seats. that would take an extra ordinary blowout for them to regain the majority in the house. >> electoral college works against republicans. that's a given. and i think people make a huge mistake. mr. trump is a populist. that may give you a comment made to me at the gym the other day. voting for trump and i am not voting for comstock. he is a republican. interesting comment. what happens in the republican party, i don't know who has caught on to this when you, but they have to be very, very careful because they have not unified much like the democrats have unified behind hillary clinton. disenfranchised element out there. if they lose it, i guarantee you

-- i guarantee you that the next time this comes around, they will not win the presidential election. i don't care if peter pan runs. they are not going to do it. there is a real frustration among a lot of people out there that the republican party has not come together, unlike the democrat party. and you will see that in the future. this wholepsy of election, they should probably sit back and look at that because i think there is going to be a huge issue. >> [indiscernible] general, you served in vietnam. i was in the streets with others tried to stop the war and bring the troops home. >> you failed miserably. i was there for two tours. [laughter] and was also a canvasser

whole watcher for george mcgovern. i remember that election being about change as well. aside from the fact that he made lots of money, what does donald trump really think was so great about those times that we should change back? >> is not talking about talking back -- about going back. the reason i joined up with him, the frustration a lot of people have, it was said earlier. it has not just been republican. democrats and republicans as well. everybody comes in and talks about change. it doesn't happen. the frustration when you get some at you like me out there, we can't even get a budget passed on time. you can't get a balanced budget going. the national defense authorization act that supports our military has yet to be passed this year. go figure. we had kids out there on the

front lines doing stuff like that. you look at washington, d.c. and in rather listen to people washington, kansas than in washington, d.c. because of the frustration out there. to.'s really what his going that's why a lot of us have come online to do it. nobody's perfect. we got that. that's what i'm talking about. if you want the status quo -- i'm a big reliever in patterns. i mean my patterns is people don't change who they really are over the long term. people here in washington, d.c., once you become -- you come into this system and you stay a, 10, 12, 16 years, 20 years, you invest in washington, d.c., and it's really hard to change. came outy he recently on the whole concept of a constitutional amendment on term limits for congressmen and senators. change the constitution. maybe it's about time we do something like that.

my brother was in state government in the state of california and there are term limits in california. maybe that's where you want to go. i don't know. mr. trump, when he says make america great again, nobody put a year on it. that was the hillary clinton campaign saying we are going to go back to the times of slavery and jim crow. make a group -- make america great again means what it means for you. if for the past four years of the past eight years were really good for you, your jobs have gone up, your students don't have student loan debts, you can pay off your debts and you don't -- and you own your home, good for you. but if there was a time in your life when things were better. if there were times in your past lives when things were better. there were times when my family thought things were better. that is what it means. if it means you want a better a betterme that was place for your economically in your family, that is what make america great again means. it's not what clinton and the

liberal say to go back to a mr.ain time that somehow trump wants to put people back in change, like vice president joe biden said. thatnda and i just said would be a great question for a poll, when was a better time for you? i'd like to see the answer to that. >> [indiscernible] question is actually for ej, my former professor. i stack to the audience with my former students. [laughter] >> i am an african american from baltimore. we are not all underage it -- uneducated and living in hell. in onenot put all of us box.

i have to say that. obama ran against a well-established politician, hillary clinton in 2008. running do think against an antiestablishment figure in the primary, a populist who had much bigger crowds than she did come much higher energy supposedly, how much do you think that is going going to help her in the general election, running as a populist, getting bigger crowds as she is? >> that's interesting. of what my colleagues think, what did bernie sanders due to hillary -- do to hillary. that is the essential question. bernie sanders mobilized a lot of people to politics, just like barack obama. i think there was a period when

it was like to be iffy for her, whether this would help, whether bernie constituency was so disappointed that they were not so much going to vote for trump. that a clinton third-party or the couch. bernie because of what did, because of what clinton did in the platform and on specific andes like student loans, because, with all due respect to my trump colleagues, because of donald trumphings has done to create some uncertainty about the election, get thee -- they might young people though. i used to say that when people called barack obama a socialist,

i have friends who were socialists. they were insulted when barack obama was called a socialist. we had a truncated view of the political spectrum. i think that is usually useful for the country. >> [indiscernible] they are home, to be perfectly honest. the one person who united them was donald trump. when we looked in june, 9% of views voters had positive of donald trump. the idea that somehow they were out there to be grabbed or simply mentioning them in the speech just really had no residence. the only question is would they vote? i still think there is some challenge on that front. there will be a lot of people who will be sitting back rather

than actively involved. the one thing that hasn't been -- whend here tonight this election is over, the chapter that will be written is michelle obama and barack obama. without a doubt. those are the two people who drove this election as much as anything in terms of both moral terms and in terms of being able to stimulate the groups that hillary clinton needed to have. we have timeely, for only one more question. >> paris, as far as i am aware, neither your former boss or his father are willing to endorse the republican candidate. as far as i am aware, either the -- tell me what goes on inside the heads of the party leaders on november 9? >> i think they will be celebrating. >> assuming that the polls are

correct. i'm not going to do that. i'm not going to assume that the polls are correct. what you have to remember is that this is somehow not some .nprecedented time of history back in the democratic midterm election, how the democrats run away from president obama. recall, senator mccain did not invite president bush and they did not campaign together. it is not uncommon for past republicans to not speak at the convention. cannot life of me, i understand why the democrats did not invite jimmy carter to speak at the convention. i think what it boils down to is what you have to do politically.

that's why mr. trump has said you do what you have to do. at the end of the day, speaker in order tohat come advance the opportunity agenda that he wants to do for every american, including minorities and women and children, especially those in d.c., he's going to have to do that with a president donald j. trump and he knows he cannot enact any of that with a presidency with hillary clinton. that's why he is going to support donald trump. that's when he has supported donald trump. and that is why the republicans are staying behind donald trump because they know the alternative is so dire for the american people and the legislative america to ofthat'sd donald trump. the republicans. republicans are going to stick with mr. trump. it will do what they have to do politically because they have to answer to their base or their donors or their lobbyist or whoever. when they go in that ballot box, i promise you, they will vote for donald trump. i think it's going to depend

-- if donald trump loses, it will depend in large part on the size of the defeat. i think if it is a close election, the most interesting surely political story of the next year or two is going to be the recommendations within the republican party between the people who blame the part of the party that nominated 70 that couldn't get elected and the others -- nominated somebody that can get elected and the other side. the party will have to work through the recriminations before they can get to the point of figuring out there cap -- the path forward. >> we can do this all night. you have just got a taste for why this is such a fascinating election. thank you, paris, ej, general peter, karen, it's been a terrific conversation. thank you very much. [applause] thank you all for coming.

a quick lightning round. >> donald trump to 70. >> clinton 347. 325.inton over 269-269. >> clinton 371. can't go there because i still can't figure out how jeb bush did not get the nomination. [applause] [laughter]

hillary clinton is celebrating her 69th birthday today with a campaign rally in florida. she will be speaking with supporters in temp up. we will bring you that live at 2:4 to five eastern here on c-span. road to the white house coverage continues with mike pence. he is in salt lake city, utah for a rally, where evan mcmullen is also on the ballot. live atsee the rally 5:30 eastern on c-span 2.

