once again, i thank you to read it and brian sandoval. -- commissioner reed and brian sandovalthank you to nevada. broadcasters. early bidding begins a week from this saturday. election day is november 2. do not forget to vote. there be a debate next thursday with harry reid and sharon angle. >> we will bring you a debate between the candidates in ohio. coming up in the next hour, we will get a closer look at that ohio race. will also get an update on the tea party movement and talk about "the obama wars." health professionals and journalists participate in a forum today examining safety and financial impact of fraudulent health care. we will have live coverage at 8:30 on c-span 2. this weekend and through december, listen to landmark supreme court cases on cspan radio. >> we are arguing that you may not publicly desecrate a flag regardless of the motivation for your action. >> flag-burning and freedom of speech, saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on cspan radio. in washington d.c. at 90.1 and online at cspanradio.org. now to toledo, ohio. tonight's match up is the last scheduled debate for the two. polls show mr. kasich with a slight edge. our coverage comes courtesy of w.tlc. >> a special presentation. >> this is a campaign 2010, the gubernatorial debate. live from the university of toledo. this is live from the university of toledo campus. here is your moderator. >> did evening and welcome to the ohio governors' debate. we think we have a dandy on tap for you. all across this great country, tonight we welcome the two major candidates for governor of ohio, one of who will lead the state for the next four years. let's make them right now. let's say hi and welcome to ted strickland. the is the current governor of ohio. gov. strickland, welcome. >> it is good to be back. >> we want to welcome the republican candidate for governor, john kasich. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> let's introduce s.a. a thank-you to the ohio newspaper organization for putting this all together. some of its members are serving as palace tonight. we are coming to you live from the university of toledo. he writes out of the blade's columbus bureau. also on the panel tonight at asking questions, dennis mangan and michael douglas. thank you for being here tonight. each candidate has agreed to the rules and regulations set up for tonight's debate. let's review those just briefly and then let's get into it. we will begin with a three- minute opening statement. the order has been pre arranged by calling toss. -- coin flip. each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer the question posed to you by the panel. the opposing candidate will similarly have 90 seconds to respond. the original candidate will be given 30 seconds for a rebuttal. the questions will alternate between gov. strickland and mr. kasich. toward the end of our hour together, we have set aside two minutes for closing statements. gov. strickland will go first. it is time to begin with our opening statements. gov. strickland, not more than three minutes. >> good evening, everyone. i want to begin by saying gracias to the people of ohio for allowing me to be your governor. ohio and america has been hit hard by the national recession that was not of our own making. it was caused by two things -- mismanagement in washington, d.c., and misbehavior on wall street. i am here tonight to share with you what i have been trying to do as for governor, to move our state forward, to bring about recovery. this is what i have done. i have balanced to budgets while cutting taxes. we'll cut the state income tax by 17% since 2005, boasted that while i have been governor. we have given senior citizens who own homes in ohio a large property tax cut by expanding the home state exemption. as a state senator, my opponent tried to eliminate the homestead exemption biker sponsoring legislation that would have raised taxes on ohio seniors. i have been tried to cut taxes on seniors. he tries to raise taxes on seniors. we have done other things. we have invested in energy. we have a major energy initiative under way. we will have the largest solar farm belt east of the rocky mountains. we will be the first state to put went into lake erie. the solar industry, the biofuel industry -- jobs are being created as a result. we have frozen college tuition to make college more affordable and accessible for our young people. we have invested in k-12 education. the federal reserve out of pittsburgh says we have the sixth fastest-growing state economy in america. my opponent also has a record. he was a congressman. i call him a "wall street congressman." he voted for nafta and its special trade status for china. he sent thousands of jobs out of ohio. he tried to privatize social security. why did he want to do that? because wall street wanted him to do that. they wanted to get their hands on our social security resources. when he left congress, they awarded him with a big job on wall street -- working for lehman brothers, a company that went bankrupt and it represented the largest bankruptcy in american history. thousands of ohioans lost their life savings. he walked away with a bonus. this is a choice between two people, but also a choice between two values systems -- wall street value systems and ohio values, which believes in pulling together to build the state for the common good. >> mr. kasich, tied