now is the time to create a political movement and a government that works for all of us, not just super pacs and the 1%. thank you all very much. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> please welcome to the stage michael bennett. ♪ ♪ >> hello, iowa. you are a patient group of people. i didn't know how patient. and i want to thank you for allowing all of us to impose on you. i want to particularly thank you for the kindness that you've shown me and my family as we've travelled the state of iowa. i want to thank my friend, tom harken, my chairman who is right here, tom, thank you for your

leadership. and thank you for your friendship. i've been in the senate, as tom knows, for ten years. it's hard for me to believe it's been a decade. we've done two committees together. tonight i want to talk to you not as a senator but as the only superintendent of schools who has ever run for president of the united states. i worked with kids in the denver public schools before i went to the senate. it's a school district that's got about a billion dollar budget. for reference, that's about three times the size of a certain municipality in the state of indiana. i'm just saying. it has 95,000 children in it. most of whom live in poverty. most of whom are kids of color.

and if their parents were here tonight, what they would tell you is that they are killing themselves at work. and no matter what they do, they can't get their kids out of poverty. and it remind me a lot of the town hall meetings i've had for the last ten years in colorado and in iowa and in new hampshire. where people come and they say, michael, we are working really hard, but we can't afford housing. we can't afford healthcare. we can't afford higher education. we can't afford early childhood education. iowa, that's why i'm running for president, to restore opportunities to the american people. that's what we have to do. when i was deciding to run for president -- i'm not as much of a celebrity as some other people and i'm not as well known, but i

went home to talk to my kids and my wife, susan. i asked them what do you think. should i run for president? my 15-year-old, of course, said yes, because she saw it as a way of keeping me away from her and out of the house. i don't know what's going on there tonight. my 20-year-old daughter said to me you should run, dad, because if you run and you tell the truth and you lose, no one can fault you for it. i said that's good, caroline, because there is no other reason for me to run but to tell the truth. i don't think there's any other way for me to win. and so i was so happy about a month or two ago when i was able to take the headline of the des moines register and show it to caroline, that headline on the editorial said michael bennett pounds truth into this campaign. and iowa, that's what i'm trying

to do because this time is too important. it's too important. and that's why i want to tell you tonight, iowa, that our kids do not have the time for us to spend the next ten years fighting a losing battle for medicare for all. that's not because it's a big idea. that's because there are better ideas. and here are some from the perspective of the kids that i used to work for. we can make sure that everybody in this country that works hard 40 hours a week can actually raise a family in this country because they're paid a decent wage. from the standpoint of the kids i used to work for in the denver public schools, we could end childhood poverty in america. that would help. i have a plan.

i have a plan withat would revee the trump tax cut. reduce childhood poverty in one year by 40% and end $2 a day poverty for kids living in iowa and in colorado and in america. for 3% of the cost for medicare for all, we could cut childhood poverty by 40%. that sounds like a big idea to me. iowa, iowa, here's another idea. we can make our schools engines of opportunity again in the united states of america. and we could do that not by promising free college, but by delivering free preschool to every kid in america who needs it. let me tell you something, that's every kid in america. what about the 70% of kids who graduate from high school and don't go to college?

we could fix high schools so that when they leave, they can earn a living wage, not just the minimum wage. that would transform the lives of millions of americans and our economy. we could create universal healthcare in three years with the public option i've been fighting for since we passed the affordable care act. it's called medicare, give everybody in the country the choice of a public option or private insurance if they want it. reduce health costs by getting drug costs down. we could do it as i said in three years. and we need to address climate change, iowa. but it's not enough to be urgent about it. that's not enough. we need a solution that will last a generation. and that's why you can't accept the politics in washington where michael bennett puts his climate plan in for two years and the climate deniers rip it out. and then we put it in for two

years and they rip it out. that's how politics in washington works today. that's not good enough for the american people. and trying isn't enough. having good intentions is not enough. we have to win it. we have to win again and again and again so our kids inherit a planet that can be sustained. and to do that, iowa, to do that we have to fix our broken politics. we have to take the money out of politics and put people back into politics. i'm telling you, if you elect me president, i'll lead an effort in every one of the 50 states to overturn citizens united and give the next generation of americans in our democracy, which is why we need to do. this might sound really hard. but it's no harder than anything

any other americans have done. i tell kids when they come to washington, d.c., they have a tendency to think it was all just there. the capital was there. the white house was there. the supreme court was there. none of it was just there. 230 years ago, it was just an idea. that's all it was. and the founders of this country did two incredible things in their generation. they led a successful revolution against a colonial power. that had never happened before. they wrote a constitution that was ratified by the people that would live under that constitution. that had never happened before. but they did something terrible as well. they perpetrated human slavery. and we'll be with that for the rest of our days. what's important to remember is

it took other americans to end slavery in this country. frederick douglass born a slave in the united states of america and because of his leadership and what he did, he saw human slavery end in this country in his generation. do you know what? i think that frederick douglass is as much a founder as the people who wrote the constitution. that's what i believe. that's what i believe, iowa. i believe the women that fought for my daughter's to have the right to vote are founders just like the people who wrote the constitution. that's what i believe, iowa. and that's what i think of all of you. that's your job as citizens in this republic. you are founders of the republic. it's that elevated sense of what your responsibility is. when you have a president who doesn't believe in the rule of

law, who doesn't believe in the separation of powers, who doesn't believe in the independence of the judiciary, who doesn't believe in the freedom of the press. he does not believe in our democracy. you have a job to do. you may not have asked for it, but you know what your job is? it's to save this democracy for the next generation of americans. that is what you're being asked to do, iowa. that is what you are being asked to do. and i know you won't shirk that responsibility. we can't and live up to the example that our parents and grandparents did for us. i'm not scared of donald trump, iowa. and i don't think you are either. i've had the hardest job you can have in america, being a school superintendent. other than being a school teacher.

