states, including new hampshire, iowa, virginia, wisconsin, and michigan. as always, we will take your join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: it is the "washington journal" for september 2, labor day, 2019. this day not only marks the recognition of the worker, but also a time when those running for president increase the tempo of their campaigns. we want to hear from you during the course of our show about how you would change presidential campaigns. maybe you would shorten their length, change the amount of money needed to run for president, change the electoral college or perhaps you would make no changes at all. you can let us know your thoughts on the phones. democrats, 202-748-8000.

republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can post on twitter at @cspanwj and you can also post on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. money needed to run for a campaign, the website investor pdf -- investipedia provides historical context. 192 million dollars, $300 million in inflation-adjusted dollars. george w. bush spent $345 million, which at the time was the most expensive campaign in history. president obama spent $775.4 $285on and the dnc added million, making the total spent to reelect the president $985

million. then it goes forward to 2016, adding that at the time, many estimates for the presidential election said it would cost $3 billion and some put it at $10 billion. just to the cost of running a campaign. to the length, a story in 2016 on how campaigning became a two year event. it goes back to the time of john f. kennedy saying he announced his candidacy january 2 1960. 11 months later between martha h -- march 8 and june 20 -- iowa move the caucuses to january in part because democratic officials needed time to print paperwork. it was in 1976 jimmy carter

gained a foothold by spending significant time in that state , the to the early 1980's states began to move primary dates earlier to gain influence, compressing the primary calendar requiring candidates to have resources at the ready earlier in the game and 2008 4/5 of the states held caucuses in february, june, or march. -- january, february, or march. thecan call us about potential changes or what you would like to see changed about presidential elections. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. and independents, 202-748-8002. posted on you facebook this morning when it comes to this topic. this is john saying when it

comes to changing or potential changes, he would like to see a shorter campaign season. start no sooner than april of the election year. michael collins says hold the election on sunday or declare election day a national holiday. todd saying there should be no political parties, no primaries. complete elimination of private and institutional money, including the candidate's own money. 100% should be public financing. linda saying there should be changes to campaign finance laws. these people should not be getting rich running for office. wrap it up in 6 months, require voter id and election day should be a holiday. michael off of facebook saying when it comes to the current system, leave them as is. no fiddling with the current system.

about 400 of you before the start of the show adding on facebook. you can also tweet us your thoughts. what would you change about presidential elections? ken up first in illinois. good morning. caller: hello? host: you are on. i am going to continue the current theme as far as campaign-finance reform, that elections should be publicly funded and the reason behind that, of course, is there won't corruption or the benddates won't have to will of largethe

make theat can machine,s campaign a an entity. you sayt me ask you, if public financing of campaigns, you mean that each party or candidate would get the equal amount as far as money to spend in campaigning? will haveah, the ftc a little bit more power, but it electe maybe we would and they wouldy equal arenaional, to compete in.

ideas could actually become the candidate rather than who has got the most. in al -- ken kne in illinois. charles is next. caller: i would like to see several changes. i am just appalled that iowa and new hampshire, these small, nonrepresentative states have so much influence so early in the campaign that by the time it , the showto virginia is over, the thing is cut and dry before they even have the primary in virginia and people are just appalled that the voter .urnout is so low the reason we have the general election on the first tuesday in november is so farmers can get

their crops in and be harvested because voting on the sabbath is a send -- sin. we need to faze that out and have weekend voting's and you would more than likely see an increase in turnout. host: would you change those dates and have them all be the same? caller: i am not sure there is an adequate solution. one thing that could be done is to have the first caucus date and the first primary date assigned by lottery. moreway you could have a representative chance to spread the campaigning ability around. right now, iowa and new hampshire get all this influence and all this media play and all this push and all this money and people in the other states, also people of color and minorities

-- it is over. host: the commonwealth of virginia being one of those places you are saying by the time it gets there, it is decided, so to speak. caller: usually that is what happens. it is sad, but these small, nonrepresentative's states -- new hampshire gets so much pull. states like california, mississippi that have people of over. show is host: what would you change about presidential elections, that is what we are talking about today. donna from texas, republican line, go ahead. caller: what i think should happen -- i don't know if anybody would go for it, when you are running for president, let it be understood that you theone 6 year term like senate and there is no reelection, which would mean to

me, you would get people that really want to serve instead of people just going and they want to be reelected. host: go ahead, i am sorry. caller: you know what i am trying to say? you would have different kinds of people then especially all these people running in the democratic primary. host: so take the aspect of reelection, give them one term and that changes the tone of their time in office, that is what you are suggesting? caller: what? what did you say? host: if you just give them one term, don't let them run for reelection, it changes the tone they have in office during that 6 years or whatever. caller: you would really find out who wants to run for president and not just be up there to go for reelection in four years. host: you are saying you don't

think it would work. why do you say that? caller: i think it would work. host: but you don't think you would get anybody to go for it? caller: people running for office that -- i don't know what i am trying to say. to me, it would be a better way to run the presidency. texas, oneis don in term he says, 6 years, no reelection. you can agree with him, disagree, add your own take to what he said. we will hear from florida next, independent line in sebastian, florida. bill, good morning. caller: good morning, pedro. i believe we should make election day a holiday. i believe we should get rid of machines, half paper ballots and these people that

bech the count should all investigated by homeland maybe.y or the fbi, it is time to clean up these polls. i doubt seriously if everyone's vote in brevard county was counted the last presidential election as well as the other , whichs south of brevard are about to be hit by the hurricane, west palm, that is a thisy you cannot trust and has got to be at the top of the agenda. host: the election machines, are they the touchscreen type of machines? caller: yes, as you see in mississippi, they had a segment on the news where the fellow was pushing the button and the vote

was being tabulated for the other person. this has got to stop. they know what is going on, they are making fools of everyone. they are undermining democracy, pedro. host: are you currently in sebastian, florida? what are your concerns about hurricane dorian? caller: i am right on highway 1 on the indian river. nervous. hopefully it will go out to the ocean and north and i feel for these people in the bahamas and aid to thosed some people as soon as possible. we have enough in this country. i think we should share.

thank you. host: fill in sebastian florida. we will hear from flint, , next.n debbie, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. lots of good ideas this morning. the one that would fix the fact that we keep popularly voting for one person and then getting the other person, there is only a handful of states that there upctoral college is busted between proportionately divided votes. she can is not one of them. all 21 of our votes went to trump, but there was 10 million people. i think if they made everybody the number oft electoral votes their population actually voted for and split them up like here in michigan, they could have given trump 11

and hillary 10. of every state had done that, hillary would have won. republicansthese inging out and going how damn a report a was, but none of those people said those pages about trump were. host: debbie brought up the electoral college there is a current effort going on in states across the united states, the national popular vote compact. they explain their effort saying the national popular vote would hear nt the presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states in the district of columbia. it ensures every vote in every state will matter in every presidential election. -- enough to elect the president, two hundred 70 of 538.

at that time, every voter would it a direct vote of 270 presidential electors. there is an alternate view from george will, a columnist this morning when it takes a look at the national popular vote effort saying this in response, in 2016 it was 32 states including nevada and the district of columbia had a larger share of -- diminishl votes the weight of 33 entities. provides no enforcement mechanism if states flinch from casting electoral votes for a candidate. the constitution says no state shall enter any agreement or compact with another state. those are some of the thoughts when it comes to the electoral college. you can add that to the mix when it comes to the changing of presidential elections.

another person from michigan, this is kathy, democrats line. good morning, go ahead. caller: first of all, paper ballots across the nation, no exceptions. i would suggest hand delivering the ballot myself as a voter or perforation. secondly, i want to see the candidates from both parties. sarah palin made it to sheboygan, michigan, there is no reason why candidates cannot get into these small communities that all turned to trump. it doesn't have to be that way. the local party here, they are very -- they leave a lot of people out unless you have money to pay to get into an event. i want to tell you a story that happened in 2012. i was driving to lewiston,

michigan, pretty much across the state. the colors are great, frederick is very small, very poor community. there is an obama sign in a field at the bottom of the hill and beyond that, there were two double rainbows and i knew he was going to take the second election. we reach people in the small community of fredericks and that whole area is very impoverished, there is not a lot left. see more democratic candidates coming to michigan these days versus the last cycle? caller: i don't see them here. city.re in traverse murray,go to sue state newberry, marquette is the only

county that went democratic. there is one county that went .emocratic in michigan they felt the democrats should have stopped the jobs from leaving and they did not, so they went republican. host: we will talk to jeffrey in kentucky. caller: good morning. my comment is the primary like theshould be set november election, one date all in the country vote that day and it is not this iowa, new hampshire, and all of this. do it the same all across the nation. one nation, under god.

host: so you would see a same primary date across the united states? caller: yes, as the general election in the fall. host: what would change from the current system if you had a same day for primaries? caller: i would say these -- just like hillary 2016ng against trump in hillary was pre-picked by the .emocratic party now we have biden that is pre-picked and that would probably help keep the democratic party from picking to be -- or the

republican party, from being the chosen one. host: that is jeffrey in kentucky. let's hear from linda, wisconsin, democrats line. caller: there was only a few things i wanted to say in listening to the program. i think we should go back to paper ballots instead of the ones that are controlled, where other countries can crash into them and take control over the votes and put somebody in office . i believe we should get rid of the electoral college because if you look at it, it does not do any good and it is the people who are electing the president, not the electoral colleges, and we should also have limited terms and not make a career out of -- you go in as a person willing to serve the country and take care of your constituents,

but when they get into office, it seems like they are for everybody else but the real reason they went in in the first place and when they leave, they are millionaires and it should be public funds and everybody should have a limit of money instead of these millionaires coming in and then they have the person strings and you are dancing like a puppet doing what they want you to do instead of what you were elected to do. host: that is linda in wisconsin, she talked about voting machines. a concern some have leading up to election day saying extortionists have recently shut down municipal computer systems maryland, florida, and new york threatening to erase databases unless cities pay a ransom.

