Transcripts For CSPAN DNC Chair Candidates Discuss The Future Of The Democratic Party 20170102

Communicators, Carnegie Mellon university professor, the streaming,f the book sharing, stealing, discusses the impact of data on the book, movie, music, and television industries. He talked about how Companies Like netflix, amazon, and google accumulate large amounts of data on Consumer Preferences and use it to transform industries. Detailed user information and having the skills and putting to use the data, you would think that provides them an advantage. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan two. The new Congress Starts tuesday. Watch all of the openingday events and activities on cspan. We are live from the u. S. Capitol starting at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. You will meet you representatives in here from returning members. The house gavels in at noon. Openingday business includes the election of the house speaker, his address to the whole house, and later debate and a vote on rules for the new congress. One rule in part to cure is getting attention. A proposal to find members who live stream video from the house floor. Its in response to last summers democratics city and that was streamed by several democrats. , our live coverage of the Senate Starts at new eastern and includes the swearingin of senators. Openingday continues on cspan3 with live coverage of the swearingin of members of congress. Vice President Joe Biden presides over the swearingin of individual senators, and it 3 00, Speaker Paul Ryan swears in members of the house. We will have a full replay of openingday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan and cspan2. Up next, candidates for Democratic National Committee Chair outline their plans on how to transform the party after the 2016 election. Where heard about increasing outreach, focusing on all states and not just battleground states. This is about two hours 20 minutes. Hello, roberta. I am going to ask for everyone to take their seats at this time so we can get started with this forum. I am the chair of the colorado Democratic Party. [applause] thank you. I also serve as the secretary of state democratic chairs who is the host this afternoon. First, it is really an honor to have each of you here in my home state. I am proud to say that colorado, along with our neighbor to the south and neighbors in west nevada, we are in a place where republicans broke their ways. A majority of colorado voters chose Hillary Clinton to lead our nation, reelected Michael Bennet in colorado and the expanded the democratic majority. We expanded the democratic majority in the state house of representatives unfortunately that was of the case in many places around the country as we know, and there is no reason we should sugarcoat that today. Republicans have not been this wellpositioned since the 1920s. In january 20, donald trump will be sworn in as the next president of the United States. Republicans hold more than 30 governors seats and many more state legislatures. Map, much of the nation looks incredibly red. Turnout was down and we lost our core of workingclass white voters who gave up a large part of our Coalition Since roosevelt. We have to do something, democrats. This party, the Democratic Party is the party of optimism, right . We believe we are greater standing together, greater than we are on our own and that is when the country succeeds. When everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules. But that message either did not give through in november or it was not believable this last november. Wide swaths of the American People did not vote with us and we find ourselves at a crossroads. At our next meeting in february we will elect the new Democratic National Committee Chair, and that is why we are all here today. We have four candidates in three of them are here with us today. Governor dean regrets he is on he is not able to join us, but he will be addressing us by video. Before we get started, i would like to run through some very important guidelines. First and foremost, this is a forum, not a debate. While we may disagree on our candidate of choice, i would like for us all to agree right now that we would not be disagreeable this afternoon. [applause] you should have been handed a credential when you checked in and this will be required for you to stay in this room, so please wear them around her neck at all times. Audience members who remove their credentials will be asked to leave. We are also going to ask, and this is going to be neighborly, that no disruptions are going to be permitted from the audience. Disruptive people will be escorted out. There will not be signs permitted, signs will be promptly removed. Seating guidelines will be enforced. As you know, there is a rope in the middle of the room. Everyone on this side of the extension, should be a member of the Democratic National committee or a member of the state association of chairs. Our guests are welcome but are seated on the other side of the road extension. Are the rope extension. Are there any questions about those guidelines . Seeing no questions, first, the candidates will have 10 minutes for their speech and then you will have a reasonable amount of time we will provide for our candidates to answer questions. The first introduction i would like to make to have me joined on my left, ray buckley, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Congressman Keith Ellison who represents and asokas fifth Congressional District. Jamie harrison, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. And i would ask for you all to please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. Now that we are all comfortably settled into our chairs, the first remarks are going to be by video from governor dean in the remaining order was picked as the candidates backstage in a random order. Mr. Dean hi, im howard dean. I appreciate being able to do this by video and apologize i was not able to get to denver. The dnc needs to be rebuilt on the ground up. We need to do something that i call the 50 50 strategy. Getting back to a 50 state strategy and focus on the groups that vote for us bigger than any other group, the first generation. First mobile generation. Global generation. The recent that has an attached 50 is because it is the people that vote for us for 50 years. When you vote for someone three times in a row, which they have for barack obama twice and Hillary Clinton, it is likely you are going to vote that way for the rest of your life. You have to focus on young people, have to get them out in big numbers, much bigger numbers than before. Democrats have nothing to be ashamed of. Hillary got almost 2 million more votes than donald trump did, but we lost. Some of it was water voter suppression, particularly in wisconsin and North Carolina, but we did not get the votes. The real loss was even worse. The real loss is there are more republican governors in this country than we have ever had in history of the United States. We lost more seats in the state legislatures. That means of this party has to work at the ground level. We have to organize. This is not an ideological contest. We have to organize a mechanical contrast. We have to stand for something. That is important. Being on the ground and trusting state parties and giving them the resources they need with the same strength we had before. You hire them, we will train them and make sure they are adequately paid. We need to be at the database. We are prepared to do that with the same people that brought the database in 2005 when i first became chairman of this party. We can do this again, but there are important things we must not do. One of them, we cannot allow this to be a proxy fight between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. This party needs to start again and we need to be together. The second thing we cannot do is have a chairman that is parttime. We have to all Work Together and we have to focus fully on this task. I know this job better than anyone else in this room and it requires 80 hours a week, flying 250,000 miles a year and will have to raise 60 million a year. This is a fulltime job. Here is my promise to you. I am not going to be a candidate for the Democratic National Committee Chairmanship. I think it is divisive. I have other priorities, a grandchild now but i am dedicated fully to using as much time as i can to support whoever the chairman is. I ask all of those candidates, and there are some very good ones to work fully together and to take this job is a fulltime job. I would support whoever wins. I think it is going to be a great year for democrats, but only if we do those things that i laid out before and i laid out in 2005. On record as chair was extraordinary. When i came in, it was a beautiful building, a 6 million surplus thanks to terry mcauliffe, we do not have the house, the senate and we did not have the presidency. When our team left in 2009, we had a Great Technology platform, the house, the senate and the presidency. I think that can be done again. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you to governor dean and it now jamie harrison. Mr. Harrison wow. To have to start after that. Can you hear me . No . You can hear me now, ok, great. Wow. That is some news. My colleagues and friends, i want to thank you, but first of all i want to thank governor howard dean. [applause] mr. Harrison i want to thank him for the 50 state strategy. I worked in the house of representatives at the time he proposed that and i remember being in the room when senator schumer and rahm emanuel basically said, hell no. We want the money for the the trick will see dccc. I remember my boss at the time who stood up and said, i support the 50 state strategy. In the end, howard dean was right because we picked up seats in places like kansas and i can tell you nancy, it was not on Rahm Emanuels list what we won. I have modeled my tenure in South Carolina after governor dean and we have a 46 county strategy. I just want to thank him for all that he has done for this party and for setting out a blueprint for us. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for the millions of phone calls, for the millions of doors you knocked on. I want to thank you for pouring your hearts out to make this country a better place for all americans. This past election was like a punch in the gut. It hurts. That election still hurts. The morning after the election, my twoyearold son, came into the bed with me and he looked at me and his mom and said, mommy, daddy is sad. I leaned over to him and i said, buddy, yes, daddy is a little sad this morning. He leaned over and he kissed me and he kissed his mom. You know, it was at that moment i requested was not about Hillary Clinton winning or donald trump winning. I was sad and hurting because of the consequences of this election. The consequences for my son, the consequences for my mom, the consequences for my grandmother, the consequences for all the people we love. What i have always learned is elections have consequences. Over the past two years in various venues, the American People have been yelling and screaming that we have not been listening. They had been trying to tell us something. We saw it in the resurgence of Police Related shootings in africanamerican communities where africanamericans young and old took to the streets and said, black lives matter. We saw it with the Lgbtq Community and its allies fighting in the courtrooms with its loudest voice, who we love matters. Immigrants who came to this country looking for opportunity and many escaping poverty and prosecution saying, give us a chance. Supporters of Bernie Sanders saying, our voices matter, do not take us for granted. And yes, even white middleclass working voters saying, do not forget us because we are special, too. The silver reality of the situation we are in right now, despite all of the amazing achievements that we have had under president barack obama, we have rebuilt the american economy, fought for equal rights and equal treatment for all, provided health care to 20 million americans, and despite being on the right side of so many issues, Many Americans feel we have not been listening to them. As if they matter because they do not see us anymore in their community. They do not see us helping them tackle the pocketbook issues over the past eight years. You have heard it, i have heard it, many of them said, the same problems i had eight years ago under george bush on the same problems im faced with today. So, folks, the Democratic Party has to transform. We have to transform from simply being a political organization, looking for votes every two and four years and we must become a community organization, working in our neighborhoods with grassroots activists, addressing the day to day issues faced by middle and working class voters. But sadly we have not been able to do this for almost a decade. We have not invested in the frontline of our party. Do you know who that