about to co-host with "fox & friends." have a very blessed week, my friends. good evening and welcome to a special edition of "the kelly file," face to face with the candidates. i'm meghan keyn kelly. we're coming to you from houston theater in houston, texas. very nice. i can feel the enthusiasm. where in less than a week from now, voters will take part in the biggest prize so far this primary season, super tuesday. that's when 12 states will hold primaries and caucuses. up for grabs, 595 delegates,

about half of what is needed to win the nomination. and the state with the biggest delegate prize right here, texas. [ cheers and applause ] >> so far four states have had their say in this primary: iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and nevada. businessman donald trump swept three of those four contests. but if history can be a guide, keep this in mind. when then-former governor ronald reagan ran for office in 1980, he lost two of the first four states to vote that year. and when then-governor bill clinton ran for office in 1992, he lost all four of the first four contests. both went on to secure the nomination of their respective party and eventually won the white house. so before the candidates spread out across those states to deliver their super tuesday message to voters, some of them are here tonight to answer questions from texans. joining us tonight will be senator ted cruz, senator marco

rubio, governor john kasich and dr. ben carson. businessman and frontrunner donald trump has a conflicting campaign event tonight in virginia. we did offer to let him join us by satellite -- he does by satellite, but his campaign said they would not allow it. they were very polite and cordial. here's how tonight will work. in the next two hours, i will be joined by each candidate one at a time. we asked members of our audience to come up with their own questions which we reviewed to make sure there was nothing untoward in there. no, we wanted to make sure there was a range of topics to discuss, and i'll be asking questions as well. so without further delay, joining me first on the stage, ted cruz, presidential contender and senator from the great state of texas. [ cheers and applause ]

>> hi, there. >> how you doing? welcome to texas. >> thank you very much for having me here. do you feel right at home? >> it is great to be home. >> you said last night you were looking forward to being home. >> last night was the first night i slept in my own bed in a month. it was wonderful. i woke up with my daughter katherine coming and jumping in my lap. that's about as good a way to wake up as there is. >> that's perfect. congratulations on that. let's talk about last night, because nevada did not work out exactly wait you wouthe way you hopp hoped. but you came out and said, look, this is a two-man race, in your estimation, because nobody has come out without winning two of the three primaries. the converse to that, though, nobody who has won both south carolina and new hampshire, like donald trump has, has gone on to lose. is history going to play out here or not?

>> there's never been a candidate like donald trump in a whole lot of ways. so i think some of the rules historically go out the window. listen, i think fairly speaking, there are three major candidates remaining in this field, donald, marco and me. donald has a lot of momentum right now. he's won three primaries. that's a significant accomplishment. but what i think those results show is that the only campaign that can beat donald, and the only campaign that has beaten donald is our campaign. and in mview, you look nationally, anywhere from 65 to 70% of republicans don't think donald is the right candidate for us to nominate to go up against hillary clinton. the pollings show donald against hillary loses. the folks here don't want to lose this general election and see our country stuck on this same wrong choice. so if you're among those 65, 70% of republicans that think donald is the wrong choice, then super tuesday is the opportunity for us to coalesce behind our campaign, because we're the only

campaign in a position to beat him on super tuesday to win the nomination and then go on to win the general. >> what do you make of it? you look at the results in south carolina where they had nearly 70% evangelicals. this should have been a sweet spot for you. nevada also had a sweet spot of evangelicals, and yet he won single handedly. why? >> people are ticked off. they're furious with washington. they're furious with politicians in both parties who have been lying to them. and i think donald is a manifestation of that. but what the polling consistently shows, head to head, donald against me, we beat donald handily 56 to 40. i think donald has a relatively high floor of about 20 or 25% that will be with him almost no matter what. as he said, he could walk out on fifth avenue, shoot someone and those supporters would still be with him. that may be true. but i also think he's got a fairly low ceiling.

i think it's 40 to 45%, and a majority of republicans don't think he's the right nominee. if you look nationally, in the head-to-head polls, donald consistently loses to hillary. i consistently beat hillary. so the question right now is, how do we prevent nominating a candidate who loses the general election, or for that matter, if donald wins the general election, who the heck knows what he would do as president? we needed a president we can trust. [ applause ] >> let's talk about marco rubio and you for a couple minutes, because some of your top seizure gats a -- surrogates and supporters have questioned your strategy of going after marco rubio saying you're not focused on the right guy. a couple of these states he's been behind you, and the question is whether you're going to change tactics at all going forward. >> let me be clear. the right guy to be focused on, i think, are the american people. it's the working man and woman. >> but you've been doing that. >> that is my focus, is talking

about how we fix these problems, talking about, for example, repeeling obserr repealing obamacare, talking about a simple flat tax and abolishing the ir srkirs. [ applause ] >> there is an old pace picante ad, if you remember, talking about where does this picante sauce come from? they look at the label and say, new york city. new york city? get me a rope. >> is there mokhtar belmokhtar goi -- mocking going on here? >> texans feel the same way about income tax. we don't have an income tax in texas, we don't want an income tax in texas. >> enough from me. let's get to the texas voters. because we want to start off

with one of the top stories of the day, the new developments in the battle over choosing a successor for the late supreme court justice antonin scalia. the "washington post" is reporting that the white house is actually vetting -- this is something harry reid floated today as a possibility -- republican brian sandoval as a nominee. a republican, i say. president obama says he hopes the senate will consider his nominee when he makes his choice. the judiciary yesterday said they want to wait on any hearings until after this election. p bob came here with his son, and the court is his main concern. bob, tell us your question. >> mr. cruz, during the past seven years, we have witnessed an unprecedented disrespect, disregard of the constitution. >> yes. >> with the passing of judge scalia recently, a lot of folks are worried about the fundamental principles of our country, what our country was

founded on, being in jeopardy. what would you do in order to restore faith in the high court's ability to uphold our constitutional rights? >> well, bob, thank you for that question. you know, justice scalia's passing, i think, really underscored the stakes of this election. three days ago i was up in d.c. at justice scalia's funeral. he was someone i was blessed to know for 20 years. i knew him personally. he was brilliant, he was principled, he was ferociously devoted to the constitution and the bill of rights. and his passing leaves the court very much imbalanced. we are one liberal justice away from seeing just about every one of our fundamental rights in jeopardy. as you know, before i was in the senate, i was the solicitor general of texas, the chief lawyer of the state in front of the supreme court. i held that post for five and a half years defending the constitution, defending the bill

of rights. if you look at some of our biggest victories, we defended the 10 commandments monument that stands on the state capitol grounds here in texas. we went to the supreme court and we won 5-4. we're one liberal justice away from the court ordering 10 commandments monuments being torn down all over this country. the biggest opinion of justice scalia's tenure on the court was heller versus district of columbia. i represented 31 states in heller defending the second amendment, and we won 5-4. we are one justice away, one liberal justice away, from the court essentially erasing the second amendment from the constitution, concluding not one of us has any individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever. if you care about the right to life, if you care about marriage or religious liberty or the second amendment or privacy, every one of those is hanging in the balance with this court. now, i believe that justice scalia's passing is really