illinois, for example, is making closeder jet -- fiber-optic network rather than open internet. prairie state is making progress although it still has a way to go. less than the third of the jurisdictions connect to the network. if a hacker successfully hits even one of the election agencies with ransomware, that can create the impression the whole system is compromised. it is a phenomenon that can undermine voter confidence. that is just some of the issues some have expressed this morning when it comes to presidential elections. you can add yours to the mix. what would you change about the current system? you can call us, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. and 202-748-8002 for

independents. if you want to join us and give your thoughts on our twitter feed, @cspanwj is how you do that and our facebook page available at journal@c-span.org -- at facebook.com/cspan. during the course of the morning, we will be joined by opinion nests -- opinionists. arneson.us off, arnie a syndicated talkshow host, thank you for joining us again. guest: i want to make a comment about voting. what is old is new again, let's go back to paper and pencil, i think that is the most appropriate thing and then we don't have to worry about technology, just a couple of erasers and i think that is the answer and we are finding that out across the board. people already walking away from social media and they have rediscovered billboards. i think it is going to be interesting to see how people not only punch out for political

campaigns, but how they learned to trust. i think they trust their pencils. host: you have some efforts like the national public vote -- popular vote and may talking about ranked choice voting. do you feel about the ideas of changing elections overall when it comes to those? ? processes guest: everything is subject to change. when the founding fathers created the declaration of independence, they could never have envisioned the country we are today or the changing demographics we have today. anything you can encourage people to participate and feel like their vote matters. ranked choice voting makes people feel like their vote matters, that is one of the reasons why it is so important. changing the electoral college reflects feeling like your vote matters. people need to feel like they are validated for what they do.

politicians are validated because you vote for them. are prima donnas when it primariesoting in the . we might even see people that someday should be a president if not in 2020 and as a result, there is a high participation rate because we realize the importance of what we do and the value of what we do. or that should not just be true for places like iowa and new hampshire. the problem with the caucus is it is not a vote. in new hampshire, at least, we say enter the fray, anticipate, and if you are undeclared republican or democrat, you can exercise the franchise. host: with the decision in iowa

regarding virtual caucuses, does that change what is happening in new hampshire? thet: we are supposed to be first in the nation presidential primary, the dnc is trying to get rid of caucuses. what will that mean for iowa? iowa has always had the first caucus. if iowa is being discouraged from expanding opportunity for their caucus, it is winter in iowa, who shows up? they want to create these virtual caucuses, what is the alternative? if you cannot do a virtual caucus, what is the third option? there is no third option except a primary and then new hampshire has a difficult task because we have to be first, where does that place iowa? host: we saw senator sanders in new hampshire yesterday. what does your gut tell us as far as impact is concerned?

who is taking the lead as the candidates make their way through your state? in 2016,2016 --guest: certain -- senator sanders beat hillary clinton. she had a strong network, new lots of people. she even beat barack obama in new hampshire. bernie sanders came here and changed the political landscape not only in new hampshire, but let's say 2018 is bernie sanders's progeny. what i see happening is elizabeth and bernie are tag teaming. they are not fighting or differentiating, they ce set -- each other as investing the base. biden has taken a bit of the moderate hillary clinton lane where she has a lot of people

unhappy, in particular, amy klobuchar, who i think saw herself as the reinvention of hillary clinton. you have seen that with some of the other candidates, but right now it feels like a biden-bernie-elizabeth race. the question is for people, what will happen in february. the tirestill kicking on the candidates that will be on the debate stage. 19 candidates coming to the new hampshire convention next weekend. it is going to go on forever. we actually care about those 19 and they may be able to make a difference at that convention and the three i told you about, all of a sudden cory booker could show up, mayor pete, who is doing relatively well, could break through. new hampshire is open and receptive to presidents in waiting period.

was: the current president offering an economic message basically saying you have to vote for me. do you think he is making another run for new hampshire this time around? guest: absolutely and one of the reasons bill weld is in my studio is you see a number of people constantly running against donald trump. will they beat donald trump in new hampshire? no. could they damage him? absolutely. if you are undeclared candidate, that means on the day of the primary, you can pick up a republican or democratic ballot. in new hampshire, 40% of the electorate is undeclared. that means if people like bill they kasich, whoever, could make an appeal to on declare and say democrats don't

need you, i need you. if you want to send a message to donald trump, you can have the luxury and privilege of voting against donald trump twice because you can vote against him in the republican primary and then in november. the rnc doesn't like that, but they can't stop it. they may not want debates and they may want to nor them, but that doesn't make a difference in new hampshire, you can still encourage voters to participate and that gives 40% of the electorate on that day a choice and that is a very powerful choice and they can send a powerful, wounding message to donald trump who will say it is illegal voters coming across. host: when it comes to the issues -- it seems like her skyp e connection having an issue. we will be joined by people like her over the course of our

morning from some various different political stripes giving their thoughts on campaign 2020 and you can let us know your thoughts when it comes to presidential elections. how would you change the? ? process 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. and 202-748-8002 for independents. our twitter also feed at @cspanwj available to you. are you back with us? guest: i am back, i apologize. post you put on a facebook recently about the decisions that came out against opioid companies, how does that play into the larger affect in new hampshire when it comes to people and the choices they are going to make? guest: west virginia and new hampshire has some of the highest overdose rights in the nation. that story is about

pharmaceutical companies that figure out a way to sell their product and addict you. weather it was dumping of drugs -- rest of -- west virginia what is so interesting is if you look at medicare for all, the concept of single-payer or universal health care, that would be an answer to the opioid crisis because what do pharmaceutical companies want to do? they want to sell drugs. they wanted to make a profit and they understood the addictive quality. if we had real regulation on pharmaceutical companies, the kind of addiction problem we have today would not exist. if we really want to take it back, we not only need to figure out how to treat it, we need to convince doctors to stop writing those scripts and we need some kind of universal health care program that can actually control it so we don't have to worry about for profit motives, which is what was driving big

pharma and perdue and johnson and johnson because that would be drained and you would be writing a script for a need. take a look around the world, they don't have the same problem we do. 80% of the opioids around the world are sold in the united states. we represent 5% of the population. what is that about? that is about profit, that is not about health care or pain management and the only place it can happen is a country that spent more on health care than any country in the world, still has people uninsured and now we have a health care crisis called the opioid addiction crisis draining the economy, hurting families, hurting education and that is another rationale for medicare for all. that is part of the answer and you have bernie and elizabeth talking about that and that is another reason why they may want to be embraced because they can

connect their health care plan to a crisis in my state. host: arnie arneson, how can people find you online? i am: we stream, podcast, on the air every day from 12:00 to 1:00. to your local radio station pick us up. host: let's go to michael, thanks for waiting from kansas city, missouri, about ways to change the presidential elections, you are on. caller: some of your callers already made the comment, i think they should eliminate the electoral college and let the american people choose the president and i think they ought to go back to paper ballots so you don't have to worry about other countries getting into our elections. i wanted to make one point, i think they ought to make a mandatory for be

any president to run, that way weknow what kind of person notputting into office and have to worry about finding out what kind of people they are. host: ed in ohio, republican line, good morning. caller: i am a conservative republican. you are talking about change -- i want to talk about the electoral college and why it is a must to keep. thisu go to popular vote, is what is going to happen, you have like the state of california, basically what you have is states down to the governors, cities, mayors bribing people to move to those states -- there are all these states that are all these

"democrats. they have liberal judges, activist judges set up to block trump. you are bribing votes and bribing people to live there. all of these are run like that. every minute in california, people are leaving for good. highest taxes, worst crime, worst schools. same with new york. those people cannot sell their homes in new hampshire or connecticut. those beautiful states, they cannot even sell their homes. isically what you are doing buying the election. states like california with 50 million people, 60,000 in los angeles, homeless. you have people -- they cannot run for mayor's. they have illegals making 1600 -- the caset is ed making

for changes to the election college. chris in key largo, democrats line. caller: it is a shame that we call ourselves a democracy went we really aren't, we are a republic because a democracy vote.one person, one when you take this hierarchy of the 1% and the rest of the money between theout people who basically work for the 1%. the 1800s andk to talk about carnegie. host: we just heard from the previous caller saying if you made those changes, states like california would have sway over the process overall. everybody is in the

conspiracy theories about who will move money around to buy votes, that will go on forever. even in the 1800s, republicans were in control of the presidency, bought the presidency for two terms, these and carnegie and jp morgan rockefeller. they took the whole industry and bought the presidency. host: that is chris in florida. this is karen saying election cannotelectioneering start until january 1 of election year. from dave off of twitter saying we need an official central online issues database where the

candidates can equally share their ideas. soundbites and complete written explanation and debates -- video debates are a waste of time. if you visit our website, we are a central online place where you can find out about candidates, their positions, what they take not only from debates, but various events and things they have done over the years. if you go to our website and type a candidate's name, we will show you everything we have taken in and give you information about that candidate. you can find all of that at c-span.org. milwaukee, independent line. thanks for calling. caller: i don't believe there should be any parties. i know too many people don't pay any attention to what is going on and they vote straight party. i think there should be not

caucuses, but voting like we have in wisconsin and not primaries. all i see in these caucuses are gray-haired people like me. i am in my 70's and independent, i voted both sides of the aisle and i was allowed to do that at the primary, but now i can't split party anymore because democrats changed it in wisconsin so in the primary, you have to vote your party. --ever knew that in other there are other states where if you are an independent like me, you cannot even vote in the primary. i think our system is crooked and there is not much else, i am not sure what you are going to be able to do about it. host: wisconsin is one of the

places president trump is targeting when it comes to his reelection efforts and doing it by banners attached to planes. trump's day, president reelection campaign plans to fly banners urging beachgoers to add their phone numbers to the list of supporters the campaign has been cultivating. that list has contact information, about 33 million trump who voted for mr. in 2016. is spending about $20,000 on the banners, which will run in milwaukee, wisconsin, pennsylvania, virginia, detroit, fort lauderdale. website of thee wall street journal, it has an artist rendering of what that campaign banner will look like.

