[ applause ] thanks for doing this. Have a seat. So, governor, im sure youre aware that this is a field of a lot of people with really unique names. You might not be aware that yours is the longest. So ive been told. So you have been told, okay. What does hickenlooper mean . Well, we were always told as kids that hickenlooper was dutch for hedge hopper. People would jump over the hedge to deliver the mail. But we as children were asked, why isnt it more common . So as it turned out, later in life my uncle told me that the truth was that hedge hoppers really were game poachers, and they would jump over the kings hedge and kill the kings deer. Thats why i guess its a common name in some of the prison colonies like australia. Youre saying hedge hopper, not head chopper . No. Thats a political interpretation. Okay. Just wanted to make sure we were hearing it right. Lets get straight to the audience. Our first question comes from lauren patrick. She works in marketing with Technology Startups right here in atlanta. Hey, yall. All right. As a geologist for the oil industry who was laid off, then started a brewery, and eventually became mayor of denver, governor of colorado, and now seeking the highest office in the land, youve shown how an American Worker can pivot and continue evolving to build a successful career. There are so Many Americans who feel hopeless, like they cant ever get their dream job. What would you tell your fellow americans . Wow, thats a great question. Thank you so much for that because it takes me back to what was one of my hardest hardest periods of my life but also one of the most exciting. And i was blessed beyond, i can say, a couple things. My mother was 5 foot. Everyone called her shrimpy, and she grew up in the depression. And she you know, she sewed her own clothes. She never bought anything. She would wash tin foil and tape it to the refrigerator door to reuse it. Mime not making that up. She taught us that you cant control what life throws at you. She was widowed twice before she was 40. So my dad died when i was 8. And, you know, when i got laid off and i was lucky. Unlike a lot of americans, i didnt have children. I didnt have all those responsibilities. But i did have a network of friends who helped me this idea to create a restaurant that would brew its own beer. And for the record, my mother wouldnt invest. Frame of reference. But the bottom line, these friends helped me get started, and they really allowed me to put a Business Plan together. We got a book out from the library, but we had to get a loan from the city of denver to promote economic development. There was a partnership between the City Government and the Downtown Business community to provide incentives for people to try to start businesses in what was then an abandoned warehouse district, a dollar per square foot, per year as rent. So it was really a team effort. It was a lot of hard work but also a Huge Community effort that was kind of helping us from behind. And, governor, you, when you were in colorado, governor there, you became, that state, one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. I want to ge to a question about that. Its courtney spencer, an online talk show host active in Democratic Politics here in georgia. Courtney. Thank you so much for the opportunity to ask you a question this evening. As governor of the state of colorado, though you were opposed to it, you shepherded the enactment of colorado amendment 64, amending the statewide drug policy on marijuana. Have your thoughts toward this initiative changed, and if so, would you champion this for the rest of the country . Thank you, courtney. Im not surprised that thats one of the first questions i get asked. As my mother would say, you couldnt control what things would come in your path, what bad things life might throw at you. In the end, we were very concerned about this. I was opposed to it originally. A, no other government had ever legalized marijuana. Even amsterdam just decriminalized it. We were worried about teenage consumption coming up. We worried about the risks of, you know, more people driving while high. And partly its no fun to be in conflict with the federal government. But i believe that states are the laboratories of democracy as Justice Brandeis said so famously, and that we would give it our best shot. And i have to say at this point, most of our fears havent come true. We havent seen a spike in consumption. Significant increase among senior citizens, but i leave that to your own imagination. But i think i think the solution ive come more and more to believe now that the worst didnt happen, and even though our system is not perfect yet, we still have a black market. I think its so much better than the old system where we sent millions of kids to prison, most of them kids of color, and not only imprisoned them, but made them felons, made difficult live already difficult lives much, much harder. I would not ask the federal government to legalize it for everyone. But i think where states do legalize marijuana with the voters or through their general assembly, the federal government should get out of the way and allow them to get banking, allow them to look at systems by which you can have this experiment go on successfully. And ultimately, my dream would be the federal government to make sure that the department of agriculture and the food and Drug Administration regulate whether pesticides are used when this is being created, that we get all the legal barriers to doing medical research around marijuana so that we can get one system nationwide for what is medical marijuana. Where does it work . Where does it not work . Lets make this a real experiment through collaboration between the federal government and the states. Thank you. Governor, i want to ask you a somewhat related question. [ applause ] 30 years ago while you were coming back from an employees birthday party, you were ae arrested for drinking and driving. What did you learn from that experience . Its funny. This was about six months after we opened our restaurant, and it was a Farewell Party for a manager, and i had, you know, one last drink. Wasnt even thinking about it. I wasnt driving fast, but i got pulled over by an officer, and clearly i was well i was i think 0. 