User benefits, if taxes become less of a proxy, transportation consumption due to more efficient cars and energy prices, then prioritize highway money for the most urgent needs and give more power to the states and cities which can use told them that fuel level use. Guest given the fact that there has not been much happening here in washington, a lot of states, 14 states in the last four years race on gas taxes. Almost all of those work and trolled by republicans. Utah raised 5 cents cents a gallon so they could fix up their roads, in the absence of any kind of major transportation bill, wyoming raise their own gas tax, all republican state. Is it easy . Of course not. Of course not. Its hard for politicians to raise the tax. The one think they know is that when they do that, the constituents they represent realize that potholes are going to be filled, roads are going to be fixed, bridges are going to be fixed, and people see their friends and neighbor doing the work. The money does not stay in washington. It does not go in some politicians pocket, he goes back to the states. People in the states see progress. That is the recent there is not that much heartburn about raising the gas tax. Fourteen states have done it, many very conservative bid states. Host you served as republican from illinois, you served as transportation secretary for the obama administration. Why is the Transportation Department, wise that needed some republicans, wall street journal would say get the federal government out of it, it should go to the state. Why do you say the Transportation Department. Guest this idea of evolution which you are talking about, which just just give the money back to the states, we would not have a National Program. We would not have an interstate system. When eisenhower signed signed the interstate bill there are governors back then that said we are not going to have an interstate running through our state. Here we are 50 years later, within the state system. Why . Because we had National Priorities. Because we set that is a priority. There is not enough money in the states to fix up the bridges that need to be fixed up. These bridge projects are very expensive. In the neighborhood of 50 100 million. You have to have a National Program that allows for big dollars, big amounts of dollars to be allocated to the states. States left to their own simply would not have their own resources to do it. They would not. We would not have the National Priorities for safety, safe roads, safe bridges, standards that may be some states simply would not adopt. Host what about competitiveness with other countries . Spee2 we are way behind now. Anyone who now. Anyone who has been to china, asia, south america knows that highspeed rail, new highways, new roads, every time you go to china there is a new row, new bridge, new highspeed railway. Their National Government set that as there National Government set that as a priority. You build it, they will calm. You build it they build economic corridors. People go go to work building these kind of infrastructures. We are being so outcompeted by everyplace else in the world, and that is why companies are thinking about moving to those some places in the world because they have good infrastructure. They have good roads, good bridges, to get their people back and forth to work. To develop economic opportunities. You build infrastructure, you build economic opportunity. Look at all the jobs that have been created along the interstate system over 50 years. These are all all small businesses. They all employ people. Thats what a role, a real line, a quarter does. Infrastructure is a winwin for america. For the people who do the work, for the people who benefit from the road, for the jobs being created once the road or rail line is in place. Again, this is a nobrainer. If you if you want to jumpstart the economy, the largest segment of on a planet in america right now is in the building area. It is in the building trade. These are the people out of work because there is nothing happening. There is no no transportation bill. The Highway Trust Fund is broke. So nothing is happening, a lot of people are out of work that ordinarily, in this right here in july, in the middle of construction season theres not much happening as we dont have a role program, we dont have a Highway Program and the trust fund is broke. Gas taxes have not been raised for 20 years. You cannot think of another thing in america, a dozen eggs, gallon of milk, and automobile, you name it, they have all gone, you name it, they have all gone up over 20 years except the gas tax. Caller good morning. I like your name. The only problem we have out here with the public is i have written my congressman and my senator, i do not believe that when you raise the gas tax at the federal level, you know why a big project. That is just one of hundreds. It first came in at 2,000,000,000 dollars, the dollars, the thing up in massachusetts, that hole in the ground. It went out with cost over run at 22,000,000,000. The money was siphoned off, as siphoned off, is nothing but corruption, kennedy was alive at the time, he directed that federal money and set everybody else pays in guest tax, new mexico to iowa back