with some -- for her. host: all right, mike from carnegie, pennsylvania. good morning, mike. good morning. host: i'm good, we have a few seconds left. your mind? caller: the reason i will vote hillary made a statement that she was going to husband as the economy you, young lady, and you lie to me five times, trust you? i don't think i could. and they say trump is a loser, hotels, how many asinos, how many golf courses he's accomplished. years?as she done in 30 host: that's it for today's show. some programming notes, donald be speaking in manchester, new hampshire today,

holding a rally there at the radisson armory, live road to the white house coverage of that at noon eastern on c-span. you can see that on c-span.org, radio app. voting at event at university of central florida, on c-span ge of that 2 begins at 5 p.m. announcer: our road to the white house coverage will include a

forum on rhetoric. that is coming up at 11:00 eastern here on c-span. back to the campaigns to look at some the latest ads and how things are looking in new hampshire and nevada. putting my shoes on. and i havebryce muscular dystrophy. i was bullied. i saw donald trump make comments. donald trump: i do not remember. in myo not want bullies life and i definitely do not want one in the white house. crooks imagine a country where jobs are plentiful and families can get ahead. art treated with dignity and disrespect. a country so powerful that

terrorism is in retreat. our families safe. leader who is not emboldened by special interest. make america great again. donald trump. >> i am donald trump and i approve this message. an estimate a new poll in 2 battleground states put together by the marist institute and joining us is the director. joining us.r let's first talk about new hampshire, the presidential race , where's hillary clinton? >> for adonald trump? stated the only have quite true electoral votes, it is a close election. -- for a state that only has 4 in the tour boats is a close election. it was pretty much a tossup. right now, she has a nine point

lead and it there are several factors contributing to that, not the least of which is a 33 point gender gap. she is caring women by 25. he is carrying a man by eight. a very wide gender gap. she is getting more republicans than he is getting democrats. the republican party is less unified in new hampshire around trump than in other states where he does a better rate. -- where he does better. key tohampshire was donald trump winning the first in the country republican primary. he is facingles nationally a microcosm in new hampshire? that is part of it. new hampshire has a very independent string to it in terms of voters. hillary clinton is not only getting more democrats than he

is getting republicans, but she has a seven point advantage among under unaffiliated, independent voters. the lead she has right now at seven point is a good lead for her. post, some are better, some are worse. we are talking electoral votes. if she can have these 4, one of the states she needs to put together to ensure he does not get to 270. she may get it without new hampshire. it serves as a blocking against trump if she carries. is a major difference also in terms of the favorability ratings. we hear that both clinton and trump are unpopular. we hear that both clinton and trump are unpopular.

you look at new hampshire numbers, clinton has a 42% favorability rating. she is pretty even. donald trump has only 29% people, likely voters, view him positively. 68% view him negatively. this is rough terrain for donald trump right now. of thet is home to one most closely watched senate races. governor maggie hassan challenging proposal senator kelly ayotte. your polling showing it is too close to call. >> it is getting a lot of attention and it will continue until election day. it is a one-point difference. what is interesting is kelly ayotte is running 12 points ahead of what donald trump is getting in the state. she has been able to celebrate from the trump numbers to what she needs. as a result, she is competitive, 48 for her than the 36 he is getting. a very close race. control of the u.s. and

is may go through new hampshire. if it does, how this race ends up will be critical. >> another battleground state you have been fault -- poland and is nevada. you have it all tied up. -- polling and that it is nevada. >> our previous poll had a one-point difference. this one really has not moved. it is on some of the things we're talking about new hampshire, the op. cit. of -- the opposite of nevada. lead trump has a six-point among independents and he is getting more democrats than she is getting republicans. is the opposite. the gender gap at 26 points is very wide. it is a state that has a lot of things going on in it in terms of demographic changes. in terms of voters. that does better in states

have more noncollege white voters. not to get to demographic and carving people into little categories, this is a state where many of the white voters are not college educated, and therefore, it is a group he is running a lead up. 19 points. that is very strong for him. it offsets what she is doing with latino voters. johnson, a western governor from new mexico. how is he resonated in nevada? lee: he is getting 10%. he becomes a factor in all of this. i must say about the minor party candidates, pollsters do it 2 ways. sometimes they offer the names and sometimes they don't. if you offer the names like we did in that particular case, the candidates tend to get more when you do not and somebody has to volunteer the choice.

