that if weecognize secularnother [indiscernible] have done our children in and we cannot afford to do that. [applause] >> dr. carson, what issue do you think the presidential candidates are not addressing on the republican side? >> i think the thing they are not addressing is the fiscal gap. have you noticed that no one talked about the fiscal gap? no washington politician will talk about the fiscal gap that i am not a politician's why can talk about it. liability,nfunded medicare, medicaid, social security, all the governmental programs going forward versus the money we have coming back in

through taxes and other revenue sources. other revenue sources should be a huge amount of money because this country owns over $150 trillion in assets. assetse $150 trillion in to a well-run business, we would not have a national debt. we can wait that out easily just from the returns on that each year. i obviously became very familiar with the corporate world, spending 18 years on the board of kellogg and 60 some of board and 16 years on the board of cosco and seeing how to run something efficiently. if our government was a business, it would be out of business in a week. that is how bad it is. money rate, the amount of we have coming back and the amount we oh should be about

equal if we were fiscally responsible. gap forms and a bring them forward to today's dollars and that's called a fiscal gap and it said that over $200 trillion. if somebody miraculously came along and said, united states of america, for your birthday, i am paying off your national that and wrote us a check for $19 trillion, many people would be dancing in the streets. we would not even be close to being out of trouble. that is what no one will tell you. we need to know that kind of information so that when people come along and say free college for everybody, we know how to react to that. that is just going to drive us off the fiscal cliff much faster than we were going off before. >> one word that describes ben carson -- >> um - >> make it to words.

>> that makes it easy. [laughter] i would say -- >> they are answering for you. say the children because that's what this is all about, it's about the children. [applause] it's about their future. my whole career was about giving children a second chance. wonderful onen so i'mcampaign trail because in front of 15,000 people i get to see them all over the place and it's just wonderful. i remember i was in kentucky last year and there was a young man there and his family and they came up and said, do you

remember me? i said you look familiar. i say that to everybody. [laughter] said you operated on him when he was one year old. and you did a hemispheric to me where we check out cap the brain to stop intractable seizures and they said he just graduated from college, number one in his class. [applause] >> wow. and then [applause] >> then there was a beautiful statuesque young woman who came said, areife and she you the wife of dr. ben carson? she said yes, she said he operate on me when i was still in my mother's womb. and now she has grown up a beautiful young lady whose self-supporting. anybody who tells me that something inside of the uterus

is just a useless bunch of cells has no idea what they are talking about. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> my last question, you have brought such civility and the tone of civility to this race. what advice you give to these other candidates who are left? >> i would tell them that they we, theerstand that republicans, are not each other's enemies. and we cannot afford [applause] afford to give the

democrats all of this ammunition. i wish that people will remember what happened last time and how the republicans were destroying each other. president obama did not have a good record to run on and that's putting it mildly. so they were able to use much of the material that we used against each other that he was able to win. that is going to happen again this time. we have already supplied them with an enormous amount of material. could we just stop? the way to ferret this thing out is not by calling each other names but really, by challenging each other's positions and having them explain why they believe what they do. that will sort out all of the things that need to be sorted out without us injuring the

brand. is really,can brand i think, grossly misse mischaracterized and we add to some of that ourselves and we got to be much smarter. it's one of the rings i will continue to work with the party in aarticularly to bring wider variety of people and to make our positions well known. after they listen to our good positions, they listen and they will save america. [applause] ben carson, you are a man of great faith who loves our who loves your family, and we cannot thank you enough for being here with the cpac family and god bless you and we will be behind you all the way. >> thank you. thank you very much. [applause] ♪

♪ ♪ >> please welcome acu's dan snyder and amanda bunning. ♪ ♪ all.ank you a couple of quick announcements because donald trump will not be with us tomorrow, we're going straight to breakout panels at 9:15. >> because he will not be here tomorrow, the more good news, there will not be the magnetometers.

security will be much faster. glad that we were in this room safely today but tomorrow, just know it will be a quicker process. >> don't forget to vote in the straw polls. we need your voice. >> if you don't know how to vote on the straw poll, there is a pin number on the front of your badge and you can vote using c ourpac 2016 app or you can vote on the ipads in the lobby. >> for those of you who purchased ronald reagan dinner tickets, we will see you tonight. carly fiorina is our keynote speaker. see you tonight at 9:15 p.m. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [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]

>> as you just heard, carly tonight andoming up we want more live coverage of cpac on c-span. the former republican candidate -- presidential candidate, carly fiorina on our live coverage on c-span and coming up tomorrow morning, senator marco rubio of florida, the republican presidential candidate is scheduled for 11:35 a.m. and that's also live here on c-span. cpac was some news made at today. you heard a few minutes ago that ben carson announced he has a new job. during his speech, he has accepted a job as the national votes, aof my faith

group that focused on getting christian voters to the polls. earlier this week, mr. carson said he sees no political path forward in his bid for the white house. donald trumpee, was scheduled to speak at the conference tomorrow but the gop presidential candidate cancel his appearance. cpac sent out this tweet -- meanwhile, the trump campaign sent out this press release -- mr. trump will speak at the kansas caucus and departing for orlando, florida to speak to a crowd of approximately 20,000 people or more. because of this, he will not be able to speak at cpac as he is done for many years and he would like to thank all of the

executives at cpac and looks forward to returning next year hopefully as resident of the united states. that was the press release from the trump campaign. over the last couple of days, politico and national review reported that some attending the conference were upset about the timeslot donald trump received. it was originally set for a 30 a.m. saturday morning which is considered a prime slot. william temple who let a walkout of jeb bushes cpac speech last year was organizing a walkout during donald trump's appearance. you can read more about that at politico.com and national review.com. jennyrty patriots founder beth martin spoke at the conservative political action conference about white republican presidential candidate donald trump is not a suitable candidate 14 party supporters. because one of these candidates, i just talked about, is not tea party at all.

i know donald trump says he loves the tea party but that's not what it takes to be tea party. , ifou want to be tea party you want to be tea party coming up to love our country and you have to love our constitution and you have to be willing to fight for them above your own interests and you have to put freedom, you have to put freedom above your own interests. let me ask you a question -- have you ever heard donald trump talk about the tea party? i haven't. i have serious questions about his fidelity to the tea party. for instance, donald trump recently said that if he got to be president, he would, and i quote, open up the libel laws to make it easier for him to sue newspapers that wrote unkind things about him. the right to speak freely

without fear of reprisal is enshrined in our constitution. [applause] that is what makes america different from every other country on the face of the earth. here, we can speak our mind and even criticize our government and even criticize our political leaders without fear of reprisal. we are protected by our constitution to do so. when i hear a candidate say he wants to mess with our rights to free speech, i fear for our constitution and our country. [applause] that is not tea party. fought, the tea party tooth and now to keep our free speech. iat's not the only reason know donald trump is not what he says he is. if you look at his history and background, it raises serious questions. donald trump stole a line from ronald reagan.

he says he wants to make america great again. i'm going to borrow a line from ronald reagan. trust but verify. [applause] here is what i verified, many of donald trump's critics say he is inconsistent. he was for universal health care before he was against it. he wants supported the biggest tax increase in history and now he says he wants to cut taxes. he was pro-choice before he became pro-life. he donated to democrats before he donated to republicans. he funded the establishment candidates against the tea party before he said he loved that he party. yes, he is inconsistent if you look at all the issues he flip-flopped on. but if you look at his motivation for taking those positions, you will see that in fact, there is a remarkable consistency. it's the consistency of serving his own interests. [applause]

you can always count on this -- on any given issue, at any given time, donald trump will take the position that serves his interest as he perceives it at that time. [applause] are you still not sure? listen up -- when a little old lady, mind you, a widow, refused to sell her property to him so he could not down her house for a parking garage to his casinos, he tried to use the government to take her property away from her. the property rights, the right to use and own your property as you see fit is one of the essential elements of limited government. anyone who does not understand and defend the property rights has no business serving in elected office let alone the presidency. [applause] government, using the

government to force a property owner to give up her property that she does not want to sell, that is not tea party. in 2013 when so many of us were fighting the gang of eight amnesty bill, donald trump issued statements they he was for amnesty. for the last eight months, he has been saying he is against amnesty and that he wants to build a wall. in the last few days, we have heard he may have told the new york times something entirely different. we don't know because it's off the record and he won't release the tapes. he'snight, he said softening his position on immigration. we don't know where he stands in this issue today. that's not tea party. [applause] a few years back, donald trump decided to trade his reputation as a real estate tycoon and make money by marketing a series of real estate seminars. he opened up what he called a

university bearing his name. apparently coming he took a lot of people for a lot of money. so much so that he is now defending not one, not to, but three separate lawsuits on the matter. there are 5000 plaintiffs. scamming people out of their hard money, definitely not tea party. [applause] in each of those cases, donald trump was serving his own interest as he perceived them at the time. donald trump is about love of himself. [applause] the tea party is about love of country and the love of our constitution. again, more from the conservative political action conference tonight. former presidential candidate and former head of hewlett-packard, carly fiorina speaks at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

coming up tomorrow, gop president of candidate senator marco rubio of florida live at 11:35 a.m., also on c-span. now more from the cpac conference. the national republican committee chairman reince previous was interviewed today. -- reuince prebus was interviewed by sean hannity today. ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the leadership forum, julie woods hill. [applause] good morning, conservatives. without further ado, i would like to welcome reince prebus,

the chairman of the national republican party and his special guest star, sean hannity. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> how are you all doing? that's later. i gave out 1000 football's last night. welcome to chairman of the rnc, reince prebus. \ >> so good to see you all. >> there is the liberal media. where you from? the new york times, you have to leave. [laughter] welcome, everybody. what did you think of the debate last night? [laughter]

this, at the end of this process -- if you heard my speech yesterday, i asked people to stand and i asked people at the end of the process, if your guy does not win, are you going to support the nominee? i think it's important if we want to save the country from another obama term which would be hillary, we've got to unite. [applause] mr. chairman, let me ask you -- talk about the process and the role the rnc plays. i don't like i want your job right now. >> first of all, let me clear something up for everybody very clearly. is of oure nominee party, they will get the full backing and the 100% support of the republican party. [applause] process and it's really simple. we set up a process. our republicans are voting in a lot of the states.