92, driving while ability impaired. And ive never been more ashamed, i think, in my life. And i had been the guy in our whole Restaurant Community that made sure that nobody would drive while drinking or after drinking. And so we became the first restaurant where we back then, this was just when designated drivers became something people talked about. So we became the first restaurant in colorado where if you were a designated driver and you were going to drive a group of people home, your soft drinks, your fruit juices, whatever you drank that was nonalcoholic was on the house. Thats interesting. Lets get back to the audience. Omega finney is here. Shes a nurse from mcdonough, georgia. Omega. Hi. What are your plans as president to reform criminal justice. What are your plans as a followup to the first step bill that was passed by congress . And how do you plan to address black men being shot and killed by Police Officers and the fact that the federal government is not monitoring the reform of those Police Departments under the Trump Administration . Omega, thank you. Thats obviously a tough question, and you dont have to go very far into American History to see that our system of incarceration is a dramatic failure. We have more people imprisoned in this country than the next two largest countries combined, over 2 Million People now in prison. I think theres got to be a systemic approach, and ill hold up as an example when i first got elected mayor, i was 50 years old. Id never been in government before. Two weeks before i was being inaugurated, a young, 15yearold africanamerican boy named paul childs, and he was, you know, in a different head. And he was carrying a knife around his house, and his mother told his sister, call the police. We want to take away take that knife away. The police came. They cleared the house. Paul was still there. They told him to drop the knife three times, and then they shot him and killed him in his own front hall. My predecessor was mayor wellington webb, i think one of the great mayors of the second half of the 21st century, one of the great africanamerican leaders. And he took me to the funeral. We sat with the family afterwards. He introduced me to in colorado or denver, we have an organization of black pastors and ministers, reverends. And we began a partnership where we were one of the first the first cities and this is ten years before ferguson where we credited an office of the independent monitor to make sure that any allegation of Police Misconduct got a thorough outside the mayors control, got an independent assessment. We created a total comprehensive program to reevaluate how police operated. We created the civilian Oversight Commission to monitor this, and then we also made sure that every Police Officer at that time i think there were 1,300 that they got crisis intervention training so that they could understand when someone was in a different head, in a Mental Health issue or Mental Health crisis even or from a foreign culture, and really began looking at did they have nonlethal forms, tasers and beanbag shotguns. And ultimately we went after the discipline matrix. At one point, i had 700 denver Police Officers on the steps of city hall, calling me chickenlooper and putting out because in the old days, our discipline matrix said that any infraction, any misconduct by a Police Officer, could receive no harsher punishment than the most lenient for the same misconduct at any time previously, which meant that again and again, Police Officers would get a slap on the wrist. And, you know, i think many almost all Police Officers are trying to do their best in a difficult job. But there are bad Police Officers who probably shouldnt be on the streets, and weve created a structure in denver where we did, i think, a pretty good job, and theyre still working on it now, my successor, mayor michael hancock. Mayor hancock is just a great mayor, and were still improving this system. But in a federal role, i would try to make sure that the federal government was an active partner with communities all across the country to make sure that we stamp this out. You mentioned the federal government. I want to ask you about the Death Penalty as it relates to what you would do as president. In colorado, you halted colorados Death Penalty after a man was shot and killed shot and ill canned four employees at a chuck e. Cheese. Currently there are 62 inmates on federal death row, including the Boston Marathon bomber. So would you halt all of those executions if you were president . I think the key is that what weve done in colorado is a statewide conversation on the Death Penalty. And i mean it doesnt deter. I mean if the states had gotten rid of the Death Penalty 40 