>> c-span brings you more debates this week from key u.s. house and senate races. today at 7:00, live on c-span, democratic, smith chris van christied republican -- kathy szeliga. antenna clout on c-span, a debate for the florida senate, between republican senator marco rubio and democratic powers and patrick murphy. my thursday night at 8:00 agent, kelly ayotte and maggie hassan debate for the new hampshire senate seat. y watchil election da key races on the c-span networks, c-span.org, and listen on the c-span radio app. c-span where history unfolds daily. >> we are lie this afternoon awaiting remarks from mitt

romney. he is set to talk about changes in the legal system that could impact businesses in the economy. mr. romney will be introduced by mr. donahue. live coverage here on c-span.

mitt romney about to speak at the u.s. chamber of commerce on the potential effect of legal reform on the economy. it should begin shortly. we will have a lie it starts here on c-span. while we wait, we recently spoke with kellyanne conway about her role in the campaign and her life away from politics. host: joining us on the phone from the arc is kellyanne conway. thank you for being with us. kellyanne: thank you. host: on sunday, you told "meet the press" that we are behind. how do you get ahead. kelly and: we are behind slightly in some of these state polls. we feel really good about that.

these are states that john mccain and mitt romney did not carry and mr. trump is putting together some good numbers in those states. we get ahead by mr. trump doing what he did all along, to do these roundtables in the swing states, take his message directly to the people. he cannot really wait to get the mainstream media to give him fair coverage. hillary clinton is running a much more conventional campaign and she is a much more conventional candidate. i believe an unconventional candidate like donald trump demands an unconventional approach. i will tell you, steve, that lots of folks out there think the crowds at these rallies don't matter. i will tell you that enthusiasm and the momentum never abate the matter what the media stories are, the matter how many fake victory laps hillary clinton and

her friends are taking. folks are showing up 10,000 to 15,000 strong in these swing states and that has got to mean something. if you are waiting in line for hours and hours just to say you were there when he was there, just to say you were part of the trump movement, you are of course going to come out and vote. we also looked at the returns in the early voting in states like north carolina, iowa, ohio, florida. in other words, we are focusing on the fact that the rnc has helped us tremendously. they have been incredibly helpful in helping us beef up those aspects of the campaign. and we are starting to see the fruits of that. host: the real clear politics average in states like florida, pennsylvania and new hampshire give the edge to hillary clinton. in ohio, donald trump is only up by one percentage point within the margin of error. kellyanne: sure, but that is what campaigns are for.

the national polls don't matter as much, but it is a tighter race. the cnn poll yesterday, five points nationwide. hillary clinton is never at 50 in these state polls. if you are the incumbent and represent the status quo, more of the same, it is unlikely that those truly undecided voters are going to go your way. what are these undecided voters going to learn about hillary clinton between now and election day they don't already know? something is holding them back. for those voters, many of them have decided, i'm not voting for hillary clinton. and now they want the closing argument to vote for donald trump. i think he did a great job in gettysburg and since then, in m ulti-stop states over the last couple days. he's talking about his vision for the first president. it is a very meaty plan, it is

very specific. they can go to the website or his twitter feed, and they can look for themselves. they will see he is for education reform, defeating terrorism, respecting law enforcement, repealing and replacing obamacare. the big news today is what we have always known, which is that obamacare is a very bad at deal for americans. you have a 25% increase coming down the pipe from one of the largest insurers. it is the best example of how invasive, intrusive, expensive, and expansive the federal government has become. host: you have been asked this so often. the number one criticism of donald trump is that he has not been disciplined enough. you mentioned the gettysburg speech. you also talked about the at&t time warner. when you talk to mr. trump, what

do you tell him about that? kellyanne: first of all, i think he has the right to defend himself. those are his words and his campaign. it has to be his voice and his choice. i am always respectful of that. secondly, i think donald trump is at his best when he sticks to the issues. when you go to these rallies and listen to voters in these focus groups, that is what you want to hear. he has an advantage over hillary clinton in two issues. one is the issues. she cannot with a straight face say that obamacare has been good for most americans. many people feel lower quality, less choice and less access. she can't say that she stopped isis from expanding. the second thing he has going for him is she does not see to have much interest in talking about the issues.

if you look at her negative ads, her entire campaign is about donald trump. that is not a campaign about aspiration or optimism. that is not uplifting. i believe many voters will reject that. donald trump outperformed a number of his polling averages in the primaries. i think last-minute people are saying, who am i if not a change maker? i want to take the country and indeed, washington, dc in a new and different direction. so, i am going to leverage my chance and go for donald trump. host: let me ask you about utah. on wednesday, governor mike pence will be in salt lake city, campaigning. this is a state that has not voted for a democrat since 1964, when lyndon johnson won in a landslide. are you worried about utah? kellyanne: we want to make sure that evan mcmullen, it is running as an independent candidate, does not win utah.

he says he is running for president, but he is running more like governor of utah. i think the never-trumpers, who put him in that position, just wanted to choke off the tru mp-pence path to 273 in utah, which has traditionally been a very red state. if you get a candidate that shares a lot in the state with people who are in the state, you can get him up to 32%, maybe even 35%. but it is also a state where governor pence has a friend in senator lee, and where he recently spoke to the education reform senate. he is on his way to colorado and nevada as well. i also take nothing for granted. that is my job. job is also not to chase every good promising statewide poll and go deploy our best resources there, meeting governor pence and mr. trump. we are trying to do a tighter

electoral map than republican candidates have done in the past. i look to the obama 2012 effort as a partial model. even though some of the states that president obama and his team that looked for gone, they started to improve over time, but he did not visit those states. they kept him competitive and they wanted to seal the deal in places where he was competitive. obviously it was a smart strategy. host: finally this fall, "saturday night live," they did a skit on you. kellyanne: i thought it was adorable. it was meant to be a parody. as my cousin said to me, boy, they really followed you around for three days. i think on the family side, it captured my cheerful chaos with four children in a busy household very well.

i think "saturday night live" is doing a great job transferring her skills between hillary clinton and me. that can't be easy. it was done in good humor and we had a deep,earty laugh in my home. host: how about alec baldwin playing donald trump? kellyanne: he seems to play a meaner donald trump. obviously, the kate mckinnon and hillary clinton character is supportive of hillary clinton in real life. and alec baldwin is not supportive of donald trump you i think there is something to that. i think some of the comedy writing is really good. people can see the humorous, funny donald trump that i say, give him a chance to get to know him and listen to

them, they do see that in him. i think some of the media coverage is never interested -- what was the theme of his 45-minute speech, what joke was really funny, how much time he spent after the rally signing posters and shaking hands and having kids. he loves that. that's the lifeblood of this campaign. he loves mixing it up with people. to me, that is everything a candidate should be. i hope that is -- even when people just want to cover what he tweeted that day or what he said, i hope that in the whole cacophony, folks are getting that emphasis of donald trump as well. kellyanne conway joining us in new york. thank you for being with us. kellyanne: thank you, steve. all the best. >> we are live once again. mitt romney about to speak here at the u.s. chamber of commerce. he will be talking about the potential effect of legal reforms on the economy and

business. it should get underway shortly. when it does, we will have a life for you here on c-span. we have more road to the white house covers this afternoon with mike pence. he is in salt lake city for a rally where evan mcmullen is also on the ballot. that really gets underway at 5:30 eastern on c-span 2. evening,ogram this clarence thomas will be delivering remarks at the heritage foundation. his remarks take place three days after the 25th anniversary of his swearing-in as an associate justice of the supreme court. you will be able to watch his remarks live on c-span 2 beginning at 6:30 eastern.