without boring you to tears, they bind delegates to the convention and at the convention, obviously, it takes a majority of the delegates to become the nominee. that person joins the republican party. i know i have tried to make this case and it takes a little longer than you got on a 32nd response on television but i want to calibrate everyone and remind you what's going on. we have candidates that are competing to be the nominee of the republican party who want to join the republican party at our convention in cleveland and when they join the republican party, obviously, they take in what we've have been able to build a rnc. we don't take sides regardless of what you might inc. or read. there are no side we take at the republican party. we build a lot of the things you may think are kind of boring

like ground game and data and engagement, turnout, absentee ballot programs, voter identification programs. i know everything you buy them don't buy and what car you drive and how much money you make. >> will kind of car do i drive? >> what beer you drink. >> what do i drink? >> if i had to guess, sam adams. >> coors light. theme.trying to get into >> they were wasted last night. by the way, if you have a headache last night from drinking too much last night, it's not your fault. it's not jack daniel's fault. it's bush's fault. >> the last point, there is nothing controversial about a national party that has its act together when it comes to a ground game and data. we were embarrassed in 2012. everyoneeading

bragging about what barack obama did on the ground that we have to do the same thing. the candidates right now are not worried about buying data licenses and building user interfaces. who is doing a question mark the answer is, the republican party. and they have to get what we build in order to win. cruz,r you are for ted marco, john kasich, donald trump, they need to have a national party that has its act together and that's what we are all about. >> you and i talk, one of the things i think you would be happy about it, if you look at the trap this year, it is almost identical in terms of the enthusiasm that barack obama had in 2008 and the democrats are down 33% in their turnout in the primaries. that would tell me the enthusiasm is on our side. a vast majority of the mark and people think we are on the wrong track. that certainly would be a good indicator this could be a great year for the republicans. >> you are seeing historical

turnout across this country that we have never seen before. we got 17 million people last night watching the foxnews debate. >> you got the ratings already? how did i do? >> the point is, there is some there is intrigue, but with all of that comes incredible amount of enthusiasm. we started a program called republican leadership initiative and you can look it up at gop.com. people out there are part of it and we have over 10,000 people that have signed up for six weeks of training to be ready to go in all of the targeted terror we have identified. >> this is owing to be new this presidential election. you have basically at opted what the democrats wisely had adopted for barack obama and that is targeting every single voter and every single county and every single state that when it comes election day, they are going to be getting calls and reminded to go out to vote and how important

this election is. is that a good way to put it? >> that's exactly right, we have become a midterm party that does not lose any presidential party that has a hard time winning. we have more republicans elected across this country then since 1900. we have to win a cultural vote in this country. that is a different process that requires total immersion, complete saturation, and communities in many cases we don't represent in congress or the state legislature. if we don't put 10 people every 10 blocks in targeted states, you're not just talking about fracking and clean: that stuff. people don't care about that but you've got to talk about the issues that matter in communities and do things like have pizza parties and bring in bands and get to know people and then cash in all of those -- >> they would be happier with coors light than pizza. this is a serious question. you heard the mitt romney speech yesterday. you all heard the speech

yesterday? i voted for mitt romney and i think he probably would've been a great president but was not happy with the speech. what he was sick just in desperate what he was suggesting is more important and that is what he is suggesting is that people in ohio vote for john kasich and people in florida vote for marco and people around the states vote for this -- it seems to be a strategy to target one candidate and force a brokered convention. i would argue it's probably not good for you or the republican party. i think the people should decide. >> the people are going to decide. that's the point. there is no way the people are not going to decide. there is no with the delegates are not going to decide. hang on a second -- if you are at the convention, you would be bound on the first

vote and the majority of you would choose the nominee. whoever the majority chooses is going to be the nominee of our party. so that's our pledge to you. the other thing i would say is a lot of this is early talk. understand, there are 1237 delegates needed to be the nominee of our party. delegates left to be distributed. we are a long way to go. between now -- everyone talks about ohio and florida -- between now and that day, there is 14.5% of all the delegates yet to be distributed. going thisour states saturday, another for a five going on tuesday, where to rico is going sunday. -- puerto rico is going sunday. i think the odds of a contested convention are very small. >> you do?

>> i have been saying that for a long time. >> let me give you a hypothetical. let's say we go to the convention and let's say candidate a is leading by a significant amount it he does not get to 1237. he goes in and we have the first round of voting. it is not get the 1237 and it's a second round of voting and the delegates are now freed up and they can vote any way they want. let's say the candidate that has the most delegates but did not get the nomination on the first vote ends up losing the nomination, don't you think the guyle that are with the that got the most votes will be angry if the guy doesn't win? >> the last time we have been through that -- first of all, i advise all of you to become delegates to the convention. do last we have ever been

this if it ever happened and i believe it's highly unlikely and i have said that >> what are the odds it won't happen? >> 85-90%? >> so this is really hypothetical. i people want to know just in case. we will play that game. happenink what would would be going back to 1976, it was one round, ronald reagan challenged ford at the convention and ford one in the first round. in the second round, you have the same rules that apply as we sit here today. you still need the majority of eight states renominated. >> every delegate that was committed to a candidate in the second candidate was switch. cases, some cases they are bound for two votes in some cases they are bound for three and some not at all. ,he delegate allocation rules we are in something we started

with many years ago. it used to be that our party would have a convention and at the convention, the people on the floor would choose our nominee. you would all compete in the states to be the delegate and maybe you are heading up one of the republican groups and you became a delegate from wisconsin or whatever. and you would show up and vote. at some point, some people said i've got an idea -- why don't we tie a primary or a caucus to the actions of a delegate so that we can get more people involved? that's how all these rules can into play. suddenly, now you have delegates going to a convention that are now tied to the out comes of caucuses and primaries. happen, we are in territory our party has not seen. >> again, highly unlikely.

i try to explain on radio and tv and i don't know if this is we have in some states proportional distribution of delegates. when we had march 15, we have ohio and florida and winner take all. would it be better -- i am thing out loud -- to maybe have a universal system for every state where perhaps winning the congressional district would be the determining factor of whether you get the delegates from that district? >> there are states rights. [applause] states get to choose the plan. >> i am not against states rights. relax. i am a right winger. >> i hear you and everyone loves uniformity and clarity. >> you admit it's confusing. >> at the same time, i would bet this crowd would not want the republican national committee dictating to the states and the territories exactly how they will operate. [applause] >> we are putting a national

candidate. >> i get that. those are debates that we have constantly. a lot of these folks i'm sure have been delegates or on some of our committees at conventions but every four years, we debate whether we should start with iowa and south carolina and why not another state3+. that's the every four year debate. winner take all and the proportional calendar -- evil are debating that right now. is the process too fast or too slow? those are debates that we have. as of now, we have proportionality through march 14 and on the 15th, states can go winner take all of they want to. to marchn't they prior 15? towe put in a rule years ago add the entire month of march to be proportional. in 2012, the entire month is proportional. at the rules committee which many people hated in tampa, at

the rules committee, they eliminated all proportionality. a lot of the reporters out there that think we cut proportionality and have, actually we added two weeks of proportionality. at the convention, they remove the proportionality and took the five state the rally admitted in eight state majority. we added in two weeks of proportionality so you did not have a national primary in the first two weeks of march. question thatthis is related. of theway the chairman rnc, does a father you that there is an effort to get to the brokered convention? you say it will might happen but it seems to be a well orchestrated, planned out campaign outline by governor romney yesterday to get to a brokered convention. [applause] >> here's what will happen -- this is interesting -- >> you don't think it matters that they spend money and it's interesting --

the voters will vote and decide to either you're getting the vote or you are not. >> but you are running out of time. they are trying to influence the process which would be disruptive, right? >> it's a strategy that people can use. i would suggest it's better to win and is better to win races and accumulate delegates. that's the point. fromwant to get a feeling this crowd, the fact that there are people we don't know who they are have designed a plan to create chaos. ronalduld prefer reagan's 11th commandment. >> did you watch the debate last night? >> it was fox news. >> fair and balanced. >i think what's the most important thing and you have been very -- i talked to the candidates and you told every campaign you are neutral. you said at the end of the

process when you have a candidate that you will support them. what does that mean for the candidate? you talked about targeting voters. what else does it mean when the rnc gets behind a nominee question mark >> when i walk in the door in the rnc, as you recall, we were 26 million in debt and both credit cards were suspended for nonpayment. >> it sounds like a democrat. >> we had about 80 employees. we have moved on to thousands and thousands of employees, we are covering districts across the country in ways we never have before and invested over $100 million in data. we are twice as big as the dnc and out raise them by two. how is your money going into? >> it goes into funding the mechanics, the ground game, the data operation. >> and you have more than the democrats? >> we have far more. if anyone wants to check, it's

not even close. unfortunately, the dnc is not our competition. our competition is hillary clinton. it's that machine and they build their program differently. they builder program around a candidate. just like barack obama, he built the data operation in chicago around barack obama and we built their operation around the republican national committee that one of the candidates plugs into. there is no option. there is no entity that will fund the ground operation that someone will plug into. these candidates are not funding a national ground operation right now. they are worried about what will happen in the contest. who is doing the work question mark the republican national committee and we need to be successful. >> i can predict with certainty to this audience -- and you know what the game plan of the democrats is -- hillary will say whoever the nominee is is racist and there is a war on women, i see more women in here than men if the media is paying attention

-- [applause] there is a war on women, that republicans are homophobes and they want dirty air and water, those words came out of obama's mouth, that they want the young people and old people to fend that paul ryan will push every grandmother in the country over a cliff out of her wheelchair. are you prepared on that front to deal with that whoever the candidate is? the second part of the question is how ready are you -- i read this week the democrats are ready for -- for whoever the nominee is. how much research have you done? >> we have a full-time department in research at the republican national committee. we have been preparing the book on hillary clinton for years. obviously, there is more to do. >> how many millions of pages? might want to talk to the fbi and the doj. [applause]

store fort it in hillary clinton but i can assure you when the doj hands out immunity agreements around your employees, not for something that's not real. >> do you think hillary looks good in orange? >> we might have to find out. hillary clinton might not be eligible to run by the time we get to november. [applause] are you prepared for that? >> on the other front, even in the house and the things that paul ryan talks about is having an agenda. we did not have an agenda for years ago. you are done that and i remember being on your show continuously. but having the five things you believe in, what are the five things you will do next quarter and do those five things and talk about what you didn't talk about the next five things you did, having a legislative agenda. we also have to have a person on the ballot that people believe in and want to have a beer with but we also have to have an operation that can identify voters that are unique to presidential years and we can do

a better job than we did in 2012 so that we can win once and for all and make sure we save the supreme court for the next generation and make sure we obviously get our debt bomb under control and get our country back on track. that's what's at stake in this election. >> this is the toughest question but it's on the minds of many of the people here. exitu look at the state polls after every state comes anywhere from between 55-65% of republicans that feel betrayed. i think the republican governors have done a great job. >> it's two different situations. >> we have 900 more legislative suites, more legislative seats, the rnc has gotten elected but on the issue of repealing and replacing obamacare and the issue of the promise of 2014 to stop executive amnesty, there's a feeling that republicans did not fight and they were too timid and were afraid they would

get blamed for a government shutdown. >> if i could single-handedly repeal obamacare and if i could tear up executive amnesty, i would do it right here. >> they had the power first. >> they do but they also have a constitution that provides her veto authority that the president has and that's constitutional as well. cannot think -- you promise things you cannot deliver. that's something you cannot do. let's give the chairman -- this is important. are you saying they could not have used the power of the purse on obama? >> they can't and i was the legislature would. as the chairman of the rnc, i don't have the authority to walk across the street and pass bills single-handedly. >we get people elected. that's what primaries are for. that's what the choice is on the ballot that everyone has. >> i don't want to put you on

the defensive am a you are not in congress. ryane interviewed paul about this, laying out a positive agenda. i think they want to make sure that if they get the house, the senate, and the presidency that these things are done. >> you need to have a person in the white house the consign those things. thank you everybody. >> chairman of the rnc. by the way, if you look down here, >> one of your main sponsors is us because we care about you and we want to make you proud of the party. >> give it up for the chairman. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ it doesn't matter the order, just grab a seat. all right, thank you, everyone. ok, you're going to be surprised at what the topic of this panel is. there is something going on called a presidential election. we are going to have a general election here sooner than we know. we are smacked cap in the middle of one of the most interesting primary campaigns we have ever seen. i will start by introducing

someone who is a hero of mine. that's not you, charlie. fred barnes, it's great to have you at that is the editor of "the weekly standard," which he cofounded in 1995. next to fred we have brittney kaiser. is this your first cpac? great to have you here. she is the director of program, development at cambridge analytica. it is wonderful to have your today. the next person a cpac board member, kellyanne conway. i think you call yourself a pollstress? is that right. founder and president of the polling company. a privately held, women-owned corporation founded in 1995. and finally someone you see on

tv all the time, charlie hurt, a political columnist for the "washington times." he was the new york post's d.c. bureau chief and news columnist covering the white house for five years. charlie: just to be clear -- you are my hero. matt: let's jump right into this. let's not hold anything back. i will start with fred. have you ever seen an election like this? fred: i have only cover the back -- cover them back to 1976. i have not seen anything like this in my lifetime, at least in journalism. it is remarkable. the debate last night, some people described it as raucous. he called it "insanely raucous." i thought captured it. it is a brutal election. there is one poll number i always pay attention to for the states on super tuesday.