years ago have no more homicides or mass killings than states that execute people multiple times a year. It costs you know, in colorado it costs north of 15 million for all the appeals. If you go down every sentence, all those appeals drag families of the victims through the most horrible experience of their lives. Whats your position on the z Death Penalty . Im against it. I started out an eye for an eye [ applause ] i started out an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. When i sat down and actually im not catholic, but the cath archbishop, the day he was leaving, had breakfast with me. And he laid out a whole different way to think about it. And i spent 14 months getting the National Experts on the Death Penalty and really digging in deep. And it makes no sense. Its not a deterrent. Its expensive. It prolongs misery. And the worst thing is it is random. Depending on where that crime occurs, and in many cases, whether the killer is africanamerican or latino, that has a lot to do with who gets tried on a Death Penalty charge. And the random injustice of that is something that this country should never stand for. And as i have not looked at all the cases, but the vast majority of cases in the federal Death Penalty system, id have to be suspicious just to start. So i certainly would suspend the Death Penalty. Okay. We have a question now from tajid islam, a student from atlanta studying at harvard university. Hello, governor. Thank you so much for doing this. As a muslim american, i was very devastated by the recent attack in new zealand. President trump, after the attack, said he does not see any rise in White Nationalism. Do you agree, or do you think rightwing extremism is a problem that needs to be addressed . Thank you for the question, and its one of those things that does make you take a second breath. The rise of islamaphobia or White Nationalism are different sides of the same coin. And in a free and democratic culture, theres no place for that kind of hatred. And anytime you are making comments and creating you know, fanning the flames of hatred, then youre doing a genuine harm to your community. [ applause ] i dont know what to say. I think President Trump should be ashamed of himself [ cheers and applause ] lets get back to the audience. The next question comes from ramin, who is a student at the university of georgia, who currently supports bernie sanders. Heres your chance. All right. So in 2016 when colorado was considering a ballot measure to make the state the first in the country to have universal governmentrun health care, you came out against Single Payer Health care, saying that, quote, it would be premature to dramatically remake our Health Care System at this time. How do you expect voters to choose you over some of your contenders like bernie sanders, who have had a consistent record of support for singlepayer health care over their careers . Thank you, and i appreciate that. In colorado and one of the things that weve done, i think, as well as any state, ive been able to bring people together who were on different sides of the fence, in many cases find collaborative solutions. I think, you know, were at almost universal coverage in colorado. Were about 95 coverage. And we did that by expanding medicaid, by creating one of the most innovate and Successful Health care exchanges in the country. I dont agree with senator sanders, the single payer approach, that youre going to have medicare for all. I understand that we need a public option. I understand to get to that 100 coverage i mean lets be honest. Health care should be a right, not a privilege, right . [ applause ] and i will do everything i can to make sure i believe that. Ive worked for that. I helped start a Community Health center in 1973, and we said back then Health Care Needs to be a right, not a privilege. I want to support any way we can get to universal coverage. That should be our first and primary goal. That should be our north star. But i also recognize that there are north of 150 Million People that have private i mean how many of you now have insurance through you or a Family Member have insurance through your place of business, right . I mean there are over 150 Million People that i cant imagine how we would pull them off of Health Care Coverage that in most cases they like. I am more focused on how do we, a, make sure we get to universal coverage and then make sure that we use if its medicare, which i think is a good choice, or even medicare advantage, where you have Different Solutions and opportunities available, maybe more Cost Effective even than medicare. How do we make sure that we get to that universal coverage but at the same time, maintain and improve quality and ultimately look at controlling costs . I mean in the end, the last 30 years has been a spiral of medical inflation. And whether we look at transparency, if we look at Preventive Medicine and health care, weve got to be addressing this as a whole country. Thank you very much. Were going to take a quick break. Were going to be right back with more from cnns democratic president ial town hall with Governor John Hickenlooper. Stay with us. So, youre open all day, thats what 24 7 means, sugar. Kind of like how you get 24 7 access to licensed agents with geico. Hmm . Yeah, you just go online, or give them a call anytime. You dont say. Yep. Now what will it take to get 24 7 access to that lemon meringue pie . Pie pies coming thats what it takes, baby. Geico®. Great service from licensed agents, 