for your opening statement. >> ladies and gentlemen, i have traveled the state. a lot of people are nervous and frustrated. some are downright scared about the economic situation we have in this state. since ted strickland has been governor, there have been 41 other states in the america that have all outperformed us. we are the 42nd best state in america. that is not acceptable. we have rising property. we have rising homelessness. we have also had rising taxes. i was in washington, ladies and gentlemen. i spent 10 years of my life trying to balance the federal budget. you know why? do not put things off tomorrow that you need to do today. do not mortgage our children's future because you're going to be selfish. if we can balance budgets and make government more efficient and more effective, i have always believed that we could create economic prosperity. for 10 years of my life -- in 1995 i became chairman of the budget committee. i continued to build a team to balance the federal budget. the day finally arrived in 1997, building betim and becoming the chief architect of the balanced budget proposal -- a bipartisan effort -- we were able to balance the budget for the first time since man walked on the moon. we cut taxes on investment and job creation. we also helped families. we went from chileans in the hold two trillion in the black. we were creating jobs. america's economy was never stronger. i understand why people are nervous about politicians. fortunately, i have a record of what i was able to do to bring prosperity to the state. not to talk about it down the road, but to actually do it. i have returned to public life for this reason. i believe we can make government more efficient and more effective. we all know we need to do that. we need to make the state more competitive. if we can take a 6 foot pile of codes and regulations that hamper our small business people, we can be more successful. we absolutely can get it done. if you need to know that the small business community, the nfib has endorsed my candidacy. they said, "kasich is the man to move us to an era of prosperity, shrinking government, cutting taxes, returning power to local people, making the regulatory environment pro-growth and not strangle small business." i need your help to be governor. >> thank you, mr. kasich. thank you, both. we now start the question portion of our debate. a coin toss determined who would receive that question. the question goes to you, mr. kasich. we are very proud that we have emerged as a leader in the solar industry. this school is a large part of that. it is a industry working hard to secure standards requiring utilities to buy a quarter of their power from renewable and advanced courses by 2025. would you preserve that standard if elected governor? >> the one thing you do not want to do in ohio today is for the government to impose mandates that can result in higher utility costs for our beleaguered citizens. secondly, do not want to put the businesses in a position where they cannot be competitive. if you have read the "toledo blade." they said we lost 15 factories to indiana, maryland, and tennessee because we were not competitive. alternative energy is fantastic. it is one of the things we ought to do at the university of toledo deserves credit for the advances they have made. but ohio needs not just one industry and one focus on an industry that is relatively small, we need a portfolio of businesses. we need to strength in manufacturing and be a leader in america in advanced manufacturing. we need to push an permission technology. we need to push financial services. we need to be in a position to work with the university of toledo and the schools around the state to promote development in medical technology. we need to promote agriculture. it is a portfolio of businesses because we are disbursed. we have to have a diversity economy so if we have trouble in one area, we are not in a position where it the ship gets socked we have stood still too long. diversification in all of these industries is the answer for a prosperous ohio. >> we do have a diverse economy. that is why i developed my opportunity program that identified the four strains of the major cities of our state and investing in those core strengths. energy is of course one of those core strengths. we want to make this region the seller of. my opponent did say that he would consider getting rid of the standard -- the 25 by 25 standard that is, in fact, resulting in massive investment being made in ohio. as i said in my opening statement, we announced this week that we will be building in ohio it the largest solar farm east of the rocky mountains. it will create 600 jobs in ohio. we will be deeper state to actually deploy wind in lake erie. six turbines had been ordered from ge. it will be the beginning of a project that will lead to a massive wind farm in lake erie. in this region of ohio, we're seeing the solar industry provides jobs for our people. we must not turn back. when the congressman implied that he would consider getting rid of the standard, he obviously did not know that we have a 3% cap that will keep costs from exploding. he ought to know what he is talking about before he makes a statement about something as important as the wind and the energy, the solar policy that we have. >> mr. kasich, 30 seconds to rebut. >> you lost 397,000 jobs. we had these 