the question is do you feel betrayed by republican politicians? and in all those states about half of the voters say yes. eithera below 50% or above. that is a divide in the republican party right there. those that feel betrayed are more likely to vote for donald trump. and i think for ted cruz. those that do not feel betrayed our -- are more likely to vote for marco rubio and john kasich and more for jeb bush and a few others. it does show you there is a really hard divide in the republican party that is not exist in the democratic party. they are united. matt: what fred just said reminds me to say make sure you vote in the straw poll.

i don't know what is going to happen this year. cpac kellyanne might have opinions herself. the question is about where conservatives are going to be in a think it's an important question. should they feel the republican party has betrayed them? is that fair or not fair? charlie: cpac i think if you look back over the past two or three elections with the advent of the tea party, whatever that is, it's obvious that not a single movement the way the media often tries to portray it. people have elected every conservative people. yet we still have -- we have obamacare. we are promised we will abolish

or defund obamacare and we still have obamacare. i think it is a legitimate thing. i think the republican party has to figure out a servicing to those people and how to start speaking their language. obviously donald j. trump has come in and sort of intuitively figured out how to speak to them, how to reach them on issues he has picked up on that are crucial to them, starting with illegal immigration. i was at the debate last night. i snuck out into the audience to drink in the feel of all of it. donald trump not to see -- not just do waterboarding, but waterboarding plus. literally you had a row of people in the magnificent fox theater going -- and then two rose over you have people going yeah!

i was like, wow. that of the republican party in 2016. until somebody figures out how to find common ground between those two groups of people, the republican party will be screwed. matt: nobody knows more about the numbers and you. what is going on. kellyanne: thank you for being at cpac ever being conservatives all year long. this is the presidential race you have dreamed of for years. speaking of drinking it in, you ought to. this section of electability and who can win who cannot win that killed conservative candidates for years of the presidential level is gone. it is gone this cycle. people that were electable and had it running away are off the stage. they are not even running for president anymore. if you look at 2010 and 2014,

where conservatives won everything not nailed to the ground by running as free market, individual liberty, limited government, fiscally conservative, socially conservative conservatives and winning statewide and in the state legislatures, 2016 could be the presidential year where that manifests itself on the national platform. nominating people that are just a little bit different than democrats basically asks would you like to drink 1% milk or 2% milk? [laughter] we want choices. i think electricity that has replaced electability as the core governing value in this process is a huge boon to conservatives and has been created out of conservatism. who is voting and he was not voting in 2016? a lot of people are voting. the turnout in these republican primary caucuses is historic.

people are lining up across the river in virginia just this week. double the number of people turning out. double the number of wednesday when mitt romney was on the ballot. matt: we heard from mitt romney. kellyanne: we have people to stand in line and cast about. -- a vote in the republican primary and caucuses. with the enthusiasm level as high as it is, people are paying attention. the big news from 2016 so far is starting at was 17 candidates and now we have about four or five. -- demographically in the

democratic primary, it is huge -- skewed highly female. the republican side is more male than female. projecting forward to the fall, one of the many reasons i'm not afraid of hillary clinton -- she wakes up every morning as the second-most popular person in a two-person household. [laughter] i'm definitely not afraid of that. but i am not afraid of hillary clinton in a two-person race. a three-person race, we will talk. two-person race not afraid because hillary clinton keeps having trouble within her own party or you have 56% of the electorate being female. it is a democratic female electorate that is so far standing in her way. that is great for the fall because men do not like hillary , they don't trust her. they do not want her to be president of the united states or commander-in-chief. that is not apt to change between now and november which

means a year from now we will have a panel called the new gender gap. the democratic party's problem attracting men. [laughter] matt: it does work the other way. kellyanne: you never hear about it. matt: brittney, you spend your days pouring to the numbers and the trends. we have what charlie and others are saying, all whole new group of voters getting involved in this. other people say it is the same old voters, just separated into two different camps. what is going on? britney: what is interesting is that traditional wisdom is being completed shattered. where most candidates would be able to rely on specific demographics and say they're going to turn out those voters, this time we have a large percentage of normal tea party voters, actually evangelicals going for new candidates they have never voted for before. as well as establishment candidates where they would normally be rallying behind some

of the marco rubio, another interested in someone that's never been in politics before. that is absolutely huge and really important in the way that candidates are going to connect with people. we cannot really be targeting people on their traditional demographics. what we need to be understanding how regard to message voters so that they can understand what these candidates are scanning -- standing for how to we , persuade them on certain issues and really connect with people in ways that some candidates have failed to do this time around? matt: take social conservative issues. it seems like what would've motivated those issues and what candidate they would end up with does not necessarily -- we are not following the same model this time. how do you explain the dynamic? fred: i think of most social issues that's one of the things the republican party is pretty much in agreement on. opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage.

that is not something that really divides the candidates. there are other things that do divide the candidates, particularly donald trump. kellyanne hinted at something. she said she could talk about it and i hope she does and that is if trump is the nominee, and i think we all agree he is the most likely one, there will be -- among a huge part of the republican party there is opposition to him. practically everybody i talked to says they will not vote for trump. they will either not vote,, vote for hillary or they want a third-party or an independent conservative candidate. if trump is the nominee and i think there will be one. matt: nobody here is going to vote for hillary. we have to get that straight. charlie: but if you want to -- launch a third-party

candidate were voting for hillary. matt: i agree. fred: it will make it easier for hillary clinton to win. kellyanne: bill clinton won in 1992 with far less than 50% of the vote. he had third-party candidacy and ross perot. mr. perot received 19% of the vote nationwide he did not carry any one state. his best state was main or he -- maine where he got 30%. of worse was mississippi where he got 9%. even his best state did not win in any state. you become a spoiler. if mr. trump is the nominee, i support ted cruz. i've run one of his biggest super pac's, but i know mr. trump well. and he has done a remarkable thing in terms of getting more democracy. -- remarkable thing in terms of

getting more people to listen and vote and be part of direct democracy. as fred said, if he is the nominee and hillary is the democratic nominee and to get a third-party challenge from within the republican orbit, you are handing the election to hillary clinton. [applause] matt: i like big government in this conversation. you are chomping at the bit here. charlie: i will not go after kellyanne. i would lose. we have seen this in the last two debates. it has gotten -- at one point it was just donald trump being donald trump. in the last two debates we have had two more people try and be -- kellyanne: marco rubio insulting donald trump's manhood. it is really un-presidential. [applause] charlie: just because he attempted don rickles routine that doesn't work well.

kellyanne: it worked in minnesota. he won minnesota. charlie: people get so upset about the tone of donald trump and i understand that. i have parents. they really don't like this. but i think it is wrong to say -- to throw the tone out with the bathwater. the reason he is doing so well is because of his tone. and it is sort of ugly to behold at times. but in a general election if donald trump, and i think he will moderate some of the harshness of his tone, when you listen to hillary clinton, seriously, sit down sometime. if you're going to have a root canal surgery and want something to get your mind off of it that even worse than that, listen to hillary clinton for literally five minutes.

try to find a single complete sentence in which she does not lie. she lies about everything. [applause] and you take that and you compare it to donald trump. and i get it. he can be maddening and corse. but you take the bombast and what certainly sounds like harsh honesty out of him and compare it to her, i don't know. i don't think it will do so badly in the general election. perhaps i am wrong. [applause] brittany: i think another thing we need to recognize is it is candidacy ended before november, the polarizing statements he's making will not hamper him going back to the business world. he will not see a huge backlash. whereas the rest of the candidates looking towards their future in politics for the rest of their lives cannot come out with these very polarizing statements which sometimes could

affect their future. fred: it's not just the attitude and the harshness of some the things trump says. it is that he does not know much. he cannot explain how he will replace obamacare. on foreign policy he is completely at sea. he was to be vladimir putin's pal. he wants to be neutral between israel and the palestinians and on and on. there's so many issues on which trump finds a ton of objections by people in the conservative orbit and the republican party. these of the people i spend my life with. they are just not going to support trump. and a lot of them are people who are very active in the republican party and very active in the campaign.

i think they will not let themselves sit on the sidelines. that's one of the reasons why a think there will be an independent candidate. they will find somebody that everybody in this room knows. i don't know who it would be but i agree with kellyanne. it will elect hillary. matt: fred, your friends see the downside of the trump candidacy. this is something conservatives like to do. we like to get the benefit out of everything, right? pull it together. for those folks that don't think trump is the right candidate they cannot deny the fact he is , connecting to people. is there a way -- let's say the nominee is not donald trump. it's ted cruz or marco rubio. can they get the benefit of those new voices as they move forward or is this a dealbreaker, or are they fired if donald trump is not the nominee? cpac -- brittany: i think by analyzing what is candidacy is turning out voters, which issues and personality types are coming out of the woodwork, how he is

motivating apathetic voters to come out, than other candidates can understand what they need to talk more about. which policies they need to stress in order to make sure those people can rally behind them. kellyanne: in looking at the general election i think many trump voters would support the republican nominee depending on who it is. certainly if it's senator cruz. many of his supporters would go to ted cruz. matt: is that what you see as the second choice for trump voters? kellyanne: absolutely, especially when you get down to four or five candidates. and about two thirds more of the delegates need to be awarded. here is why they would. it is very ironic. even through mr. trump's bombast or his rhetoric or what people are down on him for, my friends in the republican movement, his

message is actually optimistic. make america great again. we are winners. we need to be winners. hilary's message is "fighting for us." then she gets up there. i'm fighting for women, break down barriers, fighting the fbi. [laughter] fighting, fighting, fighting. bernie sanders has fighting for us in his signs also a "a future we can believe in." that is very much more obama. and voters like optimism. with the exception of 1972, this country has always elected for president the candidate they thought was more optimistic. almost more positive, more projecting joy and hope and all of that. in 1972 president nixon had institutional advantages and was reelected. we usually go for the person that is optimistic.

that person is never going to be hillary clinton. i agree with charlie. he said she never finishes a sentence. i find listening to hillary clinton with all the "uh," "you know," "like," -- it's like texting with a teenager. it is unpleasant and not presidential. -- if it trump voters were not trump, they would go because he has made the clintons an issue. one of the things that has helped donald trump stay where he is is he was the one willing to go first and furthest and -- in putting bill and hillary clinton on the defense a few months ago. when he pivoted to the general election a lot of rank-and-file voters appreciated that. why should we be afraid of hillary clinton? she would make history, but not as the first woman. this country has never elected a president of the united states for whom over 50% of us think is dishonest and not trustworthy.

charlie: in addition to the tone thing, going back to the very beginning, and we stopped talking about this because it is been six months and he is still with us. when everyone was amazed at how politically incorrect he was and how he would say things you could not believe he would say them. and then they kept helping him. i think that helped as much as the tone. it explains the support for him. because a lot of people think politicians are just all lying, including republicans. and they think republicans are full of bs. you have this guy they went after them and decided to say i will fill the rulebook away and i will go after hillary clinton on women and attack her husband for being an accused rapist. no republican would touch that.