the wall street journal to find out more. from port orange, democrats line, paul, hello. caller: good morning, how are you today? i am very concerned about living in florida, that hurricane dorian. all it has to do is wobble a little bit to the west and we are going to have catastrophic wind here that no one is going to survive. if the electoral college is how george bush defeated al gore, who was a big proponent for climate change, we could have gotten a handle on climate change and maybe not facing dorian. we have the same problem with donald trump being elected with the electoral college and he is -- has completely annihilated

the epa, doesn't even believe in climate change. if you are sitting here where i am in florida and you have a catastrophic category 5 185 mile per hour wind where your life is on the line, you would be a little more concerned about the electoral college and what we have done and how we have ruined this planet. host: that is paul in port orange, florida. let's hear from nasa to suits, marianne, go ahead. -- massachusetts, marianne, go ahead. caller: i am not a fan of donald trump, but i said to myself after he was elected, i will give him a chance. the first thing he did was he declared he lost the state of new hampshire because thousands of illegal immigrants bussed tonight hampshire from massachusetts and illegally

voted. everyone in massachusetts knows knows it. hampshire the electoral people in charge declared eight absolutely false and what concerns me is we all rolled our eyes going here is living a lie. the people in the rest of the know that is a lie and that very much concerns me. host: the current process, what would you change about it? caller: i think i would get rid of the electoral college. the gentleman from florida makes a lot of sense. we have to be respectful of each other. we have to take other people's opinions into account, how other people live and that makes sense to me. for: this is on our line

democrats, isabella, good morning. for c-spannk heavens and the dialogue you allow people to have. i would like to eliminate the necessity of getting rid of the electoral college. i think it is important enough to do that. we desperately need public financing. that is such a corrupting influence and paper ballots are essential for this day in age. we are worried about being manipulated by other countries a democrat, i would like to say my party needs to reform. we could get rid of superdelegates entirely and basically the principle of our democracy is one person, one vote. all of these reforms are necessary to ensure that is what

we really have. host: can you expand on your interest in getting rid of the superdelegate? caller: it is simply undemocratic. the party is stacked with cronies who have been there forever and it is not responsive to the principle of democracy one person, one vote. discouraging. look at what debbie wasserman sanders.id to bernie i think that should illustrate how extremely corrupt the party .s mentionedella campaign financing. talkse on yahoo! finance

about how much candidates have to raise. trump, president, donald -- the trump campaign has proved skillful in getting presidential supporters to dig deep. only three challengers have raised more than $30 million. bernie sanders being one of them, raising $46 million plus elizabeth warren, $45 million plus and pete buttigieg, $32 million plus. john delaney with $26 million and kamala harris with about $25 million adding that she recently took a break from campaigning in iowa to appear at a sold-out ,undraiser hosted by spike lee organized a fundraiser for president obama in 2012.

financeo to the yahoo! website, you can find out more about how much the various candidates have raised. let's hear from houston, texas, democrats line. caller: hello? host: you are on, go ahead. how would you change about the presidential election process? caller: i would like to do away with the electoral college. host: why is that? caller: because it is not correct. each person should have a vote doesn't come out right. the other thing i would like to change his every state has the same amount of congressmen and senators. if one state has 10 congressmen that are republican, they should have 10 democrats.

has one democrat, it should have one republican. there would not be so much fighting. they would have to negotiate together and help the people. there is too much fighting in washington. these wars we have. poor have tothe send their sons and daughters to get in harm's way. sent their sons and daughters to those wars. we will stop getting into those wars we have. host: if you are on the line, stay with us for a few minutes. if you are calling to let us know how you would change presidential elections, you can do so on the lines off of

facebook and twitter as well. we will be joined by various opinion makers on the program this morning. mitch is the senior political analyst for the carolina journal who joins us on skype. welcome back. guest: thanks for having me and happy labor day. host: thank you. there have been many reports taking a look at this reelection that will take place. in north carolina, 9. some calling it a bellwether about 2020. could you talk about this rates -- race and what year impressions are? guest: it did not have to be that way. we have two special elections taking place on the same day. one is in the third congressional district to replace walter jones. whoas the freedom fries guy turned against the iraq war. thereferenced the ninth and

ninth could be a bellwether. the reason this one is up for grabs is because of some absentee ballot shenanigans that took place in 2016. it is a district that is relatively republican. in the primary election, robert pittenger was defeated by mark harris. mark harris ran against a andcrat named dan mccready it was a close election. shortly after the election and before the election could be certified, it came out there were all kinds of absentee ballot irregularities dealing with the far eastern part of the district, which starts in charlotte. in the southeastern part of south carolina, there were irregularities, the state board elections held a hearing and determined there were too many

irregularities and legalities. they decided to hold a new election. dan mccready, the president is running again against the state senator or republican named dan bishop. the reason this could be a good bellwether is because dan bishop has been tying himself to president trump and president trump has asserted himself in this race supporting dan bishop and saying negative things about dan mccready and president trump will be coming to north carolina the day before the election, september 9. how this election turns out could give a good sense of weather people in north carolina, especially in that district that goes all the way from charlotte to northeastern south carolina, how the people really think about president trump and the job he is doing.

host: what does the current situation of nc9 have in terms of the number of voters and how that might sway who gets picked? guest: on paper, republicans should win this district every time. because of the fact dan mccready ran so well in 2018 coming less than 1000 votes short of winning , couldction in his camp put forward an argument -- i don't know if it holds water, but could put forward an argument that they would have won the election without the shenanigans. dan mccready is a strong candidate and other in the rhetoric from the republicans, he is not seen as a far-left candidate. he is a military veteran, has been sort of vague about his grounds. he is not one that endorsed the

ideals of the squad or the most left members of the democratic party in in the 2018 election, he was noncommittal about weather he would support nancy pelosi. dan mccready as seen as a middle-of-the-road democratic candidate. he did very well in 2018 and there is the whole leftover ballotr of this nc9 shenanigans of 2018 may have voters say we are not happy with the republican contractors and operatives on that 2018 election , so that boosts democrats in this race. and bishop is very solidly conservative. whole within this district are republicans or might lean republican, but are more moderate and not big on the social issues, they might look at dan bishop and say i am not

exactly sure about him, perhaps we will go with this greedy fellow. mccready fellow. [video clip] >> in charlotte, a sheriff is playing politics with illegal immigration to spite president trump. gary mcfadden released violent, criminal illegals on our streets. i and dan bishop, rogue sheriffs should follow the law or resign. dan mccready will not put country over party. i am dan bishop, i approve this message. >> andy and i work and pay over $700 a month. at three weeks old, he had to be hospitalized with a fever. we got slapped with an $8,000 bill. dan bishop was the only senator to vote no on a bipartisan bill

that helped families like mine get discounted prescription drugs and now drug company money is helping his campaign. our family cannot afford dan bishop. host: immigration, health care, is that reflecting in the ads you are seeing? guest: yeah and we are skiing asds that have president trump dealing about -- we have ads that have president trump dealing with issues trying to paint dan mccready as a member of the far left wing of the democratic party. i am not sure if that message is going to resonate with people outside the most conservative parties in this electoral base. that is the gamble dan bishop is taking. it dan mccready -- he has been vague on where he stands, a lot of the issues. one of his big issues was trying

to get something done on health care, which we know has been a key issue for democrats for years and certainly since republicans took control of congress and took control of the white house, they have been blasting them for not doing anything to improve health care. that fits with what we have seen. haveds fit with what we seen in this part of the country. host: what is the money looking like from candidates themselves and outside groups? guest: a lot of money flowing in and both parties are interested in this seat. not just because it plays a role in congress. based on the numbers as they stand, i don't think this seat will one way or the other flip control. the democrats certainly have a comfortable margin, but this helps with the narrative going into 2020. if dan mccready can win,

democrats will use this to say president trump's support is kind of weak. north carolina is a state he won in 2016, perhaps he is not as solid. we have a chance to beat him. if dan bishop wins, i think republicans will say this is a sign president trump's policies are successful and he came into this state and stumped for dan bishop. that is one sign of support, among others, the people of north carolina continue to spread. host: how can people find you? guest: carolina journal is a publication of the john locke foundation. freeina journal is a monthly publication and anyone interested can contact us at carolinajournal.com or johnlo

cke.org. and they can i write a weekly column, if some of things i'm interesting, they can check out carolina journal.com. we thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you so much. happy labor day. host: we have asked you but what you would change about presidential elections. you can make your thoughts known by colonists on the phone lines. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 784-8001. .ndependent (202) 748-8002 facebook is available. a couple of thoughts on twitter as well. elections, sheo is not going to answer any clinical calls.

mail-in we should have votes. him, the birth should be recorded and they should be automatically registered to vote. if you want to add your thoughts. south carolina, the independent line. thanks for waiting. caller: thank you for having me on. it's been a long time since i've been able to call in. feelingsforces my about your program. people toat place for go and be able to hear good ideas from both sides, and some bad ideas from both sides as well. i wouldn't call myself a conservative leaning and dependent.

i think there are a lot of changes that need to be made with the electoral system. the one i think is the easy answer that everybody seems to go to is the electoral college. i think it needs to stand. our educational system has over the last several decades deteriorated and people don't understand or learn the history of the country and why it exists. people like to talk about one man one vote. the people have rights, so do states. that was the way the republic got set up. the states were worried about their individual rights in the collective rights of the country. it ensures the rights of the states as well. you don't have california, new york, texas deciding who wins an election. could there be some fine tuning done? absolutely. i agree with consolidating the

dates of the primaries. i live in south carolina where we get the third shot. i don't think it's fair that iowa and new hampshire and south carolina are the three states that same two most control what happens in the primary system. the electoral college serves a purpose. that is to make sure that the people who live in the middle of the country don't get ignored. they have to deal with the whims and wills of what i would call the liberal elites that live on the coasts. we will hear from tom in georgia. caller: good morning. is cut and dry. i believe the people in the united states should be made more aware of the personal

interactions of any presidential candidate. what i mean by that is taxes should not be secret. however you run your personal life, if you become elected president, and is how you run the country. donald trump has never been held accountable for anything. campaign war now as has been accountable for things they've done. rolls downhill. it starts at the top and hits the bottom. would you go beyond releasing tax information as far as personal information? my income tax is no

secret. a red flag, i get screened. how is it that someone who is a millionaire or billionaire, why are they secret? is taxes were summoned and never shown. i don't know if he spends his money. i do know that it's a secret. everyone that is aware of his personal interactions is held accountable for something they've done wrong. he's the one telling them what to do. host: the independent line is next from new york. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think get rid of the electoral college. racist -- out as a

the only election is one person one vote. i don't understand what the man said. it's the only way to go. other than that, it's a rigged election. host: wouldn't bigger states have a bigger slate? -- sway? theer: i think you discount intelligence of the midwest voters themselves. they should vote more competent people in. that's a big problem we have today. host: the republican line from texas, we will hear from richard. caller: thank you for taking my call. i haven't heard anyone mention voter id.

host: are you calling for national id? some type of typical id we carry anyway? caller: typical id that someone carries. something of that nature. for anyuld be required other business transaction or purchasing alcohol. it only makes common sense to do that. i don't know why they are hesitant of that. and i racist because i want people to show id western mark with that prevent legal immigrants from voting? they want to give the id to california residents. haveemocrats say illegals not voted. i think they are incorrect. maintain theould system the way it is. as far as keeping the electoral college.

without that, we are subject to the tyranny of the masses. thanks very much for being patient with me. how can that one democrat correlate donald trump with the hurricane that's out there. bernie sanders was in new hampshire yesterday. newabeth warren will be in hampshire today. that is part of our coverage. you can see her later on this afternoon. if you want more information go to ourevent, website www.c-span.org. is from north carolina, the independent line. hello. i think the primary system should be reconfigured under regionalism.

