donald trump has sent at the season list letter. political rights at the letter comes a week after the club for growth and build a 30-second ad attacking trump -- trump is another politician that supports liberal policies. donaldson said he will release his current tax proposal in the next week. up to republican campaign managers discuss their candidate strategies in the 2016 race. this is moderated by national review editor lowry and includes reaction to the news that wisconsin governor scott walker is leaving the presidential race. it's two hours. [inaudible conversations] and good afternoon. i am of helping to run the elections steve and i want

to welcome everyone to when interesting after never go through all the brilliant ads launched the creative debate and the best town hall there is a brilliant campaign manager and we get to hear from them today. google and you too are proud to partner with daschle reviewed to bring a program in this promises to be an exciting cycle. there is more about the candidates and campaign managers with a 60 percent increase since the 2008 cycle andover 400 offers are uploaded every minute every day we will live stream our event on their channels you can watch it again but all americans can watch this event even if not part of

the beltway each we hope the kanye west campaign managers watching prepared now to return ago virtue our host. >> thanks to google and due to to co-sponsor this with us. my logistical suggestion is to do these interview to be separated by the flus all table but that was too radical. a month to thank all campaign managers for taking when there is nothing new about doing wrong but i have never run in a campaign and have never run for office or

had to deal with the press corps that every day although you do all but may have gotten a hands because eight weeks my wife said i had our first baby, a a little girl. [applause] she is insatiable, requires constant care, feeding. and if you displease hershey will wind and cry shamelessly. so the chief strategist for rick santorum, things were journeying us. so let me start what seems to be one of the big questions. from early indications that people are not interested in the traditional political experience or anyone around the block a few times and your candidate was in the

senate for a while but left in 2006 and his run for president once before how do you make kim fresh or new? >> i am not a campaign manager. we do not have won by design. also did not have the campaign manager but structurally we feel like it isn't the 1960's in a more. to do press for the senator as well to have those exact same questions from four years ago.

but i will tell you the only time it was so notable because he was behind jon huntsman u.s. pulled out of iowa i huntsman u.s. pulled out of iowa in said because all they pick is corn but in new hampshire they pick presidents but two weeks later bricks santorum wins iowa and article iv out of 30 states as far as is delegates. probably the belief was you would have won michigan out right romney would have gotten out of their race. said to understand what that the poll yesterday's scott walker is under 1% i

remember having questions people said houri going to stop scott walker? four years ago the lead was herman cain, michelle bachmann most to deny anything get past it iowa. legatees races there is now one right now. different people are running against different people. and bb cruz behalf -- is running and nobody is going to win it by getting 50% in think they get a lot of 15%.

end is the strangest experience of life and where pretty was up by 15 points. and that he would not be conservative enough for the votes. and that this is of mike of road racing and steroids but

because when people float float, they're basing it on an advertisement and i do that for a living. one or two candidates matter a lot more. >> you reject the analysis that everyone has bought into that curley and kurtis seven antrum is said justin vodophone. >> in and it was over in

trooper did. >> and there were so much as people say are you kidding me? the truth is and i will be the first to say this i went on to cnn so i do think there is a desire to be anti-washington and absolutely without a doubt. also into into a and the

stages that is all day the about. and head of people to tell you a little bit about herman cain and it is proven he was to be. i know say that will be proven about carson or trump but we're nowhere near it said period rather that is. >> with the difference. you mention summer running against specifically other candidates and you mentioned mike huckabee. ben carson, ted cruz, . >> absolutely and a much

more credible field. one thing we felt very comfortable it is the top three in iowa. but another free set where you shuffle the deck to the candidates. windows are not the conservative. this time i like to say there are 16 people running and none of them are the front runner. in fact, my argument day la bit about the mundane the debates it to be the greatest field of the verb the findings didn't history for presidency. it is remarkable when scott walker is struggling who in my opinion is a very, very credible candidate.

they are all well behind in some says the couple's in iowa those at 1% and 7% that is the best majority right now that just shows how good the field this ended is difficult they're all long shots. >> there was a suggestion and that there will not be a debate next time. just interviews to read beneath the surface and it sounds like an attempt to rush people off the stage and out of the debates is that interpretation and correct? >> saw the comments and they think that is how people interpret that. we have had to debates. so they said narrowing it

down. now to say we have to pick and choose that is just ridiculous. what if they decided that in the first debate? carly fiorina would never make it into the second debate some at this stage there is nothing advantageous. >> obviously this bin backhouse i agree is a ben ate and ate and it should be random. i guarantee the first debate was pretty well covered they would have done just as well

in that second space. no doubt. right now to use these as a factor that if they have 3% is is an first of all, statistically they are tied and it makes no sense s.a. a party. people are going to stand although is he back to what

he did visiting pizza ranch after piecer -- pizza ranch. >> first of all, to do the governor's race is in the breeze cnn, a number of senate races next year and everyone is different. every candidate is different. with santorum remember he is not an musec to official who can save money if you are a governor or senator right now he does not have a television show. so he has to deal with the fact he will not ever have money like they will. but he does have an asset

but at the end of the day they wanted to vote for who they believed in. but to move rather than paid

so therefore urge this many people i in no hurry finland of but throws ginger n. klein of the touche case santorum that was but that

doesn't seem to apply it to him but there is a tremendous underwrote there and people are sick of the system and there went to shake things up as the plays to his credit mentioning when year-ago maybe that was strongly associated with him it is safe to read to raise. things go up and down you should see the news breaking about governor walker to a get out of the race to i a couple of months ago he was

first place. and four years in august michelle bachmann was first in september then new king christian and a bus that he would finish in the top to four years before that he right now huckabee and indicated where single digits but how were dealers to buy a bigger margin. so this is how day go. but that public opinion really shifted in a more hawkish direction certainly among republicans and people

think that is harder than they would have thought. if you accept that premise. >> he did oppose to libya and the army of the al qaeda in syria and the reality is with that foreign policy approach.

and with up localization of the beheading every ready is concerned about national security. but after people saw that and your appalled even for ground troops to see majority support which cbs-tv a issue environment that is much different immediately after the bush years there is a reaction on the right the intervention did not work out. and really to have boots on the ground. and to send the young men and women to go and die but that is where for that is

not to be evident and certainly did not help. was the thinking behind that tactic? what is your thought? >> so to do dinner and analysis to find trump was getting more coverage than all other candidates combined. that is an extraordinary voice. and if he is the from runner to know where we stand. that is about jump starting that conversation.

