assistant vice president of a nationwide insurance. this is one hour. [applause] >> look at this crowd. this is amazing. good morning, everybody, and ross yes for being here. we have a packed house at are honored to have two distinguished guests. on behalf of nationwide, it is our honor to welcome mitt romney to the des moines offices. this is our headquarters. we are extremely proud to employ 4500 associates in iowa and recognize the big part they play. today's program is sponsored by the nationwide civic action program. we are sponsoring since 1978. it is our goal to have all of the 2012 candidates visit us. today, we welcome governor mitt romney, who served as the 70th governor of massachusetts from 2003-dublin romney served as a ceo and co-founder of bane capital. he served as the president and ceo of the 2002 salt lake city olympic games organizing committee. he received his undergraduate degree from brigham young university and earned his master's from harvard law at harvard business school. he is the son of michigan governor, george romney, is married to his lovely wife and, and has five sons. please welcome governor mitt romney to a nationwide. -- to nationwide. [applause] >> this is actually tom brady of the new england patriots. [laughter] you are going to hear from senator thune in just a moment. i wanted to say good morning to you and the governor. it is good to have you. [applause] bob, you indicated you are trying to get all of the provincial candidates here. i thought you were on my side. [laughter] i have some ties to this great organization. a good friend of mine who lived in boston for many years -- and i have lived in boston for many years -- was chief executive of this great company for a number of years and helped build nationwide into a nationally prominent and powerful insurer. he has told me about this great organization and the people who work here. i am have been to be here with you today. a couple of things -- i know that this is. skimming and we should be talking about the things we are grateful for -- this is thanksgiving and we should be thankful -- talking about the things we are grateful for. i am proud of the innovative experience -- innovative spirit that makes us the envy of the world. i amatbefore my -- thankful for my family, my friends, and my faith. when i was a boy, my parents put me in a car and we drove a round to national parks. between the parts, my mother would read us -- read to us from a book called "man to match my mountain." she wanted us not only to fall in love with the landscape -- the mountains, canyons, rivers, trees -- she wanted us to fall in love with the whole concept of america. the book talked about the men and women who crafted this country. the spirit of innovation and risk-taking. the name of the book was taken from a poem. i do not often quote points, but this was a good one written by a poet in the 1800's. he was describing the people who formed this country. he said "bring me men to match my mountains, give me men's to match my planes. men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brain. this will be the land where people from all over the world will want to come with empires in their purpose, empires of discovery, adoration, construction, building. pioneers. and we would change the world by virtue of the people of america who would be pursuing their own dreams not bound by the circumstances of their burden. i am painful for america as we get ready to celebrate that special day. i am great -- i am grateful for america as we get ready to celebrate a special day. i am also aware of the challenges that we face. about three years ago we had a person campaigning for president who now is president. we did not know him terribly well. he did not have a record to look at, but he spoke eloquently about america and we gave them a chance. we have been disappointed. the president has not been able to bring the country together and on some of the most important issues we face in the world, he has simply withdrawn. most recently, the example would be what happened with the super committee in washington. we had in the balance two very important features and consequences. on one side, we have the recognition that unless america finally learns how to rein in its excessive spending and borrowing, we are going to find ourselves facing a circumstance like italy or greece. there is no question that you cannot keep on spending an extra $1 trillion a year more than you take in without investors of the world saying they will stop lulling money to america at low interest -- stop will make money to america at low interest rates. when the interest rates skyrocket, america prize to a halt. people are out of work for a decade or longer. the consequence of us not learned to live within our means is severe. the consequence of not being able to solve that problem was exacerbated by the penalty for not solving it immediately. that penalty was a $600 billion cut to the department of defense. i do not think there is any department of government that does not have waived in it, but i also did not believe that taking $600 billion out of our defense budget is a responsible thing to do in a world as the interest at our world is today. we have already taken out some $350 billion with the president's own cuts. leon panetta said taking out a total of $1 trillion would be a doomsday scenario. we would not be able to fulfil our military missions. with those two things at stake looking down the road at 8 grees tight situation or a gutting of our military, -- a greece-type situation or a gutting of our military, the president went on vacation. in my view, this is a time for america to get serious about our challenges. i will not go through all of them, but the big one as our budget and our spending. people wonder how in the world -- if you are lucky enough to be elected president, would you be able to balance this budget? the answer is it is not impossible. if you do those things which are done in business every day. i spent my life and the public sector in business. you do not have the option of not balancing your budget. if you do not balance your budget, you go out of business, lose your job, lose your investments. you have to balance your budget. i took that scale from my business experience, which was 25 years of work, and went to the olympics in salt lake. we're able to turn them around and get their budget balanced. then i went to my state. we had a $3 billion budget gap. we were able to turn that around. how did we do it? number one, stopped doing some things you cannot afford. stop some programs. eliminate