similar to what college football has. can divide the states of into groups of 648. eight.or section rotate which goes first in the primary. it will save time. host: how did you make that correlation? concept of regionalism is an idea i think the government should be reconfigured. that is no corporation hasn't been reorganized. host: go ahead. caller: the concept of regionalism has a lot of value. north dakota and south dakota have departments of agriculture. i don't think you need to departments of agriculture. the one area of regionalism should have more consolidated governments where you could

decrease the elected people. there are 500,000 people elected each year. i think we have too many people in the bureaucracy. if you consolidated without changing the number of electoral power you would have more for each region. pennsylvania,m, hello. college is electoral a horse and buggy idea. states there were 13 when it was instituted and only two of them were lopsided in terms of population. pennsylvania and virginia were the largest states and it was balanced. today, it's ridiculous. you have states with less than a million people with three votes in huge states that don't have

that many as far as the numbers of people. three're going to give votes to half a million people, california should have over 100. it's an unfair system. the argue about new york and california dominating, it's ridiculous. was mayor for eight years. he was a republican. bloomberg was mayor for 12 years. the man talked about sports, we the winnerh play, could end the match after 15 holes if he was three holes ahead. today, we count power strokes. that's the only fair way to do it. host: you are next up. caller: good morning.

i want to make a comment to the democrats in this country. they are going in the wrong direction. they have been and they will continue to do that. there are so many people on the democratic ticket running for president. it is ridiculous. all socialists. it is all socialism. they are bringing in communism. i am a republican. i used to be a democrat. i changed my vote. we have the best most --elligent press didn't president since ronald reagan to run this country. he is running it in the right direction. comes to specific changes, what would you change? caller: what would i change?

i would take the democrats and put them all in the corner. i would make this country all republican. we are going in the right direction. host: let's listen to be in florida. caller: good morning. i haven't spoken with you and over 10 years. i think this will all come matt to you. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: i haven't spoken with you and over 10 years. part go aheadhat with how you would change the election system. the problem we have is the reason washington d c is a house, wee -- whore don't have financing of

elections by the public. we are never going to have a representative government. we will continue to have an oligarchy. that is where the problem lies. it's how we fund our presidential elections. they own it. it becomes the entertainment of the wealthy and the people aren't getting represented. that is the disease. we have to get true financing of elections. we are slowly becoming a third world country. host: how would that change the system? what changes about the process? caller: you wouldn't have all of these super pacs. you call your congressman and you get a letter. they don't want to talk to us.

they are not interested. the corporate lobbyists that fund campaigns, they draft the legislation. that's what we need. representing the corporations. we have this fate democracy of representation that's not real. we have predatory capitalism every year. it used to be our ceos made 50 times more, now they are making 500 times. host: how are you satisfied as far as hurricane preparation? caller: we are at high point. i feel safe here. power,have wind and lose the strength of the hurricane by the time it's inland, it has slowed down. host: that was debby in gainesville.

we are taking a look at elections, presidential elections and how you might change those. you have heard a lot of comments. you can add yours to the mix. if you are on the line, hold with us for a few minutes. if you are calling, keep calling. we are joined by various opinion makers. editor of bleeding heartland. thanks for coming back to the show. the dnc decision when it comes to virtual caucuses, can you explain how that would work or the plan that was submitted and what has changed. guest: the iowa caucuses have always been different from a primary. to participate, you have to be

in a specific place at 7:00 on a monday evening and it takes over an hour. that is excluded huge number of people who work second or third shift, people who don't drive at night, many people with caregivers or young children. a lot of people have wanted to participate but been unable to. this year, they proposed a similar system. they developed a plan for holding a virtual caucus where people can register in advance and colin on the phone. there would be specific times where they could call in and register up to five preferences. excited about. i thought it would make the caucuses more inclusive. the dnc was giving the party a lot of assurances that the plan was probably going to meet their requirements. week, their security team

submitted a memo that they were concerned that any form of caucus where people colin could be susceptible to hacking. we are only five months away from the iowa caucuses. it's not clear what the democratic party will be able to do to make allowances for people who are not able to be there in person. if the plan does not come into place, they will still go on. does the participation get affected? guest: the calendar has been set. februarysupposed to be 3. the new try to move hampshire primary earlier. right now, the plans are for the iowa caucuses to still be first. the dnc has all ready told iowa and nevada they will give away

for if they cannot accommodate. i think the dnc should be telling islands you've got to find another way to work that out, whether it's an absentee opent or holding locations during the day to allow people to register their preferences. we are in the 21st century. there is some way to accommodate those people. host: we heard several calls about iowa's sway to the process. what do you offer when you hear these arguments? a lot of people don't support starting the nominating states with small predominantly white populations. more and more voices within the democratic party nationally to start the process

and more diverse states. that's why iowa and new hampshire have presented a united front to preserve the calendar. i feel i ones take a lot of time and care. it's important to start the nominating process in smaller states where it's not that expensive to advertise on television. i can tell you the iowai can tes goers are very serious about it. they asked better questions in the journalists do. they're not asking about the latest poll or the strategy. they are asking about the issues that matter to people. bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and joe biden, are they the top three in iowa? they are getting larger

crowds than joe biden in iowa. there is a lot of interest in joe biden. in the past howard dean had a substantial lead before the iowa caucuses. he wound up finishing third. they decide very late. cory booker is getting very large crowds here. as theough his numbers first choice have not been high, a lot of people say he is in their top three or four candidates. there are a lot of candidates who could be the front runners right now. we don't know who will be on the upswing. he did a historical analysis of the polling.

more than half of the iowa democrats made up their minds in the last month. it's anybody's game right now. host: are we starting to see some ads? can you give us a sense with the groundwork is like? guest: there have been hundreds of candidate visits already. the candidates have been adding staff in iowa much earlier. there are a number of candidates with dozens of field organizers already. joe biden has been running tv ads. kamala harris also was running some commercials. it's a little bit early to be advertising. the candidates who have the funds to do that want to get their message out. joe biden, they really played

out that he had lots of experience. those are strong cards for him. his polling is not great in iowa for a front runner. seen web ads for bernie sanders. think everyone is going to be advertising as we get closer to the caucuses. most caucus-goers are interested in seeing the candidates in person. we have a tremendous amount -- number of candidates. joni ernst is running for reelection. what does it look like? iowa, we tend to reelect our incumbents. the last time a senator did not win was 1984 when tom harkin defeated a republican.

in the 70's and 80's, we had three u.s. senators who were defeated in their first reelection bids. 2020 will be the best opportunity to try to defeat her. favoredmbent in iowa is unless there is an unusual circumstance. we have four strong democrats running. there is plenty of time for people to make themselves known. it's too early to see of the sentiment will be favorable to democrats like 2018. now, she is probably favored. i would not rule out the reelection it could be threatened. has she included president trump and her campaigning? joni ernst and chuck grassley have not stood up to trump on anything.

when they are out campaigning and doing events, they are not holding a lot of campaign events. they are holding town hall meetings organized by their congressional offices. u.s.are paid for by the taxpayer rather than the campaign. they are technically official event. i don't think she is talking about the president. she may say that she is mildly as agreeing with something he's doing. when it comes to votes, i have not seen either of the iowa senators vote against confirming of an appointee, never against the bill trump wanted to pass, never voted against a bill trump didn't want. she is going to be tied to donald trump. he won iowa by a large margin in 2016. it will be a lot more

competitive next year. it's early. to what extent do the tariffs figure into support for the president? guest: it's early. we haven't had a good poll lately. his approval rating has been underwater here as it has been in a number of other states. the tariffs are hurting the iowa economy. even people who don't work in agriculture are affected by the agriculture sector. it's beyond belief to me that what the administration is doing to its base and some of its stronger supporters, i don't expect i went to be divided by a large margin. we are traditionally more of a swing state. 2016 was an aberration. i would like to see more current numbers. the des moines register will be publishing a new poll by

september or october. that will be very interesting to see what the approval numbers are like. host: what do you look for? what are you looking for over the next few months as we watch 2020? as i talk interested to democrats, they are looking at a lot of candidates. i'm interested in hearing who are in your top three. warren is elizabeth in a strong position here. caucused forle hillary clinton and bernie sanders. or is in their top two three. joe biden is ryan previous supporters of clinton. bernie sanders is trying to hold onto his supporters. somebody who can be more unifying, that's what i'm looking for.

there are a number of candidates that democrats generally like in the field. i don't hear a lot of negative comments about anybody. i have yet to walk away from -- an event ends think that candidate really bombed. it's anybody's game. the later debates will be watched by a larger audience. that's going to be interesting. host: tell us about your blog. guest: we are on the web. a facebookthere is page. frequently posting there about iowa politics. campaigns forour elections in state government

issues in the iowa caucuses. of thatis is the editor blog, the bleeding heartland. now, back to your calls on changing the electoral process. thanks for waiting. caller: the thing i would like to say is i would like to keep the electoral college. the electoral college, there would never have been a constitution and there would be no united states of america. what the founding fathers did was they compromised. they learned how to do that. a lot of this complaint is about donald trump. trump will come and go. when that is done, we will see who the next president is, whether it's the electoral college or the popular vote. if you're not going to have an electoral college, the small states that accepted the

compromise should allow the small states to lead the unit -- leave the union. then you have to amend the constitution. that's about it. host: the republican line from michigan. caller: i would just like to say we should get rid of the elect oral vote. -- electoral college. in michigan, we have to show id. i 2020, you have to show a birth or difficult when you get your id. they will put a star on there so they know you are a citizen. and said donald trump is running this country in the right direction. if running it into the ground is in the right direction, he's doing a great job. host: why should the electoral

college go? caller: because it's one person one vote. it should be. with thens are messing voting machines. there should be a paper ballot. mitch mcconnell doesn't want to fix the machines. host: let's go to michigan. you are on. go ahead. caller: those who defend the electoral college forget the senate. the senate covers the small states. no matter how few people, fewer than 2 million in some states as mentioned, they still have two senators. let's have majority rule. at least for president. michigan, halfn of our votes counted for nothing.

