let me just give you an example. -- an example of some of the views that donald trump has. it is not just his racist and bigoted language telling the american people, jesting that the people coming from mexico are rapists or criminals or drug dealers. that is right. one would have thought that by the year 2016 we would've gotten beyond that type of xenophobia and racism. [cheering and applause] [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: he told us that he saw on television thousands of muslims in new jersey celebrating the destruction of the twin towers when nobody else in america saw that on television.

it never happened. i that is called pathological lying. [cheering] sen. sanders: it is not just that he is suggested that muslims should not be able to come into our country insulting one of the large religions in this world. and doing enormous damage to america's image from one end of this world to the other. a fierce debate took place in the parliament in london about whether or not they should allow him to come into their country. that was conservatives and labour people saying this man is insulting minorities, he is scapegoating. we do not want him to come into

our country. think about how this man is going to deal with the world when he can't even deal with our strongest ally. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: but it is more than that. here is a man who is a multi-multi-billionaire and he thinks that we should not raise the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. [booing] sen. sanders: this is a man who, in a republican debate, and what a show those republican debates are, after insulting everyone on the stage and half of america came up with the conclusion that wages in america are too high.

this is a man who thinks that we should give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the families of the top .2%. this is the man when, at a time when virtually the entire scientific community is telling us that climate change is real, caused by human activity and is already doing devastating harm, this is a man who tells us that climate change is a hoax invented by the chinese. [booing] sen. sanders: i was shocked by that remark, because i thought a great scientist like donald trump would at least have been consistent and told us the hoax of climate change was caused by mexicans.

[laughter] sen. sanders: or muslims. but the chinese? [laughter] sen. sanders: this republican party, and i speak to you as a ranking member, a leader of the democrats on the senate budget committee. this is a political party in the senate that voted to throw 27 million people off our health insurance. [booing] sen. sanders: when you ask them, as i did, i said, tell me, mr. chairman, what happens when you throw 27 million people off of health insurance? how many people die? how many people will get much

sicker than they should be? they have no answer. they do not care. this is a political party in the senate budget which proposed the ending of medicare and converting it to a voucher program. what that means is you would give seniors a check for $8,000 and then they go out looking for private health insurance. if you are 85 years of age and you are dealing with cancer, you tell me what kind of insurance policy you are going to get for $8,000. virtually nothing to meet your needs. that is what they want to do. this is a party in the senate that at a time when young people are finding it harder to afford college, proposed $90 billion in

cuts in pell grant funding. this is a party who in their budget at a time when seniors cannot afford the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs proposed raising prescription drug costs for seniors. that agenda, those policies, when exposed to the light of day, and there is nothing more than i would enjoy doing than exposing those policies to the american people. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: my friends, a republican candidate running on

those issues is not going to become president of the united states. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: now one of the reasons that we have been successful, i believe, in this campaign is because we are running a simple, straightforward campaign that is talking truth to the american people and talking about the real issues that face our country, and that we have the courage to propose real answers to the problems that we face. [cheering] sen. sanders: let me preface my remarks by telling you all what i think most of you already know. today in america, we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but most people do not know that because almost all of the new wealth and

income is going to the top 1%. [booing] sen. sanders: let me tell you something else, my republican friends get very nervous when we talk about concepts like redistribution of wealth. they start shaking. here is the truth. in the last 30 years in this country, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. problem is, it has gone in the wrong direction. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: it has gone from the pockets and the hands of hardworking people, into the hands of the .1%. today in america, we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth.

and it is worse here now than at any time since 1928. today in america, and i would like you to hear this, you do not see it on tv. you won't read it in the papers often. today in america the top .1% now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. today in america, the 20 wealthiest people in our country own more wealth than the bottom 150 million bottom half of america. today in america, one family -- this is the united states of america we are talking about, this is not some little oligarchy. this is america. today in america, one family, the wealthiest family in this

country, the walton family who owns walmart, they alone own more wealth than the bottom 40% of the american people. one family. here is something about the walton family that is important to discuss. many of my republican colleagues around the country and they talk about welfare abuse, about poor people ripping off the welfare system. the largest recipient of welfare in america today is the walton family, the wealthiest family in america. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: here's why. walmart is the largest private-sector employer in our country. yet many of the workers at walmart are on medicaid, they are on food stamps, they are in subsidized housing, all of which you provide through your taxes.

the reason the workers in walmart are on medicaid, food stamps, and subsidized housing is because the walton family refuses to pay their workers a living wage. [booing] [applause] sen. sanders: i say to the walton family, get off of welfare, pay your workers a decent wage. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: it is not just wealth inequality. when we talk about our economy, two major points have to be made. number one, we are much better off today than we were when george w. bush left office seven years ago.

[cheering and applause] sen. sanders: you got to be easy on the republicans. they suffer from a very serious illness called amnesia. [laughter] sen. sanders: they have forgotten the world that george w. bush left the president and to all of us in 2008. but i will remind my republican friends about that world. that was a world in which 800,000 americans were losing their jobs every month. that was a world in which we were running up the largest deficit, $1.4 trillion, in the history of our country. that was a world in 2008 where the world financial system was on the verge of collapse.

so, it is fair to say that under andso, it is fair to say that under president obama, vice president biden, we have made real progress in the last seven years. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: here is another truth. that is while the economy today is better than it was seven years ago, much better. the other reality is for the last 40 years, the great middle class of our country, a middle class that was once the envy of the entire world, that middle-class has been disappearing. in vermont, in iowa, and all over this country, we have people who are working not just one job but two jobs or three

jobs. we have people who are working so hard just to cobble together enough income and health care to take care of their family. all over this country you got mom working, you got dad working, you got the kids working. you have families that are stressed out economically, marriages that are suffering from the stress, kids not getting the attention they deserve because their parents are working so hard. while our people are working so hard. by the way, we in america work the longest hours of any people in the industrialized world. the japanese are very hard workers. we now work longer hours than the japanese. with all of our people working such long hours, it turns out that despite that, 58% of all

new income generated today is going to the top 1%. my friends, when you have an economy in which the top .1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%, when you have an economy in which 58% of all the new income goes to the top 0.1%, you have an economy that is rigged. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: how would you like to hear a radical idea tonight? are you ready for a radical idea? what about creating an economy that worked for working families and the middle class? not just the top 1%? [cheering and applause]

sen. sanders: when we talk about the economy, we've got to talk about jobs. every month, federal government comes out with a report on unemployment. what you see in the front pages of your paper is official unemployment 5%. anybody here believes that unemployment in america is really 5%? >> no. sen. sanders: you are right. because there is another report that the government comes up with which concludes that people have given up looking for work and millions of people are working part-time when they want to work full-time. that number is close to 10%. let me give you another number. which is very frightening. i asked some economists to do a study for me on youth unemployment.

what kind of employment is there for kids who graduate high school? you know what the answer was? kids who were white, 33% of them were unemployed or underemployed. latinos, 36%. african americans, 51%. this is a tragedy. people want to stand on their own two feet. they want to become independent. but above and beyond that, if anybody in this room tonight thinks there is not a direct correlation between that high rate of youth unemployment and another american tragedy, that we have more people in jail than any other country on earth -- if you do not see the correlation, you are missing an important point. [applause]

sen. sanders: so, here is another radical idea. are you ready for the second radical idea of the night? what about investing in education and jobs? [cheering] sen. sanders: rather than jails and incarceration? [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: when we talk about our economy and why it is people work so hard, work so many hours, the answer is pretty obvious. that is that wages in america are just too low. the $7.25 minimum wage is a starvation wage. you can do the arithmetic.