11th our promises in the middle of a political campaign. ceo's say we are the 43rd worst state to have business in. we are not competitive because you have raised taxes. you have increased government. i do not think your administration understands how to promote entrepreneurship. >> that his time. >> governor strickland, a recent poll found that most people in ohio what the specific answers on how you deal with the potential shortfall in the budget. schools, libraries, and social services want to know. specifically named two areas of the budget we would raise revenue or cut the budget. what would be all the table when it comes to cuts? >> the truth is, we are facing a major budget crisis. it is the result of this recession. the recession, as i said in my opening statement, was not caused by us. it was caused by wall street and the shenanigans that took place there. the me tell you what i will not do. i will not make matters worse by saying i will eliminate our state income tax in the middle of a budget crisis. that tax provides about 46% of our state revenue. i had made tough choices going forward. i have balanced two budgets without raising taxes. i did that by making tough choices. some of the agencies in state government i am responsible for or operating at about 70% of what they have received in past budgets. i will set priorities as i have. education will remain a priority. the basic essentials services that our people must have will remain priorities for me. i have demonstrated that i am hon willing to make cuts. we have about 5000 fewer state employees now than when i became governor. that was tough to do. that represents about 7% of our state work force. but i will make the cuts that are necessary to carry out my constitutional responsibility. that responsibility is to maintain a balanced budget. i have done it for two budgets. i will do it in the future. >> we have 90 seconds mr. kasich. we are looking for specifics. >> the governor rated the rainy day fund. he securitized with tobacco that was supposed to supply a stream of revenue. he used stimulus dollars to operate the government and he raised taxes. ted strickland voted to raise taxes in 1993 and he raised taxes in the last budget. he can say he did not raise taxes. he did. we are the seventh highest tax state. what it gets down to is this, if you do not have a state where you can lower the cost of doing business -- the blade pointed out that in indiana, their costs are lower. you are searching for low-cost if you are a business owner. that means you cannot raise taxes if you are already a tax state. that is why businesses are leaving. if that is why we have lost 397,000 jobs. i will not. i have a history of budget cutting. i had a history of reforming. i have a history of restoring and providing tax cuts. budget committee and we got that budget agreement done on a bipartisan basis, america was strong financially. that will work here. less government, lower taxes, common-sense regulations, train workers -- that is the solution. >> governor? >> what we have done, congressman, is outsourced jobs. you have signed off on outsourcing a high of jobs to china. you were a board member of the company. you side often sent hundreds of jobs out of ohio to china. that is the part of your record that the people of ohio need to know about. from gail beck. it will be addressed to mr. kasich. >> if gov. strickland and the general assembly agreed to put all the two years of state income taxes. with the budget problems facing this state in the next budget you just said he will not raise taxes. can you promise of high note that that task that will take effect as promised? >> we are going to restore the tax cuts. if you have a restaurant and you do not have customers, he did not raise prices. you lower prices and at the same time you lower your overhead, change the menu. that is and you get more customers. it is the same thing with the ohio. when you are one of the highest tax states, you have to move aggressively to bring down those rates that punish small business at chase our best on tripper norse out of the state. if you want to be the governor of the state anyone to run around and bashed companies, it does not send a very good message to people that are not in the state. we have more employees working at my company after the action that we took. we are the second-largest business in lorraine county. these are the kinds of distortions i have had to listen to. i am glad we are here to debate. we need to make this government more effective and more efficient. 22 reduce the tax rates. we need to run ohio from the bottom up, not the top down. spending in the general revenue will increase by 9.7% this year. every person and ohio could only hope and pray they get a 9.7% raise. >> governor strickland. >> i am going to ask the fact checkers to check what the congressman just said because it is not accurate. we faced an $851 million shortfall. i froze the taxes at their current level. i did not raise taxes. i kept them at their current level. what my opponent says he would have done would have cut $851 million out of our colleges and out of our education system. that would have been devastating to our kids and to our schools. i was not willing to do it. apparently he was. the fact is that when we cut funding for higher education tuition will go up. that will cost parents more money to educate their sons