premiums. those ideas plus a few others 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 as they were leaving to go back to school and to hockey and all of the other things, and i said to them, "so what do you think of dad's town halls?" and they said, "they are good," and i said, "no, what did you really think?" and sarah said to me, "your answers could be shorter." [laughter]

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 thing i will tell you about when i was governor of new jersey, we had $11 billion deficit on the $29 billion budget when i came into office. 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. they told me we will have to raise taxes. i said no. i spent six weeks, three days a week going through the budget line by line. it was a painful, ugly process. 800 programs from the

budget. i probably cut a program that you liked. maybe more than one. believe me, 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, too important to cut. cut the other programs. that is what people tell you all the time. absolutely immune to that argument. we are 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 cut that you like, and you say you will vote for me, and as president 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 to be president and you cut my fill in the blank program, which means so much to me and my family. you are terrible." i already have the form letter filled out i send back to you where i say, "i told you i was going to do it. there he truly yours, chris -- very truly yours, chris christie, president of the united states." [applause] governor christie: i hope i can send you that kind of letter, because if i do, it has been a pretty good year for me. how about the young lady in the back. on has a superman shirt which attracted me immediately to her. hi, how old are you? >> 11.

what is your name? >> courtney. christie: what is your question? >> what are you going to do for kids and education? governor christie: good question. the most important person in your education is you. when you work hard and listen to your teachers and do your homework, you have the best chance to be as successful as you can be. you are not the only important 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. whether it is a public school or a private school or a parochial school. whatever they think is best. 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

-- person in your education is your teacher. i want you to have a great teacher in your classroom who every day is motivated by new -- two things, making sure you learn as much as you possibly can and that that teacher knows that they will be rewarded based upon how well you do, instead of -- and if a teacher is doing well they will be rewarded more. the better you do, the better product turnout, the better you are paid, the better you are compensated. the other thing i want your teacher to know is 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? [laughter] christie: turn off the

tv every once in a while. turn off the video games, put down your iphone, all of those things. you do not have an iphone, do you, courtney? that is so good. [laughter] we have ahristie: world in our house. no smartphones until you are 14. do you have a rule? [laughter] governor christie: 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? 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. if we are going to spend all of 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. that is all you have to remember. you can take your notes on their, and you should understand how it works better than i do, right? kids your age and my kids age, they understand stuff in this technological world so much better than we do, and that is the weight they learn. we cannot keep teaching kids the same way we were taught. in a chair, facing forward, in front of a black or a whiteboard, one person standing in front. and you taking notes. we were doing that back in the 1800s. technology is different and your brain works differently than mine does. you have been exposed to all sorts of different things than mine was exposed to. if you need an example of this, after the meeting is over, lots of people come up and ask for pictures, right?

and they will have their spouse hand the camera to them, and he , 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. [laughter] christie: you will know exactly how to do it instinctively, so we need to use that. that is how your brain works, so let's use technology much more. it would begin to use education money, 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. if we do all of those things together, you will have the best chance. to be whatever you want to be.

the last thing is what my mother used to tell me all of the time. i could still hear it ringing in my ears if i close my eyes and lay in bed at night. my mother says to me, christopher, 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 would say you can be anything you can be that you want to be. she was right. i worked really hard in my life. and 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 want to 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.

, what iork really hard 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. >> my pleasure. >> my wife and i, we see the -- took a trip and it changed our environment. 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 environmental 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 stance. governor christie: sure. i do not think anybody does not want clean air and clean water and open spaces to explore and enjoy with our families. and i have done a lot in new you on mythout boring 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. so in new jersey, we have done enormous things to help expand

our state parks to grow and thrive, giving them more funding and rules to protect them. we also have set up an energy policy where 53% of all of the electricity generated in new jersey is 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? easy. and then have them give you one drink for every state that they miss until they get to new jersey. we have partnered with the private sector to make it affordable, not with government position of things, but the partnering with the private sector so that businesses, shopping malls, and homes, their

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 from the marcellus shale in pennsylvania. now, they had to bring a pipeline to do that, and that can be controversial at times, but the alternative is to burn more coal which is worse for a footprint. that is what i mean by balance. some people say they oppose the pipeline, and i say, ok, then what is the alternative? i had this discussion today. at the vfw post. wanted me to oppose a pipeline, and i did not know about it, but what i can tell you is this.

i believe the states should make these decisions. we should empower the states and not the federal energy regulatory commission or some other alphabets soup we have in washington, d.c., and the energy prices in new hampshire are too high. i said i will give you that authority but you have to do something. energy prices in new jersey are too high. they are exponentially higher than most of the rest of the country. this is what i mean by balance. i do not want to tell new hampshire whether they should build a northern pass or whether they should build a particular pipeline in a particular way. but if i give you the authority, do something with it. that is a way responsible and balance for the

people who have lived here. you do not need to have the cleanest environment. it is also to provide for the economic well-being in the state, as well, and this is continuing increasing energy prices that i think will drive 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. that is what i have done with specific examples in new jersey. it has led to us point out of the greenhouse gas issue which was a northeast compact. it made our bills higher. we have already reached our by 2014r goals for 2020 and not increasing taxes to do it. approach commonsense to a protecting our environment and respecting the needs of our citizens for their livelihoods and their businesses. in the end, my two favorite state parks in new jersey, if you ever come through our state,

and different times of the year, in the winter, come to washington's crossing state park. washington crossing state park is a beautiful park right on the site of where washington crossed the delaware. -- helped to create all of this, and we would all be speaking with a british accent, i suspect. and curtsying for the queen. and then if it is the summer, i want you to come to island beach state park. right on the jersey shore. it is $10 a car load. you can only imagine what some teenagers are in. it is $10 a car load to go to the island beach state park. it is a long, 11-mile-long barrier island on the jersey shore, where you drive on.