, but in the race that is 43%-43 first, everything he is getting, it could tip in that way. seat with theopen leaving of harry reid. you have been polling. both parties eyeing that. now, the congressman is up. as were talking about in new hampshire, he is running for donald trump, six points ahead and seven points ahead of his opponent. it is interesting, clark county is where a lot of the votes in nevada come from. that is a very democratic area, typically. watching election night if it is a close state, they will be looking at the votes from clark county. his congressional seat is not clark county. as a republican, he is in the

area where he is siphoning off potential votes. this is a very interesting dynamic. it is still close enough it can go either we -- way. the advantage is senator reid's seat may end up going to republican. wouldn't that be ironic if that ended up being the deciding seat? >> lee miringoff with the latest marist poll along with nbc in "washington journal." announcer: back to the new hampshire senate race. republican incumbent kelly ayotte and democratic governor maggie hassan tangled over health care reform and which candidate is beholden to special interest during the second televised debate and is tied race last night. outtional report concluded of stay in special interest money was playing a bigger role in this race than any other with

a 95% of the campaign cash. say the stakes are high. .com.more at unionleader >> tonight the general election debate in new hampshire. and i studio republican a commentor senator kelly ayotte and her democratic challenger, governor maggie hassan. the showdown is one of the most negative senate races in the country. from domestic issues -- >> she has no to write with corporate special interests to undermine security and put the budget on the back of our seniors. >> this has unfortunately been a very negative campaigning from governor asked -- governor hassan and her allies and britain all stores of attacks against me. host: to national security day -- national security -- >> the policies she is supporting and continues to support make us

less safe. gov. hassan: she has put her party before national security. that is a distinction i will drop. host: these two candidates do not see eye to eye. our debate begins right now. host: good evening, it is debate night and we want to welcome the candidates to our studios and thank them for part in the discussion. we want to welcome our viewers watching and to the viewers around the country tuning in on c-span. host: the candidates will each be given a question and will have one minute to respond. you the viewers will hear an audio cue and there will be 30 second rebuttals will be allowed. each will be given one minute closing statements. the governor will go first,

followed by senator kelly ayotte. we are partnering with the open debate coalition. first, tonight's debate will feature the top questions posed a rated by -- and rated by more than 120,000 voters in new hampshire and around the nation. paul: we have a lot of crucial issues. we will start with health care and in the news for those that receiving health care from obamacare, their premiums will rise sharply. here in new hampshire, it will be modest. "tv commercial that says governor hassan cannot stand up to her party. she supports of the broken health care law." governor hassan, we would like to give it just respond to that ad. gov. hassan: thank you for monitoring. and senator, thank you for participating. and to everyone watching, thank

you for watching and engaging in the debate. my husband and i have two terrific kids in our oldest has severe disabilities. and at various times, ben has been a lot of time with doctors. so we know the flaws of the health care system. it is important that we improve the affordable care act, but we should not go back to a time when people who had a pre-existing condition could not purchase insurance. we have our bipartisan expansion program in new hampshire, which offers coverage because of the affordable care act. there are improvements we have to make my but i will fight any attempt to take insurance away from voters, something my

opponent has said she will do. sen. ayotte: thank you for having us. and for all of the viewers. good to be here with you. this issue is one where we have agreement on two things. first, we need to address pre-existing conditions. and those receiving coverage now, we do not want to pull out the rug from under them. that is why i voted for medicaid expansion for two years so we can work on a solution to give more ability to states to craft their own solution. make no mistake, higher deductibles and premiums, and people were told they could keep their plans if they liked it, but costs have gone up. we need more competition and more transparency. i have supported health savings accounts and more competition and transparency. this is a big difference between us, because she is going to be following hillary clinton's lead on this and she wants to expand the affordable care act when there are so many issues with it.

gov. hassan: people should be clear that my opponent has voted to repeal medicaid expansion. she is using washington speak to tell you, because she is willing to give you one more year and then pull the rug out, somehow that is a good thing. we came together and a bipartisan group of us built an expansion program that has added competition on the exchange. there is more to do to fix the issues and problems and lower the cost, but we should not dop -- do it by taking away health care from people. paul: we will stick with health care. kiki: name three things you could propose to lower the price of health care premiums. senator ayotte, we start with you. sen. ayotte: eliminate some of the mandates from washington. you have to give people the ability to have flexibility with different plans.