don't do it right now. do it when you get home. [laughter] sen. sanders: you can take out your calculator, multiply 8 dollars, nine dollars, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. the sum of money you're going to come up with will not be enough for an individual to survive on, let alone a family. in america, when people work 40 hours a week, they should not be forced to live in dire poverty. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: that is why i believe we should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years. [applause] sen. sanders: when we talk about jobs and the need to put our

people back to work, it is clear to me that we need a massive federal jobs program. what that means is that we should not be firing teachers, we should be hiring teachers. [cheering and applause] sen. sanders: it means that when we have a child care and pre-k system that is extremely dysfunctional, that millions of americans, parents, desperately are searching for quality, affordable child care, they can't find it. we have got to address that problem by hiring hundreds of thousands of well trained, well paid people to take care of america's little ones. [cheers and applause]

sen. sanders: and when we talk about creating jobs, we should understand that our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, and you all know what's going on in flint, michigan, that's right. our wastewater plants, our rail system, our airports, our levees, our dams need an enormous amount of work. because in many parts of the country, they are disintegrating. i believe if we invest $1 trillion in rebuilding our infrastructure, we can make america safer and more productive and we can create 13 million jobs. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: now, people say, well, you know, $1 trillion, even in washington, that's a lot of money.

how are you going to pay for that? i will tell you how. right now you have major corporations that make billions of dollars a year in profit, but in any given year, because they stash their profits in the cayman islands, bermuda, and other tax havens, they end up in a given year not paying a nickel in federal income taxes. what we are going to do is end that loophole, they're going to pay their taxes. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and we're going to use that revenue to rebuild our infrastructure and put our people back to work. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and when we talk about equitable wages and raising the minimum wage, i hope that every man in this room will stand with the women in the fight for pay equity for women

workers. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: women should not be earning 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. that's nothing more than old-fashioned sexism. together, we're going to change that. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: now, here in iowa, because you are the first caucus or primary in the nation, you have a lot of, lot of, lot of politicians running through your state. and you're going to hear from a lot of republicans who talk about family values. you ever hear republicans talking about family values? how much they love families? i hope that everybody in this room understands what republicans mean by family values.

what they mean, what they mean, and what they are deadly serious in meaning, is that no woman in this room, in this state, in this country should have the right to control her own body. i disagree. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: what the republicans mean by family values is they want to defund planned parenthood. i want to expand funding for planned parenthood. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: what the republicans mean by family values is to tell our gay brothers and sisters they do not have the right to get married. i disagree. [cheers and applause]

sen. sanders: now, i will not shock anybody here to suggest that there is a lot of hypocrisy in politics. i know, i know, i'm sorry to disillusion you. [laughter] sen. sanders: i know that you thought that every thing every politician said and did was honest and straightforward. sadly, i have to inform you that is not the case. and when you think about the highest form of hypocrisy, let me give you what i think to be the case. my republican colleagues go around the country telling us how much they hate the government. they want to cut social security, they want to cut medicare, they want to cut medicaid. they want to do away with the e.p.a. they hate the post office. they hate the veterans administration. they hate every government agency there ever was.

they want to get the government off our backs! except, except when it comes to whether or not a woman should be able to make a very personal choice. in that case, they love the government and want the government to make that choice for that woman, that is hypocrisy. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: now, jane, who you just met, and i have been married 27 years. [applause] sen. sanders: we have -- i don't know how she did it. [laughter] sen. sanders: but we've been married 27 years. we have four kids and seven beautiful grandchildren. and we believe very much in family and in family values.

but when we talk about family values, it is in a very different way than republicans talk about it. when i talk about family values, i talk about ending the international embarrassment of the united states of america being not only the only major country on earth, wealthy country, but almost the only country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. [cheers and applause] what that means, what that means is that today in iowa, in vermont, all over this country, women are having babies. and that is, for all of you who are parents, you know what an extraordinary moment that is. it's a pretty big day for the baby as well. [laughter]

sen. sanders: but here is the reality. if that mom in iowa or vermont does not have a lot of money, she will be forced to be separated from her newborn baby in a week, two weeks, three weeks. and she will have to go to work, go back to work to earn enough money to take care of her family. that is wrong. that is not what should happen in this great country. and that is why i am strongly supporting legislation that will provide three months of paid family and medical leave. [cheers and applause] now, that legislation is not free. it costs money. it will cost the average worker about $1.68 a week.

i think that that is a good investment for people to be able to take care of their children. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: in this campaign, i have talked a lot about the realities of american political and economic life. and there are people who really don't like to hear what i say. i've been criticized time and time again. but i believe getting back to the point that susan sarandon made a few minutes ago that if we are not honest, if we are not willing to have the courage to lay the real issues out on the table, then we cannot go forward. yeah, it will be hard. but we have got to understand what goes on and what we are up against.

we have to understand why the middle class is declining and almost all new income and wealth goes to the top 1%. we have to understand why it is that congress continues to represent the interests of the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of ordinary americans. let me tell you briefly one story which i think encompasses a lot of what is going on in this country and why the american people are angry and why they are demoralized. here's the story. a couple of weeks ago, goldman sachs, one of the largest financial institutions in this country, a major wall street firm, reached a settlement with the united states government to pay $5 billion in fines. and they agreed to pay those fines because they were defrauding the american people

and investors and they were selling subprime mortgage packages which were essentially worthless and they knew it. $5 billion in fines. that's reality number one. reality number two. this major wall street firm, in the last 25 years, has so much political power that they have provided two secretaries of the treasury, and that is one of the most important positions in the administration, shaping financial policy, one under a democratic administration, one under a republican administration. point number three. the c.e.o. of goldman sachs today, who is a billionaire -- a billionaire, went to congress a couple of years ago and this is what he said to congress. he said, you have got to cut

social security, medicare and medicaid and give huge tax breaks to the rich and large corporations. point number four. and maybe the most important point as to why the american people are so angry and so distrustful of their government today. this company, this financial institution, paid out a $5 billion fine. if some kid in iowa or vermont today is picked up possessing marijuana, that kid will get a police record which will stay with him for the rest of his life. but the executives on wall street who drove this country into the worst economic recession since the great depression, whose greed and illegal behavior resulted in millions of americans losing their jobs, their homes, their

life savings, these executives who pay billions of dollars in settlement agreements with the government, not one of them has been prosecuted. not one of them has a criminal record. [crowd booing] sen. sanders: and the answer, somebody says why not? i'll tell you why not. when these guys on wall street, whose greed and recklessness forced our economy to the verge of collapse, they went to the middle class and got a bailout, as you all know, because the banks were too big to fail. they went down, they would take half the economy with them. that was the logic. well, it turns out that not only do we have banks that are too

big to fail, we have bankers who are too big to jail. that's wrong and together we're going to change that. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and when we talk about the ways that our country has got to move forward, we have got to understand that the campaign finance system that we have right now is corrupt, it is undermining american democracy. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: i am proud to tell you that i am the only democratic candidate running for president who does not have a super p.a.c. [cheers and applause]

sen. sanders: now, when you have a situation which is the case right now where, as a result of this disastrous citizens united supreme court decision, where you have a situation where billionaires like the koch brothers and a few of their friends are able to pour $900 million into this campaign cycle, when you have billionaires buying elections through super p.a.c.'s, that is not democracy. that is oligarchy and together we are going to change that. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: when we talk about what goes on in america today, everybody here knows that for

this country to succeed, we need to have the best educated work force in the world. everybody knows that. truth is, 30, 40 years ago, we did have the best educated work force in the world. truth is we do not today. today, we have hundreds of thousands of bright, qualified young people who have the ability to do well in college, who want to go to college, but who cannot go to college for one reason. and that reason is their families lack the funds. that is not only unfair to those young people, it is unfair to the future of our economy. because we need to tap the intellectual resources of all of our people. and that is why i believe that in the year 2016, when we look at public education, we cannot only be looking at education up to the 12th grade.