and daughters. if we cut state levels on taxation as he wants to do by eliminating our state income tax it will drive the income down to the local level. it will result in property taxes be increased. there is no doubt about it. you cannot spend money you do not have. it cannot educate kids if you do not have state resources. folks at the local level will end up paying more. >> if you come out of the box when you were elected governor and did what he promised he said he would do which was turned ohio around, you would have created a government more effective and more efficient and he would have dealt with the tax situation. instead you raised spending. you talk about the fact that you get rid of 5000 workers. you hire 4000 people back. he raised taxes. it is undeniable. people are paying more because he changed the law and denied them a tax cut. >> dennis mangan is here with a question for governor strickland. >> employees are seeking legislative changes. some proposed changes that would ask public employees to accept concessions. others are asking taxpayers to pay more. how would he make the system financially sound for the long term and how would you suggest the practice of some school district employees and some elected officials double dipping by retiring and then returning to the same job to get a paycheck and a penchant? >> i have great difficulty with double dipping. that is an issue that needs to be addressed. i think we need transparency. that is why i have said that i believe the major newspapers in our state -- the records should be made public as long as individual information is protected. i believe that is possible. i urge transparency. i am to double byte double dipping. i think it is being abused. that needs to be addressed. the public pension system needs to be solvent. in order to make it solvent, you have to call all parties together. they have to come together and work in good faith, simply arguing warfighting will not solve the problem. it must be solved. it can be solved. i do not want to lower the standards of public benefits and retirement benefits for anyone, but it is absolutely necessary that we recognize the fiscal condition of our public pension systems and come together and work to find a reasonable solution. i believe that solutions can be felt, but i repeat, not by arguing or screaming at each other. only by working together in good faith can we solve this problem. >> first of all, the double dipping has to be reviewed. secondly, we have to have a sound pension system. when i was down in the congress, they try to jump beek teacher were parma's system and the public retirement system into social security. i said if they did it i would stop the bill. we have to do it. we have to reform it. i will tell you what taxpayers are concerned about. when he went into government, you were assured of more security. your short a more benefits. that is the trade-off. you do not get paid as much. a lot of the people in the private sector say, "i have no pension. i do not get the pay that a public employee is getting right now and i certainly do not have the job security." as we work to solve this problem, we must make sure that we do not create an equity where a person who is working every day it is supporting somebody in the public sector. there has to be some real give and take. i think people in ohio are getting concerned about the potential for the giant tab being put on them as they work in the private sector. we have to be careful. we have to protect the people who are retired and are getting close to retirement. this system must be made sound. >> orbital, governor. >> a member of lehman brothers, my opponent, what to our public pension system and try to get them to invest in women. he says he was not successful, but i can tell you this. when lehman brothers went bankrupt in 2008, our public pension systems lost over $480 million. solvency is important. we need to work toward it. we need to make sure that the investments that are made or sound investments. >> michael douglas as a question for mr. kasich. >> u.s. said that if he were elected, and gov. strickland's new evidence based model for primary and secondary education will be gone and you will put more money into the classrooms. what specific education model would you support? how we pay for it while eliminating the deficit and what dole will local property taxes play in that model. >> it is not paid for. he promised he would fix education. he said if it was not they still would be a failure. there is no money in the program. why we have done is to mandate a whole lot of unfunded programs onto local schools. i just met with the superintendent a couple of days ago who said this program was devastating and, if you check the record, you'll find that the evidence based model has not been successful wherever it has been tried. when you are 46 in americans putting dollars into the classrooms, you take power away from teachers and resources away from students. we must do everything we can to make ohio #1 in terms of dollars in the classroom. we should be at the tail end of paying administrators. if we can get dollars in the classrooms and repeal a lot of the unfunded mandates and we can get into the business of promoting shared services so that schools were with one another you have some counties where you have six school districts. if you do not need six superintendents. how