emphasized to the voters that we're not deciding one branch of government but two. i think this should be a question for the voters. i agree with the decision of the senate. indeed, i called for the senate to do what republican leadership has said we're going to do, which is not confirm any nominee, whoever it is, because for 80 years the senate has not confirmed any supreme court nominee nominated during an election year. instead we should take it to the people. let the people decide. and i got to tell you, bob, i can't wait to stand on that debate stage with hillary clinton or bernie sanders and make the case to the american people if they want to put another left wing justice on the court, if they want to take away our religious liberties, if they want to undermine our right to keep and bear arms, let them make the case to the american people, because i don't think that's our value, that i'm happy to defend our values, and i give you my word, bob, i've spent a lifetime defending the constitution, and every justice i appoint will be a principaled

constitutionalist, who will be faithful and will ferociously defend the bill of rights for your kids and mine. >> very good. [ applause ] >> our next question comes from rhonda wicketson. she lives here in houston. she says she's wavering between senator rubio and senator cruz. what's your question? >> thank you for coming here, and to all the candidates, actually. i guess donald trump loves everyone but texas. and thank you, senator cruz, for going to washington on behalf of our state to shake things up. i truly admire and respect you for being a true constitutional conservative. >> thank you. >> however, sometimes your hard line stance on the issues comes across as uncompromising. i'm just worried that if you were elected we would get four

more years of nothing substantial getting accomplished in washington again. are you willing to compromise and reach across the aisle to get things done? because frankly, i do respect marco rubio for at least trying to get something done with immigration in the gang of 8. >> well, wanda, thank you for that question. and i appreciate it. listen, i understand where that question is coming from. we've got huge challenges in this country, and we've got to fix them. every one of us, we're not interested in a bunch of talk, we're actually interested in fixing them. now, when it comes to compromise, my view is simple. i'm not willing to compromise on coreprincipals, i'm not willing to compromise on fundamental beliefs, i'm not willing to compromise on the core beliefs that i was elected for. my view is also, as reagan said, what do you do if someone offers you half a loaf? answer? you take it. and then you come back for more.

so i'm perfectly happy to compromise with anyone, republican, democrat, independent, libertarian -- heck, i'll even compromise with martians if we're moving in the right direction f we're solving the problems, if we're reducing the dibebt, reducing our spendi, protecting our liberties. the problem with washington, the deals always go backwards. you get this word from washington, let's always compromi compromise. let me give you an example. i wrote a book last year called "the time for truth." the opening chapter in the book talks about the fight over the debt ceiling. it was a knock-down, dragout fight. president obama demanded what's called a clean debt ceiling. he wanted trillions more in debt with no spending reforms whatsoever. it wasn't shocking he asked for that. it was an audacious opening bid but it wasn't shocking. what was shocking was when house leadership decide to do give it to him.

so house leaders showed up with 192 democrats to pass a clean debt ceiling with no spending reforms whatsoever. they overruled about 200 republicans. it then went to the senate. now, in the senate the ordinary rules are to move to proceed to take up a debt ceiling. take 60 votes. that's the way the senate has operated for years. but any rule in the senate can be changed by unanimous consent. well, the week we were taking it up, republican leadership stood up, asked all of us, said, we want to ask you to consent to lower the threshold for harry reid to take up the debt ceiling from 60 votes to 50 votes. and leadership told us, every one of you, all 45 republicans -- this was when we were in the minority -- should agree to this for two reasons. number one, because if we do it, it will happen. and hallelujah, hallelujah, that's what we want. we're afraid of this issue, kick the can down the road, we're not prepared to fight. but number two, if we lower the threshold to 50, the democrats

will have the votes to do it on their own. so we can all vote no, and we can tell our constituents we opposed the thing we just consented to allow happen. now, i'm sitting there, wanda, listening to that, and i had no choice. i raised my hand. i said, listen, there is no universe in which i can agree to that. i spent two years traveling the state of texas, telling texans if you elect me, i will fight with every breath in my body to stop the out of control spending and debt that is bankrupting our kids and grandkids. i said, listen, i'm perfectly happy to agree to something that raises the debt ceiling and puts some spending reforms in place, to reach leverage to start solving the problem. but if i were to agree to just make it easier for barack obama and harry reid to add trillions in debt with no spending reforms, i think that would be both unfaithful and dishonest to the men and women who elected me. >> got to leave it at that for right now.

[ applause ] >> we're not done, not by a long shot. we're going to take a quick commercial break, but don't go away, because more of our one on one with senator ted cruz is next. and more questions from our texas republicans when we come right back. [ applause ] if you have high blood pressure like i do, many cold medicines may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure. so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. i think we should've taken a tarzan know where tarzan go! tarzan does not know where tarzan go. hey, excuse me, do you know where the waterfall is? waterfall? no, me tarzan, king of jungle.

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welcome welcome back with a special two-hour edition of "the kelly file: face to face with the candidates." we are coming to you live from the houston theater in houston, texas. coming to us is senator ted cruz, marco rubio, and ben carson. it's been a hot issue on the campaign trail, especially with the south carolina vote.

this question comes from rosanne rodriguez, who is an army vet. she was deployed on the front lines to fight. she was also with the texans for rubio group, so this is your chance, senator, to convert her to your side. rosanne, go ahead. >> thank you, senator, for being here and taking my question. at several rallies you stated that you would be against requiring young women to register for selective service. there has been a lot of discussion about lowering standards or setting standards to putting women in combat roles. i believe this is a different issue. as an army medic and paratrooper who served in iraq and on the front lines in combat. i would like to know why you think young women are less capable or less of a debt to this country than our young men are. >> rosanne, let me start by saying, thank you for your service. thank you for stepping up and defending our country.

[ applause ] >> i fully agree with you that women are capable of doing incredible things. i'm the father of two young daughters who i think can accomplish whatever they set their heart's desire to. but i also think when it comes to the military that we shouldn't be being governed by political correctness. and the question of the draft is a very different story. it's one thing to say, look, we've had many, many women who serve courageously in the military, and that's their choice, their voluntary choice, but i don't think we ought to be forcibly drafting women, particularly putting them in a position where they're in combat. i don't think that makes sense, i don't think it's beneficial to the military. if women want to step forward and serve voluntarily, i think that's perfectly appropriate and it's a wonderful doesn't make drafting women in combat, and i would note, you know, we headed a debate a couple weeks back where three of the candidates, including marco, came out in favor of drafting women. the next week, marco joined mike lee and me in legislation prohibiting women from being

forced into being in the draft. so he backed away from that position right after taking it. >> can i just follow up on her? why don't you think it makes sense? >> because i think it risks putting women in an unfair situation. if you're looking at close combat, for example, if you're dealing with a 200-pound jihadist, the idea that we'll forcibly take our daughters and put them in a position to be in close combat, i don't think that makes sense, and it's not recognizing the realities of combat. the marines recently did studies on this looking at putting women in that position ended up increasing casualties both for the woman and the man. it increases ineffectiveness. it's not to be this caldron for social experiments or political correctness, it is to keep america safe. >> i want to get to our next question. our next question is really interesting.