50, 60 years ago, when you had a high school degree, you went to, you know, public high school, got out, you could get a pretty good job. today in many ways a college degree is what a high school degree was 50 years ago. and that is why i believe that today we should make public colleges and universities tuition free. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and here is something else that i believe. all over iowa -- and i've had dozens and dozens of meetings just like this, i hear from people who are saddled and being crushed by high student debt and high interest rates on that student debt. anybody here with a student debt?

all over the country, millions of people. now, stop and think for a second. as a nation, our job should be to encourage young people to get all the education they need. that's what we should be doing. we should not be punishing people because they sought to have an education. now, when i go around iowa, this is what i hear. a few weeks ago, talked to a young man, 29 years of age, married, two kids, he works in sustainable energy. doesn't make a whole lot of money. he's paying 53% of his income in student debt. talked to a young woman in burlington, vermont, a few years ago, had a meeting on this issue. her dream was to become a medical doctor, working in primary health care for low

income people, exactly the doctors we need. her punishment for doing exactly what our society needs was $300,000 in debt. then a few months ago, i was in des moines. i mentioned that fact, $300,000 in debt. a woman comes up to me after my remarks and said, $300,000? i just graduated dental school, $400,000 in debt. i was in nevada last month, a guy comes up to me, 55 years of age, he's been paying off his student debt for 25 years, he is more in debt today than he was when he started paying it off and he is worried that when he gets social security, they're going to garnish his social security payments to pay off his student debt. that's crazy.

that is crazy. so, if we want the best educated work force in the world, we have to make educational opportunities available and we do not burden people who get a college or graduate degree with outrageous debt. and that is why as part of my legislation we are going to allow students who graduate with lots of student debt to refinance their loans with the lowest possible interest rates they can find. [applause] now, some people say it's a great idea, bernie, you're santa claus, you're giving it all away, free stuff what they describe it as. how are you going to pay for that? i'll tell you how we pay for that.

we'll pay for it with a tax on wall street speculation. when wall street went under they went to the middle class for a bailout. now it's wall street's turn to help the middle class. [applause] as adults, as parents, as grandparents, we have a moral responsibility, a moral responsibility to leave this planet to our children and our grandchildren in a way that is healthy and habitable. [applause] sen. sanders: and i want you all to think about it. i want you all to think about what people will be saying 60 or 70 years from now. when they will be saying, why didn't you act in terms of climate change when you should

have acted? you knew what was going to happen. i'm on the senate environmental committee and i'm on the senate energy committee. i have talked to scientists all over our country and all over the world. and here's the truth. the debate is over. climate change is real. it is caused by human activity. [applause] sen. sanders: and it is already causing devastating problems in our country and around the world. if elected president, i will help lead the effort to reach out to china, russia, india, countries all over the world, i will help lead the effort to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. [applause] now, i want to

connect a few dots here. i want you to ask yourselves, how does it happen that we have a major political party, the republicans, who refuse to even acknowledge climate change, let alone be prepared to do anything about it. how does that happen? i'll tell you how it happens. it happens because the day that any republican candidate stood up and said climate change is real and has to be dealt with, on that day that republican candidate would lose campaign contributions from the koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry. and that is what a corrupt campaign finance system is doing to our country. and i say to my republican colleagues. think about your kids. think about your grandchildren.

think about the future of this planet. stop worrying about where you're going to get your campaign contributions. [applause] sen. sanders: what this campaign is about is asking people to think big, not small. to understand that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, when we stand together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. [applause] sen. sanders: now, turns out that the united kingdom provides health care to all of their people. germany does it. france does it. scandinavia does it. holland does it. canada does it. in fact, every major country on earth guarantees health care to

all of their people as a right. we do not. now, i have been criticized for this, but let me be honest and clear with everybody in this room and with the people of iowa. yes, i do believe that health care is a right of all people, not a privilege. [applause] sen. sanders: and yes, i do believe that we should move to a medicare for all single payer program. [applause] sen. sanders: now, i am on the committee that helped write the affordable care act. i helped write it, i voted for it, and i'm proud of the many accomplishments that the affordable care act brought about.

before the a.c.a., private insurance companies had this obscenity of pre-existing conditions. which meant that if you were a person who had an illness, they would not insure you for that illness. that's like getting fire insurance except they won't insure you if you have a fire. totally absurd. totally crazy. it's gone. we have added almost 18 million more americans into the ranks of the insured. we should be proud of that. [applause]

sen. sanders: we have gone a long way to end discrimination against women who previously had to pay more for health insurance because they were women. so we have made progress in a number of areas. but, and this is the but, today in america, 29 million people still have no health insurance. and many more are underinsured with high deductibles and high co-payments. as i go around the state of iowa, i ask people. tell me about deductibles. anybody here have deductibles? what kind of deductibles do you have? anyone want to reveal it? $6,500. $5,000. $4,500. $3,000. ok. i have talked to people who have deductibles, talked to a guy with a family of six, $13,000 deductible. what happens if you have a high deductible and high co-payment? you don't go to the doctor. what happens if you don't go to

the doctor when you get sick? you set get sicker. i have talked to doctors in vermont and all other this country who tell me that patients walk into their offices much, much sicker than they should be. and the doctor says, tell me, why didn't you come in here sex months ago when you first felt your symptoms? saw your symptoms? and people say, well, i had had a high deductible, i didn't have insurance, i couldn't afford it. some of those people die when they should not have died because they got to the doctor too late. others end up in the hospital in great pain and great expense to the system. furthermore, furthermore, one in five americans today cannot afford to fill the prescriptions their doctors are prescribing.

think for a moment how crazy that is. you go to the doctor because you're sick. the doctor diagnoses, writes you a prescription, you can't afford to fill it because the cost of prescription drugs is high. we get ripped off by drug companies and we pay the highest prices in the world for medicine. [applause] sen. sanders: these are the realities that we face today. i'll tell you one brief story here. in the late 1990's, when i was vermont congressman, i took a bus load of women from vermont over the canadian border. you know why i did that? that's right. these were women who were suffering from breast cancer, working class women, we got up to montreal and we had prearranged this, they bought the medicine they needed for one tenth the price. 10% of what they were paying in vermont. if elected president, trust me,

the pharmaceutical industry will stop ripping off the american people. [applause] today in america, we have millions of seniors and disabled veterans and people with disabilities who are struggling to keep their heads above water. i just had a meeting the other day in iowa falls and we heard from people trying to tell us with great emotion about what it's like to live on $10,000 a year, what it's like to live on $12,000 a year. now, i think that when you have millions of seniors and disabled vets trying to get by on $2,000