24 7. Ahhhh were here. Nicks mom called the tball league eight times to help her shy son make some new friends. His parents shared videos of highlights, dance moves, and Jimmy Carlyle stealing third. Almost. They sent seven texts when a new friend invited nick for a play date. But in the end, they put their phones down, and watched as nick finally felt part of the team. Tit cant be found on. Just any map. A place miles from the beaten path. Overcoming twists and turns, ups and downs. Whatever life throws. A place to always strive for. For all the journeys that make us stronger. Welcome back to cnns democratic president ial town hall with Governor John Hickenlooper. And i want to ask you about the fact that you are one of two governors in this race for the democratic side, and you know how hard it is to run a state. But when you came home to vent one day to your then 11yearold son, teddy, he put you in your place, which is why youre laughing. He schooled you. He did. What did that teach new. So we were in the middle of trying to pass universal background checks for firearms. [ cheers and applause ] which we did. And i made the mistake of complaining to teddy one night, which is a terrible mistake to do with an 11yearold. He said, dad, what do you do at work all day thats so hard . Make decisions . I said, teddy, its not that easy. He goes, dad, come on, what do you do . Ill tell you what you do. You get the facts. You make a decision. Check. Next. I said, teddy, its not that easy. He said, daddy, get the facts, make a decision, check, next. Then he goes, every day i go to school and ive got to learn something completely new that i didnt know existed the day before. If i dont get it perfect, the next day is misery because everything is based on the day before. I said after five minutes, youre right. Fifth grade is harder than being governor. But i went into work the next morning and i realized in this battle over universal background checks, wed gotten the national statistics, but we hadnt gotten the local statistics. We were getting to half the gun purchases. So i requested from the department of Public Safety to get that information, and it was so powerful, i retained it all these years just because i think every state should do what we did and get this data. Getting half the background checks in a state of 5. 5 Million People, there were 38 people convicted of homicide who tried to buy a gun and we stopped them. We have an audience question coming up. Oh, ill shut up. No, please dont. Ill shut up until later. But i have another question i think the audience is going to be very interested, which i find fascinating. You suffer from a medical condition that makes it difficult to recognize or remember peoples faces. You are a politician. And before that a restaurateur. And before, a restaurateur. And you were introduced to your now wife four times before you remembered who she is. Im out of here. Hi, im dana. Im just kidding. How do you deal with this . Well, turns out there is a medical condition, and really a spectrum. And some people can look at 150 people in a video and remember every face and tell you if you show them five minutes later, a different picture of one person, theyll tell you exactly where they were. Im the opposite. And i think in a way its been a blessing. You know, im also moderately dyslexic, so i was a slow reader, always behind in college. My older brother used to tease me that i didnt get that many gifts from god. I had really thick glasses. I had acne. I was skinny. I had the funny last name. I think that in a funny way, sometimes you learn to compensate for these things. Certainly faceblindness, i just learned that if someone came to me and if looked like they knew me and smiled, id smile right back. And id sometimes get accused of being a little over friendly, right . But its better to be over friendly in life, right, than to be someone who is maybe a little doubtful or looking a little doubtful when you immediameet s new. The people who did know me, and usually they give themselves away within a couple minutes. Im not trying to dissuade anyone with how you make friends with people, but almost everyone would say, its so great to see you. Six months ago when we ran into you in, you know, south denver, that was so much fun. And i can remember all what we talked about and everything and pick it right up. Its just the face i cant recognize. I could talk about this with you for hours because i think its so interesting. But i do want to get to the audience who came to ask questions. Audrey kritz is a stay at home mom who lives in atlanta. As a mother of a preschooler, i already have to think of gun violence and feel powerless to protect my children from it. Do you think its possible for government to address Mental Health and take on the gun lobby to stem gun violence in a meaningful way . Well, thank you. I think every parent goes through this process. I know i have, and everyone i know, weve all talked about it. You know, when we had the shooting in the Aurora Movie Theater in 2012 and i went to that command center post. Theres a large van where they set up their command center right outside the Movie Theater that next morning. I walked in. There were four of us that were the first to look at the video that the Police Officers had taken of the crime scene. And you saw everything as it was. I will never forget it. And, you know, i got a lot of grief because i said, we need to take time to mourn the 12 people that died in the i think