by the way, we should pay them what they deserve as professionals. i know what to do with a schoolyard bully like donald trump. and i need your help. i need your help, iowa, to help you. i need you to help put me in a position to be able to win this race because i know i have the experience and temperment and agenda to beat donald trump. i know it's an agenda that cindy and abby can run on. i'm the only person in this race that's 1 twon two national racen a swing state. i know how to win colorado and iowa and maine and arizona to get us a majority in the senate and to get us the white house as well. but i can't do it without you. so i'm asking for your help tonight. if you want a president who gives a damn about your kids,

join my campaign. if you want someone who is going to fight for an economy that works for every morning, join my campaign. if you want somebody who is going to fight for our democracy and to reestablish our alliances around the world, join my campaign. iowa, if you want somebody who will tell you the truth, even when it's hard to do it, join my campaign. i want to thank you all of you, again, for the opportunity to be here tonight for the kindness you be se you've shown and we look forward to seeing you on caucus night because more surprising things have happened than this, iowa. i can assure you of that. let's go do our work as founders. thanks for having me today. it's great to see all of you. thank you, iowa. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

>> please welcome secretary julian castro. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> good evening, iowa. first of all, let me say a huge thank you to troy price and to all of the leadership of the iowa democratic party, to your great congresswomen and congressmen. to all of the local and state elected officials that are here and all the great iowa democrats who are going to help win back the senate in 2020. it's great to be here in des moines with you. on january 20th, 2021, at 12:01 p.m., we're going to have a democratic president, a democratic house, and a democratic senate.

the question for us here tonight is what kind of america are we going to become? you see, there is going to be life after donald trump. what is that going to look like? what kind of america are we fighting for? the next president has the responsibility of trying to heal this nation, trying to bring it together. i want to talk to you tonight about the america that we can build in the years to come. i hope if y'all have been tuning into this campaign you've noticed that this campaign has marched to the beat of its own drummer. we've been a little bit different from all the other campaigns. we haven't been the same.

we've been speaking up for the most vulnerable folks in this country. people sleeping on the streets and in storm drainage tunnels in las vegas. folks who are the victims of police brutality. a woman named arletta swain in iowa who has lived in her trailer home for 40 years and got a notice a few months ago that her rent was going up by more than 60% because some private equity group bought up the trailer park. we've been fighting for those who are often left out. cast aside. marginalized. because somewhere along the way in our country, we forgot to

talk about the poor, to talk about the most vulnerable. we're great at talking about the middle class and we need to fight for the middle class and i'm fighting for the middle class. but we also need to fight for the poor and those who have the least. those who suffer the most. that's what this campaign has been doing. and that's not an accident. like many of you i live an american dream story. i grew up with my mother and my grandmother and my brother on the west side of san antonio. my grandmother had come to the united states as an orphan when she was seven years old. she worked as a made, a cook and a baby sitter for her whole life because she never even finished elementary school. she raised miy mom as a single parent and my mom raised my brother and me as a single parent as well.

my brother and i are proud products of the public schools of texas. and just to think that only two generations after my grandmother got here, like i bet a lot of your relatives did, wherever they came from with hardly anything, one of her grandsons, my brother, joaquin, represents the 20th congressional district, the neighborhood that she moved to in san antonio. and the other one is here asking for your vote for president of the united states of america. that is what america has been, what it can be, what we have to be. i'm running for president because i believe that every single american should have the opportunity to live out their dreams. i want to make sure that we build an america where that's possible. that we fight for an america

where your child can get great education because we invest in universal pre-k for three and four-year-olds. when i was mayor of san antonio, we took to the voters a ballot initiative to significantly expand high quality full day pre-k for 4-year-olds and we got it done. i want to make sure that we improve k-12 education by paying teachers what they deserve. reducing class sizes and making sure that special needs children can get the education they need at their school. because too oftentimes the parents of special needs children feel like they have to be lawyers to argue with a bu burocracy that makes it hard for their children to get that education. i want to make sure every single american can get a good higher

education with tuition free public colleges and job training and certification programs. the grandmother i grew up with, she had with, she had type two diabetes and like a lot of diabeticses, her condition got worse and worse until right before she passed away in early 1996, she had to have one of her feet amputated, which is not uncommon for severe diabetics, but that whole time, she had medicare. imt to strengthen medicare for people who are on it and make sure it's available to every single american who wants it and, and then if somebody has a strong private health insurance plan, that they should be able to hold on to that. that we can do both of those things. we can also end the distinction between physical health care and