you can fish, camp, or go sit on the beach and enjoy the atlantic ocean for $10 a car load. come and see that. it is one of the most beautiful beaches. you will think you're in nantucket or cape cod, except you are in the middle of the most densely populated state in america, and you're only about a five minute drive from snooki. and the situation. i am protecting those speeches -- beaches 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. they are part of who we are. that is something a great republican did, teddy roosevelt, so thanks for raising the question. first time i have been asked that in 43 townhall meetings. i will give you my microphone now. >> 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? governor christie: that question has now been asked in 41 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. if lower rates are available. they must continue to pay the higher rates so the government can make money off of our kids. it is unconscionable. you can find a commercial bank to refinance your loan, we should let you. you can refinance your car loan or your home loan. second, we should set up a national service 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 every year for the work you do 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 will work based purely on how much you are going to get paid. i think people do better when they follow their passions and then figure out how to make money, not just taking a job. purely based on the 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. on the cost side, here is the problem -- i will remember my daughter and her issue with my having shorter answers. 19-year-olds a sophomore at notre dame. so we got a letter from the president of notre dame.

he is a priest. the first paragraph is, dear parents. thank you for the blessings you have bestowed upon us by interesting the souls of your children to our care for their education over the next number of years. notre dame, right? you can hear rudy playing in the background. you can see the golden dome and touchdown jesus. 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. basic tuition is only going to increase 3.9%. 1% inflation. 3.9%. and then they say that is the lowest increase in tuition at notre dame in 40 years.

..9% below is in 40 years. the total cost, $62,500. any other normal circumstance, if you had a situation where you were deciding whether something was valuable or not, you would make an evaluation. you would say, ok, isn't the education at notre dame worth $62,500, and if you think it is, you pay it, and if you do not, you do not. we could call sarah downstairs, the one who sends me pictures of the golden dome, and she sends me pictures on saturdays from football games. she has drank the kool-aid. she loves notre dame. and i call her down stairs and i say, we is made an economic decision, and we're going to send you someplace that is cheaper. this is not a value for us. a 19-year-old daughter.

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. the caller just know it. -- colleges know it. they know you are not making the decision based on hardheaded numbers, and that there is nothing more precious to you then your son and daughter and them 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 best we can give them, and 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. a college bill is the most opaque bill in the world. 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 end, and they say food, $120, you'd call the waiter out and say, can you tell me everything and what it costs? a college bill you say, where do i sign? we need to know and they would be embarrassed to tell you. they are wasting money at colleges and universities. on things that are monuments to them and their egos and have nothing to do with making our kids education better. to tell us what they are spending it on, believe me, they will start spending intimately. we need to unbundle the bill. you pick what you pay for. it is the only way to put a market test on this. if 98% of people say they are not paying for the rockclimbing wall, and if you have a rockclimbing wall -- you have a

rock climbing wall at unh. are you kidding me? you have rocks. [laughter] gov. christie: you are the granite state. granite state. the granite state! [laughter] [applause] gov. christie: you have a rock climbing wall at unh. help me out. listen, iowa state, no rocks. if they want a rock climbing wall, that is fine. that is like i what putting in an artificial cornfield. for you to walk through. just go two miles in one direction. believe me, i have spent a lot of time there. you can find rocks in new hampshire. when i made this joke, one of the newspapers put a headline in that said i was -- that said chris christie's assault on fitness.

fitnesse assaulted before, this is not one of those times. here is how we are to get them to do it. if you do not do those two of things, you do not get to participate in the federal student loan program or federal student grant program. tell us how you are spending your money and give us a choice on how we spend hours. government can require that and we should because colleges and universities are ripping us off and our kids. not a ghost they do not provide a good education but because they spent money on things they have no business spending money on because they note there is no bottom for what we will give for our children. they are playing our emotions. that was a little bit shorter. yes, sir. go ahead. try it again. come on, guys. who is working the box?

>> i am just an average worker, and i know a lot of our conversations have to do with, when we are talking about 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 shady. my vote is wide open, i love everything you're talking about -- how do you convince me that 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. [laughter] governor christie: it is hard for me to answer that because i do not think i am shady. it is like have you answer a negative.

-- how do you answer a negative. 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. having my wife out on me every of ourearn me every year marriage. every year of our marriage, she has made more than me. but that is a sacrifice that we made together. i call things 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. when the hurricane was coming. some people like that, some people did not. protester, after i told him he could have a private meeting with me to talk to me what -- about what he was yelling at me, he would not sit i told him toup, sit down and shut up, some people like that while some people do not.