there were 70 people in all that were shot. But then we made two decisions. One was we were going to begin to address Mental Health. In that next legislative session, we made the largest increase in Mental Health spending ever, 30 million a year. But we also decided wed take on universal background checks and the issues around large capacity magazines. And it was a tough battle because the and im a great believer that you can you know, you should be able to sit and talk with anyone. And if you work hard enough and listen hard enough and repeat back peoples words and really try to make sure they know that youre listening, you should be able to find compromise on almost everything. But the nra would not listen to reason. And in the end when we had to and we had control of the senate and the house in 2012. We not only passed universal background checks, but we also passed high capacity magazine limits for the first time in a western purple state. [ applause ] governor, you in response to the president s National Emergency on the border wall tweeted the u. S. Needs to focus on real emergencies like our epidemic levels of gun violence. Would you declare a National Emergency on gun violence if you were president . You know, i was pointing out that the level of gun violence is, again, continuing to increase by the way. Mmhmm. I dont think that that is the purpose of declaring national emergencies. I think what the president has done on the border diminishes our military efforts at creating processes by which you establish what is a National Emergency. I think it also, you know, just deflects his desire for, you know, building a wall, his political vanity and deflects the public attention from just how bad that is. I do think its fair to say that gun violence goes hand in hand, as audrey was saying, hand in hand with Mental Health. And so many of these Mass Shootings are clearly some form of suicide and that we need to begin looking at a holistic level how we address, you know, Mental Health in all the places. And weve been working in colorado. We set up a whole program to work with the shooting ranges, the people that sell hunting rifles, to make sure that everyone is educated to look for Mental Health conditions in their children, in their neighbors, their friends, and to try and make sure were all working together to keep guns out of the hands of teenagers who are so clearly at risk when they have Mental Health episodes. [ applause ] lets get back to the audience now and bring in john mclandis, a health care i. T. Consultant who says he was an independent before 2016 and then became a democrat. Good evening, governor. You seem like a very reasonable, pragmatic person who can work across the aisle with republicans, which i really like. However, at the federal level, unlike the state level, republicans dont seem to want to give an inch whether its gun legislation, Climate Change, voter registration, health care. So how tough are you prepared to be if they dont cooperate . Well, again, i mean, ill tell you the reason im running for president is because i think this country is in a National Crisis of division, right . I think that we are its as bad as when i was a kid during the vietnam war and the civil rights movement. Its probably you have to go back to the civil war to find when were more divided. And i feel i feel like what weve done had colorado, we worked bipartisan to get almost universal health care. We were able to convince the Environmental Community and the oil and gas industry to spend the time to create methane regulations for the first time in this country, methane, one of the worst Climate Change pollutants. We were able to bring together the whole state and take us from 40th in job creation to the number one economy state economy in the country. And we did that collaboratively. I believe that in this moment, my experience in government and in business allows me to look at bringing people together successfully. And in many cases where they wouldnt talk to each other. That being said, when you have someone like mitch mcconnell, who with a brandnew president named barack obama, said that he would do everything he could to make sure that he wasnt successful, therefore, i mean, openly saying he was going to sacrifice the best interests of this country for his political agenda. At a certain point you have to stand up. But i truly believe that this is a crisis of division, and we need to make, you know we need to transform that into a we have to be a country of multiplication. On the issue of toughness, you were asked how tough you would be if you debated donald trump, and you said you dont believe it is smart to confront bullies headon. Why not . Well, i mean you grow up as a skinny kid with thick cokebottle glasses and the funny last name. Now, dont tell barack obama that i was saying i was the only skinny person with a funny last name. I dont think he had the cokebottle glasses, but go on. No, he didnt. You know, my device and everybody does this differently. I mean i cant wait for donald trump to make up nicknames for me. Whatever he comes up with, im going to say, what, you couldnt think of chicken death penalcoo . You couldnt come up with poopin scooper . I think what most bullies hate more than anything, most bullies are insecure and narcissistic. What they hate worse than anything is being laughed at. What i found worked again and again is take back what they said, twist it a little bit, so that the people theyre trying to impress start to laugh at