>> with senator paul expected to gain the you consider necessary given his status. >> but he speaks from the heart to end the things said he cares about - - about and there's many parts of his record that is conservative one dash concerning to conservatives the primaries are the times so there are people that will tell you then i was most are associated with ted cruz will tell you he could feed into the rand paul of their. is there any truth to do that? >> i am sure he would tell you. i think things lined up very well in iowa.

looked at the iowa caucuses. they put disproportionate value on passion that is what we do very well. 131,000 people who participated for years ago 120,000 students in iowa. four years ago ron paul finished 3,300 votes short on january 3rd. why? winter break it is february february 1st the first turn over a decade they have occurred when school is in session and with schools are route -- students are around some see the opportunity of their. so we're very well-positioned. >> some of those kids and that love rand paul and the winner of the straw poll

will be at school at iowa. >> i was has doubled the population of new hampshire with half of the participants had regular gas, the students are there it has schools like university of iowa they are some of the biggest in the country with the mackinaw a straw poll this is the biggest of the year so far the past weekend rand paul one that just ahead of carly fiorina. but yes it that it is indicative to but have you

take that up? >> their realities have four republicans will be competitive. but if republicans do what obama did then there will be a whole evolution in digital. it is a crown sourced digital campaign we were the first jujus snap chat and a periscope so there is a real emphasis. they become a trustee for

century. >>. [laughter] >> you want me to name names [laughter] >> no. it is the process. >> everyone is running against a certain set of candidates not the rest of the field. is that true? >> i think the reality is

the country has problems and they want a transformational leader and that just means talk about the flat tax or to support term limits are require congress to read the bill. >> now so to run both for president to say if there is anything that would define a typical career politician type of move that would be it. >> four years ago simultaneously running for reelection joe biden is

fairly common. >> something politicians do. >> and he doesn't claim not to be a career politician. >> but i don't think anyone would ever classify rand paul as a conventional politician. >> are you pretty? out on the ever consider vice but during a month ago with fund-raising at an even hint where a zero word -- an award with a seventh

inditing through rio's announcement was well done and there are a number of opportunities for people to do well that is rand paul and jerry qualities and the fact that after 20 years and to do charitable ones.

and did this years ago to haiti or rwanda mollah. that speaks to his heart's and passion. >> how long have you known him? >> gave few years with said those to pass. by really. [applause]

>> but the earlier times says it then of course, it is true. [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentleman put

up with the late to hear it first by he is a good man. >> a couple of questions coming from the narrative about your campaign and you are welcome to push back. one narrative is you are coming but there were at times is said to recede bush

put to the deck governor of florida from our perspective that is what we see each and every day. >> another thing if said he

said prior i will only do what if i can do it joyously. it seems a presidential campaign inherently is not that joyous for a guy who is a policy wonk for the introvert and especially dominated by i the guy double certain jeb bush considers trump a clown a&p is losing into him and he doesn't seem to enjoy the process very much to those of us looking from the outside. >> but what i can tell you is the thing is that he enjoys hearing their stories he likes to talk about his ideas and policies and

budget is with education and we're having a great time running for president for you may see something different. >> but it is also of taking in it and his boss -- the constant flow energy jobs from trump who has gotten into his head because he brings it all the time and secret service code name would be in response to this charge called ever ready. >> that was the term before. i take there is a lot of

talking and presidential campaigns and showing i have a candidate working hard every day trying to reform washington how to year growth the economy and on and on and those they geez that is unmatched in the field. the best conservative record of a coalfish the '01 dash accomplishment in the field to say this is what i'll do for america because 4.4% growth for 1.3 million jobs h years of a balanced budget. to aaa bond rating. and so much and with that kind of his stewardship and

we know if we tell his story he will be the last guy standing. >> you are a professional so >> you think his performance renowned better every eight candidates to improve every

but the governor may a definitive statement i am indebted talking but donald trump. i will do my own thing and not address them. then did another couple of weeks this this city is dead

the policies that is what they talk about date then landed day as much. something as vague guess i into so there was no momentum in the release said donald trump would be a summer phenomenon we have to throw some punches. >> no candidates or campaign will allow attacks to go out and responded there is that element for sure but you win

the presidency tussaud yourself and your ideas but making sure you connect with how those ideas will positively impact their lives and a forward looking way and that is the threshold the needs to be crossed so from our perspective the candidate with the best vision with the most credible argument argument, why would i hide that? that is the we have done. >> so how seriously will you play and keanu survive if there six placement? >> we play and we played to a radio played to lose.

i run a competitive campaign this is not the amnesty rand tend to do well we have candidates iran three times that the most populous state in the country. and does you what office to have some success but the policy hideous but in all the primary states play to ban in the marches states and afterwards.

>> new hampshire i get it. the front our perspective frill he competes very hard? revisited given to asymmetry

have the most accomplished record john state generative for rude to this competition >> weld death this if and

then you have have ruhollah and he pushes against frivolous and then the governor have stitched but they were stick but that was

immediately after the. [laughter] . .s an

06 or a year or two ago. how hard does that make it for the governor to sell his position on immigration and two are you guys worried that with the talk we have heard about immigration the well has been poisoned some and jeb, an element of his general election campaign appealing to hispanics will be much more difficult. >> i think the polling data clearly demonstrates that people want a solution. it's a problem and we want it resolved. i think the governors put forward a conference of plan with respect to how one addresses the border and he has written a book on the issue of immigration. this is one of those big issues. it's one of those big issues and has been 30 years since it's been addressed. who has the wherewithal to get

it done? maybe the person at the with medicaid in florida. maybe the person has big achievements. that would be a key indicator having the wherewithal to get it done and it's an important issue that we need to debate. when you talk about governor bush as i said earlier he is someone that had an outsized performance of hispanic voters in florida. he's someone who today is that 37% in the polls, general election polls with hispanic voters. he's someone who can come be. he can win. he is campaigning with his arms wide open. he is bringing people into the process and i think conservatives can be confident that he is someone who's going to put forward a solution. he's going to secure the border and put in place mechanisms to be sure this is an issue that's addressed once and for all. i think his record bears that out and he will continue to campaign as someone who is solution oriented.