them. cut them. stop them. some things you like and you cannot afford. some pains to do not like. those are the easy ones. number one on my list, obamacare. i will get rid of that on day one. [applause] but there are other things i like. i like the national endowment for the arts. it is a wonderful program. i like amtrak. i think it is great we have amtrak and the government subsidizes it. but you know what? every program i've looked at, i apply this test. is this program so critical and the subsidy so important that it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for it knowing that i will never pay it back, my generation will never pay it back, it will get passed on to my kids and theirs. programs like those i just described, i will eliminate them and expect them to stand on their own feet. that is one way of cutting back the budget. there is another. there is a lot the federal government does that can be done better by private industry or bite states. programs like medicaid. that is the health care program for the poor in this country. i would take that program and the dollars in it and send it back to iowa for the people of iowa and let the people of the legislature here craft your own medicaid program to care for your own part report in the way you think is best. the poor in iowa is different from being poor in new york, mississippi, or montana. by the way, if we do that, if we give iowans their medicaid dollars and grow them every year, the savings that accrues to the federal budget is $100 billion a year. that is real money. [applause] now there is one more way that i am going to mention to rein in excessive spending in washington. that is to make government itself more efficient. you might think, how do you do that? again, here you do that. you find ways to do better and better work servicing your customer in better and better ways for less and less cost. either you do that or you will be gone in 10 years as an enterprise. government goes the opposite way. i have to tell you a story you may find interesting. this is in the department of defense, which is one of our better run agencies. i was told this by secretary john lehman, secretary of the navy. he said that in the second world war, which commissioned 1000 chips a year and navy purchasing -- it was called the bureau of ships back then -- had 1000 personnel. by the time i became secretary of the navy under the reagan administration, we commissioned as 17 ships a year, but may be purchasing had grown to 4000 people. he said today, we commissioned nine ships a year and may be purchasing -- 24,000 people. this is what happens with government. i will cut federal employment by 10% right off the bat. i will do that through attrition. something else -- i will link the compensation of federal employees to that which exists in the private sector, meaning the taxpayer should not have to pay more for the people they are supporting, the public servants, than they are getting paid themselves in their own wages and benefits. [applause] i will get $500 billion a year out of the federal budget and take the federal apatite from 25% of our economy -- appetite from 25% to accompany -- of our economy, to 20% of our economy. we will have a balanced budget amendment. it is essential for america to have the kind of economic strength that allows us to preserve the freedoms that make america america. i love this country. i love what this country stands for. i love the freedoms we enjoy. i see this as a critical time. i am in this race not because it is the next up on my political career -- i do not have a political career. i was only governor four years. i am still a business guy. i am of this country. i am in this race to make america stronger and make sure the next generation a joyous thanksgiving after thanksgiving in the nation that is free, that sees the world becoming more free and more poppers -- more prosperous. our combination of freedoms is the only solution for poverty in the world and the answer for peace in the world. american strength is the greatest ally pea's has ever known. i am proud to be with you today. i salute you and what you do. what you are doing allow our economy to grow. that allows us to care for one another with the revenues and taxes that you pay. i love the private sector. some people do not like the private sector. i do. i want to encourage you to recognize our days in the future will be even brighter than the past. this is a great nation with great prospects as long as we have leaders that will tell the truth, live with integrity, and know how to make our economy work. i do and i will with your help. thank you so much. [applause] one more thing, about a year and a half ago, i was sitting down with a number of my political friends who were giving me advice. i said who do you think will be the toughest competitor i will face if i run for the dead? the number one answer came about some senator from south dakota that i had never met. he is here with me today. i am lucky it did not run and i am glad he was willing to be with me today. please welcome the senator just to your north, a great friend of iowa and our nation, senator john thune. [applause] >> it is great to be here with you today in the heartland of america to endorse your candidacy for presidency of the united states. by the way, i am happy that you would accept my endorsement with congressional approval ratings at 9% in some polls. i thought that you might decide -- i had this conversation with him about whether or not to endorse me. i guess i should guess said i will come out for you or against you, whatever helps the most. i am glad you accept my endorsement and i appreciate the chance to be in iowa. we share not obey a border, but we share a lot of the same ethics, values, a common heritage. my grandmother was born in iowa back in 1893 and moved to south dakota when she was 12-years old. in this part of the country, we understand important things like you cannot spend money you do not have, you have to live within your means. those are the sorts of ways that characterize the heartland. i also appreciate the important role you play in our political process. we have observed from south dakota the iowa caucuses. i know how seriously you take the responsibility that you have as the first in the nation to start this political process to make sure you do this job well. i want to thank you for the important role you play and i hope this year you will recognize it is critically important that we nominate the right person to be on the ballot next year. less than one year away, the people of this country are