they should have been able to keep their plan if they liked it, which at they have not been able to do. we should expand health savings accounts and transparency in the health care system. you should be able to purchase insurance across state lines. there is so much more to do. but i know one-size-fits-all from washington is not going to solve it for people in new hampshire that have higher co-pays and premiums. this is a real issue for families struggling. let me go back to something that governor hassan said with regards to medicaid expansion. i voted to expand it for two years because i want new , hampshire based solutions and new ways to craft ways to better serve people who need help. not just washington telling us how to do this. kiki: governor? gov. hassan: we put together the medicaid expansion, which she has voted to repeal five times. look, there are a number of things we need to do to lower the health care costs, among

them, reward quality over quantity. get generic drugs to market more quickly. something senator and yet has not been willing to do. we could also allow the importation of drugs from canada, something she has voted against. it is reflective of her pattern with special interests, and major donors to her campaign. sen. ayotte: i have supported allowing generic jurist to get to market sooner. -- generic drugs to get to market sooner. and we need to address changes with the fda. i support the fair drug pricing act that will require companies to notify us in advance we can take action. governor hassan's favorite talking point is that somehow i am supporting special interests. she is actually raising money for lobbyist from big pharma as she is criticizing mean -- gov.

may. hassan: if i could, first of all, the senator has failed to stand up to big pharma over and over again. and she continues to talk about -- the people are so frustrated with the washington that is broken, because of people like my opponent, that stand with their party and special interests, instead of people in the small businesses of new hampshire. sen. ayotte: think about this, if you are wondering who will make changes to the affordable care act to have more transparency choice, the governor stands with hillary clinton. this system needs to be changed. and she stands with her on the flawed iran agreement that is dangerous for the country. and she has proposed tax increases that will hurt families in new hampshire. kiki: john would like to know, what will you do about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs? governor, we will start with you. gov. hassan: thank you for the question.

as you know, my family and i deal with insurance companies, changing with prescriptions my son can have, because of the prices skyrocketing. among the things we could do is allow medicare to negotiate for prescription drug prices, the volume of that would bring the price down. it is something that the senator has failed to stand up for. she has stood with pharma repeatedly and this is something -- one of the major things we could do to lower the cost of prescription drugs, along with allowing them to be imported from canada, which she voted against a doing. this is an election about whether you will have a senator who stands up for the people of new hampshire, as i have. we have been working together to make progress. we have a 2.9% unemployment rate and nbc has listed us as the most business friendly state and

the country. we need to reach across the line and make progress. kiki: senator? sen. ayotte: i would support medicare upon stress ability to negotiate. medicare's ability to negotiate. but that is not enough. but we need to solve the problem here. this is why i would support getting more competition and more generics to market. governor hassan talks about special interests, it is her favorite talking point. look at your television. she was recruited by powerbrokers in washington, harry reid and chuck schumer, who want control and that is why they are spending $50 million from harry reid's super pac, and the former mayor of new york city spending on her behalf. i am standing up for you. that is what i will always do, because i think about the people in new hampshire struggling and that is the work we need to do. i have one of the most bipartisan records in the senate

and i work too look for common ground to deliver results. kiki: governor? gov. hassan: the senator voted with the koch brothers, voted with them 90% of the time, siding with them with big oil for them for big tax breaks. and she has voted against taxes for those who are moving jobs overseas. she has stood with wall street, which has given about $2.5 million to her campaign and has supported tax breaks for their ceos. i will continue to talk about the things that the people of new hampshire talk to me about. and the sense that washington is not standing up for people, we should be working for families, not standing up for special interests. kiki: thank you both. sen. ayotte: i would like to respond. this is again her favorite talking point and it is not true. there are no ads on the air from the koch brothers, they have been critical of me because i stood up for new hampshire and

to protect it from climate change. governor hassan in her time as , governor, the largest state contracts in state history, $1.6 billion from one of her largest contributors, where she took $250,000 to her campaign and the democratic governors association. this is the kind of conduct that people worry about. paul: your response? gov. hassan: she knows what she just said is political attack. let's be clear, the contract was entered into the state before i even became governor and she knows that. and let's be clear -- and the koch brothers, the family has given personally to her, even after she did that kind of thing superintendent -- us a strong environmental record. paul: voters got a mailer this week from the republican party

