banks. he has used the government to get rich and bully the competition and now he asks you to give him power. boo!: notpaul: this race should be about which candidate, or, this race should be about which government will protect you -- which candidate will protect you from the government. this is not about grabbing the ring of power. having gollum elected is not a good thing. [laughter] [applause] only one inam the this race who doesn't want power

. i want to set you free. i want a government so small, you can barely see it. >> president paul. president paul. president paul. president paul. mr. paul: for several years i have been fighting a law that allows americans to be imprisoned without a jury trial. it was signed by president obama a few years ago. my fear is that one day i president might use indefinite ,etention the same way fdr did to send japanese-americans to internment camps, or detain african-americans like they did in the old south. power corrupts. as we have seen with an out-of-control irs, using its power to harass and intimidate

conservatives for their political beliefs. the irs presumes you are guilty until proven innocent. imagine being detained without a trial because your own government deems you suspect, but does not after. desperate -- does not have to prove it. when i think about indefinite detention i am rim -- reminded of a scene from "to kill a luckily, scout comes to the rescue, as she always does. she recognizes the leader of the mob as a father of a boy in her class. she says, i go to school with your son. he is in my grade, and he has done well, i beat him up once, but he is ok. tell him, hey, for him, won't you? the little girl broke the angry mood of the mob five personalizing it. mob.ound humanity in a

when there is a mob intent on indiscriminate government searches. when there is a mob intent on detention without trial, then someone must stand and shout down that mob. as president, i will not only shout down the mob, i will indefinite detention once and for all. [cheers and applause] senator paul: when anyone says we must give up our liberty for a false sense of security, i cannot help but think of atticus again when he took the case of defending tom robinson. most of the town but he was wrong. in washington, that sentiment is often true. after my filibuster for the right to be left alone, some said i was the most unpopular man in washington.

it felt that way. [laughter] senator paul: but i thought of what atticus said, before i can live with other folks, i have to live with myself. the one thing that doesn't abide with majority rule is conscience. the majority is not always right. in fact, the majority is quite often wrong. as victor hugo said an idea , whose time has come, it is stronger than all armies. for a republican to win again, this is not just about the primary -- we get caught up with a primary and about winning the presidency, which means winning iowa, which hasn't been easy, for us to win again, we need to be brave enough. brave enough to believe that ideas are powerful, maybe even stronger than armies. [cheers and applause]

senator paul: to win, we will need to be a bigger, better, bolder party. we need to welcome people of all walks of life -- black, brown, white, tattoos, without tattoos, with earrings and without earrings. ,veralls institute -- and suits we need to become a bigger, more diverse party. as my dad always says, liberty. as my dad always says liberty brings people together. [cheers and applause] senator paul: it's the common desire to be left alone that binds us all as unique individuals. after all, big government hurts people from all walks of life, rich and poor.

the woman in detroit who wants to run a hair braiding business who was run out of her apartment, and shut down by big government. the developer moving dirt on his own land who is jailed by armed e.p.a. agents. [boos] senator paul the small business : that can't compete with corporations and their armies of compliance officers. the elderly woman using her -- losing her home to eminent domain, also known as donald trump. the teenager from a poor family facing jail time for marijuana, what do these individuals have in common? they are losing their liberty to big government. today your government has 48 federal agencies from the i.r.s. to the department of education that all have their own swat teams. is that freedom? >> no!

senator paul: when i am president, these attacks on your liberty will stop once and for all. [cheers and applause] [chanting president paul] senator paul: the g.o.p. has been the party of emancipation. we are the party of civil rights. we need to be the party of justice. justice begins when the war on drugs ends. [applause] a generation of young black men have been incarcerated and permanently lost the privilege of voting, and the opportunity of work. the war on drugs has

disproportionately incarcerated those who live in poverty in our cities. though blacks and whites use drugs at similar rates, three out of four people in prison are black or brown. we must begin to treat addiction as a health problem, not an incarceration problem. [cheers and applause] senator paul: for five years, i fought for a vote on auditing the fed. [applause] [crowd chanting] senator paul: when i finally got the vote, ted cruz was nowhere to be found. [crowd boos]

senator paul: in fact, ted was the only republican to miss the vote. but even worse, ted maintains that the correct response to the great recession was to have the fed more aggressively lower interest rates, when we all know that artificially low interest rates are the problem, not the solution. [cheers and applause] senator paul: when i'm president, the federal reserve will learn that their days of unlimited power are over. [applause]

senator paul: america has much greatness left in her. we are still exceptional and we are still a beacon for the world. we'll thrive when we believe in ourselves again. i see an america strong enough to deter foreign aggression, yet wise enough to avoid unnecessary intervention. i see an america where criminal justice is applied equally, and any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color is repealed. [cheers and applause] senator paul: i see an america with a restrained irs that target and harass american citizens for their political or religious belief and -- beliefs. [cheers and applause] i see a simplified flat tax that unburdens our citizens from the

fear and intimidation of the i.r.s. code. [applause] senator paul: i would eliminate the entire tax code, the i.r.s. and unleash the engine of to create jobs and opportunity like never before. [applause] we have the highest corporate taxes in the world. is it any wonder that our companies are leaving our shores. money goes where it's welcome. i would bring corporate investment back by cutting our corporate tax and immediately bringing home $2 trillion in american profit. [applause] i see our big cities, i see our

big cities once again shining and beckoning with creativity and ingenuity with american companies offering american jobs. i have a vision for an america beyond partisan squabbling, beyond petty divisions. with your help, this message will ring from coast to coast. a message of liberty, justice and personal responsibility. a message that can gain support from across the political spectrum. a message that can prevail and win the white house. [applause] the journey to take back america will not be easy. it will not be without obstacles, but together, we can

do what others say is not possible. stand with me now as together we seek a new vision for america. i ask for your vote today for the presidency of the united states. thank you. and god bless. [applause] crowd: president paul president paul president paul president paul [cheering]

>> thank you. everybody, we have five minutes to tell you about the campaign and what happens in four days, if you do not know. on your chair as he saw these cards when you came in. and ie is steve grubbs, am the chief strategist here in iowa for rand paul. we know what we have to do to win. we know that there has been a lot of money spent on television . there have been a lot of phone calls made. let me give you an update on the campaign. we have over 1000 precinct captains helping us out statewide. but there are 1700 prints things -- precinct who are still looking for more people who will stand up in their caucus who can speak from the heart or read a statement on behalf of rand paul

. if you are willing to do that, fill out this card. what are you are in state or out of state, in-state is obviously first preference to if we have a precinct where we do not have someone, one that is unfilled there are tables over here and , want to plug you into a pri -- precinct. fill out this card, and we have seven laptops over there. let's say you don't want to speak at your caucus. you just want to go to the caucus. raise your hand if you have never been to and i will caucus. owa caucus. look at that. you will make this caucus. here is the tricky thing, this is what throws a lot of people off -- a lot of people think that they go to their caucus where they go to vote in a school board election. not where you go. with the caucus the state