mental health care and invest in mental health care. we should never allow the profits of being pharma or bring insurance companies to determine who gets care or medication. there's no reason that insulin should ten times as much in the united states as it does in canada. i want to make sure that in this country, no matter who we are, you're innocent until proven guilty. we invest in public defenders. we reform our cash bail system. we legal iize marijuana and invt in diversion programs to keep more young people out of the criminal justice system in the first place. and we work to ban the box and

give people effective second chance in life if they've been incarcerated. we'll work to make sure we're a fairer nation. that you can't be discriminated against because of your sexual orientation or your gender identity. i'm proud that when i worked as barack obama's housing secretary, we extended protections to the lgbtq community in housing. i want to make sure we have no second class citizens in united states of america and that women get equal pay for equal work! that we protect a woman's right to get to get an abortion in this country as it's under assault. and then no matter who you are, if you work hard in this country, that you can prosper. we need a tax code that rewards

po people who have the work for a living and not only amazon and big corporations and wealthy individuals, every american. i remember what it was like growing up in a household where we worry ied about being able t pay the rent on the first of the month and had the electricity turned off sometimes. i remember watching as my mother lost her hair when she was about 38 years old and my brother and i were 11 and they didn't know what the reason was and finally, the doctors told her it was stress. there are a lot of families out there there aare stressed out. we need to make sure the government works for working families in the years ahead. that also means investing in affordable housing.

it means unleashing a clean energy economy by tackling the climate crisis. seen not only as a crisis, but an opportunity to create great jobs. it also means r hharn messaging vision of imgranlt grants in this country. i believe, i believe that we don't have to give into cruelty, that we can have border security but treat people with compassion and common sense. no more kids in cages! no more separating families! no more playing games with people seeking a better life! in more criminalizing desperation! we can have a different, better, positive, vision. a more humane way of doing immigration and you know, i

don't want to make america anything again. i don't want to go backward. i want to go forward. i want to make this country better than it's ever been in the years to come. with one exception. i want to restore some integrity and decency in the oval office because it's been missing. and we can do that. i got elected to the city council in san antonio when i was 26 years old and when i was 27, i quit my job at the law firm that i was working at as a young lawyer so that i could vote on an environmental deal that i thought, a land deal that i thought was bad for our environment in san antonio. i quit my job and i did the right thing to stand up for the constituents that i represented. we can have clean government again in this country. one that is based on the hopes

and the dreams and the wishes of the people and not the powerful, not the lobbyists, not the special interests. we can reform citizens united. we can reform redistricting and stop the game playing that the republicans are engaged in to suppress the vote. and i believe that after these last two and a half years that america is ready for a change. ameriis ready for a new directid i can just imagine inauguration day. you know, somebody asked me what's the first thing that you would do if you were elected president. and i told them well, the first thing that i would do is that i would sign an executive order recommitting the united states to the paris climate accord so

that we lead again on sustainability. but my favorite moment would actually come a little bit earlier in the day when it's traditional for the incoming president to usher out the outstanding president. you know that moment on the white house lawn where we'll be getting ready to say good-bye to donald trump and melania trump and they'll be getting ready to go back to new york or to mar-a-lago. or somewhere. the helicopter will be there with the door open. all of the white house staff that's getting ready the leave lined up on the lawn. right before he walks away, right before he leaves, i'm going to tell him, adios.

adios. thank you, iowa. we're counting on you to beat joanny ernst and help us take back the senate and create a better america in the years to come. going to go from division to unity instead of the past, the future from dishonesty to integrity, the kind of president and senate and house and government in d.c. that we can all be proud of. gracias. thank you very much! thank you very much! ♪ ♪

please welcome senator amy klobuchar.

>> wow! thank you, iowa! it is so, so wonderful to be back here with so many friends. thank you! thank you to my good friends, ruth and tom harken and tom and

christie, it is great to see you. as you u all know i can see iowa from my porch. and we are going to win big in this state in november. we are going to build a blue wall around iowa. and ohio. all those states that donald trump won in 2016. wisconsin and pennsylvania. we are going to build that blue wall of democrats and we're going to make donald trump pay for it. we, we have been, we we have ben a long journey together and i bet you remember where you were on election night in 2016. i do. i was in minnesota. and late at night, i got a text from my daughter, john's here,

my husband, and that text, it said, mom, what should we do now? she was actually at hillary's party in new york. she was in college and i had forgotten she was there. what should we do now. i wrote back this mom guilt text really fast. it said the u subway is still running. you need to go home. t very sad and remember you have class tomorrow. she wrote back, mom, i mean our country. that's when it hit me. that's something i'll never forget. i told her then what i tell you now. is that our country, we have been through wars, financial crisis, despair and we have always come out on the other side. but that question she asked still echoes in my mind and in your mind every single day. what should we do now?

