our candidates include andre bauer, gresham barrett, henry mcmaster, nikki haley. please give the candidates a warm south carolina welcome. [applause] >> the debate features a panel of the steam to journalists. they include harry logan who works in the office of public -pand community affairs at frans marion. he is also the immediate president of the press association of south carolina. joining him is his former colleague, jackie torch. she is the metro editor of the morning news. the third member is mike connolly from news 13. [applause] this debate will focus on job creation and long-term economic growth across all of south carolina. each candidate will have a chance to answer three questions posed by each panelist. and the candidates have one minute 30 seconds to enter the question when it is their time. the other three candidates have 30 seconds for rebuttal. we have a series of corn ponces to determine the order -- quintana says -- coin tosees to determine the order. >> the recent poll among registered voters found that jobs and the economy or their top priori

we wil start wh andre bauer. >> i am running for governoro take on the tough issues.ost of them to not wanto tal about the politically

. >> andre bauer is a good guy. i deplore what is happening to her. it has no place in south carolina. south carolina deserves better and expects more. but unfortunately character does matter. my dad told me early on that is not one thing that matters, it is the only thing that matters. we need a rowboat -- leaders above reproach to date. we have to turn the page and south carolina. >> the golden era all people is always under a microscope. you have to do the right thing. and we've all been subject to unfounded personal attacks. i've got one newspaper in columbia that has been following my children around for a couple of weeks now, trying to find something. unfortunately, nikki, as you know, it is part of politics but it should not be. if you try to attack the problem that we have and work hard, you will be all right. judith our next question is for lieutenant governor bauer. >> your senior citizen fraud program has been criticized for duplicating services offered in the private sector. how'd you reconcile that for reduction of government assistance?

lieutenant governor andre bauer and henry mcmaster. gresham barrett. then rumors started circulating that there be a scandal and a conservative blogger said he had an inappropriate relationship with nikki haley. then a political consultant who is associated with andre bauer one of her opponents said he, too, had an inappropriate relationship. she firmly denies any of this. that she has been totally faithful to her husband during the entirety of their marriage. but it just throws the whole issue of personal morality and behavior in the spotlight again. the polls taken indicate that most of nikki hailey's republican supporters are sticking with her. she may have a problem because you have to have 50% and whoever finishes first doesn't get 50% will have three more weeks of this. then when you get in the he said, she said things involving personal behavior, somebody really telling a whopper of an untruth. and if it is the other people, then shame on them. if it is her, she has a political problem. host: we have a couple of calls from maine, another state v

lieutenant governor andre bauer and henry mcmaster. gresham barrett. then rumors started circulating that there be a scandal and a conservative blogger said he had an inappropriate relationship with nikki haley. then a political consultant who is associated with andre bauer one of her opponents said he, too, had an inappropriate relationship. she firmly denies any of this. at she has been totally faithful to her husband during the entirety of their marriage. but it just throws the whole issue of personal morality and behavior in t spotlight again. the polls taken indicate that most of nikki hailey's republican supporters are sticking with her. she may have a problem because you have to have 50% and whoever finishes first doesn't get 50% will have three more weeks of this. then when you get in the he said, she said things involving personal behavior, somebody really telling a whopper of an untruth. and if it is the other people, then shame on them. if it is her, she has a political problem. host: we have a couple of calls from mae, another state voting

andre bauer will answer the first set of questions. >> a recent poll by the morning news and francesn universe is among registered voters found that jobs in the economy were the top priority with little or no concern about welfare. it is your attention on the welfare question on my hot- button issue to appeal to voters in the gop primary? >> absolutely not. next year we have a direct drop in the amount of revenue we have in the state. not only do we have to create new opportunities, we have to make up shortfalls and tough decisions. i do not have any political bosses. i decide what is important by being out in the street like out was this morning at 7:00 a.m. where people can ask me anything. we have to make some tough cuts next year. we have to decide what is effective and not. we know there are programs right now -- the fastest-growing segment in the budget right now is the welfare rolls. it is bigger than what we spend when you look at military spending, the fastest-growing segment is welfare. nobody wants to talk about it. we have no way to pay for it anymore. more than that, we