proposal to make vivid that there could be a better future in practical terms. so i proposed $2.50 a gallon as our goal. now, i have to say my daughter jackie was off campaigning with herman cain and after two days of campaigning with herman she came back to me and she said, you know, captions by closed captioning services

>> the fact is that $2.50's atainable. governor romney came to town the other day and said i was pandering. and i just want to explain to the governor, no, this is called leading. leaders create goals. leaders create a vision of a better future. leaders arouse the american people to go out and do great things. leaders believe the american people could easily achieve energy and independence, if the government got out of the way! [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting] >> so if your friends ask you why we are emphasizing $2.50 and

is it practical? first of all, you can tell them to go to newt.org, we have an entire 30-minute speech which outlines why it is doable and it's practical. i wrote a book called "drill here, drill now," we did a movie called "we have the power." this is clearly doable. but in addition, i point out three numbers today, the prizes of gasoline when i was speaker was $1.13. the price of gasoline when barack obama became president was $1.89 all of this increase has policies. we have developed so much natural gas that the supply is outrunning demand.

to translate that as a percentage decline and this is by the way, with an 11% increase in production. they haven't doubled it or got tone 25% yet. but an 11% increase of production suddenly changed the whole equation of supply and demand. now, if you had the same experience with oil... you would end up at $1.13, what it was when i was speaker. so $2.50 is a long way from a radical number. $2.50 is a practical, cautious, doable number. and my goal over the next few weeks is to drive home to every american, we don't have to be trapped in a department of anti-energy. we don't have to be trapped with an epa, which destroys jobs. we don't have to be trapped with a president who refuses to build the keystone pipeline, refuses to reopen the gulf, refuses to develop alaska -- [cheering]

>> with your help -- with your help, we are going to get enough people to come to newt.org and sign up. we have 173,000 donors already, 95% give less than $250. we have a place where you can come in and give 1 newt gallon, $2.50. if you get excited, you can give 10 newt gallons, that's $25. with your help, we are going to go on to tampa and win the nomination. [cheers and applause] thank. good luck and god bless you. >> a fiery newt gingrich speaking for about a half an hour after his big win in the state of georgia, sending -- most of his speech going after,

well, in part, his fellow republican candidates and the second half going after barack obama. focusing on his own debate skills, as he has so many times in this contest, saying i am the only one who can debate barack obama decisively, after he spent time on his republican rival, describing his own candidacy, saying he is the tortoise. talking about the media trying to prove he is gone when he has want been. and talking about mitt romney as a quote, wall street candidate. going on to say that he is in this race and repeatedly thanking his grandchildren as he has many times before. his debate coaches as he refers to them and calling on barack obama to debate him in several lincoln/douglas-style debates for 3 hours. he wants to sit down with the sitting president and have it out, man-o-a--mano.

rick santorum is in ohio, a state we have not called. his camp was playing the song "the devil went down to georgia." take that for what it is worth. >> bret: we are waiting for rick santorum to speak. we will bring that to you as soon as he comes to the stage in ohio. there you can see the obama campaign headquarters. i counted seven times he used the word "elite," the elite media, the elite washington folks will not choose this nominee. he likes the word elite. >> megyn: that's a theme, going after the news media. the first time he really got a lot ever attention in this was when he went after poor little brett favre -- >> bret: and chris wallace. >> megyn: and poor chris wallace --is on maternity leave. where was it? >> bret: iowa. >> megyn: then thist became a theme.

poor juan williams. you got it too, juan. don't look so smug. >> i wasn't saying a word. >> bret: all right. >> megyn: a theme for newt gingrich and it was again tonight, after he won the state of georgia. >> bret: ohio right now too close to call at this hour. >> megyn: yes. that's the one state we have not called. mitt romney winning 3 states so far -- virginia, vermont and massachusetts. >> bret: newt gingrich winning the state of georgia by a wide margin. >> megyn: and rick santorum winning the states of tennessee and oklahoma. those are big wins for senator santorum tonight. steve brown is at the santorum headquarters as we await the vote results there. steve? >> reporter: hey, there. we are expecting rick santorum and his family and even his mother making a rare campaign appearance here at the rally here in the steubenville high