12,000 or $13,000 a year, we should not be doing what the republicans are proposing, which is to cut social security. we should be expanding social security. [applause] when barack obama was here in 2008, he had a proposal and i introduced legislation based on that proposal that proposal was pretty simple. it says that today, when somebody is a millionaire and somebody is making $118,000 a year, they are both paying the same amount of money into the social security trust fund. if you lift the cap on taxable income going into social security, and you start at $250,000 we can extend the life of social security for 50 years from today, we can increase benefits for people making less

than $16,000 a year by $1,300 a year. that will make a difference in a lot of people's lives. that is what we should be doing. [applause] all of you are aware that we are living in a very dangerous world. and when you turn on the tv, you see horrible, horrible acts of barbarity and atrocities. and nobody has any magical answer to these problems. but this is what i do believe. you are looking at somebody who, when he was in the house of representatives, listened to what george w. bush and dick cheney and don rumsfeld and all those guys had to say about their view about iraq, i listened very carefully and i

said, they are wrong. i voted against the war in iraq. [applause] sen. sanders: and if you go to my website, go to youtube, listen to what i said on the floor of the house about my fears about what would happen if we invaded iraq and it gives me no pride to tell you new york no joy to tell you that much of what i feared would happen, did happen. that was then, now is now. and now we are confronted with a barbaric organization called isis which in my view must be destroyed. but, what we must be is not just tough. we must be smart. and to be smart in my view means we must not get our young men

and women in the military bogged down in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of the middle east. [applause] what that means is that the united states must form a strong and coordinated coalition. king abdullah of jordan made a very important point a few months ago and what he said is, obviously terrorism is an international issue, impacts the whole world. but it is primarily an issue of the muslim people because groups like isis have hijacked their religion, the soul of their religion and have converted it into a barbaric way of life. and what he said, and i agree with him, is that at the end of

the day, it must be muslim troops on the ground, destroying isis with the support of the major powers on earth. and i agree with that. [applause] sen. sanders: i believe that the united states, u.k., france, germany, russia, all of the major countries around the world, should be active in supporting through air efforts, training of troops, helping the muslim troops on the ground destroy isis and here there is, maybe, maybe, maybe, some good news recently and that is, as you know, the iraqi army has not been a terribly effective fighting force. that's an understatement. but in the last few months, we have seen some progress.

as you know, the iraqi army fought very effectively and has retaken ramadi. [applause] sen. sanders: and it turns out that in the last year, isis has lost about 40% of the territory that it controlled in iraq. [applause] sen. sanders: i believe we have got to train the iraqi army, train our friends in the region. but i will do everything that i can to see that our young men and women do not get caught up in never-ending warfare in the quagmire of that region. [applause] sen. sanders: let me just go back to the point that susan is

made a moment ago. well, it was measure a moment than a moment ago, i guess. a few moments ago. and what her point was, change is never easy. change never comes without struggle. change never comes unless we have the courage to stand up to oppression. that is the history of the civil rights movement. it's the history of the women's movement. the history of the gay movement. the history of the environmental movement. the only way that change takes place is when millions of people become engaged and stand up. [applause] sen. sanders: let me just say something and i'm the only candidate for president who tells you this, but it's true. i cannot do it alone. no president can do it alone.

because the powers that be on wall street, corporate america, and the corporate media and the koch brothers and all these powerful special interests, no president can do it alone. the only way we transform this country is when millions of people are prepared to engage and when people stand up and say loudly and clearly, this government of ours belongs to all of us, not just the 1%. thank you all very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [applause]

♪

sen. sanders: well, thank you very much for coming. ♪ >> bernie, can i get a picture? sen. sanders: we talked about foreign policy and we talked about -- >> hey, bernie, can i get a picture? bernie, can i get a picture with you? ♪ sen. sanders: thank you.

>> earning! -- bernie! bernie! bernie! >> bernie! thank you. i love you. god bless you. sen. sanders: thank you. >> bernie! hey, thank you! >> bernie! ♪ can i get a picture? smile! thank you. sen. sanders: thank you very much. >> thank you so much.

>> good job. good job. >> can i get a picture with you? he was very excited about coming today and seeing you. thank you for coming. ♪ this tweet from the hill that clinton and sanders reach a deal for more debates. presidential about candidates hillary clinton and bernie sanders have reached a deal to hold four more debates. the democratic national committee have not agreed on dates and both candidates agreed to attend a fourth debate held in new hampshire are not

sanctioned by the dnc. more road to the white house coverage continues with senator marco rubio with a campaign rally in iowa. he will be speaking in ames. and later, bill and chelsea clinton will be joining hillary clinton at a campaign rally in cedar rapids. that begins at 8:15 p.m. eastern time, live also here on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the weekend prior to the caucuses, there will be a frenzy here on c-span. 4,h candidate will have 3, five, or six events a day. we're going to show these events and you view a sense of what it is like to campaign for the caucuses. you need to be able to make sure that those people who support you get to the caucuses.

so it is going to be interesting to see how the candidates are able to close the deal, sell their message, and convince people who might still be on the fence to go for candidate a or candidate be. -- b. c-span this weekend, live coverage of the presidential candidates in iowa. tom hudson is general manager here inroads shooting johnston, iowa. he tells us several candidates have stopped by. that's right, governor , he did notby shoot. then we have had senator ted cruz here twice. this is from the first time he came by in june and most recently, he was here in december for a big second

amendment: should an announcement he made. we have had janet, mrs. huckabee, as well, and recently, senator rand paul came out a couple of weeks ago and gave us his thoughts on the federal tax codes. >> and of all the candidates who came by, who do you think shot the best? they all did pretty well, they all know how to handle a firearm, but for marksmanship, mrs. huckabee, the first wife, the former first lady of arkansas, shot the best. by,hen candidates do come they often talk to your customers about the issues of gun control. what are your thoughts on the messages they are giving? very much so. they're are letting the folks nowhere they stand and they are obviously conservative and they are staunch defenders of the second amendment and individual liberties and the freedoms that the united states has to offer. and obviously, this issue and

an even bigger issue in the wake of this presidential campaign are the executive orders on gun control recently. gun your perspective of a store, how would that impact you and your business? obviously, positively, as well as everywhere else in the nation. people were concerned about the executive actions that the president is taking and sidestepping healthy discussions. people are concerned about bad and the fact that he is just not openly seeming to acknowledge the threat of terrorism on u.s. soil and in our homeland. you talk about that and the fact that he is trying to take away guns from writing and percent of law-abiding citizen, it's got people afraid for their personal security. announcer: tomorrow on "washington journal," hillary clinton advisor, jerry crawford.

he talks about getting voters out to caucus on monday. then, senator chuck grassley discusses the iowa caucus preview and how he has yet to endorse a candidate. finally, simon conway and who he thinks will win the caucus. we will take your phone calls, facebook comments, and live tweets. that is live on sunday at 7:00 , live on0 a.m. pacific c-span. schmidt have steffen speaking. how does the landscape in politics look for 2016? schmidt: i think the

technology will help to establish different results, but i think that donald trump and bernie sanders have made this a thereating year because is a lot of speculation about how well they will do and how well their supporters will actually turn out and then there are parallels between barack obama in 2008. so i think it is wonderful to have a caucus year when you are trying to have someone run for make a recordwill year, frankly. >> we have a voter here who claims that she has not had a phone call and not even had

someone knock on their door. interestingt: the thing is that the parties themselves really don't play role they try to do things -- role, they try to buthings behind the scenes, they try to find motivations to find people and give the motivation and to get them to work out and i think in the case of the candidates who sort of have a constituency that knows move a caucus, they don't have to train very much. areary clinton supporters people who have voted before in elections and who have also gone to caucuses. they don't need that much motivation. in bernie sanders, they don't need much of that. i think in the case of the republicans, frankly, donald trump is the one who needed to do the most, and we are not sure how well they've done this. they've use some social media,

they've got a fabulous website that a lot of people are using where they just type in their address, and it immediately pops up and tells them where the caucus is going to be held for the residents and their precinct. i think actually the ted cruz has done the best job. ted cruz brought in 500 volunteers from texas. he rented a whole block of dorms from a college that went out of business, put them in there. and they have been working day and night, working with steve king, who was a very sophisticated politician, he has been elected and reelected and never defeated, fourth district congressman who is the cochair of the ted cruz campaign. i think they've done a fabulous job. we'll have to see. the polls in iowa don't tell you everything. i think what you are asking is about organization.