i get that. in the end though, i have never been accused ever of using the public trust for money in my own 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 disagree with my decisions, but 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 on your behalf. 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. it is like, 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? tony soprano, snooki and the situation from the jersey shore. new jersey in popular culture is exaggerated. believe me, tony soprano -- i can't tell you how many times people say to me, do you know tony soprano? you know he is a fictional character. [laughter] james gandolfini before he passed away, and he was a nice 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. i tell andrew cuomo to take them back. they are yours. i do not want them. she wrote a book that has a first chapter of why governor christie hates me. i said to her, 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. we are the most densely populated state in america. 8.9 million people in a little thing this big. 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 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 comfort in that for you, because 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. i would never want you to vote for me if you did not trust me, because in the end, the vote gets me in the white house, but

if i do not have your trust, it 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. if i do not, 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. we just came from brookside. we lived there for 45 years, and new jersey, i do not know if it is the bluest state, but you came from probably one of the most republican counties in the 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? governor christie: first, so you know, brookside is a community in our hometown. it is a post office box, so we

were neighbors before you stole him also. so many people here are, i was from new jersey. you were there, and you know. we just said to folks here is 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. it is 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 presidents should go to these dinners. you 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? when i got elected in new jersey, and i'm member i got elected the first time in a three-way race by 4.5 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 democrat, and i was going to have to do better. so what did we do? i spent a lot of time in african american churches in our state. do you know why?

because those are the most 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 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 years, 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. we need to campaign in places 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.

then we have to be smart about 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. they do not 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. what they feel as well as think. and republicans got a bad rap on 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 that they don't 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. 49.5% 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. he 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 vote against the 18-year female state senator. in the end, 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 in four years.

there is no second place. you either win, or you go home, 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. 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. the only place 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. they do not have a big hook. i am the guy. i 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 would you do to pressure the arab, muslim countries in the 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 billion of sanctions relief, 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 said to people that if president 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. they are saying to themselves, how can we count on the united states anymore? i have to earn their trust. then my third would be that my 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. they need to know that i am 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. king abdullah watched his pilot burned alive in a cage by isis.

he wants to take action against these people. the saudi royal family is threatened all of the time by the islamic jihadists like isis, and egypt, their martial law leader 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 it. what are we doing in bed with iran? this is a country that for 36 years 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. this is 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. what 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 saying to yourself, they made a deal with them and have given them all of this money. maybe they want to be friends with them more than us. it is complex and difficult to unwind, but it is not difficult to understand, and i think as

president, what i will be able to do is 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 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. you're not going to say that he 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. to lead, to the jewel, to threaten, because every tool at your disposal as the largest army of the world and as the president of the greatest and 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. i was a sophomore in high school 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. you know, it may score points to mention isis and the threats to america and all of this, but when "the washington post" and "the new york times" say that more people are killed by homegrown extremists rather than violent extremists, what about 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 there which is gun violence is a threat to our safety and security. no thought about that. it is a threat. the question then is how do you address it. there may be somebody who do not look at violence as a threat, but not many. most people in the country realize that violence with handguns is a threat. that 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 laws 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, and if you commit other crimes, it stacks on top of it. we need to get these off of the street. if you look at the increasing crime, 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 columbine and sandy hook from san bernardino. san bernardino was clearly 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. 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. sandy hook, for instance, those guns were owned legally. the mother had gone through 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, not friends, and not the mother, 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. worrying about 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.

you get a little sugar high five minutes after it happens, and that half an hour later, there 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 those guns legally. now, part of the problem is that we are not using all of the intelligence tools we have. the government talks about 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. random 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 for self-defense but have no 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 biggies. second amendment was the second amendment for a reason because they were concerned about a strong, centralized government -- national government -- that would commit tierney over the people, and they want to give people the right to bear arms, so that if the government ever got completely out of control, able to think the government back. it is an important amendment. it does not mean it is absolute. you cannot yell fire in a crowded theater and no one who has an extensive criminal record should have a right to buy a gun, but just putting another set of gun control laws on the books is not going to make us safer. we have to deal with the mental health issues that underlie these problems because every one of these mass shootings -- remember the kid in colorado who

shot up the theater with a big orange wig and the crazy eyes? you knew. the minute you saw him, this poor kid who no one paid attention to and got help for and the only people in worse shape than him were the people you murdered. we need to do with that. that is my view. it is a more complicated new wants then yes, let's ban guns, but it is one that will actually work, and it is one that we should be focused on. anave to tell you, it is import question that i have to tell you in new london, you raised issues that have not been raised by other town hall meetings. really interesting to be here tonight. i got a lot of different questions that i had not gotten before. that is what makes this great. you spend the time to think about what you want to ask me before hand, and they are all really good questions. i want to, first, thank you for coming tonight. really important -- i talk to

people all the time -- they ask what it is like to run for president in new hampshire. i tell them if you have done cynical about politics and you think the system of democracy cannot work anymore, come to new hampshire, because they would not believe all you people here tonight on a monday night before christmas to take the time to listen to a candidate for the that gives me great faith and hope in our democracy and these fall -- folks are going to get the job done in the right way. the last thing i want to tell you is this because i want to further address your question. you can go on my website, i hope you do, i was only teasing about the falling asleep thing. maybe a little bit, but not right away. there are nice pictures on their and other stuff that might keep you going for a little while. it is just a list of proposals, a bunch of white papers -- they

are not going to tell you exclusively who you should vote for president. proposals is important because it is a roadmap for what kind of president i will try to be. it is not the only thing, because i suspect that many of you are in a town meeting in 1999 and 2000 when george w. bush was running for the republican nomination for the president of the united states. i suspect that if you asked him , if 19estion, governor people were to hijack four commercial airliners on the same morning, take them over and fly them, too into the world trade center and one into the pentagon, and run -- one crashing into a field and since then, pennsylvania. what would you do? i suspect that if he would have the foresight to as that question. if we agree that i cannot read

