting terrorists. in the state that lost the second most amount of people after september 11 compared to new york. you always have decisions to make whether to proceed with investigation or not,

whether to bring charges to a grand jury or not, when to ask for that grand jury to return in an indictment or not, how to prosecute someone and what type of sentence to request when that person is convicted by a jury or their peers, decisions that have a real effect on real people every day both those who are prosecuted and the victims whose rights are protected and acquitted by the prosecution. there's no one else you can blame it on. you are accountable. you are responsible for those decisions. you are not one of a hundred you are responsible. i went from that job to the governorship of new jersey which i lovingly call an unruly state to govern. it is my home. i love it. i dragged my wife

from pennsylvania. we raise our children together there. it challenges you every day. i'm a democratic legislature, 24-15 in the senate, 42-32 in the house. they don't wake up asking how do we make the governor happy today? what can we do to make his life full of joy and ease? it is a contentious thing. governing is contentious at times, difficult. but when you're the governor, you're responsible. you are the adult in the room. you have to forge consensus and bring everyone together on both sides of the aisle. usually get things done for the people who elected you. you cannot say i cannot get this done because the bill was never released from the subcommittee where i had offered some significant amendments which were never voted on, but if they had been voted on, we would've

gotten it through the full committee and, boy, we would've made progress then. your eyes are glazing over, no one is taken responsibility. not when you are governor. when you are governor, people want to know did you do it, or didn't you? i tell you this because 13 years of being responsible for the decisions is what we need in my view right now behind the desk in the over office. for the last seven years, we had on-the-job training in the white house, a guy with the largest that he ever managed before he took the most difficult and responsible executive decision in the world, was 30 people. 30 people. a handful of the people in this room was the most that barack obama was ever responsible for

managing. and yet as a country, we gave the reins of the most complex, largest government the world has ever seen in the hands of somebody who had never made a consequential executive decision in his life. and we wonder, why we are so frustrated and angry with this government? we are because they are incompetent at the very basic things that we want them to do. they are incompetent at protecting our borders, they are incompetent at providing safety and security for the american people in the homeland, they are incompetent with dealing with the day-to-day challenges of management that all of us who have had strong executive positions have had to deal with, who to hire, who to

fire, how do you with those issues that come across the desk every day. they do not execute. you heard this week, the department of homeland security said 120,000 people who were given visas had their visas revoked. where are they? we do not know. who are they? we do not know. why did you revoked them then? who they are or where they are. these are the basics, everybody. this is where vince lombardi would call for blocking and tackling, the basics, what you need to do to have a competent team. we need to start there. we need to get back to basics in this country from a government perspective, and i know how to do that. but the reason why it is important to do this is because the stakes are so high.

maybe three or four weeks ago we might have thought the stakes are high, but not that high. after paris, san bernardino, this level of competence is no longer acceptable because lives are at risk. the national schools are closed today. los angeles schools were closed earlier in the week. this is unacceptable. let me tell you why these school systems do youol know why they are closing? because an abundance of conscious -- caution. there is no confidence in the fact that the government will protect them. people believed whether they agreed with the president or not on a particular policy, they were doing everything they could to protect the safety and security of the american people.

we do not have that feeling anymore. we've a president who wants to release more prisoners from guantanamo even though 30% of the prisoners he has released already have been verified to be back in terrorists activity by his own director of national intelligence. 30% is back. the president said the other night, i do not understand the anxiety that people feel about terrorism because i do not watch enough cable tv. i did not make that up. he said it. then we had the woman who wants to succeed him. who said in the debate here in new hampshire on saturday night, that as to isis, we are finally exactly where we want to be.

here is what i suggest to secretary clinton. i suggest that she suspend campaigning, get on a airplane, fly to paris, and before christmas meet with the families of the murdered victims in paris and tell them, we are exactly where we want to be as to isis. as they endure, not celebrate, christmas this year without their loved ones, i want her to look them in the eye and tell them that we are exactly where we want to be as to isis. the fact is she is secretary happy talk. that is her new name. that is all i'm going to call her from now on. secretary happy talk. the slogan for this administration should be, do you

believe me or your lying eyes? because the american people see, they see quite well. and it she is standing there in this state two days ago, trying to tell you that is exactly where we want to be. and then martha raddatz said three times, secretary clinton, you designed the policy to remove gaddafi from libya. now libya is in turmoil and a breeding ground for isis. what measure of responsibility do you hold for what is happening in libya? three times she was asked. three times she refused to take any responsibility for what is happening in libya. here is why she is a hypocrite. because if the libya policy had worked out well, if we had take

-- if we had a emerge burgeoning democracy that replace gaddafi in libya, she would be literally setting her hair on fire and running around the stage to get you to notice that her policy was a success. yet when it is a failure, she refuses to be accountable. she has never been a governor. because when something goes bad, there's nowhere else to point. there is no other finger to point. when something goes bad, you have to be accountable. we cannot afford to put some united states senator, democrat or republican, in the white house for the next four years. they do not know how to take responsibility, they do not know how to be accountable. because all they have the do is every once in a while vote. she is the worst example of it.

i want to be president of the united states, not for the power. i want to be president of the united states for the responsibility. i believe that i acquit that responsibility down and make you happy that you voted for me. go home and look in the mirror, you are it. you're the only person you agree with 100% of the time. that is not what we should demand of people. we should demand that they are willing to be honest, have integrity, be clear, be open and be accountable for what they do as a leader. that is what i did for the last 13 years. we all wish we could take some

decisions back. but a truly responsible person cannot. the stakes are too high. because if a center for the disabled in san bernardino can be a target, that means everywhere in america could be a target for terrorist attack. it is a different world everybody. this is not al qaeda anymore. al qaeda wanted to do the big embassies,rican world trade center, the pentagon, the capital building. they wanted to do big things. isis said all they want is a sweet taste of american blood. we are dealing with a different opponent now. we got to act differently. we need someone who knows what they are doing.

that is exactly who i am and what i will be if you give me a chance to be president of united states. i am here tonight not to give you some big long speech, i'm am here to hear what is on your mind and answer some questions. me tell you what the rules are. engineers a -- in new jersey there are four roles. because it is new jersey. in new hampshire i only need one rule. you raise your hand, i call on you. this is not like the other town hall meetings that your other president kennedy told and new hampshire. and the staff greets them to see which one i can answer best, everone thinks we have had a town hall meeting. it would not be fair it need to name the candidate who does town

hall meetings that way. it would not. but her initials are hillary rodham clinton. we will give you a real new hampshire town meeting tonight. i appreciate you coming and being here, and i look forward to answering your questions. raise them up and let's see who has got questions here. they're going to bring a microphone to you so everyone in the room to hear you. speaker: good evening, good to see you again. here's my question. right now our nuclear weapons labs are run by private corporations. among other things, they work to earn a handsome of a profit as they can. my question is this -- should profit guide our nuclear weapons policy in particular our defense policy in general?