the polls are one thing. organization and turnout is the other part of this. host: steffen schmidt is a political science professor at iowa state university. also is a radio host, has an hour-long weekly show on woi radio call dr. politics, outside of the caucus season. what is your program focus on? guest: the show's been change now, is now i will public radio. we've had this consolidation. i do several shows, one in new hampshire which is fabulous every thursday, concord, new hampshire, pacifica radio broadcast that in it's pure politics. 100%. then i also do another show every week with kasi radio, the trent rice show.

it's like c-span, but only more local. host: we invite you to join this conversation was steffen schmidt from iowa, joining us two days before the iowa caucuses. democrats, call (202) 748-8000, republicans, call (202) 748-8001, independents, call (202) 748-8002. for iowa residents, (202) 748-8003. here is bernie in deerfield beach, california. caller: mr. schmidt, not the politics. it seems to me that nothing that hillary clinton has done with her e-mails is illegal. at the time she used her personal server, as did colin powell before her. there was nothing illegal about it. she has called for their release. if she did something illegal, she would have been arrested. but she hasn't been.

why do you people keep bringing it up as a matter of trust? there is nothing to do with trust. she did something that was legal at the time. period. end of discussion. host: all right, bernie. steffen schmidt. [laughter] guest: you have a great name. bernie, you have a great name. your namesake is running against hillary right now. as you know, in politics, perception is probably 90% of reality. and the perception is that it is strange for secretary of state to have a server in a closet in their private home, and to manage the e-mails of the federal governments from the state department, from embassies and others in a private server that does not have the security and is not hosted and managed by government officials. that alone, at the beginning of the whole discussion, is strange and a lot of people have asked

me, "why do you think she did this?" i have no idea, hillary hasn't told me anything. but secondly, i want to know why these things keep dripping out about e-mails that actually ran through that server -- many of which apparently now were so delicate and so -- let's call it risky -- that they are being reclassified now is top secret. i think it was not hillary's fault that that is the case. but there's a question that i've been asked, even by democrats, of whether there was some bad judgment in using the server like that with information that appears to be extremely sensitive. and so the discussion is there, no one is going to stop it. republicans love it because it helps to raise serious questions about hillary clinton. that's where we are at this moment. host: in your experience, in the

iowa caucus's history, has there been one of these last-minute breaking stories or bombs dropped, you might want to say, for the caucuses that has had an impact on the turnout or the results? guest: not really. nothing like this. but remember, in a broader sense, the polls that we are looking at, for example, before the caucuses -- many polls and the week out before the caucuses actually turned out not to be terribly accurate because people change their mind, things come along that may make people reassess. and on caucus night, when they go in, often they go in thinking they are going to vote for one candidate, and then some but he says to them you know, you should change her mind because this person can't really win. neither the nomination or the presidency. news and information that comes

along every day, right up to caucus night does influence the outcome of the caucuses. we know that new stories like the terrorist attack in paris changed the whole dynamic of the issues that were of importance. terrorism and the kind of things that happened in paris in california were much less important, and they had not risen to the top. the caucuses are very sensitive to events that happen. and the revelation about hillary clinton's e-mails, the latest, and they keep rolling out every day -- it probably could have an effect on caucus night. i don't remember anything like this. host: here's pat in michigan. independent line. caller: yes. thank god for c-span. i would like to see something down the center. if you go on one side, we're going to have a king. if we go on the other side, everyone is going to have a job

and nobody is going to be working. i voted on the one side one time, one side the other. we have to keep it in the center, people. thank you. host: let's hear from mark who is a democrat in orlando, florida. caller: good morning. my question for dr. schmidt -- in the last caucuses, they announced that romney had won. then they had to back up and say it was santorum. i'm wondering what happened? it sort of seems that the perception that party establishments go through machinations to swing the outcome to their favor -- you is see it on the democratic side

with the debate over how many debates and debbie wasserman influencing things. what actually happened in the last caucus is my first question, and my second question is what do you really think of the iowa hawkeyes? guest: [laughter] alright, let me answer this way. number one, in iowa, we love all of our teams. and we prefer iowa state to do well, because that's where i work. but we support each other, and we love iowa. what happened on caucus night -- you gotta' to remember, the caucuses are not a government run operation. they are run by the political parties. there are almost 1700 precincts, and they come together sometimes in small places, but more and more and larger places, where people congregate on caucus night. and then they vote. the people who run the caucuses are not professionals. sometimes, they are not that well-organized.

sometimes, they are not that personally well-organized. what happened is in a few precincts, the reporting just didn't come incorrectly. people didn't call in the right numbers. let me step back though, for a moment if i could, please. in iowa, in the caucuses, you don't have to come in first. you don't even have to come in second, you can come in third and still go on and get the nomination of your party in both the democratic and republican parties. and in some cases, win the presidency. rick santorum might have gotten a little bit more buzz if he had won the iowa caucuses, but he

lost the new hampshire primary right away. i was not a place where he was going to score. because new hampshire is the second-least religious state in the country. and rick santorum had a pretty good base in the evangelical and faith-based republican voters. and rick santorum went on and won, and got some delegates. but looking at statistics, mitt romney in many ways was a better candidate, and got the nomination. i think you could've won the election. the reason he didn't win the election, number one, was he made an unfortunate statements that sort of demeaned 47% of americans who are not working, who are welfare cheats and so on, that was not good. but the real reason i think that he lost was because his technology system to report who had voted and not to precinct people who could then go out and find voters who had voted, it was called orca, crashed on election day. and that meant -- i know a lot of these people because some of them are former students of mine who were working as the turnout

people, precinct captains and others in iowa to get the voters out for the republican candidate. they were suddenly dead in the water. it was like their propellers stopped, their engines stopped, they were subject to the waves and storms of the ocean. they had to go to paper printouts to find the names of voters, and then call them and try to find out if they voted. that was a catastrophic disaster because they were not able to quickly go in call or find voters who may be needed a ride to the polling places and so on. in and i think that was a huge this mistake. many people think that rick santorum, if he had gotten the nomination, would have actually done much less well than mitt romney did in the national election. let me answer the question this way. could there have been a few people who supported mitt romney in some precincts who said we

are going to lose these votes from our precinct here somewhere, they're going to fall behind it the fireplace or the kitchen sink. it's possible. i don't know. but it's possible. everything is possible. host: we mentioned this earlier, the "new york times," looking at rural voters in rural counties in iowa. they write about the 2012 race, in that 2012 or public and race, 80% of iowa's 1766 precincts had fewer than 100 voters. and it was the margins in those tiny precincts that ultimately delivered the victory to rick santorum over mitt romney by 34 votes. santorum won by 600 votes in precincts between 50 and 50 people. more calls for steffen schmidt. we go to appomattox, virginia, republican line. it's roger. caller: yes, hello, good

morning. i was a democrat most of my life until seven or eight years ago in the country's are going in a different direction that it was now. it is always been my understanding that elected officials were supposed to do the will of the american people. that's what we send them up there for. we have republicans and the house and the senate this time, they said they were going to do this and that. when they got up there, they have done everything backwards, what obama wants to do. just like obamacare. the majority of the american people did not want obamacare. but the supreme court, i would like to know if john roberts was bought off or threatened to make the decision he made. we sent those people up there to do a job, and i watched a debate the other night i got so disgusted, i cut it off halfway through. i don't believe anything a politician says. but i like donald trump. that was my question.

