>> on saturday, it was replaced -- it was announced that there is a new leader of the labour party, david milliband. next, a conversation with former house speaker newt gingrich. then, a former massachusetts governor mitt romney speaks to new hampshire republicans. at 11:00 p.m., pulitzer prize- winning author isabella wilkerson. the national commission on monday and bp deepwater horizon oil spill meets again tomorrow to hear testimony -- the

national commission on in the bp deepwater horizon oil spill meets again tomorrow to hear testimony. live coverage starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span-2. >> next weekend, explore the reality behind science fiction, the vision of einstein, and the fundamental forces of the universe. the author has written more than half a dozen books, including his latest, a physics of the impossible. we will take your calls and e- mails alive next sunday at noon eastern. >> newt gingrich was first elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1978 and served as speaker of the house from 1995-1999.

since leaving congress, he has written more than 20 books and is an analyst on the fox news channel. our conversation with them includes his early years in politics, his relationship with president clinton, his views on obama, his conversion to catholicism, and his potential race for president. this is about 40 minutes. >> what is the state of our country today? >> we have very significant problems. we learn -- we have to learn how to compete with china, how to deal with radical islam, and how

to deal with our deficit. those are going to be difficult challenges. >> you have used the word radical in description of this president. why do you use that word? >> 55% of the american people believe he is a socialist. his policies represent such a huge increase in power in washington. a health care bill the country overwhelmingly wants to appeal, a massive intrusion of government into your life in a way that is just amazing. a financial reform bill that radically centralizes power in washington. a dramatic increase in the presidential power of washington over a whole range of activities including an attempt to control our entire energy

supply. this is the biggest government, most washington-centered, and most radically different agenda in american history, and frankly, fundamentally different from what he campaigned on. >> you have worked with this administration on the issue of education. >> i think on the issue of charter schools, the president has done the right thing in terms of favoring the parent's right to choose a school for their children. i have also worked with al sharpton in a bipartisan way is arguing that every parent deserves to know what their child is doing, what the school is doing, and every right to put their child in a charter school if they think that is better for their child's future. >> the times are different, but are the challenges different than what we faced in the last century? >> i think this has been the

greatest challenge to the american system since the 1850's and the civil war. i think having to fundamentally reform our structures, compete with china, the need to dramatically shrink the size of government, and the need to understand, identify and defeat radical islamists -- dealing with all three simultaneously while reinforcing classic american values, those in doubt by our creators -- those endowed by our creators, the notion of the work ethic, the right to dream of a dream and have that dream come true, all of that combined to make this one of the most challenging times in u.s. history. maybe you could take the time right before world war ii, but that did not have as many

challenges occurring at the same time. >> consider the time before it the republicans took over the house of representatives in 1994. what a similar and what is different? >> job killing policies, whether they're big bureaucracy, a big litigation or high taxes, we kennedy entrepreneurial spirit, weaken the desire to create -- the entrepreneurial spirit, a week and the desire to create jobs. aken the desire to create jobs. they ought to dramatically change their policies to move toward job creation.

instead, they are killing jobs. house and they continue to kill jobs. that is probably the economic challenge, the one that is mostly undermining the administration and the one that they're having the hardest time coming to grips with. they do not want to talk about radical islamists. it is hard to understand how their security strategy is going to work if they do not know who their mma -- to their enemy is. he may be better campaigner than he is a president. he may be a better celebrity than he is a chief executive. he may be more attractive as a speech-maker than he is as a commander-in-chief. my sense is that they do not have a very good grip on how to get things done. that is what they have mishandled the bp will problem

in the gulf. i think that is why they had a difficult time handling the economy. i think that is why they failed to handle the border where people want to see the border controls. when you look at implementation, they seem to have a very real crisis of confidence. he is a good speech-maker, but i am not sure that he is very effective. a president does not like a senator. a senator is for speaking and voting. the president gets things done. >> whether people looking for in any president? >> they want someone who shares their values, the president is tough enough for the job, and that the president has a vision of where they want america to go that is comparable to your vision and he can get us there. president eisenhower and president reagan were successful because they could get done with a sow to do.

-- what they set out to do. it is not a political office. it is not a speech-making office. it is a job of executing policy. what has been very discouraging as the gap in the obama administration between words and achievements. at times, literally they do not understand. when the administration established a moratorium on deepwater drilling in louisiana, these big rigs can move and now you have seen one of the rigs take hundreds of jobs to egypt. because of political instability in the united states, they will move to calm go and drill off of africa. literally, -- they will move to and drill off of africa.

once they move, they will stay where they're going for five years or six years. >> people look at congress and say this town is dysfunctional. they say that republicans blamed the obama administration for not going far enough, to bridge the divide. democrats have said -- republicans have said that they will oppose you on every front. is that a fair assessment? >> if you look at the breakdown of lyndon johnson's majority over vietnam, civil rights, the free speech movement, the student council culture, inflation, and all the different problems that were drowning him. if you look at nixon through ford threw carter, people, by 1980, had concluded that the presidency could not get the job done. then ronald reagan came in and change that whole attitude. -- and changed that whole

attitude. it takes strong and consistent leadership in the white house. it takes a president who is congruent with the american people. if reagan and fdr and lincoln all understood this perfectly -- if the american people want to go in a certain direction and the president is willing to leave them in that direction, the pressure they can bring to bear on the congress virtually guarantees achievement. if, on the other hand, the president wants to go in a direction the country does not want to go or the president is a weak leader, then the system does not work well. the founding fathers designed the system to be a machine so inefficient that not even a dictator can force it to work. what is fascinating about