is . All of you. It is the folks working in the state party. We should have predicted what happened because we have seen the signs. When 33 of 50 governorships are controlled by republicans with 69 of 99 state legislative houses controlled by republicans, when you have lost over 900 legislators seats in the course of eight years, weve ignored the signs. These statistics tell me that for the past years we have built a beautiful house, neighbors house, a pretty house and paid no attention to the foundation. The foundations have dried up like grapes in the vine of the california sun. Let me ask you a few questions. How many of you are defending the u. S. Democratic senate race or have a governors race in 2017 . As we see a show of hands. Keep your hands up. How many of you have less than a 150,000 on hand . How in the world can we think our state party can run effective campaigns when it can barely keep the lights on in their party. When they have to lay off their staff. My friends, things have to change in our party and that is why i decided to join this race to be democratic chair of the National Committee. John f. Kennedy stated, it is time for a new generation of leadership to cope with new problems and opportunities, for there is a new world to be won. Let me lay out my vision for the Democratic Party. We do not have the presidency and we need a fulltime chair, someone who can dedicate 100 of their time and energy to the job. In order to rebuild the party, we need to invest in state parties and territories and the democrats abroad. I propose increasing the state partnership to 12,000 a month. Minimum to fund all of these organizations. We also have to empower regional caucuses, doing joint fundraising and providing them with the economic support system so they can some work local candidates. We need regional staff in the regions as well. We need to build a bench. We have been doing this in South Carolina. We lost a political fellowship where we are training 250 young people to be the next generation of candidates, county chairs, the next generation of political operatives. Young people need a place at the table. We need a creative vice chair create a vice chair position for this young people under the age of 35. We have allowed republicans to catch up with us in technology. We need to foster a wave of political technological innovation. In my first month as chair, for the first time, i will call together a strategy retreat and call together the groups of the dccc and dmo because they have never sat down at the same table to strategize about message and direction. We have to fight to save our democracy. We have to fight against political gerrymandering. We have to fight against of water suppression and we have to do it in a nonelection year. We need to do a 24 7, my friends. We have to get big money out of politics and cultivate small dollar donors and our actions our words that if we say diversity is our greatest asset, then we need to demonstrate that by the vendors that work with the Democratic Party and the story that shawn king wrote about the diversity in the senate was deplorable. Arsenic and Congressional Staff need to reflect the diversity of our party. But finally we need to get back to the grassroots for it we going to the community, addressing the issues from things from School Supplies drives to resume building, to homeownership workshops. That is how we do constituent service. With that, i am so pleased and honored to have thrown my hat in the ring. I will talk about my background so that you guys get a sense of who i am a little bit later. I want to thank you for all of the support i have received. Thank you. I appreciate it. [applause] rep. Ellison hey, democrats. How are you doing . I want to thank jamie for the work you have been doing over the years and ray thank you as well. The fact of the matter is, we are all friends here and we plan on working together no matter how the race comes out. Yes. [applause] rep. Ellison it is critical. We are in a all hands on deck moment in everyone one of us need to figure out what we can do to help the American People reach their dreams in the era of trump. I am with jamie on this issue of just the pain people are feeling. In my own district, a young girl like five years old, she was in a room with her mother and her mothers girlfriend and her mom said, girl, go in there and watch tv and the front, the mother proceeded to tell my friend that if we are arrested and detained because we do not have our papers straight, we can care would you care for amelia . Being a smart fiveyearold comes out of the romances, i know what you are talking about. You are going to take care of me of money and daddy are deported. This is the moment we are in. It calls each and every one of us to put up when we got the three of us will put our hand in put our hat in this ring because we love the American People and we want to see our country five and grow thrive and grow, and it scares us. But we are not too scared to fight. We went to offer our leadership to you. I want to tell you, of course it is true that we suffered a very bad tragedy on election day. I tell you, i am still reeling from it, but that tragedy was a long time coming. Did you know in 2014, we hit a 70 year low in voter turnout, 36 . The Democratic Caucus is smaller than since truman. In the last election, we had a 20 year low in president ial turnout. We have a lot of rebuilding to do. We need to energize the democratic activists across the country, giving them the tools they need to build the party from the very bottom only up. All the way up. We need to do something critical, reclaim the identity of the Democratic Party as an agent for the working people of america. We have to make sure every american knows that democrats are there to fight with them. Walter reuther one cent the ballot box is directly connected to the breadbox. Martin luther king, also said, what does it matter if a man considered the lunch counter that he cannot afford a hamburger . We have to be all about that in the work started on november 9. Let me share with you my plan. I believe we need not just a 57 0 state strategy but a county strategy. Every small unit of Democratic Party across the nation needs to be in Close Partnership with the dnc and it means every state, territory and of course democrats abroad who supply a very large number of votes and can be the margin of victory in so many of our states. I do not believe there are any flyover states. I am from minnesota and i do not think i am from a flyover state that the industrial midwest. We are proud. We believe our state has a whole lot to give and so does wisconsin and michigan and i love this country. The south, every part of our country. I will tell you this, i am so proud of you because you guys did some good things in colorado. It was not all bad news. Give them a hand. [applause] rep. Ellison but also, in arizona, arizona out there . Our blue states are not just atms, not just lucky go to raise money where we go to raise money. In california and a lot of other blue states, they are a model for progressive action and we need to use that and utilize that come with tools they are giving us, not just the check, but how are you doing it so well . Let me tell you, there are a lot of victories happening. Georgia flipped three formerly red counties. Do not tell me be cannot win in the south, we can win in the south, we must win in the south. Texas, all of the county seats in harris county. Good job come on in. Great job. We can do more. Yesterday i release my platform and the want to look at it carefully and i want you to share with me your thoughts about it. The Democratic Party should not have we have to distribute staff throughout the country on a strategic basis. It years ago me and members of the progressive caucus talked about making sure we drive up voter turnout in the discover the what we do. We need to increase the funds so certainly help us know some of it also set up a Grant Program to allow every state to come forward to apply for extra money. I was talking to some state leaders that city have a plan for precinct programs. We should fund that, back that. It will give state parties and d. C. A toolkit for planning communications, technology, fundraising and more. Let me tell you, donna brazil is fighting that battle on cyber security. I tell you, they are trying to attack us, you guys and we have to be really clear that we are protected. I believe state parties, my state party chair, there he is over there, ken is my friend but he is also my partner. We worked together very closely and i am honored that you supporting me because he knows that my campaign has contributed over 1 million to state campaigns. He also knows that we have invested in local races throughout the state. In a year when it was tough all over, we sent congressman nolan back to congress. That is worth a hand. Also, i want to tell you that my district is the fifth Congressional District of minnesota and when i first got there in 2006, my district was the lowest turnout district in the state. Today, it is the highest turnout district in the state because we havent tested in turnout, 365 days a year, all over, everybody coming young people, new americans from all over the place. We are doing the deal. If electorals success as a qualification for this job, i fill that criteria. I hope you all will take that into consideration, who has actually produced electoral success and helped other democrats win . Democratic governor mark dayton won by less than 10,000 in 2010 that more than 100,000 in 2014. That is because we turned up the vote. I want to tell you, i am an organizer at heart. I walked picket lines with my brothers and sisters in later whether it is nurses, anybody i am out there with you. Postal workers, verizon workers, we are there. I have been arrested for standing up for immigration reform, so we are fighting for a new america. I have traveled to nearly 30 states the last two years alone fighting for candidates at all levels. I have the energy and the time to do the work. I am a proven fundraiser and i have raised over millions of dollars for democrats up and down the ticket and i have strong support from progressive and labor leaders because they know that when i say it i am going to do it. Let me just say i believe in unity. It is true. I was a Party Supporter but i was very active in very proud Hillary Clinton support. I believe i can help pull us together, unify us because that is so key and i tell you, i go to places where we have to go to win. I have spoken in state parties in utah, oklahoma and nebraska and also nevada. I write unity to those in nevada. Let me say, i believe in you. I know we can bring this thing back. 2018 can be a big year for democrats, but it starts with strengthening grassroots, turning our attention to turnout, being bold and standing of strong against this trump era we are facing and calling out the people that may have voted for workingclass prosperity but what theyre getting is nothing but a cabinet full of billionaires. And lobbyists and everything like that. We need to call a truth out right now. I hope to be your dnc chair. I hope to be your dnc chair, but whether i am or not, i am proud to be your brother and a member of this Democratic Party. Take you all very much. [applause] thank you all very much. [applause] think you, congressman ellison. Ray buckley . Mr. Buckley thank you mr. Chairman, jamie and keith as well. I want to reiterate what my two friends of year have said. We are not running against each other. We have committed to defend each other and as i tweeted out the other day, do not send me crab about one of the other candidates because we are united and we have chosen to believe that we can win but only if we are one party and we cannot be divided. You can say if you want, but it is not going to affect our support. Most of you have known me nearly my entire life. You have seen me as a teenager, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. You know the story about studying to become an activist at eight years old because i was so horrified by the injustice of racial injustice. To me, that became my cause. I know little kids are passionate about baseball or barbies or whatever, but for me it was elections. And starting at eight years old i started organizing campuses. That is what i believe. I have held every Position Available within the Democratic Party from 14 might counter, the war chair, city chair for five terms, county chair for four terms, treasurer of the state party when i was 21, served as executive director, served four terms as the vice chair to the New Hampshire Democratic Party and i know in my fifth term as the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and i am starting in my fourth term as president of the state chair association and serving as one of the dnc officers. As one of the dnc officers. For those of you may not know, that is not really my record. My record that i like to talk about is what is happened