>> quickly the best moment for another candidate or campaign in the most endearing quality? >> his most endearing quality as he gives out his e-mail address to everyone. people e-mail him and he responds. the exchanges, this isn't you. is it really you? he someone that wants to engage people at an individual level and a very personal level. i think that is a really important quality. as far as something the other campaigns did that was pretty smart i thought the response for the super pac to the donald trump attack was well done. >> danny, thanks so much. really appreciate it. [applause] next up is terry sullivan from a

marco rubio campaign. terry, welcome. [applause] since we are living in an instant reaction world and the instant reaction to the media thing that is not quite happened yet on scott walker's exit? >> we just nailed down his new hampshire state cochair to endorse marco still a little bit of news there for you that i got just a minute ago. i think we have got a few other folks but we are prepared as people move on to the race to capitalize on it and get their supporters. >> how shocked were you? >> not really. people don't stop running for president because they run out of ideas or they run out of a desire to give speeches. they stop running because they run out of money and that's why

we run such old wean campaign sometimes, taking knocks for it. keeping control of the budget is such an important thing. >> we don't know why but i would assume that is the case. >> tell us more about examples of things the guys aren't doing that other people are doing that you think is a way to husband resources. >> staff is so expensive. it's extremely expensive to go out and pay someone. when you are paying someone for three months it's not too bad but when you are paying them for 12 months it's a big difference. we have asked more people. everybody on our campaign has taken a pay cut to take the job myself included. whatever job they have some came from the official office and others came from other lines of work rather campaigns. everybody who has joined the

campaign is making less. i want people in the office to be there because they want to be. we don't make staff news and we don't send news releases. it's not a money-saving thing but it's a state of mind. we are all here for one person and that's marco. we are not looking for re not looking for exorbitant amounts of money. it's really about saving money staying disciplined. every expense over $500 in the entire campaign i sign a piece of paper on. it is a giant pain. there are days that i question why a implemented that policy. i was asked recently by one of the staffers could we bump it up to a thousand? some of these county fairs they want a table and it has become

onerous. i say wealthy think there are cases that we are not getting a table at such and such event because of it this is such a pain and she said to me well yeah. i said perfect that it's working. this is great. no one ever won or lost the presidency because they had a table at the manchester of fair. that's not why you win. we hard to give out anything bumper stickers or yard signs. you can go on our web site and buy them. we have a county chairman pack so you can put in their. >> so people have to pay to be part of the campaign. >> if they want collateral absolutely and you can sponsor someone and say i want to send here. we had a lot of people who said we just need this or we just need that and volunteers would say we needed in our area. or find a donor. i get this from some of our folks.

find someone who will spend $100 on the web site. part of it is saying that's only $100 here and it's a culture and mindset. marco flies 95 commercial. he gets mileage upgrades. he booked a special kind of hell for anybody but we have got to because these are the things we need campaigns and losing campaigns it's all about how much money they have for direct voter contact. it's not about how much that they have for anything else. >> let me ask you the way have everything else. one thing you will hear is prior

to the bump after the last debate is one reason rubio is so low he needs bush to collapse or to fizzle on the launch pad. any truth to that and whether or not there's truth to that is bush fizzling? >> we need everybody not named marco to fizzle. that is the plan. we need everybody to slowly fizzle out and we think they will. no disrespect to them or their candidacy for the campaigns. it's just that we are building this for the long-haul. ..

the pain you cut rate for this stuff? >> it is just the sense that you want someone who is a little more responsible and frankly feel like they have command and control of the situation. that they can identify with themselves. you feel like you watch them on stage and he's personable. he can talking east coast and west coast. at the same time he is amazing on form policy.

to have someone like that is a very unique candidate and we are approaching it that way. >> so to simplify and some up what you said. you kinda are making a bet on his talent and you think it is a good bet. >> this sounds a little bit of spin but i think every campaign, successful campaign has to bet on their candidate. every candidate has strengths and weaknesses but you have to. if you try to make your candidate someone they are not, voters you can say what you want about voters - and sometimes i do, they have a unique ability to sniff out b. s. instead of saying this is exactly what our candidate is you may disagree on some stuff but at the end of the day this

is who he is and that's a good thing. our job is not to say it's this or it's that. when you try to make voters believe that there's something they're not it doesn't work. >> speaking of voters my favorite quote on that said the voters has spoken. the pastorates. so you're making this a vote on his talent at the criticism you will hear of the strategy is it is much riskier than a candidate who has a clear ideological base, the way ted cruz does, the way john k-6 does again i think cruz would in. >> like mccain, romney, and bob

dole. none of our nominees have either those things. for quite a while. you hear a lot about which is the legs of the three legates duel are you going to be. which is your line. you know a three legates stool for a reason. republicans do best when they embrace all three legs. when are you are only a one like it candidate, you can't stand up. to that extent, were not one that only has one lane and were only going to double down on that lane. we also don't scare anybody. yes you have to become the first choice of enough people, but the pathway to do that is not to be scared of any part of the party. there are diehard ted cruz