>> welcome back to our program. say, i hope you are all enjoying yourself, but by the noise level in the room, clearly are enjoying yourself. so that's a good thing. hear from our chamber president, tom donohue, nd our esteemed keynote speaker, it's my distinct honor friend nt an award to a and colleague with whom i've had the pleasure of working for more a decade. i'm not going to go into how and admired wn bruce, because if i did that, it me.d really date bruce is an institution, both in building and around washington. he's worked at the u.s. chamber more than 40 years. for much of that time, bruce has our senior government and political affairs executive,

chamber's g the advocacy program on behalf of the business community. oversees no less than six chamber. here at the bruce has been the key architect a number of broad-based coalitions from balancing the relief to ax healthcare reform. bruce is retiring this year as you may know, which is f course bad news for most of us in this room. not the least s, of whiche is the chamber's institutional memory on just every issue. bruce can reach into the recesss memory and graphic pull out pretty much any document, position paper or letter at the drop of a hat. we're really here today to honor the role that bruce has

in support of many legal reform issues over the years, products liability, to the reform.to class-action one of ilr's signature the passage of the class-action fairness act. week, bruce t this was asked when we were together t a meeting, where he was speaking, he was asked to name what he considered to be his significant achievement. and he pointed to the fairness act. he said he didn't do that just because i was sitting next to he did point to that nd i can think really of no better partner and singular advocate for passage of that legal reform bill than bruce jawsdon. bruce has also provided ilr with advice and council on

egislative and plate cal strategy day in and day out, inseption. he is a man of strong integrity exemplifies the very best of he business community's advocates in washington, d.c. personally, bruce, i appreciate and uch you've encouraged supported ilr over the years. thank you for all you've done. surely miss you for the cause of legal reform and we're you with our sent 2016 legal reform champion award. congratulations, bruce. [applause]

>> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the chamber. me start by adding my congratulations to bruce. stage, i me up on the said, the first of many efforts express our appreciation. andaward is richly deserved not just for what he's done for legal reform, but for all the helped to deliver to the business community and or his willingness, after he gets through his first grumpy question to mean,"

help people all around this they ng, key jobs do what do far beyond what is his normal and all of us are going to particularly miss that. e's been a formidable force on virtually every issue that the chamber fights for from legal of the issues that lisa mentioned. and lso like to thank lisa her team for the great work legal doing to advance reform in this time and at this place.d in this the summit theme says it all, litigation inst a achine, an aggressive and innovative trial bar has helped create a legal environment that own interests, not the interests of our system of people or our companies. e also have a system that is

right with prosecutional abuse, ver enforcement, over criminalization of business and finds go?all of those we've seen proliferation of have action lawsuits that no merit, that allow unharmed join suit and hat have given rise to serial plaintiffs, data privacy issues ave become a bright new frontier, a new business in lawsuit abuse. has n entire industry on ped up to go to court financial litigation. as lisa highlighted in her today, the litigation machine is an overdrive and it's harboring our economy, sucking he vitality out of american companies and undermining our ragile economy and eroding due

process rights for business. that's why legal reform is one priorities of this institution, the chamber of states.e of the united but today lisa asked me to talk priority, out another that is the particularly timely one. two weeks from a major election, so i want to of my time st discussing not so much that is at stake what for the business community. you know, every four years this say the same thing, is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. this time it may be true. campaign has been unpredictable from its start, and at times downright bizarre. i think many of us are ready for to be over, but then the result.eal with

and november 8th will be a real for the time community, this community and for the country. senate, we in the will be in december and january runoff in -- the et's see, we'll be in georgia and i think we'll be in more ana, so stay tuned, to do. let's consider for a moment some that could be on the line, depending on who is electd and who owns the senate. the supreme court hangs in the balance, more and more major are ies impacting business being decided at the highest court. by the way, we sort of like very good at we're it. the next administration could nine-seat court with as many as three or four new appointments. mentioned in the last day or so that he's getting

figure out how he could help get rid of the 60-vote this is one consequence that we'll have to live with, not just for four or eight years, but maybe for 25 years to come. the fate of our economy is at stake. the next president and the will inherit one of the slowest, weakest economic our history. if history holds, we're headed nto a recession, you know, you get them every seven or eight year, we're a little behind the curve. another four d years of same government-directed economic have kept us limping along, half of 1 percent, 1 percent, 2 at best. urging our is leaders to make growth the agenda next ir year. we're talking to both parties, problems,n't solve our

but we won't be able to solve any of them without it. the size and role of government s poised it grow larger and more intrusive next year. would point out that much of the frustration and many of the actions in both parties are drich drich -- driven at that very subject. whoever occupies the white house next is likely to push executive learned ey have something from president obama and they'll try and build on it. taxes rise steeply to pay for a bigger government likely to bear the brunt of those tax? has erson or business who achieved a little success. meanwhile, our entitlement growing faster than we can pay for them and threaten of our sociallity safety net and some candidates

expanding about them, not fixing them for the longhaul. face a double down on regulation, including obama or even a move forward on the single payer healthcare system. another vital u.s. industry hobbled by to be punitive rules. through overregulation and markets, our capital we could see further wall street and on the financial markets. the important role that financial institutions and in fuelling our economy we must ring out the over consumer that harms lending, small businesses and entrepreneurs. the energy revolution could be its tracks, in some candidates are calling for estrictions or even outright

bans on oil, gas and coal production on federal lands. be developing all types of american energy, doing millions of new, good-paying job, strength in our national security and generate a flood of government revenue. our standard -- standing in the in al economy is clearly question. the surest way for a country to and forfeit wth leadership in the world is to turn its back on trade. in our current political environment, trade has become a new third rail. we can't let the transpacific partnership, the major trade asia become a casually political in rhetoric. while continuing to push for a vote on that deal, the business make a broader facts and ade with

passion, boosting trade will businesses, of large and small, export their products and services around the them to grow ow and hire workers here at home, u.s. economy a shot in the arm. the pro-business majority of congress is under threat. the chamber doesn't do politics, but we aggressively engage in the house races, all of the policy stakes i've just they seem like a hinge on the outcome, they'll hinge on of the presidential election. i suggest that what happens in can and and senate must serve as a back stop the policies that harm our economy and as a means to willce the priorities that help drive growth for all of us.

has put y the chamber it all on the line to preserve a ro-business majority in the congress and especially the our focus is getting out, if you have been a quick nap, the deal here, the guys that get the vote going to win and we have a very aggressive program with undreds of companies around this country to get the ceo, i lobbyists, end the send the politicians, send the lawyers to the ball game and for once, run the company nd tell those people that work for you how important it is that they and their neighbors and out to vote and if we do that, we're going to be in much better position. that we're very proud of this organization.

has been a stalwart of everything we stand for. it's given us an opportunity to express our fundamental beliefs and to do it in the public and it in the courts and to do to reform commitment american's -- america's legal system. we can't do that if we don't ustain some power in the house and the senate. introduce nor now to a man who has a great sense and i just said. fore enter this new chapter nation, we need the voices of reason to prevail in the public debate, to provide sensible leadership and to speak up on behalf of businesses with passion, manners and common sense. think of a few people -- hink of few people better

positioned to do that than former massachusetts mitt romney. is a triple threat, business leader, dedicated in a dedicated effective public servant and he is a good and decent man. takes to run a t business, he's done it. he know what is it takes to run it.ate, he's done and he is proof that polics need to be nasty and abide by s can indeed strong principles. throughout its career, he's been faith, values and integrity. e could use a little more of that today. he's also one to tell the truth apology eak without about what he believes. wonders about he threats we face in politics, in and national security and time again he's proven have been

right. when i heard that he was going to be the keynote speaker today, lisa, would you listen to my suggestions? does.ionally she and she said, what do you want me to do? i said, title his speech, i told you so. [laughter] tom donohue: of course he's too that, but i hope that as our divided nation faces unprecedented challenges in the months to come that our leaders closely to what governor romney has had to say say now and in the future. we're honored that he is here today to share his thoughts on the political environment and what it means to business. please join me in welcoming governor mitt romney. [applause]