, republican party has set up locations in schools and in fire houses, and in all sorts of crazy places across the state. things, either www. your caucus.com and put in your address, or before you leave here today, fill out this card and drop it off with our team. we will call you or e-mail you to verify the -- location of your caucus. you want to make it easy, so you do not miss it. these are your caucuses, 6:30 p.m. on monday night. no later, if you're not ready -- registered to vote. you can register to vote at the caucus. so especially show up at 6:30. maybe you are 17 or you know somebody who is 17 or somebody who lives with you is 17, as

long as they are 18 by the general election this fall, they can vote. take them with you. my mother took me to my first caucus at 16 and still doing it 10 years later. [laughter] we are going to leave it at this. we have a chance, very few people in the state of iowa have a chance to make a big difference, not just in the united states, but we have a greater impact in electing the most powerful position in the world than any other group of people. we have four days to make a dramatic difference for freedom, for liberty, for our children and for the united states of america. thank you for coming. fill these cards out. and let's go, rand paul! [applause]

[indiscernible]

>> can i get a picture? >> unfortunately, we have to go. how are you? thanks for helping. wow, thank you.

i appreciate it. we have to do it while walking. we are trying. thank you. , 2.ne photo -- i get a >> can i get a photo? 1, 2, 3. >> all right. >> we are not doing any more pictures. we have to get outside.

senator paul: thank you. sure. thanks for coming out. you.ll, she made calls for senator paul: hey, how are you? >> do you mind of a figure picture with your? -- you? paul: i we interviewing inside or outside? crowd: president paul. president paul.

>> one snapchat outside of the bus. senator paul: thanks. >> i have a question, you were here earlier this year -- >> we don't have time. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

[indiscernible] >> hi, how are you? announcer: joining us from the campaign 2016 bus is senator rand paul.

thank you for being with us -- we appreciate it. senator paul: thanks for having me. announcer: -- host: it is your strategy for the debate this evening on the fox news channel? senator paul: i think it is important for me to get my message out. also the uniqueness of my message. the only fiscal conservative on a stage because i am the only one willing to hold the line on spending whether it isrd, outrageous and wasteful military spending, or whether it is outrageous and wasteful domestic spending. many republicans have gone along with democrats to raise spending because they want higher military spending. the end of trading with democrats and giving them higher domestic spending. this is why the debt actually doubled under george w. bush, and doubled again under president obama because what is happening is the right and left onto a continuous spending for different reasons, but they get together, and we are currently borrowing $1 million a minute.

i think it is a real problem. i think i am the only one who has consistently said, we have to look at all spending to balance the budget. showed your event live on c-span, many viewers with questions. steve is joining us from iowa. are you going to the caucuses? steve: i certainly am. host: who are you supporting? steve: i will support ron paul -- rand paul. host: why? steve: i followed his father for probably the last 20 years. i have thought he was probably by far the best person to help our country, not just in our financial woes, but to preserve our liberties. i think it has been proven over the past eight years, and perhaps the past 16 that our liberties have been taken from us. i think they might have pushed the overall debt past the point

of no return. we might be in a position for the united states that we will have to renegotiate our debt, or do something with that debt. host: we will get a surprise i response. will get a a lot of people are concerned about losing liberties. terrorists cannot beat us in any kind of military battle, but terrorists want to cause. terror, we should not let them cause us to be fearful, we should not give up our liberties. our people do not want government collecting all of our phone records or credit card statements. we want to be left alone. we think there is a right to privacy that is important. we also do not think the government programs that have done full collection of phone records have made us safer, or have stopped any terrorist plot. we think that our foreign policy

ought to be one where we defend america. when we go to war, it is a last resort, not the first. we declare war when we go to war. really we do not get involved with nationbuilding or regime change. throughout the middle east, every time we have tried it, some have this naive notion that somehow thomas jefferson will win the next election of other. we wind up with this chaos and the rise of radical islam and things and of being worse than they were before we got involved. our people want to question our foreign policy and say, has the intervention worked? has it made the region were stable? i think the resounding answer is no. we need to try a new foreign policy. host: we will go to kentucky, jeremy is on the phone with senator paul. i wanted to thank senator paul for what he has done for the people and the way he supports liberty.

not individualism, i think we should not be plotting for every single thing and destabilizing middle eastern countries so we can come in and take all the profits. i want to say i want -- i appreciate what he is doing. senator paul: i appreciate that. i think there is a growing consensus. the interesting thing is -- people who are republicans, independents, and democrats come are coming to this message because frankly the candidate that is most likely to take us back to war in the middle east is actually hillary clinton print hillary clinton with the democrats and marco with a republicans are the most likely get us back involved in another massive war in the middle east. there is an -- a growing number of americans who say, can we have a strong reagan like defense, and not be so eagerly involved in every evil war -- civil war. we have to think before we get

involved. we are trying to take out a ined in syria -- assad syria, my fear is that isis will take over all of syria. there is a growing consensus coming to the belief. host: bill is joining us. bill: hello, good afternoon. what i want to say is, i think rand paul is the most intelligent and the most articulate about identifying the problems and resolutions, the liberties we have lost, the killing of the minds of the ullingl public -- d of the minds of the general public. and the belief that a smaller government is the way and the means to getting back on track economy ofrade, free

supply and demand, and take this mafioso federal government whether you are republican or liberal, or democrat, it is quite clear there is nothing anding done but stealing untruths coming out of washington. job paul is doing a great of making people understand -- how do you pay off the national debt? you stop spending. host: let me ask you, senator, if you thought you would be at this stage in the campaign at this level based on the message that you are hearing from the viewers and the message you have on the campaign trail. senator paul: i guess you never know what to expect, i was just a small town eye surgeon, never knew that i would run for office. i ran for my office and won a few years ago for the u.s. senate and it has been an

amazing journey to be part of the national stage and i'm excited to be part of it. i'm a great fan of our country's history. i'm a huge believer that the founders wanted the government to be very small and wanted our freedom to be very expansive. i continue to believe in that vision of the founding fathers, let's keep government restrained and use the constitution to restrain government. i will be on the national stage saying exactly what i believe that our government should be restrained and constrained by the constitution. host: with the mayor jim gray likely to challenge you in your senate bid, there are some g.o.p. strategists to not run for president and focus on your own re-election in kentucky. how do you respond to that? senator paul: i always think it is funny when unnamed people tell you what to do because i

don't respond to unnamed people. i tried very hard to be a good u.s. senator. i show up for virtually all of my votes. i have a great attendance record and given back $2 million to the taxpayer and to the treasury. i continue to try to have a loud voice across the nation for kentucky. i have opposed the president's war on coal and tried to defend our native industries in kentucky. when it comes to re-election, kentucky voters will look at how hard i tried to protect them from the president's overbearing and overzealous government and we'll see what happens at that time. but the voters will get to decide and i will continue to show up for my day job and continue to vote in the senate and do the best i can for the people in kentucky. .