and forth again. When they opened it up the ceiling fell in because these garbage up there. Remember that . In the public, we dont trust the public government anymore. I was drafted during vietnam, as a policeman for 25 years and retired. I could tell you this. We have the most corrupt government and the whole entire world right now, until you straighten it out and fly straight, thats why people dont trust anymore. Guest first of all, thank you for your service as a 25 year policeman, sign policeman, then easy job. We appreciate the work you do. I would say dont agree with you. I i dont think our government is corrupt. I think the big gig was a huge crossover run and it is inexcusable that project cost so much money. Im proud of the work that we did at dot while i was secretary. We funded a lot a project that kept a close eye on them, make sure they were done correctly. We worked with mayors, governors all over the country who are people that really want to get things done and really innovate in infrastructure. I take your point, that project was a huge cost overrun. Host in florida, jim, a republican. Caller yes, the previous caller stole my thunder, i was also going to raise the issue of the big dig. He an illinois politician went to prison for corruption so we have to be careful of what he says, hes a rhino, republicans used to stand for conservative fiscal policy, this is the old concept of just spend and spend our way out of economic problems. We we have an 18 trilliondollar debt. 18,000,000,000,000, your, your grandchildrens grandchildren could not pay that thing off. Host lets get a response. Guest while i served in congress for 14 years im proud to say that as a member of the Transportation Committee we pass to sixyear bills and fully funded them. During that time speaker gingrich was in the majority, as part of the majority party, we passed three balanced budgets. Bill clinton. Bill clinton was in the white house. So the idea that you cant do both is not quite accurate. We did both, we passed major legislation, very legislation, very comprehensive transportation bills, balance the budget at the same time. People in washington can do those things, i think there are people who want to do that. Host how was it funded then when you pass those bills . How has it been funded something . Spee2 the two bills that we passed during the time that i was in congress were funded primarily by the gas tax. It had been raised in 1993, prior to the time that i came. I was elected in 1994. Under elected in 1994. Under president clintons First Administration the gas tax was raised 18 cents per gallon. The truth is, during president reagans administration, between his first and second term they raise the gas tax 5 cents per gallon and passed a fiveyear bill. Reagan bill. Reagan was a conservative fellow, i dont think people would accuse him of being a rhino. He is the need for the resources of andhats what we need today. We need that kind of vision and leadership to say that the Highway Trust Fund is broke, theres no money there. It has done a good job in helping build an interstate system. In great system in a country which is crumblin host how do you pay for this highway funds when, if you see even more fuel efficiency and cars and less consumption . Guest there are number of other things that can come into play. A lot of states have raised their own gas taxes, 14 last year and some very conservative states. A lot of states are doing tolling. Im from illinois, i, i still have a home in illinois, we have done a lot of tolling around Ohare Airport in illinois. In northern virginia, tolling has come into play in order to build roads. Tolling is one way, public, private partnerships which will deliver people from Downtown Washington out to bellas airport when it is completed. That was a public, private partnership. A partnership. A billiondollar project that totally funded by the government. So you have public, private partnership, you have tolling, and there are people from around the world that want to invest in infrastructure too. You have have Investment Bankers that are looking at infrastructure as ways to invest two. We dont say its all through the gas tax because you have to have other resources to. Host okay in michigan, john a democrat. Caller good morning. I drove over the road 22 years, a Truck Company of never had an accident, never a ticket. Guest congratulations. Caller the only way to do it is raise the gas tax because we were reporting hub miles on our fuel sheet and what you guys in washington were getting, the Truck Company was paying you mile maker. So theres stuffing about 22 in their pocket. So the easiest way is to go ahead and raise the fuel tax, most people dont realize, a couple two or 3 cents at the pump and we can cut out worrying about all of this. Im retired now. Host is that tree that two or 3 cents would do the trick . Spee2 not really. We need a need a big chunk of money right now. The infrastructure in america is in really bad shape. Theres a list at the dot a list in bad repair that need funding. These are very costly projects as i mentioned. Arlington cemetery is in the state of bad repair, it costs a lot of money to fix that bridge alone. We know the interstate system is now 50 years old, and needs to be fixed up. There are roads all over america that need repair. Were talking billions of dollars. 