obama's said he clearly lost popular support by last -- about obama is that he clearly lost popular support by last august. kennedy'slost 10teddy seat in massachusetts, they ran the bill through. they ran a huge energy tax increase through the house. no one had read it because it had a 300-some page amendment. they could like that through the senate. -- they could not get that through the senate. >> let me put a hypothetical on

the table. president gingrich's president and you have a majority in the house or the senate. how you deal with that? >> you do not rule on the evening of your viewers with democrats by pursuing that hypothetical. >> what would a republican president for gingrich in the white house do? >> we wanted to balance the federal budget. we wanted to reform welfare. clinton had barely favor those. we entered into negotiations for 45 straight days. we sat across the room arguing out the details. you have to have a willingness to reach across, not to placate, not to appease, but to have honest conversations. when we passed welfare reform, half of the democratic caucus was with us and half of it was

against it. when we passed the balanced budget, we had a substantial democratic party vote on it. we did not happen -- that did not happen because we had nice breeze to get together. it happened because the american people said back home, "i want you to balance the budget." there is a terrific book by thomas evans called "the education of ronald reagan." reagan worked for eight years at general electric. in the process, he learned a great deal about talking to people and communicating key ideas. reagan used to always say was to turn up the lights for the american people. the heat onturn oup congress. the executive needs to know what america needs to '60s, how do

you communicated to the american people so they decide -- needs to succeed, how do you communicate it to the american people so they decide they wanted, and had you put pressure on congress to do it? they would come back at something again and again and be very patient. the pressure back home it unavoidable. the problem for obama's that, the more people that come understood his bill, the more they oppose it. he filed a lawsuit against arizona. 60% of the country is for arizona. you cannot turn up the light back home when people say do not do that. i think that is where obama has had a huge problem. >> the debt and the deficit is approaching $14 trillion.

can you reduce it without increasing taxes? even if you cut government spending? >> i do not want to sound like i am old. but once upon a time, we balance the federal budget for four consecutive years. we paid up $405 billion in debt. it was the only time since the 1920's where we had four straight years of a balanced budget. we cut taxes to increase economic growth. the key tool is simple. we stop spending. in the four years i was speaker, we had 1.29% increase in spending. that is the lowest rate of increase since calvin coolidge in the 1920's. if u.s. we could you get to a balanced budget, absolutely -- if you asked me could you get to a balanced budget, absolutely. would you like to have lower taxes and less government or higher taxes and more

government? my guess is that 80% to 50% will pay lower taxes and less government. >> what did you learn from your mistakes? >> it was very sobering. the first elected republican speaker in 40 years, the first one reelected since 1928, i really underestimated how big the jobless. i had been the republican minority whip. i would jump from minority whip to speaker overnight. it was the biggest one-party increase in history. i enter estimated how big it was. at times i made mistakes that

were just a function of misunderstanding. >> such as? >> when you are a minority whip that has not been in office for more than 40 is, you have to yell to get attention. if you're a minority speaker, if you whisper, you get more attention than when you were young. i did not learn to be careful about my words. i did not learn to be cautious about what we had to get done. in ways, we were self- destructive. if he could relive it, there are clearly boundaries i would have set on things we did and how we operated that were, on retrospect, wrong. i did not understand the context of this new job. >> do regret leaving the speakership in 1998? >> no. i have lost the ability to fight for reform. i gave a speech at cobb county

in january 1998 abdicating a very bold net cycle of reform. there was a book called "the pact" where they all agreed that clinton and i had developed a strategy on medicare, on social security, on health care reform, and balancing the budget and we had big bold series of reforms. the monica lewinsky can go blowup. it was clear that -- campbell -- the monica lewinsky candle blew up. by the fall of 1998, they just period of being quiet.

that is not what i was doing. that is not one was. leading and having the last 12 years -- leaving and having the last 12 years to look at transformation and to write books and make movies has helped me grow in a big way. >> regardless of the party or the individual, what it buys would you give any future speaker of the house? -- what advice would you give any future speaker of the house? >> you are not the leader of your party. you are the leader of the house. my father was a career soldier in the army. i take very seriously this idea of serving your country. by opening speech was bringing the two parties to get, about working together on things. the speaker has to be the speaker of the house and leader of their party in that order.

that is very important. second, you want to understand where your members want to go, but you also have a general vision of where you want to go. the speaker is potentially a very capable leader. if you look at how strong pelosi has been, whether you like her or do not like her, she is a very powerful and effective speaker. she has changed the house and change the outcome by the power of her personality. >> has a speaker come to you and ask you, "what would you do in the situation?" >> i think everybody who has been speaker has a mutual respect for everybody else who has been speaker. tip o'neill said to me years ago that someday i would understand why you had to be a very strong speaker. i told him how much i had

respected the job he did. i think he is right. just as the president's understand other presidents, speakers understand the challenges, the problems, how to manage the house and work with the executive branch, things that are common to that job that have no counterparts in the american system. >> you two did not always get along. >> no. this may be a better analogy, but, in some ways, politics at the -- this may be a bad analogy, but, in some ways, politics at that stage is like being in the super bowl. everyone is determined to get what they want. it does not mean that you have to hate each other. you may be on different teams. you look at the game planning think that guy made a great catch or a good hit.

