All, you look at past performance and record. That is important. Second, you look at the character of the people that are running. Do they have courage, are they honest, do they have high ethical standards . Third, what is the vision for the future . What does that individual want to do with our great country and for future generations . Let me go back. First, being in iowa, it is important to say i was a high school and college wrestler. The cyclones and the hawkeyes are some of the best wrestlers ever. It is good to be here. I wrestled all through college. When i got into politics, it started at the local level. I was a councilman for four years and a mayor for seven years. I know what it is like to have to plow the snow when you have a blizzard, to pick up the trash, to make sure the ball fields are in good shape, make sure your schools are good, your police and fire are operating efficiently, and keep property taxes down. I would not have been reelected as a councilman or mayor for those 11 years at the local level if i was not doing a good job making sure police and fire were operating, schools were good, trash was being picked up all of those local issues are important. Not only in rhode island, but across the country. Doing those Little Things that affect the people. I did it. I went to the United States senate and was there at volatile times. Bush and cheney came in. With a radical agenda. Huge tax cuts that favored the wealthy, which i voted against. Thought, we finally got a surplus, lets keep them. The tax cuts were too deep, and i was right. Then came september 11 and the war in iraq. Coming up through the vietnam your, i felt that we had just finished with a terrible quagmire and all of the veteran issues we dealt with. Posttraumatic stress syndrome and all of those real issues from being in combat. Why get into another one without good cause . [applause] thats right. I did my homework. I did my homework. I went down to the cia and found out there was no evidence of mass distraction, it was all a hoax. There is never any evidence of a wmd. I voted against the war in iraq. Immigration reforms, i was nine of the original cosponsors of mccainkennedy that passed citizenship 10 years ago. Many are talking about it today. I was one of the nine that signed up on the path to citizenship. And secure borders. In the senate i was working to control carbon dioxide, the client that of the Climate Change gas and on the forefront of environmental issues. I was working across the aisle. I was part of the gang of 14, seven democrats and republicans working together. We need more of that. Good at working across the aisle with everyone in the senate. I went to be a governor. I was governor of rhode island during some of the worst economic times. High unemployment, people losing their homes to foreclosure, and i had to turn around turn it around as governor. During my time as governor, rhode island had the biggest drop of unemployment, over my time and budget as governor, of all but 5 states. I invested in education, invested in k to 12, and Higher Education institutions, roads and bridges, Workforce Development programs. It was not easy, but i took a valuable tax dollars and made them work to most of benefit rhode island, and we had the biggest drop of unemployment during my budget in any but five states. We passed marriage equality. I thought it was important for gay people who love each other to get married, but also i thought it was important for the economy. This is a fact. And economies will prosper when you have a tolerant society. Look at all of the thriving economies around the United States. Cambridge, boston, austin. They are all tolerant and welcome everyone. The economy will do well. The immigration dream act, instate tuition for youngsters that are not documented that want to go to our state colleges. They do not have to pay outofstate tuitions. It is a big difference. We got that passed. Also as governor, when he had rollout,care rhode island was a National Leader in the number of people signing up for obamacare. It did not just happen. We worked hard. We knew it would be a difficult process of getting people to signup for an exchange. We made it happen with one of the best rollouts in the country. Not only did i get people back to work, but did good things for the future of the state. Marriage equality, the dream act, having the best Affordable Care act in the country. We raised the minimum wage three out of four years as governor. There he proud to do that. Leadership, making the state better for future generations. That is my record. First of all, i was a wrestler, that is important. As a local office holder, councilman, mayor, senator, and governor, there is no other candidate running for president that will stand here, republican or democrat, that can say they have that experience. Ive been at the local level, federal level, state level that is important as i start this conversation about who we will elect to be our next president. Theres not a lot of learning curve if you spend 11 years at the local