in hampshire in the last 10 years. When i grew up in New Hampshire, republicans laughed at the idea that we even had to compete with democrats. The election was the republican primary. The last 10 years in New Hampshire, 11 out of 13 statewide races, democrats have won. Five out of six gubernatorial elections we have won. Three out of four senate seats, we have won. Nobody in New Hampshire is strict cash is great as you track record like we have. All four members over delegation are democrats. Never before, even before he civil war. Jeanne shaheen, Maggie Hassan will also beter the first allfemale Democratic Congressional delegation. [applause] mr. Buckley how did we do that . Well, we had the success because it was the grassroots. In 2014, it was mentioned that turnout was down. It was not down in New Hampshire because we invested in the grassroots. We do not wait for the money from somewhere else. We knew there was nobody coming our way and we decided we were going to raise the money ourselves and we were going to invest and do it. What we discovered after the election, u. S. Senator after u. S. Senator in a deep purple states shopping by flies, how to Jeanne Shaheen coming become reelected . We went to the deep dive. Small state, same tv ads, everything. The difference, there is one community actually be other in the turnout was different. Why the heck is that . It was how many local people were actually knocking on the doors and making the phone calls. It worked again this year. We were the only purple state to pick up the u. S. Senate seat. We do that because of what we do on the ground in New Hampshire and that is what we need to do in every single state. We have fought back. I want you to know every time republicans in New Hampshire have success we ticket right to them and we danced back the next election. That is what we should do to donald trump and every single one of the republican elected officials weather in the state legislator, government or the white house, we need to stand up and fight back and not be shot. Not be shy. We need to be bold when we push back. My record is about inclusion and fairness. When my state was saying Bernie Sanders cannot be on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary because he was not really a democrat, i told them to court. There was a challenge filed. My went before the Ballot Commission and i said, Bernie Sanders is a democrat and he needs to appear on the ballot. I escorted bernie to be secretary of States Office to file to make sure he appeared on the ballot. If i had not taken that to make sure he was on the ballot, how different would this have been . The people of New Hampshire, 60 in the primary voted for Bernie Sanders. Their voice needed to be heard, respected and that is exactly the fairness we need out of the dnc. First off, i want to reject the notion that we can appeal to all voters. I will never be part of a party that it anyway backs out of the historic struggles. If people want to call it identity politics, they can call it politics but i got involved as an eightyearold because of inequality and that is the cause of my life and that is the cause of the Democratic Party. We will never back down. The dnc has a lot of work to do. We have to restore public trust, Democratic Base needs trust, activists and elected officials need trust. We have an attack on Voting Rights. The redistricting challenges, the hacking and now we are living in an allegedly posttruth society, but we need to get our own house in order first. We need radical change. Yesterday before the executive directors i went through a 15 point part, some of which you heres what im going to do. All dnc hires of 100,000 must be approved of the officers. All contracts over 100,000 must be approved by the officers, loans us be approved by the officers, transfers of 1 million or more must be approved. Each officer receives a free Monthly Financial support report. The executive committee, the dnc executive committee must adopt all dnc fundraising policy. President ial debate schedule and criteria must be approved by the executive committee. Quarterly Financial Reports come operational reports through the executives and senior staff must appear quarterly and get a report on their department. In annual Financial Report and operational report. We need to make our meetings more interactive. I am sick and tired. I have been on this committee since 1999 and we get talked at. We do not get asked anything. We need to be able to participate. That means in the caucuses and will have a lot more to talk about. The convention. The idea that we have 20,000 activists at our National Convention but nothing about training and were engaging them were in someone communicating with them so they are warriors for us and our causes, it does not make sense in we need to look at reviving the idea of the Midterm Convention and con ference to make sure we bring up a lot of us. I will be a fulltime dnc chair. When i say fulltime i do not mean 40 hours but 24 7. For those of you on the fcc or not what ive done in hampshire you know that i mean 24 7. I ask for your vote, i hope to earn your vote in the coming three months. I think he can do this together, all working together. I think we can go out and win. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you, raymond. Thank you to all three of you. Now it is time for questions and answers. We are going to do this a couple ways. We have the two middle aisles with two great volunteers, maureen from nebraska and alan from florida. Alan from florida, our volunteers today. What i would like for you to do is, if you are a member of this committee or dnc member and you would like to ask a question, please lineup at the microphone. Our volunteers are going to control the microphone and give it to you when i call on you, but we will do this in an orderly fashion. While that is happening, the first question is going to come from me for all three of you. Perception we know, perception is reality and politics, right . For many, the perception of this election was about rejecting what many voters see as the establishment. In controversy in the dnc during our primary, whether we like it or not, created a very deep scism within our party and faith in our party was broken. How do we begin to feel these divisions and begin the process of restoring trust in this party that we all love so much . Jamie . Mr. Harrison the first thing is, we have to get rid of this idea that there is a burning democrat or a hillary democrat or an obama democrat because as long as i have known myself, i have just been a democrat. A democrat that has been fighting for equality and opportunity for all, regardless of what you look like on how you look or background or experiences where you come from. That is the first thing. My experience, many of you know i worked on capitol hill for a while and my job i had to get 218 votes every time the bill came onto the floor made of , progressives, blue dogs, black, asiapacific, what have you. The way that you do that when you only have a majority i do, a 15 seat majority, the way you do that is you have to first understand that we win because we are a party of addition, not a party of subtraction. We also win because we understand that diversity is our greatest strength and we have to appreciate it and we have to respect it. Folks know in South Carolina that the way that i lead is by bringing everybody together, listening to all voices. That does not mean i will agree with all of the voices that speak up, but it does mean that they know they are heard and they know they are respected, and at the end of the day, they know they are part of the process in which we make decisions. I think that is how we have to do in this party. People need to feel as though they are being heard. They need to feel they are being respected. They need to feel that they matter, and i think that a lot of that comes from the leadership but a lot of that also comes from people seeing that it is not just words but there is also action. I think that is the first thing. Whomever takes this role as dnc chair needs to sit back and figure out how to bring all of these people together and how you translate that you respect them and that they have someone who will listen to them. Thank you, jamie. I thought there was a lot of good in there. Rep. Ellison i would say that we have to listen. We have to really listen. That means we have to go all across this community, urban communities, suburban communities, will communities Rural Communities and listen. That is a process every dnc member can help lead in their local community. We need to sit down with our labor friends and really listening. We are good at raising money from them, but with we really listen . I think we need to have some real listening sessions, but not just led by the dnc chair. They need to be decentralized with the dnc chair going around, shut up and listen to folks, not just tell people what is going to happen. I also think we have to get the resources to the people at the Grassroots Level. That is trusting folks. Once it looks like everybody in washington dc is sort of controlling the resources and is not get them to the people that could really use them closest to the voter, then quite honestly, even though you have not said i do not trust you, you have shown you do not trust. So, you need to spread the power out and give it to the folks closest to the voter. I think one way to listen to folks is to help Karen Clark Peterson win louisiana. I have donations coming your way. I have a phone bank coming your way and i hope to get down there and help all of us do that. The truth is, you want to show her you care about what she thinks, you listen to what she says. Mass speak for you by saying, shes asking for help because we still have a shot in louisiana to win. Am i right about that . Lets start like right now. Well, she says fast ahead. I do not have a problem with that. She said pass the hat. That guy has a santa claus hat over there. That is the thing, listening to people, going around and empowering dnc members to be the leaders not just in dnc when we are together but when they are spread across the United States. Dnc members can be saying, we are going to conduct a listening session, have a chair and vice chair, and we are going to take in your views on those going on and resources where they are most needed because we trust our leaders to distribute those resources in the right way. There is more. But that is enough for now. Mr. Buckley i touched on this a little when i talked about restoring the trust. I think really we dealt with five issues that destroyed the trust of the dnc or the Democratic Party. One was neutrality. I have the experience of serving as a chair of New Hampshire who o heavily contested president ial primaries, not one instance of me not being completely neutral. You can ask anyone who worked on any one of those campaigns. There is not a whiff of favoritism. When somebody says they are neutral, they damn better be neutral, for real. The second, the fundraising agreement. That was highly controversial. Guess what . Maybe the entire executive committee of the dnc had a role in the conversation, we might want to flag a little bit of that. The debates. Again, maybe if the executives at the dnc had a role in that, we might have been able to say, not sure if this really is the right thing to do. Superdelegates. There are ways to make this so the states are reflective of the votes. It is something that the grassroots want. It is something, we have a commission working on it, but im committed to making it work. There are ways to make sure that those who are delegates reflect the votes of their state and nine committed to that. The state convention. I watch the videos of what happened in nevada, heard the stories about what happened in maine and we had a leadership washington that decided to do nothing, and so i took the podium at our meeting in may and said, hell no. We are going to get the leadership of the bernie campaigns and i will go myself to every one of those commissions conventions. I went to wyoming in other places. We do not need to have your near riots in our state convention, but the party needs to provide leadership with that. That is my record has been and that is what i would do as chair of the dnc. [applause] we have a question over here. Question from jackson . Jones . When youre asking your questions, if you could say your name clearly and where you are from in your position. I am the state share of indiana. Guys, thank you for running and sharing your time. Everyone in this room, at least on the 2 3 side and dnc members are accountable to organizations and i want to just start by saying we respect that we need to be accountable for what the dnc provides us as far as organization. If you cannot speak, lets fastforward to 2019, 2020. Can you speak to have the dnc would or would not, and probably would, as we all have to prioritize, adjust resources and still not, i guess, make some states that