everything that is going to happen to me as president, therefore i cannot address it on a website. what do we do? hideaway make that selection. i would tell you -- i believe that george w. bush had the character and the strength to deal with that attack and to perfect our country. why do i think that? because i got to know a little bit during that campaign who he was. not just what he believed, but who he was. this gentleman's question gives me the opportunity to do that. here is who i am. i have the product of an irish father, and a sicilian mother. for those of you chuckling, you understand what that means. that means that as the oldest taught in that family, i became index project is be resolution at a very early age. this was an emotional households grew up in. my dad is 82 years old, he was

here in new hampshire. i did a bunch of town halls with trips around the state. my father refused to come on the bus. he wanted to go door to door. he went door to door. father, this is the kind of guy he is. he is loving, outgoing, caring, precarious, he would hug you and begin to tell you embarrassing stories about me growing up. he is one of those outgoing and wonderful guys. i am blessed to have him. we live stream these saying over the internet. i know he went back on last night at the jersey shore and watching this tonight. i hope your feet do not hurt too much going door to door. --as told that as much as i my father is nearly a passenger. my mother was the driver.

judge, jury, and executioner. -- she set all of the rules and our house. my sister posted a picture today on facebook that we were looking at on the bus of the time when my mother -- one of the rare times my mother was soft and easy. picture of us at home on christmas day day when andrew was no more than about two years old. he gave me a great memory and a great feeling to see that picture. mom said all of the rules and said there is no suffering and silence in his house. i believe she establishes the most important rule because she used it the most. she said it. she said it loudly, directly, and repeatedly. by the time i got to become a teenager when i pushed back a

little bit, i used to say mom, i get it already, stop i do not want to hear it anymore. she said no, christopher you are going to hear it now. there are that -- you are going to hear it right now. that is the way she raised us. you needed to tell your loved ones exactly what you were thinking and feeling. 11 years ago, my mom passed away. she was diagnosed on valentine's day of 2004 with lung cancer. she had been a lifetime smoker -- she started smoking at 16 years old. addicted and tried everything to quit. i used to watch how frustrated patches,nd used gum, she even tried hypnosis. good for usly because it took the edge off of us for a little bit.

but it did not do anything for the smoking, so she stopped the hypnosis. finally on valentine's day 2004, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. goneny of you who have through this, that kind of cancer can be very aggressive or slow. unfortunately, her cancer was very aggressive. by the end of april 2004, she was very ill. i was off at the u.s. attorneys national conference in san diego. my younger brother called me and said listen, the doctors at the mom back in the hospital and she is real bad. they said that if you want to see her again you need to go home now. red eye flight from san diego and flew across the country overnight. i landed in the airport and drove the car to the hospital where she was in livingston, new jersey the town where i grew up. i got there, and they started to give her morphine. -- that isf you who

the last steps to make her comfortable, she was in a lot of pain. i sat next to her for a little while, then finally she woke up. it is so typical of my mom. she had not seen me of a week. no hello or anything. she went, what day is a? i said good to see you, good to be home, glad to see you awake, it is friday. she said what time is it. i said it is 9:30 in the morning. she said go to work. i said, mom i just flew across the country to come see you today. i am taking the day off and spending the day with you. she said christopher, it is a workday, go to work. i said mom, are you afraid you're not getting your taxpayers money worth? i will make of the time, do not worry about it it will be fine. she grabbed my hand and said to me christopher, go to work it is where you belong. there is nothing left unsaid between us.

other than the birth of our four thedren, is it -- it was single most powerful moment in my life. my mother was giving me permission to let her go. as i sat there, i thought to myself, she is right again because she raised us. i cannot say how many times she said that mine, there were no be confessions, you hear it now. she turned out to be right. every grievance was aired. every joy was shared. there were no secrets. needed torything i know about her and she knew everything she needed to know about me. i know she loved me. she knew that i loved her. told, i got up and i kissed her on the four head and said ok mom i will go to work. she looked up at me and said good boy.

family,ldest son in the the oldest child in the family, i got off and i walked out of that hospital room. three hours later, she went into a coma. three days later she died and i never spoke to her again. i had no regrets. life the way she asked -- she taught me to be. that is what you need to know. if you wonder why -- sit down and shut up and with trout in the race, now only the most second psychoanalyze -- which is pretty good at a 13 guys and women. you do not have to wonder anymore. you now know it is her, that is why i do it. that is what she taught me to do. my mother taught me in a

trusting relationship, you tell people what you think and what you feel and you do not hold back. i know that if my mother were still alive to see the circus that my life has become, she would have a lot to say. i will tell you two things i know for sure she would say. one would be, so you are running for president of the united states mr. big shot. anybody, ibig with change changed their diaper, i know who you are. my mother would want me to keep my head on my shoulders and my feet on the ground. it was important to her that her children be grounded. the second thing i know she was a to me is listing -- listen chris if you are going to do this and asked his people for the most trust they can give to ,nyone, outside of their family you have to tell them everything. you better tell him exactly what you think and exactly how you feel. in a trusting relationship, that is what we do. that is who i am and that is who i will be.