dick gephardt used to describe this beautifully. he would always say when he was the democratic leader that politics was how we sublimate civil war. politics is about dreams, power, resources, values, and we all have to recognize that we're trying to manage civility within a process of enormous tension. i think that he had it right. you have to recognize that any of us who offer ourselves for public life are taking on one of the highest and more challenging roles as citizenship. we have to try to find a way of to live up to that vision of a self-governing republic. >> in this current media environment, how is that complicated? >> it has always been like this. jefferson and hamilton all paid for a newspaper to sabotage the other.

washington almost did not run for a second presidency because papers were criticizing martha for having high tea. this is a rough-and-tumble business. it has always been a rough-and- tumble business. we now twitter what we used to send people around with pamphlets in saloons in the by country. we now tweet and we facebook and we youtube and we do 101 different things. it is the same thing. it is humans communicating to humans. some of it is noble. some of it is wonderfully romantic. and some of it is disgusting. >> from your perspective, framed the debate in 2010. what will voters decide?

>> i think there are four big things that will identify september and october. how do you create jobs versus killing jobs? it will be very difficult for them as a job-killing party. the democrats have to have a simple and straightforward model. the second big test will be controlling spending versus raising taxes. if you look at chris christi, the most interesting governor in america today, he has tackled the head on how to shrink government. information technology was the first of bubble. housing was the second bubble in 2007. wall street was the third bubble. government will be the fourth bubble.

athens, greece just cut their budget by 11%. california is out of money. new york is out of money. i think you will see tremendous pressure to cut spending. the democrats answer will be to raise taxes. the republican answer will be smaller government. you have mcdaniel, tim pawlenty, bobby jindal, alley barber -- they have all been cutting spending rather than raising taxes. issue will behird yea the lame duck. i think that people will have a totally illegitimate lame-duck session. they will go home and not come back. i think people distrust pelosi, read, and obama.

the final question is how do you protect america? i have day movie coming out calling up -- called "america at risk. 31 years after the iranian attack on our embassy in 1979, we still have not come to grips honestly with the challenge of radical islamists and the degree to which they would destroy our civilization. this administration will might even use the right language to describe them. this will be a major question that comes up this fall. are you prepared to defend america? are you prepared to tell the truth about our enemies? are you prepared to control the border? i think those are all serious questions. >> you already said you will make an announcement or decision sometime early next year about 2012. what questions leading up to

that will newt gingrich ask himself as to whether or not you want to run for president? >> we talk about this now. first, is their duty. my father's 27 years in the infantry taught me that there are times when you do what you have to do because it is the right thing to do for the country. when you look at the crossroads we are at and competing with china and india with 9.5% unemployment and enemies who want to destroy us and a nationally elite, could i make a contribution as a citizen just by the active running and articulating those values and those ideas? second, as a practical matter, can we gather the resources to run? i am too old to have been too many things out there to be a joke.

-- i am too old to go out there and be a joke. we have two daughters and we will talk about moving forward and if so, how. we're taking steps. i own some small companies and head up a political action group. we're taking steps so that if the answer is yes, we would be in a position in february or march to move away our companies and focus on running. how do not think about it too deeply until after the election. the job now should be maximizing the victory this fall not worrying about 2012. >> how would you approach a campaign? what would your thinking be?

what would your message be? >> the model i would must be attracted to would be lincoln in 1858 running for the senate. we're faced with such enormous problems that the current political system has no way of describing them. the current at the serial talk- show, 140 characters in a does not carry the complexity. that was a model of what i it's fairly comprehensive. it's very substantial. it's designed to make a fundamental point about change in a very deep way from the current model talking about terrorism, which is an activity.

we are talking about radical islamist. it is a fundamental argument. one of the things that president obama has done that may turn out to be historically good for america is, he has forced us to think about who we are in a way that we were not doing. my daughter writes a weekly column and she wrote a couple of months ago that we were told we were voting for change could believe it and discovered we were voting for someone who wanted to change what we believe. president obama once you have redistribution of wealth, but i want to have creation of wealth by individuals to work hard and get to keep their own money. he wants to have a much bigger government with a much bigger bureaucracy. i think the time has come to implement the 10th amendment, return power to the states and local governments. don't just take the money from

washington to atlanta and keep it in that state government. get out of atlanta of back to local counties and local towns. these are very fundamental choices. i do end up running, i would hope to run a campaign that is close to a c-span model campaign, were you would have a genuine dialogue, genuine open discussion, probably not very much on looking at teleprompter. a lot more genuine conversation about fundamental principles and how you turn them into policies and processes. >> there are also the debates, the 32nd ads and all that. -- 30-second ads. >> reagan came back and remade his career in 1975 after great losses in 1974 with a speech at cpac and then came back and

relaunch his career with four standing next to him, giving a speech at the conventions. his great moments were all big speeches. the evil empire speech was a long speech. in some ways, he saved his entire campaign with one line in new hampshire when he said ago i paid for this microphone, i own it." that fundamentally change the momentum from bush to reagan. you never know. you have to be -- our ran for office a lot. i lost in 1974 and 1976.

i helped organize national campaigns. i have been involved with many presidential campaigns in my career. that is the business you are in. you never know which day is going to be somebody with a video camera cellphone who catches you looking foolish. adlai stevenson, waiting to get a haircut at the barbershop with a hole in the issue, and a photographer takes that picture. it become symbolic of stevenson as an absent minded professor, as compared to general eisenhower, the confident military commander in 1952. the killer rabbit was a moment where carter was on the little fish pond in planes, on his farm. the little rabbit jump in the water.