supporters, and they think yes i like mark rubio. that's important because it's not just about marco, he said to me once i would never want to be the nominee of the league party. to that point, if you don't have a sustainable party and you are not a sustainable canada for a general election, what is the point. you shouldn't just be about general election, you should abandon your principles, but you should absolutely not sacrifice who you are. we've seen candidates in the past get hurt by that. try to open for compensate and say things they think they really don't believe in order to win a primary and it have to backtrack them in a general. >> was there ever a moment where you set down and saw trumps rise and considered what to do about it? or did trumps rise fall in the

category of everything you would consider noise in your long-range plan. >> know, because number one let's look at historically speaking who has been a force place. in the second week of september, based on public polling in four years ago last week, the front runner was rick. by 11 points. eight years ago, it was hillary clinton by 16 points and giuliani by 11. you can go back from there. the point is, early polls don't mean anything. it turns out i was wrong, it means if you are in first place the second week

of september you're guaranteed not to be the nominee of your party. there be nothing worse in my mind that and be in first place right now it is terrible. we were there for a short while and that was the time where most concern. the new york times writes stories about how big the windows are in your house. literally, how well manicured your yard is. we are happy with that. ideally, i only want want to be in first place on one day. if i have to be a few more than that, i am okay with that. >> talk to us about immigration reform. i understand senator rubio supports every part of that to this day but wants to do it on a different timetable in different order? >> here's why it's called meet the campaign manager. no one has every paid me for my policy advice. so we will not start today. i can speak to marco's plan. he tried to do something about

it. this is when i go back to try to not make your candidate somewhat he is not. marco is nothing but getting stuff done. he is a bundle of energy wants to accomplish things. he very much did on immigration reform. he had a lot of people come to him and say we need to for the party. so he took the ball and ran with it. it failed. he is the first to admit, look we did it in the wrong way. i don't want to put words in his mouth, and i would want to do that on any issue, much less this one. he now believes, and politics, business, if something doesn't work and you continue to do it, you're an idiot. in politics if something doesn't work everyone expects you to continue to do it or your sellout. it's unique. he believes the only way to get things done, the real heart of

it is no one believed we were going to secure the border, and probably rightfully so that obama administration was not going to secure the border. first let's prove to the american people this is what we are going to do and then work from there. >> so completely, shamelessly superficial question. do you ever worry he work looks too young question mark. >> know. not any more than bill clinton's campaign or brock obama's campaign, and i and i realize i'm talking only about democrats. i have to believe this time. >> when we when we do the person whose turn it is, we just get trounce. there is a reason for. american voters are faced with a

choice between the past and the future. they pick the future every time. we have to start being charlie around to the democrat solution. let's not try to kick that bubble again. >> we are out of time, let me hit you with a few questions. was there ever a moment when you knew jeb was getting in and you thought no marco is not getting in. >> never. >> the chatter out there about jeb cutting off fundraising and will take his base from florida, he's friends with him. >> that was the point right. that he was going to clear the entire field and no one would consider getting in. that hasn't quite worked out. steady wins the race. we were never intimidated. we are on intimidated by the prospect of jeb candidacy. >> personal question. have you ever had a ride on

rubio's electricity boat. >> i have not. i tried to convince them that we needed to do it for a fund-raising gimmick. like. >> and he said absolutely not, that is my boat. >> if he's back and let someone enter online he's back and bite me. >> best moment for someone else and most enduring quality? >> the best moment for anyone else is ted cruz who is running the smart campaign. they they are their candidate. they're not making him somebody he's not. but inviting donald trump to that press conference is brilliant. none of you people, no one would

have covered it but instead they carry ted cruz a five on all the networks. he would have never gotten that coverage but he got it because he invited trump there. it was smart. most enduring quality, i say it's intriguing to have a candidate you can talk about music with. first time i talk with bono i happen to be there, they talked about music and then rubio explains to bono that he believes that u2 was the first christian rock band and here's why. then he goes into why about i was like you know, you're right. so he is someone of our generation and that is pretty cool. >> and thank you so much. thank you. [applause]. >> not unexpectedly we have a

little change in programming that i am a learned. rick will not run the walker campaign will not be joining us. instead we're going to go straight to the bobby jindal campaign. >> so i have asked everyone and i will ask you to react to the news about governor walker. >> surprised me. >> why. >> he did get an early rise in the polls. he came out strong in january, it is always hard once you take the dip down to come back. i still didn't expect him to drop out this quickly. >> if you have been lurking back

there i've been asking questions based on conventional wisdom. fair warning. the criticism you'll often hear of governor jindal and his campaign is here is a guy who is running the state health care system, who is the smartest guy in the room but he seems to be running kind of a bomb throwing campaign that is not necessarily who he is. what is your reaction question mark. >> the most visited page on our website is the policy page. he has laid out policy on repealing obama care and replacing it. he will be the only candidate in the race with a plan to replace obama care. he has education provision, additional national defense. you still have to break through

the clutter. you have 17, 40 candidates in the written race, you still have to break through the clutter. putting out 30 page policy papers. the press is not interested in covering that. if you're going to break through the clutter and make through your point you have to do it in a way that is going to report it. if it's not reported, is not said. >> what have been some of those moments where he feels he has broken through the clutter? >> i would say he came up here to lay out his case for why he thought trump would be the wrong nominee for america, the wrong candidate for conservatism. we shouldn't put our trust in somebody who is unproven. someone who doesn't share our conservative values.

i thought that was a week when he cut through the clutter. >> talk about about the strategic decision if there was one to go after trump that hard question. >> the decision, this election is monumental. we are at a crossroads, you look at the candidate like trump, if we go ahead and invest in the presidency to a man like trump who cares about himself, who doesn't care about freedom, about the first principles. we are going to make a big mistake as a country. he doesn't have a problem with big government. his problem is he is not in charge of it.

he is not going to reduce the size of government. he is not going to get rid of the burden of taxation and get the economy going. he's not going to get the government out of education. the things we need as a country to bring back freedom, he is not interested in. so somewhat needs to stand up and say this is not the right guy for the republican party. he doesn't represent our principles. >> was there any worry that kind of attack on trumpet so far doesn't seem to have work for anybody question mark if anything? >> it was important. at this moment in the campaign, at the time he was the issue.