many principles, administrators, curriculum coordinator is? we need to operate the schools more like a business. we need to have school choice which gives people the opportunity to see what excites kids. that information can then be transferred into the regular public schools. if we do that we'll have a much lower toned debate. >> governors reckoned. >> my opponent does not understand. if there are no unfunded mandates in the evidence based model. it is designed to drive money into the classroom. when i became governor, education week ranked ohio 27th in the nation. they now say that our schools are built in the nation and no. 1 in the midwest. our goal must be to make our schools number one in america. we competed with 46 other states for "race to the top" resources. they will be coming to ohio to enrich the education of our children. the model that i adopted will be phased in over time. it is structurally constitutional, i believe, because we have carved out the major elements that constitute a quality education for our kids and the state of ohio is committed to funding this elements. let me say this, we must take the burden of of local property taxpayers. when i became governor, the state of ohio provided about 48% of the total cost of elementary education. state of ohio will have a 761% of the total cost. that would give property-tax relief at the local level. >> rebuttal, mr. kasich. >> the governor's educational program is somewhere over the rainbow. there is no money in it. it is like getting in the car to go on a vacation and there is no gas in the car. it does not push dollars into the classroom. it prescribes some many different items that a local school has to provide. dollars in the classroom, shared services, repeal of unfunded mandates, school choice -- it will empower teachers and help our students do better. >> this question goes from mr. douglas to governor strickland. >> you recently issued an executive order barring any state offices from signing contracts. you criticize your opponent for supporting trade agreements that have cost ohio jobs, yet you check and exports and jobs in ohio driven by the same trade agreements. you seem to favor imports but not exports. in sourcing, but not outsourcing. is this realistic work fair trade? >> i think it is. what i want to do is outsource products from ohio and america, not jobs from ohio and america. i am for trade. we need trade. trade is a huge part of ohio's economy. we need to support it. trade has to work in both directions, though. we have had trade deals that are patently unfair. we have had rules that were not enforced, especially during the bush years, and i think we need to put a stop to it. i opposed nafta because i felt it was constructed in such a way that it would cost ohio jobs. it has caused a high of jobs. i opposed granting most favored nation trade status to china for the same reasons. we have lost thousands and thousands of jobs. my opponent has said we have not lost any jobs to china. we know that is just not right. i support fair trade. i support a level playing field. i am working with companies to export our ohio products and i want to be a good partner with other nations, but it must be a fair and level playing field in order for that to happen. >> thus get over to mr. kasich, now. >> ohio lost five times as many jobs to other states. the reason we are losing jobs is we are not competitive. the governor himself shipped stimulus money to texas and that money was then spent on outsourcing call centers to el salvador. he also voted twice to provide free trade to china. i do not know how you can stand there honestly and say no. when you did not raise taxes when you did, and you did not vote for free trade to china. we will destroy agriculture in ohio. farmers do not want that to happen. my conditions on trade? fair trade, not free trade. all one ohio companies to get a 201 protection. the companies needed a breather. been needed to be able to get their act together. that is why i work with two of the major steel companies in america. we actually got the 201 status put in place. ronald reagan wanted to protect harley-davidson. the administration is not doing enough to prevent china from manipulating the currency and ceiling are jobs. i think we need to have the governor start calling the president and telling him to get on the ball on this so we have fair trade and not just being ripped off by people. >> i am sensing an orbital from the governor? >> welcome to my world, congressman. i have been arguing about china's manipulation of the currency for years. our democratic friends in the congress are vitally taking it seriously. the house is passing a bill to make that possible. if you could get your republican friends in the senate to play along, which did teach china a lesson. they have been manipulating their currency and costing us hundreds of thousands of jobs as a result. >> dennis mangan from young sam. chevrolet cobalt and try to win another chevrolet products, how would your plan to privatize economic development affect other jobs? >> that same department of development that sat on their hands in dayton and wilmington and we have lost 397,000 jobs and did not have a permanent director of the department of development for seven months. that is like going to war and not having a general in charge. and what you have people that understand the language of the