at least it should be proportionate in these bigger states. host: that is paul in michigan. we were talking about pete buttigieg in iowa. the candidate who plateaued in the polls plans to accelerate his campaign in the coming weeks. he will announce a flurry of staffing hired. it will be crucial to outreach and south carolina and other southern states that follow. labor day is going to be a turning point. that was his campaign manager. the campaign will have 100 staffers in iowa alone. mayor pete will have one of the largest teams there. has been to iowa eight times

since july. the republican line from california. hello. caller: good morning. fraud, driversr licenses here in california are no longer reliable. i believe the social security card with a photograph could be scanned it voting time would be the way to go. host: in pennsylvania, we will hear from been next. caller: how are you today? on the issue of computer voter fraud, every voter should be given a random code number. they could get a paper printout. following the election, these code numbers and how they voted would be published and voters

who chose to do so could check their paper printout against the published vote. it would be private and voluntary. it would be a way to help illuminate computer voting fraud. host: his is a pressing issue on your mind? caller: absolutely. i believe in philadelphia alone 58,0002008, there were voter fraud applications. it's a very big concern of mine. highlightsmagazine concerns from facebook. facebook is tightening its rules political advertising. a previous misuse was a balanced. it will not stop at actors from using the system. there will be a tightened

verification process. they will have to confirm their identity and prove they are in the united states. the taxertisers confirm identification number. be fair fight group will listed on the paid for by disclaimers. facebook will verify this information against government records. the independent line from pennsylvania, hello. caller: good morning. my comments about the issue in the comments being made are there are so many people, so many elites upset that donald trump beat hillary, the appointed candidate. presidentalf black

and we were going to have a woman. the mainstream media loved it. all we are hearing this from the voices that want change to the system. were those same voices, let's assume all of the changes were made that they want made, including the lady in iowa. those caucuses are set up years in advance. if someone can't make the arrangements necessary to participate that have been going on for 100 years, they don't care as much as she says they do. getting back to the electoral college. let's say the next time donald ismp israel elected, -- reelected he wins the popular vote. what will they do then? what will be their proposed solution to that problem? host: when it comes to the electoral college you would keep

it? caller: absolutely. with astart the answer couple of colors ago said you do have protection with the small states in the senate. that's an excellent point. you have to get through the senate if you want anything passed into law. system ishe current not perfect because it was made by people that were not perfect. it has survived for 250 years. the electoral college in the way the elections are done give every candidate who can muster more than votes has a voice. is it perfect? no. in my opinion it has worked well. the rest of world still wants to come here. i don't know of another country

that has people breaking the law to get into it other than the united states. isarently what we're doing attractive to the rest of the world. host: ok. that was great in pennsylvania. jonathan, we will hear from you next. every year, there is talk about the popular vote versus the electoral college. college, the republicans will never allow that happened. i would like to know what people think about proportional voting. it's never talked about. i think it would increase voter turnout.

i have seen on tv, george f will recently wrote about it. proportional voting is never mentioned. i would like to know if you think it's a good idea. if not, why not? host: we will let others answer if they want to take that on. the decision with right choice presidential primaries, there is no decision from the governor. was reviewing a bill on right voting. days.ave five more if she signs it or let's it passed into law, it would take place in time for the march primary.

it passed on a 20-12 vote. another key 2019 change, lawmakers will allow parties to switch parties. you can see this more at the website. tom is in ohio. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think we should keep the electoral college. i think we should let the supreme court decide this. i think they will rule in favor of it. i am concerned about fake voting, especially in california. we have some relatives out there. they know people -- his wife is a spanish teacher. they have had people work on their house. she is heard them speaking in spanish because they always

think we don't understand them. they brag about voting and they said they were not citizens. this was in the california where they live. this was in the san diego area. i think the solution, democrats are scared to death of this. you should present a drivers license and you must have proof of birth. democrats will go screaming into the night and fight this. almost everybody can get a copy of their births are different it by just notifying the county seat. they will faction a birth certificate copy for a small fee. independent line, hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. think they should do away with the electoral college.

my personal opinion is it's another way for the rich to cheat. it should be the will of the people, not the electoral college. host: when you say it allows the rich to cheat, what do you mean? caller: i don't know much about the vote, i was in the impression it was because they could not -- correct me if i'm wrong. go ahead. host: continue your thought. today, if somebody wins the lottery in georgia tomorrow, i think they should get rid of the electoral college. it should be the will of the people deciding who are president is, not just a handful of people. host: let's hear from frank in

new york. caller: i would like to put forward an idea for a constitutional amendment to reform the process. you have to have a majority of both electoral college and a plurality of the popular vote. in order to win the election in the first round. then have a runoff between the top vote getters. the smaller states would still have that clout. this would take care of the issue of third parties. people should be able to vote their true sentiment. should be the possibility of a runoff election a few weeks later.

i think it's something that could pass. the smaller states are not going to go to using that extra clout they have because of the two senators. host: the idea of third party gives in us representation? caller: no. i would say no. have more shouldn't options in that regard. they should get more of a voice in the process. caller: yes. of course. think this would affect votes overall? if we let morern parties in the process? caller: we already have them.

numerous third parties. of -- there problem should be the option. vote for what you really want, then you can vote for the lesser evil kind of thing. from louisiana. good morning. you are on. caller: it's time to make a compromise on this. morning, theyis are trying to make the point heard. the popular vote should have some meaning. i think it's time for the country to have a constitutional

amendment. vote should have weight as well. by designated a certain amount of electoral college votes to the popular vote. tohink we are smart enough figure out a certain amount that when a person lives the popular vote -- wins the popular vote, there should be some type of recognition. it could be 15 votes extra. increase voter turnout. let's hear from georgia, the republican line. hello. you are on. go ahead. watching am just

everything i've seen on tv so far about both parties. anything unique about the democrats at all except they are super radical. everybody wants to change the way votes are counted so it can be slanted one way or the other. the system that was set up by spotounding fathers were on. it has lasted for 250 years. it could probably last for 2000 years. the people who call themselves liberals are more radical than anything else. they love to call people that. it the wayed to stay it is. host: the washington post looks at the most important election. this is used in various campaigns, including this one coming up.

we will talk a little about the phrase.

it's a long piece you will find in the washington post online. it's in the style section this morning. hello. about theam calling electoral college. i do believe it's an archaic system. it needs to be discontinued. a small portion of the country should not be ruling or have say over the decisions on how the country is run. that is what the electoral college does. host: when the larger states have more say? caller: they do have congress.

they do have senators. they have elected officials. viewpoint and their needs are handled by those people. virginia is in riverside, california. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i'm calling from california. it is my understanding with the electoral vote that it has been removed twice in the past. it is not part of the constitution. if anyone like to check on that, the collar said it's been around for 2000 years. i'm not sure he is correct. host: let's go to body in texas to corpus christi,

texas. caller: every time you get a cluster of people, they always want their way. everybody else lives outside of not as smart. is democrat view of people in rural america. ,f you want to make things fair why don't they go for a voter id? then you know how many people are in your area. it makes everything fair. thingsnt to slant including illegal populations in with the voters. that's not fair.

the way things are with the electoral college is perfect. host: why so? states because the small are represented equally according to population. when you get that many electoral votes in a larger area. they would be able to control what they were saying. they want to control everything as far as making this a socialist country. it's not the way things are set up. this is a republic. it's not a democracy. host: the democrat line. caller: i'm talking about the electoral college. it was established because people were not very educated. speak would go around and to the people to know what they want.

the electoral college would do the voting. now everybody is educated. you don't need the electoral college. everyone is educated enough to understand what the presidential people are speaking about. to were three people to make the decision for you. you can make it yourself. host: we've been talking about changes you would make to the presidential election process. aboutpeople are talking specific ways of voting. some are calling for the money involved. you can add your voice to the mix. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 784-8001 four republicans. timesy of a new york looking at how labor unions are considering a candidate leading up to election day. this.rite

candidates trip over one another to get plots from organized labor. unit officials do not plan to announce endorsements anytime soon. that is some of the way that the unions are taking a look at it. this is jeff in houston. good morning.

i had a couple of things to say. one to the gentleman in pennsylvania. i'm a disabled person. i'm only 56 years old. i am homebound. caucuses,hese republicans do things differently. a mayor that is a black democrat. he serves us very well. someone could look at houston and see how things get done. people to have a way for that are shot in in their homes to participate. even when i was out working two jobs, i couldn't do much with local politics. now that i'm disabled, it's all i do. we do meetings and fellowships here. the technology gap in the digital divide has more to do

with the economic system to me. worked too much, they can't get to the local stuff. they might be shut in. century, everything can be done. space force and cyber currency, we could do something better to get everybody involved. that's all i want to say. most people where i live don't have a cell phone. in houstonwas debby texas. charlottesville, virginia. good morning to you. previously, we had a caller from virginia say by the time it's done when you get through iowa and new hampshire, it doesn't matter. what do you think about that perspective?

guest: i think that blogs to the clinical parties. forok calls constitutionalize in the political parties and setting up regional primaries. elevatingver advocate a political party to a constitutional guarantee. we did not have them when we first got started. democratsublicans or wanted to be fair, they should be listening to their constituents and setting up their own regional primaries. host: when it comes to the commonwealth itself, how much attention are you getting from the democrats involved or president trump? better or work has been in charlottesville two times. he is paid some attention. joe biden keeps saying charlottesville.

i think the case is made that it's going to be the whipping boy for the primary. i do know if the people who helped orchestrate the riots get a commission every time a politician uses us is a political hunching bag. been two years since the united the right rally. will it resonate in the campaign? using itey will keep as long as its course points. 2015oser in the 2017 gotrial race -- more votes than terry mcauliffe and tim kaine. the scare tactics worked. they got 400,000 more virginians out to the polls. aty were all scared

gillespie would be chasing little brown kids around in pickup trucks. host: given his own personal general, the attorney does it resonate into a campaign? guest: i think it will with certain candidates. i think they've avoided the governor and lieutenant evan are carefully. .e are term limited they can only run for the one term. he won't be worried about reelection. see they avoidl the governor quite handily. talk about the issues involved. what is your sense of the issues people are most interested about as they consider a president? guest: it's the economy.

right now, we see on most streets the economy doing well. you watch the media, they keep saying, well, we could, maybe. as if we learned nothing from lawrence of -- lawrence onald, leading into a new story with dot dot dot, is not journalism. but we seem to be leading into with,n the economic world maybe a recession, and if we all grab our wallets just a little tighter, that is when the recession actually starts. that is what happened in 2007. everyone bought just a little bit less and all of a sudden, the ripple began to start getting through this overly service-based economy.

host: doesn't change anything for virginia to go for donald trump? guest: i do not know virginia will go for donald trump and the electoral college. i think iowa does it this way, ringaps i am misremembe which state doesn't by congressional district, because carried the president that majority of the congressional districts, but would have still not gotten all of our electoral votes, but would have gotten the plurality of them, but i think that you will see states like ohio and michigan and pennsylvania stay steadily in the trump camp, so i --nk you will see when winning a reelection, but we have to keep the economy going strong which is less likely to see the whims and whimsy's of a couple of people holding onto their wallets tighter, have an impact on it.