it was the wrong direction for our party to go, the wrong direction for country to go. >> so plot out for us what you see as what gentles breakout would be. how is it going to happen, where is it going to happen, what is it going to happen? >> our strategy is an early state strategy. it is iowa. is on a 99 county to her. he is halfway through it. he will spend a lot of time in iowa. the great thing about a marcus presidential election is it is not a national primary, it is an early state primary. that. that gives people in iowa and new hampshire a chance to you to know the candidates on a

one-on-one basis. not just from what they see on tv and on the news. but to actually visit with them. these voters are serious. they will go to every event, every, every candidate, they will have some questions and make their own decision. that is key to our strategy to success. spent time in iowa, get to to know the voters one-on-one. let them get a sense of who governor jindal is in his experience. >> sometimes told people that if governor jindal could just campaign in rooms of 12 people at a time, he would win the presidency. sounds a little bit like your strategy and i was. >> well you need a little bit more than 12 in the room. >> louisiana is a state that is very retail happy. if you are running for governor you needed get to know the person. he was was an unlikely candidate for governor when he ran. he spent time, voters got to know him and they elected him

twice. >> so either anything you look at as early indication of gentle catching on in iowa? >> in the polls you will see things go up and the image questions are leading indicators so we are watching that. he has traveled around you'll see that we have 600 volunteers signed up in iowa so that is what we are looking at and hopefully that does it. >> what does he say or do that gets the most reaction. it seems to me not having been out on the trail with him but hearing what others say, reading

reports that immigration. is that the thing that gets people going question mark. >> religious liberty is an issue that has a lot of people worry. this idea that we are losing something as a country if a christian businessman you can't operate a business according to your beliefs and conscious. if we are going to force people to attend religious ceremonies against their conscious, that is something that strikes a chord. most recently, it is been having a frank conversation about what is going on in d.c. we have republicans that controlled the house and senate yet it seems like on the big issues we continually surrender. when democrats are in charge, they had no problem going balls

to the wall to get done what they wanted to get done. you look at socialized medicine, kennedy pushed it, ability pushed it, and then obama ramped it through. they just never gave up on it. republicans tend to surrender before we get a chance to fight on it. you look at the corker framework. we unilaterally said okay, we will let you do this. so anyway there is a lot of anger about republicans and our inability to fight and accomplish what we campaign on. >> so is the governor really and truly more angry at mitch mcconnell and brock obama? you might think mcconnell has not been aggressive enough, but

he is basically this guy who running the senate and obama is running the country. >> i think the anger comes in from the fact that president obama and the democrats are honest about what they want to accomplish. they go very hard at accomplishing what they want to accomplish. we are told by republicans, this is what we hope to accomplish, this is is what we're going to accomplish. then, we are told later that oh sorry we really can't do that. >> do you think mcconnell and paneer are dishonest? that they they are pretending to oppose these things. >> i wish we had the same level of fight on our side. >> so sean spicer has said there

will not be in undercard debate next time and wants to shove the candidates down the polls to interviews rather than to a debate dates early, what you think about that? how would that affect use question mark. >> it has a lot of important roles but i would think an important role would be to limit the field and limit the number of candidates on the debate stage prior to anyone voting. i know a lot of smart people got in the room after the 2012 election 12 election and decided the reason might republicans lost that up election was because we had too many debates. we allow the front runner to get asked too many questions and get criticized too much. when as a party do we become afraid of ideas? when do we become afraid of

having robust abate debates question mark that is a great thing to have in a democracy. so the id would have oaks in d.c. say you have to limit the number of debates and limit the number of people who participate in debates because we decide that the best thing for voters, i think it's silly. >> so you think the rnc is trying to shut down the debate and shutdown candidates to mark. >> i think they wanted to have fewer debates. because they felt that romney got beat up too much. i don't think that is healthy. as a party we shouldn't be afraid of debates. we shouldn't be afraid of ideas. >> so one criticism you'll hear governor jindal, from the left, is how is this guy running for

president when he is so unpopular at home? is he unpopular at home? >> from right now i can see he has a 40% approval rating. i think he told louisiana to things, shrink government and grow the economy. in louisiana we had a very top-heavy government for a long time. huey long came in and created a government that was outside. we couldn't afford it anymore. it was crushing our economy. governor jindal came in and over the course of eight years he cut the budget by $11 billion. that is a lot of money. he fired 30,000 state employees. so in a state where you have

2 million adults, everybody knows somebody who got laid off. so if you want to be popular what you do is you give money away. you expand medicaid so everyone gets healthcare. you get free stuff to people that's how you get popular as governor. he didn't run to be popular, he ran because our state needed generational change. that is what he did. he shrunk government substantially. we had a government run had a government run hospital system in louisiana that had been there since the 1920s, now it is all privatized. people said you can't privatize the hospital system it's too ingrained into our state. he privatized it. look at education, statewide school choice. he got rid of tenure for teachers. that's not a popular thing.

but he got rid of it and gave the largest tax cut, income tax cut in history. of course that resulted in fewer revenues. and they said we have a budget problem. he did on purpose. we cut we cut revenue so we could cut government. when he ran he won by historic margins the first time. the only nonincumbent governor to win in the primary and got reelected. he knew what he wanted to accomplish. >> i can hear someone tweeting right now, gentles campaign on popular. you see how you change things, chris christie is back down now, but initially swooned and came back up when they saw the results. what is different in louisiana

question marks. >> we had to continue to reduce the size of government. it is not always popular to cut the size of government. the point of america there's too much government spending. our debt debt is too large and spending is too much. it take someone with backbone to go in and cut spending. spending is going to threaten our security, economic security. when you have president obama say that he didn't have the leverage he needed with iran vis-à-vis china. because we owed china bunch of money. when you have the president saying that the amount that we are spending is affecting our security. so government is important.