and is set "donald trump needs governors like kelly ayotte." senator, two questions. did your campaign have a hand in the mailer? and eu -- you recently said that he would not vote for donald trump after the audio recordings we all know about. but you said you would write in the name, mike pence? isn't it that still supporting the ticket? sen. ayotte: there are a lot of mailers. i do not know where that one comes from, not my campaign. i will tell you, i have stood up to my party, unlike the governor. and i will put the priorities of new hampshire first. i did that before donald trump was a candidate. whether it is issues like the

government shutdown. she has not stood up to her nominee. if you think about it she will , give you talking points about where she disagrees with president obama, but she has not stood up to hillary clinton, whether it is the iran deal. whether it is a health care law. or whether it is the trillion dollar tax increase that hillary clinton wants. governor hassan has a history of imposing taxes on new hampshire families. paul: 830 second response from you. -- a 30 second response from you. gov. hassan: on 35 different occasions, she has stood with donald trump, even as he insulted women, made fun of people with disabilities and attacked a gold star family. when it was inconvenient after the tapes were released, she finally said she would not vote for him, as if she was surprised by those tapes, which reflected who we have come to know as

donald trump. and now trying to walk back, her campaign approved the mailer that said she wanted to work with him in the u.s. senate. she wants to create gridlock. i am happy to talk about how i will stand up to my party at any time. paul: senator? sen. ayotte: talk about gridlock, it is like vetoing a budget like governor has san did. hassan did. she wanted to decrease taxes on businesses. she vetoed it and now she is taking credit for it. i will be the person that makes sure our small businesses have lower taxes, unlike the governor. when you think about standing up hassanr party, governor has not stood up to hillary clinton on anything of consequence. i have already done that. i stood up to donald trump and i stood up to the government

shutdown and i will stand up to democrats if i think they are not doing the right thing. but i also have one of the most bipartisan records in the senate. paul: governor? gov. hassan: let's be clear, she said she was willing to vote for -- to put donald trump in the situation room. i have stood up to hillary clinton and i do not support the president's proposal to close guantanamo bay. i will continue to fight for the people of new hampshire. and let's also be very clear, i have stood up to veto a budget, because i will always stand up for fiscal responsibility. only in washington, d.c. would you hear a debate about taking credit for something. kiki: governor, lately we have been getting a daily download from wikileaks. the documents reveal disturbing information about the clinton foundation and hillary clinton's time as secretary of state. has it made you rethink your position of supporting her?

gov. hassan: i think as senator rubio indicated, it is a mistake to give credence to this wikileaks stream, you are supporting the people that hacked into these records. and i think it is a mistake to do that. i will never fail to stand up to secretary clinton or my party. i have criticized her for her handling of her e-mails, that was a mistake and she has apologized for that. what is at issue in this campaign and what it will be about is, whether we will come together as americans and build a future that includes everyone. a place where hard-working family to work hard to get ahead can stay ahead and a middle class is growing and where parents are confident again that their children will have a better future. that is a vision i have been working on with members of both parties and that is the vision that hillary clinton shares, which is why i support her.

i do differ with her on a number of things. kiki: thank you. senator, a 30 second response? sen. ayotte: a mistake is when you say 2 plus 2 equals 5. and that is what governor hassan has said what happened when hillary clinton jeopardize national security. this is a difference between us. i will stand up to my own party and to the other side. i have one of the most bipartisan records because i am focused on getting things done, like passing legislation to address the heroin epidemic and making sure it is easier on small businesses with taxes and regulation. governor hassan vetoed a budget that did provide reductions for the small businesses, because -- but she wants to take credit for it now. it has been described as partisan. gov. hassan: let's be clear ayotte's record,

she voted with ted cruz to shut down the government and when she realized it was hurting new hampshire and she was getting heat from it then she finally , decided to pretend to be part of the solution. she voted to defund planned parenthood six times. she has been standing with mitch mcconnell on the supreme court blockade. there's nothing bipartisan. she has stood with her party and has made the mistake of supporting donald trump, even when members of her own party and a national security expert said he posed a danger. paul: let's move on. i did not think we would be talking about this topic, but the sexual misconduct is front and center in this campaign. a new ad by a group supporting the senator says the governor's husband, principal at the time, covered up a scandal. and it includes the governor speaking to reporters, explaining why she accepted a campaign contribution in her first run from that academy