>> i agree with you on not going to war in the middle east. i am concerned about our friends with israel on how we can help protect them and our friends over there. i'm also concerned with them taking american hostages and how we go about getting them back. senator paul: if you are concerned about the safety and well-being of israel we should want a more stable region. when we toppled saddam hussein in the iraq war that made iran more of a threat. it emboldened iran. iraq is aligned with iran. i think if you think israel is our friend and you want to have that good relationship and israel to be safe the first thing you want is stability

in that region. i think it we topple aside things get worse. if we're only for stability and looking to allow those people to choose something, a better way of life, the best way is not intervening in their civil wars and pick and choose their leaders but defending american interests. the main thing we have to do is not fund isis or their allies delivering weapons to their side of the war. united states, saudi arabia and qatar have been pouring arms into that civil war, giving arms to the allies of isis. i have said that was a mistake and full hearty from the beginning and it is turning out to be true that i giving these arms, isis snatch them up. isis has $1 billion worth of humvees. they have our tanks. they have $1 billion worth of

u.s. cash. isis pays their soldiers with our money they confiscated. we have to have a better foreign policy that defends america and protects american interests. that doesn't always think that toppling dictators makes things better. host: kelly is in this photograph. what has this experience been like for your wife. herew he has been with you as well. senator paul: it is exciting to have my family with me. i have brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. my dad is going to appear with me sunday night. we will be at the university of iowa.

we are looking forward to it. several of the kids will speak in caucuses for me. caucus forspeak in a me. let's go to -- host: let's go to scott. caller: hello. university.ke also a fiscal conservative and wondering how you have a plan to help bring down our national debt. reduce the deficit rather than creating zero deficit. senator paul: we don't have a great connection. if you could you repeat that. this may have to be the last question. can you repeat the question for

me? you going tore bring down our national debt? host: thank you. senator paul: how do you bring down the national debt? the way i look at it. you have to quit adding to the debt. to the annual deficit what we add to the debt, over the last eight years he has added $10 trillion to the debt. you have to have is a compromise between both sides. we have the reverse compromise on the right. they want more military spending. on the left they want more domestic spending. they compromise and everybody gets more spending and you get stuck with the bill. we have to stop adding to the debt. you have to make a rule that says you can't spend what does not come in. we praying in 3 trillion dollars in revenue. we should make a rule that says you can only spend what comes in. the american people are for it.

unfortunate you cannot get enough people in congress to vote for it. that is what we need. congress has not been good at balancing books. you have to balance the annual budget before you can begin to tackle the national debt. if you want to make the national debt smaller. as you hold the line you could pay back some of it if you are running surpluses but what also happen is if you don't add to the dead, as the economy grows the debt will become a smaller percentage of our overall gdp. i think that would be good overall. in the recent years we have gone the opposite way. our overall debt is approaching 100% of gdp and may even exceed it. that is a real problem. i would send back many powers from the federal government to the states and to the people respectively.

i would be one who would veto bills. if you don't send me a budget that doesn't balance i would veto it. if you don't bring me spending bills that lead to a balanced budget i will the teller. president the first to stand up. i would be running for office if i was an absolutely certain i would veto budgets that didn't balance. thank you for having me. you, dojust want ask you think these issues have received the attention with all the attention donald trump has been getting? we get aaul: i think decent amount of air time. donald trump gets about as much as all the candidates multiplied by 25. there has been a problem and the media succumbs to a celebrity fad and it has been good for the campaign. it has made him harder for other

candidates to compete. i do think the mecca people will discover donald trump is not a conservative. he is nearly 70 years old and has never voted in a republican primary before. i think there is a lot of arguments to be said he is not a conservative. he believes in using eminent domain to take private property. he has been for higher taxes. bailing out the banks. you name it. there is a lot of evidence he is not a conservative. the race has been skewed by coverage. we could do a better job but no one asked me. i don't it make decisions on that. we will see what the voters decide. host: we are grateful with your time. we will let you get ready for tonight's debate. thank you for being with us. thank you.l: had a great time. the c-span buses in des

moines, iowa. if you are on the drake campus or in the greater des moines area of the bus will be there for a couple more hours because there is another event happening with donald trump. we will have live coverage. -- let's showhe you the live scene.

[indiscernible]

[an audible conversations] -- [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> thank you. >> thank you. enjoy the rest of your time.

>> on the next "washington journal."

he talked about the definition of marriage, immigration, the health care law and the fight against radical islam. he was declared the winner in the 2012 iowa caucuses by the state republican party in a mitt victory over romney. this is an hour and 20 minutes.

rick: hello. hello. how are you? good to see you. thank you. how are you? did you get a good crowd for you today? >> good crowd. rick: all right. thank you. thank you so much. ok. couple minutes yet. hey, guys. rick santorum. nice to see you. >> how you doing? rick: great. how are you? good to see you. you having a good day? >> just finishing up lunch. rick: great buffet, isn't it? >> yeah. rick: hi, folks. rick santorum. how are you? >> how are you? >> nice to see you today. >> good morning. rick: good morning. i think it's afternoon now.

hello, ladies. how are you? good to see you. it's my pleasure. rick santorum. >> good luck. rick: appreciate it. you want to listen to us we're going to be talking to you in a few minutes. good to see y'all. >> hi. rick: how are you? >> good. how are you? rick: you're not eating by myself, i see? >> yes. rick: appreciate it. rick santorum. nice to see you. you having a good day? all right. enjoy the day. >> you too. rick: hi, everybody. rick santorum. nice to see you. good to see you. nice to see you, guys. how are you? rick santorum. good to see you. pretty good chicken, huh? >> not bad. rick: i think it's pretty good. pretty good. ice to see you guys. all right.

have a good day. hello, folks. how are you? nice to see you. rick santorum. nice to see you. >> thank you. rick: thank you. nice to see you. you have a good day. come back and visit with us. if you want, we'll be talking back there. >> ice cream on top. rick: that's pretty intense right there. >> yeah. rick: that's a couple calories. to thicken you up a little. >> yeah. rick: good to see you guys. how are you? take care. all right. all right. hello, everybody. how you doing? hi. good to see you. >> nice to see you. rick: good to see you. thank you for coming out. hi. good to see you today. how are you? sure. anybody that wants pictures we'll do pictures. >> oh, wow. rick: someone will tell you -- there you go. >> wow. thank you. rick: there we go. thank you. turn around. why don't you get in the iddle?

all right. >> thank you. rick: you bet. you want to do one? sure. all right. > thank you very much. rick: it's my pleasure. thank you. thank you. how are you? >> nice to meet you. rick: louie. rick: hi, louie. good to -- >> louie. rick: hi, louie. how are you, buddy? thanks for coming. >> can we get a picture? rick: sure. >> get somebody to take it >> glad you're here. rick: thank you. thank you. thanks for coming out. what's that? >> you may be in the white house january 21. rick: that would be a good thing. >> well, come on up here. rick: there we go. all right. thank you. hey, guys. how are you? good to see you. well, thank you. thank you. thanks for coming out. how are you doing? >> this is -- rick: hey. good to see you. >> this is my son, will. rick: hey, will. how are you? >> i'm great.

rick: all right. well, thanks for coming out. appreciate it. >> glad to be here. rick: hey, guys. how are you? good to see you. hi. hello. how are you? >> good. rick: thanks, guys, for coming out. i appreciate it. good to see you, buddy. good. hello. thank you for your service, sir. how are you? >> hi, i'm valerie. rick: all right. that would be great. [phone ringing] rick: all right, you bet. thank you. hey, guys. >> good see you. rick: good to see you again. >> i'd like you to meet chris potter with "the pittsburgh post gazette. he's here to -- rick: first pizza ranch experience? >> it is. hope you're

enjoying. >> yeah. do you have a couple minutes afterwards? rick: yeah. good to see you. hope you're enjoying. thank you. thank you so much for coming out. i hope you're -- >> [inaudible] rick: thank you. sure, let's do that. >> we'll send that off. rick: very good. you're not going to be able to see anything through all these people here, huh? >> last time you were here. rick: well, thank you for coming out. >> hopefully we can go from worst to first. rick: exactly. sure. no, no. it's quite all right. he'll take it. >> i have a little phone. sorry. rick: come on over, buddy. >> oh, ok. you can just get them if you need to. rick: no, we got it. all right. you're welcome. there you go. ok. >> oh, ok. >> thank you. >> good luck.