governor christie: the answer is no. the answer also should be, i do not believe that the two necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. so if a great company is contracting with the government and can provide the appropriate service for the people of this country in the nuclear area or other defense areas, they make a reasonable profit while providing a good service, i have no objection to that. i am a capitalist. if what you're saying my question is, if what will drive their conduct is first how much money they make, whether they are not the job is done the right way, then that is completely unacceptable. let me just warn everybody that some of these examples, if you remember the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there was a decision made by the government to change all private security guards at our national airports to

government employees, the tsa. the idea was if they are government employees, they will do the job better than the private guys who failed allowing people on planes with box cutters. we've now seen over the last six or seven years spot checks that been run by tsa employees where they are missing 80 to 90% of the weapons are being brought on to the airplanes. i would say to you that, if the premise is that if profit is put ahead of competence and service to the government and the people opposing the bill, that is unacceptable. if in fact we can find a way to have folks in the private sector who do the job extraordinarily well and in the process they make a profit that is not gorging, a reasonable profit --

i'm a capitalist, no problem with people providing service to the private sector governor -- that is when management comes in. when you put people who are responsible in charge. if you do not put those responsible people in charge, you could be giving the worst of both worlds. you could be couched and get a lousy profit for it. speaker: along those lines i have a christmas present for you. this is a summary of a report on nuclear risk reduction. the primary author, it was a panel of military people from around the world, the chief author is marine general james cartwright. i hope you will find this useful.

governor christie: thank you. i got to ride on a bus. maybe pat wants to take it for me. maybe she can read it and summarize it for me? thank you, sir. speaker: welcome to new hampshire, governor. phillipsburg. i think one of the biggest threat that is facing our nation right now, other than terrorism, is the size of our debt. what we are leaving for our children and grandchildren is as

former candidate barack obama sais, unpatriotic. what are your plans to get government spending under control, but reduced to the point were can start chipping away at the national debt? governor christie: first off, let me say, as to what has happened already, just so we're clear, this president has incurred more debt during his seven years than every one of his 42 predecessors. every one of them, combined. yes sir, go by. everyone is doing the math right now. barack obama's the 44th president, he said 42, i want you to remember grover cleveland born in new jersey was both the 22nd and the 24th of the united states. i just want everyone to know just so we're clear on that one.

i saw you. the wheels were grinding up there. this guy is really dumb. no, i got it. he has increased the debt more than all those predecessors combined. it is obscene. it is obscene. and it used to be, before he became president, that our debt was a percentage of the gdp. now our debt over supersedes the gdp. i'm the only candidate in this race to this date still, that has put forward detailed entitlement plan. 71% of all federal spending as of today is spent on

entitlements and debt service. just give you some measure of comparison, when jack kennedy was elected president 55 years ago, it was 26%. so 55 years ago we spent 74 cents of every federal dollar on tomorrow. 55 years later we spend 55 cents of every dollar on yesterday. what we borrowed, what we need to pay folks were no longer working. now people ask me what you lead with entitlement reform, it is the third rail of american politics. anyone who touches it dies. i decided i'm not going to touch it, i'm going to hug it. it is like what willie sutton said, that is where the money is. if you want to deal the national debt, you better do with entitlements. remember that debt service at a time when interest rates are near 0%, wait till those interest rates to go back up,

wait until they really start to go up. that number will climb significantly. so here is the good news and the bad news. the bad news is i have a 12-point detailed entitlement plan, the good news is i'm not going cover all told points right now. we can go to chrischristie.com if you are having trouble sleeping. go to my website, read the plan, as scored by the congressional budget office. it is scores saving over a trillion dollars over the next 10 years.

such as social security, we have do something that we can do response to a blessing. a blessing is that we are living longer. the average life expectancy of a woman today is 83 years old. the average life expectancy of a man is 79. she started to laugh. this lady started to laugh because they are going to start living for years longer. here's the thing now, 10 years ago, we are six years behind you, we're gaining on you. you may be stuck with us entire time. these programs were created a time when people died in their mid 60's. social security used to be able to retire at 62, life expectancy was between 62 and 65. great deal for the government. you pay the money your whole life, and you paid out over three years. that is why social security worked so well for such a long time. but because of increased with medical science, the

pharmaceutical industry, happily we are living longer lies and better quality of life. we need a change that. we need to raise our retirement age in social security. i did not get struck by lightning. i say raise it two years and phase it in 25 years. it will go up one month a year for 25 years. anyone who is on so security right now it will not affect them. for those who are close, it would affect them for a couple months, but not too bad. but for my children and their children, by the time they get there, the life expectancy will be longer than that. in the short term what we do is expand the absolute solvency of the program. secondly, we have means test social security. if you make over $200,000 a year in retirement income, yet stop

working, you have to at least least $4 million liquid. you really need a social security check? think about for a second. i know you paid for it, but here's the thing. if you have for-$5 million in -- if you have $4 million to $5 million in the bank, good work. congratulations. second, i would say god bless america. here's the problem, our books are unbalanced. the only way can balance the books is more money in or less money out. there's no magic it is more money in or less money out. here's the choice that we are presented with. you heard it on the democratic debate on saturday night. they say take the cap off the

social security payroll tax so that no matter how much money may, you pay that payroll tax on every dollar. they say that is the way to get at the rich. i've another way we can get at people who have been successful. do not take a benefit at the end just because you been putting money in it. why my idea is better than hillary's. the reason why we are in this problem the first place is because government lied to you and stole from you. see this money is also going to you all remember that, right? you are saying, "do i remember al gore saying that?" you remember or you remember. there's nothing in lockbox.

is a stack of iou's. the government has already spent all of that money. they spent it. they stole it from you. here's my question. if you have a choice of giving more money to a government that has already stolen from you or not, why would you give them more? this time, they really mean it, you know they will steal it. you know the first time they have a choice between raising taxes, cutting spending, or taking that pile of money over there that nobody needs right away and that nobody would miss, i am telling you, they will do the same thing, so this is not a question, because i had a guy in exeter say, "i am entitled to it. i paid." ok, great. so what?

it is gone. steal it. i am just the guy reporting it to you that it was stolen, and now, we have got to fix it. give this want to government another nickel after how irresponsibly they stole the money from the social security trust fund. by the way, republicans in congress this last budget deal, the social security disability insurance program, which has grown exponentially under barack obama and is going to be stolept in 2016, they $150 billion from social security retirement to give to social security disability. they are doing it now. speculation on my part. they are doing it. they are doing it right now, and to doat is what we need on social security.