mitt romney: thank you so much. generous. very kind. thank you. thank you. thank you. very genius. thank you. please. thank you, tom. that was a powerful intruction powerful remarks. it's good to be with you today. a regular basis, boy, why aren't you running this year. that now and then, too. but i did that once, you may not that.known i'm asked, why did you lose? and i do remember the famous mondaleafter he had the misfortune of running reagan, he said, all my life, i wanted to run for worst way, the that's just what i did. [laughter]

learned from my experience a greater degree of the future for the country. we are a great people and we have characteristics which will in my view to lead the world this century and perhaps beyond. in particular now because we're going through a dramatic change in the nature of competition and enterprise in the world. that change is associated with innovation. we've been innovating on, if you will, linear basis, over the 100 years and shifting to in nential change innovation. because of the ability to categorize and collect enormous data, to process it in devices in our hands and also injected in our bloodstream to look at our health and so forth. ars will not be driven by humans, but by machines. the world will change in extraordinary ways that are hard predict n. an environment like that, a nation which is

innovative nation should win. and that is exactly what we are. no nation is as competitive as in creating new enterprise, new businesses, new technologies and i don't know is.that part of it is just in our d.n.a. majority of our ancestors that have come to this country have come here for opportunity. of the 25 largest market cap america, companies in 60% of them were started by first or second-generation immigrants. it's in our d.n.a. and our culture. our legal system encourages bankruptcy laws for instance allow people to take risk without becoming if the ly devastated risk doesn't pay out. a government has not placed heavy hand over the years of picking winners and losers, innovate and e to create change. our educational system creates research centers, but students with great skill and

capacity. and our financial structure, we have all sorts of cap 258, capital, lbo capital, of anine debt and all sorts financing to people and companies that have ideas. n myself view, this century will remain an american century. the only thing that could mess government, hat in can't deal with the inevitable challenges that any great confronts. we've had challenge necessary our past and we've ultimately overcome them one after the other. right now, we have a whole stack incredibly ournd federal government seems with major dealing challenges that the country faces. a moment, what do you think are the biggest challenges that america confront? of people a numbe this and put a poll together and written them down and looked at them one by one. let's go threw them. as a good republican, start with debt. debt held by the public right

now, the governmental debt is gdp, 70 or 80% of the forecast over the next few decades to get to 200% of the gdp. you know why? that is unsustainable level. course, is of because the nondiscretionary items in federal spending which two-thirds of federal spending entitlements and interest, those continue to grow at rates which far outstretch the rate of growth of our economy. there is virtually no effort that has been under tlt aken, at least in the last eight years or so on use out of the aisle to find a way to stop growth of these nondiscretionary programs. that has been no proposal made progress at all with regard to medicare, medicaid, social to solve we know how those problems. there just isn't the wheel in it.ington to deal with let's take another issue. poverty. man, when i was a young

1965, graduated from high school, lbj declared war on poverty. we've spent trillions to fight poverty and he have record in ers of poor people america today. percentage of people living in in rty is the same as back the 1960s, just under 15%. let's take another challenge face, that is tougher competition in the education young people around the world. cost of educating a dollars 2 in today's was 57,000 dollars. k-12. $164,000.s so we've tripled the amount per student we spend for a child to school. we've doubled the number of educators, doubled number of who work per student and how the kids done? english, math and science haven't moved at all. to fix k-12

education. there just doesn't seem to be he will to actually do what is necessary to fix it. income inequality. inequality hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse, yet proposals suggest how we could really attack the roots of the fact people in middle income lower income necessary america aren't seeing progress and need.t our lead military, another challenge. assertiveng much more china. e're facing a adventuresome russia, someone like peters zian wrote the book, "accidental said, russia he will collapse in eight years, russia will collapse in eight years, he writes, unless russia takes over population and erritory from some of their former satellites and that is what they've been doing. course, allenges, of isis and the threat of radical

jihadism. despite hallenges and that, we continue to shrink capacity.footprint and another challenge that is not being met. i'll mention one more, the compete.f america to american competitiveness. have we made it more attractive compete in america or less attractive? i think you know the answer to that. you hear about companies doing something called that ions, that suggests people are deciding it is better to be outside america than inside america. and when politicians are saying, we've got to make it illegal for whento do that or tax them they do that, stop them from leaving. don'tif they are leaving, them from leaveingly, figure out how to make them want to stay. make it attractive to be in this country. our tax environment, regulatory environment, legal environment, all these things make it harder for enterprise to stay and want grow and re and

thrive. i was in denmark a couple years and before a speech the remarks i sat next to a gentleman who told me that he think six or eight different companies. nd they were through scandinavia and parts of europe. me how bad the taxes were in denmark. i said, why don't you move to he united states and bring business there. he said, i would never go to the u.s. because of it is litigation u.s. these n the are wake-up call concerns. we don't seem to be able to deal with them. of us who haveot been in the political environment, not to make it clear how important it is to with these thing and layout proposals address them. watched the presidential debates and looked at the give been almost e has no discussion of those things i've just described. the debt and how to deal with it and reforming entitlements, i

either candidate has said they will inform entitlements. poverty and roots of poverty, we know how to intergenerational poverty, but we don't. takes to fix t education, but we don't. we know what it takes to raise wages. of the n the other side aisle have made that a centerpiece of their campaign, equality andncomin lack of progress for middle income families and it is which, gosh, i kick myself as a republican nominee for president, not having done a better job of communicating this. let me describe what i mean. do in the eak as you primary to people who are strong republicans and conservatives, begin to speak in shorthand because they have heard the kind i make, heard it time and again and understand what you mean. when i talk about making america attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs, and

hen i want to make america a terrific place for small when ss and big business, i want to see corporations thrive and grow in america. years, it is something which they can connect with. large, they at think the reason i'm talking about business is because all i people.ut is rich suffer when le who business is leaving or not in theful are the people middle class. f you want to get wages up in america, for middle income americans, there is only one way i know how to do that in real terms, you can create inflation and you can transfer money from other.rson to the you don't have real income growth in that case. real income to get up for the middle class of america is by having more

more sses want to hire people.

allow us to have the military that can defend american interest around the world. love this country. represent i love we accomplished as a nation, i -- get these things resolved so the energy and passion of the

merican people can create the businesses and grow the enterprises that will hire more to higher wages for the american peep and he will make sure we can finance and the great strength that is america. thanks so much, great to be with today. thank you. >> thank you, governor. solicited a few questions in helping to guide corporateg strategies. they are in the boardroom much more now and in the decisions being made. as a former governor and american entrepreneur, what advice would you give. what advice would you give to guide them in 2017? i think it is

helpful to have a prescriptive -- a perspective of what is happening globally an international competition. let me tell you a story. coming towarzenegger california, this is republican governor for me. i put up billboards in his state with me and a t-shirt and he says much lower taxes. [applause] i think people in the legal world have the ability to create a perspective on what is happening globally and in competition and technology in the legal environment and they help the enterprise make the choices as to where the

investments thrive. and the -- a very strong pitch in what is involved in washington to help people understand. they want to see their enterprise dad employment and jobs and raise wages that they have to make it more attractive for the enterprise to do that business in the u.s. as opposed to making it less attractive. legal counsel has the capacity danay-to-day operations and perspective on what is happening and help inform the board and informed management on some of those issues. >> thank you. very helpful advice. i will go with one more because we have a teeny bit of time left. what is the primary release it