rick: thank you. ok. all right. very good. how are you, sir? oh, you did? what are you doing? how have you been, buddy? >> good to see you. rick: good to see you. you doing well? >> i was here four years ago at your last event before you won. it was at that christian school. rick: oh, yeah, the big christian school. >> rogers handed me the outline for your victory speech which is still sitting on the top of my desk. rick: is that right? >> yes, it is. rick: oh, that's pretty wild. we didn't come up that until that night. >> sweater vest on. rick: it was the outline. i still have it. we didn't use the term gay mom because -- >> that's the night of the victory. the stuff about your grandfather, going up to the casket. rick: yeah, yeah. >> can we introduce you? introduce everybody? you want me to introduce

you? rick: i'm here to watch him. >> what? >> make sure greg -- rick: yeah, sure. well, i'll get started and then i'll just introduce everybody. if that's ok. you can start. >> why don't you let me start? rick: ok. greg: my name is greg, a state representative from harrisburg, pennsylvania. i've known rick since young republicans and came in from pennsylvania last night after we got out of session to go around iowa for a few days, stomping for rick. i was here four years ago and i was telling rick on the way over, five days out or so we were about 7% in the polls, ended up at 25%, ended up winning iowa. it's great to be back. we have another special guest i've actually known since maybe teenage republicans.

ralph reed who was here in -- were you here with pat robertson in -- we worked together for jack kemp in 1988. we were in new hampshire, though. ralph reed from the faith and freedom coalition is here. formerly the christian coalition. but i'm going to -- you're here to hear this guy who believes in the people of iowa, trusts that god has a plan and we're excited about caucusing on monday. so rick santorum. rick: thank you. ppreciate it, buddy. thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you much, greg. thank you for being here, for helping us out and ralph, it's great to have you here. ralph was here four years ago thank you. [applause] thank you much, greg. thank you for being here, for helping us out and ralph, it's great to have you here. as we were wrapping up the campaign. ralph has been a great leader. you talk about faith and freedom, ralph has been someone who has been a stalwart to keep those front and center and it's a good indicator of who's the

right person and the right people that are going to carry the ball forward? so i'm honored that you'd be here with me today, ralph. i thank you for the great leadership you provided, the organization that you built and one of your best lieutenants here in the state of iowa who's also a great leader in the state of iowa as a national committee man from iowa, was also here with you and that's my good friend steve sheppler. steve, thank you very much. [applause] i say this all the time. i mean, i've done over 700 meetings in the state of iowa. over 700 in the past five years. and so i've been all over iowa. and during that same time, steve sheppler was the national committee man through this entire process, and i have to

tell you, i've been to other states. my own home state of pennsylvania and i've seen other national committee men and i've seen how they interact. i don't know of anybody that compares and the amount of time and effort and the mileage traveled, the dedication to the republican party, the dedication to making sure iowa is the first in the nation, caucus, than steve sheppler. i don't think people realize how much work this man does to stay in touch with iowans and how much work he does to make sure iowans have this amazing privilege of being the first to really -- i always say -- set the race. nothing -- as we showed four years ago, nothing matters until iowa votes. four years ago i was absolutely ignored by the national media. yeah, they included me in the debates. they didn't really want to but they did anyway. there were only six or seven of us then. they could sit us on the

stage. they didn't segment the field. although i think they would have wanted to. they wanted to focus on the folks they wanted to talk about. those are the entertaining people, i suspect, that drive eyeballs so they can make money in their media ventures. but we weren't -- we weren't talked about much until iowa voted. and that's why i am so grateful to steve that he continues to fight to make sure that the national media, that the moneyed establishment of the republican party, the power brokers in washington, d.c., don't get to pick, don't get to exclude folks that you, the voters of this country, want to ee on the national stage and want to see put forward as your potential nominee. so i think not just iowans but conservatives all over the country owe steve sheppler a real debt of gratitude for

working hard to make sure that iowans and that means voters like yourself who take the time to get to know the candidates, to hear what the candidates believe in, to get a chance to talk to them, see how real they are. you know, there's a lot of things you can do from watching on television and there is another sense you get from actually meeting somebody. that's what iowans bring to the process, and i'm very grateful for that. obviously very personally, but i'm very grateful for steve sheppler for doing that. so give steve sheppler another round of applause. [applause] so i'm here -- i don't know too many other candidates are doing town hall meetings the day of the debate, but i do. people say, how do i prepare for the debate? here you are. welcome to my debate prep. because i don't know of a better debate prep than to talk o folks out there and answer your questions and i do this,

as you know, i traveled around. 'll sit down in a coffee house with four, five people in some of the smaller rural counties of the state. i'll come to pizza ranch and we'll have a larger crowd. sometimes we have bigger crowds than this. and i take the opportunity for you to get a chance to know a little bit about me and what i believe in, the vision for the country and to remind you of something that's very important. and i sort of highlighted this a little bit in introducing steve, but the reality is that this race doesn't begin until you vote on monday. and when you vote on monday, here's what my call to you -- lead, don't follow. lead, don't follow. don't just follow what, you know, all the folks want to talk about and what the interesting dynamics of the race are. this entire race, every interview i do on national media, do you know what they want to talk about? polls.

all they want to talk about is polls. nobody wants to talk about issues, nobody wants to talk about solving problems, nobody wants to talk about how we are going to make america a stronger country. everybody wants to talk about polls and polls drive attention. attention drives polls and we have this vicious cycle where no one's talking about the big problems that confront this country. well, you in iowa know better. you're looking for the person who should be president. that's your job. your job isn't the same job as people who, you know, are from some of your bordering states. from illinois, for example. by the time the race comes to illinois, there will be two or three candidates and they'll have to settle for one of the ones that somebody else chose before. you don't have to do that.

in fact, you shouldn't do that. your job is to tell the people of america that you've done your home work and let me assure you they haven't. not because they may not eventually do that, but they don't have to because they're not voting on monday. you are. tell them that you've done your home work, you've looked at the andidates and you've decided that we actually want someone as president of the united states who actually knows what the job entails, knows and has nowledge and information about all of the issues that we're going to deal with, has a plan on how to confront those issues, has a record of surrounding them self with good people to help execute that and has a track record of being a leader on conservative issues on every aspect of conservatism, or moral and culture issues. i get a lot of credit of that and i'm appreciative of that. but also on national security and also on economics and on health care, on helping the poor, all of those areas, we

provided leadership and we have not just fought for conservative principles, we've won and established conservative principles. and i'd love to talk with you about that today as we talk about issues. i want to mention just one thing you may not know and that is you're looking for a fighter to go and shake up washington, d.c. i hear this all the time. me too. me too. but i'd like someone who goes to washington and fights and actually wins, actually accomplishes something, actually can look back and say, well, i've done this and here's how we have moved the ball forward so the country can be better. i'll just give you one example, and you want to talk about, well, some of these guys, particularly the senators that are running in this race, well, they went there and they were in the minority and it's hard in the minority to get something done and they have a democratic president and, you know. it's just harder. well, how about this? how about a freshman congressman -- not a freshman senator -- how about a freshman

congressman who goes to washington and joins a congress that has been in democratic hands for 36 years and no end in sight? comes to washington and is told when he sits down in committee meetings, well, we don't actually propose ideas because if we do then some people might not like them and they'll vote against it so we'll end up opposing what the other side does. you talk about a minority mindset, a loser mindset, that's what i walked into when i was a freshman congressman. and so what i did was, say, well, i didn't come here to just go along. i didn't come here to fight. i came here to actually do something. so i will tell you two things i did. one is i believed, as all of you believe that what's going on in washington, d.c., there's a level of self-interest, self-dealing and corruption going on.