because democrats, if we answer it with a shrug of our shoulders or apathy, if we just turn down the tv and put the blanket over our head, then we don't win, but if we answer it with action, we win. that is what we need to do. and this journey, this journey u for afor all of us, it didn't ed that night. it actually began the day after the inauguration when millions and millions of people inclouding here in des moines marched across this country. you remember that. and the next day when 6,000 women signed up to run for office. that happened. and then you think of it, where we marched with our union brothers and sisters and we marched with immigrants and we stood up for those kids in

parkland and those moms who demanded action. and when donald trump, when donald trump tried to repeal the affordable care act. when he tried to kick off kids from their health insurance, we didn't just sit down. we stood up and we won. that's what happened and that's what we did. now, what happened through all of that, we got abby and cindy. you did this, elected to the u.s. hous of ree of representat. you did that. froms you got them, i think that's a viking horn. you're going to piss all the packer fans. we got abby and cindy elected to the u.s. house of representatives and you turned the house of representatives into the people's house again.

you did that and you gave us nancy pelosi as the speaker of the house. and when and when people tell me that a woman can't beat donald trump, i the tell them nancy pelosi does it every single day. if you think we can't win in the midwest, i have four words r for you. form rer governor scott walker. so, we still have, we still have guy in the white house and every single morning, he wakes up and he tries to divide us. he sends out tweets going after

immigrants. he goes after people of color. he belittles people that don't agree with him and he allows a foreign country to make mincemeat of our democracy and every day, our path gets cle clearer. i believe that we need someone that heads up this ticket that understands that what unit us us as a party is so much bigger than what divides us. that understands that we have to bring in our fired up democratic base, but we also have to bring in independents and yet, even a few moderate republicans. if we want to bring big, that is what we're going to have to do. what we're going to have to do my friends. i am someone that has passed over 100 bills as the lead democratic in that gridlock of washington, d.c. i have won every race, every place, every time in the reddest of red, congressional districts. and i am someone that believes

that we need a president that is not a president for half of america but is a president for all america. now we have got this president that would rather lie than lead. what he does he's running the country like a game show and have you noticed how he always pu puts his business interests in front of the interests of our country. he sides with tyrants over innocents. he sides with dictators over our allies. i can tell you one thing. when i am president, i will bring sanity back to our foreign policy. and something else, something else that i promise you i will never ever host a gathering of international leaders at one of my resorts.

oh, that's right, i don't own a rer sort. but what i do own is this. i own an optimistic economic and justice agenda for h this country. what does that mean? it means that after charlottesville, there weren't two pseusides is the cue cluck . there's only one side and that's the american side. what that means is if multimillionaires can refinance their yachts then students should be able to refinance their loans. and to the nra and to big oil and to big pharma, no, you do not own america and when i am president, they will not own me. the citizens you washington, d.c. and what this means is that we will take on the exten shl kr shl crisis of our time.

climate change, and i will get us back into the international climate change agreement on day one. thday two, bring back the clean power standards. day three, bring back the gas mileage standards then introduce sweeping legislation and get that done in one year. that is what we have to do, democrats. there's an old jib way saying. that is this. great leaders make decisions, not for this generation. but for generations seven generations from now. we have a president that can't keep his decisions seven minutes from now. so i want you to imagine what it will be like to have a candidate on the debate stage that can literally look at this guy and say you know what, the midwest is not flyover country. i live here and i will not be treating, i will not be treating

the workers and formers in this country like poker chips in one of your bankrupt casinos because they are my friends and my neighbors and i will have plans that i can pay for and deadlines that i can meet that are grounded in reality. and final ly, you might go to mar-a-lago and tell all your rich friends that they just got a whole lot richer. you know where i'll go? to our neighborhoods and bring them gun safety legislation. i are go to our small towns and bring them rural broad band and make sure that everyone understands that health care is not the same in small towns in america. i will go to our hospitality workers and our food service workers and tell them yes, you deserve an increase in minimum wage and child care. and i will go to our military

bases with hue mmility and with decency and the respect ground and born in the allegiance to the united states flag. that is what this is about. but to do this, we not just change our politics. no. we have to change the tone in our politics. and that is what i will do. if you want to get ak 47s out of the hand of domestic abusers, we can't just win, we have to win big. if you my friends want to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united, we can't just win, we have to win big and if you want to get rid of the privatization of medicaid in iowa, we can't just win, we have to win big! my background is different than

donald trump's. and i think that's a good thing. i don't come from money. but i come from the grit of a february snowstorm in the middle of minnesota. my grandpa was an iron ore miner who worked 1500 feet underground. he saved money in a coffee can to send my dad to college m my dad, he was a newspaper man. my mom, a union teacher who taught second grade until she was 70 years old. i stand before you as a first woman elected to the u.s. senate from the state of minnesota and a candidate for president of the united states and that is because we live in a country of shared dreams. we live in a country that no matter where you come from or

who you know, that you can make it in the united states of america. that is our country. and i am running for you. i am running for every parent who has a kid who needs prescription drugs. for every worker who needs respect for their work and i am running for every farmer, student, builder, dreamer, i am running for you! so i ask you to vote for me, to clock it for me, to sign up u with me and we will not only win because we know that our work doesn't end on election day. our work begins on inauguration day. so let's just not win iowa. let's win big! ♪

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please welcome to the stage, senator cory booker. ♪