on medicare, we need to do the two thing, raising the age years, and for folks who have over $200,000 in retirement income, they only get a 10% subsidy under medicare premiums not the 75% subsidy they get now. there will still subsidize your medicare premiums, but if you're pulling in $200,000 a year, you can afford to pay a little bit more for your medical premiums. especially if you're being provided with health care. othersdeas plus a few that are listed will save over $1 trillion. that is where we need to start. secondly, we need to grow our economy much faster. and i am going to not go through all of this because my answer is already getting long. i have my children with me this weekend. my older son was still here. but my daughter and my son and my other daughter, we are all

together for part of the weekend, and we are leaving to go back to school and to hockey and all of the other things, and i said to them, "so what do you halls?" dad's town and they said, "they are good," and i said, "no, what did you really think?" and my daughter sarah said to me, "your answers could be shorter." we are never going to cut our way out of the deficit and debt we are in. we have to grow our way out of it. you cannot just cut exclusively. last they when i was governor of had $11 billion deficit on the $29 billion budget. that is what i was left with my

predecessor. think about that. that is a 40% deficit. as the biggest deficit in of any state. i had to go through it line by line, and it was a painful process. we cut hundreds of programs from the budget. now, let me tell you. i probably cut a program that you liked. i got e-mails and phone calls and protests, and every one of those programs was either started by a governor or a member of the legislature, and they had a constituency, and every time you cut it, they would say to you, i understand you have to balance this budget, but this program is important, .oo important to cut

what you have to do is the absolutely immune to that argument. saddling our children with the most monumental debt to our world has ever seen. we have to cut spending in the federal budget, and there are programs that are going to be you voteyou like, and for me, and i cut a program you like, you are going to write me an e-mail or something and say, "i cannot believe it. i voted for you. you get there, and you cut my fill in the blank program, which means so much to me and my family. you are terrible." and i will send a letter back to , "i told you id was going to do it. there he truly yours, chris

christie, president of the united states." [applause] christie: i hope i can send you that kind of letter, because if i do, it has been a pretty good year for me. ok, back here. hi, how old are you? >> 11. governor christie: and what is your name? governor christie: courtney. what is your question? >> what are you going to do for kids and education? governor christie: when you work hard and do your homework, you have the best chance to be as successful as you can be. importantt the only person in your education. the next most important people are your parents.

as president, i want to empower your parents to make sure they can choose what is the best education for you. a public school or a private school or a parochial school. i want them to be able to choose, because there is no one more concerned about your future than your mom and dad. the third most important thing is your teacher. i want you to have a great teacher in your classroom who every day is motivated by new things, making sure you learn as much as you possibly can and that that teacher knows that rewarded based upon how well you do, instead of a creature is -- a teacher is in the classroom, and that is the way it should be. the better you do, the better product turnout, the better you

are paid, the better you are compensated. we also want your teacher to know that your parents are part of the game and that they are going to help the best they can to help you with your homework and encourage you to read, to encourage you not to leave your homework to the very last minute, right? turn off the tv every once in a while. turn off the video games, put down your iphone, all of those things. iphone, dohave an you, courtney? that is so good. we have a world in our house. no smartphones until you are 14. do you have a rule? i want you to have as few distractions as you can and be focused on your work. the last thing i will tell you about education is we spend lots of money on education in this

country, but we are not spending it in the right way. do you have a big backpack that you carry every day that you put your books and? is it heavy? sometimes, right? you see, i do not think you should have to carry all of that stuff back and forth every day. spend all ofng to this money, and this will seem like a contradiction after i said what i just did, but all of your books should be on your ipad. you can take your notes on there, have your notes on there, and you should understand how it works better than i do, right? my kids age, and they understand stuff in this technological world so much and we cannotdo, keep teaching kids the same way we were taught. forward, infacing

front of a black or a whiteboard, one person standing in front. we were doing that back in the 1800s. your brain works tivoli than mine does street you have been exposed to all sorts of different things than mine was exposed to. this, need an example of after the meeting is over, lots of people come up and ask for pictures, right? and they will have their spouse , and he camera to them most of the time will fumble with the camera and not know how to put the camera on and not know if they really took the picture or not, and then we will hand it to courtney, and courtney will go, ok, you are done. next, next, next. how to donow exactly it instinctively, so we need to use that. that is how your brain works, so we use technology much more.

rather than fighting unions and bloated contracts and all of that stuff and the politics of all of this that gets in the way of teaching you. these of the things we need to do for education in our country. your parents, your teachers, your principles, and the government. do all of those things together, you will have the best chance. and then the last thing is what my mother used to tell me all of the time. i could still hear it ringing in my ear's if i close my eyes and lay in bed at night. for,ther says to me, mr. because if you name your kids -- , because if you name your kids, you would not want to own up to the chris christie, you could say this over and over to me. she was right. i worked really hard in my life.

i and getting to run for president of the united states. that is pretty cool, and you can be whatever it is you want to be. if you can run for president. if you want to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, if you want to go to outer space, if you want to be a teacher, if you want to be a soccer player, whatever it is you want to be. way and workhat really hard, what i want is for you to look in the mirror and really believe, and my mother told me that, that you can be whatever you want to be, and i believe you can be, so that is what i would do for education, and that is a really good question, and always wear a superman shirt, because that gets people's attention. thank you, courtney. [applause]

>> thanks, governor christie, for being here in new london. >> you are welcome. >> my wife and i, we see the younger generations in my family possibly leaning a little bit more to the democratic side, and it seems to mostly revolve around democratic issues, so i am wondering if you could help pledge to protect our national parks from commercial activities, such as possibly drilling in the arctic, and even in new hampshire, this trip has changed me by going through the national forest, and i would like you to give us your thoughts on your environmental ants. stance. governor christie: sure. i do not think anybody does not want clean air and clean water and for people to be able to explore and enjoy with our families, and i have done a lot in new jersey without boring you

with my record, protecting our environment. but like with anything else in life, there has to be some balance, right? so i cannot be extreme, and it should not be extreme one way or another. done new jersey, we have enormous things to help expand our state parks and for the state to grow and to thrive, giving more funding, it giving some more rules to protect them. we also have set up an energy policy where 53% of all of the electricity generated in new generated by nuclear, and this has done a lot to keep the air cleaner. we also now are the third highest solar producing state in the country, and you go out tonight after this, you are going to win a lot of drinks at the bar if you ask too are the top three solar producing states.

they will get the first two. california and arizona, right? and then have them give you one drink for every state that they miss until they get to new jersey. that is partnering with the private sector, not with government position of things, but the partnering with the private sector so that businesses, shopping malls, and people are using solar energy because it makes sense, and they can sell energy back to the grid in a good year, and that helps defray some of the energy costs in some months to below zero. i have built three new natural gas fired plant is natural gas is a cleaner burning fossil fuel, and it has become abundantly available to us through the marcellus shale in pennsylvania. now, they had to bring a pipeline to do that, and that can be controversial at times, bob: is worse for our footprint

coal is worse for a footprint. they oppose the pipeline, and i say, ok, then what is the alternative? one woman wanted to oppose a pipeline, and i did not know about it, but what i can -- can't tell you is this. you should make these decisions. should empower the states and not the federal energy regulatory commission or some other alphabets soup we have an , and the energy prices in new hampshire art too hard. they are exponentially higher than most of the rest of the country. -- new jersey energy prices are too high.