less than a month ago, a grand jury right here in houston, texas was investigating criminal allegations of misconduct against planned parenthood captured in a series of undercover videos. instead of indicting planned parenthood for anything that was in those videos, they decided to indict two of the pro-life activists who shot the footage. david daladian, founded for the center of medical progress, was handed felony charges for tampering with the government record and a misdemeanor count of purchasing human organs. he wasn't actively trying to purchase them but he was acting the part. lauren day is a big backer of religious freedom. she just rode two hours so she could ask this question. lauren, ufr tyou have the floor. >> if david daladian's case became a federal one, would you pardon him? >> lauren, thank you for asking that question. the answer is yes. let me flesh it out a little more. as a texan, as a houstonian, i

was deeply dismayed and disa poind to s pointed to see the houstonian to bring such a vast accusation against planned parenthood. on the very first day in office if i'm elected, i intend to instruct the department of justice to open an investigation into planned parenthood and prosecute any and all criminal conduct by that organization. [ applause ] >> what do you make of the donald trump assertion that planned parenthood does some wonderful things, and that while we shouldn't pay for abortion services, it does provide a lot of health services to women? >> there are a lot of things donald has said that i disagree with, and that is very near the top. planned parenthood is the nation's largest abortionist. millions of unborn boys and girls have never breathed a breath of air because of planned

parenthood. it is a multi-million-dollar organization. you know what these videos showed. it is a federal criminal offense, it's a felony, to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. these videos showed planned parenthood by all appearances doing that. it appears planned parenthood is a national enterprise committing open felonies. the justice department is so politicized they won't investigate it. i have to say that anyone, in light of that on national television rhapsodizes how wonderful they think planned parenthood is, i'm going to have to respectfully disagree. i don't think an enterprise taking the lives of unborn children is right in any way, shape or form, and i don't think they should get taxpayer dollars. >> i want to say for the record that planned parenthood denies all that and is facing no criminal charges as a result of this. do we have time for one more?

we don't. one more, one more. we do. jorge. he's here. jorge villarreal, you have a question for ted cruz about the hispanic vote. >> i'm mainly interested in the republican party going to latinos, especially mexicans and puerto ricans. what is your message to those latino conservative voters who may be undecide and had confused by some of your opponents? >> jorge, thank you for that. as you know, texas is a majority-minority state. one of the things i was proud of when i ran for the senate in 2012 was receiving the votes of 40% of hispanic voters here in texas at the same time mitt romney was getting clobbered with 20% of the hispanic vote worldwide. it's clear that we have to do better in the hispanic

community. i don't think it's that you pander, i don't think you embrace amnesty and open borders. i think a great number of hispanics in this country, legal immigrants and citizens, don't favor open borders. it's their jobs often taken away by people who are coming here illegally. i think the way you earn the votes of the hispanic community, the way i earn the votes here in texas is making the case that conservative principles work. if you look at what do we believe in the hispanic community, faith, patriotism, love of god. if you look around at opportunity -- i've told many times my dad's story. coming from cuba with nothing, he was imprisoned, he was tortured. he had 100 there are in his underwear and he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour. i try to think of every policy from the perspective of my dad, that teenage kid washing dishes. if he was still washing dishes today, the odds are very high he would have lost his job because of obamacare. obamacare is costing the jobs of

millions of teenage immigrants just like him, and if he hadn't lost his job, he would have had his hours reduced forcefully to 20 to 29 hours a week because obamacare kicks in at 30. i promise to fight to lift the burden on small businesses so that people like my dad, people in the hispanic community washing dishes on the bottom rungs of the election ladder can do it, and i believe that's a message that resonates powerfully in the hispanic community. >> we are going to have to wrap it up with senator cruz. i forgot to ask you just one question. mitt romney came out today and said that every candidate should release his tax returns. will you do so, when, and how many years? >> absolutely, i'll release the remainder of what we have this week. i've released already, i think, five years' worth. the nice thing is i haven't made enough money that my tax returns aren't that interesting. >> it will be a speed read for us. >> it's not all that complicated.

i recognize that donald's tax returns are a little more complicat complicated. you know, an awful lot of people speculate he hasn't made near as much money as he says. who knows because he doesn't release his tax returns. but i do think mitt has a good point that the voters have a right to know before they vote, because you better believe, the democrats, if there's anything in there, the democrats are going to town on this. to be honest, an awful lot of the mainstream media is using kid gloves on donald right now because they want donald to be the nominee, and the instant he's the nominee, they will unleash every cannon they can to elect hillary clinton. we can't risk that, because if we do, we are going to lose the country. we're going to be buried in debt, we'll lose the supreme court. we can't let that happen. >> thank you, senator cruz. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you again. [ applause ] up next, ohio governor john

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get complete protection with the purple pill. the new leader in frequent heartburn. that's nexium level protection. ohio governor john kasich had a strong showing two weeks ago in new hampshire, capturing second place with roughly 16% of the vote there. today, however, he is fighting calls for him to bow out of the presidential race after a struggle in stk outh carolina a his fifth place showing in the nevada caucuses last night. his message to critics early this afternoon at a campaign rally? chill out. john kasich joins me now in ohio. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. wish i could be with you. >> we appreciate you doing it at all, so thank you for being here. let me ask you about something you said on the campaign trail yesterday that got some

attention. you said, being president may not be my purpose. my question to you is, if you are not sure, why should the voters be? >> no, megyn, look, here's the thing. my purpose is to be president. that's why i put one foot in front of the other. and we have some good news. i beat hillary clinton by more than any other candidate, and by wait, for those that wonder about donald trump, if i go head to head with him in ohio, i beat him by 18 points, and i'm running about even with him right now, we'll win ohio. and look, what i was trying to tell people is we all have to find our god-given purpose. and we can't measure them. i mean, one is not necessarily bigger than another. in the eyes of the lord, he doesn't think that because you're doing something to take care of somebody in the hospital that somehow that's not as important as somebody running for president. but, you know, in this life, we have to always pursue what we think we're supposed to do, what

is in our gut, and for me, it's to -- it's obviously to be elected president. i intend to go all the way. i intend to be the nominee, and i intend to beat hillary clinton by more than 11 points when we get into the fall election. so make no mistake about it, this is what i'm supposed to do and i'm doing it all out. >> let's talk about the situation in particular in ohio. because the latest poll actually shows you're trailing donald trump. it shows he's got 31, you've got 26. here in texas, the latest poll shows he has a 15-point lead over donald trump and cruz is in the number one position. your campaign says, quote, winning a nomination riders, m state that knows him best. wouldn't that be ted cruz? >> meaning in ohio? i'm not sure of the question. >> no, in this race. your campaign suggested you

should vote for the candidate whose state is behind him. texas is behind ted cruz as of now, and right now the latest poll in ohio says they're ready to vote for donald trump. >> let me just tell you, a poll came out today sponsored by baldwin wallace that puts us even with everyone in the race. we haven't really put the effort in there. we've been in other parts of the country. we will win ohio, but if you take other people out of the race, and this con sosolidates n to two of us, i beat donald trump by 18 points. we're targeting our resources, and we put a lot of time now into vermont, in massachusetts, in virginia. i was in mississippi today. i'm now in louisiana. we're on the ballot in over 40 states. and look, against hillary clinton in the usa today poll that came out in the last week, i beat hillary clinton by more than anybody, by 11 points. >> but you have so many people to get through before you can get to her. that's really the question.