>> so the final two questions. what is the post moment for another campaign where he thought gosh, that was really smart. what is the most endearing quality about bobby jindal that we don't know about? >> best moment was trumps hat. that was fantastic. >> the rule is never wear a hat right. >> is counterintuitive but it is great. most endearing quality about governor jindal is he is a very kind man. that doesn't always come across because he has so much intellectual horsepower that you don't get to see it. >> can you give us an example. >> at times he will call me on the phone and my kids will answer. he will talk to the kids. he takes time with people. he makes people feel at home and welcome.

he won't leave until everyone has a chance to talk to them. >> ..

>> he was at one point the front runner of this race. >> i don't mean this to be an insulting question, but i have been personally curious because it senator graham is so lively and he loves the game. was there something that he was sick with, with the under the weather? it was just night and day. the first or second debate, it is the typical funny and lively lindsey graham. >> that was his first debate as a presidential candidate. and it was also a very strange debate. they put those candidates

together and you could hear a pin drop. it was a very difficult situation. to perform in such a stale environment. and especially introducing candidates in that setting. >> were you aware that there would be not a soul in the arena except for a few individuals? >> i don't want to get too far into what we have been told, but we were told a number of different things beforehand, things changed and we knew that there wasn't going to be much of an audience. >> how do you think you the second debate? >> i would say that he was by far the winner at the reagan

library and i would say that i'm a little biased. and he's the only one who is ready to be commander in chief on day one and is prepared for that task. >> i have been asking all the campaign managers because i am a journalist. >> that's why we love hanging out with you. >> okay, so the knock on him is that this is a one issue candidate and maybe even more than a one issue candidate, kind of a one policy candidate because when he comes back to again and again in both of the debate, you can almost asked him ask him anything and he would say 10,000 troops in syria. >> i'm going to try to do the same thing. >> turning the question matthew, what is more important? these people are trying to

destroy the entire way of life. they are wreaking havoc around the world and it doesn't matter what the social security policy is of our citizens are not safe and if we don't get this war against radical islam right, nothing else matters. our country is a threat, we have to get this right and that is going to continue to be the major focus in this campaign. >> i know that you are not a military expert. >> no, i am not. >> so where does that number come from except for being a memorable number because my limited understanding of military affairs. if you have 10,000 eyes when you take logistics and protection and search and rescue, you probably have about 50 guys are probably going to be fighting. >> i'm not running for president of the united states, senator graham has been working in the arena on this for decades.

it has been on the ground 35 times between his trips as a senator and deployment as a reservist. and these are numbers that are based on his experience and i couldn't tell you based on my own experience because that is not where i have become a political consultant. in this campaign is a long and grinding process and they had gradual and incremental progress

and they tried to win it when the caucus was starting to happen. we are going to have a slow gradual decline. >> so how does he match up in your mind in iowa. the conventional wisdom would be that iowa tends to reward these very conservative, socially conservative candidates and senator graham has a reputation as a more center-right guys to i think that that's a fair point and i think that we have to see how this race is going to shape up in iowa. a few weeks ago we are talking about scott walker being the front runner. he's not in the race today. i don't know how many will be in the race come next year and i don't know how the ideological puzzle breaks up in terms of who's dividing what segment of the vote. but the senator, if you look at his schedule the big focus has been new hampshire and will continue to be new hampshire.

>> about some of the other guys, sean spicer said there's not going to be this kind of debate this time, that the policy that seems to be designed to relegate candidates like yours to some sort of interview format and not let them on the stage whatsoever >> hopefully it has nothing to do with this criteria. so i would ask, how is this that you know what they are going to do if you have no role on what they're planning to do. and i think we need to let them determine their criteria and i think that the rnc, there's been a lot of great candidates. the it's good for the party. we should be embracing this is a good thing about conservatism and our message rather than having the party to play the role that the voters are supposed to play.

>> so if you don't convince them, would you be open to participating in some alternate debates sponsored by other news organizations? >> i suggested it to. i think you should divide people in half and have two forms so you can really see in a smaller setting all of these candidates showing off their talents in making their case. i would hope that others, i don't know how many will be left. so this could be a moot point. >> so how would you characterize the senator's thinking on where the party is on immigration. because he has been out there and very forthright about his position for a long time and hammering away, and it seems as though the party is only sliding further right.

>> i think the key thing from the senator's perspective is that immigration is a problem and we're not doing anything about it right now. we have to find a way to fix the problem or by doing nothing we are continuing to grant amnesty and that is the one thing that i think that all republicans agree upon is that we have to do something to solve this problem. people have different ideas about how to do it. but as the senator thinks about most issues looking in in a pragmatic way, what is actually doable. whether it helps me politically or not, i'm going to be honest with the american people and give them what i think is a straight story. >> would you characterize his personal view as donald trump as appalled? >> i don't think he liked it when donald trump gave out his cell phone number and that was an interesting day. but and it's like, something had

happened. and it was very angry donald trump supporters. i think his personal views are probably that he's not ready to be commander in chief for the greatest fighting force in the world and we should be focusing on this. >> so where you secretly relieved that he forced the issue and force the senator to get a more modern phone? >> well, it is a mixed bag because now he knows how to read polls and read news articles and so he's getting a lot of information on his own, but yes, i think that it's great that he has joined all of us in using smart phones and as i said to him when it all happened, i had been his campaign manager for for five months. and donald trump just did something that i have been trying to do for for five months. i'm a total failure. he's pretty good at it.