this is what i mean by balance. i do not want to tell new hampshire whether they should build on the past or whether they should build on a particular pipeline, but what i do want to say is if iq view the authority, do something. a wayke sure you do it in that is responsible and balance for the people who have lived here. you do not need to have the cleanest environment. provide for the economic well-being in the state, as well, and this is continuing increasing energy will drive i think people out of the state, and it certainly drive seniors out and drive businesses out, so that is the kind of approach i am talking about. and there was a greenhouse gas issue which was the compact. we have already reached our clean-air girl -- goals for

2020, and this is not increasing taxes are new in order to do it. this to me is a commonsense approach, protecting our environment, and respecting the needs of our citizens both for their own livelihood in the businesses they want to build, so in the end, my cute favorite state parks in new jersey, which if you ever come through our state at different times of the year, in the winter, now you should come to washington's crossing state park. state parkcrossing is a beautiful park right on the site of where washington crossed the delaware and helped to create all of this, and we would all be speaking with a british accent, i suspect. and kurt seeing for the queen. and then if it is the summer, i want you to come to island beach state park. ng for the queen.

what somely imagine teenagers are in. it is $10 a car load to go to the island beach state park. 11-mile-long barrier island on the jersey shore, where you drive on. can't, -- can't -- or go sit on the ocean for $10 a car load. come and see that. it is one of the most beautiful beaches. you will think you're in cod, except cape here in the middle of the most densely populated state in america, and you're only about a five mile drive from snooki. [laughter] christie: i am

protecting those speeches because that is part of the character of new jersey, and yosemite is part of the heart of the country, and we have to protect them. with teddy roosevelt, so thanks for raising the question. i will give you my microphone now. >> thank you. what can you as president do to reduce the cost of an education beyond high school for students so that they are not graduating with $80,000, $100,000 in debt? that question has now been asked in 40 of 43 town hall meetings. two on paying back your debt and two on paying your costs. it is unconscionable now that students take out student loans and cannot refinance them. they must continue to pay the higher rates of the government

can make money off of our kids. you can find a commercial bank to refinance your loan, we should let you. you can refinance your car loan or your home loan. we should set up a national office, beyond military service. national service, and say to kids if they are coming out of college, if you want to serve three years in national service, help make your community, your state, or your country a better place, we will give you credit to reduce the amount of your loans, so when you get out and do the public or private sector workforce, you do not have to make this decision of where you on howrk based purely much you are paid. i think people do better when they follow their passions and then figure out how to make money, not just taking a job. we based on a paycheck. it can work out, but i would rather have these people after they have been educated that

they can find in their heart what they want to do with their lives. i'm going to remember my daughter and her issue with my having shorter answers. she is a 19-year-old sophomore at notre dame, so we got a letter from the president of notre dame. he is a priest. father john jacobs. the first paragraph is, dear parents. you have entrusted the souls of your children for our care for the next couple of years. notre dame, right? playing inear rudy the background treat you can see the golden dome and touchdown. how many catholics do we have? can you raise your hand? you know what the is. it is from a priest.

it is the money paragraph. as soon as they get the heart pounding, they move in. only going tois increase 3.9%. 1% inflation. 3.9%. and then they say that is the lowest increase in tuition at notre dame and 40 years. 9%.e point and the subtle -- total cost? $62,000, so in any other normal circumstances you had a situation where you were deciding whether something was valuable are not, you would just make an evaluation. ok, isn't the education at notre dame worth $62,000, and if you think it is, you pay it, and if you do not, you do not.

hall sarah downstairs, the one of theds me pictures golden dawn, and she sends me pictures on saturdays. she loves notre dame. and icall her down stairs say, we is made an economic decision, and we're going to send you someplace that is cheaper. i suspect that after the stabbing of the feet and the crying and yelling and the slamming of the door and you are ruining my life, we will figure out a way to make it work. here is the problem. they know it. they know you are not making the decision based on hardheaded isbers, and that there nothing more precious to you then your son and daughter and that and being happy and giving them the best education will lead to a better future for them, and that we were put on this earth as parents to believe

that we need to give our children not only what is good but better than what we had, the and we can give them, colleges play on this. here is what we need to do. the first thing we need is for them to tell us everything they are spending the money on. tuition, room and board, other fees. that is it. if you go out to a restaurant or you go out and eat dinner, and they hand you a check at the food, $120,y say you'd call the waiter out and say, can you tell me everything and what it costs? you need to tell us. to only because we need know, but they would be embarrassed to tell you. they are wasting money at colleges and universities. has nothing to do with making our kids education better.

believe me, they will start spending intimately. you pick what you pay for. these are the things your child is going to use. this is the only way to put a market test on this. if 90% of the people say they will not pay for a rock climbing wall, and by the way, you all have a rock climbing wall at unh. are you kidding me? you have rocks. [laughter] gov. christie: you are the granite state. the granite state! [laughter] [applause] gov. christie: you have a rock climbing wall! at unh. come on, man! help me out. state, no rocks. if they want a rock climbing wall, that is fine.

just go two miles in one direction. believe me, i have spent a lot of time there. and i made this statement, and when newspapers said "christie's assault on physical fitness to go believe me, i have had assault on this before, this is not one of them. here is how we are to get them to do it. you do not do those two of things, you do not get to participate in the federal student loan program. we can do that, and we should. this is because they are ripping off parents.

moneys because they spend on things they have no business spending money on. will giveey know we an borrow for our children. that was a little bit shorter. yes, sir. go ahead. -- again.ood come on, guys. who is working the box? >> i am just an average worker, and i know a lot of our conversations when you have to deal with who is running for president, and when we talk about you, and this is no disrespect, one of the biggest things i hear all of the time is how do you convince me -- i love everything you're talking about thatw do you convince me you are not shady and that you're actually here to help us?

governor christie: what makes me shady? because i am from new jersey? [laughter] governor christie: i cannot change that. it is hard for me to answer that because i do not think i am shady. because i am a good father, and i am a good husband, because i am a good sign and still am to my dad. because in a time when i could have been out making a fortune in a lot of other ways, i have devoted the last 13 years of my life to public service. out on me every year, and i mean every year of our marriage. every year of our marriage, she has made more than me. but that is a sacrifice that we made together. as i see them, and sometimes people like that, and sometimes they do not, like when

i told the people in new jersey to get the hell off the beach. some people like that, some people did not. when i told a reporter at the times that he could have a and he would not sit down and shut up, i told him to sit down and shut up. some people like that. some people don't. i get that. in the end though, i have never been accused ever of using the in my ownst for money pocket. i have never been accused of doing anything criminal, and i have never been accused of doing anything that was in my own personal interest rather than in the public interest, and you can butgree with my decisions, it did not benefit me personally. it is just my opinion, and when you are running to get elected, you have the right to make those decisions, and if you do not like my decisions, you can vote me out.

that is what democracy is all about, but it is hard beyond that for me to answer for you why i am not shady. we have to get over these regional things. this country has got to respect each and every place that is part of america for its differences. all right, so let's talk about new jersey. if all you do is watch tv, i understand why you might think that new jersey is shady, right? , snooki and the situation from the jersey shore. the culture at the jersey shore is exaggerated.