them. And it drives them nuts. If you look at the video of when President Trump was talking to the u. N. , he was, you know, bragging, and all of a sudden there was random laughter in the audience, and he froze. He didnt know what to do. Rather than trying to punch back and, you know, fight tooth and nail, then youre just dividing all of us back into one camp or the other. And i think showing how ridiculous he is, you have at least some chance of winning over not everybody, but some of the people from the other side. Okay, governor. Lets go again to the audience to kirsten neal, who works in advertising for a nonprofit right here in atlanta. Hi, governor. The heartbeat bill, as im sure youll know, will outlaw people from could you start over. I didnt hear the beginning. The mic wasnt on. The heartbeat bill, as im sure you know, will outlaw women from getting abortion at about six weeks, which is when most women know that theyre pregnant. Its currently the most restrictive abortion bill. The bill is gaining momentum in several states including right here in georgia. As president , how can you stop extreme bills like this on a National Level and protect roe v. Wade . [ applause ] well, the first thing i would do as president is make sure that we got the right people und onto the Supreme Court so we didnt have worries. [ applause ] and that we really do uphold the law. I think that we understand this country and the vast majority of americans believe that a woman has the right to control her own health care and that that should be first and foremost sacred, inviolate. [ applause ] we have worked again and again in colorado. We got 5. 2 million per year for five years to provide longacting reversible contraception to allow 15 to 25yearold young women to make sure that if they wanted to have that contraception, they could have it, right . And in the process, really prevent unintended pregnancies. And we all know that when you have when youre a teenager and you have a child, it makes your life much more difficult, immeasurably more difficult in many cases. We reduced teenage pregnancy by 60 over the last eight years in colorado. [ applause ] but i would make sure as president that every issue within any state that violated a womans right to decide her own health care would be met with litigation immediately. [ applause ] lets go now to kate nahadil. Hope i said that right. Shes a fellow geologist. Oh, my gosh. Politically active here in georgia. I dont normally look like this. Normally a lot more dirt. I should point out i think im the first professional geologist to become a governor in the history of america. Im not sure what that means. But im honored to be with another geologist. Thank you. Me too. So as a geologist, i understand the concern for our colleagues in the oil and gas industry when we hear talk of a green new deal. So based on all the research that we have about Climate Change and the dangers of environmental contamination, do you now regret your fight to keep stricter drilling protocols such as to keep drig rigs 2,000 feet from homes and schools from being signed into law, or would you continue to keep regulation lax on the oil and gas industry . Thank you for the question. I do appreciate it as one geologist to another. Thank you for promoting science. Lord knows it would be nice to have somebody in the white house who actually understands science. [ applause ] i believe in the urgency to address Climate Change as much as anything i know. And i would argue that it is an issue thats going to disproportionately affect lowincome people and people of color. Reverend Gerald Durley is here, who has been one of the leaders in terms of making sure people understand the connection between the environment and communities of color and lowincome communities and democracy sure we understand that this is a global issue at that level. I would hold colorados success in regulating the oil and gas industry and really all of our emissions up against anybody. We got the oil and gas industry to sit down with the Environmental Community. No other states ever i mean these people hate each other. Its worse than coke hating pepsi or the hatfields and the mccoys. But we got the Environmental Community to sit down in the same room for 14 months and created the first meth an regulati methane regulations in the country. Its the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars a year off the road. We have also gone, and we worked with ten western states and six republican, four democratic states to make sure that we have we took some of the volkswagen diesel fraud settlement money and put it towards rapid recharging electric vehicle stations in a western network so that there wouldnt be gaps, and we would really foster more people buying electric vehicles. We also, a year ago, announced that we were going to have the first time in the countrys history, we were going to close two coal plants and replace it with wind, solar, and batteries. And in so doing, so no natural gas for the times when the winds not blowing. But with those batteries and the wind and the solar, for the first time well close two coal plants and the average electric bill for the consumers is going to go down. And i think thats [ applause ] governor, were going to sneak in another quick break. 