10 cents per per gallon, i say 10 cents per gallon and index it. At the gas tax was indexed in 1993 we will be having this problem. Index it to the cost of living. Gas of living. Gas prices are low right now. In some places in the country there below 3 per gallon. Now might be a very good time to raise the gas tax. Host okay, do you do you see that happening in this congress . Guest i dont. Its very difficult difficult for politicians to raise taxes. They dont want to do it. Host san diego, an independent. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call. Coming from americas finest city, ive have been in the city for 42 years, i own my own business for 25 of those years. I traveled as an outside salesman all those years. I have to tell you, i think san diego has done a terrific job with their roads. Maybe there is one exception i would complain complain about and that is the toll road from san diego to chula vista paper by company out of australia. I had one of those easy passes and i use it frequently. I must say that i am probably one half of 1 of the people that use that row. The the road was so bad and so underused that it had to be taken over by the state. I dont know know how much money we had to pay for that. Secondly, im going going to ask for a few things and then hang up. If there are 100,000,000 people in the United States that arent government subsidies of some kind, how is any increase in gas tax going to help those people . I noticed how you kinda brushed off the big gay get as a big mistake. That was an enormous mistake. That set the Highway Trust Fund back years. Host will take those two points. If you raise the gas tax what that does to lower income americans were already struggling. They now have to pay more. Guest if we raise the gas tax, we have the ability to put together a comprehensive bill, there are a lot of people in america that use mass transit, buses, light rail, think of the people in washington d. C. That use the metro system. People in chicago views the system. Its true all over america. If you have a Good Transportation program it is not just the roads and bridges, it is for transit and for people who frankly may be do not want to own an automobile or cannot afford one. But they still need to get to work and get to the dr. , get their kids to school and they need mass transit. That that is part of a comprehensive transportation program. You can have that in less you have the resources. We do not have the resources right now. That is why the senate is struggling. They put together a sixyear bill but only funded it for three years because the resources are not there. The Highway Trust Fund is broke. We need to replenish it. Host what you make of the senate last night attaching reauthorization of the Export Import Bank onto the highway bill. Guest im a big supporter of the Export Import Bank. Im not elected to anything but if i were serving i would certainly be supporting that. It was a commitment that the Senate Majority leader made to people in the senate who support the Export Import Bank, way to revise it. Frankly, the Export Import Bank is lane dormant right now because they ran out of its authorization. So the Senate Majority leader said there would be a vote on it, obviously there is support for it in the senate. It is a way to get that organization up and running again. Host what happens at the end of the week, the house says theyre not going to take the sixyear bill, the senate says theyre going to pass it before the resource. They pass 34 shortterm passes. But they dont come together before the august recess and funding runs out. How does Transportation Department respond . Guest i dont think it will happen. As a former staffer for 17 years i think there is a lot of discussion going on between speaker staff and majority leader staff about putting together an extension similar to what the house pass. I dont know if it will be through the end of year or through the end of fiscal year which would be the end of september. Before everybody leaves on thursday therell be some kind of extension. The house is not going to pass the senate bill, even if the Senate Passes it today, theres not enough time for that. It is taken the senate almost two weeks to passes bill, it was passed out of the committee several months ago. These things take time. I think there will be an extension. I think that people are probably on the phone as we speak figuring out how to do it. I think speaker boehner, and majority leader will be on the phone with one another today figuring out what the endgame will be. By thursday therell be an extension. We will have a transportation. Host a five month extension recently but last night they put together a three month extension which they hope the house will take up. Guest i think theres some agreement on that. Host an independent from florida. Caller good morning. I am retired a couple of years now, the telecommunications engineer. You are correct as far as how everything is falling apart with infrastructure. However, what i can say about that is the department of transportation has