host: is the focus on trade a help or hindrance to the president's? guest: i think it is a work in progress. i've been watching donald trump since he first announced he would build a tower in manhattan during my teen years, and you can never judge where donald j. trump in progress. you have to wait until the project is done and then look at it and say, oh, that is not as bad as i thought it was which is generally what happens with the president. host: a little bit about the senate race that will take place in virginia with mark warner, what the potential of him winning another term? guest: he has done a good job of keeping himself away from the fringes of the party. he has held many precedents with amy klobuchar. ishave teased him that he already her vice presidential nominee if she wins the nomination.

he has tried to keep himself as close to the center as possible, so it will be hard, too. you look at some of the things he has said about china and russia, it could be very competitive and it depends on the republican candidate. host: joe thomas, tell people about your showing how they can listen to you? throughe on 5:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. monday through friday. you can stream us online, we chv.com. joe thomas out of charlottesville, virginia. thank you. guest: thank you, prayed her . -- thank you, pedro. host: for the final hour, we will continue on with the changes to presidential elections. ityou would make any whether be electoral college, identification, you can put other ideas into the mix, too. call us (202) 748-8000 free

democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8002 for independents, and we will take your comments as they come in. we will filter some of them from our twitter feed @cspanwj and a facebook page. reston, virginia, republican line. >> -- caller: good morning. we will continue if we can keep it as i think benjamin franklin well said. also on voting ids. i believe that every citizen should be showing an id.

students should show their id, that is for their school, not her voting. -- not for voting. sults always an in when i hear that minorities cannot afford ids. that should stop. host: we will hear from polly and carolina beach, carolina. caller: hi, thank you for being willing to labor on your labor day. we should not have the electoral college and i would be glad to see it go. side note, to the people who believe there is -- voter fraud going on, i challenge them to call and be an election official. when i got involved and understood the actual process of how ballots are protected and

people that come in are who they say they are, that you become reassured that there is no voter fraud owing on. yourself, find out for how the process works so you can have confidence in the process if we get rid of the electoral college, we will still be a democratic republic. the electoral college does not make us a republic. host: let us polly in north carolina. we will hear from keith in california, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. i want to talk about the electoral college and voting. i do believe that every voter an identification and government issued identification, and that is just to prove who they are and that they are a citizen.

electoral college has been around for 200 years, it is a part of the constitution, and i believe it should stay around because i don't think that america's presidents should be voted in by two of 50 states. says,rick of facebook when it comes to changes that he would like to see to the system to make it a national holiday, nnie, saying that when it comes to her, national photo id and proof of citizenship to vote is what she would be looking for. christopher says, repeal citizens united. and really reform campaign finance. also saying, making it a federal holiday that everyone has the chance to vote, and make tv stations and parties restructure debates because they are worthless now. 45 seconds is not long enough to deliver a counterpoint. elections should not be a celebrity contest.

tami says, campaigning is too long of a process. how are so many senators running? it is a distraction for an elected official to be on the trail so long. campaigns should start january of the election year. so much wasted money that could be spent on real issues for the better of american citizens. facebook, if you would like to post, it is that.com/c-span in our twitter feed at @cspanwj. you can call the phone lines that (202) 748-8000 free forcrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, and independents (202) 748-8002. alabama is next, gina indicator. -- gina in decatur. caller: hi, calling you from the river city in alabama. everybody's ideas are all well and good, but it seems to me that we would have to change laws. i have a radical idea.

i am a trump voter, but i am not so much a trump supporter anymore. bernieth warren and should team up. they have so much in common than that would be a way to unite each other, the country, and they could possibly have a chance of winning, but as it stands right now, when they get to the national convention, to voting.nd round of biden is old news. there is too much controversy about him and he cannot be trusted. but i don't see a problem if they would team up, at the percentages they stand out now, they would win by a landslide. and you would really not have to change a lot to do that. ernie as president -- host: what made you convinced

that biden is going to get the nomination at this stage? guest: because of a what i watched -- caller: because i've what i at the democratic -- i don't want to call them democrats, because i live with a democrat -- i saw his heart torn out when hillary lost, it was devastating to my husband. is really hardit to explain of the tension in the household. i thank you for letting me call. and mentioning blackface, kay ivey, our governor is in big trouble for what she did in college. and alabamas gina talking about not only elizabeth warren, but bernie sanders. senator sanders was in new hampshire yesterday as a part of a town hall event there, and here are some of that.

[video clip] sanders: the function of health care in a civilized society is to offer health care in a cost-effective way, not to have wall street and the insurance company make billions in profits. [applause] sanders: so when you see the ads on tv attacking me or attacking medicare for all, understand who is paying for those ads. they are nervous because finally, we are challenging their right to rip off the american people while they make billions of billions of profits. host: if you want to see the event from yesterday, go to our website at c-span.org. the website will also tell you information about senator elizabeth warren who will be in new hampshire today. you can see an event with her at

2:30 this afternoon. more information available from the website. in new jersey, marlena, democrats line. caller: hello. i couple of things i would like to say about the electoral college. i don't feel it serves a purpose anymore. the lasthat just election showed that the popular hillary, whether people wanted her or not, but if people say you have to go out and vote to tell kids to go out and vote and then there vote really does not count is counter productive. it does not make sense. i think the other thing is how , thee divided as a nation jihadists, we are doing it to ourselves now. they are not doing it to us. we are dividing our nation and we are bringing our own nation

down. host: what do you mean by that? caller: well. complicated and we find this with friends, that people are so divided, our own friends that we cannot discuss anything about politics or anything like that but when you really come to think of it, you have people on the outside trying to destroy our country, and we are doing it to ourselves. i think we have to think about that within the next election. in newhat is marlena jersey. off of twitter, this person identifies himself as davy crockett -- we have enough national holidays and if you cannot figure out how to get to the polls to vote, you do not want to vote bad enough, he says. and someone else says that democratic voter fraud is well documented at video. some of the twitter postings this morning on the idea of how

you would change presidential elections. john is next in california, republican line. caller: good morning. i would like to me couple of comments. i think the electoral college is good and only the people who lose elections want it abolished. if you don't have the electoral college, the whole middle part of the country, their vote does not count. what i am calling about is my isue with election fraud, believe there is election fraud in the absentee ballots where they cannot verify who is voting, and they send out a lot of stuff and you will see the absentee ballots growing and growing but i think the fraud is there. what i would do is i would, number one, i would call for a national id, but i would go even further than that because i have a problem with people who are

or who or unqualified can be coerced l, -- let's say, homeless people, you can give them something and they will vote. i have a problem with that. i would say that you need to -- whoever files an income tax return gets to vote. even if you do not make any money, you file the income tax return, you get on the irs, but if you are not filing income tax returns, then voting and being coerced is a real problem for america. host: what was the thing that convinced you to absentee ballots was the problem? caller: in my little town, i got involved when i first got here with some people that were with a union. i won't say which one.

we went over to a guy's house, we had teams, we went all over the city and got absentee ballots whether they were illegal aliens or whoever. and when you given absentee ballot out, you mark down on a list who that person is and then the day before the election, you go over to that house again with your team, and you give them a list of people to vote for, and that is who they vote for or, you send the absentee ballot to one i -- one address, and one person fills out 40 absentee ballots. so the absentee ballots are corrupted and i saw with my own eyes. host: that is john telling his story in california. from washington state, hello, mary. caller: good morning. i really love your show. i learned so much every time i get a chance to watch it. happy holiday to you. host: thank you and thank you

for watching. caller: i wanted to say, i am not an independent, i just do not know if i am a democrat or republican, i am just an american. i had a question. instead of four years each term, they can maybe run three years and then have like six year terms for presidency, but also for the summit. -- the senate. and you have to have a state id regardless if you drive or not and social security, why can't they come up with another set of that way wed's could use that and it would not be your social security or your driver's license, but it would be a combination of the two. host: there is a six-year term

in the senate, why do you think that would work for the president of the united states? caller: i'm not sure, sir, i was just thinking instead of having four years -- but i guess it takes time for them to get to know the ropes of being a president. i was just thinking more so with the senators and stuff that they could have a limit. i don't know if it is true. --now one of the presidents is it franklin or eleanor roosevelt that ran three terms? host: you got me on that one, but i can check that. when it comes to the six-year term, we had a caller previous who said the same thing, but that would just be the only term, they would not be allowed to run for reelection. years and then run

again. -- if we voted them in, then it would be ok, they could run nine years so that way, it would give other people -- i don't know, nobody is happy with what is going on. i wish people were more happy and they would spread it to other people. host: ok, thank you. just one of the thoughts this morning from people calling in as far as changing the presidential election system. in san antonio, texas, we will hear from carrie. -- kerry. caller: good morning. host: hi. caller: just want to say a few words about the electoral college. if you read the federalist papers, one of the biggest concerns of the founders was what they called factions or political party differences. they knew throughout history

that that was something that had torn nations apart. the time of the founding, the country was still relatively small, but they knew that it would grow much bigger with many states, so they try to find a system that would provide unity throughout the states. thislectoral college does by assigning delegates not only to the population but also by giving each state itself two delegates just like the senate. the senate gets two senators. to theves representation states and regions themselves, thus providing for unity. if you look at a map of the 2016 election by counties, presidential election will see about 85%resident won of all of the counties in the u.s. of the a great example

electoral college providing unity across the nation. host: ok, darrell in tennessee. caller: hi. my idea is to just have the ,ebpage, cut the campaigns out kill the carbon print, and everybody issues their username and if they do not have access to a cell phone or a computer, set it up at the library or the election places. all i know is i am tired of standing in the cold and waiting in line, and all they do once they get in is spend all of phone gettingthe more money for the next election. host: with concerns about internet security, you would still refer to a webpage purely

for voting for president? caller: well yeah, but it would be secure through darpa or your firewalls or whatever you have, or whatever you are hooked up t o. host: barbara cummings off of elected four times, died in office. if you go to history.com, it gives a little bit of update on fdr winning that fourth term and a little bit of the history behind that. thank you. we will hear from tom in san diego, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i do agree with the national voter id, but the most important part of that is going to be how you get the id because all id's are subject to fraud. i also think of we have a labor day, fourth of july holiday, and memorial day, there is no more important day in this country's