are not traditional battlegrounds feel like they have been dropped off the earth . This is not a pejorative statement to any current or past actions, but this is an issue i hear a lot about it home. How do we maintain a level of the 50 state strategy, not just with money which is critical. I appreciate it, and i want to be accountable for it. It is not just money but talk about how the dnc will have to adjust resources we get into the president ial cycle and look at the battleground states. How do you strike the balance . Thank you again. Lets start with congressman ellison. Mix it up a little bit. Rep. Ellison , to say, i am proud to be for minnesota but i was born in michigan. If you do not think michigan was a battleground state, you have learned it was. My thought about your question, we have got to regard every state as contested territory, but we are going to find and promote resources to develop the vote in every single county and every single local party in this country. One of the things i hear agreement on is weve got to strengthen the party at the Grassroots Level because once we just say we are only going to invest resources in battlegrounds, we have simply, we have shrank our map as to where we can win. We cannot be a party that is trying not to lose. We have to be a party that expects to advance and that means investment. I also think when we talk about a portion, so many can be consistent over time with the resource because again, if you are working yearround to develop the voter, you will be able to get the results they were not able to get. It is kind of like, you want to have a party. If you want to have a great garden party, you are going to have to water the grass, fertilize it, long before he are ever going to have the party. If you want to raise the vote and increased turnout, you are going to have to have a longterm commitment and a durable commitment to the party whether it is in his socalled battleground state. That is how we need to apportion money. Clearly there will be places that are closer than others and we might have to make some decisions and be flexible, but there should nothing one part, one inch of the continental United States, any of these states, territories or democrats abroad that we say, we have written you off. We are not going to invest in you. We need to stick with that. So, thank you. Jamie . Mr. Dean again, we have to stop with all of the windowdressing and maybe it is because im the youngest person in the room and i do not have the history and i rely on those of you that do, but let me just say this, this seems to be the very last election cycle in which the president ial candidate takes over the dnc. Because even red states send two u. S. Senators to congress. States send members of congress to single. States havered ledge statures who draw the line a determination. So when we ignore red states. You just gave two u. S. Senators and numbers of congress in washington dc, when those people have the write the same laws that impact all of us in red states or purple states. Our thinking has to shift because my friends, let me tell you, if you are not realized this, the republicans thinking has shifted. They are investing money in all states on all levels and if we continue to only think of the president ial thing as the only operation and the only goal for the dnc, we will continue to have, what did i say, 33 governorships that are republican. Our mentality has to shift. We have to be more than just a president ial party. And so that means we have to budget. If we set the budget and say we are going to dedicate this amount of money for state parties and whatever, then that is what the budget is. Regardless of the president ial in 2020, wees up have a commitment. We have made a commitment to our state parties in the territories and democrats abroad and we have to stick to that commitment, regardless if youre a blue or if youre a red state. And each president ial candidate, when they come and try to get the combination, they need to understand that. The power is with us. It is not with a president ial candidate. If we build an organization, a Strong Organization with a strong foundation, it does not matter if you have a political phenom like barack obama once in a generation or you have a policy wonk like hillary win, because your foundation is strong. We have not invested in the foundation of this party, and that has to be our number one commitment. That has to be our sole focus of the course of the next few years. So again, that is my idea. I aint gonna window dress anymore. Thanks, jaime. Raymond, before you get started, just remember, if you have at thens, please line up microphones. The one in front of me, the other in front of allen. If you have questions, please lineup so we are not chasing folks around the room. Raymond . Mr. Buckley thank you. The best part of going last, i do not have to repeat everything. Going tosubject i was say is no more turning over the checkbook to a president ial campaign. It is absurd that we do that every time. When you get a chance to look at my 15point program, you will see it does not matter if you statered state or a blue or a purple state. It doesnt matter if youre a a targetedate or not state. When you look at that map of counties, i believe perhaps rhode island is the only state that is entirely blue. There are red areas of every single state. There are democrats that need help in every state. Part of that is having field offices, permanent Community Centers that i believe we need to create and that i talk about. Listen, the president ial campaign has enough money to do their target. Governor, the dja, the dll, they can pick winners and democratic the party. We have to get out of the business of following what their needs are. We should be about electing democrats in every single state. Thank you. [applause] good afternoon. My name is louis elrod. Im the president of the young america. Of and the other dnc members from my organization represents thousands of Young Democrats in hundreds of chapters across the country. There are those of us who believe that youth engagement, that securing the youth vote means more than hiring young people to work in Campaign Offices and means more than hiring young people like me to run campaigns. It means actually engaging young people so that they are leaders of the party and engaging young people so they run for office. My question to each of you on behalf of my membership, is, put each of you pledge to together a real plan more engagements and turnout in election years and if so, what does it look like . Raymond, you may start. Mr. Buckley thank you for the question. Gives me an opportunity to keep 15 points. Some of my youth vote,t according to the most recent down across the country, according to what people are saying. It was not in New Hampshire. We have sameday Voter Registration so we can actually track where college kids registered to vote and it was the margin in New Hampshire. That is why Hillary Clinton one, it was because of the youth vote that turned out in New Hampshire. Thats because we have longterm programs working with them. Maggie hassan defeated kelly because ofthe senate that. Frankporter defeated guinta because of the youth vote. That is how we win elections in New Hampshire. We know what we are doing. We have six state representatives under the age of 30. We had on staff i dont know if any other state Young Democrats organization had a fulltime executive director. We did. We invest in the youth, we make sure they are engaged and involved at every level at every state, and they are never not at the table. Congressman . Rep. Ellison thanks a lot for that question. It. Solutely appreciate we all have to think about how we can engage young people in this process as leaders. Not just staff, but also leaders. And i will make that pledge to you that plan is there. Let me tell you what i have already pledged. I think the College Democrats have aely have to budget. I was told that Young College republicans have 5 million bucks and college dems did not have a budget. We have to let them go toe to toe. Right . We got to be there for them. That iwill tell you think we should have a focus on college kids but also on young people. We act like everybody goes to college. A lot of people dont. I have three sons and a daughter. My second son went to Hamlin University for a semester and said, im going to go be a artist. E thats what he does for a living. The bottom line is, we have to be at the apprenticeship programs. With the connect aflcio has a program called next up and its all young of them are pretty politically sophisticated. Some of them are new to the whole thing. But they have this big old conference they bring young year. To every we should partner with them as much as we possibly can, to say, if you are fighting for fight for 15, if you are fighting for immigration reform, if you are a member of black lives matter, or any of these organizations, the Democratic Party ought to be contesting for your time and attention. Not that we want to take you away from those great advocacy groups, but we want you to know that at the end of the day, if 15, you to fight for have to pass a law and that means you have to elect somebody it. O maybe you. These are the things that i am prepared to pledge to right now. I think our labor friends can give us a lot of good advice on how we can get to kids were in a pregnantship programs. Veterans. A lot of our veterans, tdge young. Stan and iraq, are i have another son, he has not gone to college at all. He went straight into the United States military from high school. He is getting out in about two or three weeks. And he is looking for what he wants to do. We have to be able to talk to our young veterans, because they have advice on how we can connect with young people across the board. Thanks for making sure we promise to you that is going to be a top consideration. Those are some of my ideas. I would like to get more of yours. Thank you. Thank you for that question and all that you guys are doing. Again, on the front lines of this party. You look at the history of this great nation, all of the great changes in this country have happened because of young people. From the founding of this country, young people. From the civil rights movement, young people. In this next phase of the civil rights movement, it has been led by young people. When i was 23 years old, i was youngest nonprofit xeskts in the country when i nonprofitun a called sledge summit which helps lowincome young people get to college. Took it from an organization we worked with a few hundred students to now working with 17,000 young people, all country, getting them to college. When i was 29 years old, i became the first african and youngest executive director of the house Democratic Caucus. In the 200 years plus of the house Democratic Caucus, which is the oldest organization in the house, i was the first africanamerican and youngest at 29. At 36, i became the youngest state party chair in South Carolina ever for the Democratic Party. If i am elected chair at 40, i will be the youngest d. N. C. Chair. So i know about providing young people with opportunity and allowing them, and giving them the opportunity to exceed and excel. That is what i do each and every day in South Carolina. If you talk to any of the young carolina,bury maxwell is my president and much timei spent so with her. Right now i am writing a book with a republican friend called, climbing the hill, how to make a difference. That is what young people want to do, they want to make a difference. They want to be a part of this. They want to build their future. It is important that we do that. We have invested so much in young people in South Carolina. Vice chair is under the age of 35. Thats why im proposing that we under35 d. N. C. Vice chair position because i believe be atoung voice needs to the table. In addition, in South Carolina, the James Clyburn political fellowship, geared towards young people. Training them to run for office. Not just to be the field staff. But to run for office, as well. One of my candidates who ran against mr. Benghazi himself, old. Gatti, was 26 years and he went toetotoe with trey gatti. And helped him on debate prep. It made me beam with pride. That is what i am all about. Empowering young people so they can be their own future. That is my life history. That is my life story. I am in this with you. Thank you all. Rick. Nks, jackson ravens, chair of the Washington State democrats and thevice president for Western Region for the asdc. There are 13 states in the Western Region, about a quarter room. Individuals in this it is good to see the three of you representing the south, the midwest and the northeast of country. I would like to ask a little bit as we talk about Grassroots Efforts and building the party drilling down on those experiences that youve all spoken passionately about, done in yourve regions. As we know, it is a little different in different parts of the country. My question