>> hello, iowa! hello, iowa! hello, iowa. hello, iowa. it was ten years ago this very month that i was having a conversation in a hospital room with my hero and someone who was like a father to me. it was the last conversation i would ever have with him because ten years ago this month, he died. he was my hero, a man named

frank hutchins. he was a lenld in nuke, new jersey. he was one of the greatest tenant leaders that led. he led new york's longest tenant rent strike and he won. ten years ago when he was dying in that hospital room, i was the mayor of the city of newark and that conversation has shape aed me. you see, in the 1990s, i met frank as a recent yale law grad and i was helping him to take on slum awards and i'll never forget one meeting in a basement of the projects where people were together and that meeting we were fighting against a slum lord with no heat and hot water and other conditions that were unacceptable. the meeting went on and on and on and after it, i was walking out with him and i made a snarky comment back then in the '90s. i just talk ed about how long te e meeting was and he stopped and lookeded at me with his kind and gentle eyes and said you know, cory, this is not just about repairing the buildings, it's

about repairing unity. it's about understanding that our power and our strength in tearing down that slum ward comes in the strength we have together. well, frank got me into politics. helped push me to run for city council. he got older, sicker, he became blin blind. every time i would go see him to take him grocery shopping, i would say it's cory. he would say, i see you. that became our greeting. so when i walk ed into that hospital room in his last hours when they told me it wouldn't be long and i walked over to his bedside, he said frank, i see you. they told me he couldn't speak, but he forced out those words, i see you. i sat by his bedside and held him and kissed his forehead and told him how much he means to me. it wasn't a crowded hospital

room but you see frank didn't care about those things because for him, life was not about celebrity, it was about significant. it wasn't about popularity. it was about purpose. if he was here today, he would tell you life isn't about how many show up for you when you're dead, but how many people you show up for when you are alive and let me tell you, iowa, i was a mayor of a city in a recession which meant the city had depression like circumstances. i had to leave his bedside and the last thing i said to him was frank, i love you and the last thing he said to me was forcing out those words, i love you. tonight, i want you to think about his last words to me. i see you. i love you. i see you. i love you. frank knew that the power in this country comes from those who are often overlooked, often

ignored, that the power of people in a projects basement, i see you, i love you is powerful enough to tear down a rich and powerful slum ward. i see you. i love you. he talked about the power in this country against hate is love. against indifference is empathy. his understanding that we together, thwhat has overcome i see you, i love you and i'll tell you right now in this election, there are those people who think it's naive to think this election is most importantly about our values, about our ideals, but i tell you, that is where our strength will come from. that is where our power is. it is our connections to each other. our ability to pull together coalitions and unify around our highest ideals. this is is how we have always accomplished big things in this

nation. and i'll tell you, i hear the pundits say this is about who's polling the best or who has most money or who can best deliver a shot against another democrat on a stage. well we know iowa. that the polls of our party who's leading in the polls, this far out has never gone on from our party to be president of the united states. it's not how much money a person has or much how much you tear down another democrat. this, this is going to be decided by who can best call us to our common aspirations, who can best inspire us to be the truth of who we are. we todon't abandon our values during trials. we double down on them. this election, this election for us democrats, everyone that's come out here has told you how much they don't like donald trump, but democrats, this

electiond by what we're against, but by what we're for. this election as much as the differences in policy are between fellow democrat, they're small, between what is between us and what's between the person in office. and this is a moral moment in america. we as democrats need to call this whole country to higher aspirations. when the president tries to divide us, the end for democrats shouldn't be to beat republicans. the calling of this party must be to unite americans again and common cause and common purpose. because that's how we do big things in america. it's how we have always done them. by creating bigger and larger movements. look, i come from an iowa born grandmother who worshipped right here in des moines at corinthian

baptist. born before women had the roigt to vote and what she taught me was we created broader coalitions to secure suffrage, to gain ground. well now in america, we need a movement again because women's rights are under assault. they're attacking planned parenthood, they're attacking roe v. wade. i'm running for president because we need a larger american movement for women's rights again. equal pay for equal work. it took a movement in america as my grandfather, a uaw worker, would tell me. it took a larger movement to secure workers rights to expand a union rights. well you know what, workers rights are under assault again in america and we need a broader coalition, a new american movement to ensure that people can retire with dignity. that we have a living wage. my father and mother told me it

was a civil rights movement that ensured that one day, i would have the chance to be the first descendant of the slave to be in a white house this was built by slaves, that a this is a movement that we need again. at a time in america where they're assaulting civil rights and voting rights with gerrymandering and money in politics, we need a new american movement to make sure we end the new jim crow of mass incarceration, secure voting rights and extend civil rights to lgbtq americans. this is what we want. the pundits will tell us democrats, say you know, democrats, according to our fancy polls, that the number one thing americans want, democrats want, is just someone who can beat donald trump. well they don't know us.