>> as i read it by the senator's criteria, no one else is said to be commander in chief because no one else is on board? >> i think that we are waiting to see how people feel about that particular issue. from his point of view there is no debating it anymore and what we need to do in syria and iraq, the mistakes we made before, he has been very vocal fighting against the obama administration and i think that he feels that this is the will correct path forward and he's going to make his case and he thinks he is as prepared or he would not be running for president. >> so your path to a breakout. does it require a number of other candidates including jeb bush to fizzle out? >> i'm not sure. anytime and politics you need to have a little bit of luck.

there is political consultants that will tell you it is the genius in our heads. you need to have a little bit of luck. but you need to take advantage of that luck and i think probably many of you would've said lindsey graham's campaign manager isn't going to be on the stage when they have their forum. well, we are running a small, disciplined, flexible campaign we can afford and in order to remain in the race and take advantage of the opportunity they still have to be sitting there and that's a campaign the campaign that we have had planned since day one. >> i asked this question as well, can you quantify for us and give us indication of exactly how small and what corners you are cutting and what it means to be lean and mean? >> yes, we have an extremely

small national team of a dozen people. we sit in a giant room and we all yell at each other all day long. it's a great deal of on and a fun place to work and i think that that actually reflect slobber candidates personalities. i think a good campaign should reflect this and our campaign is kind of like that. we are a small team there for the right reasons and were there because we believe in lindsey graham. if we were doing this for the money or because of the polls, we would all be there for the wrong reasons and we are not. >> i have asked some of the other former senators. do you worry that the mood is so much in favor of outsiders and people that have no political experience, the single worst case he could make as a candidate is that i've been in the senate a long time, i know things and i try to do things. >> it is a tough case to make right now. but i think at the end of the

day when you get closer to election time people start thinking about different things. they are going to think about who is ready to take this fight to the board room and who it is ready. for military families they're going to say i don't know that i want them to command my son or daughter, the capacity, the weapons, the support that they need to do their job. when we get down to it and crunch time and the importance of who the commander-in-chief is going to be it's going to be more relevant in people's minds. >> can and he talked to us about the history of lindsey graham as a vote getter in south carolina? we understand he is the best vote getter in south carolina history. >> he has never lost a race in south carolina. he won his last primary against six opponents and was an overwhelming majority and he has

not necessarily been seen as the front runner in those races but he's a great grassroots politician than what you see is what you get with him. he can interact with people as good as anyone i've ever worked with and that sort of talent helps him so much in south carolina and that is perfectly tailored to iowa and new hampshire as well to would you expect them to begin to pick up endorsements from the centers? >> i don't know if endorsements are the name of the game. i think that the key is how you are doing in the states and not to be more focused than what washington dc thinks. >> you have a secret number? >> i think that that certainly helps out. senator graham is the only one in the race today aside from jim gilmore that has served in the military. he has been a reservist and i

think that there's a large population of national guard and reservists in iowa that is going to be good for him and there's a strong veterans population in south carolina as well. >> does he have a particular strategy or tactic for reaching out? >> i think that talking about his credentials is important and also talking about how we make sure that veterans are cared for and taken care of and that something important to the community and we have a good breadth of experience. >> last two questions, what is the moment that you have been most impressed with that you wish that you have thought of first or something like that and what is the most endearing quality of lindsey graham do you have seen on the inside working with him closely that the rest of us may not be aware of? >> i think that one of the things that i find most fascinating about this campaign and hopefully in the long run is a good thing.

is that donald trump has turned a political consulting conventional wisdom and so maybe that is a good thing. maybe we have too many political consultants out of the same playbook. and we have people challenging the way things have already been done. that's good for folks like me to have to think differently and looking at this, we really -- i mean, how else can we look at what we do. so in terms of lindsey graham i think the one word i would use to describe him is sincere. what you see with him is exactly what you get. he is as approachable as anyone i have ever worked with in politics, as sincere and caring

as i've ever been around and also just plain funny. he is a really funny person to be around and it's not so much that he has the same jokes and hear over and over again. i worked with john mccain and i can tell you that if you asked me today what what the funny thing he said, i'm not sure that i could come up with it because everyday something new. so that creates an environment that's a great deal of fun to work in and i'm truly thankful for that opportunity. >> thank you. >> coming up next is very done it with ben carson campaign. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> okay, so we have this breaking news maybe in about 10 minutes that scott walker is out of the race. what do you make of that and how do you analyze that we met what

does it mean to . >> i think last time it was so -- you know, don't give up, you're going to hit rough spots. >> can you explain to us, then carson, if you will, what you're going to hear over and over again from the pundit class because i just don't get it. i don't get why he is lighting a fire. he is so soft spoken. he's not a bomb thrower in this environment that rewards people for saying outrageous things and never apologizing. she took the slightest possible implicit swipe at donald trump and apologized for it which is a completely complete opposite of what he would do.

>> he certainly is the smartest guy that i've ever met pressure and also one of the nicest people i've ever met. and he's got, starting off he's a physician with a pediatric specialty and a living legend. >> made-for-tv movies? >> yes, something like that. and he's carrying and smart and he has a stability that is amazing and people just love him. he's very likable. and then there is just his life story that is just astonishing and inspiring. he is a guy who saw his cousins

die on the street. never thinking that he would live to be an adult let alone get inspired to start reading. and he only had enough money for one application. but they beat them in the quiz bowl, harvard ncl. >> how did you get to know him and become part of this operation? >> a friend of mine said, would you be interested in doing this and i said no. i'm way past that. >> i have a corporate political consulting shop and i've always wanted to do this. and of course when i was younger and didn't have kids and i said okay, i'm going to go talk to him.

i went on the florida and i spoke to david and i got into the car to go back to the airport and i said that i'm in, let's do it. and he was overwhelmingly nice and likable. >> and you have no doubt as someone who has always amazing accomplishments and attributes, that never having run for office before or having any significant executive experience is, that he will win this nomination be elected president of the united states? >> am i telling you 100%? of course not. but i am telling you that he has a lot to offer. >> that is some endearing honesty right there. but he has a lot and there's a lot to help the republican party and that is why i really became interested. he can make the party bigger, bolder, and better.