to you is, could you your a little bit about experience, your knowledge and your plans for working with states in the western part of states . Ed often times there is the feeling that we are considered a very large blue Cash Register or a small red state that is a state. We deserve more than that. We have constituencies in the west that extend across borders. We have challenges that are unique. I would like to hear a little about your experience and plans for that. Thank you. Why do you go ahead and start . Mr. Harrison jackson, as i said, i worked in the house with caucus. E that means representing and working with representatives states. Of the understanding when you have get 218 votes, sometimes votes come on the house floor that some members just cant take. They cannot vote the way that the leadership wants them to vote because of their constituents, and cultural aspects of things that just dont fly in their areas. One of the things that we have to do a better job of, and we in some ofticularly our western states, is and i talk with a party, we about these values but then our words betray us. Me. Se but our Actions Betray us. In some western states you have a lot of native american communities. I have been doing some work with the Kellogg Foundation and they do so much work in native american communities. Its big. And whats going on right now, guys, itpipeline, breaks my heart. It absolutely breaks my heart, that we as a party are not standing up. [applause] mr. Harrison and so, i mean, again, we cannot just talk about this folks, we got to be about it. We cant just talk about it. And i, to this point again, i love the president dearly, but time for some leadership. I know he only has a few more weeks, but it is time for some leadership. It is time for cory booker, who is my man, i know he stood up. And sent a letter. But it is time for some leadership from this party to stand up and do what is right for the people. So, jackson, just know that coming from a red state that is always the stepchild of the Democratic Party, or at least has been for the past, what, the 1960s, 1970s, i know what it is to just be used for aspects and not feeling appreciated. I want you guys to know that this is a commitment from me, not only for just our blue states and the states we need, but for all of the states. Have a partner in me who will work each day and every night doing what we can to do what you need to be done. So that is my commitment to all of you. [applause] thanks, jaime. Let me tell you, i am firmly committed to elevating the voice of our western brothers and sisters. I spoke at the state Democratic Party at the state of utah. I actually think i have done that twice. I was very honored to be there with my brothers and sisters in nebraska. I think jane clave is out there somewhere, there she is. How you doing, jane. Talk about pipelines, there is the original pipeline fighter over there. Absolutely. I have written letters asking the president to divert the pipeline that i have also spoken at alleys about it. Tried to spoken and say that we weve got to get into a conversation with some of in labor who are on the other side of that debate to some kind of a conversation because we have construction workers in native communities and water and and its complicated the Democratic Party should be a source for getting us in a room and coming out Holding Hands together. Never sacrificing where we stand on the issue of the environment. And son rinnty sovereignty rights. Let me also say i have been to nevada. Spent five long hours stood with the nevada Democratic Party many times. But there were fractional differences that i saw in philadelphia. I went to speak at the veryfast and folks had sharp differences of opinion. They asked if i would come to nevada to sort out a memorandum of unged and unity agreement . I said i absolutely will do that. Then weeks later later, got on a plane, went to nevada, sat in a five years until we came out with a memorandum of understanding between sanders and clinton supporters. So. Was glad to do because i think it was something that our dnc chairs should do. Understand that conflict and sit part of human a existence and we need to help and sort those conflicts out. That is why i did that. I have campaigned and colorado a bit. One of our western states. In arizona, and in Washington State was really happy to go out hermella jiapal win our race in seattle. Give a hand to pamela. I have spent the time, and will spend the time. Texas is a southwest date. State. But being there and campaigning to help chairman a city council person. It is not just the federal office, we are working on the granular level. That has been my commitment. Actually putting my feet on the ground and spent time, supported candidates, sent and given of myself to help resolve conflict. I think in the west, the state california, ive run out of time but ill tell you more in a little while. Its rays turn. Mr. Buckley i promise, i didnt pay jackson for that question im glad he did ask it. My eight years as president of the asc, i have been to every at least eight times, nearly a dozen times. Have to take that back. Ive never been to hawaii in the years. Ght if you want to send me, i would be glad to go. New years sounds good. I have been there. There has never been a committee or a meeting that did not include western states in the conversation. To cut it really quick, if you have any concerns about my commitment to the western states, you should talk to elita the westernchair of states Democratic National caucus, whos supporting my candidacy. Thank you, raymond. I think we have a couple more questions. I want to maybe be more of the provocative question asker, since apparently we have some members. Nce there is a line . Oh, ok. They are sitting down. All right, ryan. Go ahead. Ryan . Is it on . Good afternoon, my name is ryan ramirez, i am the chair of the native american council. Im here for the d. N. C. , a chippewa band of north dakota indians fromble fort, north dakota. One of the few. Holland fromdeb new mexico, the first native american state party chair. My question is, some of what was answered. I would encourage you guys to make sure and include us in your comments. When you talk about different groups, not one of you talked about native americans. When you talk about latinos, americans, african americans, you got to include inive thats a big thing terms of our communities. That was something that the frontobama did on end and really garnered a lot of support. I dont want to see us go of thats in terms messaging and that place. I ask, i humbly ask that you include us and do not forget about us as the first americans. Then secondly, i was going to get to the Dakota Access pipeline. I dont to get is a complex issue between labor and tribes. It is a simple issue. It is about civil rights, its about human rights, it is about the right to have clean drinking water. Not a complex issue. It is something that we, as a party and as a people, need to stand up for. When you see our indian brothers and sisters out there getting hosed down by, water hoses in freezing temperatures, that aint right. That is a simple thing. It is not complex. I beg to differ with you on that, mr. Ellison, it is not complex in the least, it is simple. It is a fundamental right for tribes to be able to defend themselves and have access to clean water. Everybody else in that Community Needs clean water. They deviated it to protect the cities, why wont they protect our reservations . I appreciate the time, but i did again, just echo that its not a complex issue. Issue. Simple thank you. [applause] ip. Ellison if i may, absolutely agree with you, which is why i have spoken at rallies minneapolis. Y in which is why i have letters contesting and disputing the dapple pipeline. And have been on record. I would like to send those to you. I am on record of standing with you and with the dapple protests. I really do want to tell you, it is absolutely unfair and Environmental Justice abuse to deviate the line towards a native community and run the risk of their water, when you made the decision to avoid a white community. I think you are absolutely right. The treatment of the protesters has been abysmal. Youre absolutely right. Atch is why i spoke out public rallies and have signed the letters. I do want to tell you though, i have had people come into my office and tell me, the workers are not to blame. We didnt design it. We didnt do this. Its not our fault and we are make a living, cant way fuss for us for the democrats to try to winwin conversation. We are not talking about the company, i dont give a rip about them. What i am telling you is, i have a long, strong record of fighting for indigenous rights. Environmental justice. I started a group called Environmental Justice advocates of minnesota, which includes native americans. Been up to the wyatt earp and several reservations issues. For these but we have another part of our democratic coalition, people who are workers, Union Members. And i am just saying, we have to create an environment where we can have a conversation. I hope you agree with that. I dont think the protesters toward theimus workers. I just think that we have to create an environment where we can come together and have a valid conversation. That is what i want to share with you. I will tell you that, you are absolutely right when you say we have to lift up native american struggle. That is why peggy flanagan, susan allen, state legislators in my state, i have backed them and helped them win and also throughout the state of minnesota. But my only point was not that the moral issues are complicated. Not. E right, theyre but we have this worker issue, and i think we have to talk about it. Thank you, ryan. I enjoyed serving with you on the executive committee the last couple of years and it is empowering to hear you being mentioned. I did not actually go through the litany of the people because i believe its all. I know what it is like, according to the new york times, the first openly gay guy elected to the state legislator in american history, i know what it is like to hear lgbtq mentioned. As only the second openly gay state chair, the first one to lead this organization and first openly gay person to be a vice chair of a national party. I know what it is like and i know what it feels like, and i apologize if you didnt feel you included by us. Our support is more i have cosponsored the resolution for tomorrows executive committee, about the pipeline, because i believe we all need to stand you. We will also lead in effort. Once, we were told that it was important to the native American Community about the Jefferson Jackson dinners. State by state by state as removed thosehave names. Different states have gone with different names. But we understand the pain and the tragedy that occurred with the trail of tears. We agree that it is inappropriate for us to operate celebrate that. We absolutely stand with you. I dont think that anyone here meant in any way to offend. Mr. Harrison ryan, you are tremendous and the work youre doing is tremendous. As i left off in my remarks earlier, everybody wants to feel like they matter and that they are respected. Lord knows the native American Community has been disrespected from the start of this great nation. Tusslingid, we were with it even in South Carolina. I guess it wasnt a tussle unanimously our executive committee decided to get rid of the name of the Jefferson Jackson dinner. I got a lot of blowback from folks, one person said, Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina. I said, so was john c. Calhoun, and . What does that mean to me . When my brother hurts, i hurt. When my sister hurts, i hurt. That is what we need to be as a party. Listen, it is not about revising our history or what have you. Our history is our history, we have to learn from it so that we dont repeat it. But at the same time, we do not have to continue the hurt and the injuries from that. So, i stand up with you man. Im with you 100 . Im with the community and whatever i can do and the fight, just know that im here. Thank you, jaime im martha lanning, the chair of the Democratic Party of wisconsin. I have a simple question, but one that is incredibly important. I think if we answered it in this election, we would have a very different meeting and a very large celebration right now. And it is, how will you work to engage or i should say, to reengage voters who are from the industrial midwest . Rep. Ellison being from the industrial midwest, i can tell you that what we have to do is sit down and listen to people about the economic pain they have been in. Plant closings, people who are hoping the plant does not close, even when they threaten to close the plant and dont, theyre concessions. Ge people are dealing with this day in and day out. In some states, we have governors that have not accepted the medicaid expansion. In the age of trump, none of us may have that. In the industrial midwest, i think people should