you know what, when i got to washington i found that. i found that in the house of representatives with something called the house bank and some of the practices that at the house post office where members were enriching themselves at your expense. i found out about that. an iowa congressman by the guy named jim nussle, we formed a group, and unlike others, we decided not to just let it go. we decided to fight. we actually went after both republicans and democrats who had a little experience in this, who were playing this game. we were threatened with all sorts of things, but our feeling was, you went there to fight. you went there to stand up for the truth and i went there to win. we didn't back down. we took a lot of heat. but what happened in the end? we brought down the democratic majority in the united states house of representatives. that 30 -- 36 was turned into 40 years ended in 1994 because of a group of young fighters, not just fought -- i could have fought that fight and just tried to do it where i got credit for being a fighter and didn't actually accomplish anything. and i might have actually gotten more press. you might actually know me better way back when, but that's not what my goal was. my goal was to win, and so that means you have to actually sometimes make compromises and you work with other people to

actually get to your goal instead of just focusing on you. and that's what we did. and we won. i'll point out one other thing when i got there. i mentioned members of congress said to me, we didn't want any ideas. that causes trouble. so i said, well, i didn't come here not to cause trouble. i came here to actually try to push solutions that were going to change things for the better. and i remember being on the budget committee and i was told, we're not going to offer an budget. we'll just oppose what the and i remember being on the budget committee and i was told, we're not going to offer an budget. we'll just oppose what the democrats do. i'll give credit credit is due.

a guy by the name of john kasich, we started interviewing all these smart people we could find and we came up with a -- anybody hear of a health savings account? well, we created the concept of health savings accounts for, the first members to introduce such an idea, and for the next 15 years i pushed and eventually brought health savings accounts into law. i just share that with you because a lot of folks at the top of the polls have no experience or the experience they have they have no accomplishment. they've never pushed the conservative ball forward to accomplish anything, and people say, well, we've stopped some bad things. let me tell you one thing that you all need to know. in the united states senate, it is easy to stop things. t is not hard to stop things in the united states senate. that's why everybody's so

mad. because it's easy to stop things. so you're running around saying, oh, my accomplishment is, i did something easy, i jumped a hurdle that was three inches high. because that's how easy it is to stop things in the united states senate. what's hard in the united states senate, what's hard in washington, d.c., is fighting things and getting something done. if you want someone who can do the easy stuff and has no track record in doing the hard stuff, there are a plenty of options for you in this race. if you want someone who's actually accomplished something -- i know that's a dirty word -- experience -- in this election, but here's my final point i'll make. i use it by way of analogy. i see someone who might be a fan of this university. iowa state is just up the road. all due respect, you got a lousy football team. all right. and you have for a long

time. and so, you know what, i'm sure there's a lot of iowa state fans who are just so mad for so long that you haven't produced a winner that they'd like to go up there and just blow the place up, fire everybody and put a whole new team in. everybody feel that way if you're an iowa state fan? i'm sure some of you do. and that's how you feel as voters. right? we need to do the same thing in washington. ok. great. so you're going to put someone in that has absolutely no experience at all or, you know, hardly any, which means you're going to take someone who's a nuclear physicist and make them the coach of the iowa state football team. someone new, someone who has no experience. this nuclear physicist is a football fan, i'm not saying he doesn't no anything about football, but he's a football fan. he watches football. he knows, you know, knows the difference but he doesn't know

an x from an o, doesn't know how to chart a play or design a staff. he doesn't no anything. he just knows he likes football and he knows he can talk conversationally about football. and so you hire him because, he knows about football. he can talk about football. so you put him on the team. let me ask you a question. if you were that nuclear physicist, you got to hire a team, right? you just can't -- you're not going to run the thing on your own. you got to run a team. who are you going to hire? are you going to hire a bunch of other nuclear physicists? no. who are you going to hire? people that know a heck of a lot about football. let me translate that to the president. you're going to hire the establishment. you're going to hire people who know everything because they have huge experience. because you're going to need that experience. you're going to need someone who knows. you're going to hire the entire establishment who created the problem in the first place.

if you want to shake up washington, send someone who actually knows what to do, that doesn't have to rely on the establishment, who has actually fought the establishment, who knows their arguments that will come to you and say, you really can't do this. i heard that argument for 12 years. no, i don't believe you. i have a different idea and have the confidence to be able to do what they tell you they're going to do. because a lot of nuclear physicists running for president will tell you everything you want to hear and then go to washington and say, oh, all these experts told me i was wrong. maybe i'm wrong. ladies and gentlemen, i understand, i understand the anger. i understand you got a toy that's not working and you want to take a hammer and just beat the crap out of that toy, but you love the toy because you love this country. you don't want to just beat the heck out of the country. you want to get the toy to work. give me a chance to make the toy work. you have an opportunity to do that starting monday night in iowa. happy to take your questions. [applause] yes, yes, yes. >> whenever i get a poll from a republican party or anybody wants answers, they say what's the number one thing in the

country that's bothering you now? what's your top one, top three? and always comes out in the recent years is the economy and jobs. to me all these years the number one thing is terrorists in the world. the current-day isis and all the rest of them that's really spreading. it's getting worse to me so not enough has been done. six months ago, a year ago it was more going on and obama says we're going to make more air attacks. it didn't get much help. now you don't hear much about t anymore. how do you feel about the whole thing? it's going to piddle around. it's been alrefer 10 years, 15 years -- already been 10 years, 15 years going on. what do you feel about the military and the terrorists? rick: this is another area where experience actually does

help. fter 9/11, i recognized what the president said we're at war with terrorists, was not telling the whole story. we were at war with fundamentalist islam. saying we're at war with terrorists saying during world war ii we were at war with blitzkrieg. we didn't have any receipt sans for naming the nazi -- nazis were. but there was leadership about not being honest who the enemy is and what they believe in and what they want to accomplish. isis is a classic example. you have the president saying isis is not islamic, they have nothing to do with islam and we shouldn't pay any attention to what they're saying. the problem is millions -- not millions but potentially millions of muslims identify them as in fact muslim and are considering or contemplating actually joining them and helping them. and our strategy of just

ignoring that is an insult to you is leads to bad policy and actually makes them stronger. and so what i believe that we need to do is to be honest with the american public by describing them in the terms they describe themselves, how they sell themselves to their fellow muslims who they seek to get to join them so we can then understand what their plan is, how they plan to accomplish it and then devise a plan to defeat that. ignoring it, saying it doesn't exist has gotten us to where we are today which is an islamic state, isil, isis, islamic state -- there are many words for it -- that is the size of the state of indiana, that is functioning as a state right ow, producing revenue, governing its people under shahrya law and having recent