he grabs it and runs with it. and is very successful at putting her on defense. this is the biggest frustration that a lot of people have with the republican party right now, is that they might come up with a third person now that we all know, and i do not know who it would the who would unify everybody. the question i have is, where were they six months ago? why weren't they running back then? [applause] mr. schlapp: because they could not imagine where they would be where we are today. mr. hurt: and that is the problem. the day donald trump descendent in the glass escalator and everybody called him an eight and a clown, people should've realized when you listen to his speech, people should have realized that republicans should have realized that he hit on all the topics, and it may not have been the way we are used to hearing politicians talk, but that was a good thing. mr. schlapp: the moderator will now say something.

isn't it fair to say that it is a unique thing that we have two senators -- how many here from florida? their ego. -- there we go. texas? think about it. we have two senators running for president who have been in the senate less than a term, so it is not just a trump phenomenon. people want a fresh point voice, and outside voice. mr. barnes: the fact that trump is an outsider, that helps him. the fact that ted cruz has fought with the leadership of the republican party in the senate, i think that helps him as well. [applause] mr. barnes: i do not agree with him, but it helps them. mr. schlapp: we are cheering for you on that. mr. barnes: cheering for ted cruz. it is highly unusual.

the conventional wisdom was that governors have an advantage, they have an executives. they have done things, not just talked about things. that helps not at all, but it is not helping john kasich at all. i think he helped himself the last couple debates as he is the nice guy and not fighting, and that helps, and that gets him 15% of the vote. it does not get him delegates and it will not win for him or get him the nomination, that is for sure. mr. schlapp: last night, a lot of you were here in the room at the town hall media party which -- watch party which was a wild success. one thing that happened that i thought was one of the highlights was at the end, all the candidates said they would support the eventual nominee. i think that was very important to get across. mr. barnes: but it is not credible. they will nominally, but after

trashing trump for two hours, but i am supporting him. oh, they are not going to do anything to help him. mr. schlapp: that was a pretty big headline -- [indiscernible] ok, that is good. all right, that is good. let's go to this question of electability. is that even a fair term to use from this point forward? people say this person is more electable or not, do you think all of the candidates in the race now are electable in a general election, most likely against hillary clinton? does anybody dissent from that? ms. conway: she will have all horses, all the king's men, all the money all the men , who are propping up her career forever. she is stuck between wanting to run for the third term of bill

clinton, but is forced to run for the third term of barack obama. which joe biden did not even want to run for the third term which tells you something. her weakness is a gift to republican party in a two-person race. we have to look at it that way. it is difficult to get that third term for an incumbent party. it has been difficult traditionally. this year it looks the same. i think anything could be hillary clinton, but according to most of the pulling out -- polling out there, rubio and cruz have a better shot at beating hillary in the fall right now. [applause] that is something, but i think what we have learned about the word electability is it is a fiction. the democrats never talk about it. they elect young generational people who say you cannot win, do not bother, and go on to win. jfk, barack obama, bill clinton, even jimmy carter. he was 52 years old with a

nine-year-old daughter when he walked into the white house. these are young people. we are told you cannot win, and wait your turn. this time nobody is waiting their turn. there is no forcing us to nominate the person who lost to the person who won. it is not a consolation prize to be the nominee the next time. that is not free market competitive principles at work. i think hillary clinton is beatable, but we have to unify, we have to be smart and have to , call out who is really extreme in this country. is it the party that believes? the movement that believes that life is precious from birth to natural death, that a woman who faces an unplanned pregnancy deserves our compassionate support not our judgment and , condemnation, or does the platform allow for abortion, anytime, anywhere, no rejections, partial-birth abortions, heartbeat abortions.

she is running in a very extreme leftist democratic party now that her husband could not have survived in. the party has gone so far to the left, we can beat that party in a two-person race. but it takes everybody to be unified together. get over yourselves, get over your egos and keep the clintons out of the white house. [applause] mr. schlapp: i think people should have stood for that. brittany, we talk about the question of electability. one of the things that commentators say, republicans, tone it down. be a little calmer, be a little more appealing, move a little bit to the center. it seems like the model now for both parties is hillary is going left, fast. she is grabbing that socialism banner without using the term,

so why isn't it fair for their publican party to get right back acquainted with the conservative values that make it great? ms. kaiser: this cycle has told us that no matter how strong the opinions are coming out of the candidates, it resonates with large portions of the population. i think those messages and keeping those aligned with strong messages are what is going to be turning people out and making sure that any of our candidates now are electable in the member. mr. schlapp: fred, it is a new model, because for years, get -- the party would nominate someone who would get conservative -- richard nixon sent move right to get the primary and the lifting of the general election. obama never got close to that. he stayed away in left field. what do you think about the new model? mr. barnes: that is the way obama has governed. in what did he promise more than

2008 anything else? he did not say he was more liberal than other candidates, or say he had more experience. he said he could solve the washington problem, end the polarization, he would be bipartisan, and hope and change. he did not run in the left as we knew in 2012, and he was running as an incumbent, and incumbents presidents are very powerful. i think there's something to be said in distinguishing among the four republican candidates on electability. i personally do not think donald trump is electable. he has alienated too many people. [applause] and he has alienated such a variety of people. he has alienated hispanics, many conservatives. i do not know how you do that, but he has managed to alienate a lot of people. ted cruz is, i think, it will be difficult for him, but achievable to move to the center.

you have to have the center-right if you are going to be elected president. that includes the center, right? you do have to appeal there. at the moment, i do not think ted cruz does much of that but potentially he can. marco rubio who i could not , agree more with kellyanne that he has looked unpresidential in these last two debates while attacking trump, i think is probably more electable if he wins the nomination, which is unlikely. i don't know. john kasich, can hardly even judge him because he is so far from winning the nomination. some candidates are more electable, and i think he can tell that now, than others. mr. schlapp: you're right that donald trump ruffled a lot of feathers, that you cannot take away from the fact that he has brought out a level of enthusiasm on the republican

side that we have not seen in a long time. [applause] this is a good thing no matter who winds up being the next nominee. and in each of them i see problems with going ahead to head with anybody, but the one thing we have learned from all of this entire round of primaries is that nothing is expected. if ted cruz is the nominee, i could totally see him beating hillary. if rubio is the nominee, i can see it, and even if trump is the nominee, i can see him beating hillary. ms. conway: the conversation about electability, it tries to rob the voters of their rightful say as to whom their nominee should be, being told from the beginning who can win, who

cannot, it is just unfair, and this is the election where the people spoke and they have spoken in big numbers. mr. schlapp: kellyanne, you have been candid about where you are in the battlefield. they are lucky to have you. i will not put you on the spot on who is going to get the nomination, but i think the timing is interesting. cleveland will be a pretty big important city. it was where i was born, so it should be an important city, a great city. it could be an interesting time for us politically. fred, do we have a republican nominee sowed up before cleveland or at cleveland? mr. barnes: probably at cleveland, but the candidate going into it with close to a majority of delegates will easily get enough to be the nominee. mr. schlapp: ok, so before or after cleveland? -- at cleveland?

ms. kaiser: there are going to be two very close contenders, there will be a variety of races that will not make much of a difference when people stand for and decide that people rally around will be more important than the candidate. mr. hurt: i think we will have one by cleveland. ms. conway: yes, we will, and it will not be somebody totally from the outside who could not win fair and square and was inserted into the blank at the last minute. it will be somebody who amassed enough delegates. if rubio drops out, it could be cruz. [applause] mr. hurt: you should never look to me for a question about mathematics but i think we will have a nominee by cleveland. i do not think he will be sewed

up by cleveland. mr. schlapp: you are a dope. everything is said like it is as a way should be i hope you have . enjoyed this panel. we appreciate you at cpac, and thank you very much. [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] ♪ ♪ more from the conservative political action conference coming up in a minute. firstly what it is a about more live coverage from cpac tonight. former president a candidate and the former head of hewlett-packard carly fiorina will speak at 90 5 p.m. eastern on c-span. tomorrow, senator marco rubio. live coverage at 11:35 a.m. on c-span.

now more from cpac today. first, comments from president of candidates ohio governor john kasich, then senator ted cruz. later ben carson who announced he is ending his bid for the white house. >> it is great to be here at cpac. i came as i think a state senator many years ago. i have always loved to come the cpac and i think it's great to be here today. so why don't we get to it. i want to make sure i have a few words for all of you because you are sitting out here in wondering that this guy is on a stage, could it be me. today,ung man or woman could it be me. i have been very lucky in my life. 1976 there was a brokered

convention and it was at that time i got to meet ronald reagan. i want to tell you about it. i knock on people's doors at midnight, 1:00 in the morning. they answer their doors like why are you banging on my door? i said i need to get ronald reagan on the ballot. just sign it and i will go away. we got him on the ballot and i was at the convention but and i foundgan myself in charge of five states for governor reagan. he lost that convention but i was also up there when he told people at the end -- he said it may have lost the battle, but i have not lost the war. he came back four years later and kicked down the door. he'd understand something about ronald reagan. the establishment never like him. the never like newt gingrich and the don't like me. we are change agents. we want to bring changes to the

way this country works. we don't take orders from lobbyist or special interests or people that live on k street. we are here to try to serve the country. reagan was an incredible man because he had a strong ideology. government is the last resort, not the first resort. i was honed in that in a -- as a young man. i ran on the reagan philosophy. lower taxes, balanced budgets, economic growth, commonsense regulation. in 1982 nobody wanted to appear with ronald reagan. it was great because that meant i got to spend more time with ronald reagan. he came and campaigned for me in ohio. in 1982, running on reagan principles of tax cuts and less spending and less regulation and

individual power, the strength and power of the individual, in i was the only republican in 1982 america to defeat an incumbent them across on a conservative message. [applause] i also shared ronald reagan's philosophy on building a strong defense. and i want you to know when i'm president and i sit across the chair or the table from vladimir putin, when he looks into my eyes all the way to my soul, you know what he will see? a freedom fighter. [applause] so i went to congress and participated in military buildup, but i also have to tell you that i also found waste and abuse inside the department of defense, and i fought it. you know why? we can't squander resources. we have to make sure the resources we spend on defense get to our men and women in uniform on the front line and does not get squandered by bureaucrats or defense

contractors that are not playing fair. [applause] and then six years into my term as a congressman, i got on the budget committee. there were people that said, we can kind of managed this budget. i looked at the republican and democrat budget and i did not think either of them were worth the paper they were printed on. i was at home filling my jeep up at the gas tank and i was complaining. a guy walked around the corner and said, if you don't like what's going on in washington, what are you going to do about it? i flew to washington and had a meeting with my staff and said, we are going to write the budget for the united states of america. they said, there are 100 people down at the white house and on capitol hill to our writing budgets. we have six people. i said i know we are understaffed but if we stay out of each other's way, we can get things done. my first budget was voted on.

there was a bush budget, a black caucus budget, and a casing -- john kasich budget great the vote on the casing ajit was 405 no and 30 yes. -- the vote on the kasich budget was 405 no, 30 yes. year after year i fought the establishment. i fought the establishment because they wanted the status quo. my third budget i got more votes than the president got for his. i was building a team of people, and in 1993 when bill clinton wanted to propose a tax increase, i said we should have an alternative. the republican said, oh no, let's just criticize. i said i did not come to washington to criticize. i came to build something. we had a meeting. we had 36 people spoke in the conference. 34 said we should not have an alternative, and 2 said we

should. i walked to the back of the room with newt. i said how do you think we are doing. he said, we are doing better than i thought we would be doing. we offered that budget that year. and joe scarborough says repeatedly on his show, it was the fighting that was going on to balance the federal budget without political considerations that got him involved in politics. we swept to victory in 1994 and we took control for the first time in 40 years in 1995 with a conservative agenda. [applause] we went through the ups and downs in the clinton administration. bill clinton never wanted to balance the budget. clinton is a guy who is the mob is coming for him, he gets in front of it and called it a parade. we fought like crazy. why was i for a balanced budget? because i like numbers?