going to have a major election. it is an election with huge stakes and historic consequences. three years ago, we had an election. the people of this country voted for hope and change. i can think now that we have had an assessment of the past three years, it is pretty clear that has not worked out so well. to be fair, president obama inherited a difficult set of economic circumstances, but the fact of the matter is is policies have made those circumstances much much worse. today there are more than 2 million more unemployed people in this country. we have seen the debt skyrocket. it is up over 40% over what it was when he came to office. fuel prices are up 85%. health care costs, contrary to the assertions about -- contrary to the assertions of obamacare, are up. the number of people on food stamps as up 43%. the only thing that's gone down is the value of your house. that is an economic record. the obama economy is one that has been really harmful to jobs in this country and as a result of that, we have chronic unemployment and massive debt. we are in a deep hole and it will take the right kind of leader to get us out of that hole. that is why it is so important that we nominate somebody that can go into that campaign toe- to-toe, face-off with the spread of that, and talk about a different vision for the future of this country. what impresses me about mitt romney -- he is a guy who has turned failing things around. in business, he turned failing companies around. he turned the olympics around. he turned the state of massachusetts around. we need somebody to turn this country around and put it on a more sustainable path that will build a brighter future for more generations of america. [applause] you think about what has to be done. this current administration sat on a course of growing government of more spending, higher taxes, more debt, job- killing regulations, and as a consequence, it has become more expensive and more difficult to do business in this country. we need a business -- need a president who will reverse that course, who understands we need to cut the size of government, to make the federal economy smaller and the private economy larger. who will do what it takes to reform our tax code to make it more simple, more clear, more fair, to do away with loopholes. somebody who will develop a domestic energy resources to get us away from that dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy. somebody who will and job killing regulations and will get the economy growing again and put people back to work. the person, in my view, who is best qualified to do this, who has the skill-set and experience to get the job done for the american people is mitt romney. that is why i am here today on the day before thanksgiving to lend my support, for whatever at its worst -- what is worth. what really matters is what the people of i would think. the people who will go out to both caucuses in -- in a few weeks and make a decision about the person we want to top the ballot. we have a very clear choice, ladies and gentlemen. we are at a historic crossroads. we will either choose a path which is the one we are on right now -- more government, or spending, higher taxes, more debt, and a slippery slope on the pathway to european socialism -- or what we know well -- or we will adhere to what i think has been the historic vote of the country -- more economic freedom, strong national security -- the types of things that mitt romney will take to office as our next president. i am delighted to be in iowa today to a bank you again for the important role you play in this process -- to cross again bore the important role to play in this process. -- to thank you again for the important role you play in this process. thank you very much for the chance to be with you today. [applause] >> thank you, senator. now we get a chance to let you ask some questions either to me or the senator. think about what you might like to ask. i would like you to produce a play in the caucasus. my guess is that less than half of you have participated in a caucus, maybe yes. wrong. i will not do a show of hands. i do not want to embarrass anybody. not everybody participates in caucuses, but it would be great if everybody in this corporation said, you know what? i am board to take some time out and go to the caucuses and vote for the person of my choice. because of the significance of the selection of our nominee this year. we know the democratic nominee. we have a pretty good idea where he is leading the country or where he is not leading the country, depending on how you want to frame it. we have among republicans a pretty wide array of backgrounds, experience, and visions for the country. iowa has the first and, in some respects, the most powerful voice. whether that is me or someone else, you all could decide who it is. to be. by virtue of the scale of this process, there are not a lot of people who make this determination. i would like you to think about that and, hopefully, take the occasion to go to the caucuses because the country counts on you. it is a responsibility that has been given to iowa for some decades and now. we need you to think about it with some seriousness. with that in mind, you can ask me some questions that may help you make up your mind whether i am the guy to support or whether it is someone else. i can give you some other names of people on the ballot if you would like to throw your vote to them. [applause] just kidding. yes, sir? here comes the microphone. >> what is the biggest obstacle you are facing in order to get rid of existing precedent? it has been difficult in u.s. history to take care of an incumbent president and when election. i want to say what magic tricks you have in your hat. >> a good question. i liked your euphemisms about how you would replace the incumbent and so forth. how we will beat president obama is by speaking day in and day out by -- about one topic he does not want to talk about, and that is the economy. he does not want to discuss what has happened to the economy under his watch. excuse me. people talk about every other topic he can pick up. if i am the nominee, he will try to take me apart. one of his advisers said that their objective is to kill mitt romney. that was not very exciting at my house. it would be to try to demonize who ever our nominee is. what republicans of done in the past, george bush, what ever they can come up with. if we allow ourselves to go down that sinkhole, who knows what will happen? but if, instead, we say, mr. president, you have been the and, for four years. by the way, you had a democra