instructor involved in the scandal. governor, your campaign has pushed back heavily against this commercial, saying it is out of bounds. i would like to hear directly from you on this issue. gov. hassan: this is a personal attack against my family. the facts are that the school and my husband went to the police as soon as they received allegations of misconduct. my campaign donated to charity a contribution from the offender. what is really concerning is how much the senator and her allies want her reelected that they would stoop to this length, to politicize this kind of tragedy at a school. that they would politicize other things around the opioid crisis, running ads about that in the political campaign, something we are all working together in new hampshire to combat. her allies want her back in washington because they know she will vote with them, with big

pharma to protect prices, to vote with big oil against the environment. they know that she will vote to protect outsourcing, so they get a tax break when they move jobs overseas. that is why they support her and why they are running this kind of despicable political ad. paul: senator? sen. ayotte: we could have kept all of this outside money out of this race. i offer governor hassan a pledge to keep the outside money out, that elizabeth warren, one of her supporters put in place. and it we could have kept this money out. i think we know why she did not want it out because we see $15 million from harry reid. the powerbrokers supporting her, mike bloomberg, the former mayor of new york city giving over $7 million and federal unions and

hillary clinton's super pac, but that she knows that governor hassan will be a rubberstamp. paul: i think we're going back to campaign finance later in the debate, but quickly, talk about -- do you think it is an appropriate ad? sen. ayotte: i have been attacked about my record and the governor has not said anything about it. we could have kept the money out. she will have to address the ad. gov. hassan: money has way too much influence in politics. we could overturn citizens united, something i have supported. i have supported reform since my days and the new hampshire state senate. governor -- senator ayotte has said overturn citizens united would be absurd.

she has voted against it. i signed and sent back a pledge. the ads running against the senator address her poor judgment as a senator in the votes she has cast. that is a major distinction. paul: candidates -- sen. ayotte: you see how she embraces those ads. we could have kept them out. she said the same pledge that was good enough for elizabeth warren, she rejected because that is political speak for i do not want to see it. we could of captive free. paul: thank you. kiki: many more topics. stay with us. we will be right back after a quick break. paul: you are watching the u.s.

senate debate. keke: we continue with the drug crisis. governor hassan outside , republican groups have made it a point to slam your record on the heroin problem. more people are expected to die this year than last. how do you respond to the attacks on how you handled the drug crisis? gov. hassan: a day does not go by where i do not meet somebody impacted by this, a sister of a colleague of mine who is trying to regain the trust of her children, a classmate of my son who died from an overdose. we see the impact all across our state. and since my first days in office, i have been working to address this and sustaining drug task force money into trying hard to get medicaid expansion

passed because it covers substance abuse. making narcan available to first responders and working to get emergency funding passed, so we can get dollars out the door as we have been to places like a bethlehem. we have to continue to roll up our sleeves every day to combat this. but it is one of the reasons it is so important we move forward and make sure to protect medicaid expansion. keke: how much responsibility do you personally take for the fact more people will die this year than last year? gov. hassan: we all want to save every life we possibly can, right? so we have been working hard, everything from medicaid expansion to expanding our drug courts and investing in operation granite hammer to -- combat a new and deadly form of opioids. the other thing we need is emergency federal funding from

the federal government, something all governors have called on and will continue working toward every day. every life lost is a tragedy and we must continue to work together to combat the epidemic. keke: senator, how would you handle the crisis differently? sen. ayotte: this is such an important issue. i think about my friends that lost their beautiful daughter. so many families have lost somebody in the state. i have worked for three years to pass the comprehensive addiction recovery act, focused on the federal level, to help states with the treatment recovery. i have been fighting for more funding and working with senator shaheen to support emergency funding as well. and also look at the southern border where we see it coming , from the mexican drug cartels. we are in the armed services committee trying to get more resources at the border. and trying to get more doses of

narcan for our workers. it is important at the state level because the money coming down. i know that there are millions of dollars that have not gone out the door and we need to make sure those resources flow to those waiting to help those who are struggling. keke: is the money getting to the front lines of the crisis? sen. ayotte: i think there have been concerns about not fast enough. $2 million of the most $3 million allocated has not gone out the door. we need to work together on this issue. i will continue to work to get all the resources we can to work together. we have to turn this around for families and continue to support our first responders. gov. hassan: the senator just said some things she knows are not true. first of all, we have gotten out of the door about $25 million in contracts for treatment and recovery. we also have almost all of the