chance to bee the president of the united states of the united states, you will never have to wonder what i think. i'm sure there will be some days he will turn off the tv because you have heard enough. you will never have to wonder -- you will see it. i do not hide my emotions well, i was not caught that way. you will see how i feel. you will never have to wonder what i'm willing to fight for. you will see it right in front of your eyes. lastly, you will never have to wonder how hard i'm willing to fight for you. you are watching me do it right now. there is nothing harder than politics and running for president of the united states. if you want to win, you have to fight hard. you can be sure that if i find that hard to get there, i will not stop fighting what i get there. i will keep fighting for a country that i believe deserves that fight. i do not think you would be here tonight if you did not think this country deserved that fight as well. this has been an entertaining

campaign, really entertaining. governors,former senators, businesspeople, the character -- we have had it all. very entertaining to be a part -- showtime is over everybody. it is gametime. it is gametime for this country and you are amongst the most powerful people in the world. we are going to take this race from 13 candidates down to four or five in six weeks from tomorrow. has got that power, authority, and responsibility in your hands. you are going to pick from the other 48 states located -- who they get to choose from for the next president of the united states without picking an entertainer in chief. we are picking a commander in chief. you need somebody you know who can do that job. that is who i am and that is who i want to be. if you give me the chance to do

it, i work as hard as i can every day to make you proud of the vote that you gave me. i asked for your vote and your trust and confidence. i thank you for coming tonight very much. thank you all. [applause] [indistinct chatter]

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>> c-span takes you on the road to the white house. the best access to the candidates at town hall meetings, speeches, rallies. we are taking your comments on twitter, facebook and by phone. every campaign event we cover is available on our website www.c-span.org >> republican presidential candidate and ohio governor, john kasich, talked to voters in portsmouth, new hampshire, and took their questions on a variety of topics, including foreign policy. afterward, he greeted and took photographs. [applause]

gov. kasich: thank you. come over here and thank 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. just on friday, they announced, since i have been governor, we have grown 385,000 private sector jobs. [applause] gov. kasich: so, this is my daughter, emma. reece, they just got done with midterms and 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. meals and theyel worked in chemical factories. they were fix it people. one white collar family in the whole crowd. how are you yeah go good to see you tonight -- how are you? good to see you tonight.

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? the wife back in the days when i was a kid, it was always the dad out there 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? could you imagine, at times, how much a woman has to put up with?

what i always think about when i think about jobs, i think about dad going home and saying to the family, "i got a job today." have a shrimpuld cocktail because we now have a little bit of money. the mom can look at the daughters or the sons and say we are going to have a good christmas. -- the abilityn to have programs that give people work. i have always considered creating the environment for work as the most important thing that any public official 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. the reason i did it, is that i knew that if we could get our spending under control, it would provide certainty to the job creators. if you are a job creator of today, and you think that there is some regulation that is going to come out and hurt you. or 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 youg to add to your costs, will sit on your 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.

we tell them, you are a small business person. we are not going to regulate you out of business. we are not going to tax you out of business. you are a hero, you are a job creator. you are getting those people to work. in washington were john and i were there, we knew that certainty, coupled with tax cuts, it would grow the economy. some of you do not remember this, but in the late 90's and even into this century, in the beginning, we were doing really well. the economy was doing -- am i right? it was strong, then a lot of nonsense happened. they spent money they did not have. they were not sensitive about the regulations. it scared the job creators.

coupled with high corporate taxes, court -- company started moving out of america. it was better to go somewhere else where shareholders could get more. back then, that formula of balancing budgets, creating surpluses, cutting taxes, led to a stronger place, a stronger america. i left and by the way, i spent 18 years of my life on the defense committee. do you worry about national security? i did it all of the time i was in washington. who did i work with? maybe people you have not heard of that you think when i know much about defense. barry goldwater, john powers. these were the giants and these are the people that i had the privilege to sit next to as a 30

year old kid. in your 30's, you are still a kid. i sat there and observed -- absorbed for 18 years and grew older, wiser, more mature . foreign policy is not something you learn on the job. it is not something you do by shouting at people. complicated,y is nuanced. if you are going to be the leader in america, europe to understand you cannot spend the first six months trying to figure out where the bathroom is like the job as the president of the united states. 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 learn it on the job. i left politics, balanced budgets. years and itr 10

was fantastic. my wife i was going to go back into public life, and she said "that's just great." [laughter] gov. kasich: today, she is involved in keeping kids healthy, whether it is food or exercise. she has raised more cane about -- kandi and vending machines than any woman i know in america. kids need to be healthy, all the kids. not just my kids, all kids. she is involved in helping people who have been human trafficked. could you imagine these girls? how old are you abby? >> 17.

they're taking: 13-year-old and 14-year-old kids in my state and sex trading them. do you know this? they are working in sweatshops. we found out about it and we went to work on it. we have taken people who have been labeled as the criminals. these people who had been taken -- who have been human trafficked and labeled as criminals. we are throwing the real criminals in jail and helping these lady's get up on their feet, get reformed. my wife went down to the courthouse with the judge who worked with these women to get them on their feet. this woman walks into the back of the courthouse with these folks who have been human trafficked for years. they say, we can't believe you're here. she says, i can't believe you would allow me to be here.

now, she hosts them every year at the governor's residence to honor their graduation, to celebrate the fact that they are on their feet. they have eaten their addictions and they are free. i told her i have to go back in. she did not like it. it is a bad business. but she said, you go back in. so we have the jobs going and we are helping everybody to get up on their feet. do you have a kid who is autistic? you get insurance today in ohio. do you have mental illness? we are not ignoring you. we can do these things because we have the jobs going, they are moving, we have the prosperity coming.