-- ive me, tony soprano can't tell you how many times people say to me, do you know tony soprano? no, he is a fictional character. i met james gandolfini before he niced away, and he was a guy and went to rutgers and became an actor and played tony soprano. snooki and the situation are from new york. yes. staten island. they parachuted those people into new jersey to our beach and made you all feel they are from new jersey. send them back. they are yours, andrew. that has a book first chapter of why governor christie hates me. i do not hate you. i just do not want you here because you make people think

that thinks about our state. our state is a rough, gritty, working-class state. are the most densely populated state in america. people in a little thing this day. we are also the most ethnically diverse state in the country. more ethnicities live here. we have the second highest population of muslims than any other state other than michigan. you would think we were a tally italian, hanging out and eating pizza. if this is not your cup of tea, do not vote for me, because i am not going to change. this is who i am, and it is where i am from and how i was raised, in the should be some becausein that for you,

i am not one to change what i believe to try to get your vote, and i am not going to change who i am to try to get your vote, but what i will tell you is that i am not your guy, the good news is that there are 12 others to pick from this year. a big choice. you to voter want for me if you did not trust me, because in the end, the vote but me in the white house, iti do not have your trust, will not work. i want you to vote with me with your heart as best as you can. if i win you over, i will be thrilled. you had better vote anyway, because it is your responsibility.

i can give you a list of the ones i would like you to vote for so that it would help me a little bit, but i appreciate your asking the question, and i appreciate your being honest to ask the question that was on your mind, and that is the best way i can answer it. if it gives you any idea into who i am, great, and if it does not, i took my best shot. [applause] governor christie: yes, sir. >> governor, my wife and i just came from brookside. from brookside. andived there for 45 years, new jersey, i do not know if it youhe bluest state, but came from probably one of the

the republican counties in country, number one or number two, and you have done a lot. you have gotten a lot of people in new jersey to follow you. how would you do that in other states? christie: first, so you know, brookside is a community in our hometown. box, so wet office were neighbors before you stole him also. are, i wasple here from new jersey. you were there, and you know. here issaid to folks the truth as we see it, and we set it in a very direct and blunt way could get we did not mince words with anybody, and we did not for a second, not for a second try to change our views to adjust what he thought people

in a blue state wanted to hear. we just said, listen. here are the problems, and here are the solutions i think we need to do to make this a better place, and people listened. part of it is because i am one of them. and they kind of looked at me and said, yes, this guy understands this place, and we are going to trust him. and they hated the last guy, governor corzine. sometimes you benefit from your opponent, and i did. i benefited from my opponent also, and i think the rest of it was hard work. getting out to meet a lot of people who may be had preconceived notions about you that you could dispel if they got to see you and hear from you. harder, but let's remember something. right now 31 of our 50 states are governed live republican governors. 31 out of 50.

we have more republican state legislators today than we have had in over 40 years. we have a republican majority in the house. we have a republican majority in the senate. this idea that the republican party is not a national party is ridiculous. we have to nominate better candidates. we have to work harder, and we have campaign places where we are not comfortable. you see, i do not think republican candidates or theseents should go to dinners. know why? they are voting for you already. it is good for your ego. a couple of ovations. when you speak, a standing ovation. when you leave, a standing ovation. did you pick up any votes? no. when i got elected in new jersey, and i'm member i got elected the first time in a re-way race by three points.

i knew if i did nothing different the next time, i would be former governor christie. it would be one-on-one against a toocrat, and i was going have to do better. so what did we do? of time in african american churches in our state. do you know why? the mosthose are reliable democratic votes in america for the past 50 years, and every time democrats would go there, they would say we are going to give you better streets -- better schools and safer streets. how is that working? i said the democratic party has promised you safer streets and better schools. have they delivered? if they have not delivered in 50 why don't you get some one a chance? we went into hispanic

neighborhoods, their churches and small businesses and sat and listened, and they did not want to talk to me because they had not had a republican there for a long time. places to campaign in where we are not comfortable, and when we are there, we had better have our listening ears on and not our talking mouth. we have to listen. and they need to talk. what you dream for them and your aspirations for the state and country. smart about to be opening our hearts. republicans at times can be seen as hardhearted, numbers people. we don't care as much as the democrats do. that is baloney. i have met plenty of republicans who have cared just as much as

democrats if not more. we have to open our hearts. we have to show people. i used to tell mitt romney all of the time. gosh, i wish you would just crack open your chest and show people your heart. he was uncomfortable doing it. it was not him. people are going to see my heart and know what i believe in and what i feel. people in america today need to see that. only want to know what you think. they want to know what you feel, because they feel a lot right now, and they want to know if the president feels the same things they do. feel as well as think. on republicans got a bad rap that for a while, and we need to do better, but it is a sacrifice. you have to be willing to do it, and when you do it, you might

lose, and that it really hurts, because if you lose and people do not like what you think, you go oh well, but if you lose because they think you are shady, if you lose because of agree with how you feel, that hurts. and i like my eyes. if i am on the stage against hillary rodham clinton. one thing these folks know because they are from new jersey. in 2009, 2013 after governing as a conservative in new jersey and doing these things, 61% of the vote in a state that barack obama had gotten 59% the year before. the year before. got 59%. i got 61% the next year. i won the hispanic vote. i won it.

22% of the african-american vote, up from 9% of four years earlier, and 57% of the female 18-year femalee state senator. if you walk away from today with nothing else, just remember this. if we do not win this election, we will not recognize this country and a 40 -- in four years. there is no second place. home,ther win, or you go and i am out to win this election because our country cannot withstand another four years of a democratic president. that is where i am. [applause] governor christie: all right. my staff is telling me i can take one more question, which means i will take two a. here is why. i want you to understand why.

first because i want them to still know that i am the boss, and second, has anyone here ever run for president? you did? you are a little young, buddy. nobody has run for president in running for president is being surrounded every day by people every day who are younger than you, and they tell you where to go and what to do every minute of the day. i am free from the tyranny of the young is right here, right here when i stand in the middle. i am free of the tyranny of the young. they cannot tell me. .hey do not have a big hook i and the guy. . can keep going my wife can tell me to stop, but none of the rest of them can. so we are going to take two questions. this gentleman over here. >> thank you. governor, as president, what thed you do to pressure

in theuslim countries middle east to put significant boots on the ground against isis. governor christie: the first thing i would do is in the first 100 days, king abdullah of jordan and the saudi royal family, the head of the emirates , to ask them individually to come to the united states and meet with me, and i would give them the opportunity to vent. they need a lot of opportunity to vent. this president lied to them. he got in bed with their mortal enemy, iran, and gave them $150 relief,of sanctions which these countries are convinced that iran is going to use to sponsor more terrorism against their nations. they are angry. they need to take the measure of me. they need to be able to know they can count on my word, that