we need somebody the answers to the will of the american people. host: all right, roger. thanks for your call. your thoughts? guest: absolutely. the wonderful thing about democracy is that if your representatives aren't doing what you want them to do, you vote them out of office. right? we have the choice every two years, we can go in there and fire the rascals, as they say, and send some of the else up. -- someone else up. strangely enough, incumbents almost always win. the people who are already in office almost always get reelected. up in the 90 percentage for both house and senate. what is missing is maybe more lyrical participation. if people don't like with the representatives are doing, vote them out of office. but not enough people participate. and that's especially true every two years, during the off election year when there is no presidential election. the voter turnout is really low. and people don't bother to

participate. i've said this before. we need more people engaged, we need more people registered to vote, we need the parties and organizations out there to drive people to the polling places, take them there, inform them, get them to participate. because that is what the system is supposed to be. and, you know, the other problem is, the american people did speak, and elected barack obama. and gave him a mandate, and then they reelected barack obama. so, you know, he did get elected. the american people to elect him. he didn't take over the white house in a coup d'etat. but the caller's comment is extremely interesting and 2016. -- in 2016. and the reason is that we have very interesting focus group information that shows when you ask democrats what do you want -- continuity or change?

interestingly enough, the democrats say we want continuity. and that means democrats like obama, they like his policies. the majority or more than a majority don't want to have those things all change, which to me at least seems makes hillary clinton the candidate who is most likely to connect. but the republicans, by a very overwhelming number, want change. and i think that helps us explain the trump phenomenon, and the ted cruz phenomenon. republicans really want to shake up. host: steffen schmidt joining us from des moines. we were joined by terry branstad yesterday for our newsmakers program, which will air tomorrow

at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. kevin schmidt, i want to get your reaction to the comments schmidt, i want to get your reaction to the comments from the governor as he describes this year's caucuses is very unusual. guest: historically, we say there are three tickets out of iowa. this time, on the republican side, we have such a big field that i think there might be for five. i expect there might be more. it's an expectation game. it's not only who wins, but who beats expectations. it's one of the things i think everybody is going to be looking out on monday night, is who beats expectations. it's a very different situation this year. it's kind of an outsiders year. amazingly, everyone thought it was going to be a coronation for secretary clinton. now we see bernie sanders has really surging. that race is going to be very gross -- very close. the democrat rule is if you don't get 15%, you're not considered viable. a lot may hinge on who to be a mallee people go to they don't have 15% in their caucus. that may determine who wins on the democrat side.

on the republican side, we have the trump phenomenon. he has drawn huge crowds, he skipped the debate, and a lot of people -- i say conventional wisdom says that wasn't a smart thing to do. but he has and a lot of things that -- he has done a lot of things that conventional wisdom would say is not smart. he seems to be holding up as a leader. i guess time will tell when people ask to and vote in the caucuses on monday night. i do think the level of interest is higher than ever. the turnout for the candidates has been tremendous. so i'm expecting a record turnout for the iowa caucus. host: by the way, all of that conversation with the governor tomorrow on our "newsmakers" program at 10:00 eastern here on c-span, also at 6:00 as well. steffen schmidt, iowa state political professor. what did you think of the governor's political analysis of the situation in iowa? guest: he's a friend of mine, i served in his first in administration back in the 18th century. i was a commissioner for one of

his commissions. of course, he has been reelected six times. he was the youngest governor elected at the time i served on a commission as the chair of the commission. and now he is the longest-serving governor in the history of the united states, and the only governor ever to serve that long in two different centuries. i never underestimate his ability to sort of weigh and analyze things. he is certainly right that the republican field is not only too large, but it is also large and their candidates who actually could consolidate and surge in third place, fourth place, maybe even fifth place. that's a phenomenon we haven't seen before. iowa is not winnowing it out weekly enough.

donald trump -- i call him trumpiavelli. he understands that in politics, everything goes and that you have to move very quickly to game the system and to improve your strategic position. by doing that, he is thrown every buddy off. everybodywing off. he threw the entire news media off, who dismissed him from the very start. "the des moines register," told him to withdraw and not run after his first controversial statement. his poll numbers went up right away as soon as the register did that. that is something we don't want to deal with at this point. we don't understand how someone who has completely changed the rules of the game in politics, in terms of what you say and what you do -- not only is ahead in the polls, but has risen in the polls and is ahead in the polls frankly in almost every state. i'm a resident of new hampshire as well as iowa. and of course, he is very much ahead there. he's ahead in florida, he's ahead in california and so on. very interesting.

and the republican party itself doesn't know how to deal with trump, as we all know. they are divided. some of them are saying, "look, if trump is going to get the nomination, we need to begin to work with him. maybe he will moderate and work with us. and be the guy." other conservative republicans have come out and tried to basically run him off the rails by issuing issues of very influential conservative journals that are entirely dedicated to destroying donald trump's campaign, i've also never seen before. host: 50 more minutes with our guest, steffen schmidt, iowa state university professor. try to get to as many calls as we can. (202) 748-8003, the line for iowa residents.

here is martha from marion, iowa. caller: thanks, c-span. i have a couple comments from some of the statements this gentleman has said. first of all, in my opinion, bernie sanders is the guy. his mentality is for change. you were saying continuity versus change, the democrats are more for continuity. and i completely disagree with that. the other thing he commented on was that the gentleman who called in and commented on saying that hillary clinton is kind of guilty by perception, 90% perception. people aren't guilty until proven guilty. that kind of mentality needs to go away in our country. and also, regarding legalization of marijuana -- our country is in dire need.

first of all, if it can help ptsd, victims of rape and sexual abuse in our military, personnel who are coming back and are well, if thatl, can help them, and also cancer and all this research they are doing nowadays since they have opened up the research in our government and our laws -- host: martha, thank you for that. steffen schmidt, is that an issue of marijuana legalization a winner for bernie sanders in iowa? guest: it's not at the top of the list. neither is ethanol. there are lots and lots of issues. it's a complex country. lead in the water is on people's minds as a horrible national crisis. let me step back a second until the caller that none of the things that i say are my opinion. i'm just a messenger. i'm just reporting to you what the polls and focus groups are saying about continuity versus change.

obviously, bernie sanders has gotten incredible, energetic, gigantic, and maybe unprecedented numbers of people coming up to his events. and those people are entirely cheering for change. and hillary clinton is the establishment candidate. her campaign has been poorly run, frankly. i mean, we can go into that if you have another hour of c-span, i would be happy to go through all the things i think of gone wrong with that campaign. which is why she went from 70% to not even beating bernie anymore. host: well, quickly on that, tell us the one quick thing that she has done, the campaign has done wrong, the hillary clinton campaign. guest: the very rollout of the campaign with the scooby doo armored car coming to iowa, meeting with a small group of people surrounded by secret service -- leaving the iowa

democrats, who were hungering for a candidate because there was no candidate yet. it was a huge disappointment to a lot of democrats who wanted to see a democratic candidate motivate them, get their adrenaline going. she should have come and done some very big rallies, invited democratic activist and sent them off on a mission to win the election. instead, it was dribbled out on the little listening to others -- listening tours. it was bizarre, not very successful. if you wanted one example, that would be it. first impressions really make a difference. it was dark and stormy night, that's a good way to start a novel. coming in scooby doo is not. host: back to our calls now in vero beach, florida, nash is our republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call.