balancing budgets and reducing taxes are about economic opportunity and job creation. in that budget agreement that we made with the clinton administration where we forced them, and they were for nothing real and they were for higher taxes, we cut the capital gains tax, we provided a family tax credit, and we achieved the first balanced budget since man walked on the moon. we pay down half $1 trillion of the national debt. and guess what? america's economy was booming. people had jobs, wages were growing. then it was time for me to leave this place. frankly i'm glad we are not in , d.c. because every time i go there, i break into a cold sweat. the fact is the formula work and i stepped out of politics thinking i would never go back. but my state was in so much trouble. we had lost 350,000 jobs. 20% of our budget operating was in the hole. i ran on a campaign saying not

only with the balance the budget, we would cut taxes. people said it could not be done. if you know when you're doing and you don't worry about who's yapping at you or criticizing you are complaining, it's amazing what you can get done. guess where we are today? instead of being $8 billion in the whole, we are $2 billion in the black. we are up over 400,000 jobs. our pensions are safe, our credit is good, and our wages are growing faster than the national average. people have hope in ohio. and -- and people have hope in ohio. [applause] let me tell you all something else. there's always a lot of questions. is kasich a conservative? reformed welfare, balanced the federal budget, promoted more school choice with charter schools and the voucher program, more than about anybody. we are reforming welfare again.

we have shrunk in the state of ohio's unemployment to the lowest level in 30 years. get over it. get over it. [applause] let me tell you this. i come from the reagan and kemp school. when our economies are doing better, we have an obligation to reach out to those people who live in the shadows, to give them an opportunity to achieve their god-given potential. that means the mentally ill, the mentally ill should not be sleeping under a bridge or living in our prisons. they have a right to be treated, to get on their feet and assume their god-given purpose. [applause] the drug-addicted can be rehabbed and in our state we have an 80% success rate in treating people in the prisons and putting them in the community where we give them the responsibility to get on their feet and the working people, the working poor in this country --

isn't it time we reward them for working hard and getting a pay raise rather than having them turn it down because they lose more benefits than they gain? let's get back to what makes sense to give everybody a chance to rise. [applause] we want our developmentally disabled to be fully integrated, and we are working towards that. let me just tell you one other thing. our friends in the minority community, we want them to develop entrepreneurship. we want them to believe they are as a part of america is anybody else who lives in this country. so i ran for re-election in ohio, one of the toughest states to win. i won 26% of the african-american vote, 60% of women, and 51% of union households, and i won by 30 points in ohio. bringing people together works.

now, a message for everyone, but particularly to the young people who are here today. here's what it is. you should all know -- this is my present to you. you are all made special. no one has ever been made like you. and no one ever will. i believe that the lord makes us special for a special purpose. do you understand that, young lady? you have been made special for a special purpose. you have gifts that no one has. no one is quite like you because you were made special. your job is to find those gifts and to live a life bigger than yourself and change the world in which you live. you see, the lord doesn't care whether you are running for president or whether you are helping someone in the hospital with the family who is depressed

or making sure that no one gets bullied, or making sure you are there to listen to one of your friends who may be having a hard time -- the lord does not measure us one against the other. one big task, the other little -- we are all equal in his eyes. you are made special to come together as a generation like part of a giant mosaic. and when you lose that sight or when you never find it, the mosaic remains incomplete. but when we as a society decide that we can use those tools, and let me tell you -- the strength of our country and the spirit of our country does not rest in washington. the big wigs, listen. i can get our budget is balanced -- our budget balanced. i can do those things. i know how to do them. but you see, it's a two-part issue. it's not just what happens up

here, but the strength of our country, the vitality of our country, the spirit of our country rests in our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, and our states. don't wait for somebody to show up to fix the problems where you are. fix them yourselves. [applause] i'm counting on you two guys. for some reason, we think we have to wait for somebody in the government to come in on a big white charger to solve our problems. it will not happen. i'm going to give you your power. send education, welfare, infrastructure, health care for the poor, job training, all of that to where we live. and you will have more power. we are going to cut taxes because we have to run america from the bottom up. that's what we have to do. that's what works.

the greatness of our country is not waiting for another government program. some of them are important. you know how we really fix things in america? when we put our shoulder to the wheel to make our schools work better, when we fight drug abuse in our communities, you've got to tell a kid, don't you be doing those drugs. use year your god-given purpose. -- you obscure your god-given purpose. you've got to stand up and fight against poverty in your community and get businesses into work with people on welfare to get them trained so they can get work. we need to encourage young people, you adults out here. join a mentoring program. get kids to see their future. don't leave them behind. these things don't take government. they take us believing in ourselves. in the little town i came from, -- [applause] the little town i came from, we did not wait for the president. we did not wait for anybody.

we were neighbors and we took care of one another. and we do it again. we will fix the programs up here that the federal officials need to fix without regard to politics, with good conservative principles. but when that power comes back, you take care of your job. by the way if i need you to help , me break through these problems in washington, i will give you a call. if you need me, i will come running to your neighborhood. let's make a deal, ok? and we will rebuild america and its spirit and maketh the best it has ever been. -- make it maketh the best it -- the best it has ever been. we can do it, and we will do it. thank you all. [applause] thank you.

i have a friend that is going to come out here. he is going to help me. here's an old buddy of mine. >> hello, cpac! [applause] sean: this is the first time i've been on the left my whole life. [laughter] how are you? governor kasich: this is exciting. the young people having hoax and dreams and goals and not becoming cynical and not becoming some political hack, and believing the world can be just what you think it can be -- it's fantastic. sean: isn't it great to see all these young people -- this is why the election is so important. it's about their future. governor kasich: absolutely correct. sean: you had the big debate

last night. i have a few process questions. you are one of the only states that did not get a nickname from donald trump. are you ok with that? governor kasich: i'm fine. who knows what nickname he would give me, you know? responseant to get you because i think it's on the minds of many of us here. we had a speech by mitt romney yesterday. you supported mitt romney. how many people in this room supported mitt romney? everybody. i was a little disappointed because what it sounded like was a strategy to me -- i thought he would have been a great president. it sounded like a strategy. rubio wins florida, ted cruz wins the states that he can't. it seems like they are trying to create as much chaos rather than let the system work out on its own. how does that make you feel because in that sense, you are part of their strategy to make that come about and have a floor fight at the convention. gov. kasich: you have to leave it to the voters to decide what

they want. i don't take any strategy from anybody. my wife, i get strategy from her. not so much about politics, but that's where i get my orders from. sean, i would say -- let me say something about donald trump. you will not beat him by smearing him. you will beat him by having a vision and a record that shows people who are frustrated who . are they? sean i'm one. : i'm frustrated. gov. kasich: i'm talking about the underemployed. their kids will go to college in their are living the basement because they can i get a good job. there are so many insecurities out there, and i get it. i grew up in that town. you grew up there, right? the key is, who's got the record and the vision, and not just political gibberish like, i'm going to do this, i'm going to do that. it's i've already done these things. i want to go back and do them again to get the country moving.

sean i want to talk about your : record. let me ask these people here. you like a positive campaign instead of negative? [applause] i'm frustrated for two reasons. you are right. a lot of kids are doing the right thing to get their education. they go home and live in mom and dad's basement because there's no jobs available. 95 million americans out of the labor force. 50 million americans in poverty. 46 million on food stamps. here is why i'm even more frustrated. republicans in washington. i'm not talking about republican governors. i know your record in ohio. but republicans in washington have been weak and ineffective. they have sought to keep their own power. they would not use the power of the purse to stop obamacare. they wouldn't defund executive amnesty. are you all frustrated about

that like i am? that's part of the frustration. i think people want to hear from you about why people feel as angry as they do. gov. kasich: they keep electing people and they're not getting what's promised. i have to be careful to not make big promises i can't keep. here's what i believe. the reason why we have a poor economy is we overregulate, we are choking small business, we are raising taxes, and we are blowing up the budget. what do you do to fix it? commonsense regulations with an eye on rewarding small businesses. secondly, cut the taxes for businesses. that is why they are leaving. secondly, cut individual rates. make it simpler, like reagan did. and have a path to a balanced budget. when special interests come yelling and screaming, say we are going to get this budget moving. if we don't do these three things and work on workforce, we will fall short. here's what the congress needs. it needs a dose of leadership from the white house.

and paul ryan will be a good one. he will be a guy that i -- these to be in a when i was budget committee chairman. i can't wait to get there. if you don't have a seat belt in the first 100 days, i will give a plan to free federal -- a plan to freeze federal regulations, reduce taxes on businesses and individuals, we are going to fix social security, we are going to fix the border, we are going to have immigration taken care of, we are going to restore relations with our allies. that's what we're going to do. so buy a seatbelt. [applause] we need shock and awe. we need to say to congress, this is where we are going. let's get together. by the way when i talk about , working with democrats, i work with the blue dogs. they are more conservative than a bunch of republicans. sean: they do not exist here in they are an extinct species.

governor kasich any of those : blue dog types that want to come and bring a conservative side to support us to fix these problems, they are welcome. but they're not going to call the tune. sean: we've had 15 contests. walk the people in the audience through your path you see that will get us the nomination to 1237 delegates. gov. kasich: i don't think anybody's going to get that. i'm going to win ohio. sean: you think it will be a brokered convention? governor kasich. let me put you in my shoes. nobody covered me. no one knew who i was. i had to fight for every second. i have not raised a lot of money. i'm not doing a lot better. could not get any attention. they thought, he will never get on the stage for a debate. then they said, he'll never make it to new hampshire. then they said he would not survive super tuesday. look at where we are. i'm the last governor standing, there's only 4 of us and we are the little engine that can. believe in us.

and now finally, finally, finally the country is beginning to get a little bit of who i am. i love this tonight. i will take this every day as compared to one of those debates. this is the way we ought to run it. come out and talk to people. tell them what you are for. >> let's do your scenario. there are people that support you and people that support ted cruz or donald trump. and marco rubio. let's say you get to the convention and candidate a does not get there, and candidate b is significantly behind. do you think with a brokered convention, do you think candidate a supporters will be candidate b, c or d gets the nomination?

mr. kasich: it has to be done fairly. i was there any young man in 1976 when reagan tried to derail -- beat jerry ford. as crazy as this year is, and as crazy as this year is -- nobody else would say it's not -- gaming think of anything colder than a convention what we can learn about how america works and we can learn more about american politics than the kardashians? not that i have anything against the kardashians. the fact is you have to do it right and you cannot have a who are people, the establishment -- un have i have never been the establishment. >> i'm concerned -- you think the nomination -- ich: i have to win

68% of the remaining dec delegates. it's unlikely. nobody goes to the commence with enough delegates and then we will have to meet -- it will be held in cleveland. that is interesting. >> i want to talk about your background and your >> i want to talk about your background and your interests. newt gingrich was the speaker of the house and you guys took on a sitting president, you got to a balanced budget. now we have $20 trillion in , how do you duplicate that? mr. kasich: when i left

washington, we had a projected five billion dollars surplus. now that we are leaving, their spending it. you cannot spend $5 trillion. it would have given them not only social security but the ability to shrink in the economy. who control congress? republican house, republican senator antirepublican senate. it. blew pin, they love to sprea just feel it when they do it. if we cannot control the fiscal policy, if we cannot reduce taxes or control regulations, we will drift and we will have a lousy economy and these are people who want to realize their god-given purpose will be denied it. when politicians worry about

being popular, if that is your goal to be popular in love, get out. go away. go to somewhere else. you are to raise everyone and make hard choices. this is not rhetoric. a lot of people run away from the records -- check my records and you will see it is true. we will have victory in this country. >> chris christie said there is no way to get into the budget. he said, he does politicians have been into the social security. you raise the eligibility raise? you will test it and the government guess they confiscate all the money they said they would give you back? are there other ways to do it?