when i give them my work, i will stand by it. regardless of what i have promised them that is popular or unpopular in my own country. i have to stick by my word. the best example was where he presidentople that if assad used chemical weapons come he would attack, and he did not. the president did not keep his word, and there are millions of refugees in the middle east, and isis all throughout the area. to themselves, how can we count on the united states anymore? i have to earn their trust. be that myrd would threat is just as great to them as it is to us, and then if they do not do it, i am not doing it on my own. i amneed to know that willing to be their partner, but

i am not willing to be the solo front man. they need to know that this is a partnership and that we have to work together, and that will take time, everybody. that will take a little time because they have been lied to by this president for seven years, and they need to hear it. abdullah watched his pilot burned alive in a cage by isis. he once to take action against these people. family isroyal threatened all of the time by the islamic jihadists like isis, and egypt, their martial law has already taken out the muslim brotherhood. and egypt continues to fight with them today. they know what radical islam at jihadist looks like, so it may

not take as much convincing as you think, but it is going to take some trust, and right now, they do not have it. quite frankly, they are entitled to have that happen. what are we doing in bed with iran? this is a country that for 36 chants death to america and still does and a country that stones women in the streets at the request of their husband and hang homosexuals in the streets because of their sexual orientation. this is a country that is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. this is a country that is developing nuclear weapons. a country that is testing long-range missiles, and they do not need long-range weapons to shoot at israel. these are for us. and this is the country that says israel should be wiped off the map inside 25 years. this president was doing

with this country is beyond me. i do not understand it. it is contrary to every value that we hold, but if you're in the sunni arab world, you are they made aurself, deal with them and have given them all of this money. maybe they want to be friends with them more than us. and difficult to unwind, but it is not difficult to understand, and i think as president, what i will be able to have them sit across from me and learn people in new jersey who have sat across from me have learned about me. there have been a lot of things said about me. misunderstood is not one of them. i think all of you have experienced that tonight. you can't agree with what i say or disagree with what i say, that you will not come out of here and say, i do not know what he thought about that. that heot going to say did not answer the question or

was dodging that. you might say, i do not like him, but they are not going to say that he is misunderstood. the leaders of the world will not see me as understood either. i will be of my word because i have always been. the instinct is correct. we cannot defeat isis without the help of sunni arab nations. if we do not have their help, it will be impossible for us to be able to do that credibly on our own. we need help, and with our european allies also. with france, it is a threat to them also. so to great britain. and other countries who have had attacks by jihadists four, and if we bring our game, we will win, and that is the job of the president. jewel, too the threaten, because every tool at

your disposal as the largest army of the world and as the president of the greatest and moores -- most generous people who has ever walked the earth, those are pretty strong tools. i will make it happen. i think that was the last one. good job. this gentleman right over here in the vest. >> thank you, governor. i grew up here in new london. nice to meet you. school sophomore in high when a man entered an office with a semi automatic weapon and killed the mother of two friends of mine. my wife and i now live in southern california, not far from san bernardino, where the father of one of our students was shot and killed. i now know two people who have been killed in these violent

attacks. know, it may score points to mention isis and the threats to america and all of this, but when "the washington post" and say thatyork times" more people are killed by homegrown extremists rather than aboutt extremists, what our threat to safety and security here, and what can you do, based on your record in new jersey, which is outstanding, you have a great record on gun control, but gun control is not everything -- what can you do to loosen the grip of these? governor christie: a good question, and i appreciate it. what i learned as a prosecutor, and let me start off with agreeing with one of the things you said in their which is gun

violence is a threat to our safety and security. no thought about that. threat. the question then is how do you address it. do notay be somebody who look at violence as a threat, but not many. i the most people in the country realize that violence with handguns is a threat. threat comes almost, almost all of the time from criminals who get their guns through the black market, who are intent on other crimes to be perpetrated along with the crime of violence that they are perpetrating, and one of the things we did during the bush administration was to crack down hard on felons who commit crimes with guns. there are significant loss on the books already. a felon in possession of a weapon, even in possession of a weapon, is a mandatory five-year prison sentence with no parole, commit other crimes,

it stacks on top of it. we need to get these off of the street. if you look at the increasing , the 18% murder rate in chicago, double-digit increase in los angeles, what you know is that the predominance of gun violence being done by hardened criminals, and now what gets the most publicity in spurts are mass shootings. i would separate things like frombine and sandy hook san bernardino. was clearlyno influenced and inspired by terrorist activity. and that needs a different type of approach from the intelligence perspective and the law enforcement perspective. i do not think those people killed the folks in san bernardino because they were mentally ill. i think it is what their

perverse and to of their religion drove them to do. with that, we need to intervene before it happens, and with that, we need more intelligence and more law enforcement activity. places like columbine and sandy hook, two of the most famous examples, including virginia tech, and i know you mentioned here, as well, it almost exclusively occurs by someone who is mentally ill and who is either noncompliant with their medication or not being treated at all. instance, those guns were owned legally. througher had gone background checks. she had bought the guns and kept them in the house preachy had a mentally disturbed son, and people knew he had mental health issues. nobody did anything about it. not positions, not neighbors, mother,nds, and not the

and his mother was the first victim of his mental illness. the first thing he did was killed the mother and then went and killed those poor children at sandy hook and then killed himself. we have to get real about mental illness in this country as relates to violence. other things, as well, but certainly as it relates to violence. in new jersey, what we have referenced, some of which say that doctors can have a greater ability to involuntarily commit people who are noncompliant with their medication or who are speaking about violence with a history of mental health issues. we need to give doctors the ability to do that, because often times families are ashamed. they are full of shame over these mental health issues. they do not want to talk about it. they do not want to seek advice about it from physicians or friends, and they let it go.

virginia tech on the kids in columbine, or the kids in sandy hook. you remember the interviews after. yes, we knew there was a problem. more gun control laws, and you mentioned about them not being a panacea in your question. we have so many on the books now , they are kind of like cotton candy after a while. a little sugar high five minutes after it happens, and therealf an hour later, is nothing for you. the concern about more gun control laws is that we are treating not the cause of the illness, which is reacting -- we are just reacting to the result. the folks from san bernardino bought to those guns legally. now, part of the problem is that

we are not using all of the intelligence tools we have. aboutvernment talks looking at facebook pages. let's get real, everybody. we have to start doing that, and we have to get our intelligence committee to intervene. shootings connected to crime or completely unconnected to crime on the streets of our cities. mass shootings that almost always happened in our suburbs. we need to deal with those two problems directly. and we need to make this a priority. president bush and john ashcroft and all of this together in the first four months of 2002, one year into the illustration, he said you will make a priority in your office to prosecute, and we

want to see statistics to back that up as we move forward. when you look at the record, they got what they asked for. they helped make america safer. we now need to deal with mental health. like the addiction. we are dealing with this in new hampshire and around the country. people are ashamed to talk about addiction, the same way they are ashamed to talk about little illness, and as a result, we do not get the treatment we need. looking at the gun side of the things, people think it will work exclusively, and it will not. there is a mental health issue. there are medications and other therapies that can help. and addiction. again, there are significant therapies that can help to put lives back together. this is much too important issue to just pound your fist on the table and say more gun control laws, and we will be fine.