school. and they talked about where the santorum campaign could be if it were a man to man fight between rick santorum and mitt romney. in arizona, romney picked up four percentage points and we would be in better position and we could have picked that up. in michigan, such a close race, gingrich picked up 7 percentage points and we would have won michigan. the suggestion being that newt gingrich fhe steps aside, senator santorum would have a much better chance of turning the tables on mitt romney. not that that's likely, but it is interesting that a senior strategist would spend so much time talking about that when the ohio race is still in doubt. a huge round of applause and cheers went up when earlier, a few minutes ago, it was shown that rick santorum had eclipsed romney in a 38-37% of the returns coming in. it is still an early night. but the folks here were looking

for good news coming out of ohio. they heard it out of tensens tennessee and oklahoma. they would really like the ohio victory, especially seeing how much flack, if you will, the santorum campaign has taken, in terms of television advertising, a $4 million barrage, if they come out on top, it would be a very satisfying victory for the santorum campaign. >> megyn: thank you. >> bret: time to bring back our all-star panel. brit hume, juan williams, steve hayes. we welcome ed rolins, former deputy chief of staff to ronald reagan and manager to the campaign for president reagan's landslide election in 1994 and roles in nine other presidential campaigns. ed, your thoughts tonight and what it is shaping up to be. >> we came in and ohio was the game. that was going to be the spin for the night. the difference is that santorum, having won two states already fhe somehow pulls out ohio, he

has had a very big night and will win the perception battle. obviously, romney will win the delegates. but nobody's going away. everybody got what they wanted so they will stay in the race. >> bret: what do you make of the newt gingrich speech -- >> much too long to begin with. he may not get another victory. you don't go on 25, 30 minutes and talk about wanting to debate the president for 6 hours -- >> bret: 21 hours. >> whatever it is. you know, i don't think c-span would even cover it. it's an opportunity to do a good 10-minute speech. i don't think he did that. >> megyn: you know, newt seems to be in his comfort zone when he is going after president obama, versus his republican rivals. it seems like the g.o.p. voters respond better when he is focused on president obama. he split that baby tonight, going after both of them. how does that play? >> i am not sure people were paying attention long enough. he spent the first 15 minutes

recapping, in a sense what had happened in the race. it was just odd t. felt like uncle rico in napoleon dynamite, reliving the exploits of his high school football game. >> bret: wow. >> did you see the movie? >> bret: brit, did you see that movie? >> i missed that one. i heard the speech. >> it's a classic. >> people can take it up, it's context. but people didn't get to the point where he was making his criticism of president obama. one of the things he has done fairly effectively in the past couple of weeks is raise issues that are resonate wealthy republican base, like the gas prices. but it took him so long to get there, i am not convinced that people spent the time to listen to every word. >> megyn: did he seem deflated to you at all tonight, newt gingrich? >> no. >> megyn: same old newt? >> but -- he made history. he gave the longest speech ever given, victory speech ever given

by somebody 2-18 in the contest and won his home state, political home state and the one next door. >> megyn: he got a lot of delegates in georgia. >> i am not saying it wasn't a significant win. i'm saying he's 2-18 and it is not clear where he will win next. >> i was thinking when you talked about the slated, the first part of that very lengthy speech sounded like a guy who was so self-involved, as if he was picking up on the uncle rico thing from steve, he's going back and replaying his resentment against people who have offended him in the past, the mede yark the republican establishment who wanted to pick someone else and all the other candidates-- the republican candidates in the race, reduced them to rabbits running across the stage. i thought, maybe he does feel that there is no future in this race for him. but he goes on to attack president obama and it does seem like he senses that we will stay in it and at least through next week and the southern states.

but i don't see, if i'm a fund-raiser, giving money, why would i give money at this point to newt gingrich beyond those southern states? i don't see any evidence to suggest my money would be well invested. >> he's very disciplined on the gas message for two weeks, for the first time. the danger of newt, he has 45 things in his head. he's a brilliant man and all of those things can diagram out or know, as we saw tonight. the difficulty with this speech tonight twasn't inspirational or uplifting. i think he deserves credit for winning georgia because he rebuilt georgia as a republican state, which it wasn't. but i don't see him becoming the southern candidate. i think that rick santorum with the oklahoma and tennessee victory, he needed one with the georgia victory. >> and there is likely to be a delegate split in georgia. he doll very well. but mitt romney will get a good number as well. >> megyn: before we move on, which one was uncle rico? >> the guy with the hair part in the middle and constant lie throwing passes, talking about