same formula. taxes,d budgets, cut commonsense regulations and we do it for one reason. i don't want anybody to be left behind. i don't want any young person to grow up without having an opportunity to be special. it has happened. i did not know i would run for this job. i've only been a candidate for five months. this is my 43rd town hall meeting in five months. i know i am just getting started. i tell people, there's 1.2 million people in new hampshire, and i've met them all twice. i'm only halfway there. same formula. we have a formula, we have a plan to give to congress.

congress over the weekend has a bill over the weekend that violated all this stuff they said they would not violate. they are lost. there's no leadership. -- you do not need to worry about this. this is not that hard. it is the politics that is hard. it is not that hard to realize the world needs america. we have to lead as americans. it is not that hard to balance the budget and tax -- cut taxes and grow the economy. i know how to do it. it takes leadership. you worry about republicans and democrats fighting.

you do not have to worry about it if i am president. i have republicans and democrats -- i got republicans and democrats to work together all of my lifetime to fix problems. do you know how you do it? you grab them here and say, you did not come here to take up space. you came here to improve people's lives. are you with me? they never say no, they always say yes. so for the last 40 or 50 days, whatever we have left, i'm not in the loud statements, i'm not into banging my fist on the table. i'm not into calling names. i'm only into fixing the country. i've done it before with a great team of people, like my great like dougn and people

scammon. we will do it again and leave no one behind. [applause] how about a few questions. thanks for coming out on sunday. i know i you are here, because the patriots aren't playing. [laughter] >> so you have your two children, i have mine. they would be here tonight. young people have more skin in the game when i look at the tally than anybody. how do you draw them in? at the end of the day they will , carry the wagon. gov. kasich: the way in which young people come in is that you tell them there is purpose in life. that you can change the world. it's not about promises, it is about vision. it is about saying to kids, do you know how special you are?

do you know that you can change the world? this has to be dealt with, because if it isn't, they graduate from college and have no job. you have to deal to work. -- you have to be able to work. we have to get this under control as fast as we can for your kids, my kids, all kids in the country. it,te to go back and say john and my right? it is not that hard. we know what it takes and it is not an unreasonable plan, it is very common sense and simple. we have to get people to get out of their own way. that's all we have to do. once we have certainty, once businesses know, so the budget make it balanced, over time it

cannot be done overnight. they do not expected overnight. they will not put the stupid rules on me, they are going to choke me. wait a minute, they might even cut my taxes. ,hat is what gets them to send let's invest. let's take a risk. let's create jobs. with all of that, we just take from one another. it is an amazing thing that happens in ohio. we are the seventh largest state. i am not running some bucket shop over here. i have 11.5 million people. my credit ratings are strong, not weak. i am running a $2.1 million surplus from a billion dollar hole. i don't use gimmicks. i don't make stuff up when i come to the meetings. my people will say, "promise than this.

i don't promise anything. if i don't believe what i'm saying, i'm not promising them. i want people to believe in this. this last weekend and watching them pass this bill -- it does not surprise me. they are like a flock that wanders aimlessly around. they need a shepherd. and with a shepherd, they would get good results. [laughter] reese, comeich: over here. she is doing her best to come out over here for her dad. [laughter] gov. kasich: a cattle prod. here's the other thing you've got to know. you just can't beat people up

into doing what you want them to do. once in a while, with a few, but the louder you yell, the more you screen -- scream, the less result you get. there is a certain magic to it all. if you're a schoolteacher, you cannot yell kids into a good grade. you unlock them. you figure out what motivates them. when we raise our kids you can , yell at them all day long, but that can only go so far. you have to convince people. once been a wild, it is fun to talk about the cattle prod, and i will let you come to washington with that. but what we need to do is to remind them of their purpose. when you are a member of the united states congress, the day i was elected to congressman, i was 30. my mother and father were in

shock. my dad carried mail, and my mother's mother couldn't speak english. go toght i'm going to washington and work with ron reagan. what a privilege. john who comes into the house and becomes the united states senator. can you imagine that? somehow, they forgot that. we will remind them. they will get the act together. i promise you, when we get there, you come down i will have , you stand outside the fence of the white house and scream if this does not work. it will work. >> i'm an independent looking for a candidate that makes sense to me, not someone trying to scapegoat the issues. someone who's coming up with solutions. i'd like to ask a history question. at the debate, you said you would not have gone into iraq if

it wasn't for wmds. i would just like you to explain what you meant by that. gov. kasich: what is clear is that we had faulty intelligence. i don't know how it happened. i have no hot -- i have no idea how they thought they had something that they did not have. it's to be about human intelligence which we crippled , in parts of the world. you have to know what is happening on the ground. the reason why, if there had not been weapons of mass destruction, if we hadn't thought they were there, the reason i wouldn't have gone is because i don't want the country to go into a civil war. there's the sunni, the shia, the kurds. they don't belong together, they do not exist together. thatme you talk about whole middle east, you have to understand that division, which

has existed forever. ali, who was a shia, was assassinated in a city in iraq. i can guarantee you there is not another person and president that knows where that city is. i did not study it on the way over here, i know it. there has been a division and the revenge that has existed between those sects. to get in the middle of it would be like you and i leaving here someplace and to walking into an alley where there is a knife fight going on. you and i are not going into that alley because we are not going to stop it. we walked our way into a civil war. went to iraq to push saddam hussein out of kuwait, we had the arabs and the west.