i'm not trying to give you a hard time about your candidacy, i'm just raising concerns that a lot of republicans have. they see you, even though they like you, struggling to get from the bottom rung in these elections. >> wait a minute, wait a minute, hold on. >> which is the state you saturated with. their question is whether you're stealing votes from candidates who could actually win. >> well, first of all -- [ applause ] >> -- i'm not sure who those people are, because again, when we head north, it will be interesting to see who can perform up north. we've spent very little money, and other people have spent lots of money. and we're holding our own. i never said that i would go to iowa in the caucuses there. i got in at the end of july. i did not have big name identification. people counted me out. they said, you know, he'll never get to new hampshire. he'll never get in the race, and by the way, he'll never be in the debate. we went to new hampshire and finished second, and then people

said he wouldn't perform in south carolina. we were about 1% in the polls and in about four or five days, we jumped to 8. i didn't go to nevada because i'm husbanding my resources. we're on the air in vermont, we're on the air in massachusetts. we have a strong organizatioin vermont -- i mean, in virginia, and we're working in states in the south. we will perform better in mississippi than what people will expect. now, i expect for the next couple weeks, we're going to probably see donald trump continue to win. but it's a matter of accumulating delegates, and it's continuing to put one foot in front of the other. we've had a number of people who have signed on in the last three days. today it was governor butch otter, just a couple days ago it was tom ridge, the former security chief for george bush. we have a number of financial people who have signed on. because, you see, megyn, the people that are calling for me to get out, many of them are people that are inside the

beltway. they're the lobbyists who i had to beat 25 years ago to get the budget balanced. i put my organizations with the grassroots. not with the people inside the beltway and not with the people who called a tune on k street. i don't do that. but you just hang on. because you know what a lot of people would say? if i were to get out, donald trump would win ohio and that would be the end of it. now articles are being written to say that we intend to beat hillary clinton. i'm not stopping, and i'm just not giving up. i'm certainly not listening to a bunch of people, insiders in washington, d.c. finally, by waithe way, i think we're in this to pick the most qualified person for president. i balanced the budget in washington, we reformed welfare, we cut the capital gains tax --

>> you're going to get the chance to talk about so many of these things because i got people lined up who want to talk to you. >> i'm just -- megyn, i'm going to finish this in 30 seconds. >> all right, you got 15 because i want to get to my voters. >> we turned ohio around -- >> these are important issues. >> you asked me questions, i got to answer them. >> but you're going on a long time. >> okay, megyn. have it your way. let's go to the question. >> thank you. you talked to my husband. here's our first question to you from our voters. it involves an issue you talk about a lot which is health care reform. it comes from travis walker who describes himself as a grassroots republican activist. go ahead, travis. >> hi, governor kasich. as you know, health care costs are a major problem in this country. they're a big part of state and federal budgets and continually growing, and obamacare has done

very little to address that. in your mind, what would be a conservative free market way to reduce the price of care without cutting benefits or entering government price controls like we see in europe and a lot of other countries? >> yes. first of all, it's a complicated question. i'll answer it as quickly as i can. i would repeal obamacare, but i would take some resources, free tup with medicaid and in a budget within the first 100 days. then the states could have their own -- they could always be able to advertise the various policies that they have with insurance inside the state with an exchange run by a state, and then people can choose what they want. but beyond that, i think we need to get to another place. we in ohio are launching a program -- we already launched it -- that's going to pay people who actually provide quality at lower prices. we know there are some that charge a lot, hospitals and doctors, and we know some that charge less. the midpoint is that area between the high charges and the

low charges. what we're going to say is if you provide high quality at a lower price below the midpoint, we're actually going to pay you a financial reward. we're going to use the market to drive down, or at least begin to pay down the increases in health care. we're beginning to do this in the state, and i'm actually from medicaid to 2.5% who snds this process. so number one, we're going to begin to pay people for high prices and low prices in medicaid. and the hospitals and doctors are getting together on episodes to make sure we can pay people a reward if they get us healthy. we're going to begin to make these payments next year, and i think it's something that can be and should be implemented to

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and welcome back to our kelly file special live from houston, texas tonight. back with us now -- >> [ applause ] >> -- republican presidential candidate governor john kasich. governor, great to see you again. i want to get to this issue which a lot of our voters have

raised. ever since senator rand paul left the race, the libertarian voters have been looking for the qualities that best matches them. our next person is one of those voters. rusty is undecided and would like to hear from all the candidates on this. >> governor kasich, thank you so much for taking my question. >> sure. >> there doesn't seem to be a champion of liberty left in the race in some of our minds, and we're wondering why should liberty republicans vote for you in the primary and also in the general? >> well, look, i mean, the first thing is i've always believed in small government. i was talking about balancing the federal budget where we shrunk the government. the same in my state where we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. but i've always believed we need to transfer power, money and influence out of washington back to states, and frankly, i believe in transferring a lot of power from the states really

down to where people are because the strength in this country is from the bottom up in our neighborhoods, communities and families. so i believe in shrinking government, modernizing government, in novatining government, and i think we ought to uberize the federal government, and i have an issue to do that. my view is there has to be a good balance. i'm pleased with the fact we have now inserted a judge in terms of the ability to government to collect data, and in the battle between apple and the government itself, my sense on that is that the president should get people together, get them in a room, what's what a leader does, and i've dhaone th in my state. get them in a room and say the government needs information in regard to this one situation. we are not going to turn the key over to our government so they can go out and do what they want, but it is critical that business works within ourselves

and the intelligence community to make sure they get the information they need as it relates to terrorism. this is a complex issue, but at the end of the die, whale we have to make sure we

when we got the budget balanced when we reformed welfare and rebuild our defense. he decided he didn't need it. frankly the ten years that i was out being in the private sector and learning so much about the private sector in a real way has made me a much more effective governor. that's how we have been able to solve many of the problems we have in ohio. the other thing you should know is he was a compassionate man. i always believed economic growth was not in essence of itself. we ought to make sure those people that are the mentally ill, the drug addicted the working poor have the opportunity. washington had the compassion in the old days. i have compassion today.

at the end of the day what i admire most about him is he knew when to walk away and say it's somebody else's turn. he was able to say it's not about my ego or my way. >> thanks. governor, i also hear that george washington, he was a hugger. he was a hugger. you have that in common. all right. our next guest is lisa. she is with the texas federation of republican women. she describes herself as undecided. she is worried about the divide she sees within the country right now. our guewhat do you want to ask governor? >> thank you for joining us. from lu he is from louisiana. no shame. no shame. we have had 8 years of a divider in chief. we have this division and range core in the republican primary. what would you do to bring this country together racially?