his high school football career. >> megyn: vaguely familiar. vaguely. >> bret: steubenville, ohio, thru can see the attorney general, mike dewine who, endorsed rick santorum. the santorum folks are getting on the stage. we want to go to chris wallace and his team down there. >> thanks so much. we have been busy crunching the numbers -- well, all right, i'll tell the truth, they have been crunching the numbers and i have been sitting here, watching them. and they have seen -- they seem to have, this is not scientific and we are not calling the race, but you have a sense, even though at this point, santorum's ahead by 7,000 votes, but it may not turn out that way. give us your reasoning? >> the big urban counties where santorum is second and romney is first, have barely started to vote. they have reported their absentee, kikiro-7 ooh kiyoga

and green county, 1% in. lucas, toledo, only absentees, montgomry and dayton -- >> so there are 275,000 votes in, joe, where are they coming from? >> most of them are from the rural areas. and when you see these areas that carl talked about you start to think this will move romney's way quite a bit. >> how confident are you? i understand, this isn't a call, but how confident are you that this is going to go in romney's direction when the night's over? >> i think so. but look, hereee the problem. i mean, you have the biggest counties in the state with only the absentee box or a few thousand votes out of what they are going it caste. you know what? let's listen to rick santorum. maybe we will have a better sense of it. >> megyn: we are going to listen to the former pennsylvania senator. after two big wins tonight for

him in the states of tennessee and oklahoma. we continue to await the results in ohio, where he is now, but the candidate, obviously is going to claim victory. >> bret: surrounded by his family and that's his mother there on the stage. let's listen in to the former senator from pennsylvania, rick santorum two, big wins tonight so far. >> thank you! well, thank you for coming out, steubenville, ohio. god bless you. thank you for being here. for the folks listening at home, we near steubenville, ohio -- [cheering] >> not too many presidential candidate comes to steubenville, ohio, much less hold their victory party here in steubenville, ohio.

[cheering] >> we near a high school gymnasium. i just came from our war room, which doubles as as the weight room for the high school. i was pouching a little iron to get myself psyched for coming out here. we just prepared our talk, we -- where many talks were prepared for this gym floor, in the coaches room. this is our roots. here -- here behind me is part of our family because this is where we are from. we are from down here in the areas of southeastern ohio, and southwestern pennsylvania, where the folks who worked hard and built this country lived and worked for many, many decades.

i am particularly kite excited to be here with my family, not just my family, our immediate family, but my -- my mom powho is right here, this is my mom, kay. 93. and karen's mother and father, ken and betty lee, right over there, garver. thank you. i got my brother here and his family and karen has -- well, karen's one of 11 children. so you can imagine -- brothers, sisters, nieces nephews. we have a great crew back here, all behind us, all behind us because this campaign is about

the towns that have been left behind and the families that made those towns the greatest towns across this country. this was a big night tonight. lots of states. we are going to win a few. we are going to lose a few. but as it looks right now, we are going to get at least a couple of gold medals and a whole lot of silver medals. we can -- we can add to iowa, missouri, minnesota, colorado, now oklahoma and tennessee. we have -- [cheering]

we have won in the west, the midwest and the south. and we are ready to win across this country. i want to thank again, my wife. i know that -- you know, those who have seen her on the campaign trail, the common refrain is, more karen, less rick. but i am working on it. i am trying to get as good as she is at this political stuff because she has been an amazing partner for me and my conscience, my biggest supporter, my most important -- my most honest critic and someone who has kept our family together and continues to do remarkable and incredible things for me and all of us. thank you very much, my love.

we have almost all the kids here. we have john, sarah maria -- where are you? patrick, elizabeth, peter and daniel. and they're all wearing but theons for our little bella. so we get everybody here. we went up against enormous odd, not just here in the state of ohio, where who knows how much we were outspent, but in every state. there wasn't a single state in the list that i gave you where i spent more money than the people i was able to defeat to win that state. in every case, we overcame the odds. here in ohio, still too close to call.