while i am a retiree, i will never vote for hillary clinton because she is a copycat of obama. obama had [indiscernible] in his sector and it will kill us. i don't have much, but i can get some money from my ira because i can sell. i borrow money from my son. the market is down, was of job loss, lots of trouble, including myself. also, hillary clinton was with obama, she failed in egypt, she supported the muslim brotherhood and now we have isis in libya. host: let's hear from chicago

next, on the democrat line, this is albert. caller: good morning, c-span. and thank you. yeah, i have two quick points to make, i will try and be as brief as possible. the first one is dealing with these e-mails that were just marked top-secret yesterday. i'm wondering where's the story in this, where's the controversy in this? as a state department spokesman said, none of these e-mails were marked classified or top secret at the time mrs. clinton had anything to do with them. also, none of them were on her private server. so where's the story in this? my second point goes to the supporters of bernie sanders and his agenda. i agree with bernie sanders's agenda. i agree with single payer, i agree with free college tuition, i agree with breaking up the big banks. in fact, i tend to lean toward socialism. but these ideas have no idea getting through the republican-controlled congress. how are you going to get

single-payer through a republican-controlled congress when obamacare barely made it through democratic-controlled congress? how are you going to get breaking up the big banks they were republican-controlled congress when dodd-frank barely made it through democratic-controlled congress? host: i think steffen schmidt, we address the e-mails little bit. how about his last point on bernie sanders? guest: what am going to addresses the fact that this caller is brilliant. he has brought up the biggest single issue in the united states for democrats. they are losing elections at the state level. they are losing house races, they are losing senate races. they are losing races for governor, they are losing races for state houses. i'm not going to cite statistics, i could grab a nice chart and hold it up, but i'm not going to do that. i'm not ross perot. but the democrats need to go down and figure out what they're are doing wrong at the state level. south dakota has no more elected democrats at all. and why is that? there are lots of democrats in south dakota.

i'm going to be up there giving a talk. why? what is the matter was set to go democrats that they are not adjusting their message and picking candidates who can connect with south dakota voters and get them elected? because unless that happens, he is right. the president can we do executive orders and hope to work marginally with congress if it's in the opposition in the opposition doesn't want to work with you. the challenge for the democratic party, and debbie wasserman schultz i think should retire pretty soon. they have not had a national strategy for building the party from the bottom up. and that is a catastrophic disaster for the party. republicans may have lost the the presidency, but they have won every other battle and race. and that is why they continue to get the message out that they have. it seems to be connecting with voters. host: even on the conversation on twitter, send us a tweet at @cspanwj. a tweet from mad men across the water to says sadly, americans elected a criminal in 1972 over a good man.

what would be really karmic if hillary is elected, impeached, and resigns. sanders does not talk about how to pay for education or other social programs. trump does not provide any policies, just attacks. wild and wonderful says can only say i can barely wait for next week when i don't have to even hear the word iowa for a few years. in a week from now, most people will go back to thinking iowa is in nebraska. we go to iowa next, and rob is on the line for iowans. let's hear from riverside. good morning. caller: good morning. dr. steffen schimdt, you are a great representative for the smartest state in the union. thanks for being on. i have a comment and a question. i think hillary and the

administration she served under is responsible for a lot of our problems, today, the refugees, the isis problems, and frankly, i don't think they respect a woman. i think sometime in the future that a woman should be elected president. but now is not the time it. and especially hillary, with her background in foreign affairs. my question is -- do you think a lot of the voter apathy today is due to executive orders from mr. obama? and voters really don't even go to the polls anymore because a lot of their ideas are going to be nixed anyways? and a lack of guts from republicans in office. this has really dismayed me. thank you. guest: there are a lot of different reasons why we have low voter turnout. look at your voter turnout for school board elections. in some cases, it's 5% or 6%.

americans just have not developed the habit of voting. number two, there are too many elections in this country. there are elections constantly at the state level. all kinds of bond elections and school board elections and state races and this means that people will have to spend 24 hours a day figuring out when the next election is. it's not a great thing. elections are great, but if you have too many, people don't have the time it. i think people get confused about what the issues are, and how to solve them. what is the solution to isis? do you have a solution? people are, in a sense, discouraged because the problems we throw at them, in the 24-hour news cycle, the social media adding on to that, literally 24 hours a day. the problem seems so huge that i think people are discouraged. and they stay away. obama got elected. you know, whether you like it or not, he got elected and reelected. if you didn't like his policies, you didn't have to reelect him. but apparently more people like

his policies than not. and we can't get away from that. and hillary clinton does represent, to some extent, the continuity of obama and people still like obama's policies, which i don't know. they will elect her. and independents are the biggest factor. people with no party, november, they are the ones who in most states makes a difference between who wins or loses. and that is what the candidates need to play too. they need to play to those independent voters. because republicans will vote for the republican nominee, whoever it is, and the same with the democrats. but the independent voters, they are kind of fickle. they could go one way or another. iowa is a battleground state. iowa has been red and blue. we sometimes go through public -- go for the republican candidate.

sometimes we go for the democratic one. as a person who is sick and tired of hearing iowa, and will be happy not to hear it, there's a button on their clicker for the television set, where they can actually switch to another channel. and they can watch wrestling or football or something else. if you are tired of iowa, stop watching the news. this is a caucus season, you're going to hear a lot of it. you can get away from it if you want. but think a lot of people are masochists and they want to know what's going on in iowa. so they stick with us. host: steffen schmidt published books, and a co-author of a textbook. a couple more calls to old forge, pennsylvania on the democrat line. this is robin. hello. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say, i am totally amazed at the people who want to vote for hillary clinton. first of all, hillary clinton thinks that job is hers. she things obama should hand her the keys to the white house. she thinks it's over because he

took the election out from her. she's done nothing as secretary of state, benghazi was a disaster. for what she has done, nothing was done for security sake. i mean, come on, people. i am going to vote for donald trump. i am shocked how people will vote for her. i really believe she thinks this job is owed to her. that's what i think. thank you. guest: it is an interesting comment because a lot of people said that hillary clinton is the natural person who will win this, her approval rating was 70%, she would get the nomination and walk away with it. it would be a coronation. to that extent, i think the caller is right that hillary clinton really thought that she basically had this in the bag. and it turns out she didn't. and whether people will vote for her or not, we don't know that yet. we have not seen -- caucus night will determine whether iowans

will determine if she should be number one or number two. if she is number two, that is still fine. and if she gets the nomination and runs against the republican, we don't know the outcome of that. this will be very exciting. we will have to watch iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and all the rest of it. i know c-span will cover this, so people should be there to be set on c-span because that is where the good stuff comes from. and we will know the results of both iowa and new hampshire and later the general election. that is how a democracy works. people of different opinions of candidates and we have a lot, which is fabulous. this year is a treasure trove of candidates, especially on the republican side and that is exciting. host: just a a quick question before we wrap up. on twitter, friend asks, are you "are you concerned

about donald trump supporters intimidating caucus going or caucus-goers? they have shown violent behaviors and his meetings." guest: who knows. i doubt it very much. they're going to go to the caucuses and do what they do. a republican caucuses will go in and say, and then everybody fills out the secret ballot and the numbers are sent in. there is no intimidation. on the democratic side, they will not be there because they are only going for the republicans. there is no way to intimidate in the caucus. iowans are pretty strong people and opinionated. they are not intimidated pretty easily. host: steffen schmidt joining us, you can follow some of his comments on twitter at drpolitics. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you very much, bill.