what can we do? we need someone to lead it. what would you do? >> well, i would remind everybody that we are americans before we are republicans and democrats. i have been a uniter through out my career. when we balanced the federal budget i negotiated with the clinton administration. we got what we wanted lower taxes a government that was more effective and economic growth. in the state of ohio i have been able to work with everybody. in terms of racial issues that's a serious one. we have been able to create a coalition of african americans, law enforcement, community activists, it's pore -- pastors. we have tough cases and we haven't seen any violence we have seen in other cases by bringing people together. i have worked with democrats in terms of reforming the schools in cleveland. we worked on the issues of fighting the problems with drugs. what it really gets down to is somebody who can unite, somebody that doesn't want to knock all of the pieces off the chess

board if they get frustrated. having been a congressman and being in that role and understanding how to get along with people of the other party and people with other philosophies and taking that to ohio and being able to bring that state together by reminding people we a bigger purpose. the purpose is not to be just somebody that represents your party. your purpose when you were in public life is to solve problems, create jobs and give everybody a chance to be lifted. look, i was in a republican fundraiser today for me at noon and i took an old democrat conservative blue dog democrat into this fundraiser and when i walked in he said he didn't want to go. when he walked in the door they cheered him. you know why we did it because i want people to know they can find areas to dream in. if we don't we won't fix social security, the border, we won't balance the budget. we will continue to divide ourselves and the problems will be kicked down the road. if i am president within the

first 100 days i will have conservative ideas and i will ru unite the republicans. i will set the tune but we are going to let democrats play in the orchestra because we are americans and we can do it together. (applause) >> last we for y-- last questio you. senator mitt romney said he won't endorse any candidate that won't release the tax returns. will you release yours and how many years? >> that's not going to be an issue with me. we will be glad to release tax returns. we will figure out what the right years are. we don't have anything to hide there. i want to conclude by saying that one of the things we need to do in this election is not just look at resumes but look at accomplishments. who can lead this country? who has actually achieved things. it's not just about promises. it's about what you have delivered in the past. what you have delivered in the past gives you a sense of what we can deliver in the future.

we have to make sure we have people with deep experience who know how to get things done in that town who have a tough backbone and know how to get it done. that is what is really important because america can't continue to drift. we have to have somebody that can go there immediately and make the impact weigh want to improve our economy. thank you for allowing me to do it. i am sorry i am here. i am going to be winging to texas tonight and i will see you there tomorrow. >> no worries. great to see you, governor. thank you for your time. >> we have much more to come on this special kelly file two hours face to face in texas. next hour senator marco rubio and dr. ben carson are in the hot seat. lone star state voters have more to ask of the presidential hopeful. all that when we come back. ♪ ♪

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may raise your blood pressure. that's why there's coricidin® hbp. it relieves cold symptoms without raising blood pressure. so look for powerful cold medicine with a heart. coricidin® hbp. >> welcome back to a special edition of "the kelly files." we are coming to you from texas. >> last hour you heard from texas senator ted cruz and ohio govern govern governor john kasich. we begin with senator rubio who last night finished second in a nevada caucus behind donald trump. his message today the majority of gop voters don't want trump as their nominee. joining me now by satellite

senator marco rubio. senator, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> great to see you. you believe still the majority of voters don't want donald trump. but at this point in the contest you have yet to win a single race with the understanding that past is pro logged what are you going to change to get a different result? >> well, first of all i will admit he's the frontrunner and i am the underdog. i have been an under dog my whole life how i grew up to how i came to the senate running against the republican establishment for this race when i have been hit by $40 million of negative ads by establishment money. i relish the country of under dogs. this is a natuion of people who scratch and claw to move ahead in their lives. would he won't allow the conservative movement to be defined by a nominee who isn't a conservative. you need to elect someone who is prepared to be president in a thoughtful, serious important way given the threats it faces.

that's why majority of republican voters are now facing donald trump. once it begins to narrow you will see more of the support consolidating. wither in this situation we are facing and we are going to continue working hard and picking up as many delegates as we can. >> i didn't hear anything in there that talked about a change. the question is whether you like being second, because if you don't change anything what are the odds that that number is going to start changing for you>> we are not going to change our message. this is why i am running. i understand we have real challenges. that's what i represented in 2010. every state is different obviously. we want to go in with the resources we have and try to move numbers and do that, so our tactics are not going to dramatically change. i think the biggest change in the campaign is when the people not meaning donald trump the choices begin to narrow and we give them a clearer choice of who they want to get behind. i am as conservative as any one

in this race. i hold a record of 15 years of conservative ideas and i hold it up against any one who is running. i can win. i can unify this party and i can grow this party and i will win this election. the democrats don't want to run me. that's why they attack me more than any one else in this race. if we lose that means bernie sanders is a socialist or hillary clinton the fbi investigation becomes the next president of the united states. it will take longer than people want but i feel good about it. no one will out work us. >> let's get voters in here. we want to hear from them directly. this next issue getting a lot of attention in the democratic race is hot item with young rae publican voters as well. the question comes from ton gnaw sue. she is here with her mom, and she describes herself as undecide. she has narrowed it down and she wants to talk about the cost for college today. what's your question? >> thank you for allowing me to be here tonight. senator, i am a student and the

first in my family to be thu furthering my education. the question is what would you do to provide more opportunities for students to further while making it affordable and decreasing the student debt crushing our youth. >> i am the only republican that tal always talks about student loans. i have a plan to deal with it. one of the reasons i am passionate about it is because four years ago when i became a u.s. senator until 2012 i had over 100,000 in student loan debt from my time in law school and four-year degree. you will know how much people make when they graduate from the school you are going to with the degree that you are seeking so you can make an informed decision whether it is worth borrowing thousands of dollars before it may not lead to a job. college credit without having to sit in the classroom.

whether it is through alternatively accredited methods you should be allowed to acquire credits without paying for it. it will shorten the amount of time in school and it will help with non-traditional students. income base repayments the automatic method of repayment. i would rather collect $20 a month from someone rather than them default and not be able to buy a home or get a loan or whatever. the other thing is have a student loan alternative. student investment plan allowing them to go to a private investment group and get them to pay for your tuition instead of a loan. if you make a lot of money they are going to make their money back like if they invested in a small business that was successful. if you don't make a lot of money they lose their money they made a bad investment. it is better than a loan and it isn't on your credit report. i feel fashion matly about it. i can tell you when jen and i

were first married. >> they wrapped you for me. another one of the small business owners we are hearing from tonight. he has a number of concerns but one in particular is an especially big deal for him. >> thank you for taking the time to listen to us and answer our questions. as a small businessman we have a number of concerns taxes, excess regulation and health insurance. we have a tough time affording health insurance for our employees. i don't think that is fair but the health system is currently broken. what are you going to do it to fix the broken healthcare system? we need more than repealing obamacare or breaking state lines. >> i agree with that. we will repeal obamacare and we are going to replace it. i don't want to go back to the old system that wasn't working well either. i am the only one running for president that has ever done

anything about obama bare. i got rid of the bailout fund they are going to use with your tax payer money to bail out taxpayers. everyone is allowed to control their own healthcare. under my plan you would be allowed to provide to your employers if you can't get insurance you would provide money the equivalent of what they are paying they would receive that money it can only be used for medical care. it would be tax free. they would be able to use it to fund health insurance anyway they want whether health savings account combination of health savings account and buying insurance of the kind they want from any company in america. you would be allowed to pool your resources with other similarly situated businesses to create a coverage group. it would give you more options. what i want to do is provide more choices because it will lead to more competition in the health insurance marketplace and it is their competition you are going to get better coverage, lower prices an better network. that's a much better approach than what we have now where the

cost of the healthcare exchanges where the companies are losing money, it is all being passed to the commercial plan and that's why your premiums keep going up. >> senator, thank you. well the issue of prison reform is starting to bubble up in a campaign trail as well on both sides of the isle. as an interesting point of reference it is one issue where the obama administration and the very conservative coach broth-- brothers find themselves not in agreement but working together. you got president obama, van jones and charles koch all agreeing on the same issue. like your head is going to explode. but it is happening. a young student at baylor university. we have a few baylor visitors tonight. welcome jake and your question. >> my question is about prison reform. currently there are several bills in the house and senate cosigned by democrats and republicans alike all trying to fix the issue of mass incarceration. what would you do with a united

front as president to solve this issue? >> well, first of all thanks for the question. it can be an important issue. but i think it is largely misunderstood. federal crimes the vast majority of people are not in jail for a small thing. the growth of incarceration has been through mandatory criminal sentences for violent offenders. up until the 1980's we had crime problems and minimum reforms and ones quickly released to return back to the streets and were committing crimes. they are committed by people going back to crime and now they are being locked up. you saw a dramatic plunge in crime rates. that's where the majority of people being incarcerated are. i believe in minimum mandatory sentences for people that are violent dangerous criminals for drug dealers and people like that. i am open to saying let's divert people out of the system if they are first time offenders and they are not a danger to society.