, soits don't joke in water the rabbit is terrified it is about to drown and trust to get on the boat. carter is trying to push it away with the court. on a lazy weekend assignment, that a peeper targets this picture of carter trying to push away the rabbit -- the ap photographer gets this picture. they called it the attack of the killer rabbit. it just everything that was going wrong with the carter administration. it was one of those moments where you thought, how can this happen? you cannot go into a campaign in think you can control all the events. he does have to figure out if you can survive or not. >> you had said if you enter the

race she would bring intellectual leadership to the republican party. >> i said he just gave my republican primary opponents the perfect ad, newt gingrich, the howard dean candid it. i thought it was a generous thing for howard to say. we both liked ideas. he is a medical doctor and i am a historian. we like debating. we like this kind of show. part of it is just fun. we like the dialogue. we like bouncing off each other with ideas. >> purely hypothetical, but you are president in 2013. explain how you would structure your white house. who would you surround yourself with? what kind of administration which want to have? >> that is a very subtle and

very important question. i have been reading a lot about lincoln. here is lincoln who comes into a very tiny government and who ends up fighting the civil war. his background as an administrator, he has been a lawyer. he has had one partner. he had no clerical staff that matter. he has to learn -- lincoln did have an advantage that he was the only true genius to ever be president, and his learning curve was unbelievable. i have been trying to study this question because it -- because it is clear today that the government is dysfunctional. there is one story that really bothers me. i was very fortunate, because i spent 20 years in that legislative branch, and the bush administration allowed me to work as a volunteer in defense,

state intelligence, and health and human services. so i got to be inside the executive branch and see it for eight years. i have had a number of senior cabinet officers who said to me that having a 28-year white house staff person call and instruct them in what they are doing. in several cases, the people have been governors of major states. that is a fundamental imbalance of power. you want to have a working cabinet that actually reports directly to the president. lincoln only had two clerks, so this whole giant white house executive office building complex of people who know they are really important because the work in the white house, may be part of that this functionality of the system. it means there is too much of a buffer between the president and the people who are executing

policy. one thing people should look at is doing a fundamental reorganization of the executive branch. it makes very clear who is in charge of an area, gives them real power, has this report to the president in a way that is much more aggressive and much more directly managed system. this is not a comment on president obama. it has been an evolution into this overly layered system, probably starting with nixon. we have now had almost 40 years of continual increase in the size of the white house staff, and the control factor, which then makes the rest of the government less effective. >> can you do that? >> i don't know. it strikes me that people have done it in the past and done it very well. >> where do you go for ideas, a information? >> howard dean. i go everywhere. i listen to everybody.

i read very widely. i have a very good friend who scans the internet and sends me between 1 and 200 emailed today. he tries to into itintuit what d see. we have a small business owners meeting. i listen to people vary widely. most of our meetings involve listening more than speaking, trying to understand what different companies are doing, what different hospitals are doing. i think you have to learn -- if you are going to try to teach, you have to spend an immense amount time learning. i think of myself as a senior governmental, political leader who has tried to understand what does america have to do to succeed, and how you communicate to the american people, and if they gave you permission, how to implement it so it would work?

that requires listening to an amazing range of people. >> your legal name at birth was mcpherson. >> my mother was married to newt mcpherson, and they got divorced when i was three. gingrich, had obob been adopted himself and thought i ought to be adopted. when i was four or five i became newt gingrich. >> you recently converted to catholicism. walk us through that process. why? they wife's things in basilica choir. it is an amazing church here in

washington, just a beautiful church. i got in the habit of going to mass with higher and when we traveled around the world i would go to mass with her. gradually over seven or eight years, i became absorbed into the church and then decided i must be catholic. it was not a decision to become catholic and then go to church. in the process, the two real keys were coming to understand the power of the eucharist in the catholic tradition and the body and blood of christ and the importance it in the central role that plays in the mass. second was being allowed as a spouse to be at the basilica when the pope came two years ago. just having the chance to see the pope and to think about his sermon for that trip, which was

christ our hope, in deciding that was exactly right. i have been amazingly welcomed into the church. i understand why people would walk up and say welcome home. it has been a very profound and comforting experience. >> what do state and religion mean to newt gingrich? >> i have always had a deep faith. i have always had the believe that there is good and evil. this goes back to my grandmother. i originally -- i have always prayed before virtually every speech. god, to me, is an ever-present part of life and is in many ways the central the finer of life's meaning. >> newt gingrich, thank you for your time.

cracks monday, a discussion on the 2010 midterm elections. scheduled speakers include david axelrod, representatives from google, youtube, and facebook, mike allen of politico, and others. that is live at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> the c-span networks. we provide coverage on politics, public affairs, non- fiction books, and american history. it is all available to you on television, radio, on line, and on social media networking sites. byner content any time percy's benz video library. we take c-span on the road, bringing our resources to your community. it is washington your way, the c-span networks. now available in more than 100 melvin homes. created by cable, provided as a public service.

contentben's local vehicles are traveling the country as we look at some of the most closely contested house races leading up to this november's midterm elections. during a swing through arkansas, which caught up with the rnc-sponsored campaign 2010 bus tour is a came to little rock. >> what we are doing is republicanhei national committee bus that is traveling around to more than 100 cities. nancy pelosi is just one portion of the big obama-pelosi-reid agenda that has ruined our country and caused skyrocketing unemployment. the people are tired of it, and the rnc is going around making sure people are aware of the damage their agenda has done.