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For more information on how to be prepared and keep your family safe, visit pge. Com safety. Welcome back to cnns democratic president ial town hall. We are live in atlanta with Governor John Hickenlooper, and we want to get straight to the audience. Tracy sims from right here in atlanta, a mother of two boys. Hello. My son is a great student and a young pilot. He has been accepted to college for a major in professional flight. Unlike the parents that pay for their kids to get into a great institution, my son worked hard and did his best and got accepted. The government offered 11,095 in grants and loans. Tuition is 45,000 a year. My question is what is your plan to help families like mine meet the growing costs of College Tuition . [ applause ] well, a, congratulations. I mean what a Great Success for your son. I mean really. [ applause ] i am sure hes going to be a huge success, and i think we as a country have an obligation to make sure he doesnt come out of that incredible education thats going to allow him to do such great things with a debt that strangles him, right . Thats the bottom line. Its one thing to look at the existing debt that kids have now. Its 1. 5 trillion, right . All of our Credit Card Debt is only 1 trillion. 1. 5 trillion for college debt. The first thing we have to do is look at how do we structure those loans, right . Can we refinance them . Can we make sure theres no predatory lending . Can we really look at how do you get past some of those loans . But the other question is why is it costing so much that these schools, every year, are raising their tuition by 8 , 10 , or 12 . And i think that is a National Issue that we all have to address. I will i mean i guarantee you we will marshal heaven and hearth to make sure we can get kids who want to go to college and have the inclination and really the desire that will make them successful there, to make sure they have the resources. We have in colorado, the denver scholarship foundation. It allows any kid who is i think its under 200 of the poverty level. They will be able too get scholarships that make up a large part of that difference so that nobody goes through four years of college with more debt than 15,000, which, again, thats real debt. I understand that, but its a step in the right direction. Go ahead. Let me just say one other thing. We often forget about the 70 of kids in this country who are never going to get a fouryear degree. And we have backed away [ applause ] we have backed away from all our Vocational Training at the very time when automation and Artificial Intelligence are going to turn our workplace upside down. I think now is the time to look at how do we make sure those kids get a chance to have the skills, to acquire the skills so they can be successful in this rapidly evolving economy. And weve got to do it. In colorado we started with apprenticeship programs. We looked at skills based transfers. Heres my vision. I think we should have the largest expansion of preskills and precommunity colleges in the history of this country. Next question from the audience is elaine desimone, a freelance writer here in atlanta. Hi, governor. Thanks for being here. We are at a critical time in history that asks those of us who are white or male to hold the door open for women, people of color, people in the lgbtq community, and other minorities. We have good, qualified democrats running who fit these descriptions. Why would someone vote for you over a woman or minority candidate . Sure. Thank you for that question. I hear that, and i have my whole life fought for civil rights and equality, equality in operation, in opportunity, equality in economic security. I also recognize that diversity is probably this countrys greatest strength. Its certainly the greatest strength of the democratic party, and i celebrate that. But as i said, im running for president because i think ive got a different set of experiences than many people. You know, ive been able to bring people together again and again, both when i was in government and in small business, find compromises in places where we collaborate with people that really were feuding. When i first became mayor, i reached out to all the suburban mayors who hated the mayor of denver. They hated the city of denver. But in the end, we got all 34 mayors, twothirds of them republicans and independents, to unanimously join together and support a tax increase to create the most ambitious Trans Initiative in the history of the country. Its 122 miles of new track. That collaborative effort, i think theres an appetite of people who have actually been in executive office and actually done stuff. Governor, some of your male competitors have vowed to put a woman on the ticket. Yes or no, would you do the same . Again, of course. But i think that we should be well, ill ask you another question. How come im asking the questions. I know. I know. But how come were not asking more often the women, would you be willing to put a man on the ticket . When we get to that point, ill ask you that question. Well be right back with more from cnns democratic president ial town hall with Governor John Hickenlooper. Dont go away. Ar the way they subscribe to movies. We dont follow the naysayers. Bookers book now and ask their boss later. [do you want breakfast or no . ] [definitely breakfast. ] be a booker at booking. Com e trade core portfolios is an easy, automated way to get invested. Well save you time by building, monitoring and managing a portfolio for you and provide all handson deck support when you need it helping you become top dog. Conventional wisdom says you cant make a 400 horsepower sedan, thats also