basically failed because if they had not filled then all of these things would not be in such disarray, in such horrible condition. We would not be out of money if there is a choochoo trust fund that was not rated in order to buy loans. We know the american taxpayer pretty much get screw. I dont think anybody should get any money until they fix the departments and fire everybody, because when i worked if you didnt take care business you didnt have a job. It should be that way with the government and every one else. Host okay, do you want to respond to that. Guest when i served in congress we pass to sixyear bills. There were big bills, they were bis that put people to work, kept our infrastructure in a state of good repair. I think that is what we need to get back to. Host using text, you are are part of the obama administration, please explain where all this endless money promising to fix the roads went . Guest we got 48,000,000 dollars at the dot as part of the 870 billion. Within two years we spent 26 billion on roads and bridges, a billion to implement highspeed rail, 8 billion for transit, 1,000,000,000 to to Fund Projects in cities, 1 billion for airports. That money was spent in two years. Host not enough . Guest of course not. I i think we should bed 480 billion, but it ended up being 48 billion. No earmarks, no sweetheart deals. We did it the right way. We put a lot of people to work for two years and funded a lot of projects. Host another transportation story today, more fees propel airlines. Profit margins for addons could be as high as 80 . This is how airlines are making their prophet, by charging for these addons. Guest i think its more than that, i think the energy cost that comes in that has been with the airline industry. One of the biggest costs is the jet fuel they buy. As these costs have come down, it has been a tremendous boom for the airline industry. Though obviously, charging for pillow, meal, better seat is a great source of irritation. These are private companies, they have a bottom line, they have a board of directors to report to and they figure out ways to make money. The main reason theyre doing so well financially is because their energy costs have come down so dramatically. Gas prices has fallen. The price of a a barrel of oil has gone down. Host susie in california, your next. Caller hello. I have a question but first i want to say, shovel ready, shovel ready, ready, shovel ready in 2009, a trillion dollars stimulus, about two years later president obama yukking it up about shovel ready wasnt sociable ready. Ready. Im always on the side of the taxpayer and i wish that every time a politician asked for a tax raise that the whole of america would say now please stop disrespecting our tax money. Do not disrespect the Hardworking Taxpayers tax money. Also this question question is, do you think if a republican president had left with over 1,000,000,000,000 dollars dollars with a have gotten away with that . Guest of the 870,000,000,000 dollars which was the economic stimulus bill that Congress Passed within the first 30 days, we got 48,000,000,000. We. We spent it correctly, we put people to work, we showed that when you invest in infrastructure you invest in the American People and provide jobs. I make no apologies for that, i am am proud of the work that we did. We proved that we could put people to work and jumpstart that segment of the economy. As i said earlier, even republican president s like president reagan use gas tax 5 cents a gallon during his time in washington because maybe he was a former governor and he saw the need for infrastructure. He saw the need for the kind of resources that were needed. Thats the the kind of leadership we need today. Host from north carolina, paul, democrat. Caller i would just like to comment on the fact that per capita or we are one of the highest tax states in the union. Like a lot of other states, they are always broke. This state, no matter how many taxes they put on us is always broke. They start the lottery a few years later, Education System is broke again. They have no money for the highway fund except to help the developers. They build major bridges so that developers from the north and south can come in here and develop stuff they should not be developing to start with. Even on the lakes they do it. They have all the money on the world to bring a box store somewhere but they cant pick the dangerous intersection in the community. They are always broke. We have a bridge on the interstate they have been working on for two and a half years, with stimulus money supposedly. There is nothing more than an advertisement for the realtors to sell the mountains off to people who live above and run it for the locals. What it is, their lobbyists their lobbyists pushing down in raleigh to push funds which is destroying our states because we dont have any jobs anymore because they ship them to china. Guest obviously you have a disagreement with the way your tax dollars are being spent. That that is why we have elections. To elect people that are responsive to the people they serve. Host an independent caller in maine, go ahead. Caller back when the stimulus thing was going to rebuild bridges and highways, and so on, the