but just like the folks here in steubenville and throughout the ohio valley and all the valleys of this country that are the heart and soul of this country, they worked hard and they overcame odds. that's what we are here to talk about. that's why we came to steubenville. that's one of the reasons i am so proud to have my mom and my father dismaw mother-in-law up on stage with me. they're part of the greatest generation of america. nawpz. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] >> they preserved liberty to keep this country free from despots. ladies and gentlemen, it's a different battle than we are engagedin today, but it's no

less a battle for the basic liberties that this country was founded upon. we have a group of people in washington and in other places around this country who believe that the elites in washington are the one who is should be making the decisions for all of us. and they have system atically gone and grown the size and scale of government to beyond where it was just unrecognizable. we are running deficits where we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar. as you look at all of the young people here, the leaders in washington are saying to you: on your tab. and you will pay for this the rest of your life. what right does the government have to do that to the next generation? [boos from crowd] >> we have people who believe that america's best days are behind us. they believe that it is no

longer possible for free enterprise, a free economy and free people to be able to build strong communities and families and be able to provide for themselves and their neighbors. no, we now need an increasingly powerful federal government to do this for us. [boos from crowd] >> the reason that karen and i ultimately decided to get into this race was because of that issue and in particular, one issue. i have said it almost every stump speech i've given. if it wasn't for one particular issue that to me breaks the camel's back with respect to liberty in this country and that is the issue of obamacare. [boos from crowd] >> what we will go to in a very short period of time, in the next two years, a little less than 50% of the people in this

country depend on some form of federal payment, some form of government benefit to help provide for them. after obamacare, it will not be less than 50%, it will be 100%. now, every single american will be looking to the federal government, not to their neighbor, not to their church, not to their business or to their employer, or to the community or nonprofit organization in their community, will be looking always to those in charge, to those who now say to you that they are the allocator and creator of rights in america. ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning of the end of freedom in america. once the government has control of your life, then they gotcha.

that's why we decided to step out. as you look, i mean, karen and i have seven children, ages 20 -- [cheers and applause] ages 20 to 3, not exactly the best time to be out running for president of the united states. we have given up our jobs. we are living off our savings. yeah, we are making a little sacrifice for a very, very big goal. and that is replacing this president on november of this year.

[crowd chanting] in order to make that happen, the republican party has to nominate somebody who can talk about the broad vision of what america is. as i talk about it in every one of my speeches, i talk about how important it is that we remember who we are. ronald reagan in his farewell address to the american people, worried about whether america would remember what made us great, that we are not a great country because we have a great and powerful government, we are a great country because we believe that rights don't come from the government, but as in our founding document, the declaration of independence says, our rights come to us for

our creator. [cheering] the government's job and the constitution in this country was intended to do one thing, protect those right, so each and every one of you would have the opportunity to build their own life, to take your own path, to create a strong family, strong neighborhood community, state and country. that's what made america great. we built a great country from the bottom up. and we need people to go up against president obama and his vision of a top-down government

control, of not just health care, but of energy and of manufacturing and a financial services and who knows what else is next, but this is a -- this is a president who believes -- who believes that he simply is better able to do this than you are, that he will be fairer than you are, with your fellow man. ladies and gentlemen, this is an election about fundamental liberty and the signature piece, the signature piece of legislation that points this out, where have you economic rights created by the government and then the government using its heavy hand to force you to buy insurance, to force you to take policies that you don't want. and of course, to force to you take coverages that may even violate your faith convictions. [boos from crowd]. >> in this race, there is only

one candidate who can up on the most important issue of the day and make the case because i have never been for an individual mandate, at a state or a federal level. [cheers and applause] i have never passed a statewide, government-run health care system when i was governor because -- while i wasn't governor, but governor romney did. and now we find out this wyke, not only did he pass it in massachusetts, he advocated for it to be passed in washington, d.c. in the middle of the debate on health care. [boos from crowd]. >> it's one thing to defend a

mandated, top-down health program that you imposed on the people of your state, it's another thing to recommend and encourage the president of the united states to impose the same thing on the american people. and it's another thing yet to go out and tell the american public that you didn't do it. we need a person running against president obama who is right on the issues and truthful with the american public. [cheers and applause] >> this race provides a great opportunity for a great contrast. big things have to happen in this count tree bring us back from the brink of insolvency.

big things have to happen so we can secure our freedom. and as i talked about this morning nfront of aipac, that we have a president that stands with our allies and defend this is country and does not apologize for america around the world. [cheers and applause] >> we need a fighter. we need a fighter and someone who learned what america was about by growing up in communities just like this. understanding how america and neighborhoods and families work. and believing in them. understanding they're under a lot of stress and strain right now and much of which is put upon them by the government. understanding that that is the

greatness of our country. my mom and my mother-in-law and father-in-law represent here on this stage, the greatest generation. [cheers and applause] mom's hamming it up a little bit over there. okay. but the greatest generation was the greatest generation not because they have greater character or courage or perseverance than those of us today. the greatest generation was great because when freedom was at stake, they rose to meet the call to defend this country.

we are in a time in this country where freedom is at stake and you are all blessed, as i am, to be here in a time when your country needs you, to be here at a time like the original founders of this country, who signed that declaration of independence, to be here at a time when freedom was at stake and people were willing to go out and do heroic and courageous things, to win that victory. i want to thank all of you here in ohio for overcoming enormous odds, to make this a great night for us here in the buckeye state.