level. Theres not a lot of learning levels if you spent seven years in the senate. Theres not a lot of learning curve if you spent four years governing a state in the state house. That is important for the next president. There is not a lot of learning curve there. The vision for the future, that is the third part. Your record, your character, my courage and making tough loads, being honest and ethical. The vision for the future. I served on the Senate Foreign relations committee. For the first few years in the senate, i chaired the middle western hemisphere subcommittee. I traveled all through this hemisphere. All of the countries in south america. Almost all of the countries in south america. I met with fidel castro in havana. I met with hugo chavez. I met with world and National Leaders throughout south america. Chairman of the middle east subcommittee. I have been to israel, jordan, iraq, afghanistan, egypt, lebanon, many of the countries in the middle east. I met many of the world leaders, also. After the mistake that we made with invading iraq, i felt it was my responsibility, my responsibility, to do something about fixing it. I voted against it, but that is not enough. We need to fix it. A couple of days ago, jeb bush was saying in 2009 it was mission accomplished. Iraq was a secure place. He is drinking some kind of neocon koolaid to think that iraq was secure. To think that we can not have those people, act, and back, and back to make those kind of mistakes. Theyre delusional if they think iraq was secure. Jeb was saying mission accomplished. We cannot have those people come back. Theyre not telling us the truth, just like they did when they said Saddam Hussein had wmds. We want leaders that tell our good citizens the truth. That is the third, the vision for the future. I want to work hard to end these ons that having going too along. We need people to get in there like president obama with the Iran Nuclear Deal to say we can work with the russians to put this together. We can work with the iranians to put this together. We can work with the chinese to put this together. That is what we did in the Iran Nuclear Deal. All the republicans are opposed to that. We cannot have them come back and break up the middle east to cause our future generations more problems. Those are the reason that i am running. Those are the reasons im running. Look at my record, all through my public career over three decades ive never had any scandals. The highest ethical standards, which if you look at my record, which i incurred you to do, you will never see any ethical scandals or issues. Courageous votes time and time again, especially the iraq vote under enormous pressure. The tax cut vote under enormous pressure. I have a backbone. I do not foot fought. I do not foo i do not flip flop. Lets and these wars and bring resources home for our roads, bridges, dams, and real structure. Environment, Climate Change and everything that is happening. It will take resources. For our health care. And the wars and bring those resources home. Trust parity does come with peace. It is what happens. Canou can have peace you have prosperity. Thank you for coming to iowa. To the fair. Enjoy the fair. A big decision that we have in 2016. First, it has to be a democrat. Second it has to be Lincoln Chafee. Thank you. [applause] does anyone have a question . Someone in the back in red with the buttons that say vote. That is a good thing. Please vote. [indiscernible] mr. Chafee access to the ballot or security . They are both important. Theyre both important. You have to have access. That is very important. To make sure everyone can vote. To not have barriers to voting. And then the security of the ballot to nature that your vote counts. Striving as Public Officials to have both of those. I know i have in my almost 30 year public career. Access to the ballot and security of your vote so it is counted properly. Yes maam. [inaudible] what are we going to do about the influence of money in politics . I am running a lowbudget campaign. This is a chance to test is it all about money . Is that how we are going to choose our next president . Is it all about money, or are we going to look at someone like Lincoln Chafee who has the record, character, vision, but might not necessarily have the money. This is a good test. I ask you voters to do your homework, shift to the issues, and the side is it all about the money . What can we do beyond that . I voted for Campaign Finance reform in the senate. Campaign finance reform has struck down parts of mccainkennedy. Your are legal issues on First Amendment rights to how much you can spend. The wealthy can spend of their own money. I would not appoint any Supreme Court justices that want to keep bending that for the wealthy. This country is getting upside down with the money coming into politics. I believe in the people. They will come forward and say, no we are not only going to go for the billionaire candidates that are backed by Unlimited Money in super pacs. We will not tell them how we are going to vote with their