i believe that is important for juveniles and young people who made a bad mistake or did something dumb and you don't want them interacting with the criminal justice system. that stigmatism often leads to criminalization later on. the vast majority of people that commit drug offenses as users they are addicted to the substance. i don't want to see them in jail either. when it comes to violent and dangerous criminals and drug dealers i support minimum mandatory sentences because it worked to kree duesing crime rate in america over the last 25 years. (applause) >> we will have much more with senator rubio on the other side of the break coming up in a moment. stand by. we will have more right here from houston texas. don't go away senator marco rubio continues next.

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>> welcome back everybody. it is a special two our he had de edition of "the kelly files." thank you for being back with us. want to get to the next issue. former president george w. bush said one of the toughest issues he faced had to do with stem-cell research. our next question comes from sara who is a science professor at lamar university. she likes kasich and you, sir, what's your question for the senator? >> senator rubio, you have been criticized rights to rise as being too pro-life to be president. what is your position on stem-cell research, as president will you veto legislation that could help save a life at the cost of someone else's life? oo i don't view it as that

kind of choice. there's all kinds of stem-cell research going on including umbilical cord brood and things of this nature. i support all of that. what i do not support anything that would lead to the creation af an industry where you are creating embryos for the purpose of cultivating stem cells. i am pro-life. i believe it is worthy of the protection of our laws. it largely comes up in the context of abortion. this is a hard issue. i get it it puts two competing rights against each other the right to choose what you do with your body and the right of the unborn child to live. i have chosen the side of life. it is not a political issue for me it's a human rights issue. i believe that all human life is worthy of protection from our laws. if human life loses dignity we are in society headed in the wrong direction fast. that's my view. i feel passionately and completely about it. i respect and understand those that have a different view on

it. we can make advances on stem-cell research without creating an industry where embryos are cultivated for purposes of accessing stem cells. >> so cord blood fine but embryo research absolutely not? is that your position, senator? >> especially embry rows created solely for that purpose, yes, absolutely. >> what about discarded embryos from ibf procedures and stuff. >> that's a harder issue. the problem with that is -- what's hard about policing that any one can claim that they are going to be discarded already so they are really not for purpose approximates poss of li-- purpof life. >> just to clarify. >> i am worried about an industry created -- >> understood. to clarify on the abortion issues. you and i talked about this back in august. you state now that you are against abortion even in the cases of rape or incest, is that

your position tonight? >> yeah, what i said is i don't require those exceptions in order to support a law. anothered i have sported laws that have those. i support the 20 week abortion ban and that is where the majority of americans are. if i am president even though i don't require there will be exemptions for those who things i will support a has them. i am interested in saving as many lives as we can. >> our next voter hoped to put this to donald trump. since he couldn't be here we put it to you. it concerns an issue that incited a lot of emotion on the campaign trail. with that we turn it over to allison young who has a story and a question. >> senator rubio recently a muslim american army reservist was denied access to a recreational gun range and it had signage saying it was a muslim free facility? what is your opinion on this and do you think the rhetoric of

this campaign season especially the anti muslim rhetoric has increased this sentiment>> the story you told me is wrong. it is immoral. we should not be doing that to people. there are millions of patriotic muss rim americans. if you go to a national cemetery with veterans you will see stars of david you will see crosses and crescent moons. you will see muslim americans who died in service to this country. our issue is not with islam it is with radical jihadists, radical islam which is a pol litzation and radical ideology that threatens i slam. it doesn't just threaten the west but islam. isis wants to kill all shi'ite and all sunnis who do not agree with their own version of islam. we recognize the contributions and no one should be discriminated against america

because of their religion and faith. i think we have to recognize and i think the muse limb american community does that radical islam poses a threat. >> what did you make about the question whether the rhetoric is putting some smus limbs -- musm americans in this position. they are worried about their sons and daughters. >> inthat is important. you have an enormous mega phone. you set the agenda. we should not be pitting and dividing americans against each other. i agree. i think we are capable of recognizing the threat of radical islam wut having to demonize those who are so loyal to america and many are willing to dawn the uniform and die on behalf of our freedoms and liberty. >> on the plan announced by president obama to close the

prison in guantanamo bay. he will transfer the detainees to a facility inside the united states. carolyn, what's your question? >> senator rubio, president obama announced he wanted to close gitmo. would you close gitmo and if so what would become of the facility and how would you transfer these hardened war criminals to the u.s. soil without them having u.s. civil rights? oo gitmo is not just a prison for radical terrorists but an important naval facility and we are keeping it. number two we shouldn't be tran transferring -- (applause) >> a substantial number of them once released are rejoining the battlefield against us. this week spanish police arrested a form he gitmo detainee plotting terrorism. number three, when i am president we will be taking people there not taking people out. when i am president we will have

a real war on terrorism, our armed forces will destroy them. (applause) and if we capture any of these terrorists alive we are taking them to guantanamo. that is where they belong. they are enemy combatants they shouldn't be released so they can join the battle against us. >> what about interrogation of terrorists who we capture on the battlefield. they didn't go to gitmo they went to cia black sites they were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. what happened president rubio do do to a terrorist we wanted to interrogate? >> i don't talk about the interrogation techniques. it helps the terrorist train to evade them. (applause) >> number two, we have the capability of gathering information without having to do some of the things that people

feel offended by and number three interrogating a terrorist is not the same as law enforcement interrogation. in a law enforcement interrogation you are trying to acquire ed in a trial. in a terrorist you are trying to prevent a terrorist attack in the future. you can't always use the exact same tactics. this is not about evidence to put someone in jail. this is about evidence and information to prevent a future terrorist eye tack. >> we selected the next voter because her issue is what has been an issue all along. it is between supporting the person you like and supporting the person that you think can win. michelle, go ahead. >> thank you megyn and thank you senator rubio. i am struck ellistruggling with decision on who to vote for because senator cruz shares similar values with me but i think you are more electable? what would you say to a voter

like myself when comparing elect ability to values? >> i would say you don't have to compromise those when you vote for me. i have a 15 year of turning conservative ideas into action. (applause) >> forgive me for the interruption. is there something specific about senator rubio verses senator cruz that is giving you pause? >> one thing i really like about senator cruz is his idea of limited government. >> sometimes the policy senator rubio puts out there they don't line up with what i believe is limited government. >> i have as i said a record of limiting government. i didn't just talk about it i did it. i was in the state legislature in florida a part-time job. i was a speaker of the house. we balanced the budget without raising taxes. we cut taxes. we reformed the school curriculum without common core. we did it at the state level.