>> i want to thank in particular up here on stage, mike and miranda wine for fighting for me all during the course of this time. thank you. tonight, it is clear... it is clear. we have won races all over this country against the odds. when they thought, okay, he's finally finished, we keep coming back. we are in this thifnlg we are in

this thing, not because i so badly want to be the most powerful man in this country. it is because i want so badly to return the power to you in this country. thank you, steubenville! god bless you! and god bless america. >> bret: senator rick santorum, kissing his wife karen there in steubenville, ohio, after a speech, standing alongside his 93-year-old mother, said there wasn't a single state where he spent more than his opponents. he did win in oklahoma and tennessee. we are waiting on the state he just spoke in, ohio. still too close to call at this hour. he used the word elites too, that the elites in washington shouldn't being be making the decision. he said one of the major reasons he got into this race, the thing that breaks the camel's back, he

said, when it comes to liberty -- obamacare. he's been talking about health care many, many too manies over the past couple of weeks, contrasting his position against governor mitt romney. and of course, romneycare. he says we are a great country because we believe that rights didn't come from the government, they come from our creator. he had a big applause line there. we are waiting for mitt romney to speak. he is close to getting on the stage there in the romney headquarters in boston. we will bring that to you when, of course, he gets to the stage. >> megyn: sweet moment, seeing senator santorum taking his 93-year-old mother down the stage. in politics, you look for any sweet moment. rick santorum's son was there, giving in yawns. probably heard that peach many times. a little bit of color. rick santorum didn't call mitt romney. mitt romney didn't call rick santorum before the senator took the stage moments ago. a senior santorum staffer is saying, there is nothing to call

about. the real contest is in the state of ohio and we don't have a result there, tonight. we are stit awaiting. dana perino is a former white house press secretary for george w. bush and co-host of "the five." >> a lot of it is what we expected, oklahoma and tennessee wins for santorum are a big win for him. the big thing will be money. he didn't spend more than his opponents in any of the states they were competing in. it gets harder going forward to be able to have the type of organization where you can have a full-throated offense and not just a defense. states like virginia that he wasn't competitive in show that, that organization eferl -- early on is really important. i thought his speech hit on, in particular, health care, that's been a big issue for him. and in addition, he has this sincerity when he speakings, doesn't speak from a script and

has a deep, gut feeling for why he is in this race. for some people, that was probably persuasive? go ahead. >> bret: i wanted to hear your thoughts on the gingrich speech, contrasted with the santorum speech. what we are getting to here is that these two candidates, being in the race at the same time, at this point, are benefitting mitt romney and hissest to get the nomination? >> when we got the news that santorum hadn't called romney and romney hasn't called santorum, you can imagine why. it is the battle for second to take on mitt romney, if he wins as many states as he is going to is santorrum and gingrich. both speeches were way too long. that's the way it is. santorum's was very much, this is my vision for the country. gingrich has a little bit of that. but he has gone with the $2.50

gasoline piece. i don't know how any president guarantees that. the one thing you don't comment on -- gas prices, the stock market and the unemployment rate. better to paint a bigger vision. and gingrich spent a lot of time talking about rick perry, not even in the race. we are going to take a listen now to mitt romney. likely to be introduced by his wife, ann as we have seen so many times. live in boston, mitt romney, the decisive winner in the commonwealth of massachusetts tonight. let's take a look at sights and sounds of the crowd cheering on their candidate. [cheering] >> what a fabulous welcome from massachusetts. thank you so much. and what carrie said is so true, where he is known best, we are winning by 72%. [cheering]