republican stood obamas way every inch of the way. This fellow that is on white now wanted to raise taxes another quarter on gas, will gas is cheap right now because of all the fracking and whatnot, people are catching on to that. Gas is not going to be cheap forever. That quarter that youre talking about is just going to add to the burden of the people who have low income jobs, having a hard time making ends meet. You need to stop taxing people. We need to get to congress and the senate together and get rid of half of them, most of them and get some real people in there that are serious about doing something. Guest im proposing not a quarter, but a a 10cent per gallon increase. Host over the 18 cents so its 28 cents then. A couple of calls have talked about the safety issues. We had colors before talking about, color from connecticut saying people were losing their lives daily in connecticut on the highway system. What is going on with the safety . Guest the Current Administration has placed a very high value on safety. While we are the dot, we did did too. We work very closely with organizations promoting bus safety, motorcross buses and certainly truck safety, safety on the roads whether it be we had a whole campaign against distractive driving, texting while driving people. Now you have almost 50 states that have passed laws against distractive driving. Safety is always always the number one priority for the department of transportation. I believe it is today, i believe the statement the secretary made in the last few days about safety with respect to if it was against the fiat for the jeeps that have gas tanks and chrysler has also talked about that now they are going to buy back their dodge ram trucks. The largest fine ever leveled against a car company was leveled by secretary fox, all around the idea of safety. Nobodys going to take a backseat to safety when it comes to the apartment of transportation. Im im glad secretary fox has stepped up. We did that during our four and half years and i am led to do that today. Host what you think about having a finer penalty. Guest a think sends a good message to consumers that there is a group in washington, at the department of transportation that takes safety at its highest priority. There someone looking out for consumers. Thats what this message is about. [inaudible] he has to be their number one priority. It certainly is with the dot and i commend secretary fox and his entire team for what they did the last few days. Host what you make of the stories the last few days what you make of the future of cars and technology . Obviously there are going to have to be smart people to figure out ways to prohibit hackers from hacking into automobile computers. The chips that go into them. I know that in this region cars he to be inspected, but in my home state of illinois we dont have that kind of a program, so its really up to the states to decide whether a car is going to be inspected or a truck and what the fees are and where the money goes. And i suspect the money in most states goes into the state coffers. But its not true in all 50 states. Host wichita falls, texas, greg, good morning to you. An independent. Caller good morning to both of you. Guest good morning. Caller yeah. Let me preface what im going to say by saying i really dont mind paying for the roads that i use, i really dont mind paying a gas tax. The moneys got to come from somewhere, you know, why not the people who are using it . My rub, and there was a guest last week that talked about this, and there was a lot of calls on this issue, is that a good part of the road tax or fuel tax doesnt even go for the roads. It goes for Public Transportation and light rail. I mean, why arent these people paying for this . I just got done driving through colorado, and i got soaked for maybe a 30minute toll road ride north of denver for 20 coming and going. And frankly, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way when i started hearing about, well, they want to raise the fuel tax. Weve got uber, weve got all these companies that want to go into these inner cities to serve these people, and its like, no, were going to spend money on light rail or on Public Transportation. And, like, why are we fighting to keep these people out and sinking money in from the federal it just doesnt make any sense. You know, you have people in idaho that are paying for very disburse road system that are paying for a Public Transportation system in big cities, and its like why isnt that at least done at the state level if nothing else . Host secretary lahood. Guest first of all, i know people dont like to pay tolls. We heard about that a lot while we were at the department of transportation. And, but the lions share of the money that is spent on transportation is spent on roads and bridges. And, you know, if you look at the stimulus money that we were talking about earlier, 48 billion came to d. O. T. , 28 billion of that went to roads and bridges. And if you look at the lions share of the taxes that are paid, it goes to roads and bridges. Now, does some money goes to transit . Yeah, some money goes to transit. There are people that need to, in washington, d. C. If we didnt have a metro system, think