[applause] >> how are you? >> we are here to celebrate. >> you have a big smile on your face, we are ready to fire pelosi.

good to see everybody. how are you, sir? >> we are glad you are here. >> good to see you. are you doing okay? it is good to be with you. are you staying out of trouble? we are going to delay action going on here for the election. how is everybody doing?

please give her my best. i hope she is doing well. >> welcome to arkansas. >> it is good to be back. >> tonight i represent proud arkansans all around our state, the conservative leaders, conservative republicans everywhere in welcoming to arkansas, and i wanted to give him a rousing arkansas welcome, the chairman of the republican national committee. would you welcome chairman michael steele. [applause] >> the work we have to do now is of such great importance, and it revolves around candidates. it revolves around ideas and issues, but at the end of the day, it will be each one of you and the little bit for the great

amount you do between now and election day. the reason we are on this bus, we want to make sure that people are engaged and they are listening. we have heard a great cry from the american people. it is simply enough, enough. at what point do you figure $13 trillion of debt is too much? at what point do you figure that $1.30 trillion of deficit is too much? how much of a burden do we expect a baby born today to carry in their lifetime? right now is about $55,000. that is what we are talking about. that is what this fight you are engaged in is about. [applause] thank you all very much. let's get to work. >> are you worried is going to prevent any gains?

>> let me be clear. i am tired of the backbiting and own ranks.cking within our i don't think it will spoil us allow it to the less we allowed to eat up on us and take control our efforts. the focus right now for me is whether in delaware or anywhere else in the country, we have nominees who are in very competitive races, the stand a very good chance of winning. i refuse to allow anyone or anything to stand in the way of the goals of this party to win, whether to get a congressional seat or a senate seat or a gubernatorial seat, whatever it is. we are putting our best team out there. we have an enormous group of candidates who are running. it took about a year before i could find someone to even say that were republican, let alone run as one. we have come a long way. i am not happy with those who

want to sit back and find fault with our candidates. no one is perfect, and no one has claimed to be. all they are trying to do is put their best foot forward and be as competitive as they can, and the people get to decide who wins, not a group of folks sitting in an ivory tower in washington d.c., picking and choosing. let's focus on winning and supporting those who have been nominated, and then we can worry about all the other stuff later. i blame anyone who is out there complaining or nitpicking. everybody knows who they are. the reality of it is, let's focus as a party for the first time since 2004, we are winning. it has taken a lot of work by this chairman, the republican national committee under my

leadership, our national committee and leaders around the country to get us to this point. that is our mission and focus. >> arkansas conservatives are unified, whether they are conservative republicans, democrats, or with the tea party. [unintelligible] toi don't have to account "the new york times." we will have more than enough money, trust me. keep in mind, we have done things a little different. we did not play by the old rules were you sit there and stockpile all the cash so we can present to the press big cash on hand to start spending in late august and early september. we invested over $20 million

starting late last fall and early this year into victory centers like this. i took the risk of saying look, we are going to look at the cash on hand and say we have no money. we have contacted 15 million voters because we spend the money, not two weeks ago, but 10 months ago. that is a big difference between winning and losing. you can tell the old school way if you want and put all the money and a basket and let it sit there, and then brag to people, look how much money we have. that is not helping get the candidates in this state elected. you are not organizing the volunteers they need to organize. the folks in washington want to appease those who track those things, but i decided to do it a little differently. i have the faith and trust in the leadership to say here is what you need from richard, spend it and put it on the

street. the democrats are bragging about contacting 400,000 voters. call me when you get to 1 million. we are already at 15 million. those moneys have been invested long before now. i am very proud of that. we will have more than enough to carry us through november and to make sure that we get our voters to the polls. >> i want to take you inside and let you see how the brain trust really works here. come on in. welcome to a world fire pelosi haven. it is a real pleasure to have you guys come aboard and take part in this. >> what is the idea behind the bus? >> it really just parted from my conversations over the past year or so around the country. the people are saying no one is listening to us. they give us a message, tell the

congressman this or that. we need to go back out and just have a bold representation of the american people, their desire to bring about the kind of change. a colleague of mine said we just need to put you on a bus and send you across america, and here we are. this is one step of many steps we have been taking this year to trotter we engage with the voters, brings a new ideas to the table, and really showcase our candidates. it is exciting to see them. last year of watching bob mcdonnell and chris christie merge and become the kind of governors that they are, knowing them before that moment, it is just tremendous to see how their leadership takes off. watch what happens after this november with the crew that we have coming at the local level and nationally.

>> how did you decide where you would be taking the bus a? >> the question was what route to take. do we go south first or do we go north first? neil and angela, who are part of the management team for the bus, put it altogether and just parted mapping it. most importantly, and this was the fun part, we called up the state parties and said the chairman is coming to your state around this time on this day. what you want him to do? the bus is here for them. this is really a working office. you can see we have computers, printers, we are wired, wireless, and is a great workspace. we have oppressed shot right press shop right here.