>> so far, three wins tonight and counting. so here we go. we have 10 states to thank people in. i am going to see if i can get through this list. let me see if i can do this. in alaska, by the way, they haven't even caucused yet, but we are going to thank them anyway. lieutenant governor treadwell and senator lisa mikowski, in georgia, thank you. idaho, governor otter, senator jim rich, frank sland sloot and diamond walkins, travis hawk n. north dakota, thank to you senator john tobin. in ohio, here we go -- senator rob tortman, the linder family, eddie crawford, ron winebetter. and honorary buckeye, donald trump. he was on the radio for us all

the time in ohio. in oklahoma, thank to you senator tom coburn, backmaman, ryan len scpard harold ham n. tennessee, governor has lim, senator alexander and in vermont, darci johnson and state senators randy brock and vince stelosey. more states, guys, sorry n. virginia, a big thank to you governor bob macdonald. we love him. [cheering] >> also our wonderful friend, bill bowling. house majority leader, eric kantor, thank you for that endorsement. bobby killberg, jack girard and tom farrell. and finally, massachusetts, thank you!

[crowd chanting "we love mitt!" >> i have to thank senator scott brown, who will be your next senator. some of our favorite governors, bill weld and paul cellucci, our hearts go out to paul. house minority leader, oh, thank you, brad jones. chris collins, sandy and paulette and ron kaufman and a special thank tout thousands and thousands of volunteers all across this country, 10 states tonight. we have thousands of people making phone calls, thank you. we could not do it without all of you. so thank you. we'll wait for more returns and more good news. thank you.

now! [crowd chanting "mitt!" ]. >> i have something to say about some of the women i am hearing from. and we have been all across this country. do you know what women care about -- and this is what i love! women care about jobs. [cheering] women care about the economy. they care about their children and they care about the debt and they are angry and they are furious about the entitlement debt that we are leaving our children. this is what we are hearing when we are out there, this is our message, it's an economic message about the future for our children. that's what i am hearing out there. from all of that, we know the guy who knows how to fix all of that. i said, mitt, i'm never going to do this again. but here we are. the reason i'm here and the reason i'm behind mitt and

fighting so hard and out there is because i believe he is the only person that can turn around america. so let's let him do that. >> thank you. thank you. wow. what a -- she is -- she is the best -- and that was my son with her and his wife. and their children. great to have my family here, to be back in our home of massachusetts. it's wonderful to be able to -- be able to go home tonight for the first time in two months. what a great night. there are three states now

tonight under our belt and counting. we are going to get more before this night is over. we are on our way. [cheers and applause] >> we are so excited to be at the bay state tonight, celebrating with family and with friend who is work just tirelessly on this campaign. of course, it is -- it is such an honor to have the citizens and i served as governor, as part of our cause. your support really means everything to ann and me. i am not going to let you down. i am going to get this nomination -- [cheering] tonight we are doing some counting. we're counting up delegates for the convention and it looks good. we are counting down the days until november. and that looks even better. we are going to take your vote, a huge vote tonight in massachusetts and take that victory all the way to the white house.

[cheering] now it's been -- it's been a long -- it's been a long road, getting to super tuesday. let me be honest. and my opponents have worked very hard. i want to congratulate newt gingrich on a good night in georgia and rick santorum on his good night and ron paul for his steadfast commitment to our constitution and his strong support almost everywhere gu. he has good followers. thanks, you guys. nice races. [cheering] >> now, we officially started our campaign about nine months ago, not very far from here at a farmhouse in new hampshire. it was a beautiful spring day, full of hope and promise, a day that made us all recognize once again how lucky we are to be americans. what we launched that day was not effort, want just to win

more votes or delegates, but it was the start of an effort to restore the promise of america, a promise that we know has been frayed by these difficult times. we started our call from across the country from airport, tarmacs to factually floor, door to door, heart to heart, face to face across the country. i met with moms and dads and teachers and students and factory workers and business owners. vilistened and i have learned. i hope i am a better candidate, by the way, for having done all of that. i am going to forever be grateful for you for are the help you have given me and for all of the people who have taught me along the way. i have met extraordinary folks, norm burn, for me, exemplified the spirit that really built the spirit. norm didn't go to college or get

an engineering degree. but he does have 100 patents in his name. he turned a small shop in his basement, into a very successful company. it's entrepreneurs like norm burn, who are going to get america's economy back on track, if we can get the government out of the way. i have met parents like david macarthur, maybe you saw him on the huckabee show, whose children in his case, have served their country in war. david's son was seriously injured in afghanistan, as he described. he only returned from the front lines to face a new fight, to get the medical care he needed. he surely has earned. as i told david, i believe that to those who put everything on the line to us, we owe everything to them that they need.