and i think he probably will be our nominee. but even if he isn't, i think that is a mission that is good for everyone. the maxa what are those lessons that he is out teaching the republican party. >> so far we have campaigned last month, harlem, ferguson, detroit, inner-city chicago. going to places where we did not see the mitt romney and paul ryan team make a stop. and these talks about lifting yourself up and ending the cycle of dependency that none of our other candidates can do, i mean, you don't have to -- it's not just the african-american vote that we are going after, but we are going after those suburban soccer moms that barack obama

elected. he speaks in a compassionate way and people want their kids to have the same opportunities that they have. >> was he talking to the african-american audiences and resonating with them enact. >> i sat with him around the same table. we asked about businesses that were obliterated with protesters and policeman and he said something that most politicians never say and it was great. >> how important is it is it that he is soft spoken. if there's any quality that you would naturally associate with success, that would be far down on the list. >> yes, i agree. but in a field of these candidates, looking and

sounding, talking and behaving different is very important and distinguishes ourselves from the rest of the debate. but that is not him. but i will take two hours of national tv time sitting with him any day, anytime any time that he wants to give it to me. >> so a lot of people must his standout performance in the first debate. were they didn't get it. did you know those last couple of questions, one about race in the closing statement, did you think is then carson terms that he is killing it and he would have a big bounce because of this? >> well, nowadays everything is dashboard. and i can tell you how everything is playing. so i knew through social media that what he was saying was really resonating and the shares

of the posts were going through the roof. and at that point i think he had about 1.6 and we went up to almost 2 million. yesterday we only gained 109,000 since the debate we have gained almost 900,000 and so we are at 3.8 million right now. >> you know how that compares to candidates? >> well, it's three times more than hillary clinton. and 15 times more than jeb bush and we would be above donald trump that accumulated things three years after "the apprentice." >> have you take advantage of that? >> one way you can take advantage is 14 candidates on

the republicans i, we are not clear on the democratic side, plus the super pacs and the outside money. if you're planning on winning this through television advertising in january, you are probably not going to do that. so we have built up a lot of the networks around to talk to the voters. and that includes all of these tools because content is tainted if you can talk to them effectively in the way that you want to be, you can do it with the press of a button. he blew out his candles on his birthday cake on friday and he said that what his wish was. i don't know what it was off the top of my head but i know that 19 million people got this and five and a half million watched it on television which would cost a lot of money and.

>> i hear you saying that if you happened to be a candidate that is really good at it boardrooms and has raised $125 million for your super pac, we won't name anyone, but that is an asset that could not be as powerful as it was in the past? >> we know already that the issue of advertising rates are 10 times more than campaign rates. so 100 million in terms of that. i have already raised almost $30 million. and we are going to have a super pac that is pretty well-funded as well. but television is not going to be the breakthrough media. >> are you raising that through phones, direct mail, e-mail? >> yes. >> we've had 500 30,000 donations as of this morning.

>> and these are donors that can come back again and again. >> talk to us about the actual organization of the campaign. whether it was a couple of months ago ordered a couple weeks ago about disarray. complete disarray. >> the campaign chairman is one of the people that hired me that had left and somehow a few weeks later it was a news story. we have 80 some people on the staff today. we have financed people and.

[inaudible] >> social media term. >> i'm not on facebook, clearly. >> we are doing great. >> can you talk a little bit about iowa specifically. and checking around in iowa a couple of weeks ago. one thing i was surprised to learn hearing from multiple people is that then carson has a real organization here and an organizer or a chairman and all 99 counties. how were you in terms of infrastructure and how important is this way max. >> it is very well organized. we have three tickets out of iowa. we are going to get one. and in a data-driven campaign world we live and there were 13,000 people in the month of august that attended one of our events. the surprising thing was that 29% of them were not republicans

they were independents or democrats. so i think that the cockpit is going to be expanding this year. and at least that is what we are going to try to do. typically they be 25,000 votes would go into the caucus. >> so when those people come to an event, how are you establishing a connection with them you will maintain over time. we are getting phone numbers, e-mails. >> text numbers are so much better than e-mails. the computer starts talking to them. we warmed them up. we find out what motivates them. little things like that. and my aunt flo. not a lot of. >> so we released this, we

leased a bus and i said, what if we have people put their kids names on the list. so doctor carson could see the reason. 8000 people, at the dollars a name, we paid for it in about three hours. in that fight, why should i pay for that out of my account. but that's the people of south carolina to kick in the money. we raised $120,000. so there's a lot of grassroots energy out there. >> so i would we rejected if we didn't talk about muslims here today and. >> why today? >> so did doctor carson really believe that it is not theoretically possible to have any moslem that is capable of

believing in a to be president of the united states? >> know, what they said was if islam could be put together in the constitution, if a muslim ran for president, he could not advocate for them until he knew whether they supported the central tenets of islam or not. do they support religious freedom or all of these things that are not part of the central tenants as we know them. we are so willing to not support the other silly things. >> okay, so the doctors plan, the way that he has addressed the immigrants of art here is to say perhaps that many of them can become guestworkers and in my mind that another version of amnesty. am i wrong? >> i believe so.

a path to citizenship, you know, the problem with deporting every person as donald trump supports, for 30 years they felt that we should start there. but if you are going to deport them, first you have to find them and then you have to water for them to find out where they are from and then we are going to have to water for the nation that there from and to accept that and then -- you know, it's an incredibly expensive and if they will come out of the darkness hidden taxes going forward. then we can give them some kind of worker visa and they can go about their lives. >> so do you care whether donald trump inflator deflates. you have your unique appeal with

this candidate? >> you know, i think that there are certain ways and commonalities with supporters. but i think donald trump is our best contrasted so just let him continue to contest. >> i have asked everyone else and what is the moment during this campaign than any other campaign has had or any candidate has had we thought that that was really smart. and what is the most endearing quality of this man that we may not be aware of as outsiders? >> i think that doctor carson is incredibly humble. >> and that is like a part of

this. >> i'm not overly proud of everyone i've ever worked for. >> as far as what other campaigns have done, one that i thought was brilliant. >> come on, you can think of something. >> i thought that the announcement of ted cruz at liberty was a pretty good idea. we are going to speak next month. but it's certainly a lot cheaper than what i paid to put together an event. >> thank you so much. we truly appreciate you taking the time. great talk. [applause] >> thank you. like any good