this is the growing pattern here. when the staff acts up -- the lieutenant governor was in the chair earlier today and we got to chat a little bit. we were at an event and everyone was inside. when it came back out, this was on the bus, on the windshield. another alabama voter group who wants to fire pelosi. that is the kind of response we are getting. >> are you sleeping on the bus? what is life on the road like? >> to be very honest, it is actually very monotonous. you are just driving from one place to another. it is not like you have stops

every 20 minutes are half-hour. you have long stretches. that part of it you get used to, but it forces you to work. that is really when we do a lot of work, a lot of the e-mail and phone calls and things like that. the business of the rnc is going on, just because i am out here, i have my files and i am in constant communication with the chairman of around the country on issues about the states. you can fall asleep, take a break, particularly after a long day. we have had several days where we have had six or seven events back-to-back. you can come in crash a little bit as you are driving to the next city overnight, which is a lot of fun. it is relaxing, i must admit. it is a great space to work in. at the end of it, we will be done and we will get off the bus, and voters boat and you hope you have accomplished the mission. >> with a pledge to america

today, is that something that is part of the house strategy? >> it is policy that will go across the entire rest of the party. i mentioned it tonight to our group here, that we now have a legislative agenda that has been set out by a legislative leadership. i think it is a very important agenda for us to strike with the american people. the democrats have spent over a year, instead of investing in jobs, investing in the wealth creators of the country, they vilify them. they have not parted with them publicly. they called us the party of no. it is a great tagline, but it is meaningless. the debt is growing.

the deficit is $1.30 trillion. it is mind-boggling what has not been done. the republican party has spent the year listing to america, going into small towns and large towns. i think they have come up with the working agenda for when they become the leadership in the house and the senate, so they can move the country in a positive direction, investing in small businesses, lowering the taxes, getting government regulations off the backs of the people. >> c-span is local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look at some of the most closely contested house races leading up to this november's midterm elections. for more information on what the

local content beagles are up to this election season, visit our website, c-span.org/lcv. >> deadline today, mitt romney says obama has declared war on american businesses and private enterprise. the former massachusetts governor and 2008 republican presidential candidate spoke yesterday at the new hampshire gop conditioconvention. up next, his weekend remarks in concord, new hampshire. he is introduced by the party chair, john sununu. this is 25 minutes. [applause] >> i have one more introduction to make. as you know, i am not only

partial to the governor's, i am especially partial to republican governors, and i really, really have a lot of respect for former republican governors. [laughter] of respect for former republican governors. [laughter] i am about to introdu governor mitt romney. [applause] a lot of people think of mitt romney as the former govern of massachusetts, as the gentleman who went out and save the olympics in utah, as a great candidate in the republican primaries in 2008. but i have gotten to know governor romney s but i do is that all the parades -- as the man who is at all the brits, who

every time the party came to him for a fund raiser was there. he is gone not only for major candidates for -- but for our state senate candidates and house candidates, and has been a good friend to the new hampshire gop. i know that he is still a resident in massachusetts. but we have really adopted him a little bit because he is truly all summer up and a new hampshire town. feel free to drop in and visit him. ladies and gentlemen, anne's husband, mitt romney, a great republican.

>> thank you, thank you. i brought my sweetheart with me. do you anything you want to say? >> i think john just made a very generous offer. the place is open. [laughter] it is a beautiful state. a lot of people do not know, we know how much we love this state. i just have to say one thing. john sununu, how unbelievable has he been f this party? but there is something else, there is something in the air. and there is something in the air -- the republicans are going to win big in november.

i'm so excited. and then we all know how much work you have to do once you get there. thank you so much. >> she should just go on and on. that is the better way to go. it is an honor to be here and be so rognized byou and by gov. sununu. it is not always the case by the way that i recognized and given such a warm welcome. i was just in new work flying to boston, and i was in the waitg area, and i recognize the i was possibly recognize, and i was readg the newspaper being discreet, and her shriek, and i looked up. a chinese exchange student was pointing at me. she have on a cowboy hat and a cowboy boots. i knew she was not a tax and because for cowboy -- her pants were tucked into wer bids. she said, you are john kerry!

[laughter] so i held up my newspaper and said, i sure am, i'm john kerry, exactly. but i have to tell you, i can be clueless. anne and i went off to beijing to see the olympics there and watch our athletes. i went to one of my favorite events, women's beach volleyball. [laughter] anne insists that we do that. i came in late and sat for the fun. and i notice some americans in the audience had recognized us and taken out their cameras. and then i saw some chinese pointing at us and taking our picture. and i thought, my campaign touch people around the world. and i said, it uses up straight. they are ting a picture. i turn around, discourages -- and there is kobe bryant sitting

behind this. i sure know where i am today and it is good to be with you and be welcomed at this john lynch farewell party. isn't that nice? [applause] i do not think they knew -- their numbers have been going down fast. their numbers have gone down the chute faster than a jet blew flight attendant. they are only going to get worse. soon we're going to be saying hello to a governor john stevens, to senator kelly ayotte, to congressman charlie bass, and a congressman frank

guinta. by theay, from will borrow -- wolfboro we saw a great campaign waged by one candidate. it brought a lot of energy and new ideas to the campaign and showed the kind of character and commitment to republican principles by getting behind kelly ayotte and being united and make sure that we bring republican values back to washington. thank you so much.