money that was allocated. it is already encumbered, which means there are plans to spend , over the course of the year which is how you handle contracts. this is an incredible misleading and hery senator ayotte allies. it is unfortunate. frankly, if some of them were concerned about the speed of dollars getting out the door, they could have taken less than the seven months they took to authorize the money. keke: thank you both. sen. ayotte: who she is talking about are the legislature that allocated the money and what was recently allocated, based on a recent report 2/3 has not gone out. when she vetoed the budget commission delayed funding -- budget, she delayed funding. i have been working my hardest to work with senator shaheen to make sure that we do all we can

to get help to the state and we focus on prevention, treatment and recovery to save lives. paul: did the veto delay funding? gov. hassan: we kept the government running after i stood up to fiscal irresponsibility. the numbers and the budget i was presented with a did not add up. the lack of safeguards would have made it very difficult to continue our prevention treatment and recovery funding, so we came together, something i wish washington would do more of, and we put together a compromise with safeguards so we could have the tax cuts and i am glad we are able to accomplish, but also protect those priorities that businesses and families in new hampshire need. sen. ayotte: let's be clear, she vetoed the budget had reductions for small businesses in new hampshire, and called it -- the budget dishonest. then actually delayed, not only funding that was going to help

address the epidemic on but also help those with mental illness. basically the thing that is , bipartisan about the budget is republicans and democrats came together to override her veto. now she says she was for it all along. that is the doublespeak we do not need. we need to work together. gov. hassan: i want to be clear that senator ayotte has voted to repeal medicaid expansion five times, so for her to talk about being concerned about funding for behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, when she is willing to take away that treatment for 50,000 people is concerning. paul: i do want to move on to another topic, the broken va system. it has been a topic here and across the country. veterans are committing suicide at a rate of 22 per day. here in new hampshire we do not have a full-time hospital for

veterans. paul wants to know, what will you do to end the veteran suicide pandemic? sen. ayotte: this is so devastating. my husband is a combat veteran and he served in the iraq war, so we have to do all we can to help veterans. in the senate, i have supported the clay hunt bill to help serve them better with mental health needs, but at the state level we need to be ensuring, this is something the senator and i have worked on together, we only -- not only fought for the full-service hospital, but allow our veterans to get local care in the communities. we need to continue to have accountability at the va. unfortunately, we hear of misconduct that goes unanswered. and i have supported bills that will hold people a countable and -- accountable and also support

people who are doing a good job at the va. there is so much more we need to do for veterans and of all the things we need to be doing, those who have defended the nation, they deserve the very best. paul: governor? gov. hassan: i am the daughter of a world war ii veteran, so i have a personal interest in making sure that our veterans have access to health care, including behavioral health care. we have much more to do to end the terrible scandals around wait times in the va. we know we have to do more to allow whistleblowers to bring forth issues at the v.a.. in new hampshire we should have , a full-service va hospital and we definitely have to improve things. i am proud of the work we have done in new hampshire, making permanent ptsd and dramatic brain injury commission.

and are asking the question campaign, which has helped community members learn more about who has served in the community, to make sure they are getting the help they need. and we have to make sure that we are protecting veterans from for-profit companies that will prey on them. paul: senator, a quick response. sen. ayotte: yes, this is -- for me, i am the wife of a combat veteran and i have fought hard for veterans. i introduced legislation to be able to claw back bonuses, it passed to the committee and to hold people accountable who are not serving the veterans. came to the senate floor and was blocked. guess what, they are putting movies adult together and governor hassan and supporting her campaign. the status quo is not acceptable. we must address this for our veterans.

this issue with bridge point, i've returned the money. so, the governor has not returned money when it has come to all of the millions of dollars that are supporting her campaign including people who , want to keep the status quo. paul: governor, 15 seconds. we needed to move to another issue. gov. hassan: i have been fighting for the people of new hampshire and i am proud to stand up for working men and women. at the end of the day, the senator accepted money from bridge point university, which preyed on veterans. actually even presiding on the senate floor at the discussion of their potentially illegal and unethical behavior, when it was discussed, and said she did not know anything about it, which was concerning. paul: thank you. keke: a question about equal pay. a new report says, at the current pace pay equity globally is 170 years away. in a list of 144 countries the