>> there is no third rail. you are doing something there i will tell you what it means -- and means you will still get social security but not as much. >> we will legalize the government stealing money from some people. >> we are where we are. i had a plan 17 years in the that would affix this program. -- i don'ta just is want to get into the details but there are you use. we have a lot of retirees living long and fewer workers. it is a demographic issue. medicare and medicaid, we can have a system that gives us better quality care at lower prices. i took medicare from ohio that 10.5% -- not cutting one

benefit. that is amazing. we innovated. everything i wish had a smartphone -- everything in america -- gimme that smartphone. orn my kids were about 10 11, they said daddy, what is that box?? what thoughts all that is where superman changes i his clothes. the federal government and bring technology, animation and the speed of business into everything we do into government and have some guts. by the way, good example -- i'm doing a lot of work. t?er, doing a great job, righ you realize in cities, the politicians, the regulators try to snuff it out. the fact of the matter is we

need to welcome in a vision -- innovation '. [\ ♪ we have to start stop and that stuff. >> we have people burning them alive and convert or die. they raise questions about the safety and security of every american. isis is the modern-day evil of our time. is this an ongoing war. the we have the boots on the ground. paren. the arabs, ok, egypt and jordan and saudi arabia. bring the western allies who were really sitting right there. we have to destroy them. -- destroy them, settle it .own and come on

>> one i do it on their own? >> they won't. isis will grow bigger and deeper. the fbi had counterterrorism task force along with home security officials and that is good. they do a great job this or disrupting. give a big fight against apple in our intelligence community. if i were president, i would take apple and that intelligence community and say they would not come out until they figure out and when they do you not talk to the press about it i will not put on the front page.

>> we all watched her sons and daughters in the shed blood in for lucia and multiple. and now they are in the hands of isis. war,we politicize the our sons and daughters died and i think we that -- have to advance and develop the technology where we don't have to send men and women to war. are we on the verge of technology that will allow us to fight wars without going door-to-door, humvees and dealing with them? >> you are right. technology can play a good role, that when i'll be a substitute for people, in our lifetime, unfortunately having to be on the battlefield. i served in the fence for 18 years in rumsfeld called me for 9/11. i have tell you the reality of it.

i think the people of prepared because we look the other way. they hate our existence. they will not convert to our we life. >> are we fighting wars that are too politically correct? carpet bomb them. i wonder if america is too concerned -- we care about human life. i'll re-overly concerned about collateral damage? >> unfortunately, you cannot win this from the air, sean. you have to take ground. let me also say -- >> we have to wrap up. >> the united states should have never gotten to the civil war. we fouled up in libya.

isis is now their. delivery was by this. when you think about hillary's time as secretary of state, the whole world -- the whole world started touting america. now she wants the commander-in-chief -- give me a break, ok? that is absurd. [applause] >> do you think she will survive what is going on with the f ei and all the news -- fbi and all the news in the sense he was offered immunity after he fled the fifth? season of the grand jury could have been convened. she and legal trouble question mar? i would not want to be married to bill either, i agree. [applause] >> by the way, there are some hot chicks, governor kasich. that's why bill clinton

imitation. >> i know his wife, ok? i will give her a call, sean. >> you have done a good job on the house budget committee -- wall is your deposition in ohio? >> 20%. >> a deficit of what? >> $8 billion. >> how many? >> 400,000. tax.e chilled the death [laughter] --the republican governors if washington republicans have learned something, it will be good for the country and up all these kids out. give it up for governor john kasich. [laughter] [applause]

>> we will have more coverage from the john chidsey campaign when he holds it in ohio. he will be joined by arnold schwarzenegger. join our live coverage at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span,

. presidential candidate ted cruz in the second day of the conservative political action conference. it is being held outside of washington. he talked about immigration policy and the fight against isis. is interviewed by sean hannity of fox news. this is 40 minutes. >> donald trump is skipping cpac. i think somebody told them megyn kelly would be here.

young people would be here they a. now be all have a degree from trump university of. . [chanting] women are grassroots army. the men and women here love liberty. as me tell you, as dire things are, people are waking up all over this country. and help is on the way.

[applause] this election is going to be about three things -- jobs, liberty, and security. jobs.start with talknow, it is easy to about making america great again -- you can print that on a baseball cap. the question is the you understand the principles that made america great in the first place? [applause] the heart of the economy is not washington, d.c. the heart of the economy are small businesses all over this country. want to crush the economy, hammer small businesses like we have done the past seven years.

you want to unchain the economy, lift the federal government off of small businesses. president --ed be!ou wil>> you will cruz: we will repeal every word of obamacare! [applause] we will pass, self health care that makes it affordable, portable and keeps it between us and the government. we will pass a simple flat .axpayer

when we do that, we should abolish the irs. i understand a lot of people in this country are angry. i get being angry, ahme politicians have lied to us. they made promises and they go to washington and don't do it a what they said. immigration is a law enforcement matter. nationalon is an blastocys security matter. 12 million people coming to this country illegally, you take away millions of jobs some u.s. citizens from legal immigrants and you drive down wages for everybody.

now, in a republican primary, everybody says they oppose illegal immigration. in 2013 whento ask the battle over the amnesty bill was being waged, where did you stand? do you stand as far to many establishment republicans did when barack obama pushing amnesty on the lines of americans? stand with millions of americans saying no, we will not have amnesty. [applause] trump talkst donald a fair amount about immigration. there is a national question to ask during the gang of eight battle where was donald?

donald was funding the gang of eight. the gate over $50,000 for the five members. donald on stage promised all of us phoenix football. -- the inexplicable. that me tell you, everyone, flexible is code worded in washington dc for the get ready to stick it to you. have you noticed every time their flexible in washington, it benefits the giant corporationsf, it benefits wall street come a benefits the special interest in the working men and women of this country he left in the cold? do. is what we are going to we are elected,

repealing obamacare, passing a flat tax come we're abolishing the irs, or pulling back the federal regulators, we're stopping amnesty, we are securing the border and here is what is going to happen -- millions and millions of high-paying jobs, wages coming up for everyone, young people coming at a school, three four jobs -- in america. [applause] the second critical issue in this election is freedom. just a passing just two weeks ago, underscores state of this election. i was blessed to know justice scalia.i started mike career as the just the clerk and

relegated in from the court arguing cases in front of them for over a decade. justice scalia was a lion. and the protected the bill of rights for all of us. [applause] his passing underscores that this election is not about one branch of government, and is about two. we are one their role trust us away from the supreme court ruling that government can take our religious liberty away enforce everyone of us to violate our faith on penalty of prison or fine. >> no. cruz: we have 10 commandments torn down all across the country. awaye one liberal justice from the supreme court are raising the second amendment for the bill of rights.

we are one liberal justice away from the supreme court ordering veterans memorials torn down if they have any religious symbol all over the country. we are wanted liberal justice iny from the supreme court making a subject in the world through it the united nations and international law and giving away u.s. sovereignty. you know, in the debate last week, there was a moment of clarity. yes to question about religious liberty is a report. donald trump turn to and said ted, i have known more politicians and my life and you have. he assuredly correct. liberaleen sorting politicians who for decades but he said ted, when it comes to the supreme court come yup the compromise. yet the cut a deal with the democrats.

let me be very clear to every man and woman here, i will not compromise away your religious liberty. and i will not compromise away your second amendment rights to keep and bear arms. if any president does when i'm a promising dim and we will agree. we know it will be a left-wing judicious activist that will strip away our rights.

i give you my solemn commitment that every justice i put on the supreme court will be a principal constitutionalist faithful to the law that will vigorously protect the bill of rights for each and everyone of us. third she issue is security. we have abandoned our friends and allies and it has shown weakness and appeasement tournaments. the world is dangerous because it -- once again, a moment of clarity in this choice. donald trump told us he will be neutral between israel and the palestinians. [booing] let me be clear -- i have no intention of being clear.

america will be unapologetically standing with them. [applause] if you cannot tell the difference between terrorists who walked in the shopping malls with dynamite striped or on the chest of law women and children and the soldiers protecting innocents, if you buy into the media and the left wing narrative of moral equivalence, that draws into question the judgment and the visual would have as commander-in-chief. over the last seven years, we

have seen the united states aken.ary we america has seen this happen before. we have seen the left-wing democratic president weakened the military as jimmy carter did. and then ronald reagan came to the white house. what did reagan do? you cut taxes, regulatory reforms, the country took up small businesses, trillions of dollars of government revenue. and won to rebuild the the cold war. [applause] intend to do these acts same thing with radical islamic terrorists. [applause] unleashoing to incredible economic growth and

rebuild the military so it remains the world's mightiest fighting force. [applause] no longer well the military be governed by political correctness. [applause] be a top will it priority of the pentagon to re's.de gluten-free m instead, we will have a commander-in-chief who says to the world we will defeat radical islamic terrorists. [applause] president willing to utter the words radical islamic terrorists. [applause] and one of the most this

graceful thanks we have seen over the last seven years -- this graceful things we have seen over the last seven years is sending our people into combat with rules of engagement to have their arms by their backs and they cannot that be defeat the enemy. ands wrong, immoral, january 2017, it will end. [applause] reluctant always been to use military force. we are slow to anger. if and when military force is required. we will use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and get the heck out!

that build this great nation. ! thank you and god bless you!

>> while her wow. it is as packed as it has been. how are you doing cpac? to get a bigger crowd, i need 1000th of the players tonight. the you hear senator cruz last night? [applause] it is good to see you. >> it is good to beer. here.

i want to talk about process and where we are with the campaign. you are second in the delegate count. it is not that big of a despairing. disparity. you have a path to the nomination. [applause] mitt romney gave a speech yesterday. what do you think? mr. cruz: i think he is entitled to express his views. i come from a different place. i will tell you the concern it is expressing, it is a concern people have all over the country. [applause] , if you look at republicans across the country they recognize he is not the best candidate against hillary clinton.

the bill of rights is lost and we're buried in debt and jihadists rise across the g lobe. [applause] i will say if you're one of those 65% to 70% of people recognize and donald trump is on the best the win -- [applause] then, what is critical is we come together. i think super tuesday was a clarifying moment this election because super tuesday made clear that only one campaign has repeatedly beaten donald trump and only one campaign can and will beat donald trump. here is what a month do you not see that

the of the 14 of 15 contests happening -- i think it is true -- the establishment has lost 14 of 15. do you see that? the only question i have is it seems to be an organized well-funded, effort to push this to the convention and the host -- maybe i'm reading into it -- to prevent you or mr. trump getting the nomination because the establishment is angry your winning. is that true? mr. cruz: you're right. aytime you here about brokered convention, it is the washington establishment in a fever frenzy. they are frustrated because all --the goal and children golden children, the voters reject. [applause] plan seized on this master they go to the powerbrokers.

in this to the liking of the washington establishment. if that happens, we will have a ifest revolt across the country. if you want to beat donald trump, you do it with the voters. and the key to that challenge -- we started off with 17 tenets which means there are a lot of folks in this room start off supporting other people. there were a lot of good people in this race, i understand that. the field has narrowed and we now have 15. we have beaten them in five states. texas,ingly in iowa, in oklahoma, alaska, minnesota. [applause] i think that plan is real.

i think the establishment is paying all this money to do it. i want to move on presenting the voters have something to say. the one thing they had not acted is they cannot die your vote, they cannot decide for you and you have the power to the people you want to be the next leader of this country and thank god it will be you and not been otherwise we will have a bob dole or john mccain. >> that is right. let me make a pitch to folks. if you started out with another candidate, maybe you were originally with rand paul. [applause] maybe you were with jeb bush or chris christie or maybe mike huckabee or rick santorum. maybe your with marco rubio or john kasich. [applause] or maybe you were with carly fiorina. all of them. [applause] they are good honorable people. i respect all of them.

may be room with dr. bethke -- maybe you are with dr. ben carson . every one of them is a thousand times better than hillary clinton or bernie sanders. here is a question. >> you put those people in your account if you were elected president? >> absolutely. every name elicit would be a natural in the leadership if we win the race. let me speak to the supporters of each of those candidates, good and honorable people, but i don't think they have a path to beat donald trump. if you don't want donald to be our nominee, i ask you join us. we welcome you on artane. we are building a broad and welcoming coalition of lovers of liberty who believe in the constitution.