-- reason you decided to leave the business world and try your hand at politics? mr. romney: delusion. [laughter] i am kidding about that. look, i sort of backed into it. i was enjoying my business p love enterprise and the thrill of being at enterprise that employs people and creates wealth for all of those associated with it. friends of mine in utah where preparing to organize the olympic games in 2002. mired in scandal because there were allegations of bribery to have the games go to salt lake. the governor said would you -- my business career was largely with turns -- turnarounds. businesses in trouble that we invested in and then try to turn them around. i thought was helpful.

long story short, i was not a great athlete my sons got five boys and the kind of athleticism i do not have. ien my oldest son had heard had taken the lipid job, he said dad, i called the brothers this morning and we want you to know there is not a circumstance we could have developed that would put you on the front page of the sports section. [laughter] mr. romney: i did it because i believe the olympics was one of the few places left in the planet where young people could see the great qualities of human spirit on display. determination, sacrifice, teamwork, sportsmanship, and so forth. over, we gots were -- the state got into financial difficulty and the boston globe wrote an article saying it would be nice if the governor who has gone off to help rescue the limits out there would come back

here. i was persuaded by a number of folks to do that. i was suddenly in public service. i find the translation to be far more normal and easy than you might expect. people assume if you are in business, whatever you say has to be done automatically by the enterprise, it -- that you are the boss if you are the ceo. fromnderstand that is far the truth. you have got customers and unions and your board of directors, the bankers, the list goes on and on of people who are your bosses. people inside the enterprise want your job. it is a complicated process. the political environment you are dealing with is a lot like public service. i found i was able to translate some of those skills to working across the aisle if you will. i love being governor.

it was a fabulous experience. we accomplished a lot. had the good fortune of having my legislature in the opposite party's hands. was aker of the house democrat and the senate president was a democrat. that meant, it taught me from the very beginning, i couldn't force my way through. i had to learn to find common ground. i wish we had more people to work successfully to do that. i did not get everything i wanted done. but i got a lot done. i think some of those skills are essential now. let me just say this. it is an honor to be with you. i wish we had all day. i am optimistic. i think america has all of the elements that are essential for us to lead. you to get involved.

it is a great experience for you will of it. [laughter] -- you will love it. [laughter] mr. romney: congratulations to you. let's work together and make sure america remains the hope of the earth. [applause] >> the 20 solve republican candidate in our 2016 wrote to the white house coverage continues on c-span with hillary clinton and a campaign rally in tampa, florida. republican vice presidential candidate mike pence, that state has six electoral votes in recent polls. donald trump hillary clinton,

and at mcmullen. at five:ee the rally 30 eastern on c-span two. health and human services secretary on upcoming changes to the health care system earlier this week. it average -- the average for rose 25% compared to 2016. you can see her comments live from the georgetown institute of politics and public service at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span brings you more debates this week from key house and senate races. today at 7:00 live on c-span, democratic congressman chris van hollen and republican kathyseliga -- republican representative and democrat -- then a debate for the florida senate.

live thursday night at 8:00 eastern, republican senator kelly and senator maggie debate for the hasher senate seat. watch key debates from house, senate, and governors races from the c-span network. listen on the c-span radio app. c-span, where history unfolds daily. >> on election day, november 8, the nation decides our next president. with c-span, including campaign stops with hillary clinton, donald trump, and surrogates. follow key house and senate races. c-span, where history unfolds daily.

indiana governors debate -- needle exchange programs, medical marijuana, and the power of a pardon. this is an hour. welcome toning and the indiana debate commission's third and final gubernatorial debate. this is being televised from the performance center. at the university of southern indiana. the three candidates want to succeed governor mike pence, a republican who is donald trump's vice presidential running mate. it is my pleasure to be your moderator this evening. it is great to be back here in evansville where i served for the evansville courier press from 2007- 2012. our first debate focused on

education. the second was on jobs and the economy. we are now turning our attention to health and social issues. for the next hour the candidates will debate issues mostly focused on those topics. many questions are drawn from those submitted by you, members of the voting public throughout indiana. some will be asked in person here by members of our audience. none of the questions have been shared in advance with any candidates. here are our candidates. eric holcomb is indiana's lieutenant governor. john gregg is the democratic candidate and a former indiana house speaker. rex bell is the libertarian candidate and owns a small business. the candidates' position on the stage and the order they answer questions were determined by a locked conducted by the debate commission. after i asked the question, each candidate will have one minute to respond.

each candidate will also have a 30-second rebuttal opportunity depending on the need. before the final question, each candidate will be given an opportunity to address a topic of his choice. this allow candidates to discuss a topic they believe is important but has not been touched on in the questions, or they can elaborate on a topic discussed previously. at this time, each candidate will make a one minute opening statement. we will begin with mr. holcomb. lt. gov holcomb: it's good to be back on the campus. thank you to the indiana debate commission for hosting all three of the debates and thank you to the cubs fan who are tuning in before the first pitch. i would like to say indiana has never been a more prosperous position. unemployment is 4.5% lower than the national average.

we have more people working in the private sector than ever before in our 200 year history of the state. a healthy savings account and a triple-a credit rating. we have become a real leader nationally and internationally. logistics, biosciences, manufacturing. to take us to the next level, i believe we are going to have to focus on our people, our people, our people. if we uip our youngest people at the preschool age, when have a ticket to their success going into a college or career, we will let in fact take indiana to the next level. >> now mr. gregg. mr. gregg: i want to thank my opponents for the civility of which we have conducted this debate. it is not like the zoo going on

at the national level. i would like to congratulate them on their conduct. i want to serve as indiana's 51st governor. i believe indiana can do better. as governor i will focus like a laser on the economy, on high wage jobs, on attracting businesses, not scaring them away. in education as governor, we will stop teaching to test. we will see teachers as part of the solution, not the problem, and we will have prekindergarten for all students. as a former president of the university, i am ready to govern and i'm ready to learn. check out our positions at greggforgovernor.com. moderator: mr. bell. mr. bell: i would like to think the indiana debate commission for including us this evening. thank you for hosting this debate. i have a connection to this institution, my two oldest children graduated from here more years ago than i like to think. my plan for indiana is to get government out of your way. things we can think individuals do better.

we would like to attract more jobs and better paying jobs in indiana. we feel we can do that by a eliminating the property tax. both for businesses and it individuals. this is what government does to attract jobs already to a few select businesses. we think we should do it for all businesses so we would have more businesses and jobs than we can keep up with. we would like to return control of the schools to the parents and teachers on local boards, get away from washington and the state. let the people who care most about the children do it. moderator: thank you. on to our questions. our first question will be asked by danielle my web developer here at the university of southern indiana. >> as governor would you support the expansion of needle exchange programs, and how would you assist the increasing number of hoosiers who are dependent on illegal and prescription drugs? lt. gov holcomb: this is an

issue that is strangling not just our families but communities across the state and in fact across the whole nation. we need to continue to explore every way we can to not just solve the problem for one community but to kill the drug epidemic itself. we're going to have to focus making sure we are preventing, that we are enforcing and that we are most importantly treating the families and individuals caught up in this scourge. yes to the needle exchange program. if we have to change the lot to do it, we will. to make sure it is more efficient. that will require legislative action. it will require action to make sure locals can identify and act on the problem and not wait on the state to make sure they get

the resources they need. this is an all hands on deck effort and it is a top priority in my administration. moderator: thank you mr. holcomb, now to mr. gregg. mr. gregg: we have a public safety plan. the first thing it mentions is about drugs. it is about that crisis. indiana is first in methamphetamine and fifth in heroin overdoses. the truth of the matter is we have got to change the way we look at drugs. for the dealer and the