, u.s. came in at number 45 on a list of countries. what would you do to help close the gap? gov. hassan: one thing i have been pleased to do in new hampshire is support the pay equity act. we have equal pay for equal work in new hampshire and it was a bipartisan bill. that's the difference between senator ayotte and myself. she voted against equal pay for equal work at the federal level. we should have an inclusive economy that works for everyone. that is how we build a thriving middle class. i will always stand up for equal pay for equal work and stand up for a woman's right to make her own decisions, and for family planning. and i will make sure that we stand up for working families and supporting the expansion of pell grants. senator ayotte voted to make $90 million in cuts to those grants allowing students to refinance , loans. and working to hold down the cost of education. we have frozen the cost at our

state intuitions and we are lowering the cost of community college. whether we will continue their progress at the federal level or stick with the special interest group. just the supporting them. -- she has been supporting them. keke: senator? sen. ayotte: as the mother of a daughter, equal pay for equal work this is important to me. , i like what happened in new hampshire and i thought it was a good solution. i introduced the bill in washington, because there has been gridlock on this issue. i actually thought this bill was very good. i call it the gap act, and i introduced it. i actually made it stronger because there are penalties in it that gives it more teeth. that is me looking at new hampshire solutions and bringing them to the capital instead of gridlock. governor hassan attacks me.

i've been working so hard. bureaucrats are trying to cut access to women's mammograms. unfortunately, there are so many moves to cut access to women's health care on mammograms and i was glad to fight it. of pell grants, her favorite talking point is go read it. i've no voted to cut pell grants in any way. in fact, i have voted for expanding pell grants working on , bipartisan legislation to make them accessible for technical education. and i voted to allow students to make sure that they can have it -- accessible and lower interest rates. keke: thank you. governor, would you like to respond? gov. hassan: in march 2015, she voted for a budget that included $90 billion of cuts to those grants.

it would make college more expensive for students. and the day before, there was an amendment offered that would have allowed her to restore the $90 billion of cuts in that budget and she voted against restoring that. that is her record. and like she is trying to run away from donald trump, this campaign for her is running away from the record. sen. ayotte: let me be clear, go read senate resolution 11, the governor has not read it. i voted to make sure that no cuts to pell grants. but that we look at what is spent every year. i would like to look at that on every level of spending. you can read it yourself. this is a false attack. i want to the viewers to be able to read the bill, because i voted on it and i am making sure that these grants remain strong. and i have fought to major that -- make sure that perkins grants

are not eliminated, 5000 new hampshire students impacted by that. paul: we have a lot more issues we want to get going. when we come back, national security. stick with us. paul: 12 days until the election, this debate is so crucial. keke: we continue with a question about national security. senator a yacht you recently , applauded efforts from companies like google and facebook for removing the islamic state's presence. where is the line between the first amendment right to express ourselves and national security? sen. ayotte: i support the first

amendment, but when you are supporting terrorism or asking people to commit terrorist attacks, which many of the sites are being used to do that are being taken down by the social media sites, that is a line that cannot be crossed. so isis and other groups, these businesses do need to take down those sites, because we know they are encourage violence in our own country and with our allies. this is a serious issue. the line is clear, when you are encouraging terrorism, that is a position obviously where it goes beyond free speech. keke: governor? gov. hassan: my first job as governor is the security of our state and the safety of our communities and i will always put the security of our country first. at home, i have put more troopers on the road and i have enhanced school safety plans. we have extended active shooter

training for law enforcement and we have developed new standards for cyber security in the state, and trained state employees on cyber security and got rid of outdated hardware and software that makes us vulnerable. i am proud to have stood up for the best national guard in the country, the men and women deployed now in harms way. i support the first amendment, but when terrorists are using our social media and our systems to promote terrorism and create and develop real threats to our country, we have to take a stand and make sure that we are working with high-tech companies to get these terrorists off of social media and keep the country safe. keke: paul? paul: let's talk about college affordability. unfortunately this state has one , of the highest levels of

a itnt debt in the country is $36,000 per student. in the stateon was about a month ago laying out her plan calling for debt-free college for students at state institutions. governor, if you are in the senate next year, is that a plan you will sign up for? gov. hassan: one thing i hear from families and businesses is how important affordable higher education is. one of the first things i did was work on a bipartisan budget to freeze in-state tuition at our public universities for the first time in 25 years and we actually lowered it for community colleges. and we put together options for public universities and systems, to lower the cost of higher education. that is something i want to continue to work on in the united states senate. it is a point of difference between senator ayotte and myself.