history then election day and that should be a holiday. the electoral college, i live in a state where many times we do not have a chance -- choice of democrat and republican. it is the two highest vote times, it ismany the democrats. if we want to make the electoral college work instead of an all or nothing system, it should be prorated and based on the number of votes that the republican candidate received, and the number of votes that the democrat received. this will encourage people to come out and vote because if you look at the polls and to realize that the democrat candidate is way ahead of the republican candidate, many people are not going to come out to vote because they feel like their vote is not going to get counted. let's change it to a prorated system and get rid of the all are nothing system, and it will

encourage more people to come out and vote. host: that is tom in san diego, california. how would you change residential elections? split topic we have been engaging with you for about three hours. we have had visits with various opinion makers across the u.s. joining us now via skype from madison, wisconsin, mike cruti is the cohost of a radio show called devils advocate radio. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us about the wisconsin as a battleground state this time versus 2016. guest: wisconsin has been identified as battleground state. i do not think anyone fully envisioned the election of donald trump, and the state of wisconsin historically a blue state, certainly in presidential elections, and also, we have had a republican governor in scott walker for a time, i do not

think that any of us really saw donald trump coming. the primary inin the state of wisconsin, ted cruz did. much of the right wing talk media here in the state were never trumpers, so it came unexpectedly. since trumpound, turned the state read in the presidential, we have seen the defeat of scott walker by a very narrow margin of 30,000 votes in the 2018 mid terms and then unexpectedly, saw the liberal move to the conservative supreme court justice in the april elections. that margin, less than 6000 votes,. inis going to be a coin flip the state of wisconsin and lots of resources coming this way. ,ost: we saw the previous cycle

no visits by hillary clinton to the state. what are democrats doing differently this time? guest: we have already seen a number of of the presidential candidates. hillary technically came to wisconsin, just not after she won the nomination. we have seen bernie sanders a couple different times, cory booker a couple of different times, we saw elizabeth warren that has done events in wisconsin recently. we have not seen joe biden since but joe biden was here campaigning on behalf of democrats. a lot of these candidates to and from iowa are putting in some resources, sometime in two events in the state of wisconsin. i have no doubt that they will all be here and we have the dnc coming to milwaukee next year. wisconsin has been identified and we will see lot and lots here. host: when it comes to milwaukee

now becoming the site of the dnc, what is being done as far as preparation for the state, particularly, how are democrats in the local level and ground level taking advantage of that? guest: certainly there will be a lot of attention here and we have already seen lots of focus and they will need lots of volunteers, and hopefully, it breaks the tension here. what i would say is one of the early disappointments, a lot of hotel rooms being secured for the democratic national convention are across the border in the state of illinois. i don't think anyone thinks that we need to throw more resources that illinois to help democrats win -- at illinois to help democrats win there. i think they could have brought more attention to this event by picking more wisconsin hotel rooms. i think they have left a modest opportunity on the table, if you

will. we are seeing stories every day about preparation and what's coming. miles a radio station 1.2 from there, and i'm very excited about the dnc coming. but it is not about the convention, it is about winning the state and that will truly be the test. host: what are the areas of the state that democrats have to focus on? guest: i think we have seen state.wofold we have this urban-rural vibe. scott walker and the republicans, and donald trump when he won the state did very well among world republicans, call them reagan democrats. people who have not turned out before. hillary clinton's greatest crime was the failure to excite and turn on african american voters,

especially in the milwaukee media market. we saw precipitous drop-off on african-american voters between barack obama's reelection in 2012 and hillary clinton's run in 2016. we lost one of the prominent african-american radio stations in milwaukee and i certainly have done my best efforts to put a diverse lineup of talkers out into the walking markets. we are trying to create -- into the talk markets. we are trying to create the space for the african american community, but black voters stayed home and hillary clinton lost. radiotell us about the program you have and particularly running a progressive radio station. guest: we are the only progressive radio outlet here in the state. advocate, the radio show has been listed about seven

years and scott walker turned towards the presidency and the national campaign, we went on the road with him. this is our second presidential campaign, and we will get on the planes to houston here, and the short run will be at the third debate that we have attended and covered for this primary cycle so far. turn to the primaries, my show will be in iowa, new hampshire, and will certainly cover the states that are nearby, but we basically wanted to be on the ground in the primary states, and we will go to these events, and we will try to bring as much insight back to our audience, noting that our audience has become a national audience but there is not a ton of left-wing talk radio hosts in the nation, so we will go cover the event.

hopefully that creates more relevance for our audience. host: part of your career includes running against scott walker for governor. what did you learn from that? guest: i learned that you need a machine and you need lots of money. in retrospect, i am not sure how serious my run against scott walker was. that was more of an effort to ande the democratic field, before there was a primary field of twentysomething primary candidates. we had about a dozen democrats running for governor. for about a month last year, i counted myself among them. i thought my job was to help create some contrast to force these candidates to challenge each other. i do not think they did a good job of that here in the states. no offense to my friends tony ebers, but no one really pushed

tony, he was the front runner from day one. we have democrats saying we love tony, but never found a sharp contrast. we have seen from the earlier presidential debates the national dems are not afraid to challenge one another, certainly on policy issues, and ultimately, i did not want to run a donald trump like campaign , but i had a little bit of fun with it and in retrospect, i am not sure i should have done it, but i certainly -- host: as far as the people in your audience, is there a front runner in the current field at least from what you are gauging from your conversations with them? guest: this is a bernie sanders states. bernie sanders 171 of 72 wisconsin counties -- won 71

of 72 wisconsin counties. the one who has all of our attention is senator elizabeth warren, a very compelling candidate. i do not know if it is 1-2 warren and bernie, or bernie and warren. i see a lot more enthusiasm for one of those candidates then it biden or any of the others. in?: where do you come guest: i think it is ridiculous, sometimes this assertion that we can run to far-left. the new state party chair the state of wisconsin with a very capable young man, just pointed out, we never accused the republicans of running too far right. i don't think being progressive and leading with human values like medicare for all, i don't think that puts us too far to the left. be it elizabeth warren, who i

predict, will be the next president of the united states, or bernie sanders, who personally, my own voting habits, i will vote for bernie in all probabilities, but i would be ecstatic to see either of those two carrying the mantle on behalf of the party. here in the upper midwest weathe -- whether michigan or wisconsin, i think either of those two candidates would defeat the often bold lies of donald trump. i think he left a lot of these people wanting, especially farmers in wisconsin. host: what do you think gives senator warren the edge? guest: i think she has the plan. she is the anti-trump, who is winging it through life and going from cast to cast, and elizabeth warren seemingly is all of the things that donald trump is not. she has a plan, she is

thoughtful, she is very human. we saw her in homestead, florida where she went and visited the immigrants and she had the child with her, and she had the media surrounding her, but she was so focused on this young girl, and it was such a human thing to see it up close, i find her tremendously compelling on the speeches,e at stump and i think she truly has got 'it'in spades. she is a compelling candidate, personally. i think she is so much more than the current guy, and when i say more, she is so much more prepared to govern this nation. regardless of what my opinion of donald trump might be as a politician, certainly he does not seem prepared to govern. host: tell people how they can find your show. tune inwe stream and the

15, and in madison, we fm.am at talk 91.7 host: mike crute is the cohost of the devils advocate radio program. how do you get that name? guest: my partner is a contrarian liberal and my college roommate. .eems fitting someone always has to push back in real time. we try to book lots of republicans, lots of democrats. we try not to confine our conversations an -- as an echo chamber. host: mike crute, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for the opportunity. host: back to your calls, changes you would make to the election system.

warren, ohio, we will hear from al. caller: thanks, c-span. thank you for accepting my call. you have to have a photo id. it is almost stupid not to. completely stupid. you are talking about the electoral votes. that has been on the democratic shell for a long time to get rid of that. they want one party rule, and this is the way for them to get that. -- they havehave been holding people. african-americans, i feel for them because they have been screwed into this. they are cramming them into the thiss, and they planned for years. i talked to african-american guys, and they all feel they have been [indiscernible] that is an old man's world. they think it is payback time,

and i did not ask them why, but the reason why i thought that they said that is they are not going to vote. this is all planned. that is all this is by the democratic party, and it is a lowlife technique. let's hear from ernest in massachusetts. democrat line. caller: hello. host: hello, you are on. caller: oh, ok. i am most forgot what i was going to say, it has been a wild. appreciate the c-span, and one thing before i tell you s thank god for labor unions, and thank god for pensions that we get from our labor unions. one thing we should look at in the elections is i don't

understand how these polls are done. the poles have a lot to do with and who the candidates supervises these polls. where does the money come from. i think that may be a little on -- unfair. very capable but we do not hear from them because they do not live up to the poll that someone is taking. host: you think that polling has too much influence when it comes to the process? caller: yes. if someone is taken off the debate stage because of a poll, well who took of the pole and what were the demographics of that pole -- who took the poll, and what were the demographics of that poll? taken in polls

chicago, for example, ok? that is the numbers and data they used to determine if this is on the debate stage. i don't understand that, does anyone understand it? this is controlled by the democratic party. i am not quite sure what the republicans do. let's hear from robert in lynchburg, virginia. independent line. caller: yes, good morning. i would get rid of the electoral college because what i am saying is if majority rules the senate and the house, it should be the same way for the people when .hey vote for a president run out all ofld

these senators that have been in for 70 and 80 years and get some new breeds in there where you are going to have some different opinions with younger .ndividuals you can't get a job if you are 70 years old. you got this guy at the average of 87 years old who wants to run for the sheriff vote, or whatever his name that donald trump pardoned, and you cannot get anybody else to hire you at 65 years old. host: ok. let's go to frank and watertown, wisconsin. -- in watertown, wisconsin. caller: hello, thank you. i would just like to make a comment, i would like to see the federal government financed the presidential elections in all the elections. you would have to carry a

certain percentage to determine a drop-off point, and you would have to meet so many percentage points of the voters to go onto the next step in being elected. i think of the federal government would put its hand in there and get big business out, that would do a lot. big business would not have any more to do with it. as far as the electoral college, i think it is a fine set up. it was put in by our forefathers and i think we should keep it. i just think we should have federal finance and federal elections. bonnie ins go to burke, virginia. democrats. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. can you hear me? host: yeah, you are on. caller: i love your topic. i came in when someone was mentioning the electoral college