know that we dont consider ourselves a rust belt. Were not rusted out. Go. E up and ready to the other thing is that, we are very diverse. I dont mean racially diverse, i mean we are geographically diverse. We have some folks that live in Rural Communities, suburban communities, urban communities. But addressing this idea of the deindustrialization that has 40en place over the last years and has flattened our wages has been a real serious issue. I think the Democratic Party should be loud and proud about collecting bargaining rights. [applause] rep. Ellison collective bargaining started in wisconsin and yet wisconsin is one of the under attack and public employees, we all remember when you guys so stood in there fighting against scott walker. The whole world saw your courage. You have to have a Democratic Party that stands with you. I think we should really change our language. Meaningthink anybody is it in a bad way if they say flyover or rust belt. But we need to enrich and enhance ourselves, like the comment of making sure we talk native communities and the Key Partnership we have with them. We also have to talk to parts of the midwest,like south, to make sure that we to somebodybute feeling left out, lost, included. T, not i can tell you that, if we invest in the grassroots, on the ground in wisconsin, michigan and iowa, and minnesota, if we do that, and we prioritize voter turnout 365 days a year, we will willhose folks back and we win all over this country and in the midwest. [applause] jaime . Mr. Harrison i think a lot of the pain that is being felt in the midwest is also pain felt in the south as well. Very similar, the textile industry in South Carolina was hit hard. To other types of industry. Tourism became one of them. Some manufacturing has come also at the same time when the three of us spoke to our friends at the aisle croix, i mentioned this this. O, i mentioned that we do not have very many unions in the south. There is Union Presence down there, but it is very, very small. It is a very small footprint. Then we have, at the same time, we have unfettered demonization of folks who work, who are Union Members, by our leadership. Nikki haley has called Union Members thugs and everything else. As my grandmother would say, everything but a child of god. It is hard to push back. This is what my message was to our friends in the unions and in the labor movement. Yall have to help us. It is hard to push back against that if you are not down there , if youre not working with us down there, if youre not trying area. W that many of the pain that you guys are feeling are the pains that we are also feeling in the south. I can say this, you guys know my background by now. I grew up in rurual South Carolina. Mom was 15 years old when she had me. My grandfather worked in construction. Had a fourth grade education. My grandmother worked at one of those textile plants that was shuttered. She had an eighth grade education. I know what it is like to be on food stamps. I know what it is like to have your lights turned off. I know what it is like to see your wages not increase or if they increase, nickel increase or a . 10 increase. While the price of goods continue to go up. The price of gas continues to go up. The price of clothing continues to go up. I know what it is like to lose ground. That is what a lot of folks are feeling. A lot of folks say, there is a black man from rurul South Carolina, does he understand a white man sees . Those same poor black people and the same poor white people are shopping and going to the same places all together because they are all broke together. So yes, a black man from rural South Carolina does understand woman white man or white from rural South Carolina is going through. And guys, theres a lot of pain that is still being felt. When you have unemployment in of these areas that are still in the teens. So i am in the fight with you. Raymond. Mr. Buckley thanks. Our problem, in any one of our communities, not just in the rural areas, but in the inner that we showll, is up weeks before the election and expect somehow to be miraculously connecting to the voters. Theyre smarter than that. The dnc has a new tool. It is called the building fund. We can take dollars that dont count against anything else. Kindsrts of interesting of money. Lets raise the money in the building fund. In my 15point plan, i want to work with every state party. There should be a field office. I like to call it a Community Center in every single Congressional District across the country. Because i found in new we had 27 regional offices, more than half of them comingt paid by anyone out of washington, or brooklyn. They were the local people raising and helping with it. It was a partnership between the state party in the local people making sure they had a office. We rented them early and developed them all across the state because they become Community Centers. People come, they see it, they become part of the families. Visiting with their friends. Door. Ng opening up the maybe we do not have a fulltime stoppers in, but it is the place to go. Other organizations come in and utilize it. If someones doing a postcard to protect womens rights, let them use the tables and chairs. If it is about voter protection, let them come in. Invite people in. We will have that conversation in the community. We need to get back into the union halls, we need to get back into the church halls. We need to get back into the communities across the state. Are too much of the gobbledy basement in the washington or some other place telling us, here, analytics. That. We need to Start Talking to the people. If we talk to people they will understand what we believe in and be with us on election day. [applause] thank you raymond. Vanna, youre next in line. Terry . Terry tucker. We are going to move into one minute answers for the next several questions. [laughter] oneminute answers. Nothis isnt a yes or question. You all talked briefly. Would to introduce yourself . Sorry, it terry tucker, i am a dnc member. You all talked briefly about unity between the bernie and hillary people and we have to bring ourselves together. The grassroots are already starting to do that. Ideas. Re not new we are beginning to have little meetings, unity meetings between us. We are doing things with each other, so that we are unified. The important question i have for you is the unity commission. Do you have an idea . I think were under a time deadline that the members need to be appointed shortly. Do you know who you want to appoint . If you dont, are you going to let us know . Or will it be you appointing because of our deadline . Im very interested in this commission and what your plans it. For ray . Mr. Buckley i am trying to remember if the appointments have to be made before february 25. Me thata part of believes it has to be and that it will be Donna Braziles appointment. Oh, mr. Roosevelt. Was i correct, or was i wrong . Terms of the this is jim roosevelt, cochairs of rules and bylaws. By the terms of the convention resolution, the appointments are to be made by the next elected the Democratic National convention. Mr. Buckley you already know where my commitment is. A lot of the problems that we had came with a lack of understanding and appreciation. I think we need to make some radical change to how we do a process. I believe that the charge is not to simply look at the issue of center delegates but to look at the issue of how primaries are governed and caucuses are of that work. Ll i think there is an enormous amount of work that can be done people feel respected and included and involved. That is why i offered all of those reforms to the dnc itself. Thank you, keith . Mr. Buckley since i thought was making appointments, i havent given any thought to it. Sure. Rep. Ellison no, i dont have any specific people picked out. Get us away from that kind of thing. I think we ought to have people who are interested identify themselves and i think we ought to be a Diverse Group of people differentpresent all sides of the debate. I think the Democratic Party should be democratic. Say, and i just want to that i just want to say, one of the most important things we can do for ourselves as the Democratic Party, is not just to be fair, because we have to do that, but also to appear to be fair and set up transparencies so that Everybody Knows what is going on, how folks are chosen. They had a shot, we cannot guarantee you will get in there, but you are to be able to you ought to be able to like. Ipate if you i think that this is definitely a real reform that we have to make. Transparency, sensibility and inclusion. Mr. Harrison i also thought that donna was making the appointments. Nonetheless, i agree with what keith said wholeheartedly. I think we should have a process, if there are people who interested. My caveat is they have to be people who want to be unified because theres a lot of people who dont want that. They want the conflict and the backandforth. I do not have any time for that. As my grandma always told me, to get respect you have to give it. What i have seen, i had someone tweet, i guess we got cameras here so i cannot use the f bomb. They basically told me, when i was thinking about jumping into this process, i needed to stand down. Folks, im a poor black man from carolina. My entire life people have been telling me to sit down. That aint happening anymore. I am not going to tolerate it. [applause] mr. Harrison we have to respect each other, we have to respect each others backgrounds and points of views. Because we are all different. And that diversity is our strength. But it creates issues as well. And so, whomever we pick on this, it has to be people who understand this. That that is the greatest strength of the party and the greatest strength of this nation. Thank you. Thank you, jaime. My name is deborah holland, i am the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of new mexico. Thank you for allowing me to ask a question. I dont know if it is a question as much as a comment. But ill tell you, after i won my election in 2015, about five later, i got a facebook said,e that congratulations, youre one of three native americans on the d. N. C. So currently we have a caucus of three people. If you are calculating, i guess i should say that i am a very proud member of 10 of the native voting population in new mexico. A lot of native communities in new mexico have up to 40 unemployment, and they still get out to vote and they vote 90 for democrats. I think that we are all missing a tremendous opportunity if we are not really, really working to engage those people. So first, i encourage you to american desk at the d. N. C. Year round. Dont suspected it because we year. Have an election those folks need to be engaged yearround. Secondly, if we are looking at the population of our committee here, we should have at least 20 native american members on this committee. So i urge you all to work, and i know you can do that through parties. Te and i know some state chairs who are tremendously engage with their native voters, but we need you, our leadership to do more. To make sure that we get those numbers up. I am sure there are other ethnic groups who need representation on this committee. I am not sure if you want to answer this or take this as a comment, but that is what we need. [applause] rep. Ellison i just want to say, i think its critically important that you made that point. Im committed to increasing the the d. N. C. , in increasing the native vote, think thats critical. I also want to say to you, congratulations on a pretty good year in new mexico, in what was year acrosstough the country. There were bright spots in new mexico was one of them. Thank you for your leadership addition toin increasing the native american d. N. C. , we need to increase it in congress, as well. And in our elected offices all across this country. I am in that commitment with you. Thank you, deb. Mr. Buckley in the 1988 convention, Jesse Jackson in part of the unity pledge, that we all agreed to create a series of appointments to the d. N. C. To make the d. N. C. More reflective of the Democratic Party. Of america. Important first and second and third step for many of our communities. There was a time on our executive committee of the didnt have an out lesbian. I announced, and some of you may how hornery i was, that i was voting no on every single the d. N. C. Comeskt community until we had an out lesbian, then we got one. I was like, ok. We need a transgender member of the dnc. That is the first thing i said kaine when he got elected. We need to make sure someone is on their, she was on the stonewall board and she would be fantastic. She was the first. I now believe we have three on the d. N. C. We need to use those appointments and that power of ability of bringing in the communities to make sure the dnc absolutely reflects who the Democratic Party is and who we want to be. Senator . Senator Karen Carter Peterson and chair of the louisiana Democratic Party. Thank