we also expect to hear from iowa governor terry branstad. we saw him enter the room just a minute ago, as well as senator chuck grassley. he is also in the audience tonight. senator ted cruz is excited to talk about the government shutdown, other issues facing the country and the republican party. the roomarently not in yet, but here at the convention center doing some photo opportunities and speaking with some of the folks outside the room before he comes in to make his remarks. we should be hearing from him and others shortly. >> man have your attention please? we are going to get the program started. please make it to your seats. we are being broadcast on c-span tonight, so we do want to get the program rolling. everyone moved to your seats. we will get started. the senator is on his way in. let's get this grand old party started tonight. [applause] my name is david fisher. i'm the cochairman of the republican party of iowa. i'm sure you all understand that we have to get things going tonight, because the last time somebody offered senato

governor branstad was born, raised, and educated in iowa. he dedicated his life to make iowa a better place for all of us. he is an exceptional leader. he works with the leaders of both parties to accomplish his goals of cutting expenses, reducing taxes, balancing the budget, and increasing the rainy day funds. he is a champion of economic development. he created many jobs and reduced the unemployment rate. he supported the growth of renewable fuel industries and renewable energy. he believes in education and has made educational reform one of his priorities. he is passionate about making iowa the healthiest state. governor branstad is iowa's longest-serving governor. he has been everywhere in this state. let's work together to reelect him, so that he can become the longest-serving governor in the history of our nation. please welcome governor branstad [applause] >> thank you. thank you. gopal, thank you for that nice introduction. [applause] i still have a long ways to go to catch up with senator grassley. but i'm proud to be here with him,

governor branstad was born, raised, and educated in iowa. he dedicated his life to make iowa a better place for all of us. he is an exceptional leader. he works with the leaders of both parties to accomplish his goals of cutting expenses, reducing taxes, balancing the budget, and increasing the rainy day funds. he is a champion of economic development. he created many jobs and reduce the unemployment rate. he supported the growth of renewable fuel industries and renewable energy. he believes in education and has made educational reform one of his priorities. he is passionate about making iowa the healthiest state. governor branstad is iowa's longest-serving governor. he has been everywhere in this state. let's work together to reelect him, so that he can become the longest-serving governor in the history of our nation. these welcome governor branstad. [applause] >> thank you. gopal, thank you for that nice introduction. i still have a long ways to go to catch up with senator grassley. but i'm proud to be here with him, with chairman spyker a

i worked for the governor, terry branstad. a long serving governor who never ever is going to go for a ban on big gulps. not happening. iowa is the purplest of states but that is not going to happen. how do we engage iowans in their communities, neighborhoods, businesses? we worked with our largest health insurer, our largest grocer. our public universities and we started saying what are ways that we can approach the health of our populations? we did it through two ways. one would be blue zones and the other would be the healthiest state initiative and healthy state walks. let me tell you why that is important, though. iowa, when we came in. like i said, i look at problems in an annoying way. we knew healthcare reform was on the horizon. governor branstad, what we had to do is kind of like bob fagan, get an idea for what we faced as a state. so we said ok. we need to look at the people. people are taxpayers. taxpayers fund everything we do. so first, where are we going as a state? well, we're one of eight states in the nation

i worked for the governor, terry branstad. a long serving governor who never ever is going to go for a ban on big gulps. not happening. iowa is the purplest of states but that is not going to happen. how do we engage iowans in their communities, neighborhoods, businesses? we worked with our largest health insurer, our largest grocer, our public universities and associations, and we started saying what are ways that we can approach the health of our populations? we did it through two ways. one would be blue zones and the other would be the healthiest state initiative and healthy state walks. let me tell you why that is important, though. iowa, when we came in. like i said, i look at problems in an annoying way. we knew healthcare reform was on the horizon. governor branstad, what we had to do is kind of like bob fagan, get an idea for what we faced as a state. so we said ok. we need to look at the people. people are taxpayers. taxpayers fund everything we do. so first, where are we going as a state? well, we're one of eight sta

michael was the policy adviser for governor terry branstad and lt. governor reynolds of the state of iowa. before joining governor branstad's staff, michael worked as an attorney private practice in his hometown of davenport iowa where he represented individuals, businesses and medical professionals throughout iowa and illinois. before practicing as an attorney he was a consultant in chicago. michael learned his account in accounting and master's and accounting and business taxation from the university of iowa and his law degree from treat university school law to the >> thank you. good morning everybody. how are we doing? are you still awake? good. are you happy the government is no longer shut down? questionable? okay. we have about an hour this morning and a panel of really good people. so i think we are going to try to keep this fairly low key conversational and informal. so not a whole lot of standing of here and talking and you. we are going to do a couple minutes each and give you a high level overview and then we will get into more of the dia