i remember that, because i have a friend who was the former egyptian ambassador of the united states, and stood in the rose garden and said, we are all going. we pushed saddam out and the first george bush stopped, and d -- do you remember what people said? he should have finished the job. no, he shouldn't have. there was no job finished because they knew -- people around him and that if we go in there, we are going to on that place. do you know how iraq. put together? after world war one by the world powers. they were stuck here injury those lines. -- and drew those lines. i always thought that let the sunni state and the shia and the now we have advisers in

syria. i do not want the united states to get into the middle of a civil war. can we help the people who opposed assad? absolutely. but i'm not getting us into the middle of a civil war. i'm for destroying isis, but not getting us into the middle of the civil war. in 1983, this makes me sound old. do i look old? and i decidedold i do not believe america should have marines in beirut. there were 14 republicans who shared that position. ronald reagan was the president. i am like 31 years old and i love reagan, because i met him i was a little kid. tip o'neil came up to me.

he heard i put against u.s. troops in lebanon. he poked me in the chest and said, i remember when we used to elect men to this body." the barracks were blown up and tip o'neill went on television and blasted reagan for having troops there. then, we left. it was a searing moment. a couple of you other things i learned that year. we had marines in the barracks in beirut. the guards, as i recall did not , have bullets in their guns. the marines were in the barracks in beirut, and a navy ship was floating off the coast. they could not communicate. they had he use a pay phone, because the services had not learned to work together. i got involved in a major

proposal called goldwater nichols to get the services to train together, to exercise together. it was a massive reform i happen ed to be a part of. civil war, i don't want to go there. you go, take care of business, and you go home. in syria, once a thought is gone, the saudi's will attempt to settle it down. we cannot keep men and women in the military in the middle of the country. i hope that makes sense. [applause] >> thank you. my name is anna grace, i ran for massachusetts state senate.

i wrote three initiatives to prevent human trafficking. i was wondering if you'd like to look at them? gov. kasich: absolutely. do you know how i got into human trafficking? >> how? i was electedh: governor and i was going to make this big speech. i used to be an aid in the legislator. now, i am the governor. podium -- i no longer make speeches at the podium in the capital of ohio. i go to communities to make my speech. it's been incredible. as president, i do not know why the state of the union always has to occur in the capital of the united states. i am making my first beach, halfway through, and this woman jumps up halfway through and

leaves a protest against me in the capital. she comes to see me many months later. she talks to me about human trafficking and she is a democrat. she told me what she was trying to do. i said, why don't we pastor legislation? she looked at me and i said are you still with me? she could not believe that a republican would take up her issue. we passed it. i signed the bill in her district. she hugged me and said i was the best. when i ran for reelection, she blasted me. that is politics. [laughter] is -- you set the policy is relatively easy. i think it is- self-evident that the political system is fun -- dysfunctional. could you speak to the system itself? for example, legislators who

take campaign money from the same interests they regulate. they spend 80% of their time raising money. they extort money. politicians are more interested in maintaining their own power than serving the people. these all of structural issues, or is it our fault? is it we the people that have created this dysfunction, or is it something else? gov. kasich: you're not going to like my answer. it's been this way forever. every time we change the campaign finance laws, there's another set. what's missing is leadership. leaders can get people to not pay attention to that stuff. i have fights in my own state that i can't win. there have been interest groups that have been powerful. i will wear them down and get what i want when the moment comes. i get about 90% of what i want. i have to face these same --

think kind of issues they face in washington. you know how many interest groups were fighting us? the department of defense, the farmers, educators, students, everyone you could imagine. we got them to do it. can there be change in the system? i'm open to it. for me, the biggest problem is gerrymandering. people in the town halls don't know a lot about politics, but everybody knows about gerrymandering. that's when you draw funny districts. i'm a republican, they give me a safe republican district, and i have to watch for the extreme on my right. if i am in a democrat district i have to look for the extreme on the left. it polarizes people. that is a problem. laws, the thing i like billionaires being able to determine who becomes

president? because they put all of their money in and run all of the ads? of course i do not like that. i have to figure out which better sit -- which would be better system is. if i knew a few more billionaires, i might feel different. i don't. kasich: do you know what i tell billionaires? you want to help me, great. do you know it you get for it? good government. [applause] gov. kasich: go check it out. any politician will tell you, i am independent, will check it out. the problem i have had is that the media cannot define me. hardsays you need -- i am to define. i'm all for term limits. we have term limits in ohio. do you know who is running the legislator to much of the time? the staff. mechanical things can work.

i believe in turn limits, but just make it long enough so that the person can learn the job. they can learn the job before they have to lead. it ultimately gets down to character, which comes through leadership at all levels. not just one level, it is how you get a department to run right. goode department has leadership and a sprinkle good leaders throughout, you get good results. ,e have in our prison system less than a 27% recidivism rate. the national rate is 50%. why is it so low? great leader. great leaders can bring about good things. what more do i need to say. >> can the system produce good leaders? gov. kasich: i guess we will find out. i am just concerned that a system such as ours that requires so much begging and

groveling for money. it's not going to produce good leaders. gov. kasich: let's talk about that. you think there were less resources and groveling when teddy roosevelt was president? do you know how he got to be president? they threw him out of new york. i am sorry, i do have water here. i have it right here. thank you. here is the thing, teddy roosevelt cause more trouble in new york. why do you think john mccain and john kasich like roosevelt? troublemaker. mckinley is assassinated, he becomes president. i hope that's right. gov. kasich: my history. teddy was a trust buster, he took on everybody. let's name a couple more, harry truman. my wife's been reading him. one day she comes down and says, "oh my god."