most of the people who are burdened and inconvenienced by gun control laws are law-abiding people who want to have the guns but have noense intent of using them in a way that is violent towards other human beings. it is a constitutional right. it is a second amendment. picking an amendment out of the hat. the first is pretty important. freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion. the second amendment was the second amendment for a reason. because they were concerned about a strong, centralized national government that would peopletyranny over the and they wanted to give people the right to bear arms so if the government got completely after all, people could take the government back.

you cannot yell fire in a theater and no one with an extensive criminal record should have the right to buy a gun, but just putting another set of gun is not laws on the books going to deal with the issues. we have to deal with mental health. the kid in colorado shut up the theater with a big orangery leg and crazy eyes, you knew the minute you saw him, you are like oh man, this poor kid. nobody paid attention and no one got help for. the only people in worse shape than him are the people he murdered. it is a more complicated and nuanced answers and let's ban guns, but it is one that will actually work and that is what we should be focused on. issues that you raise tonight, i tell you that you raised issues that have not been raised by a lot of other town

hall meetings. really interesting to be here tonight. i got a lot of interesting questions and that is what makes these things so great. you spend the time to think about what you want to ask beforehand and they are good questions. i want to first thank you for coming tonight. people all the time and i go back to new jersey and they asked me what it is like to run for president in new hampshire. i tell them if you have gotten cynical about politics and you think our system of democracy can't work, come to new hampshire. all ofuld not believe you people here on a monday night before christmas who take the time to listen to a candidate thoughtfully, consider of late -- considerately, and honestly. thing i want to tell you is this because i want to

further address your question. website.o to my i was only teasing about the falling asleep thing. there are some nice pictures and other stuff on there. proposals, ast of bunch of white papers are not going to tell you who you should vote for for president. that list of proposals is important because it is a roadmap for what kind of president i will try to be. but it is not the only thing. many of you are at a town hall meeting when george w. bush was running for the republican nomination for the president of the united states and i suspect none of you asked this question governor, if 19 people were to hijack four commercial airliners on the same morning, take them over and fly to and

the world trade center, one into the pentagon, and one crashing into a field in pennsylvania killing nearly 3000 americans, what would you do? i suspect none of you have the foresight to ask that question. agree i can't predict everything that's going to happen to me as president, and therefore i cannot address it on a website, what do we do? how do we make that selection? had thee george w. bush character and the strength to deal with that attack and protect our country. why did i think that? because i got to know a little bit in that campaign about who he was. not just what he believed, but who he was. this jones question gives me the opportunity to do this. -- i am thei am

project of an irish father and sicilian mother. for those of you chuckling, you understand what that means. childeans as the oldest in that family, i became expert at dispute resolution at a very early age. this was an emotional household to grow up in. i did a bunch of town halls this weekend, writing on this great bus. my father refused to come on the bus. he wanted to go door-to-door. exeter door to door in -- my 82-year-old father. this is the kind of guy he is. he is loving, outgoing and gregarious. you and tell you embarrassing stories about me growing up. he's just one of these outgoing,

wonderful guys. we live stream these things over the internet. he is back home at the jersey shore watching this tonight. hope your feet don't hurt too much. i've always told my dad that in the automobile of life, my father is merely a passenger. my mother was the driver. [laughter] jury, anddge, executioner. she liked that best. she said all the rules in our house. my sister posted a picture today we were looking at on the bus of when my mother, one of the rare times my mother was soft and easy, a picture of us on christmas day. memory to seereat that picture. but mom said all the rules.

-- the biggestes rule she set was there is no suffering in silence in this house. i believe she established that rule because she used it the most. at my mother had a complaint or great, she said it. the time i became a teenager, when i had the gumption to push back a little bit, i would say i get it, i don't want to hear it anymore. she would say you are going to hear it now. that is the way she raised us. you needed to tell your loved ones exactly what you think and feel. i had a sicilian mother because 11 years ago, my mother passed away. she was diagnosed on valentine's day of 2004 with lung cancer.

she had been a lifetime smoker. started smoking when she was 16 years old. she got addicted. she tried everything to quit. she tried the gum, she tried the patches, she tried hypnosis. that was good for us because it took the edge off a little bit, but it didn't do anything for the smoking. finally, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. goneny of you who have through this, you know it can be aggressive and slow. unfortunately in my mom's case, it was very aggressive. of april, 2004, she was very ill. brother called me and said the doctor said put mom back in the hospital.

if you want to see her again, you need to come home now. flight ande redeye landed in newark airport in livingston -- and drove to livingston. they started giving her morphine. you know that is kind of the last step. i sat next to the bed for a little while and finally, she woke up. was so typical of my mom. she hadn't seen me for a week. what day is it? you, glad too see see you are awake, it's friday. she said what time is it? i said it's 9:30 in the morning. she said go to work. i said i flew across the country to see you, i'm spending the day

with you. she said christopher, it's a workday. go to work. you afraid of not getting your taxpayers money worth? it will be fine. she grabbed my hand and said to , it is where you belong. there's nothing left unsaid between us. other than the birth of our four children, it was the single most powerful moment of my life. my mother was giving me permission to let her go. as i sat there, i thought to myself, she's right again. again. because she raised us, i can't tell you how may times she said there will be no deathbed confessions. she turned out to be right. every grievance was aired, every joy was shared, there were no secrets.

i knew everything i needed to know about her and she knew everything she needed to know about me. i know she loved me and she knew i loved her. told.id as i was thet up and kissed her on four head and said ok, i will go to work. she looked up at me and said good way. child in the family, i got up and walked out of that hospital room and three hours later, she went into a coma and three days later, she died. i never spoke to her again. but i had no regrets. because i lived my life the way she taught me to be. that is what you need to know. i say get wonder why

the hell off the beach or sit trump inshut up, with the race, i'm only the second most psychoanalyze candidate, which is still pretty good out of 13 guys and women. to wondern't have anymore. it's her. that's why i do it. it's what she taught me to do. my mother taught me that in a trusting relationship, you tell people what you think and what you feel and you do not hold back. my mother was still alive to see this circus my life has become, she would have a lot to say. two things i know for sure -- first thing she would say is so, you are running for president of the united states, mr. big shot. don't get big with me, buddy. i changed your diaper. my mother would want me to keep my head on my shoulders and my feet on the ground. the second thing she would say

is if you are actually going to do this, few are going to ask these people for the most trust they can give to anyone outside the family, you better tell them everything. you better tell them what you think and how you feel because in a trusting relationship, that is what we do. so, that is who i am, and that is who i will be. if you give me chance to be havedent, you will never to wonder what i think. you'll never have to wonder how i'm feeling, because you will see it. i'd do not hide my emotions well. you will see how i feel. you will never have to wonder what i'm willing to fight for. because you will see it right in front of your eyes. and you will never have to wonder how hard i'm willing to fight for you. because you are watching me do it right now.