this is what the governor of iowa had to say, terry branstad, not exactly complimentary. senator cruz will go there this week. he says he's a bright young guy, just one of 100 members of the senate, we should hear from all view points but leadership of this country is coming from the governors and the states not from washington, d.c., and i don't think one freshman senator can turn this all around. what do you make of the mixed reception ted cruz getting a rock star reception in his home state but not by governor branstad? >> he's become a lightning rod. if you're a conservative tea party base, you love ted cruz. there was an nbc/"wall street journal" poll that came out two weeks ago showing he has sky-high numbers among tea party folks. among everyone else he isn't that popular. there is an a division even inside the republican party on how these tea party folks love him, folks who are nontea party republicans don't, so you see that divide. i know in this virginia governor's race that's right by here in northern virginia, terry mcauliffe is running radio ads comparing ke

governor branstad absolutely refused to expand access. we also call for our population to have more responsibility but also can providers. starting the very first year real pay providers having worked with their number one insurance we don't define what quality is the private health-insurance plans are good at that because they have paid that for awhile in our state. they already know what the field looks like wiedmaier have to be the ticket that with the hospital's when i can say you agree to a one snubby will measure it up we will measure quality to have the whole population be at risk within five years. friday the governor in the legislature wanted to increase private insurance so it is bifurcated those you have served not on the health plan but the employee health benefits that i get a and the governor gets with a little bit of mental-health added to that not only that iowans get to exchange what they want not only increasing people on private health insurance also makes policy sets iowa has seen the greatest rise a bit come over any

we'll hear from iowa senator chuck grassley and governor terry branstad. it's scheduled to get under way 8:00 p.m. eastern. this will be senator cruz's third appearance in iowa in the last three months. we've got a preview of tonight's speech with political reporter in des moines. >> jennifer jacobs covers iowa politics for the des moines register. you wrote this morning this will be senator ted cruz's third appearance in ohio -- iowa in the that's three months. >> it is interesting for someone from the state of texas to be in iowa. he said he's here to energize the american people. he feel his role is larger than just the state of texas. he wants to energize the grassroots to take back the country. any time a politician comes to iowa, they've always suspicions that he is planning to run for president. >> he's speaking at the reagan dinner for the iowa republican party. is he trying to broaden that deal beyond the grassroots but to mainstream republicans? >> would think so. except our party is divided here in iowa now. lately, it's only that most conservat

. >> terry branstad falls closer into moderate republican, pragmatic practical republican. those people here in iowa are not necessarily excited to see ted cruz. they are the only ones in doubter's camp, the activists are excited to see him. they have a crowd of 600 people for an off political year for the reagan dinner they are hosting tonight. on the flip side, the other group that are welcoming him here are democrats. they just put out a memo, all five the party committees charged with electing get democrats essentially saying ted cruz has been the face of the republican party here in iowa and especially after the shutdown, that's something they think will again fit their candidates, it will let democrats run against cruz instead of running against a democrat governing in a different way. >> ted cruz has not been in office a year. he's always ever elusive when it comes to answering the question of what his goal is for 2016 or what really is in his heart. list this is the third trip and hasn't been in office a year. >> right, he's getting started with this very early and

. >> i'm guessing ted cruz better not be expecting a terry branstad endorsement anytime soon. cruz headlines the reagan dinner being thrown by the republican party of iowa. if you don't have a ticket, you're out of luck. officials say they're sold out. we sent somebody there to track mr. cruz down. our casey is live for us in des moines. casey, he's got quite a packed schedule. and it is a very conservative schedule politically. tell us about it. >> reporter: absolutely. he is, as you said, doing the dinner tonight, the reagan dinner, in des moines. and then he's going to go straight from there, possibly leaving with steve king to go to king's annual colonel bud day pheasant hunt out in western iowa. it's a tiny town called akron. the two will hunt pheasant in the morning, and then there's a lunch scheduled in the afternoon in le mars. so he's really focusing on the activist crowd here in iowa. and that's the group that's really excited about him at this point. and it's interesting, actually, not everyone who we're used to seeing in the iowa gop is going to be attending the di