money. Yes, sir. For safe, reliable, affordable power for Rural America. As the governor of rhode island we met the six new england governors with the five new with the five canadian premiers. To find out how we could have safe, reliable, affordable power. The 11 of us. We came with a pact to get the canadian hydropower down. Resources of hydropower. Clean, reliable, and affordable. That has done well for Rural America over the year. Good, reliable, hydropower. That has to be in the discussion. We hear about wind, solar, geothermal but we have to power. The hydro it is affordable. It is clean. That is what we want. To premiere of quebec said us, we in the northeast could be energyen, lowcost, capital of north america. That is how important hydropower could be to the next of clean, reliable, and affordable power. Good question. Yes, sir. [inaudible] mr. Chafee the question is, how yellowcakemiss the uranium as evidence. It never materialized. It was proven not to be accurate. I went to the cia, sir. Before i took my vote on the them to showsked me the evidence you have. I have to vote on this in three weeks. They laid out with a head for evidence. It was nothing. I was there for an hour. There was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. It was a hoax. That is the truth. Theres something called the downing street memo that came back. The brits were saying there is no weapon of mass destruction. Theres another reason, but it is not wmd. Now we have to fix it. We made a huge mistake. Im glad im not one that drank the koolaid. Yes . [inaudible] mr. Chafee that is a technical fec and about the broadband. I will have to get up to speed on that. I will, i promise. Lets stay in touch, please. Get in touch with chafee 2016 and i will get you a good answer to that. I would like to give a good solid answer. Like i said im not a flip flopper. It is good to be here. [inaudible] mr. Chafee to end wage stagnation. It started with huge tax cuts. The economy was doing great through the 1990s. Bush and cheney came in with huge tax cuts that benefited the wealthy. How did they get away with that . It also brought back deficits that created the economy. The cascading sequence of mistakes. I was not buying it. What could be more popular for a politician than to vote for tax cuts . That is the most popular thing a politician could do. I thought it was more important for the future generations, wage stagnation, all of these issues to keep the economy chugging along and let the wealthy pay their fair share. I voted against every bushcheney tax cut. I do not like wage stagnation. Were back into repair mode. Raising the minimum wage is part of it. Getting the glasssteagall back and is part of that. These are things we have to do to repair the stakes aid by the republicans and bush and cheney. Yes, sir. [inaudible] mr. Chafee i would i take the Supreme Court justice . That is why this election is so important in 2016. Just think of the consequences, the environment, continuing rhese wars overseas, all of th things that come from the republicans. Part of it is what comes from the Supreme Court. Their lifetime appointments. I voted against sam alito. And roberts was the other one. I voted against sam alito because i did not think he was going to stand up for womens reproductive freedoms or marriage equality, gay rights, lgbt writes. He has not been. He was wrong on both of them as we went forward in the Supreme Court. The strategy is to get the young justices, because they are there for a lifetime. Get them as young as possible. That is the strategy. They are there for a long time making decisions. Important for the future of our country . When we look at who we vote for for president , that has to be at the top of the list. Look at the record. My character. The type of people that have surrounded myself with. You can be totally confident that i will make good appointments to the Supreme Court. You can be totally confident. Making good decisions for many decades. Yes, maam. The deficit that we have in this country it is not the deficit, the debt is getting out of hand. I am sure that war and the bush tax cuts still going on is the reason. What can we, and americans do to help get this debt down . I am a baby boomer. We will be retiring soon. These kids should not pay this. Mr. Chafee did everyone here that question . Good. The debt, deficits, and retiring baby boomers, which i am also, how are we going to pay for it question might the demographic tidal wave of baby boomers coming into the retirement system. How we keep medicare and medicaid and all of these important programs going . The 1. 6 trillion tax cuts, the war that may cost us 6 trillion over the years. The republicans are making earmarks and a spending spree that was so antito the old republican philosophy of take care of the books and let people take care of their lives the way they see fit. The eisenhower approach. It was the opposite. Getting involved in social issues and not taking care of the books. How are we going to take care of it . Again, look at my record. Ive been a