environmentally conscious. We dont follow conventional wisdom. Were back with Governor John Hickenlooper for our cnn democratic president ial town hall. We have one more audience question. Before we get to that weve been looking at your memoir, and you have a lot of interesting stories in that book. One of them is about the time you went to see an xrated movie with your mother. Youve got the floor, sir. Thank you so much for that question. Any time. I thought it was better to write a book to let people see who you really were and the dumb things you did as well as the smart things. And where is that on the spectrum sph. On the dumb side. I was the youngest of four. And as i said my dad died right after i turned 8, and my mother and i had a pretty tem pestuous relation. She was just an amazing person. And i went off to college and for the first time she was alone in the house. And i got home for thanksgiving and we thought it was a little naughty but we didnt think it was that bad. Youve got to understand i was 18 years old. So i came home. My mother hated to cook. She was just a strong powerful woman who got stuff done in her own right. And i got home and she had this huge dinner laid out. And i said i promised jed wed go to the Movie Theater and see this new movie, do you want to come . And its an xmovie, and ji was sure she would say no, and i made a mistake. And she said id love to go because she didnt want to be left alone in the house again. It was a pretty famous movie, too. And i took my mother to see deep throat. And to her credit i didnt ask the question. But i will tell you that my mother was im sure she was mortified. And i said repeatedly i think we should leave. And my mother was someone who rarely went to a movie. When she paid, she was going to stay. And at the end she knew i was humiliated. And as we drove home and you know how the dashboard in the old cars had a kind of green light, and i asked her i said that was some experience. And she goes, and says well, i thought the lighting was very good in the movie. I thought i saw a little grin in that green light. Lets get back to the audience. Please. Mary cobern a cpa. Thank you. As a pragmatic progressive my vote will go to the candidate that is able to flip those middle of the road Trump Supporters and has a realistic plan to combat the countrys largest issues. What is your plan to dispose of a socialist branding paraded by many conservatives, and how do you plan to appeal to trump voters who have fundamental policy differences with democrats but dont feel like theres a place for them in Trumps Republican Party . Wow, thats a great question. That is so on spot. Let me just say that i dont like labels. I understand they get used all the time, but they generally objectify people and they diminish them. I was asked if i wanted to be a captalist or if i was a capitalist, and my response was in the end its as if you asked if i was a nerd in high school in which case i would have said, well, its not my first label i would choose but itd be hard to argue with. If youre going to give me a label, i am a capitalist. I started 20 businesses, i created 1,000 jobs. I helped reinvent a large part of downtown. And i think what were doing with Work Force Training and making sure all people, kids of all ages have the skills to engage, you know, at a high level with these new jobs that are going to come out by the millions. Right now there are many jobs that require higher levels of skills that businesses cant get filled. And i look at, you know, i understand that the middle class is shrinking, right, and just because corporations have record profits record profits. It doesnt mean that the country is doing better. I understand that millennials dont hate the idea of buying a house and starting a family. Theyre just buried in mountains of debt. I understand that generation xers, they shouldnt have to choose between taking care of their parents and sending their kids to college while at the same time not having anything for their retirement. And i think those are going to be some of the questions that those people who voted for trump didnt feel they were getting an answer from in the democratic party. And i feel like we can do what we did in colorado. When i started we were 40th in job creation. And we became the number one economy in the country, and we did it by embracing everybody. Everybody was expanding access to capital, cutting red tape in bureaucracy, making it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses. Governor, thank you so much for joining us this evening. Appreciate it. And thank you our audience here in atlanta. Thank you for watching. Be sure to tune in next wednesday night at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. Don lemon will be here where hell moderate the next president ial town hall with new jersey senator cory booker. And cnn tonight starts right now. Dana, thank you very much. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon. You just heard from colorado Governor John Hickenlooper in cnns town hall. Still there in the room. The democratic president ial candidate answering questions from the audience for about an hour. Questions about the rise of White Nationalism, the toll of young black men killed by police, health care, legalizing marijuana, Climate Change and a whole lot more. So how did he do in terms of making his case with you, with the American Voters . I want to bring in now cnn senior political
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