(applause) >> i have a regulatory proposal that would reduce regulations. th i am the conservative that can unite this party. i am as conservative as any one. i encourage you to examine my voting record in washington. i believe i can unite this party as i have proven this week with more and more people coming on board but i can also grow it. we can take the opportunity to conservatism instead of watering down our principles convincing them our principles are the right way forward for them and for our country. that is not just how we win an election that's how we create a better future for america. >> i have got one final question for you. governor mitt romney said the gop voters should not nominee

until they see the tax returns. will you release yours when and how many years? >> we were planning in the next few days. many of my tax returns are out there because i released them during my senate campaign. a lot of them are public because of my senate financial closures in the year. i will release them. they are not sri exotic. we will release them, sure. >> the exotic tax return we should all be so luck ye. thank you for being here. great to see you. >> stay tuned we have one more candidate to go. dr. ben carson joins our gop forum in texas next. be good.

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welcome back to a special edition of "the kelly >> welcome back. dr. ben carson told supporters it was just beginning chth here to make his pitch to the voters in this audience to help him and vi revi viewers at home, retired neurosurgeon dr. ben carson. welcome dr. carson. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> let me start with this, really? just beginning? >> absolutely. you know, five percent of the dell kraegates have been select already. we have a long way to go. like a baseball game. everybody wants to call the game after the first inning.

i think we have a ways to go yet. and the good thing is, with fewer candidates, i think maybe there's a possibility -- i am not sure it's going to happen. there's a possibility people may actually start getting interested in the real solutions to the problems and not so much the gladiator mitochondrial -- gladiator speckle. >> your faith is important to you. you have talked openly about that. i want to talk about a piece that appeared in national review by david trenfrench. he was addressing you and governor kasich. being a christian candidate for president means far more than cad cassie for life religious liberty and the family. it means being humble and self aware enough to know when your vanity is hurting the country. it is time to deny self admit defeat and leave the race.

he and so many others like you they have concerns you are a spoiler at this point and a vote from you is effectively what he says was a vote to destroy the republican party. your thoughts? >> my thoughts are that the political establishment, the pundits like to think that they are in control. it is really we the people who should be in control. >> (applause) i believe there is still a possibility that we can sort of break the spell that they have over the people. bear in mind that tears sort of like why do i stay here? it's like losing a child. if you have ever known somebody who lost a child, it is a horrendous thing. you would do anything to keep it from happening. i feel like we are in the process of losing our country.

it is in critical condition right now. i don't see anybody else who really is going to do anything about it. one of the real reasons that we are in critical condition is because we have had so many people who are controlled. they either are on a puppet end of the string or puppet master end of the string. as a result of that things that are done are not necessarily the things that are the most beneficial things for we the people. that's why i refused to accept money from special interests or billionaires who want to control things. anybody who is associated with them is going to continue to do their widthing. we are goiwe are going to conti to go down the same road.

suggesting that president obama was raised white in contrast to yourself in response to which many came out well-known african american commentators suggested that plays into a narrative that there is some sort of correct or legitimate way of doing blackness, of being black. your response? >> my response is that's hog wash. basically in a conversation in a transcript is available, i said that his experience in growing up is vastly different than most af condition america-- african american. i don't know who could really argue with that. he was raised by his white grandparents in hawaii in a very affluent area in a private school. >> but he looks black. >> let me finish. >> and his formative years were spent in indonesia. >> four years of his young life. >> 10 to 14 those are formative

years with his white mother. for any one to tell me that's a typical black experience. (laughter) (applause) it's basically the media doing what they always do. they take a simple statement that i made and so therefore he is saying that it is bad to be raised white, so that's a racist statement. he's saying there is some other racism against blacks and on and on they go with their ridiculous analysis which is only for one purpose and that is to try to ridicule me and to drive wedges. they do it all of the time. people ought to get used to it. let's go to the voters. landon has a young republican

worried about whether there is place for a young voter under the gop tent. landon take it away. >> republicans under 40 are fiscally conservative but lean more libertarian as compared to the older over 40 crowd. is there room in the gop for this younger than 40 crowd when there is such a strong contrast on social issues? >> there should be room for them. one of the reasons that i have joined this race is because as a pediatric neurosurgeon i was concerned generation and their welfare. we look at how our fiscal policies are affecting young people the millennials and the next generation. we are talking $19 trillion. johnson said it is immoral to pass debt to the next generation. if you try to pay off 19 trillion a day 365 days a year

it would take you over 5,000 years. we are not just talking about the next generation we are talking about generations as far as the eye can see. that's the good news because in fact the fiscal gap, which is all of the unfunded liabilities medicare, medicaid, social security all of the governmental programs, agencies verses the money we have coming in from taxes and other revenue sources they should be even if we are fiscally responsible. if we are not there's a gap bring it forth in today's dollars. it is the fiscal gap over $200 trillion. somebody came today and said america i have got a gift for you. i am going to give you $19 trillion so you can payoff your national debt. everybody would be dancing in the streets. we wouldn't even be close to being out of trouble. that's what young people need to understand. when people like bernie sanders comes along and says free college for everybody? that's going to accelerate our fall off the cliff.

young people need to recognize at least in my case, we are looking at people who are going to be looking for ways to ameliorate that financial deterioration. >> next we>> we have so many viewers rightiwriting in about asking you the candidates about the va. it has been years since the scandal overweight times erupted at the veteran's administration. while the chief watchdog has yet to release the findings into some 73 va facilities across the u.s. this issue is shaping up to be a big subject. >> good evening. we want to hear about the va. i would like to hear your solution, your action plan for what you plan to do to improve the va? >> you know, i have had an opportunity to work in a number of va's.

and wonderful patients, wonderful staff, and a mountain of bureaucracy in between them. let me put a couple of things in perspective. first of all our veterans are incredibly important to our freedom. we have in some kind of conflict. we are only talking one percent of the population we have an obligation to take care of them as they have taken care of us. what i would do is when a person enlists in the military i would eye catch them with an external group through their military career particularly when they are in combat and 3-5 years afterwards because that's when

ptsd shows up. they would work on integration back into society. so they would quit the military on friday and start the new job on monday. they would have health empowerment accounts subsidized that allow them to go to any healthcare in the country we would be delighted to take care of them. they could go to the va facility if they wanted to but wouldn't be obligated to do so. that creates competition. competition is the only thing that would improve this. it works in all parts of our society. if the va has to compete for those patients they will improve no question about it. (applause) >> our next questioner is rw bray. he's director of african american engagement for the texas gop. rw? >> how are you doing, doc, good to see you here. >> you, too. >> we have seen democratic

candidates posturing their campaigns toward the black community in order to win their candidacy. when it comes to the republican party two contentions a lot are concerned about is number one like ability number two relate ability. relate ability they relate to the issues of the community. what is your campaign doing in order to secure and win the african american vote but not only that but secure it and win it for the republican party? >> well, i don't change my message just because i am in front of one group verses another group. by the same token i believe the right kinds of policies lift all of the votes. the policies our government has had have been extremely detrimental particularly in the african american community in terms of destroying families.