democrats, beating donald trump is the floor, it is not the ceiling. beating donald trump gets us out of the valley. it does not get on the mountain top. we are a nation that has always aspired to turn our common pain into common purpose. we are a nation that understands from the founding of our nation, world's oldest constitution starts with that word, we, we the people. my parent's generation, they marched together and join ee ee together and understood that their songs began with we shall overcome and now we as a nation, how we ensure that we unite a country that every day a president who engages in moral vandalism is try iing to tear apart the way we aspire not just to beat him, but to go to the mountain top is the way our

ancestors did. when there was kennedy who pointed to the moon or king that pointed to the mountain top. we joined together and said we will rise. we have seen hate before. we have seen bigotry before. but whether they've tried to beat us down at stone wall or back on the edmond pet tis bridge, we didn't turn against each other, we unified together an said we will rise. i'm running for president to unify our whole party. from those who call us progressives and but divide us in the camps at as moderates. we need all democrats together to call to this country, to stand together, to work together, to rise together. it is time now that we call for those broader coalitions. that we call to the heart and aspirations of this country. because if i am your nominee, i will inspire, engage and ignite

this nation like no other nominee can. if you believe like i do, if you want to join a movement then go to corybooker.com. i need your help, iowa because it's time we all say together in a chorus of conviction, we will rise for workers right, union rights, we will for public education and schools for all kids. we will rise. to deal with the challenge of climate change. we will rise. to make sure that we in america are truly a nation for liberty and justice for all. we're not defined by donald trump. we're defined by the the love between us and when they try to demean and degrade with darkness, we bring light. when they try to divide with hate, we bring love. remember the words of that great

american poet. may to use her phrase we all know. he may try to write us down inry with his bitter, twisted lies. he may try to trod our nation in the dirt but still like dust, we will rise. iowa, i see you, i love you. let us join together. join with me! we will rise together! our best days are ahead! we will rise together! iowa, i see you! i love you! i see you! i love you! together, we will rise! ♪

put your hands together for former congressman, john delaney. ♪ good evening, iowa. wh a great night. thank you for all you do. thank you for coming out. thank you for having me.

it's been a great night. so, since 1990, our country has grown by 75 million citizens. but rural america has shrunk by 3 million people. but you know that here in iowa, don't you? in the last ten years, in the big urban counties in our country, we've created 100,000 new businesses. which is terrific. but in the rural counties, we've lost 20,000 businesses. but you know that here in iowa. year in our u country, 80% of the money that were invest ed i

new companies was invested in 50 counties in the united states of america. out of 3,000 counties. but you know that. here in iowa. you see it across your state. opportunity is literally being stripped from rural america. and the it's hurting the citizens in those communities and it has destabilized our democracy. make no mistake about it. that is one of the main reasons donald trump is in the white house right now. and that's something i'm committed to changing as your president. i will reverse every one of those trends but i need your help to do it. so let me tell you a story about opportunity and it starts on

august 1st, 1923. a day that 16 ships steamed into new york harbor delivering 15,000 immigrants to our shores. every one of them coming to america for a better life. for opportunity. one of the immigrants on one of those ships was a little boy. and he was coming here with his seven brothers and sisters and his mother. but the day didn't go well for him. they let his brothers and sisters into the country. they let his mom into the country. but they stopped him. they separated him from his family.

they detained him. sent him to a facility and scheduled his deportation. and the reason they did that to this little boy is because he had one arm. and back then in our country, we didn't let people in who had a disability. there was no tom harken fighting for those people back then. but the little boy's family got him an appeal a month later. and the appeal was held in the great hall of ellis island. but there was very little hope. because the rules were clear. but hope actually walked into that great hallway. by the grace of god. in the form of a judge who also had but one arm. and that one armed judge looked

at the one armed boy and said i'm going to let you in. but i want you to make something of your life. and he did. that boy was my grandfather. and he did, and he spent 50 years working in a factory doing what immigrants and workers have always done. they did back then and they're doing today. they built this country. just like my other grandfather did who built ships in the docks of jersey city, new jersey, until he fell off one of them and broke his back. or just like my dad did. who was a 60-year member of the brotherhood of electrical workers, which is a terrific union, by the way. that union took really care of us growing up. he worked with his hands every day.

and he told me a very valuable political lesson. one i've never forgotten. the only one i need to know. he said, john, if you care about workers, you vote for the democrat. it's true. it's pretty simple. so i grew up at a time when america worked. when america was about opportunity. it wasn't about birthright. it wasn't about being born in the right city or going to the right school. it was about opportunity and this country has given me amazing opportunities. to get a great education. to be the first in my family to go to college. but not have to incur huge debts to do it. to start two businesses. deeply admired companies. creating thousands of jobs. getting an award from the obama

administration for our work in disadvantaged communities. you know when the republicans are going to run against us on the economy and on jobs, they can't do that to me. i'll put my business record against any one of them any day of the week. this country's given me the opportunity to serve my country. and most importantly, to be happily married to an amazing woman, my wife, april, for 30 years and have four daughters. but my story is just much harder today. the point. it's just much harder. you know, young people in our country will be the first generation of americans that will not do better than their parents. the first generation ever. i want you to think about that, iowa. and nowhere is that situation more acute than in rural america. but you know, you got to show up to know that. and democrats have not been showing up in rural america.