there's a harder and politics and running for president of the united states. if you want to win, you got to fight hard. fightn be dam sure if i that hard to get there, i'm not going to stop fighting until i get there. i'm going to fight for a country that i believe deserves that fight and i don't think you would be here if you didn't think the country deserved that fight as well. this has been an entertaining campaign. really entertaining. governors, former governors, senators, business people, a .haracter, we have had it all it's very entertaining to be a part of and watch, but showtime is over. it is gametime. it's gametime for this country and you are among the most powerful people in the world because you are going to take 13 candidates down to four or 56 weeks from tomorrow. has got that

power, authority and responsibility in your hands. you are going to pick the other states get to choose from for president of the united states. entertainer inng chief. we are picking a commander-in-chief and you need someone you know can do that job. that is who i am, it's who i want to be, and if you give me the chance to do it, i will work as hard as i can every day to make you proud of the vote you gave me. , i ask forour vote your confidence, and i thank you all for coming tonight. thank you all. [applause] >> a few days after the republican debate that took --ce, this these was posted

it's time for everyone to drop out of the race except trump, rubio, ted cruz, and chris christie. candidates in the undercard debate should call it a day. there's little chance they will be 2016 santorum. many of those with little prospect of success are stridently opposed to trump. if they are opposed, all the more reason for them to get out so they can consolidate around christie or rubio. you may agree with this or you may not, but when it comes to other candidates and you think it's time for those to step out of the race, here is your chance to let us know and give us your thoughts. .ou can call us

this comes as the announcement came from yesterday from the campaign of lindsey graham, saying he is going to drop out of the race and it was on his website that he posted a video explaining why he decided to make this choice. here is a bit of what he had to say. : today, i amm suspending my campaign for president. i want to thank everyone who has taken this journey with me. i believe we have run a campaign you can be proud of. we put forward bold and practical solutions to big problems by retiring our debt broken economy. my centerpiece of the campaign to win a war we cannot afford to lose and turn back the tide of isolation rising in our party.

i believe we made a norm is this effort. four months ago, at the very first debate, i said any candidate who did not understand that we need more american troops on the ground in iraq and syria to defeat isil was not ready to be commander-in-chief. at that time, no one stood with me. today, most of my fellow candidates have come to recognize this is what is needed to secure our homeland. i'm far more confident today that our pottery -- that our party will eat -- will reject the obama doctrine of leading from behind. restorere our enemy -- ourselves and take the fight to the enemy. this is a generational struggle that demands the strategy and the will to win. i will continue to work every day to ensure our party and our this fight.home i'm suspending my campaign, but

never my commitment to achieving security through strength for the american people. god bless our fighting men and women and god bless america. >> in light of that announcement, if you go to , there is a p/e's taking a look at what happens with this announcement, especially those rivals of senator graham. in light of this announcement, who is capitalizing on this? a lot of establishment aligned republican candidates. just this morning, jeb is less campaign rolled out a number of names that were supporting lindsey graham on his south carolina finance team. the biggest beneficiary are guys and rubio and probably john kasich and chris

christie. especially the state that senator graham represents. guest: although the southern states are expected to benefit, the most -- graham himself was aligned with a lot of the candidates, the more hawkish candidates. they are the ones likely to pick up the support and benefit whenever graham decides to endorse. announcementm's have for those on capitol hill and those watching the race. daniel: you have to remember that he never really polled very well. there was a sense this was

inevitable. he ran an issue based campaign. to necessarily really win, but to move the an isolationist view on foreign policy. host: what role does graham envisioned for himself now that he has stepped away? daniel: mostly a someone who can wield the endorsement. impact who can make an on the south carolina republican primary. it doesn't look like this will end anytime soon. a south carolina endorsement like his would be very valuable.

that is there any chance his dropping out might motivate others on the republican card to stop their campaigns? daniel: i really doubt it. they are in it for the long haul. >> republican presidential johndate and ohio governor kasich held a town hall and took a variety of questions. afterward, he greeted and took

photographs with them. [applause] gov. kasich: come over here and think ruth griffin. she is the best thing that happened to me in new hampshire. [applause] gov. kasich: john, we got some really good news. where's john? we didn't think about this. when i became governor, we lost 350,000 jobs. .since i have been governor, we have grown 385,000 private sector jobs. [applause] so, this is my daughter emma. this is -- reece is sleeping on the bus. she's sick. they brought their friends.

the reason why my wife and i are back in business again is that when i think about 385,000 jobs, i think about 385,000 families. i mentioned earlier, today, at a house party, that i grew up in a place where people eat goodbye. people were fixing people, -- fix it people. only one white collar family in the whole crowd. when i look at that and think about it, and i mentioned earlier as i have said many

times, i think about a father who goes home and sits down at the dinner table with the family and says, "i lost my job today." can you imagine how that would feel, how tough that would be, how that makes the kids feel? back in the days when i was kids, it was always just the dad working. when i think of today, what is the hardest job you could ever have, that is a mother, a woman, whose husband walked out the door on her, who has a couple of kids, or three kids trying to make it. can you imagine how tough it is? can you imagine, at times, how much a woman has to put up with? so, what i always think about when i think about jobs is dead

going home-- dad going home and saying to the family, "i got a job today." "today, we can have a shrimp cocktail, we have a little money." the mom can say, "we can have a good christmas." i have always considered creating the environment for work as the most important thing that any public official to. -- can do. i've been around politics for a long time. i thought for many years, 10 years of my life, to get us to a balanced budget when i worked in washington. 10 years. you climb up the mountain, and

they knock you back down. you keep climbing. i did it, because i knew that if i could get my spending under control, it would provide certainty to the job creators. if you think the economy is bad and people are not working and there is no demand, or that we have a health care plan that is going to add to your costs. -- costs, you will sit under wallet. when you give job creators certainty, when they know the earth, and you wonder, how i can go up 380,000 jobs from the loss, how is it that they're going to -- growing faster than the national average, here's why. we give businesses certainty. i told people, you're a small

businessperson, we will not regulate you out of business. you're hero, you were a job creator. you get people to work. we knew that certainty, top -- coupled with tax cuts, get people to work. in the late 90's and into this century, in the beginning, we were doing really well. am i right? it was strong, then a lot of nonsense happened. we spent money we can have. -- we didn't have. it scared the job creators. they moved out of america.

it was better to go somewhere else where shareholders could get more. back then, that formula of balancing budgets, creating sort pluses, cutting taxes, led to a stronger place, a stronger america. i spent 18 years of my life on the defense committee. do you worry about national security? i did it all the time in washington. who did i work with? people you may think i didn't know -- may think and know that much about the fence. ---- may think didn't know that much about defense. very goldwater, john powers-- barry goldwater, john powers. i sat there and absorbed for 18

years and grew older, wiser, more mature foreign policies not something you learn on the job, not by shouting people foreign-policy is complicated -- at people. foreign-policy is complicated. you can't spend six months figuring out where the bathroom is. you have to hit the ground running. the fact is that if you don't understand the complications of foreign policy, it is hard to learned on the job. -- learn it on the job. i worked in politics for 10 years, it was fant