trafficker, they need to be locked up. to the violent criminals they need to be locked up. but too many hoosiers, we need to realize this is a medical issue and we need to treat it as such. we need to realize that rehabilitation works. or every dollar we within rehab, we save four dollars in public health and seven dollars in the criminal justice system. we can do better. we cannot afford just to continue to build prisons. rehabilitation works. check out our full program at greggforgovernor.com. mr. bell: thank you. if we look at what we have accomplished in the last 50 years, we have to say "nothing." you know, the addiction rate is the same as it was. what are we doing, how are we going to continue this? we need to make a change. we need to stop treating drug addiction as a crime. we need to treat it as an

illness. we need to decriminalize a lot so that when people need help they can step forward without fear of being arrested. needle exchange program, a lot of political input on that, a lot of play from both sides. it is not something that can't he done privately. needles cost seven cents. we have seen the instances in west virginia and different states where private individuals and private organizations have set up needle exchange. at the local pharmacy. it is something we can do. there is a lot we can do that doesn't involve government force. moderator: our next question will also come from the audience and will be asked by amy kelly. she the regional director for the mentor network which provides residential community-based services for workers with disabilities. >> the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 80%.

many people disabilities can and want to work. what will you do to create employment opportunities to have access to job training and careers that will increase their independence? mr. gregg: the first thing we need to do in indiana is to take a look at how we are doing our training right now. i have employers tell me they never talk about taxes, they talk about needing employees. we are doing training through the governor's office. some sort of workforce development office. some through ivy tech. there is not a lot of communication. i think we can do a better job if we have all of these groups talking to one another so we find out what is working, what is not working, and what we are training people for. another thing is the state's adding processes have been changed where they really work to a detriment of the small business owner, people with

disabilities and minorities. the bids are to big for startups to bid on. when he to make them easier for those folks access. moderator: thank you. mr. bell. mr. bell: when we talk about unemployment, and we look at it when everybody is involved, people without disabilities have a leg up on being able to get that job. what we need to consider, are there enough jobs out there? what can we do to create more jobs? if we did away with the property tax, attract more businesses to the state, we would have businesses competing for workers incident of workers competing for the jobs. i think that is something we need to consider. the best thing we can do to help everybody, disabled or not, is make a situation where there are more jobs available.

i think we can do that. as i say, with doing away with the property tax is going to solve a lot of the problems try to figure out another way to fix it. i think we already have the answer if we just take it. lt. gov holcomb: i agree with both on two issues. people are not talk about taxes because they are a reasonable level in the state of indiana and i take that as a compliment. and mr. bell is correct in the sense that what we have to do is make sure we are building an economy and a jobs market magnet that lifts all boats. specifically when it comes to those who are disabled, our work will never be done on this front. we need it to make sure we are focused on what they are able to do in transforming our workforce development can go a long way on this front. we need to make sure there are

local providers like the teaching hotel providing skills to those who are disabled. creative ways to get folks into the job force, so with the department of workforce development and with local partnerships this will go a long way. moderator: let me remind you that tonight's debate focuses on health and social issues facing hoosiers. our next question was supported by mitchell smith, a graduate student in indianapolis. indiana is ranked 48th and public health funding. $39 per person. indiana is ranked 41st and overall health and ranks high in

the percentage of people who are obese and diabetic. indiana is also ranked 47th and air quality. given all of this, what do you plan to do about investing in the health of hoosiers? let me remind folks watching via television and live stream that this is a question that has particular resonance here in southwestern indiana between local health indicators and the presence of coal-fired power plants. we will turn first to mr. bell. mr. bell: there is a lot of parts to that question. certainly we expect the government to protect us from fraud. if someone is polluting the air we need to step up and put an end to that. as far as the obesity problem, that is something we have to look at and say is that the role of government or something we

can handle as a society? and i say, as a society we have a better shot handling that type of thing. a lot of this is considered how we can steer society towards these areas. certainly whenever we have a company coming in with jobs and they want to keep a healthy workforce, they are invested in that type of a situation. it is what we need the work for, other than government protecting us from somebody, forcing something on us. we need to step back from that. moderator: now to mr. holcomb. lt. gov holcomb: there are many, many parts to that question. some concern behavior and choices we make. if we are talking about obesity, we need to make sure that there are no food deserts. and that is a local issue we need to get to so folks are not restricted to healthy food options.

we need to make progress in 2005 building out our trail systems. all over the state of indiana. this was a big part of our regional cities initiative, to make sure communities were vibrant, to encourage keeping in shape. if you are smoking, we know there is an adverse connection between smoking and obesity. i would encourage folks to take advantage of 1-800-quitnow. there are programs and i would encourage people to call if you are under the grips of smoking. 1-800-quitnow. mr. gregg: indiana does rank so badly when it comes to public health, you can directly relate that to the priority we put on it. being one of the five lowest

states. we see that in the obesity. we see that in the diabetes. and all of the other issues. i met with people from riley children's hospital. we talked about the problem we have in indiana. in some cases just basic education would go a long way helping with infant mortality rate. sometimes it is education. sometimes it is telling mothers not to sleep with their children and sometimes it is educating them not to smoke. we see problems in indiana caused by public health by the lack of priority we put in this

area. like our caseworkers supposed to be dealing with just 12 cases but in reality they are dealing with a up in the 20's and higher. an adult protective services person dealing with 200-300. >> we receive many questions from a man released from prison after witnesses recanted and dna evidence cleared him. governor pence has refused to mr. cooper. and has instructed him to go back to the courts.

how do you believe the power of the pardon should be used, and would you use it in his case? we will start with mr. holcomb. lt. gov holcomb: reviewing what i have on this ce, i am not governor yet, i want to make sure i talked to mr. cooper and review the facts of the case. i understand where governor pence is coming from. this would be in unprecedented pardon. having said that, knowing the facts as i do now, and wanting to accumulate more, i would look forward to quickly exonerating, quickly pardoning, swiftly if the facts bear that out. mr. gregg: based on what i have read i would pardon. i would pardon him immediately.

i have traveled the state. this has been a huge news item. and a concern. i think any governor would realize this is something you need to do on a case-by-case basis and know the facts much much like my friend mr. holcomb said. but there comes a time when you have to make a decision. the facts in this are pretty clear. i take these charges seriously. i've had these discussion was members of state police alliance, the organization of our state troopers who have endorsed me.

i'm very proud of that endorsement. as also the members of the fraternal order of police so i take crime and law and order seriously. but when the system has made a mistake we need to correct it immediately and move on. moderator: mr. bell. mr. bell: i think he should be pardoned immediately. i follow this case. you have to look at it and say whenever something like this comes up, definitely the burden of proof should be on the state always. if there is any question at all, and certainly in a case like this where there is no question the man was innocent, he needs to be pardoned. i can't understand. it is one of those situations where we are saying we need to protect the government instead of the individuals. we should not be doing that. the individual should always be first. if we start worrying about we are worrying about the protocol of what has happened before, what kind of precedent it would set, if we set a precedent for releasing innocent people from prison that would be a good one to set. moderator: we are now going to turn back to the audience. an attorney will ask the next question. >> what role will your faith play in your decisions you make as governor? where do you draw the line between religious beliefs, and what is best for the interest of all hoosiers? moderator: mr. gregg will

respond first. mr. gregg: i'm a person of faith. like many people in our nation i happen to belong to the christian faith. but i also realize there are people of other faiths and some people of no faith and i respect that. i think that is the same way you will find that i will govern. i will respect a peoples. i think that is what we are called to do. i will take an oath to uphold our constitution and treat people equally. my faith is something that is important to me. i'm not running to force my ideology or my faith on someone else. rather than stand on the street corner, i will use a biblical analogy, i would rather people know that i'm a person of faith by my actions. moderator: very good. next, mr. bell. mr. bell: my faith is important to me. it is not something i want to force on other people. if you have done any reading it all on the libertarian party, that is what we are all about.