but i have. i've been to every one of your 99 counties. every one of them. i've, i've toured flood damage in pacific junction. i've talked about extending t theed income tax credit in marshall town. i talked about ad policy and climate change in atlantic and i went to storm lake to see how immigrants are rebuilding a town. and as i've traveled around your sta state, i've seen so many small towns that are shrinking and ageing putting huge pressure on public education and health care. this is one of the central challenges we face as a nation. because unless we actually turn around huge parts of our country, millions of people are going to continue to suffer and we will never be able to build

the kind of governing majority we need to get all the stuff done that you've heard about tonight. i will do that as your president. i'm going to launch the largest infrastructure program in the history of the country. $2 trillion. we used to spend 5% of our economy on infrastructure. now we spend two. china spends eight. we're going to get that up. we're going to recommunity, we're going to have a disproportionate allocation to rural america. i'm going to fix the broken health care system in this country by supporting rural health care. you know folks are calling for a public option. that doesn't go nearly far enough to solve our problems. we need universal health care. we need a health care system where every american gets hemt care as a basic human right. but we got to be smart about how

u we do it which is why art cullen whoet that my universal health care system is the best way to get there and in particular, it will help rural america. we got to center our climate change strategy in our heartland. not only with sustainable agricultural practice, but by investing in the greatest research and development projects in this country since nasa to come up with the innovation we need to combat climate change and locate it in rural america. we need to make sure that our tax policy works for workers, not just the rich and corporations. we ought to be doubling the earned income tax credit and we need universal prek and early childhood education in all these rural communities. this is is an unrival agenda. an unrivalled economic agenda for turning around rural

america. and it includes trade. because we got to end this trade war, which i will do as president. i will get us back in the trans pacific partnership, which was president obama's signature second term initiative and i'll end these ethanol waivers. that agenda will beat trump in rural iowa and if you beat trump in rural iowa, you know what the result's going to be on election night. we're going to run up a huge majority in this country. and that's how we have to think about these challenges. but this is where i need your help. so this race has become nationalized very early. the role that iowa played historically, the important role that you played, particularly your rural communities in having a voice in what this party's agenda is, isn't being heard.

rural iowa's issues are not center in our debate. this is is where i need your help. caucus r for me and you'll send a message that rural iowa matters. you'll send a message that the heartland matters. you'll send a message you're going to stand up and fight for your communities. and there should be dignity in jobs and opportunity in every community in this country. you'll send a message everywhere. that this is how we build a governing coalition and if you do that for me, i promise i will never forget the lessons you've taught me in my travels. i'll never forget that judge who let my grandfather into this country and the lesson in shared humanity that has guide everything we do. i'll never forget that union that helped support my family

and actually paid for half of my college tuition and i'll never forget what my dad told me that the democratic party stands for workers. i'll never forget the lessons i learned in business. creating jobs everywhere and i'll tell you what i'll never forget. i'll never forget what i've learned in rural iowa. in coffee shops and living rooms and in small towns hearing about the dignity of these community, what you've done for this country. how important you are for this country. and how you've been left behind. by policies that don't create opportunities in your xhubt communities. i will never forget that. so caucus for me and send a message that these issues matter and that we are one country and that together, we can do anything. together, we can go back to those words that john f. kep di

uttered in 1958 where he said we should not seek the republican answer, we should not seek the democratic answer. we should seek the right answer. and the right answer for the united states of america is for the democratic party to lead and to put forth a president who want s to bring leadership to this nation. wants to unify this terribly divided nation and has a vision for how we create opportunity for americans everywhere. no matter the condition of your birth. no matter the geography of your birth. we can do this. but we have to do it together. caucus for me and send a message. that rural iowa matters. that the heartland matters. that your issues are central and i promise you, iowa, i will never forget. thank you for having me. god bless you all.

and thank you for the welcome you've given me across the last two years. thank you. ♪

please welcome to the stage, senator cory booker. ♪

ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, governor steve black.

>> hello, iowa. thank you for staying for the keynote speaker! look, since getting into this race map five and a half months ago, i've put some miles on these boots . 15 trips across america's r heartland. for meeting with farmers at the great elevator in ripy. to honoring our veterans of the

mesqau u ki nation. from henry county where my great american ball park grandparents settled in 1850 to debuick county where they're not going to settle for trump again. 89 stops from mt. pleasant to nayes mason city. i've listened to you. i've learned from you and we've shared how we can make this economy and washington work r for iowans and how together, we can boot donald trump out of office. i may be the underdog in this race, but as a child who grew up in a single parent household paycheck to paycheck, as an

attorney general who took on citizens united as a governor who took on the koch brothers, as a democrat from montana, boy howdy, i've been an underdog before. this election demands more than squeaking by with a narrow victory. we need a nominee strong enough to boot him all the way back to trump tower. to defeat trumpism up and down the ballot and to make the world know that the america that is trusted, that's relied upon, that's admired, that that america is back. trump took iowa by almost ten points. took montana by a little over 20. on that same night, that same ballot, i was re-elected by 4%.