i am sitting downstairs and she says the koreans have gone to war. she's saying it's in the book about harry. she comes down the other day and says "harry has died." i say, harry who? think about truman, reagan. these guys, it did not faze them because they had a job to do. that is the way i see it. i see it that way. former housemmon, speaker. he whipped them into line. right, doug? he has them into line. [indiscernible] gov. kasich: that's right, he got them to do it. all is not lost because the system is goofy. i'm not kidding you. i'm telling you the truth.

we have got to get the best people because they can make the best changes and get the country safe. it is always going to be like this. good leaders, bad leaders, what we've had is, the line has been flat lately. we need a good speaker. paul ryan has great potential. upneed to be able to get it here for a will -- for a while. it will ultimately fall off because that is the way life is. we have to get good runs in clean it up. yes? >> the middle east drawn along the lines of shia and sunni's, and kurds do you see iraq that way. gov. kasich: no, but i mean

look, i cannot predict to you what it would look like. i think you will increasingly see it, you see it now. within iraq. i think ultimately, the kurds are going to have to have a place to live. the problem is that the turkey do not like the kurds. we need turkey. turkey is important because it is a bridge. they should be our bridge. we lost them and we want them to come to the west, not the east. they can be a bridge to the middle east. israel, people talk about israel and here is what i would tell you about that situation, there is no solution. the goal should not be a silver bullet, but it has to be stability and absence of violence. what i think ultimately, what i

hope for when we talk about toia, is i do not want iran be able to move across iraq and syria to create a shia crescent. there is a way there to kind of block it. they don't have to be at war. they just have distinct differences. we have to realize that and recognize it. when they jury the map of iraq after world war i, they did not understand it or they did not give a flip about it. they just needed to carve things out. that's why we are having these problems. think to defeat isis, we have to come up with a solution for the kurds. the saudi's want to settle things in syria. i think why we have isis is because of the war in iraq. some people say we left too early.

no, we made a mistake even going in. colin powell said that, "if you break it you own it." there is a name for that. that's the pottery barn. it just happened. we destroy isis, and we have a good coalition of people, it will settle down. you cannot let it fester and wait. the more we wait on it -- there is no way to destroy isis without having both in air campaign and a ground campaign. we are going to have to be on the ground and in the air. america is going to lead and we are going to be successful because the other countries are not going to the ground. i just read today, that the arabs have committed to fighting terror. if you ask them if they will put boots on the ground, you will hear that they are not going alone. the problem with the red line,

wen the president said that had a redline and did not enforce it, he created doubt. these countries are nervous to begin with. all of a sudden, where is america? can we trust america? that's the problem we got into. other people had other reasons. that is what concerns me about it. what i think is, you will see shifting and changing. by and large, ultimately, in iraq, you will see basically that it will either happen formally, which it won't, or there will be an informal division of the country, which is what it basically is now. yes sir? >> in 2008, we elected a -- ident [indiscernible]

when i look around the country today, i can see this unity that can be barely describe. how do you actually overcome the forces that have divided us this way and bring the country back together? gov. kasich: let me tell you about anything i did maybe a year and a half ago. we have cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, dayton. we had a shooting outside of a walmart store outside of dayton where a guy with a fake gun was shot and killed. we had a situation in cleveland where the police chased a car, two people in the car, they spot a policed the car at officer jumped on the hood and shot them 47 times into the car. the police surrounded the car shot many bullets into the car. and theye had no gun,

had a grand jury that failed to indict. now, we have the circumstances that happen, and now we have a 12-year-old who was shot holding a gun, and the police pull up, and now we are waiting for a grand jury decision. we've had no violence. so, soon after this issue in cleveland with an officer on the hood of a car, a number of african-american legislators can -- came to see me and said "we should have a task force." we are not going to have a commission but we will have a task force. in 24 hours, i will name the task force. we have two people who head it. one is the former head of the highway patrol, and the other is

a very liberal african-american woman who ran against the republicans for statewide office. she is my cochairperson. her son happens to be a police officer. i invited community leaders, ministers, law-enforcement, all on this task force. they reported to me two days into the baltimore rides. they recommended a statewide policy on the use of deadly force. also, we needed to know the recruiting and hiring policies of the police agencies throughout the united states. unanimously recommended, a fraternal order of police. african-american community leaders. we got it all done. now, we've broken into a collaborative where we all sit together and figure out the trouble in the community and the problems with the police. three weeks ago, i was in

cleveland and met with african-american ministers. how do we think we can keep things calm with this result? tougher stuff than that. i am not telling you we are out of the woods, but it is communication. it is respect. that is what is missing. were on thed i budget committee, they would say -- let's wrap up this budget negotiations in three hours and hope the democrats would shut up. we are not going to do that. we will sit here for toward -- 12 hours if we have to. it is always better to let the steam come out of the pressure cooker, my mother taught me that. that is how you do it. you hug them. it is like this lady on the human trafficking.

i could call her tonight and say we have stuff to do. you help me? it takes work. the problem is, the well is so badly poisoned, it will take a lot of extra effort. if i do not think i could fix this, i have this one and this one. i'm going to waste their lives by wasting my own. no way. you need to work at it. respect is a big part. you don't have to agree. at the opening of the debate, i said we need to come together. that does not mean i have to give up what i believe, but it means that i give a little bit. sometimes, you walk away. when reagan was in reykjavik, he walked away. you don't always have to walk away.