lking about uncommon leadership and character and commitment, how about gov. john sununu coming back and being without parallel an extraordinary chairman of the republican party? john, thank y. look at them getting up for you, john. what a guy. four more years, john, exactly right. i will tell you. the pundits are predicting a big victory for us in november, as it should be. it is amazing to see how much has changed in just two years. two years ago they were singing a different team. we were frankly listening to their tune and a lot of us were on our hee. a commentator at ms in b.c. were talking about his legs tingling with the new leadership. remember time magazine had a

picture of our republican elephant on the cover, endangered scies? and the president was so confident that he was able to fit in 40 rounds of golf in his first two years. we're probably better off if he is getting advice from his caddy rather than his economic advisor. [applause] i cannot prect the scale of the big three we're going to say, but i can predict that there is going to be a repudiation of the liberalism in washington. there are a lot of reasons for that. first, the abject failure of the president's first two years in office. he was elected primarily to get this economy going again and he has failed in doing that. you recall, he spends a lot of time talking about inheriting the recession, and he did. but that was the reason we campaigned so hard saying it was not the time for on-the-b

training for president of united states. frankly, had he had experience in the real world, the economic world, the world of small business and big business, or had his advisers had that experience, they would know that the first three rules of any turnaround situation our focus, focus, and focus. instead of focusing on the economy in getting pple back to work, he used the economy as a cover to putn place his liberal agenda. he went to work on his takeover of health care, capping trade bill, changing the relationship between business and labor, and he failed in turning around our economy. and the american people are disappointed and angry. and it is not just the party, but independents, democrats, and republicans alike, we are all unhappy of what has happened with this president.

interesting, about a year ago, i began to get some hope that maybe he understood the makes he made in his -- the mistakes he made in his first year. he convened a jobs summit and brought in some business leaders, small and large companies, any said roughly these words- the government does not create jobs. only the private sector can do that. but government can create the conditions that encourage a small business to create jobs i am not sure that it was in the teleprompter but it was right on. and that was exactly true. and then i look to see what he had done and did what he'd do actually encourage businesses to grow or cause them such uncertainty and concern that the absolute ball back or to mark raising taxes on small business? it does not encourage small business to grow. taking a tax on dividends from 15% to 39% did not encourage

people to invest in the future. having a takeover by the federal governme of what is fundamentally a state responsibility, health care, was a huge mistake and would cause anyone in the field to pull back. [applause] his cap and trade, or cash and tax bill, it would raise the amount of energy by an undetermined amount. how can you invest, not knowing what the cost of energy would be? he settled on a nationwide campaign to vilify one job creator after another whether was the finance years or bankers are bond investors, whether it was doctors are people of the medical insurance business, people who but the company meetings and las vegas -- the role of vified. d wh was most disturbing the trillion dollar deficit. for the next 10 years, trillion

dollar deficits every year? people who are thinking about investing and hiring new people have asked themselves, while the dollar be worth down the road if this president implement policies that put that many dollars out there and barrault's that much money? f. russell, the small business community, big businesses pulled back. he did exactly the right -- what was opposite to get this econo going. he proves something ronald reagan said about liberals. it is n that liberals are ignorant, it is what they know is wrong. [applause] his policies and his actions were the most anti-growth, anti investment, anti jobs polics we have seen in our times. we've had the government declared war on poverty, declare war on drugs -- this is the first time i recall that -- this is the first time i can recall the government declaring war on

private investment. we're going to change that this november. [applause] and the economy is going to get better, by the way. it always does. it will get better. it will come back more slowly than it could have had the president taken the right direction. what he should and, once the focus on the economy and put his liberal agenda aside. number two was to create incentives that would get the private sector hiring and growing. number three would have been to make sure that we take all of the action necessary to get this economy boosted and energized by showing the american people that we have leadership that understands how the economy works. if what happened which markey put in place a stimulus that did not really do what it was supposed to do. you left -- his 8% employment level grew to 10%. instead of reducing government employment like the germans did,

they added 127,000 new jobs to their stimulus. we lost 2.7 million private- sector jobs. all told, the number of people no longer looking for work or out of work is 15 million, and the people to reach from washington, dc to los angeles and back to washington, d.c. it is a travesty. he should of focused on getting the job done. who would guess that we will look at the carter years as the good old days? [laughter] [applause] we spend our time appropriately on what has happened here. recognize that he has made a number of errors in this ministration in foreign- policy. you probably recognize that. he said he was going to carry out this policy of engagement. remember, with iraq and north korea? house that work out a? north korea has tested a nuclear device, and sunk a south korean

ship? and iran on to insurgents, it has been arming against us in afghanistan, and iran is moving toward their nuclear program. russia sat across from a set a table and has been asking for years for their number one objective, and that is to room our missile defense sites, our plans for those sites in poland. and as present gave them their number one objective treaty should not have done that. he got nothing in return. how can you have a leader of the free world to does not understand the basics of negotiating to make sure that your protect american interests first and defend ourselves against rogue nucar powers? and so for these reasons and a

lot more, you'll see changes november. and the pundits are going to look at this and say, it happens all the time. republicans get some seats, democrats kit the seed, it goes back and forth. there is something different this time. there's plenty of reason for anger and disappointment and there's a lot on both sides of the house the look of this administration. they see the failures. but there's something more fundamental going on. something more profound and summer. the american people are recognizing this is administration and the liberals generally do not understand what it is the mix of america -- what is it that makes america america. they ran for office saying that it would fundamentally change the way washington works. they misled us. what they're trying to do is fundamentally change the way america works. but explain what i mean.