a quarter of my voters voted for donald trump. as the only candidate running that won a trump state, i'm going to tell you a little secret. that's why you all stayed. i'm going to share my tried and trued recipe for winning where other democrats don't. it ain't that complicated. you have to show up. we can't write off parts of this country because it's tough or because some party boss says it's a waste of time. it's more than just showing up. it's listening, it's understanding, it's respecting perspectives that are different than ours. almost a third of your counties voted obama twice and trump once. you're left with a republican

governor who cuts education, cuts health care, guts workers' rights and guts women's rights. this election is about taking back the white house and your state house. and not pat the victory. it doesn't just go through the coasts. it doesn't just go through the urban areas. i refuse to see the votes of rural and small town america, as folks who work the land, pass the plate on a sunday are somehow forever wedded to a new york con man with orange hair and a gold toilet. look, iowans, you get it. you have all these candidates that just love you to death. for 94 more days. then, bye-bye, we're gone.

we need somebody at the top of the ticket that can help all the way up and down that ballot and i can do so. show up, listening, understanding, that's how we win back the places that we lost and that's how we give donald trump the boot. second, we've got to be able to connect with folks who wear boots, not just wing tips. as democrats we have to be the party that fights for everyone. that never leaves working families behind. recognize the majority of americans haven't had a pay increase in 60 years, 40 years in real terms. generation of workers. i've been replaced by contract workers and temporary workers. same time union memberships half of what it was in the 1940s.

two-thirds of folks in this country don't have a college degree and this economy isn't always working for them. we need to make working people know that we're waking up every single morning and fighting to make their lives better. and that farmer getting hit by trump's trade wars, that teacher working a second job, just to afford her insulin. they can't wait for revolution. their problems are here and now and they ain't asking for everything free. all they want is a fair shot and their fair share. as a former union side labor lawyer, as someone who knows that blue-collar families live and work in places that aren't

always blue on the election map, that's how we get back working folks and families and retirees in iowa and across the midwest and that's how we give trump the boot. finally, boots are made for working, not giving speeches. because it's going to take hard work to bridge the divides in this country. it's going to take hard work to bridge the divides in washington, d.c. and you know what, if we don't take on what's holding us back in so many ways, and that's a corrupting influence of money in this system, if we don't work hard on that each and every day, everything else you've just heard about over the last 27 speeches will just be talk. climate change, gun violence, income inequality, health care system. if we're going to tackle those,

we have to tackle dark money. and i don't know about you, but me, you, most of america are tired of d.c. politicians pretending that plans and press releases and talking are somehow a substitute for doing. it's time to do. fighting dark money has been the fight of my career and it's a challenge of our time. and we can win this fight. i took on the koch brothers, i banned dark money from our elections in montana. if and we can kick the kochs out of montana, we can kick them out of iowa, montana, everywhere in this country. that's how we take back our democracy and give trump the boot.

now, let me be clear. winning doesn't mean compromising our progressive values. i'm a pro-choice, pro-union, populist democrat who won three elections in a red state. i won with trump on the ballot won with romney on the ballot, won with mccain on the ballot. don't tell me we can't win back the places that we lost. don't tell me places like iowa and montana, wisconsin and pennsylvania are any less important to the democratic party than california and massachusetts. and don't tell me that we can't turn out our base and bring back those obama/trump voters. because, you know what, while we democrats, we may have differences on some of the details, we stand for shared

values. it doesn't matter whether you wear boots, wing tips, birkenstoc birkenstocks, be we know it takes more than your boot straps to make it in america. it takes community. it takes courage. it takes coming together and common purpose to make sure that everyone has a fair shot. and when we show up, and when we fight for our values, we're going to give trump the boot. [ crowd chanting "boot trump" ] when we fight for voting rights, for civil rights and for equal rights for all americans, we're going to give trump the boot! when we stand with our union brothers and sisters, and for every worker's right to collectively bargain, we're

going to give trump the boot! [ crowd chanting "boot trump" ] when we protect a woman's right to make her own health care decisions, we're going to give trump the boot. and when we recognize that the climate crisis is a climate opportunity for good jobs without leaving communities behind, we're going to give trump the boot. when we take on rudy giuliani, lindsey graham, joni ernst and all that corruption in washington, d.c., we're going to give trump the boot! i'm in this to beat donald trump, to bridge divides, to make our economy in washington, d.c., work for all of us. and i ask you to stand with me. i ask you to caucus with me

because together, together we can boot trump. thank you so much, iowa. thank you for the good night. ♪ ♪ might have a little dirt on my boots ♪ ♪ i'm taking you uptown ♪ might have a little mud on my wheels ♪ ♪ they'll shine when you're inside ♪ ♪ going to hit the road nooul going to cut a rug ♪ ♪ i have a little dirt on my

boots ♪ ♪ and we're going to dance the dust right off them tonight ♪ ♪ ♪ got a little dirt on my boots ♪ ♪ today a microsoft executive testifies on data breaches and cyber security before a senate judiciary subcommittee. live coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. online at c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. campaign 2020. watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. c-span's campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. this week on c-span3 at 8:00 p.m. eastern, watch sampling of

our history coverage featured every weekend on history tv. ruth bader ginsburg and sonia sotomayor reflect on the impact of the first woman supreme court justice, san da dray o'connor. thursday, a look at past impeachment proceedings for andrew johnson, richard nixon and bill clinton. friday, the american revolution. american history tv fi tours all week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. next a discussion about iraq's political outlook and relations between the u.s. and iraq under the trump administration. hosted by the atlanta council in washington, d.c., earlier this month. this is about an hour and a half.