>> i want to get to illegal backgroun -- to your legal background. he has proven his worth. hillary clinton asbell had somebody to plead the fifth that is now turning states evidence. the person that built the server and the mom-and-pop shop that hillary clinton should not be using from your legal expertise, you believe a grand jury has --n convene as is believed do you think she violated the law and do you think she will be the candidate? ominous for is hillary clinton. how many of y'all watched "good fellas?" when polly flips, it is not good

for fat tony. [laughter] to so muchin trouble. you have a bad effect on me. sean: i know. mr. cruz: the fact immunity has been granted means he cannot plead the fifth anymore than he has the spill the beans and i .uarantee there asking we never had a general election debate convened. this year might be the first. >> i hope she likes orange pantsuits. [laughter] i'm a talkshow host. i can get away with anything. >> orange is the new

democratic blue. [laughter] sn't this fun?i i want you to tell the audience. homophobic, sexist, poison the air, want to kill children and every grandmother in the country it will share -- paul ryan and ted cruz wants to for over a cliff -- how do you do with the predictable lies that are coming? ruz: there is a psychological term called projection. racist -- the democratic party is unwilling to say the words all lives matter.

[laughter] [applause] r, . [applause] when did it become controversial the say every human being is precious? [applause] by the way, you want to talk about black lives matter -- in 1990, there were 2200 homicides in new york city. last year, there were 300. that it's over 2000 a year. roughly 2000 year. murders that were prevented by the brave men and women of the in my beady. you want to talk -- of the nypd. you want to talk about thousands of black flies of our police officers and all lies matter. let me tell you, blue lives

better. we stand with the men and women who protect us. [applause] sean: you will go and fight and make the case. listen, i have to tell stand onnnot wait to that general election debate stage with hillary clinton. [laughter] [applause] . [applause] she will prattle on about income inequality and i would be ready misses golden, it , secretary clinton, it has increased under your policy. it has never been said at cpac. >> obh, boy.

z: i agree with bernie sanders. bernie sanders talks about the liberal media -- >> that will be the quote of the day. cruz: bernie sanders talks about corruption in washington and a lobbyist and special interests and how the game is rigged. bernie is right. when he is defined the problem, he is right that washington is fundamentally corrupt. here is why disagree. disagree. the answer is not let's have more government. [applause]

>> one of the reasons i love coming back here is that there are so many young people here. they are our future. i have asked this before but i want to go through it because this is how keep the problems are. you have kids graduating school not aback to mom and dad, 4.5 million citizens are out of the labor force. 50 million americans and party. millions more when obama became president. 46 million americans are in food stamps. we have doubled the national debt. the last seven years -- median income has come down. for all be some people that want a career in a job in a future and a way up, how fast can you help them? mr. cruz: we can turn things

around overnight. this is as good as it gets, except stagnation, misery, coming at school, in student loans with no hope of a good job. ise, we have -- mala have heard that before. history teaches that is alive. lie. [applause] we tell you how as conservatives we get young people. substance and style. if used that down and try to have an agenda to hammer the daylights out of young people, it will be hard to come up with a more effective agenda in the obama economic agenda. for seven years, young people with stagnation cannot find jobs is i massive will transfer from young healthy people to everybody else. [applause] a change really dollars in

national -- $18 trillion in foronal debt, it is like young people, your parents went to vegas, took out a credit card in your name, partied it up and you have to pay the bill. we got to speak the truth of this economic agenda hammering young people but -- if republicans are a bunch of fuddy-duddies -- [laughter] >> i thought we were going back to last night's debate. [laughter] cruz: would it kill republicans to crack a joke? >> i make fun of bill clinton all the time. hoy vt chicks. meme.uz: we put out a

you start a business and your parents garage. obamanomics, you move into your parents garage. [applause] i will give another example. a couple of years ago i was in california and the week before, these posters appeared all over town. they were posters of my head on a shirtless body. pped, covered in tattoos. a giant eagle on my test. abs whichooters on my wordperfect eight-pack. winston churchill, which was massive, and a cigarette out of my mouth and a legend, blacklisted and loving it.

[applause] sean, we had nothing to do with it. this was a local, street artist. we decided to have fun with it so we did a facebook post and we set for whatever reason, these posters have begun appearing all over hollywood. i have to say i noticed a glaring error. i don't smoke cigarettes. [laughter] and people laughed, they had fun, they shared it. thing -- many of them did not have acted polls but the one that did -- our campaign won people in iowa. we won people in south carolina and. we won in oklahoma. in arkansase

and the great state of texas. [applause] >> my last question and all playoff your humor. there is something you could put together with donald trump. terrified.'m >> you might like this. isis is evil. we all understand what is happening. we have to stop this evil in the tracks. you have stated that you think we should carpet bomb the islamic state which is islamic -- president obama -- he said we should bomb the living out of them. i'm thinking we should carpet bomb the living out of them and i think that is a perfect plan. is that ok? cruz: it was funnier when i did the backstage. y militant on the

face of the planet, if they join isis, and they wage jihad against the united states of america, they will understand they are signing the death warrant. [applause] a lot oferesting, people in the media characterize strength against our enemies as somehow being a warmonger. i think it is the opposite. i believe like ronald reagan. i think the weakness of barack -- encouragingng our enemy. let me point out that the nation 1981 released our hostages the day ronald reagan was sworn into office.

that is the difference a strong commander-in-chief to commit because the ayatollah realized this reagan was not jimmy carter. he was not bluffing. out on block either -- i do not bluff eite blah -- her. [applause] the biggest country ronald reagan invaded was grenada. that is what happens when america a strong and your enemy is understanded. that is who we are and i want to finally say to everyone here -- i asked you to stand with us. this is a grassroots army. washington, d.c., they are terrified of everyone. [applause] we come together right now, if we unite we will win this

primary. we will defeat hillary clinton in november. [applause] and we will turn this country around and i've spent my entire life fighting to defend the constitution and bill of rights and i give you my solemn promise. when i take that oath to preserve and protect the constitution that i will faithfully ask you -- execute it every day. >> cpac, give it up for cruz!r 1 ted ♪ [applause]

♪

>> today, ben carson suspended his presidential campaign. he announced a said that the position of national chairman for my feet votes, a nonprofit that works for voter turnout among christians. this is one half hour. dr. carson: thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you very much. thank you. i'm absolutely, absolutely delighted to be here. my wife and my sons and their daughters and wives are here. thank you. [applause] , i want tohank you thank all the people who have worked so incredibly hard on my campaign. the volunteers.

who lost his life, something that they believed in. it is an experience i will never forget. interestingly enough, a lot of people said to me, you know, in order to make it in this cycle you have to be loud and boisterous and you have to be willing to attack people. interesting a lot of, i used to be like that. there was a time -- in junior high school and in high school -- you know, i could come up with some stuff that was really embarrassing. the people that could run today, boy, i could come up with stuff, but i left that stuff in high school.

[applause] the things that affect us now are so incredibly important. one of the things that is going on in our nation i have noticed traveling around, wonderful americans every placem every part of our country. so many of them are angry and are afraid. the problem when you are angry and afraid is you tend to make that decisions when you are angry and afraid. justwe have to do now is calm downon down -- and use the amazing influence that god has given us. the human brain. billions and billions of neurons, hundreds of billions of interconnections, and remembers everything that scene, heard,

you can process more than 2 million hits of information in one second. there is a reason they gave us on the like that. so we can extract information from the past and the present and projected into the future. brainn't need a developed . animals can do that. we are human beings so we can do that about right now. what we need is leadership. [applause] many people have said who are you going to endorse? well, let me tell you exactly, let me tell you exactly the

criteria that one should use when utilizing that bring. rain. if we are talking about some of a that will lead america and the world, you need somebody that has demonstrated significant a competence in the lives -- accomplishments in their lives. you also need someone whose ideas and policies are clear. withsy to find so that your intellect, you can evaluate them. unit to look at how they treat others and how they to their families. see what have they done for america, someone who needs to lead this nation, should in fact have demonstrated in their life that they are trying to improve life for people in america.

we should also look at the people they work with one those people. how did they look at those people have to say and how have they been able to collaborate to get things done. those are very important factors. somebody who can check the box and all of those will begin could of a leader. and somebody that who is ethical. what we need right now is trickle-down ethics. [applause] it is very important that we get them. at. [applause] and conservatives should not be ashamed of capitalism. we have had those trying to make it like a bad word. it is not. it has produced eyes standard of living that anybody has known but what we must do as

conservatives is to make sure that we couple capitalism with compassion and that will be a winning formula for us, recognize that in this country we have 300 30 million people, that sounds like a lot, what compare that to china, 1.4 billion, india, one .1 billion, that means that we cannot afford onlyve 20% plus people educating high school in this technological age. 25% of ourave population is in minutes -- as inmates. we need to stop destroying panel families anding

pull them together the case is what creates the strength of america. [laughter] -- [applause] these pillars of strength are being eroded. you can see what is happening to our nation. be the people, have to ones who really push these things. the government is not pushing it. the government, they don't know what compassion is. they think that passing someone on the head and saying, "there, there, this is just what you will solve the problem, but that is not. we need compassionate people. [applause] we muston: so what concentrate on is the path, the bridge, that allows people to move out of a state of dependency and become part of

the strength and the fabric of this country. that is how we become strong as a nation. the fewer people we have to pull a long and the more people who become part of the productive side of america, the better life will be for everybody, and that is what we have to keep in mind. recognize of that we, the american people, are not each other's enemies. a nefariousthink group of individuals who are making every attempt to divide us as americans, and what we on aregin to concentrate having conversations with each other and talking through our differences and finding resolutions. again, one of the reasons why we have these amazing brains. and if we are fighting each other all of the time, then it makes it excessively easy for ,hose who really are enemies

the radical islamic terrorists who want to destroy us. i do not understand that. [applause] dr. carson: and why would we make their job easier for them by trying to destroy ourselves? identify those people in our society who are always trying to splinter us, too, because believe me, they are not our friends, either. need to be thinking about our future generations, and this is an area that has concerned me immensely. thomas jefferson has said it was immoral to borrow from the next generation. think about that. wheree are in a situation $19 trillion, and it is going to between a trillion dollars next year, think about the impact of trillion next

year, think about the impact of that. fed has to suppress that because they don't want the income to rise, either. we are in such a desperate economical situation. think about the american dream when joe the bush cannot go every friday like he used to and put 5% of his check into the savings account and watch it grow because there is no incentive to do that, there is no growth, the same thing with the bond market permit really way that money can be made is in the stock market. well, who can invest in the stock market? well-to-do people. when people invest in the stock market, the income gap grows. so along comes bernie sanders and hillary clinton and they talk about the income gap and they talk about the evil rich

people. it is not the evil rich people, but it is the evil government that keeps driving up our debt. [applause] we must be able to identify where the group culprits lie. the government keeps growing because it feels that it is the one who can solve our problems. that's a mistake. 20'snow, it started in the when the wilson administration kept multiplying, and by the time we got to the johnson administration, you know, we are talking about the government and eliminating poverty. do you remember that? the war on poverty? how did that work out? we have more welfare, poverty, out of wedlock birth, crime, everything is not only worth, it

is much worse. that is what happens when the government starts doing things that it is not supposed to do. they read the constitution. that is not their job. [applause] dr. carson: it is the job of us, we, the people, not the government. they be they read the constitution and they read the government -- brett because a touche in they got confused that the preamble where they thought it meant to put everybody on general welfare. that is not what it means. [laughter] [applause] whatarson: but that is happens when you have a government that is way too big. and i am hopeful that maybe some , now that i am leaving the campaign trail -- crowd: boo!