of all the cars that would be on the road. We wouldnt be able to fit them all on the road. The same is true in and chicago and other cities in new york and chicago and other cities. Some percent does go for buseses, for transit, for light rail, in some instances for streetcars, because this is what people in the community have said its what they want to use for their transportation. Either because they dont want to own a car or because they cant afford to. Host john, independent, in florida. Caller good morning, mr. Lahood. Guest good morning. Caller my question has to do with energy, its tied to transportation. A lot of people are saying gas is cheap, i dont believe its cheap. Im 50 years old and lived through the last energy crisis. Weve got more oil in this country right now in storage than we ever have, okay . So that being the case, why are we refining it and sending it elsewhere . Guest well, because oil Companies Want to make money. Caller but why tax the american taxpayer instead of putting taxes on what were exporting . Guest well, there are proposals to do that. You know, thats a good point. I mean, there are members of congress that have introduced bills to tax a barrel of oil and also to tax oil thats exported. These bills havent passed, but, you know, its an alternative to raising the gas tax. Host another alternative thats being floated is work by ways and means chairman paul ryan, republican of wisconsin, talking with the white house about a onetime tax on multinationals to help fund a longerterm highway funding bill. What do you make of that effort . Guest i think its probably not going to be very popular with the Business Community. These people, these companies that are parking their money in other countries, you know, i think theyre going to be reluctant to want to use that money for infrastructure. I know the president s talked about that, i know that chairman ryans talked about it, other people in the senate have talked about it. I dont see it getting much traction though in the Business Community. Host what do you make of the effort to tie tax reform to reforming the highway fund . Guest well, i think its probably a good place to do it. I mean, in order to raise the gas tax it has to go through the ways and Means Committee in the house and the finance committee in the senate. I just testified before the finance committee. Chairman hatch was good enough to invite t me, and i just, again, i made no, you know, i promoted the idea of raising the gas tax. And i know that there are people, most people probably across the way here at the capitol that arent too gung ho about that, but i do think its the major solution to our funding problems. Host well go to phil in baltimore, democrat. Your governor just lowered the tolls for bridges, for the bay bridge from 6 to 4. Caller well, i didnt vote for him. [laughter] first of all, i want to thank the secretary for his service. Guest thank you. Caller i really appreciate him crossing the aisle to work with president obama. Guest thank you. Caller that was probably not an easy thing to do, and it was much appreciated. I want to come back to the issue of safety. I dont think a lot of people realize how many fatalities there are each year in the u. S. , somewhere around 30,000 from traffic fatalities. Which is somewhere around three times the level of gunshot homicides. And we hear so much in the news, appropriately so, about guns but so little about cars. What do you think is preventing the media from playing a more active role in making people aware of the issue and promoting more safety . Guest well, you know, truly not up to the media to do that, its up to people at department of transportation, people in transportation, Safety Advocates. Theres some very strong Safety Advocates in, not only in washington, but around the country. You know, we wouldnt be in the position were in with taking a lot of drunk drivers off the road if it hadnt been for mothers against drunk driving. They, over a long period of time, persuaded congress to set a standard that now is, you know, a national standard. So, you know, i dont fault the media. What i we need to just be vigilant about this, and we woke up every day at d. O. T. Thinking about safety. We just considered that to be our top priority. And so were going to, obviously, continue to applaud secretary fox and the entire team at d. O. T. For what theyre doing to continue to promote safety. It just has to be the departments number one priority. But, look, i agree with you. 30 plus thousand lives lost on our highways is way, way, way too much. And we just all need to, you know, work on it. Host Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put together some numbers guest sure. Host the most recent one from 201 on this issue 2013 on this issue of fatal crash totals, over 30,000 fatal Motor Vehicle crashes in which over 32,000 deaths occurred. So the number guest yeah. Thats just way too high. Any death is one too many. Host dannys next in silver springs, maryland, republican. Danny, welcome to the conversation. Caller thank you. Good morning, everybody. Hey, i love hogan. Republicans lower taxes, democrats raise taxes. Hey, my thing is it takes too long to build a road around