we look at the individual. every individual has rights. and you know, if you get 40 individuals together they do not have more rights than a single individual. for me to decide that the bulk of the nation is a christian nation that we should follow christian teachings, that is not for me to say. that is not for me to decide for you. certainly we would separate our faith from our governing ideals. i hope everybody would do that. moderator: thank you. mr. holcomb, bring it home. lt. gov holcomb: as governor, i would respect all faiths and those of no faith at all. i consider myself a matthew six christian. someone who tries to live out my faith. i think there are many lessons in the good book that instruct me privately and i will continue to take that approach as governor. one that would absolutely try to live it and not have to profess it. i understand the power of witness but you can get that in watching how someone actually lives their life. moderator: thank you. speaking of expressions of faith and values, one voter asked about the indiana ban on the sale of alcohol on sunday. would your administration support modifying or eliminating the ban? why or why not? we will start with mr. bell. mr. bell: i have always maintained anything legal on saturday should be legal on sunday. [laughter] mr. bell: regardless of how i feel about it. i'm not a drinker. i am not going to buy it on saturday a handout i am not g to buy it on sunday. but if somebody wants to, this is left over from the blue laws. you could sell cold beer in one situation and in another you can't. you get into situations where a person, a store can be selling warm beer.

if the power goes off in the beer gets too cold, all of a sudden he is breaking the law. i think that is something we need to look at and do away with the blue laws, and allow sunday sales. lt. gov holcomb: i don't favor it. i think alcohol is still a legally controlled substance in the state of indiana. we need to make sure we are able to do that. making sure our excise police

have resources, this doesn't put an undue burden on folks who need to have a drink on a sunday. i think they can plan accordingly six days prior. mr. gregg: well, when you plan for things, right you didn't plan on a lot of questions, that is not one i thought we would be asked about. how people would decide how they would vote for governor. i would want to see a piece of legislation. let me tell you why. it is a controlled substance. the idea that anybody can sell it without having proximities and all, there is some concerns on that. i think if the legislature set me a bill to allow sunday sales i would likely sign it. having given it a lot of thought, i would want to see how the debate play out and listen to retailers and consumers. but contrary to what my mother is going to say, she is not going to like my answer, i would likely sign it. moderator: we are going to continue on the theme of controlled substances with a question from jason, a retired air force nurse from the indianapolis area. jason wanted to know, why is

that we have not allowed cannabis to become a medical treatment for children with untreatable diseases? we allow medicine such as ketamine, a derivative of pcp to be used, methamphetamine to be used to treat adhd, and oxycodone for pain. but we will not allow patients to even try cannabis. the question is why. we will start with mr. holcomb. lt. gov holcomb: having a discussion about legalizing drugs at this time seems to be off-key. when you read about story after story about the drug busts occurring that have marijuana and heroin, this is a great concern. i understand the distinction. between medical marijuana and legalizing it wholesale. i would want to talk a lot more with the medical professionals

who say there are no other alternatives for these children. and make sure that the children are receiving the treatment they need and if only medical marijuana could suffice. then i would entertain that as an option. but right now in the world we're are living in, expanding or legalizing drugs is not on my list. mr. gregg: this is a very serious matter. i would support as i did in 2012, i would support medical marijuana. i think this is something that if it would be a benefit to a patient and they should be allowed to use it. in the last election i lost my father to cancer of the esophagus and it was a very pain all death and not a fun one to observe in the last year of dads life. the doctor never said anything about cannabis and medical marijuana but have they have, we

should have had that right to let him alleviate that pain. i would support medical marijuana as i did the last time. moderator: mr. bell. mr. bell: i would support medical marijuana and i think, we are going to seeing after this election there is going to be more states supporting it already. allowing it. it is a matter if indiana is going to do it. i don't know exactly when by eventually we are going to allow it. it is something we need to step out in front of and get it done. there is so much we can do, not only helping people that need it for sickness. it has been proven to be a help in alleviating some of the opiate addictions going on around here. that we are having so much trouble with. so there is more the and one

reason to legalize it. and you know, along with that, you know, even with the industrial hemp that we need to bring back in. it is a plant that has been made illegal yes and years ago and we need to re-legalize it. moderator: mr. holcomb, would you like to have a 30 second rebuttal opportunity? mr. holcomb: i remain where i was standing. i have not flip-flopped. moderator: a question from a resident of indiana. recently a federal judge put on hold the most restrictive antiabortion bill to come out of the state legislature. what is your position on abortion and birth control? we will start with mr. gregg. mr. gregg: i have always been and considered myself a pro-life

democrat. with that said, i do not believe it is my business to interject myself and issues between a woman and her physician. i do not believe legislatures should be practicing medicine. i have always supported the funding of planned parenthood, even though personally being opposed to abortion, because dthe truth of the matter is, all of the money that they get from taxpayers goes to providing birth control and health screenings. and cutting down on std's and mammograms. i mean, that is what the money is for. if we are talking about birth. if the problem is unwanted children, we need to make that more accessible. i would have vetoed that though. there were many members of the legislature who had been pro-life for many years who got up and spoke out against it in a bipartisan fashion. it stops millions of dollars of research on alzheimer's and cancer and things like that. it is just wrong. moderator: very good. mr. bell? mr. bell: certainly, i am opposed.

i understand that it is a problem that will never be solved. i think that in a situation like this bill, stepping in between a woman and her doctor, that is wrong. i think one of the best things that we can do about abortion is make sure that we keep the federal government out of it, allow the states to make these decisions. i do not think every state will decide the same. i believe if someone is 100% pro-life or 100% pro-choice, they will never be satisfied by a decision handed down by a judge anyway. we need to take it back to the states and get the federal government out of it. moderator: we conclude the question with mr. holcomb. mr. holcomb: i am pro-life. i understand the debate is been going on for decades and there are good people on both sides. having said that, i personally have the right to take another innocent life. while my agenda will focus on

economic development, community development, excellence in education, and good government and taxpayer value, if legislation comes down to my desk, i will be working with those legislators before it arrived so we can avoid any missed impressions along the way. moderator: thank you very much. now we come to the segment of e debate where candidates speak on a topic of their choice. mr. holcomb will go first and can talk for up to one minute. mr. bell will follow on the same topic for a maximum of two minutes. mr. gregg will also speak on

that topic for up to two minutes. and then we will conclude the first round with mr. holcomb, who can close out the topic with up to one minute of rebuttal. the other candidates will have the same opportunity to speak on a topic of their choice following the normal rotation and format. we start with mr. holcomb. mr. holcomb: my topic involves public service. i have long appreciated serving a cause greater than myself starting with the u.s. navy. that took me to service at home and abroad will stop i later went to work for other strong leaders, including former governor daniels and a united states senator and now our governor, mike pence. when he called, i was not seeking the job, but i jumped up in a nanosecond and put aside what i was working on at the time to help a cause greater

than myself. because of public service, we are able to do so much when we are focusing, working on leaders throughout my life, i have learned a few things. i have learned to focus and prioritize. that is why i am laser focused on my four-point plan to make sure that we get indiana to the next level. moderator: mr. bell, you have two minutes. mr. bell: certainly public services important. i think a lot of what we need to do is public service is designed to put government in a position where it is helpful to everybody. to guide government to a position where it is helpful to everybody, not transferring money from one citizen to another, not making our educational choices for us. i think one of the best things