a little story you will. i have mentioned this before. christmastime, are shopping with my grandkids at wal-mart. i do not shop for anne at walmart, but i do for my grandkids. i look to run the stor -- i looked around the store and it reminded me of sam walton. i never met him but i read about him and i heard reports about hisharacter. if people said that he loved low, low prices on anything someone might want to buy. he was not really organized. he was more impetuous, and make it happen kindf guy. he cut to a store and the stores just like sam. lo low prices on everything from tires to toothpaste, but it is not highly organized and late duchess of. it is kind of helter-skelter. it is not what the tarts store, where all the files are straight like a swiss would have organized it. it's more like sam walton. i began thinking about other

businesses where i've gone and shot or know sething about it and how much they reflect this character and personality of the founder. microsoft is a lot like bill gates, at least what i have read about him, and apple computers is more like steve jobs. when i was a boy, i met wall disney. he bent down ask me how i was enjoying my experience and his theme park. my dad and some other dolls were there. i recognize that this was a i love taking care of little kids and entertaining them and sparking their imaginations. you go to disneyland or does the world today, is like the physical legacy of walt disney himself. it is still the imagination that he once brought to it. it reflects what disney. there are other examples. think about burgeoned atlantic region virgin -- virgin atlantic

airways, it is edgy and irreverent just like its founder. they tend to reflect the people who founded them and build them. it is also true of countries. who we are as a nation pplex the character of the people who founded this nation. and you go back and think about -- the very first columnist. imagine what kind of person was said, i'm going to put behind my family, my friends, homes, and the security of my life in europe, and i'm going to get on the lip -- a little ship, uncertain whether there will be food for the winter, and certain of the climate, and certain of the natives, whether they will be hostile to me not -- that kind of person had to love liberty and pioneering and innovating. can you imagine the kind of person who would've done that? that is from whom this nation's print. and in the founders to read that relation and he crafted the constitution, they made the same kind of trade. the could have followed the path

of security and confidence. followg the crowd, or perhaps establishing a government that would be so large it would tell us what to do and how to do with and who would get what. instead, they said, we're going to let the american people all the dreams of their own hearts. and by virtue of making that decision, this land became the world's land of opportunity. everybody in the world wanted to be a pioneer, seeking opportunity, they came here. that is who we are. that made america, america. what is happening today in the washington is that there are people that believe that instead of people making the right choices for the lives, government should. government can guide the lives of the people better, taking got healthcare better,he economy better, he can choose the technologies we ought to pursue in the future -- the government knows best. they're trying to gather

something for themselves that they could never have gathered in the free economy, power and control of the american people. they would extinguisand smother the very spirit that has made america america, the love of liberty, the love of freedom, the willingness to take risk and pioneer and create, the derring-do ofhe american spirit. and we will not let them. [applause] >> they spent time in their first days in office the one around the world apologizing for america. >> boo!

>> disappointing, disheartening. you think about this country, you think about the sacfice that has been made by the sons and daughters of this land, the blood shed to help free millions of people from tyranny and to bring freedom to them. you think also about our free enterprise system. the economic vitality that we brought not only to ourselves but to other people. even the chinese are copying part of it today. and our model of free enterprise and free trade, billions of people are being lifted out of poverty. there noeason to apologize for the united states of america. [applause]

let me tell you one experience that underscores my confidence and our ture. i know sometimes that we listen to reports of challenges in different parts of the world, and we wonder what the future holds. i tell you -- if you meet other individuals and talk to the one-on-one and have experience with americans, you learn about what is in our heart and spirit that i described is alive and well. at the end of my term as governor, i got the chance to go to afghanistan and iraq. i was invited by the department of defense to go over there to meet with members of the massachusetts national guard. they flew us there and then they'd take this from base to base. i would meet 10 or 12 soldiers in each of the basis that i saw. after it your business, i had the idea -- white -- if you want to call your spouse when i get

home, take out a piece of paper, write dan your name and number, and when i get home, i will give them a call. when i left, at about3 pieces of paper. i thought, and will take awhile to make all those calls, have all of those conversations. i got home the night before memorial day. we drove up to the lake. on the morning, but for the kids got up and we went out on the like, i thought i would bang out three or four calls to get started. i started making calls. on the third call, the woman who answered said, i thought that might be calling. [laughter] and i said, what you mean you thought it might be me? she said, you made a couple of calls this morning in the wireless e-mail their husbands in the theater and said you had called. and then they e-mailed their bodies saying that you're calling and they e-mailed us to say to expecyour call. [applause]

so i called 63 homes on memorial day. [laughter] i tell you, it was something i was nervous about. this was before it was clear thathe surge had wked. some of our liberal friends in washington said we had failed in iraq, that we have lost. i was worried that all loving spouse would say, why is my sweetheart still they're in harm's way? why can you bring them on line now? what is wrong with america? that is what i expected. in 63 calls not one complaint, not one. [applause] and at the end of each call, i would say roughly these words, on behalf of the nation and on behalf of the commonwealth of

massachusetts, i want to express my appreciation to you and your family for the sacrifice you were making and for the sacrifice your loved one is making. and they would either interrupt me or it until i was finished and in every case save roughly these words, no, governor, it is an honor to make a sacrifice for this great country. [applause] this is what is in the hearts of the american people. this is what gives me confidence in our future. it is what gives us confidence that america will be the land of the brave in the home of the freed. it is these heroes prove in liberating strive to love their country. it gives me confidence in this great future. it is the energy and passion alive here today. it is this. over all ameca that says we're going to keep the american dream alive and well. if we're going to make the

changes necessary to maintain thspirit of entrepreneurship and creativity, andne thing that never -- that people will never forget, keeping america the land of liberty and the hope of the earth. thank you, guys. great to be with you. thank you. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyrighnational cable satellite corp. 2010] >> next, "q&a," with a pulitzer- prizewinning author. after that, deputy prime minister nick clegg speaks at this week's labor party conference. after that, a conversation with former house speaker newt gingrich. gingrich.