. someone else mentioned the federalist papers. we all know that alexander hamilton had a lot to do with that. his idea of the electoral college is not being followed at all. a delegate out of withdrawing a vote with erin -- aaron burr which through the election for jefferson. if we're doing it correctly, states would not be finding the electorates if they voted their conscience. and we would allow the electors to have security clearance. so they could be informed of what is happening. they ask for a briefing and they were denied one in the 2016 election, thanks to mitch mcconnell. if they had known, two voted for colin powell, several did vote for others and it was a very courageous thing to do, but are

electors have a terminus amount of responsibility. host: ok. congress returns next week with the stories in the papers this morning talking some of the topics they have heard as they were home on their recess. one of the topics, impeachment. pair writing, enying more than two doz interviews, some voters said they wish their representative in congress would hurry up and endorse an impeachment inquiry in order to send an unmistakable signal that mr. trump's actions were illegal and unacceptable. to be sure that many democrats around the country have confronted strident calls with constituents over there vacation, and some have heated the message. supportcrats now impeaching president trump. profiled,se representative andy kim of new jersey was heckled during a gathering last month with

shouts of do your job, and why is this taking so long, i want him gone. but in an interview, mr. kim said he was hearing far more from his constituents about gun safety, the economy, and health care as well as local issues. that is some of the activities of congress as they are on summer recess, back in session next week. matta line in new orleans, independent line. madeline in new orleans, independent line. caller: i would like to see the constitution amended, and anyone over the age of 50 should have to pass some test that says they do not have dementia. candidatesng so many that are senior citizens and their mental acuity may be perfectly fine, but at the same token, it may not be. morefore, i am much interested in their mental state

than their financial state. i really want to know that they are capable of making those difficult decisions. in your mind, you would want someone passed a certain age to run for president or they would have to them attest to do that? caller: yes. i do not have dementia. my mind -- if i say something crazy, you know i am not really crazy, i am just saying something crazy. instead of not knowing whether or not you are really crazy. i think it ought to be younger. but we are getting people in their 70's, and their mental acuity can sound perfectly fine, but you know that people are writing their speeches, you know they are using talking points. you don't know if their mind is makingoperating on decisions. i am a senior citizen, so i am not trying to discriminate

against them, but i think the knowcan people need to that that person is mentally sick. much more mentally fit then anything else to hold the office. host: that is madeleine in new orleans. some of the comments we have been hearing about presidential elections and what you would change. ofning us now, opinion maker c. gruber, host of "the gruber show." guest: good morning. one thee president election by 11,000 votes in the last election, do you think that he will do that again? guest: the economy in michigan took a hit probably as hard as any state, took it earlier, and we had a 10 year period.

you saw a lot of folks that felt they had been abandoned in the middle class in michigan. it was just under 11,000 votes, and i talked people all the time about what is going to happen in 2020 and so far, people are sticking with donald trump as far as the economy holds. if the economy drops of water, that could be a game changer in 2020, but it could be a razor thin margin again, but i think donald trump would carry michigan into 16 electoral votes if the election was held today. host: you think that there is impact and movement in the operation? guest: back in 2016, the president ran a skeleton operation not only in michigan, but in pennsylvania, wisconsin, and other key states that he was able to pull off. his organization is far better now. this scale has put together a grassroots effort out there, training people every week, new volunteers, and a big push in

the women for trumped effort in michigan as it is happening in other places as well. you have grassroots volunteers in michigan going door-to-door in trying to talk to suburban housewives for sure. they are a key part of the election strategy for donald trump to get reelected in 2020. the ground game is much better than it was. host: as far as the areas of the state where you think the president has to appeal to most, what does -- what would those be? guest: suburban detroit, suburban grand rapids, and west michigan is a very conservative place as a general rule. if the women that are suburban house wives, and workers, and women and suburban grand rapids, if the president has a slip in the military, that could be critical. west michigan, southeast michigan where you have the biggest block of voters. if he could convince some minorities to support his candidacy, and has been

challenging for republicans, but if he could get to movement there could make a big difference. the key issues. squad hasism from the triggered some traditionally blue voting blocks like jewish residents in michigan to question their support for the democrats. there are some questions about whether there could be -- because even the smallest of shifts, we talk about 11,000 votes, a small shift in that group or this group can make all the difference. host: as far as the democrats coming there to michigan, what have you seen and who is making the most impact? guest: right now, joe biden continues to leave almost by default with 30% of the support nationally. elizabeth warren getting some support. kamala harris and cory booker being named, but i think it is down to three people. bernie won in the primaries and 2016.

allegedly, he was down by 20 points coming into the democratic primary and michigan -- in michigan, and he beat hillary clinton. and donald trump was an upset win on election day in 2016, so michigan is pivotal. you look at "the new york times" and "bloomberg" recently, they have said it is all about michigan. i agree. i think it all comes down to turnout. but if you look at, there are three big candidates. bernie, biden, and elizabeth warren and those are the three candidates in michigan. host: cnbc spoke to michigan democrats and posted a story online and they said when they were talking to cnbc, some of the specific issues they were interested in and you highlighted some of them, job creation, rising health care water trade deals, infrastructure, and climate change. guest: you hit one of the big

ones. usmca is critical to michigan. the new nafta is critical to the trade we have. nobody has more at stake than michigan. we have the biggest trading partners that surround us. it is critical to michigan, certainly to the farmers and agricultural products leaving the state. we know that mexico and canada have already agreed to the deal and nancy pelosi has to move in the house. peopleen new deal, a lot remain skeptical because they know it is not just about the environment but a social restructuring anyways, and guarantee jobs. people are skeptical, democrats included. when it comes to border security and national security, most people support the idea of stronger limitations on illegal aliens coming into the country. but when it comes down to it in economy, theis the usmca, and trade deals.

our manufacturing base making a comeback the last couple of years, people want to keep the momentum. i am of the opinion that in -- unless the economy takes a terrible turn downward, donald trump is in pretty good shape. host: the auto industry, unions and those union people belonging to the unions in the auto industry, how does that factor in? guest: that headline is here, you look at "detroit news" in the big headline in michigan this past week has been all about those raids on the homes of the president of the united auto workers and the former president of the united auto workers. a lot of accusations in this four year deep dive, using the money of the rank-and-file to have luxury homes, kickbacks, and all sorts of nefarious things going on. this does not bow -- bode well for the uaw.

a lot of union members have fled and voted for donald trump and 2016. -- in 2016. i do not see what the uaw is doing at helping their cause when it comes to amber priority -- impropiety, all at the expense of the union. host: when it comes to the audience you speak to, do they still show the same kind of enthusiasm, and support for the president that they do close to four years ago? guest: we are in a position where it is very similar. what i mean is a lot of the trump supporters, they do not go downtown wearing the make america great again hats, they don't talk about it in polite company, if you will. but they confide in me. i'm going to vote for him again, that is between you and i, and i hear that a lot.

i bring that out because again, i think it is going to be a surprise at the polls. you look at all the polling numbers now, and if you believe the polling numbers, you believe that donald trump would lose to any of the candidates. i don't believe that and because the people who are polled do not talk to the pollsters. just a week out from the general election of 2016, the newspapers points iny up at 14 polling, but that was nowhere near reality. indicate ahe polls very close race in michigan and if the election were held today, when people look at the economy, they may not like of the president, turned off by his tweets, they do not like his style and the tweet storms, they do not like any of that, but they like the results. results matter, and for michigan, the strong economy for employment numbers are low, it

is a good time that you are looking a good job -- for a good job in michigan. host: "the steve gruber show," tell us about it and where you can hear it. guest: you can hear it everywhere on stevegruber.com, america'svoice.news, we are on from 6:00 to 9:00 eastern time and more than two dozen affiliates and growing, but it can be seen worldwide at stevegruber.com and americasvoice.news. you can follow us on facebook, twitter, and instagram as well. , hoststeve gruber of th "the steve gruber show." guest: thank you. host: changes you would make to the presidential election system. steve in st. louis, missouri. democrats. thank you for holding on. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a, and a question.

we do a lot of, nationbuilding and we set up democratic elections in other foreign countries. but we never set up an electoral college in those countries. i want to know why? in my comment is -- and my comment is, prior to the election in 2016, i overheard and i know a lot of people did on television, an electoral college member already telling the public who is going to vote for before the election. there is a problem there. thank you. host: from new rochelle, new york, we will hear mel on our lines are independent. caller: first of all to answer what he just said, when we beat the british in the revolutionary war, there were 13 colonies that were independent. they were states when you referred to france as a state.

all of them were independent, decided to unite, and the confederacy at the beginning, there are confederate states, they had a constitutional convention and they changed to our current constitution. was a small state like rhode island would have been dominated by a state like new york. unional was, we make this together of independent states, as one. it was specifically so that small states would have a disproportionate voice because the big states without -- would outvote them. you look at the maps of the election, it is new york on the east coast, and the west coast on one side, and the middle of the country on the other. host: let's hear from ken in

california, independent. caller: hi, i believe we should keep the electoral college, but also fix what is wrong with it. we do not have enough electors for the modern era. we used to add -- host: i think we may have lost him. raymond in michigan, the last call. , your last guest speaker, i think he's wrong. hillary the election of and trump. trump took michigan, but [indiscernible] votes, so that00 is the reason that hillary lost michigan. host: as far the changes to

election system, what would you make? people get rid of other [laughter] lege.lector col host: that is raymond calling from michigan, and we will also have the last call of this program. two: 30 this afternoon, senator elizabeth warren in new hampshire, you can go to our website as more information for that. we thank you for watching today's program, another edition tomorrow at 7:00 this morning -- 7:00 a.m. we will see you then. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

coming up momentarily, a conversation on the future of representative democracy, after that a subcommittee hearing on women in the criminal justice system. i've this afternoon, elizabeth warren attending a house party in new hampshire. on this labor day weekend, some messages from congress, from steve scalise, happy labor day. hard work built this nation. today hard-working americans are finally winning again because the president and republicans are fighting for them and putting american workers first. this congresswoman, let's honor all the people who bought for workers rights and

fair working conditions across the u.s. on the shop floor in the streets and on the picket line. happy labor day. from this congressman, we recognize the dedication of america's workers. products, services and technologies come out of our great nation and better our world. enjoy your labor day. a newcer: we discuss report on u.s. federal disaster response. watch c-span washington journal live on tuesday morning. join the discussion. watch campaign 2020 coverage of the democratic presidential candidates at the new hampshire democratic party convention. live coverage saturday at 9:00 a.m. on c-span or listen with

the free c-span radio app. now a conversation on the future of representative democracy with former secretary robert gates, former house majority leader eric cantor and former white house chief of staff andrew card discussed the impact and future of representative democracy at an event hosted by the college of william and mary in williamsburg, virginia. >> it is my great honor to --come our guests, so many too many of you here and i am proud to introduce our keynote our 24thor today, chancellor, the honorable robert m gates. he is the model for statesmanship that we look to now and for the future. he has dedicated his career to public service, serving eight u.s. presidents. he