job creators. i want people who can do that the speed of light who can find markets, again connect people to people in this country and all of this globe. i also believe our universities are a tremendous opportunity to commercialize items. we are in the embassy states. if you talk to people, they will tell you that if we open up the research and development at our universities we will be doing far better. the bottom line is, if you believe this bureaucracy can move at the speed of business, then you would support jobs ohio. but if you think we need to get a group of people with the experience to go into the toughest places in this state to begin to remove barriers and began to work with companies in the state to be stronger and expand and to ultimately search the country for other opportunities to bring jobs to the state, which cannot keep doing what we are doing. 41 other states in america have outperformed us. it is because we have been too slow, not innovative and creative. i would change that. >> over to governor strickland. >> if my opponent and his friends had had their way, there likely would have been no surviving automobile industry in america. i was over at the chevrolet when the new car came off of the line. it is a card that is almost totally made in ohio. the transmission is made year. it is a wonderful car. 4500 people work at that plant. three shifts a day. and he said the stimulus should not have been passed. the stimulus and the decision to save the of the bill industry made the automobile industry possible. $650 million is being invested in youngstown. it would not have been possible, i think, without the stimulus. i do not know what you think the president and our democratic friends should have done. the fact is that 8.5 million jobs were lost, congressman. most of those jobs were lost during the bush administration. we have taken firm actions to stabilize this economy. the free fall has been stopped and all you and your friends want to do is criticize and say no, no, no, while we have been working to create jobs, you were working on wall street to outsource our jobs. i think the people of ohio can tell the difference between the two of us. >> you sound like a broken record. you have to get over that period was youngstown shows is the potential for manufacturing. we have performed worse than 41 other states since this guy has been the governor. our unemployment is 10.1%. poverty is rising and homelessness is rising. we need to have a job creating environment and culture in this state. we can get it done. we keep doing the same thing and we will keep shifting. >> gail beck's question will be directed at governor strickland. >> the recession ended foreclosure crisis has made life more difficult for ohio citizens that were already struggling with crime, the loss of employers, deteriorating ever structure, and decaying neighborhoods. in addition to encouraging job growth, how would you help ohio's struggling cities? >> well, ohio cities, obviously, are vital to ohio's overall economy. we cannot have a strong state without having strong, healthy cities. that is one of the reasons we have developed our ohio hub for animation an opportunity program. each of our citizens have individual characteristics and individual strengths. the strength of toledo is affiliated with this university, the solar industry, and existing first-solar. this is what we designated this area as a solar hub in ohio. we are going around to other cities during the same thing. in cincinnati it is the marketing hub. over in cleveland where the biomedical and medical industry is so critical and so important, we are designating that as the biomedical hub. we believe that these investments in these hub areas will result in the local economy's growing and thriving. we are doing other things as well. we are putting resources into our cities. we're doing that to our department of transportation. we are trying to build an ever structure that will create economic vitality and growth. we have done that by investing in rail. >> time. thank you very much, governor. let's take it over to mr. kasich. >> i am very privileged to receive the endorsement of the "cleveland plaindealer." they are very concerned about the state of our cities. they know that what it gets down to is creating economic growth. we have a lot of great assets in our state. if you look at cleveland, we have university hospital. we have the cleveland clinic. we have the university of toledo. you look down in cincinnati and we have proctor and gamble. in columbus we have cardinal health. we a tremendous assets all over the state. we have not leveraged them. we have not been able to get them to talk to one another. we have not opened up our laboratories in our university systems to create exciting new 21st century jobs. the recent the "cleveland plaindealer" said the one john kasich is because they want to get moving. the ohio chamber of congress endorsed my candidacy for governor. they came out in force early. everybody is saying the same thing. four more years of tax and spend and regulate will not work. what we need to do is to set people three, set our our entrepreneurs street to create jobs. that is precisely what our program is all about. >> bottle time to governor strickland. >> what do i say about the cleveland plaindealer's endorsement? they said they endorsed him with trepidation. that is my