you know, america's veterans, they deserve a lot better than long lines and reduced benefits. and as president, i'm going to make sure they get the care they deserve. so nrunning for office, i have had the chance of meeting people like norm and david and their stories are, of course, inspiring, but i have also met some people who are hurting, under this stagnant obama economy and their stories are heartbreaking. some people have lost their jobs. others are working two jobs, just to make ends meet. some used to be middle income and now they are struggling again, right back where they started. as you know, the prices for gasoline and food and clothing and health care keep going up, but their paychecks stay the same, if they are lucky. president obama keeps telling the americans that the recovery's him. but for them, the recession is

not over, that's for sure. from generation to generation in this country, americans have always known that the future would be brighter and better. we have always believed that there is a tomorrow full of possibility and prosperity and security. that deep confidence in a better tomorrow is the basic promise of america. but today, that promise is being threatened by a faltering economy and a failed presidency. to the millions of american who is look around and can only see jobs they can't get and bills that they can't pay, i have a message. you have not failed. you have a president that has failed you and choose -- and that's going to change. president obama -- "chanting

u.s.a.] >> you know, when he was campaigning, president obama said he would create jobs. but for 36 straight months, unemployment has been above 8% and he said he would cut the deficit in half. he has doubled it. i mean, as you know, the deficits are too high, the opportunities are too few. we have seen enough of this president over the last 3 years to know that we don't need another 5 of this president. that's for sure. [cheering] [chapting, we need mitt! ] >> this president's run out of ideas, he has run out of excuses and in 2012, we are going to get him out of the white house.

now, president obama seemings to believe he's unchecked by the constitution, he's unresponsive to the will of the people, he operateses by command instead of consensus. in a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election. and we can't have four more years of barack obama with no one to answer to. so these days, the president and his team keep testimonying us that things are getting better, but 24 million americans are struggling for work, they are high-fiving each other in the west wing, but 8% unememployment is not best america can do. it's just the best this administration can do. look, when -- when i am president, this american economy will not be lagging behind. this american economy will be leading the world as it has and as it had and as it will do in

the future. >> for this [chanting, mitt] >> you know... for this administration, the unemployment number's just another inconvenient statistic, standing in the way of a second term. but those numbers are more than data on a spread sheet. they are worried families and anxious faces. tonight, i would like to say to each of them, you are not forgotten, our campaign is on the move and real change is finally on the way.

[chanting "we need mitt"] >> these times -- these times may be tuff. but our citizens still believe in the promise of america. and they deserve a president who believes in them. that's why our campaign is about more than just replacing a president. it's about restoring america's promise. and we will do it! [chanting "go, mitt, go"] >> we won't settle -- we won't settle for this president's new normal. i am offering a real choice and a new beginning. i have a plan that will deliver more job, less debt and smaller government. president obama raised the national debt. i will cut, cap and balance the budget -- finally! [cheering] he passed obamacare.

i will repeal obamacare. he lost our triple-a credit rating. i will restore our triple-a credit rating. amazingly, he rejected the keystone pipeline. i will approve it. you know, he has -- he has stalled domestic energy production. i am going to open our lands for development so we can get the energy we need at a price we can afford. look, when it comes to the economy -- when it comes to this economy, my highest priority will be worrying about your job, not worrying about saving my job. by the way, i have a pro-growth tax plan, jobs plan, that is going to jump-start the economy.

president obama wants to raise your taxes. i'm going to cut them with an across-the-board 20% rate cut for every american. and by the way, i am also going to repeal the alternative minimum tax and i will finally apolish the death tax. the president has proposed raising taxes for job creators. i will cut taxes for job creators. the president wants to raise taxes on savings and investments. i will help middle-class families save and invest tax-free. you know, it is interesting, after 3 years this, president does not have a single serious proposal for saving medicare or social security. i have a plan that saves both of them. i have the courage to put that

plan on the table. we will win with the truth. as president,il get our economy back on track and get our citizens back to work. and unlike president obama, i actually have the experience to deliver on that promise. i spent 25 years in business and i was the steward of the olympic s. i cut taxes 19 times here. i turned a budget shortfall into a surplus. i know how government kills jobs. and yes, i know how it can help create jobs. i stand ready to lead our party. and i stand ready to lead our nation to prosperity.