>> we love you, man! [applause] i know that there is a lot -- [applause] dr. carson: well, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] -- but -- butt even though i might be leaving the campaign -- you know, there are a lot of people who love me, but they won't vote for me. but that's ok! [laughter] dr. carson: i will still

continue to be heavily involved, you know, and try to save our nation. [applause] dr. carson: we have to save it. and i will be involved in a lot of different things, including my faith votes , which is an organization that is going to try to help the faith community to recognize how important their vote is, because 25 million evangelicals did not vote. the margin of difference was only 5 million. so it gives you some idea how important that is that we have to get these people registered and get them to understand that they have to play a role, because a lot of people in the faith community today, they say that god has got it under control, so i don't really need

to do any way. well, one of the ways that god controls it is through us. [applause] dr. carson: and coming you know, it just brings me to the whole topic of our faith as a nation. you know, we are in the process of allowing the secular progressives to drive faith out of our country. , you know, one , saw lewinsky -- alinksy, and he was like barack obama. he wrote a famous books like you know, "rules for radicals." just to give you some idea of

who these people are, on the dedication page, it says that "this book is dedicated to lucifer, the original radical who gained control of his own kingdom." so when we are talking about throwing god out and then substituting something that is radically different, you can imagine what the effects of that are going to be on our nation. we are the only ones that can change that. -- i know that -- i know that president obama said that we are not a judeo-christian nation, but he does not get to decide. we get to decide what kind of nation we are. [applause] dr. carson: and it is so , it is so important to

includeson sense, that , you know, conservative people, it includes even some democrats. there are some -- [laughter] dr. carson: but it also includes people who understand that right this is a most important decidingbecause we are , do we want to allow the government to dictate our rights? no!d: no! dr. carson: in exchangedr. carson:, they take care of all of our necessities, or do we whereo have a nation individuals have choice and where we take the responsibility of our needs in an atmosphere of the quality of opportunity?

because isn't that what it is about? not a quality of everything except for opportunity? we give opportunity to everybody not equality of everything except for opportunity? we give opportunity to everybody in america. [applause] dr. carson: and the bottom line is that week on what people, we we,the ones who will be -- the people, we are the ones who will do that. in order to do that, we must become active. we must become informed. we cannot continue to allow ourselves to be influenced and political class and by the media. that is going to destroy us. [applause] dr. carson: and it is kind of sad. pressd of sad because the

is the only business that is specifically protected by our constitution and the reason is because they were supposed to be the allies of the people. they were not supposed to take sides and do what they have done. you know? [applause] dr. carson: i used this as an to thenity to appeal press, and particularly to the ,ounger members of the press not to allow yourselves to be captured by those who are attempting to impose an agenda upon america. too, are aat you, part of us, and if the whole country goes over the cliff, you are going with it, so join us in being fair to everybody and open once again in america. [applause]

dr. carson: so, you know, i just want to close by saying, right now it is so important that all of us use all of the talent that we have, everything that we have. this is not about any individual person. ass is about us collectively a nation. candyguarantee you that and i and our whole family and this nation, could i sit down and enjoy the rest of my life? absolutely, but i can't do that right now without trying to help this country, which is in trouble. [applause]

dr. carson: thank you. and now please welcome fox news chlappdes s for the q&a. hello, everyone. i got a text from my 12 your old daughter, and she said that dr. carson just dropped out of the race, so you need to change or question -- change your have these here. so i have heard that some people say god opens a door, but now, has god opened a different door for you? was noson: yes, there

question that he had to open a door because being a person with no political ties whatsoever, no , nothing, the pundits were right, they said there was no way you can run a national campaign for president. it can't happen, it won't happen, there is no way it is going to happen now. i said, "lord, if you want me to do this, you have to open a door, and if you open a door, i will walk through it." and he opened the door, and it was a simple as that. i walked through it. [applause] dr. carson: you know, god has a much greater perspective than we do and a much different timeline than we do. is he knows exactly what he doing, so all we do is we follow his will, we continue to be truthful, we continue to be everything that is right, and he will take care of the rest. [applause] carson, you dr.

have spent so much energy and time on the campaign trail. there was that moment where you and candy and the kids decided that we need to suspend this campaign? dr. carson: well, you know, i have always thought that people at some point would kind of just say, "enough of this foolishness, we are going to look at these policies and see what works." we haven't gotten there yet, but we are gradually moving in that direction. math, i know, i did the did the delegate counts, i looked at the states, i looked at the requirements, and i realized it simply wasn't going to happen. if that were the case, then i didn't want to interfere with the process. mercedes: so -- [applause] mercedes: now last night, there

was an event, i think it was called a debate, there were thousands of people in this room, were you watching netflix or were you watching the debate? dr. carson: you would have thought it was netflix. [laughter] i mean, it is kind of funny but it is very sad that we have reached that point, you know? the last debate before, when i went out to the spin room, the most consequential i got from the international press was, "are you embarrassed?" i blame thethat media for because they are trying to stir up a fight. but they are not really interested in the answers. they are not really interested in the solutions. they are interested in ratings. mt also, i continue to ask

y friends who are running for president, and i have talked to all of them this week to rise above the level of the press and to just say, we are going to talk about the real solutions here and they can question each other because it is important to know where people stand on these issues and you can't just answer a question by saying, "oh yeah, it is going to be ok." you actually have to answer the question. know, i think both the moderators and the other candidates should insist on answers from everybody because knowhe people, deserve to who we are choosing for president. [applause] mercedes: ok, trick question here. brokered convention. a good thing or a bad thing?

dr. carson: i would prefer in general not to have one, what there is a reason that the process is in place. the only thing that i would really have a problem with is if somebody starts changing the rules. are ande rules as they play by the rules and i think we will be ok. mercedes: you have hundreds of thousands of supporters. where do you tell your carson supporters to go? you talk about your criteria for the next presidential candidate. so where do they go? dr. carson: ok. well, actually, we have millions of supporters. [applause] dr. carson: and it has been rather astonishing hearing from and seeing how enthusiastic they are, and you know, they are still saying, "whatever you want to do, we are going to support

you." but i have heard a lot of troubling things like people saying, "if you are not going to be on the ticket, i am not going to vote." that is not a good thing because what we have to recognize is that when you don't vote, you are voting, but you are voting for the other side, and we can't -- we can't afford that because -- [applause] -- if we get in there and there is somebody like hillary clinton, who loves saul alinksy and who loves margaret twoer, she is going to get to four supreme court picks. now that is going to, i think, room in the future for our children, our grandchildren, all of our progeny. i think that is just as bad as taking a knife and stabbing it with them.

let's not do that. let's make sure that we act responsibly, exercise our civic duty, and please, no matter how that if weecognize choose another secular progress progressive, we have done our children in and we can't afford to do that. [applause] dr. carson: thank you. mercedes: dr. carson, what do you think the candidates are not addressing? dr. carson: i think they are not addressing the fiscal gap. have you noticed that no one has talked about a cisco gap -- a fiscal gap? willshington politician talk about a fiscal gap, that since i am not a washington

politician, i can talk about it. medicare, medicaid, social security, all of the governmental programs going forward, versus the money that we have coming back in through taxes and other revenue sources and other revenue sources should be a huge amount of money because this country owns over $150 trillion in assets. now if you give over $150 trillion in assets to a well-run business, and we would not have a national debt. that would wipe that are easily just on the national return each year. becamew, i obviously very familiar with the corporate world, spending 18 years on the board of kellogg and 16 years on cosco -- costco,

and seeing how things are run efficiently, if our government were a business, it would be out of this in one week. i mean, that is how bad it is. but at any rate, the amount of money that we have coming back in the amount of money that we own it should be about equal if we were fiscally responsible. if we are not, a gap forms. today'sem forward to dollars, and is called a fiscal gap and it sits at over $2 trillion. someone came along and said, "united states of america, for your birthday, i am paying off teur national debt and wro a check for $19 trillion, many people would be dancing in the streets, but we would not even be close to being out of trouble. that is what no one will tell you. and we need to know that kind of information so that when people come along and say, "free we knowfor every body," how to react to that. that is just going to drive us off the fiscal cliff much factor

-- much faster than we were to before. --cedes: describe one word give us one word that would describe mr. carson. ok, two. the crowd is answering for you. i would say "the children." because that is what this is all about. the children. this is their future. [applause] dr. carson: and, you know, my whole career is about giving and,ren a second chance you know, it has been so ,onderful on the campaign trail because i have met over 15,000 people, and i get to see them all over the place and it is just wonderful.

i remember i was in kentucky last year and there was a young man there and he him and his family came up and they said, do you remember us? familiar,, you look because i say that every body, and they say, you operated on him when he was one year old. you did an operation where you take out half of the brain to stop intractable seizures and he just graduated from college number one in his class. [applause] dr. carson: and then there was a beautiful young woman who came up to my wife and she said, "are you the wife of dr. ben carson?" she said, "yes." he operated on me

when i was in my mother's womb." and now she has grown up into a beautiful young woman. and just goes to show that people who are sitting in washington just do not know what they are talking about. [applause] mercedes: my last question. civility,rought such a tone of civility to this race. what advice do you get to the candidates who are left? dr. carson: i would tell them thatthey must understand we, the republicans, are not each other's enemies, and we

cannot afford -- [applause] to carson: we cannot afford give the democrats all of this ammunition. you know, i wish that people would remember what happened last time and how the republicans were destroying each president you know, obama did not have a good record to run on, and that is putting it mildly. but they were able to use so much of the material that we used against each other that he was able to win. you know, that is going to happen again, we have already supplied them with an enormous amount of material. could we just stop? the way to ferret this thing out is not a calling each other challengingeally by each other's positions and having them explain why they

believe what they do. that will sort out all of the things that need to be sorted out without us injuring the brand. really,blican brand is i think, grossly mischaracterized, and we add to some of that ourselves, and we have got to be much smarter. it is one of the things that i will be continuing to work with the party, particularly to bring in a wider variety of people and to make our positions well known, it is our positions, our good positions, they make sense and they will save america. [applause] mercedes: ben carson, you are a man of great faith who love their country, who loves your family, and we can't thank you enough for being here with the

cpac family, and god bless you, and we are behind you all of the way. dr. carson: thank you. [applause] [laughter] -- dr. carson: thank you. [applause] ♪ >> let me introduce you to a true conservative noun -- announcer: and we're back now at the cpac political conference. froms the keynote speech carly fiorina. some introductory remarks are about to get started with the jim demint.or this is live coverage on c-span.