our faith and families are the two strong pillars that got us through slavery and jim crow and segregation and racism. as those things are broken down it is problematic. republicans and particularly me very, very interested in finding ways to heal those families, put those families back together. and you think about something like out of wedlock birth. 73 percent of african american b babies born out of wedlock. usually that means the end of education for that woman. it means that baby is four times as likely to grow up in poverty. that is very problematic. what we should be doing i think is supporting and creating groups that support that woman through that pregnancy so that she is not going off to get an abortion and then helping her to be able to get her ged or her

associates degree or bachelor's degree or master's degree by providing add caught child care so she can learn to take care of herself and her child sow you can break the cycle of poverty. that's the only way it can be broken. i think also, you know, one of the things i have proposed in my tax plan, and please go to ben cars carson.com and read about it, i have a lot of policy. i said we would have a 6 month hiatus on the corporate tax rate. 30 taxes -- 0 taxes so we can repatriate the money. over $2.1 trillion. 10 percent has to be used in enterprise zones and to create jobs for people who are unemployed under employed or on welfare. you want to talk about a stimulus? that would be the biggest

stimulus since fdr's new deal and it wouldn't cost the taxpayers a penny. also that once again gets corporate american used to the idea of investing in the people around them. whose job is it to take care of the indigent in our country? it is we the people. the government does a terrible job of it. lyndon johnson declared a war on poverty. how did that work out? 19 2r later 14 more times on food stamps and welfare and broken homes, crime, incarceration out of wedlock, birth, everything is much worse than it was before. the government needs to read the constitution. i think that's the problem. >> we will let them do that during the commercial break.

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welcome back, everybody. more now with dr. ben carson. >> you and your admittedly astonishing skills as a neurosurgeon don't translate to being commander-in-chief. greg is likely deciding on you as a candidate.

>> how do you respond to the claim that is your foreign policy views are week? -- weak. >> i would respond to that by saying last week when i was in south carolina i did a one-hour foreign policy town hall. there are a lot of press there. i think only one of them wrote a story. their story was how astonished they were at my foreign policy knowledge. the other ones didn't write anything because they couldn't find anything bad to say. i say to any reporter ask me a foreign policy question. i know a lot more about it than probably a lot of people who are good at giving 60-second answers. i could go into great depth about islam where it came from what jihadism is. >> what's the difference between

shi'ite and sunni? >> there are two different branchs of islam. one is much more fundamental and one is much more secular. the sunnis are more fundamental the shiite are much more secular. it is a relevant question because the deal that we made with iran which is mainly sunni stabbed a lot of our sunny friends in the back throughout the arabian peninsula then we have the nerve to come to them and say you be our boots on the ground and we will be the air power. it makes no sense of these are the kinds of foolish things that happen when you don't understand what's going on. >> you feel like you are up to the job now. you were studying up and you were reading. >> that was a couple years ago.

>> let me put it this way. i am ready for the quiz now. also do bear in mind that i think it is very important to put the right people around you, because no matter how much i have learned, i will never be the world expert on russian affairs. but i can get access to those kinds of people. but you do have to have a basic fund ch knowledge in order to know who you need to get. solomon the wisest man who ever lived said in a multitude of conflict is safety. if the wisest man thought that i certainly believe it, too. >> the next question touches on one of the most controversial debates whether or not syrian refugees should be allowed in the united states. mckayla has this question. >> my question for you tonight is should religious tests be used as factors in order to enter into the great country? >> no i wouldn't use a religious

test but i would use common sense. that's something we sometimes don't do. some of the questions they ask people coming in, are you a terrorist? have you ever been associated with terrorism. do you plan to do -- give me a break. this is ridiculous stuff. but obviously we should tighten up our questioning and our screening process, because it is essential we don't let the wrong people in this country. most of the syrian refugees they don't want to come here. i have been over there. i have talked to them. they want to be reset elled in their own country. it would be so easy to do that in the northeast section of syria. it is controlled sunnis and christians and kurds. we would have to put an international protective force. it would be much easier than trying to trance pesport them t another location.

the fact that canada is bringing tens of thousands of them over here. of course they are going to be infiltrated with terrorists and jihadists. it would be jihadist malpractice not to put people in there. you have the vehicle and they are coming over here. are you kidding me? >> did you say jihadist malpractice? >> that is a fist. william green says he has never been and will never be a member of any political party. his focus is on one thing, u.s. constitution. >> amen. >> besides voting, protesting or urging representatives to take action, short of another revolution, what can we the people do to help restore our

constitution? oo you are going to be surprised what i am going to tell you. you can stop listening to the pundits and start thinking for yourselves. you can begin by looking at the candidates who are running for president, you can find out what they believe. read their position papers those who have them such as myself and you can dissect them and you can see how consistent they are with the constitution. we are not going to have to go through a revolution if we choose somebody who is a member of we the people. the problem is, we have been taking people who are members of they the politicians who are controlled the political and they continue to manipulate us. that is the reason i am still here. i feel deep in my heart that what thomas jefferson said was

true. he said the people of america would become less vigilant, they would not be paying attention and as a result the government would grow and it would met it's size it will infiltrate and it will dominate. before we turn to another form of government the people of america would recognize they were being manipulated, would rise up and would retake control. i believe now is the time to do that. >> i want to get one more in. we have a little time left. people here hail from college campuses where conservative ideas are welcomed -- no, they are not. thank you for getting it. ut austin said the situation in her school are no different. thank you for being here tonight. >> i was wondering how specifically you would explain to college students how conservative economic policies would be much better for their future than policies that are

very liberal like bernie sanders? >> well, i would help them to understand what socialism really is. i think many young people think socialism is being considered with social issues. that's not what it is. it is the utopian dream. the government takes care of you from cradle to grave, you never have anything to worry about, that's the goal, that's the ideal. they all end up looking exactly the same with a small group of elites at the top who control everything are rapidly diminishing middle class in a vastly expanded dependent class. i would begin to demonstrate that to them. i would also show them the united states of america which declared test independence in 1776 in less than 100 years later was the number one economic power in the world by creating an environment that encouraged entrepreneurial risk taking and capital investment.

i would explain to them what happens with regulations, that each regulation costs money in terms of goods and services passed on to the consumer most aggressive form of taxation there is. >> i have to rap ywrap you. we are off on a hard break. >> mitt romney thinks all gop candidates should release taxes. he won't endorse anybody until you release your taxes. >> i would be happy to. i have nothing to hide. i would release them for how many years will satisfy people. nothing to hide. not a problem. one thing i can guarantee people with me, there are no scandals. no scandals. >> thank you very much. thank you all for watching our special two our kelly file face to face with the gop candidates.

here is houston, texas. go to my facebook let me know what you think about the show and the election. i am megyn kelly. this is the kelly files. make delicious recipes that are lighter in calories and added sugar when you use splenda no calorie sweetener. think sugar, use splenda urgent diarrhea.in.

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>> mr. deniro thank you for meeting with us today. >> you have so many great ideas as your executive producer they could go so far. politics and remakes very hot right now. we begin with a favorite. socialist horror film starring bernie sanders. little scarier. just when you thought it was safe to go back into the voter pool. >> no. no. >> i agree. >> little nicer. skub actually. two dudes meet their wives -- >> nose two