announcer: tomorrow on "washington journal," jerry crawford, former hillary clinton advisor, discusses his support of hillary clinton. after that, senator chuck grassley discusses the iowa caucus preview. and finally, simon conway and who he inks will win the iowa caucuses on monday night. journal," live on sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. wrote to thespan's white house coverage continues with senator marco rubio campaign coverage in iowa. after that, we will take your phone calls. until then, a discussion with a former u.s. senator who has endorsed marco rubio for president. this is from today's "washington journal." >> he spent six years in the

and was serving in arkansas, senator hutchinson, you are a supporter of marco rubio. you had a lot of choices there and what brought you around to supporting senator rubio? sen. hutchinson: thank you for having me. ronald reagan's speech and i think marco rubio is one of the greatest candidates we have had since ronald reagan. we need a candidate who will unite the republicans and we need someone who can inspire the nation. marco rubio is the person i

think can best do that. when you look at donald trump and ted cruz, what does marco rubio have to do -- what does he have to finish, if it is not one, what is the position you are looking for from senator rubio? , i don'thinson: well know, i like to think that i am a pundit, but i am not going to -- have to make a prediction on this. . -- on this. slog,s going to be a long this is going to be a long campaign. i think marco rubio will ultimately lead the team and win the nomination. host: what sort of events have you been attending in iowa?

what have people been asking you about marco rubio? sen. hutchinson: in all honesty, i arrived last night here in des moines. we ate with the locals and had a great iowa steak last night, i have not gone to a lot of focus groups. we are going to go out to a lot of doors and go door-to-door this afternoon and we will be doing phone banking this afternoon. i will hopefully then have a better feel, but right now, i cannot tell you what is necessarily on their minds. i think it very much reflects what you are seeing the cost the nation.ng across the frustration with the lack of any accomplishments in washington, a great anxiety about the national security threats that face our nation, and i think that is where senator rubio's great appeal this. he can be a uniter in the republican party, but he is the one who brings great credentials when it comes to national security and the threats that face our nation. people are worried about that

and of course the paris attacks, san bernardino, these really change the focus of a lot of campaigns, the anxiety for the american people looking to the forefront. host: our guest is tim hutchinson, former senator and member of the u.s. house and supporter of marco rubio. we welcome your calls, (202)-748-8000 for democrats. (202)-748-8001 for republicans. independents and others, (202)-748-8002. voters in iowa, (202)-748-8003. how about the other side of things for marco rubio? fundraising? how deeply are you involved in that? guest: well, i am doing all i can. my wife and i have given all that we can give. i have put in calls and i'm getting a good response. i think there is a real openness

to senator rubio. i am getting a good response in my approach is raising money for him. it is that kind of challenge. senator rubio, unlike some candidates, he did not grow up wealthy, he did not inherit money, he cannot self fund, he is the son of immigrants, so he can really relate to the struggles of the average american on living paycheck to paycheck. but i think he is going to have the resources he needs to get his message out and that is the key. it is not about who has the most, but you have to reach a certain level to ensure that your messages conveyed to the american people. senator rubio will get that. host: let's go to iowa, angeline, thank you for waiting until we could have you on.

in jacksonville, florida, democrat line. caller: thank you. first, i want to reveal a statement and then ask a question. mr. hutchinson, i have some good news and bad news for you about your candidate. you know, i am making bets all day and i'm looking at one of them right now on my right. it says, is the elections were was held elections today, it would be marco rubio versus hillary clinton. and with the predicting, they said anywhere from 10% to 16% she would win. they investigated the clips hundreds of times, please, tell me you found any one of them guilty for a crime. for mr. rubio was in the house, the florida taxpayers trusted

him with the state credit card, well, when he left the state and ran for the senate and it showed the balance of over $400,000 and it defaulted. the press has covered this numerous times and almost half a million dollars. next time you talk to him, tell them it would be great if he could pay us that money back and he could get that off the list. host: we will turn it over to tim hutchinson. thank you. guest: thank you for getting up early and calling. i think your facts are in error

regarding senator rubio's record in florida. but let me focus on electability. one of the reasons i am supporting marco rubio is because i think of all of the republican candidates, he is i most is by far the electable. to be elected, you have to unify the republican party and senator rubio can do that. you will have to be able to be on the same platform with the democratic nominee from a generational standpoint, eloquent standpoint, marco rubio is the person who can win. i have a lot of democratic friends, work with a lot, have a lot, and they tell me the person they don't want to run against is senator rubio. i absolutely believe that is the case and i think he would be the strongest nominee the republican party could put out. host: in pennsylvania, phil, good morning. caller: when i was younger, i was a democrat and when i got older and started having to pay my fair share of taxes for my unfair share of taxes, i became a republican.

we elect these republicans and they don't do what we elect them to do. now, i am an independent. but lately, this argument about rubio and ted cruz about the illegal immigrants, it is obvious that rubio has been lying. when he joined that gang of eight down there in washington after we sent him there, he decided that, no, we are going to let all the illegal immigrants eventually get citizenship, so i am leaning toward donald trump and i think donald trump will shake it up in washington like it has never been shook up before, but i want to tell everybody out there, go see that movie about benghazi because my wife and i saw it last night and it will change people's minds. host: tim hutchinson, before you answer on immigration, i wanted to play the comments of senator

rubio in the fox debate the other night. he was questioned about his stance on immigration. megyn: when you ran for senate in 2010, you may clear you opposed citizenship and legalization for illegal immigrants and you promised he would oppose it as a u.s. senator as well. here are a few examples, watch. sen. rubio: i never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty for those illegal in the country. the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people who are legally entering the country to create an alternative pathway for those who entered illegally and knowingly did so. you cannot grant amnesty. if the american people see us grant amnesty, they will never again support illegal immigration and that is wrong for our country and bad for the future.

megyn: within two years of getting elected, you are cosponsoring amnesty. haven't you already proven you cannot be trusted? sen. rubio: i do not support blanket amnesty. megyn: you said more than that. you said earned passage citizenship is go for amnesty. you supported earned passage citizenship. sen. rubio: the context was in 2009 and 2010, or the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the senate, led by several people that provided almost an instant pass with little obstacles moving forward. this issue does need to be solved. they have been talking about this issue for 30 years and nothing ever happens. we will keep isis out of america. we are going to enforce our immigration laws. i am the son and grandson of immigrants and i know securing our border is not anti-immigrant and we will do it. we will hire 20,000 new border agents instead of virus agents. we will finish this 700 miles of

fencing and walls our nation needs. we will have mandatory e-verify, entry and exit tracking systems, and until that is in place and working and we can prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control, nothing else is going to happen. we are not going to round up in -- and deport people, but we are not going to hand out citizenship cards either. how do rubio responded to the question on immigration? usually does, pretty impressively. it is hard to follow my own candidate. i think you said that excellent. the whole controversy about the gang of eight, people complained that nothing gets done in washington and the when you have a senator who is actually trying to get something done, he gets criticized for compromise. of thoseake any amendments, it happens all the time and they make tv ads on the the process issues in the u.s. senate and turning them into