we can do as public servants is to lead to the government out of people's way. that is what i will try to do. i understand there are people who have been involved in politics their entire lives. and you know, you get into a situation where it is the same group of people making the same rules and you know, basically i believe we should not be making rules, we should be removing rules. there is not a law to protect people from forces abroad, it should not be on the books. moderator: thank you, mr. bell. mr. gregg, you have two minutes. mr. gregg: thank you. i believe in public service. i am very proud to have been a candidate for governor. in 2012 and this time. and, i am proud of many years ago when i served in the general

assembly and indiana many years ago. i am equally proud of having been a small businessmen, having made a payroll, having been a president of the university. i was a member of the indiana house of representatives, met one party had the best ideas. ideas should not be called democrat or republican, they should be good or bad. i was the speaker for six years and in two of those years, we were tied. almost all politicians you hear say i can work with the other side of the aisle. trust me, when you're 50-50, you work with the other side of the aisle. the entire time i was speaker, the senate was controlled by the republican party, so every piece of legislation -- cutting the inventory tax, cutting our excise tax, funding schools and infrastructure, those all landed on the governor's desk with democrat and republican support. i am very proud of that. i have traveled the state, i have listened and learned. they are tired of partisan politics. i have a record of reaching

across the aisle and i am very proud that in my last speaker of the house, i won a national award by governing magazine for being public official of the year. but i shared it with the republican speaker of the indiana house of representatives. we won the award by working together in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation on tax restructuring and doing away with indiana's excise tax. moderator: thank you mr. gregg. mr. holcomb, you can close it out. mr. holcomb: one of the things i am most proud about in my state government public service, coming to state government in 2005, was that i saw people who used to be cynics, for used to believe that things could not get done start to believe because there were person after person who never thought i-69

would get done in their lifetime. we have made a record investment in education. in the last budget, we increased it by $474 million. record investments in infrastructure. record, creative, innovative investments into health care, insuring over 400,000 hoosiers. under our helping indiana plan 2.0. these are the things we avenge able to do in the last 12 years a bipartisan way and get the state moving again. moderator: thank you mr. holcomb. the next round will begin with mr. bell. you have one minute on a topic of your choice.

mr. bell: i guess i get to use a microphone now. the topic of my choice goes to the same thing. everything that we do as a government, we need to look at it, is this the proper role of government? as i pointed out before, should government be taking money from one citizen and forcibly giving it to another citizen? should government be taking money from citizens and giving it to businesses? and we say, no, that is a decision that people should make. which business been one to support, which charity they want to support. i think that by eliminating the property taxes, we cannot allow people and society to attract businesses, which is what we should be doing. what government should be doing is taking all of the taxes and using them on the road. we should eliminate incarceration for victimless crime. thank you. moderator: thank you, mr. bell bell. mr. gregg: i understand the concern about government but there is a very specific role for government in our lives and one of them is on a our state

infrastructure. indiana has got a problem with state infrastructure and we know it. you do not have to travel to evansville to know the truth of the matter. because the matter is that we have a $200 billion deficit on infrastructure. my running mate and i put out a detailed program with specifics where we go to the next generation trust fund, $500 million, and leverage that while money now, while money as that an all-time low to come up with over 300 billion dollars additional funds for the cities and towns for roads and bridges as we are going over the next 10 years and create 56,000 jobs. this is so important that we do that. one in five bridges is going to be obsolete and not be able to

be used and just 18 years. now, we take the second pot of money and we create the closure state infrastructure bank. because there are some things that are very important. drinking, green spaces, cultural, broadband conductivity. this money will be so local communities can borrow money and improve the quality of life

issues to retract and retain capital. i am concerned about the state advance. working for some of the people in indiana that do not have dependable cell phone service or high-speed internet. and we cannot operate like that in the future. we need money for infrastructure and the plan will put money aside so we can start talking about the fourth port, double tracking the south shore for the south bend to chicago, we can talk about finishing i-69, and we can talk about the new bridge between evansville and henderson. moderator: thank you mr. holcomb. mr. bell, you can close out. mr. gregg: i am mr. gregg. i finished. moderator: sorry. see what happens when i look at my notes. [laughter] moderator: it is all yours. mr. holcomb: i am back here -- the hair challenged one. [laughter] mr. holcomb: if i may. i think mr. bell brings up a great point and it drives at what kind of state we want to be and what role do you want the state government to play in your daily life. one of the things i am most proud for as i went through these statistics earlier about our rankings in the country. it does not just represent numbers, it represents opportunities, and we have been able to make so much progress. at the same time we remain a free state.

we are ranked the fourth freest in the country. that is something to be said, something to be said for that. and at the very same time we have been providing this government service, we have done it at a 1975 state employee level. so we are leaner and cleaner and much more efficient at what we do. absolutely the infrastructure is a part of state responsibility. how are you going to pay for it? give an honest disagreement, mr. gregg and i, on how we are going to pay. i do not want to simply reflexively rain accounts. we want to create a program that was a $3.8 billion infrastructure program that took

us from talking about i-69 to actually building i-69. it took us from talking about completing the heartland to a new bridge in madison. local projects all over the state of indiana that sat for decades, i-69 was talked about during the korean conflict. we finally found a way to not just talk about it but to actually do it. and so, absolutely we need to focus on a long-term, data-driven, sustainable infrastructure system that puts us not just raiding and borrowing. we are still paying on bonds. i do not just want to go down that route. i want a comprehensive, data-driven plan. moderator: mr. bell? mr. bell: a lot of this comes back into the proper role of government when we talk about bombs that we are paying on and when they tore down the hoosier dome when it cost more to tear down than it cost to build in the first place.

it is a matter of when government steps in, things that it should not be involved in. we talk about the roads, certainly everybody wants good roads and bridges. we can accomplish that by applying 100% of road use taxes to the road. you know, we do not need to be taking road use taxes and build walking trails. we talked about the infrastructure in town for water and sewage, certainly that is a necessary item, but it is tied in politically and people are a afraid to raise rates to pay for water and sewage. instead of running to the state governments, companies should be taking care of that on their own. as far as broadband, for the government to step in and say we are going to take care of this -- eh. moderator: thank you, mr. bell. and now, for my final round, mr. gregg. mr. gregg: thank you. thank you for recognizing me. [laughter] mr. gregg: you know, you will hear a lot in this campaign about indiana, the state of indiana. i am not one that accepts the status quo. i will grant and concede to both of my opponents that indiana has low unemployment, but it is nothing to brag about. let's talk about actuality. we do have low unemployment.

the actuality is that we have dropped to 38 per capita income. what that means for a family of four in princeton or fort wayne, they make $7,000 a year less than the average american family . we can do better than that. our wages are growing slower than the rate of inflation and slower than in our neighboring states. they are going slower than what they are in kentucky to the south of us. we need a plan that is in writing and detail that focuses in five main areas which i will explain at the end. moderator: thank you, . gregg. mrholcomb? mr. holcomb: the status quo is in large part why governor mitch daniels got elected in 2015. i do not think that the reforms that we brought about and i was associated with, proud to be a part of that crew that came into the government, we were operating in a sea of red ink,

drowning in it, in fact. the status quo was pushed aside and we set out for infrastructure reform. we ushered in a come back. because of reforms, some of which were back to the cynicism point i made earlier, after you start and paid cashoads for them, not locked it for future generations. having the economy dialed into the point that we have become a magnet, now we are outpacing the national average in terms of tech jobs. we hav