you all for what you are doing to tampa us with the december 10 election. I appreciate it, keep it up. I will be passing the santa claus hat later. We were speaking about diversity. I would like all of the ladies to stand up please and stand up to show you are here and present. Those of you that will be voting in february for the next chair of the dnc. So you see all of these wonderful ladies, gentlemen . Do you see them . They are voters. [applause] you have not mentioned to us heres yourt opportunity to tell us, because you know the gender gap is getting wider for the democrats. We dont like that. Ondid not break the ceiling november 8. We dont like that. We are very frustrated. I was in North Carolina right before the election doing a lot of work. I saw a wonderful woman offer herself for the u. S. Senate and she came up short. Now, the governors race, governorelect cooper, did really well. I was perplexed because i went to a lot of those rallies. And i saw deborah ross and i was on . , what is going then josh stein won. Win the a. G. Race and the race. Atorial you look at some of those numbers. There is something going on. We need attention, just like other caucuses do. Our womens caucus needs your attention and wed like to hear a little bit more about how you focus on us. Thank you. Minute. Nd, you have one mr. Buckley your check will be in the mail, thank you for that question. Women toected more office than any other state party chair in american history. We have our two Democratic Women as governors, now u. S. Senators, members of congress. We had the first female majority legislative body in new after the 2008 election. I just want to throw one thing in there. The asdc have been my base. That is why i have been reelected every time. My executive committee, there was almost two thirds of executive committee were women they really felt they had a chance to be involved. This is something i brought up to the rules committee two years ago. Because we are unique in New Hampshire, i still think, because i get a lot of pushback in New Hampshire, women are the only part of the dnc that has a ceiling. I do not understand why it is not a floor instead of a ceiling why are women limited to only 50 . We have could 100 african lgbtq, 100 native american, 100 all of them but women cannot be 51 of our body, cannot be 51 of any committee or 51 of the convention. Thats wrong. Rep. Ellison ray, thanks for elevate theone to voice of women. I share your commitment. Senator, i just want to recognize that, in this year had the chance to elect the first woman president of the states, the most renowned misogynist ever won the election. This is something we all need to stop and contemplate for a moment. We live in a world that is sexist and unfair. And all of us have to have a to eradicating this. Know that to let you im elected share, ill use whatever power i have in appointments to make sure that is elevatedvoice strong and equal. More than that, we will recruit women candidates to run and to win all over this country. I was so proud to see a young woman in my Congressional Office be elected to the Minnesota State legislature. And i am committed to that in the long term. Thank you for raising the issue. Mr. Harrison i was raised by a single mom, so i know the power of a woman. And i am married to a powerful one. Yale and harvard graduate and woman i the smartest know. I am going to make some news here. Just say this. I know that we have been throwing around some things about whether or not we are going to have a chair, or whether were going to have a cochair. Let me just say this, if we do go to a cochair model, it needs to be one man and one woman, because that is what we do in our states. That is what we need to do if we are truly committed. Again, i am tired of the word and its all about the action. If we are going to go to that, then that is the model we need to do for this party as well. [applause] thank you. Yes, maam . Hello. Names jane kleb, im the incoming chair of the nebraska party. Tic congratulations. Thank you. One of the things i ran on was promising folks in our state that the Democratic Party was going to lead on issues, not candidates, that we have to be in the streets showing independents and democrats that backbone. When it comes to big issues like, the xl pipeline, the Dakota Access pipeline, there are about 10 democrats that stood with us. Representative ellison was one of them. A lot of the democrats nationally said nothing. While our native brothers and sisters are getting hosed with water, farmers and ranchers land taken wayir by Eminent Domain for private gain. I want to know, what issues you guys are going to talk about . What is the issue you really care about that is important to democrats that is currently not being taught about, that you are going to elevate to the National Level . To that i follow up since were running out of time here. In the coming years, if you are elected party chair, in addition to what our new chair from how are you going to lead our party in opposition to the Trump Administration but appeal broadly to the aspirational hopes and dreams of americans. They are not necessarily the same thing. Keith . , rep. Ellison jane, thanks for question. Let me tell you i am proud to oppose the Keystone Pipeline and pipeline. Access are soues that i think critical, its so hard to pick we have got to address this just one. Economic malaise that so many through. Are suffering that is a bundle of things. That is minimum wage. That is a fair trade agreement. I was a clear opponent and fought tirelessly to end the Transpacific Partnership and fight more to make sure that our working people of this see their jobs go away. Healthcare access is on the line. They are talking about repealing it right away. I think we need to go back to having mass rallies and gathering democrats in local communities and in washington, but all across the country to raise their voices and rally trump. The era of attractu we could literally thousands of people if we start really creating a movement. I think this will attract people and appeal to the broad nation because trump said he wants to talk about jobs and all this other stuff but the truth is to deliver any. He has lobbyists, and he is and everything else. We will stand against that. I think it will get us back in time. Jority in a short mr. Buckley i have to believe that is how we will get the young people. As i travel around to your state parties, youve heard me say this enough. I should not be the youngest person at your state Central Committee meetings. [laughter] mr. Buckley there should not only be one or two people with hair. Lly brown we need to engage and involve people. Young people will come to our meetings and organizations if there is an action item. There is nothing like a gathering of people. I am sorry, that is why we go to church every sunday. Or saturday. We go because we want to get together and feel good. That is why we meet. Is to be a collective and be a part of something together. That is what makes us americans. Why we have gotten away from doing that, i cannot understand. Thats why i talked about the Midterm Convention, i think that is important. Lets blow open the doors. Lets let everyone come in. Lets let everyone have a voice in the party. Lets showcase all of these phenomenal people weve got all over there. There is a rally on january 22 in washington with the million mom march. I absolutely believe that has to happen, not just in washington but ive told in New Hampshire, were going to do it across the state. We want a couple thousand people in the community. Some people cannot travel to washington, but they can take a stand against what donald trump stands for. [applause] mr. Harrison i just want to say, time limits are discrimination against talk, wers because we take a while to talk. We should get an extra five seconds or something. Three things, the greatest threat to our democracy right now, political gerrymandering. [applause] mr. Harrison greatest threat to the growth of our party right now, young people. Why . Because they align with us alignwise but they dont with us in terms of identifying themselves as democrat. We have to change that. I have 160,000 hours of student graduated from law school with 160,000 of student loan debt. Sallie mae gets a check every pay myrom me before i light bill and everything else. That is what young people are faced with. We have to help them tackle that. Last thing, economic stagnation. Credit, i tried to get the Clinton Campaign to talk about this. Poor communities, credit is the biggest barrier to living he american gues if we do not tackle that and help people with that, we never will. Henry munoz of texas. I have one of those terrible twopart questions. It was like you read my mind. I spent a lot of the last four years traveling around the country. I thought we had a project by which we would go back and look at the cultural identity of this brand, the big d of being a democrat. What i found is that young people and people of color do not understand what that means for them and how it has an impact for their lives. They have lost this connection to what it means to be a democrat. We hire Political Consultants to help us fix that, when in reality, it is a cultural issue. A part of the cultural fabric of the United States. How would you fix it . The second thing is, i do not have an issue of what you have spoken about today, i just want to know how you will pay for it . [applause] mr. Harrison i am going to be calling you to help me raise some of that money brother. Seriously, the biggest challenge in raising money, i remember when i became chair and folks said, jamie, you are a young black man. This was coming after the big trial lawyer. You have to give people something to invest in. That is why Bernie Sanders was able to attract small dollar donations. People saw him and wanted to invest. Same reason with barack obama and howard dean. Again, it is talking to our donors spirit we are basically venture capitalists. Here is our initiative, here is our project. I believe if people saw the plan and the vision, they will come and they will invest. The second thing that you said, one of the things that i talked about earlier. South carolina democrats care. Going into the communities on a Grassroots Level, helping people tackle the issues that they face on a day to day basis. We have to get back to that. We have to at the same time demonstrate. What is going to discourage folks, is when they saw that the senate did not have black folks or latinos or native americans or anybody. That just kills us as a party. We have to tackle things like that. Rep. Ellison when it comes to attracting young people to identify as democrats, i think of something my dad always said. He said, if you want a friend, one. When you see young people, fight for 15, occupied wall street or all of these movements that are out there, but it could access pipeline. The immigration fight. The Democratic Party has to stand with them and make clear that we are with you. That means, being there and walking that walk and being there. I think that is absolutely true. Somebody asked me if i think we need to go left or right . I think we need to go deep. That means build durable trust relationships based on unity and connectivity and the answers will clearly comp fundraising wise, henry, you are the man on that. We definitely will rely on you, but let me tell you. I have raised millions of dollars for the d triple c. Over a million given to my state party. It is a strong message and people need to know what they are investing in. If that message is compelling, i believe we will get there. Thank you for all you have done. We owe you a debt of gratitude henry. Thank you for your question. Mr. Buckley first off henry, i would ask you to return as finance chair. [applause] mr. Buckley but seriously, when the donors out there, when there is a little old lady that wants to send in five or 10 a month, which he trust is that we are spending it correctly and not wasted . With our staff understand that that is not wasted away . That might have been a meal for that woman. People need to take that seriously. When our big donors see an action plan, which proves positive of getting into the communities, it is a hell of a better investment than a tv ad. We have all the money in the world to give to the corporate media. We have all of the consultants in washington. 