-- not recent -- a few years go declared itself to be a caliphate. now, when i say the word caliphate, most people have no idea what we're talking about because the people has never defined nor has any other leader that i'm aware of actually gone out and defined what a caliphate is and what its purpose is. there has been a muslim caliphate -- well, it started right after -- or you can even say during when mohammed was alive but afterwards, there was a caliphate established, a sunni caliphate that was in place almost continuously through 1924. the goal of a caliphate in islamic law is to accomplish the purpose of islam. what is the purpose of islam? the word islam means submission. the word islam means that you are to -- the purpose of a

caliphate is to get the world to submit to the will of allah, to submit to allah and to become a muslim. that's the goal of islam. that's the engine by which that is established or was established over time is a caliphate run by a caliph. no different than a kingdom is run by a king. this caliph is different because you are not just the ruler of the country, you are also the religious leader of the country. you are both king and pope in one person. and so this caliphate has now been resurrected and muslims around the world are looking to see whether this is the real deal. is this a true caliphate? are these people that we need to follow? are they the ones who are being lessed by allah with success? and if he blesses them with success, then maybe they are the real deal. are they operating a state with power and influence sufficiently to accomplish the

goals of spreading islam? that's the first question. they look at, do they have land, do they have an operating economy? do they have the ability to attract force, people to their cause? all the things they evaluate to determine the legitimacy of a caliphate. and so what do you see? well, you have a president who has a policy that ignores all of what i just said. either i can't believe he doesn't know what i've just said but he ignores that reality. and basically said, look, these are a bunch of people who are corrupting islam and they're just tyrants, they're brutal, they're terrorists, they have -- and all we have to do is make sure we contain these people where they are and work to try to destroy their legitimacy around the world. hat's the president's game plan.

well, if you understood that this caliphate exists and is able to attract people because they can say to the rest of the muslim world, we have established the state, we have maintained our territorial integrity, which is important, and we are able to project power by encouraging other people to join us and you can point to all these different events around the world. in the eyes of the muslim world, if they are able to maintain their territorial integrity, that is probably the most important thing for muslims to look at to determine whether they're legitimate, particularly in light of the fact that the united states is bombing them. and that we have troops on the ground and that we have a president saying that, you know, we want to see them defeated. this is perfect rhetoric for isis to go to the rest of the muslim world and say, look, the great satan is fighting us. they're bombing us. they have troops on the ground there.

they're attacking us. they say we need to be defeated and here we are. they can't trust us. allah is protecting us. we're legitimate. join us. and they are and more will as long as we continue this fiasco of a foreign policy of containing isis, containing isis is perfect in isis' mind because it allows them to maintain their legitimacy in the muslim world. so the answer is very clear. in order to create questions of legitimacy and credibility in the muslim world, in order to get them, to get other muslims to walk away from isis, the key s to destroy their state, to take the land back and return it to iraq and eventually syria, and any policy that does not do that will allow isis to prosper. as president, i will put the required troops in southern raq that require equipment and

arms in northern iraq with the kurds to accomplish that mission. [applause] >> if you become president, will you look at the justice department look into the crimes, i.r.s. targeting groups, solyndra, fast and furious, on and on, are you going to investigate that stuff or will you let the scum slide? rick: the role of the next administration is to continue on, whether there is a continuing investigation to look at those nvestigations. if there are areas that i believe there are people involved in activities that were illy or abusive activities of the -- illegal or abusive activities of the government, we'll investigate that activity.

i have no doubt that a president santorum that would investigate the i.r.s. legitimately because there's no doubt in my mind that there was in fact a targeting of people and people were not held accountable for it. as far as the other things, i'll take it as a case-by-case purpose to see if we can move forward with an investigation and that includes, depending what happens with mrs. clinton, it includes police clinton and her exploits in not understanding how to run a computer system. anybody else? >> i hear people talk about the affordable care act and i want to tear it down. as president santorum, what would you do with the affordable care act? rick: the affordable care act is a disaster. it is driving up health care costs again. there was a report just this week by a -- i think the c.b.o.

that said medicare prices will go up 11%. reporting overall profitability and every line of insurance that they have with respect to the exchange products which is the affordable care act products. they lost half a billion dollars. other health care plans were coming forward saying the same thing. it doesn't work. insurance companies are going to leave. the insurance companies that obamacare created, most of them are bankrupt, here in iowa, that went to a private sector organization to start an insurance company to provide you with insurance subsidized by you to help people in iowa is bankrupt and is not going to pay back the money you have given them. and the case is true in a lot of other states and the other states are bankrupt. why? because the affordable care act doesn't work. the structure of the act doesn't work. you're seeing merges of insurance companies.

why? because the way they structured it was -- i said this when it passed, looking at the -- some of these provisions said we're going to end up with two and three insurance companies in america because -- one per state. because the act was written to drive out -- to make consolidation. the only way you can survive based on the rules you put in place. something called -- i won't go into it -- minimum loss ratios had pretty much everybody to consolidate to one company. then you had rules that sound really wonderful that the president is doing something to really help people afford insurance, and he called -- he called it, you know -- well, the technical term is community rating and pre-existing condition clauses. all sounded like -- this is what he said. we're not going to discriminate against older and sicker people

in insurance. they're not going to have to pay high insurance premiums anymore. we're going to help those who are in need. i don't know about you but i don't think charging someone who's older and sicker, who uses health insurance more more than someone who's younger and healthier is discrimination. to me that's called reflecting cost and market and that's probably a smart thing to do in order to get people to participate in your program. well, they ignored that because what i found out about liberalism, it's not what -- it doesn't reflect reality and human nature and what people will do. it reflects what people should do. whether they do it or not. and so the president put in place a plan that says, if you're older and sicker, you pay almost the same -- roughly the same amount as someone who's younger and health yemplet so what do you think has happened? if you're a young person, you know, if you're a young person

today that is out there and you're working and you have to buy your own insurance, you know, just take this young person right over there. here's a young person. she's young, she's healthy and so she has to go out and buy insurance, right? i picked out a reporter i could -- cozy up to a little bit. so you have a younger, healthier person right there insurance, right? and she doesn't have proemployer provided insurance because she works for a news agency. let's say she's 25 years old. she says we have to pay $700 a month, $8,000 a year. that's not an outrageous price under obamacare. you can do that or you can pay a fine. i think it's like $25 a month, something like that. so there are your options.