she has voted to make deep coast to pell grants and she has voted against allowing students to refinance loans. i have been working to make sure that we lower the cost of higher education and i will continue to do that in the u.s. senate. i think secretary clinton's plan to have a debt-free college at public universities is a very good goal to be working toward and i think we have to come together and get to this issue, because it is for our families and our businesses that need a 21st century workforce. paul: is that something you will support or is there a different way you would want to go? sen. ayotte: as somebody that had student loans through law school and then transferred those two childcare, i understand this is a big issue. governor hassan can keep claiming i cut pell grants but go read the amendment. i am actually working to expand these.

i am working on them for career technical education. i was also part of a group to make sure that interest rates what not double for students. you can look at my speech on the senate floor when they were trying to eliminate the perkins grant, i fought it and this is an important issue we need to work on together. we need to understand, how would we pay for this? making sure we are in a position that we provide affordable education, we need colleges to have more skin in the game and make sure they are working with us instead of increasing prices in a way that will make it unaffordable for all families. i know how important this is to new hampshire families. paul: thank you. we have a lot more to get through.

keke: moving on to guns. this question comes from somebody in exeter. what will you do to keep protection for the public from mass shootings? sen. ayotte: this has been a priority to keep new hampshire safe and serving on the armed services committee, from both obviously criminals and terrorists. it is important that criminals and terrorists cannot have access to firearms, but it is equal important that we protect people's rights under the second amendment. i am proud to have the endorsement of the new hampshire troopers, having worked with law enforcement on keeping the stay -- our state safe. i would want to make sure that we fix the system right now in terms of our background check system. i support background checks. i want to get the mental health records that should be there by law. new hampshire is finally doing that, but it has been late. in addition, if you are too dangerous to get on a commercial flight, you should not be able

to purchase a firearm. but if you think you are wrong -- wrongfully on that list, i supported an effort to measure that there is a mechanism to get off the list. we have to focus on making sure people are safe, but we also have to protect people's constitutional rights. keke: governor? gov. hassan: responsible gun owners have a right to have them for hunting and self-defense. but i also believe we can take steps to bolster national security by expanding background checks. this is a major difference between the senator and myself. she talked about the no-fly, no buy bill, the united states congress should of may sure that terrorists cannot buy. they can still circumvent the background checks system under her bill by buying guns online and at gun shows. and isis knows it, they have been advertising about it telling people in the u.s. that

, they can just go buy guns online and at gun shows. senator ayotte had a chance to vote to expand checks after sandy hook and she didn't. she has opportunity after the tragedy in orlando, and she didn't. this a national security issue. that is a very concerning record that she has of standing with the gun lobby instead of the public safety and people of new hampshire. keke: a quick response. sen. ayotte: gun-control will not stop isis. but i have worked, i lead a bipartisan effort of bringing people together to address, if you are too dangerous to get on a commercial flight not being , able to purchase firearms. i bring people together on these problems and make sure that we protect the second amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, something i would do and governor has son -- governor hassan will not. this is an important issue and i

have the endorsement of law enforcement agencies in the state, like the troopers association because they know i will work to keep new hampshire safe. paul: i will do a quick lightning round, yes or no or short answers. climate change, do you believe this man may? gov. hassan: i do. i have been citing climate change in working to improve our environment. the senator, when she ran, doubted whether climate change was real. i have an endorsement of the sierra club. sen. ayotte: i do believe it is real and the governor again needs to understand, i was the first republican in the country to support the clean power plan. i have crossed the party line to protect new hampshire's environment and it goes back to my time as attorney general. paul: one last question. one of you is going to lose november 8. you have both been in public

service a long time. if you do lose, what will you do over the next year or so? sen. ayotte: one thing i will do is sit down with my husband and my children, figure out what i will do next. i will probably spend time with them first. gov. hassan: this is about the people of new hampshire working together to build a stronger and more vibrant and more inclusive economy based on good economics. paul: candidates, thank you so much. keke: time for our closing statements. again andn: thank you everybody viewing. i talked about my dad who was a world war ii veteran who fought in the battle of the bulge and was not unusual for him to look at us and