assessment. newspapers say about it. it is about what our ideas are, congressman, what our plans are. how much we care about ohio and what our histories or. my history has been working four jobs in ohio. >> jim province, your question will be directed to mr. kasich. >> governor strickland has tried to add slot machines at racetracks. should ohio promote gambling to do with its budget problems? >> i am the first person to run for governor who has not said he is opposed to gambling. most of the candidates, including my opponent, said they were against it. i will not take a position on that yet because i am concerned that we are going to get ourselves into a position where we could erode our culture, which could put our kids in jeopardy. we have to be very careful about this. i am aware of the fact that people want to leave the state and go to other places to spend their money. it is something that has to be a consideration. the deals that have been struck so far are not good for ohio. we had the casinos in the state of ohio -- the state of ohio does not get its fair share. the state of ohio ought to regulate these operations. if we move forward, it has to be done in a comprehensive, well thought out way that fundamentally protect the culture of our state. i know that the people of ohio are mixed in their feelings on that. so i am. this is an issue was spent some time thinking about and if we decide to move forward, we would design a program that will protect our families and also provide the resources for the state of ohio. but i have not yet made a determination. >> governor? >> the people voted to establish casinos in cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, and toledo. that was the will of the people. that is not something i supported. the people have spoken. our responsibility right now is to make sure that gambling is instituted in a way that protects the local communities. people of high integrity must be chosen to oversee the operations. we must make sure that crime and other elements that sometime are associated with gambling activity are prevented from coming to our cities. the fact is that ohio does have budget problems, although i have always been a opponent of gambling -- i do not think it is a good economic policy, quite frankly -- but i felt that slot machines at race tracks were the least harmful approach. my responsibility as governor, or whoever the next governor is, will have the responsibility of making sure that the commission that oversees the operations at these casinos is made up of people of high- quality to do a good job. >> i would agree with the governor on that. i think we have to get people of the highest character to deal with what the people voted for. but before we do any further to expand this program and to expanded to do with our budget problems, i do not think it is a very smart way to go. i want to say one more time, i have not made up my mind. if we go forward, we will get our share as the state of ohio. the jury is still out in my mind. >> so is the time. this question is for governor strickland. >> the people of ohio do not directly vote for lieutenant governor. tell us what they would be in better hands with your choice for lieutenant governor than your opponent's choice. >> my running mate is with me tonight, mr. brown from columbus, ohio. she was born to a single teenage mother. she worked hard. she went to college at ohio university. she attended the ohio state law school. at a very young age she decided to run for judge. she ran in franklin county. she defeated a sitting republican judge when she was 32-years of age. she served on that court for nine years and developed an amazing reputation throughout central ohio as a judge who was wise, effective, compassionate, and caring. she was recruited away from that position to go to a nationwide children's hospital in columbus to start a grass- roots organization to be an advocacy for children and their families, primarily abused children and troubled families. she built that into a 400- person operation with a $30 million a year budget. she is usually qualified. she is usually respected. she will make a great governor if it is ever necessary for me to vacate the office. >> we are talking running mates. mr. kasich? >> i am very thrilled that my running mate is here tonight. she is a mother. she is the wife of a small business person so she understands these travails of that small business people have to go through. she was also a cpa. what we need in politics or people who have been in business and understand how to create jobs. that is the formula, to me, that really makes sense for driving ohio and driving our united states government that has been out of control lately in a better direction. mary was also a state rep. the boys down there try to put a lot of pressure on mary. it was republicans doing it. she said, "in no way, no help." she did not bat an eye. that same kind of pressure applied to me. she stood up and she was strong. she turned around and ran for state auditor. she was the only republican elected. she has done a fantastic job of auditing the problems of the state. in fact, if she had been listened to a little bit more by a lot of people, it would have paid off. i am proud that she is my running mate. she is qualified to do anything that she sets her mind to. thank you for asking, jim. i do not have a single negative thing to say