and then you have the older person, sicker and they pay a little bit more than that. maybe $800 a month, $100 a month but they're using their health care all the time. she doesn't use it at all. so what is she going to do? she's going to pay the fine. why would she pay the fine? she could expose herself if something happens -- well norkts under obamacare. the other clause is wonderful. you can't deny someone because they have a pre-existing condition. so she's a smart lady even though she works for a news agency [laughter] so she decides, here's what i'm going to do. i'm going to pay my $26 and if i ever have a situation where i need health care, guess what i'm going to do? she leaves the pizza ranch today. she's uninsured. she leaves the pizza ranch today. slick roads out there she gets in an accident. she, you know, gets in a car accident. breaks her leg or something

like that. first thing she does, pick up a call 1-800-obamacare. i want insurance. they will say, ok, you get it. no pre-existing condition. so she can get her insurance to cover all of her health care bills and then at the end of the time she doesn't need health care she cancels her policy. you say, well shes, that's a stupid -- well, that's a stupid thing to do. and that's exactly what young people are doing. and that's why all the insurance companies are losing money. why? because only older, sicker people are buying insurance. and younger people are getting insurance and then dropping it when they don't need it. ladies and gentlemen, don't you want policies in washington that actually take into account what people want and how people behave to incentives and disincentives? don't you want something that actually reflects reality? and the best way to do that is not to put government in crofle these things but you. and -- control of these things but you. and that's why the health savings account put the hands in the consumer. 15 years ago, i think it was, i authored a bill -- i was in the senate.

dick army was in the house. i authored a bill that said, we should treat all people in -- with health insurance, every taxpayer the same. that employer-provided health insurance should get people who get tax benefits from that should get the same -- other rned way around. people don't have employer provided health insurance should get the same tax benefits as to people who o. that way everybody has the opportunity to go out and purchase insurance. when i offered that, some of the most conservative out there and think tanks said, oh, that's a huge expenditure of money. i said, ladies and gentlemen, this is about treating people fairly under the tax code and if we don't start doing something about these people who don't have employer-provided insurance and don't have the ability to --

some support from the government to buy it, we're going to get something like obamacare, which is exactly what happened, because they didn't listen to me. if we put a plan together that gives everybody the opportunity to go out and buyer that own insurance and we have lots of choices and opportunities for insurance companies to compete, his will work. and if we have health savings accounts where you control your dollars, we'll put the consumer out there on the front line of health care. we'll drive health care costs down and we'll give you exactly we will drive health care costs down. yes, sir? >> it sounds like your answer to the question of what to do after obamacare is repealed is to do nothing and go back to what we tha iscause th exactly what you described. mr. santorum: that is not what we had. whole point of obamacare, if you remember, is we have to take care of the uninsured. i agree, republicans were ridiculously stingy, in not

recognizing that certain people had employer-provided insurance, as oneating other people their own was a foolish tax system. i'm saying we don't need to change those things. they can change it to something they want after we get rid of it. then, we give people an opportunity with tax incentives and tax credits the ability to go out and purchase insurance themselves. >> what if they don't want to purchase it and wait until they get sick? mr. santorum: this is what obamacare said they would do -- when you have that annual enrollment, like the case here, at the end of the year,

everybody would have to enroll to get a tax credit. that is what obamacare was supposed to do, but they have 41 exceptions, including, "i forgot." >> now they get a tax benefit. why would i get insurance? less ofbenefit would be a benefit to me than the cost of the premium of insurance. mr. santorum: everybody will make the decision if they want the tax benefit. people want to take the risk of not ensuring themselves, even though they may be eligible for $3000-$4000 to help them pay for their insurance -- they declined that money, they don't want to

get insurance, they won't get it at all. they will take the risk of being uninsured, and if something happens, they won't be able to insurance. there are prices for irresponsible behavior. we want people to make a decision. if they make bad decisions, we want them to suffer the consequences -- as horrible as that is -- i want my kids to make good decisions, but if they make bad decisions, i don't want to sugarcoat it. there needs to be consequences. with obamacare, there are no consequences. anybody else? who,run into college kids

when you talk about isis, boko haram, their only concern is footthey leave a carbon print. how do we get college students to understand that radical islam matters and forgive me, climate change does not matter. again, why would college kids know about radical islam? what political figure in the last 13-14 years has action gone out and tried to explain the nature of the enemy. let's take iran, for example. how many people know what iran is inat their objective having these nuclear facilities? if you listen to the president, you would think, these are things we can deal with, and they want to become the , and you of nations

occasionally he reported, this harsh rhetoric to control their people -- that's just an internal, political thing. i use the example of this. if you are a father, and you walk up to your son's bedroom, and see on his computer a bunch he isial media where threatening to kill somebody -- that would concern me. say, maybe it is just social media, chatter, crazy file but then i noticed a on his desk, and i notice a plan on how he is going to kill this person. creepy, maybe i should be a little more concerned. closet,u open up the

and see a bunch of bomb making maybe he -- you say, is actually taking steps to do it, and then you go outside and find a bomb. timehink, at what point in seriously, and try to stop them. , wiping out the and talking -- us -- about the return of the imam to usher in this global caliphate of peace. they have been talking about it, radical, it

doesn't matter the president, they all say the same thing. they are out there talking about this all the time. then, we see information that they are actually planning on toting together the tools which to accomplish that. they are putting on paper, we need to have a nuclear program. they talk about emts that could be used, a nuclear weapon used to defeat the enemy. all these things, where they talk about actual things that they want to do. constructing at , which enrichment plant you need in order to develop a nuclear weapon. they start building that. they say this for peaceful purposes, we need energy. of course, this is one of the largest energy reserves in the

world. they have plenty of gas, electricity, oil. then we find out they are enriching the uranium far beyond what they need for power. they say, we don't have any intention -- -- that is what they tell you. then, they put together a missile system so they can deliver some -- i don't know, maybe they will deliver canned goods with their ballistic missiles. ballistic missiles are for nuclear weapons. then, they have other sites that are hidden, including a nuclear water reactor. and, we have the president who says they don't want to harm us,

there is no harm here. if you make the analogy to a father, that father is doing criminal activity by allowing this to go on in his house, and say nothing. that is almost criminal conspiracy. that is what is happening now. ago, president obama lifted the sanctions on iran, and gave his entity $100 billion to help them. hundred billion dollars. and, lifted the sanctions. the honey is running around -- rouhani is running around europe, making more money, so they can enrich themselves, and do what they want to do. a bunch oftions --

them are ones that i wrote and put through in 2006 in spite of opposition originally by the republican president, george w. bush. eventually we got them past. i got a bipartisan bill passed on something that was a controversial issue that was opposed for a long time. why? because i believe iran is the greatest threat to the future of the world, and we have a president who is arming them. he is giving them the resources to be able to call this what i just laid out to you. if we don't have a president that iran does means business, let me assure you, the iranians know who i am. i've been out there talking about this for a dozen years. they know who i am. on day one,hat, iran will stop its nuclear weapons processing, and

we will dismantle their facilities, or take them out, i can tell you with 100% certainty, they believed me. if you don't want that, and you trust them to sell for five -- self verify under this agreement , they may say, you can do this, or else -- if you want that lack of certainty on the part of the iranian government, then you have plenty of options in this race. if you want someone who is ifious who will find out they have a nuclear weapon or not, you have one good choice. i hope you make it. anybody else? go ahead. caucusingion about coming up. many of us will be at caucuses and hear speeches about the candidate they are supporting. what sets you apart from some of the other candidates.