60 million in New Hampshire was spent by the various groups in the u. S. Senate race. 250,000 for field. That is wrong. My names run harrison, i am elected for minnesota. There has been a lot of conversation about gerrymandering. We go biggest threat and back to the legs la tours and the sets. Like to hear if youre is your. Chair, what plan for candidate training at the National Committee level. One of the greatest challenges that i thought undraiser would be the hardest thing as a chair. Thats easy. People would say yes or no and calling and keep on. Greatest challenge was fining and training those candidates. We launched a fellowship. That. D i do i went to congress lie burn and to do this scholarship. To be thethem trained next generation candidates, chairs or field staff. We created a curriculum of not just the nuts and bolts of campaigns, but what it meant to be a leader a. M. We have done this six weekends, three days, intensive workshop in which we over everything from a to ity in terms of campaigns and leadership. We just graduated our first class of clyburn fellows, ready to. And we are graduating the next class in they represent every county in our state and that is what i am doing in order to build. That is what i want to replicate. Thank you. Dont fall off your chair a few all know this. I have been one of the lead recruiters for the house for nearly 40 years. I started working for congress when i was 19yearsold. Recruiting, training, electing people. We have 4000 municipal officers up every year in New Hampshire. Our governors race is up every two years. In New Hampshire, if there is one thing we have it is plenty of elections and plenty of opportunity to run for office. It is critically important to show support and that is what we have been doing in New Hampshire for decades. I agree we have to set up programs to train young people. I am pleased to be part of one called wellstone action. We help campaign and recruit. One thing i think the dnc can do for valueadded with communities as every time they get in front of a group of people is to talk well about public service. When we get up there and say government does not work, that does not help recruit people to run for public office. We have got to tell young people that running for office is noble and good. Putting programs in South Carolina and New Hampshire, welfare action. I have recruited many kids for state legislature, city council. One thing we must do as a group is agreed that we are going to all pump up the necessity of running for office and having good people in office. There is no dishonor in losing. The dishonor is not trying. Thank you. This is the last audience question. Thank you. We are very lucky, we have three great gentleman running for the chair of this party. Thank you very much. Our party will be in good hands no matter who it is. One question, based on what has happened in the past with people not really doing it on a fulltime basis and having other agendas, as you all put forward very aggressive proposals on where the party should go, are you all willing to make this your number one priority and the priority of what needs to be done to rebuild and take the party into the future. Are you willing to make that commitment and nothing to stand in your way moving forward . I absolutely will make the dancing my number one commitment. Ive been having conversations with many of you and formulating an idea about whether or not i have to give up my seat or i can be in congress and service dnc chair. When i started this conversation, i assume that other people had done it, i did not think it was a problem. But i think we are really in a new age. I am in the process of deciding this issue of whether i can perform both roles. Usb my First Priority . This, absolutely. You should know when you are in the minority and there is no democratic resident, all their is to do is vote no on the repeals of the Affordable Care act which takes about 20 minutes and eight given day. Every other moment i will be at the dnc working very hard. The day after announced, i went straight to talk to the dmo. Then went to california to talk to delegates. Then went to the district next to mine in minnesota. In michigan, then new york. I went to 30 states in the last year. Millions of dollars. I appeared regularly. I absolutely will be fighting to advance the dnc and make it my First Priority. But the truth is, that is the job is one that the is to be defeating top and getting back into the majority. [applause] this is it. This will be my only focus outside of my family. Each day, everyday. 247. I have known key for a long time and when he first said he was going to run i said, i love you and know you have passion and energy but i am telling you that the members of the Committee Want someone who can do this 24 7. Fighting donald trump on the house of the representative when he is appointing jeff daschle to be over the justice department. When every single right that we have is that will be a fulltime job. I cant see it. I have been on the floor of house and i think it will be a fulltime job. Thank you. The question, debbie i will leave it up to you to make that determination. My big thing is this we had the president. We had the vice president. We do not have that now. All we have is the dnc and we need someone who will dedicate all of their time to it. Thanks. I think all of you have seen my work as head of the acc to know it is my only thing that my life is about electing democrats because i believe there is nothing more important than making america and the world a better place. I think this is a big, important job. If the dnc wants to bifurcate the position, i would be willing to serve as the nuts and bolts and like keith or jamie put on the pancake makeup and me the press and do the rallies and things like that and let me get to work on the grassroots. That is your decision. Decision of the d. N. C. To do that. I can do the whole job or have a job. Either way, i want to be there to make sure we are ready for the elections in 2017, 2018, 2019, in for generations to come. The question that was just asked, i am from arkansas and i chair the womens conference for the dnc. The question i was just asked, i just wanted to point out that our rules state that the chair of the party is a Fulltime Position. I guess were some of the confusion has come when we have had the bifurcated system and this kind of thing has been when the president at that time wanted waivers or rules bent, whatever, that came into play. We will not have that going forth. When we do the elections in 2017 it is not really a choice. The rules state that the chair of the party will be a Fulltime Position and i just wanted to say that. Can i respond to that . I guess. I appreciate you making that point and i appreciated hearing from a lot of our Board Members as i said before. I started with one kind of understanding, ok . And as i have talked to all of you it has become very apparent that many of you feel strongly about this and i just want to tell you this though i would love to be in congress because it allows me to serve my neighbors, i do think that it is more important to build, strengthen the dnc and the Democratic Party. So, look, the election is february 24. There are still many of you i have to talk to. I am hoping you will allow me, keep your mind open for my candidacy as we continue to talk because i think i have an excellent work record, great work ethic, a planned into demonstrated background of increasing turnout and i know i could be an excellent dnc chair but we have a few weeks before we have any kind of an election. I hope you will all allow me to continue to talk to you, hear from you, get your take on the best way forward because i am going to do the right thing for the dnc, right . That is what im going to do. And so i would just want you to know that. I think you may understand based on past history how i started out looking at this, but as time goes forward, it is certain, you know, many of your are raising points i have to consider so with your indulgence i will continue this conversation. Is that ok with everybody . But i assure you i will do the right thing for the dnc. Thank you. A burning question from the audience. Christine, go ahead. Microphone right here. Hello. Im from california. My godmother is burning to ask a question. You talked about more diversity, we need it. My first resolution as a young democrat, was to get rid of the , they said keep them because we need them. I encourage you to increase the diversity. One way you could make speeches to take off the corporate lobbyists. I am the black caucus chair, right . We work very hard to get a diversity caucus chair. We talk in every election about money coming into our community. I did not hear anything today about the africanamerican vote. The base of this party. Can you talk about it . If we can keep our comments to one minute, i know we have other things we have to do as well. As you know, africanamerican women were loyalist votegetters in this election. We all know of the importance of the africanamerican vote to the Democratic Party particularly africanamerican women. When Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton came to South Carolina and asked me how do i win South Carolina, i said you need to talk to women my moms age. Middleaged africanamerican women. Because the person who is going to win the primary is the person who can galvanize them and win their hearts and minds. So africanamerican women are very important but we also have other groups that are very important in terms of our coalition. People of color in our parting and we have to do a better job. Again, from staffing to people we use as vendors. I tweeted this the other day. You cannot have vendors create ads for africanamerican communities and none of the people that are actually writing ads are actually africanamerican. And, that is for people of color across the board. You know where i am not. Thank you for raising the issue about africanamericans as a critical vote for all of our country and party. Let me just tell you i remember years ago when you had your africanamerican caucus in detroit. It was a wonderful event. I am sure people from all over the country really had a pragmatic effect of turning out the africanamerican vote. We have invest in it. Cannot take it for granted. Cannot assume we will have the africanamerican vote. Just like we cant ignore the hispanic vote or the womens vote. Any one of our core constituencies. We have to be talking about this. It is a Racial Justice issue. We have to talk about Voting Rights not just in the south but all over the country. And, Police Violence and massive incarceration or subjects we have to be talking about all the time. Raymond . I think it is important that we focus on all. That is why i said in the beginning i did not start this thing off because if you include into engage every single group and i ask you to look at who the leadership of the acc is in my hiring practices and you will see when i said as a sevenyearold kid it was because of racial inequality. We must live it. I was completely furious when i read that story the other day about the lack of africanamerican staffers in the u. S. Senate. On the plane out there i texted to donna in centcom if youre going to war i am with you. I will join you. We all have a responsibility to all communities of color, of all the people who felt left out or left behind. Everybody, everybody deserves a seat at the table. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] i pay my own way. I pay my own way to every i want to talk about those issues. As a former staffer of the dnc, what happened [indiscernible] [indiscernible] that may not be a problem in the matter but i am sure and i apologize for i love my president but with nate took over the s anything to keep the party going [indiscernible] thank you. In thank you to all three of our candidates who are running for the chair. And excuse them from the stage now. [applause] announcer this past september, safety onal Highway Administration announced guidelines for atton mouse vehicles. We hear from government consultants about the latest the future of transportation. So today, 90 of the accidents that happen on our are due to human error. Driving, drunk driving it speeding. In theory, if we wlim nate from the driving equation, well eliminate over 90 of the accidents. Huge. In itself is i mentioned before additional elderly disabled use, that fees is really exciting. Rethinking of our land use. So driverless vehicles will for either otential reducing the parking equirements needed or relocating them. We have a shared society where sharing the vehicles, we potentially can reduce the and use dedicated for parking and in cities that can be around toto 20 of the land, so try reimagine San Francisco streets without that dedicated land. See n its really, you can how the potential for adding bike lanes, adding more pedroia thats my utopian perspective. Announcer you can watch the rest of that discussion from the wealth club of california tonight at 8 00 eastern here on espn. Cspan. Announcer earlier president returned to washington, d. C. After spending the holidays in hawaii. In president has 18 days office before president elect donald trump will be sworn in. It looks to be a busy few president eeks for obama. Plans to deliver a Farewell Speech in chicago which follows tradition of president s addressing the nation before leaving office. Meet with Congressional Democrats to in uss the healthcare law which mr. Trump and fellow republicans have promised to repeal