about that. >> i guess we are both fortunate to have talented women as are running mates, but i think my opponent's running mate, with all due respect, stood beside mr. kasich and boasted that as a cpa she had actually encourage people to leave ohio and go to florida or some other state to avoid paying a higher taxes. >> thank you, governor. you're watching the ohio gubernatorial debate. we are glad you're watching wherever you are watching around the state of ohio. time flies when you are having fun. we do not have time for a full round of questioning. our two candidates, one who will be elected 26 days from now to lead this state for the next four years, fed each been given two minutes to reach out to you, the voters of ohio, to tell you why they are the person to lead this state. gov. strickland, he will lead us all for two minutes. >> i want to thank the people of this great state for giving me the privilege of serving in the governor's operas for the last four years. before that i served in the congress. before i went to congress, i went to a senior citizen's center in pike county ohio and bought a plant that had a saying on that run the book of mica. >> what is required of us? to walk humbly with our god. i kept that plaque in the washington office and now it is in my office in columbus -- in the governor's office. i think that sort of plays out how a person and someone in public office should lead their lives. to do justice, to try to do the right thing, to love kindness, to care about other people, and to walk humbly knowing that none of us get to this live on our own. we are all interdependent and we all need each other. that is the spirit i try to have as a congressman and as governor. that disease. i will keep with me and in the governor's office if you give me the privilege of reading this great state of the next four years. thank you for watching this debate. i ask you for your support for this election season. i promise you that i will serve you to the best of my abilities. thank you very much. >> governor strickland, thank you for being here tonight. mr. kasich. >> you have to ask yourself the question, are we better off today than we were four years ago when ted strickland took office? i like ted strickland. i am not even running against ted strickland. i am running to create jobs, straighten out ohio, and restore a great legacy. we want our kids to go to college here. we want our kids to graduate and stay here. we want them to have exciting opportunities so they can buy their god-given destinies. we do not want them getting on an airplane and traveling all over the country to see their grandkids. that is not what we want. unemployment with the rising poverty and the rising homelessness. ohio is going to be great again. all we have to do is shine it up and use that great formula, setting people free to engage in economic activity. we need to create jobs. we need to pull people together. over the course of my lifetime, my mother always said, "johnny, raised the bar. bring people together." i have been able to do some amazing things by building a team and even working with people on the other side of the aisle. with the assets we have in this state, most notably the people, with the brain trust that we have a in ohio, if we can just write the conditions. if we can improve the atmosphere, ohio will be the greatest day in america. my goal is to make ohio in the top 10 of places where businesses and people want to come. you know what? it can happen. it is out there ladies and gentlemen. i want to climb this mountain to make a high of great again. i would like you to climb it with me. i would appreciate your support and so we can get your vote. good night. >> thank you for joining us on stage tonight. we thank you for being here. i would like to quickly thank our panel tonight in the ohio newspaper organization. thank you for your work. dennis mangan and michael douglas. gentlemen, to both of you -- the idea of public service is a high calling. sometimes what we have to walther and steptoe is less attractive. by i also add that i know a lot -- this may be the best behaved debate audience i have ever seen in my life. not a short time audience to say thank you. [applause] [applause] thank you, gentlemen. thank you. a reminder to all of you who are watching at home, whether it is early voting or absentee voting or 13 hours on election day, november 2 is the first tuesday in november. there is not a hand they will not shake in the next few days. they are out there working it for you. it is up to you to get involved. make sure you get help and a vote. thank you for joining us. >> [crowd chanting "four more years"] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tonight, the first general election debate between the wisconsin senate candidates. the hour-long debate is being hosted by the wisconsin broadcasters association and is taking place in milwaukee. live coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. "washington journal" is next. after that, a new government report examines online privacy with children. the group common sense media a host the discussion and later the ceo of bank of america talks about new banking regulations. that is live from the national press club at 1:00 p.m. eastern. and coming up this morning, we will talk with a wall street journal reporter about the growth of the tea party movement. movement.