you alluded to that already. i will leave it up to you if you want to name names, or not. talked about the intangibles, if you will. as far as issues are concerned, there are some very important issues on the minds of iowa voters right now. i know you are a pastor. the issues that a lot of -- ielicals care about think there are some really big differences between two of us in the field, and the rest of the field. i will be as honest as i can about where we are. i would say that my company and ike huckabee and i, there's not much difference. the rest, there is a big

difference. some people have a track record degrees on these issues. you have ted cruz who says, this it is a federal issue, 10th amendment issue, and the states can define marriage anyway they want. i take the position that abraham lincoln takes -- took. that is, the states don't have the right to do wrong. view, and byz's

the way, rand paul shares the the view, which is if states want to redefine marriage, fine. if they wanted to find it between family members, fine, they can do whatever they want. that is a view of state power that i don't hold. i don't think the state has unlimited power to do with a want under the constitution. i think the state is limited, as martin luther king said. he said there are just laws and unjust laws. unjust laws are laws that do not orport with god's laws nature's laws. with laws do not compute the truth. it is like saying the state has the right, if they want to, under the 10th amendment, to find water as h3o.

marriage is not anything you wanted to be, it is what it is. if we don't stand up for that as a party, and say, it is not ok to do those things, then you i know a lot of these marriage groups have endorsed, but three years ago, they would have never endorsed someone with opposition. they have settled. my question of the people of iowa is are you ready to settle? are the folks who say they are strong supporters, and strong believers, going out and supporting one candidate who does not believe marriage is an issue that should be discussed, and someone else who believes they can define it however they want, including beyond where it is today. i think both are wrong. if you want a candidate that will articulate that, then you have two choices in this race. i will be honest. that's it.

i would recommend one over the other, of course, but that is personal preference. i will give you another one. the support in iowa. iowa specific. that's the ethanol issue. we have several candidates who say they support the renewable fuel standard, the ability for the as in all industry -- ethanol industry to have access to the fuel stream. i voted for the renewable fuel standard back in 2005 when i was a senator from pennsylvania. i voted for it because i'm concerned about national security and i want to make sure we produce as much energy for transportation fuel because we do get it from countries were not particularly friendly to us, even today. i would like to make sure we have as much made here as

possible. i supported it really from a national security issue, and i have, and have written about it even when i was out of the senate. there are bunch of other recently, who have maybe within the last few months, decided that ethanol is .ot so bad after all almost all of them -- not all of them -- almost all of them have had an election-year conversion, to the extent that the iowa people want to believe that, go for it. then, you have two candidates who have said they will eliminate it. you have your united states senator and governor -- cruz and paul.

ey did not talk about paul because he is not high in the polls. the person who is most opposed ethanols opposing as i is getting his votes and roll rural iowa. he is getting his votes from the people most affected by the program. when they come back to al iington, after the rur went to get a lot of their income from the renewable fuel standards, and they want to vote for someone who was to get rid of it, that will be sharply communicated to the members of who say, look, why

should we continue to subsidize ethanol? if the people i will want to do i have spent a lot of my life in iowa over the last five years. i like the people of iowa. they will take a hit if they down that road. yes, sir? >> illegal immigration, gmac, act,s race cities -- dream century cities. santorum: the signature group that is concerned about immigration as it affects american workers, they have consistently giving me an a rating. atre was no other a rating

the beginning of the race decides me. as the campaign has changed, we have two candidates who have that they would change their positions, and they now plus ratings.nd b that is donald trump and ted cruz. they have gotten more in line with the point of view i have been articulated for quite some time. here is how i see the issue of immigration -- when i talk about health care and started to finding the health care plan, who did you think about that plan affecting dr. you thought about how it affected you. or someone you know. when i talk about a tax plan, how do you look at it -- how does it affect me, and other

people in the community. when i talked with immigration, or anybody does, we have been schooled and instructed that the person we need to think about is the person who broke the law and is here illegally, and how does it affect them. immigration policy is no different than tax policy. " barbara jordan, a democrat from houston. she said, immigration policy should be in the best interest of the american public. do you agree with that? if it is, then why don't we talk that way? here is the reality. over the last 25 years, 33 million people have come in the country illegally and legally. most of them, by the way, i wage are wage earners. because of those wage earners coming in in such large numbers, over the last 20 years, wages

have gone up at a rate slower than any other time in american history. an article yesterday in "the washington journal" "theeded that for lower -- washington journal" is the open borders crowd. even now, they are quoting folks who have done studies that show for lower and middle income wage earners, it is a bad thing. only for half of america isn't a bad thing for. the reality is the very people hurts theation helps very people that business want to keep their wages down. that is why you see this anger in society. there are republicans who are

pro-business calling for amnesty and higher levels of immigration , and democrats who want the same thing. they believe it is more votes for them. it comes down to this. who is for working people in this country? i announced from a factory floor in pennsylvania. i want to make the center of our program folks who have been left behind by both political parties. to worko used o to in factories. most of those jobs have gone away. people say they can't come back. that is a lie. they won't come back unless we create policies that allow them to come back and be competitive. ipo forward a plan to do that. a tax plan, a revelatory plan,

a tradeulatory plan, plan. immigration will undermine the ability for wages to go up. why's it just is people here illegally should go home and do what my father did and my grandfather did -- my grandfather came to this country in 1923. the only reason he got into this country, even though he was living in italy, is because there were immigration laws passed after world war i. the only reason he got in was because he had an austrian passport, and not an a tiny passport. they were not letting italians in anymore after 1921. we had too many of them. it sounds like something that is being talked about now. my grandfather got in, and it took him seven years. my father spent the first seven years of his life without a

father in fascist italy. america, as my dad always said, was worth the wait. he came here, and now his son is running for president of the united states. we did it the right way. people who i find the most upset about how we have to accommodate all these people who broke the law, all the people who made the law. immigrants who waited, that spent money, and not subvert the law. my point is if you want someone who has not changed their position, who has been consistent on securing the border, lowering the amount of unskilled workers that we are bringing to this country, you have one candidate in this race who you can count on. that is what i will close with. a lot of folks will say they will do a lot of things, but i get to choose

someone who has a record that you can count on. introduced me at an event, and said, i guess the rickthing i can say about santorum is i have known him for 20 years, and he has not changed a bit. you cannot say that about other people in the race on a hold ready of issues. if you want to because disappointed, a like someone who says they will do something, and then will do something else or are able to do what they say they will do -- you have lots of options in this race. if you want someone who has a strong, solid track record, and a record of accomplishment, and a record of being able to win some tough states, that if we , we might actually elect a republican president, then i would urge you to shock the world on monday and caucus for

me. beyond that, i need folks who , to takek on my behalf the energy and passion you have seen here, and relay that to people in your communities, and let them know that they don't have to settle. they don't to settle for the food fight we are seeing. they can nominate somebody and put somebody forward who can and haveis race, someone take on hillary clinton and defeat her. god bless. [applause] mr. santorum: you have a great voice. thanks for coming. youan i get my picture with

on the way out? to the whitead house coverage continues. at 12:30, chris christie holding a town hall meeting. live on c-span two. at 1:45, jeb bush campaigning in carroll, iowa. later, we joined ben carson in iowa city, iowa, where he is campaigning with chuck grassley live at 3:00 on c-span two. >> on the next "washington journal" a formal political columnist for "the des moines

register" previews the final weekend before the iowa caucus. zaun discusses his endorsement of donald trump. aats, ader pl supporter of ted cruz, looks at the role of social conservatives . as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" live at 7:00 on c-span. > republican presidential candidate donald trump spoke to voters at a campaign rally for veterans in iowa. at the same night -- on the same night, he skipped a debate hosted by fox news. is one hour.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the united states, donald j trump. [applause]