here. Guest well, it takes a long time to build a road because theres a lot of, you know, theres a lot of red tape involved, and while we were at d. O. T. , we tried to reduce it from ten years of red tape down to about four years. Its not easy. Theres a lot of rules and regulations, and but i dont disagree with you, it does take a long time. Host what goes into it . Guest a lot of standards, a lot of Environmental Concerns that have to be met and a lot of studies that have to be done, making sure that all of the citizens understand that there might be a road running through their, by their front yard and, you know, where its going to go and what Environmental Impact its going to have, and these things take a lot of time and a lot of money. Host so tie that to the debate up on capitol hill, these shortterm patches, theyre looking at number 34 this week. Guest right. Host how do you plan ahead . Guest not a way to build roads. Its just not. I mean, we need to do better. We need to, we need to have a sixyear, very comprehensive, fully funded transportation bill to get our country moving again. Host wayne in georgia, democrat. Hi, wayne. Caller hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my call. Mr. Lahood, if you could please address, first of all, if you have already spoken about it, please forgive me for bringing it back up. But in february 2015 president obama made a proposal to actually do a sixyear revenue fix for the transportation infrastructure by taxing the businesses that take their business overseas. Guest right. Caller could you speak to that for me, please . Guest sure. Thats called repatriated funds, and the president and some people in congress have proposed the idea of using that money to pay more infrastructure. I think for infrastructure. I think the Business Community is going to resist that because theyre parking that money offshore, probably earning some pretty good interest on it, and they want to use that money maybe for r d or their own purposes. I think its going to be difficult for them to come to grips with the idea its going to be used for infrastructure. But well see. I mean, its a debate thats going on here. Its not only just been proposed by president obama, but by some people on capitol hill too, and maybe itll have legs. Host before we let you go, your sons looking at having a turn in congress. Guest right. Host how has to run against democrat in a special election coming up. What is it looking like . Guest its a republican district, and im sure darren will do very well on september 10th. Hes put together a very good organization. Its a very grass roots organization. Hes working very hard, not taking anything for granted. And governor romney carried the district with 62 of the vote, so its looking very good, and im very proud of darren for the way that hes conducted himself, the campaign that he has run, and hes his own person, and hell be a good member of congress and gives me an opportunity to continue to live vicariously through him and still be involved in politics. Host any advice . Have you given him advice on how to run, win a campaign . Guest the advice i gave him was, please, never forget where you came from. If you remember where you came from, then people will respect you for that. Host all right. Well, secretary lahood, we appreciate your time. Guest thank you. Always good. Host that conversation continues on highway funding, obviously, in washington. Youre watching booktv. Its for serious readers television for serious readers. Watch any program you see here online at booktv. Org. Being pressed to go on the road, because once panic sets in, its unstoppable. And hannah is panicked. Hes now, by late july and early august beginning to believe, by god, weve got a race on our hands, and he keeps pressuring mckinley, youve got to go on the road. Mckinley says to him, look, i cant cothat. If i go on the road hes going to get on a trapeze, and, you know, im going to have to mimic him. Ive been on the road before, i know what its like. Hanna sends charles g. Dawes to go talk to him, sends a friend, myron t. Herric, to talk to him, and finally mckinley says ive got to think before i speak. So what happens is people are already showing up in groups, so somebody and i think that somebody is mckinley says lets make that my routine. Only lets get it organized so people dont show up on my doorstep and say, hey, were here to see you. Lets invite the people we want to have come, so its not just the people who volunteer to come, but lets have them come. If its a critical voter group from a critical state, lets know that theyre coming, have them send us what they want to say in advance so we can edit it, figure out what im going to say, well have a manifestation, well take them under an arch to the courthouse square, well have them form up there. Well have bands and all kinds of entertainment to keep them occupied, and when the moment comes when i finish meeting with the last delegation, we know how long it takes them to march up market street. Well have an organized program, they can say what they want to say, theyll give me a gift, i will thank them for coming, if ive got time, ill shake everybodys hand, and, bang, we go on to next group. And this becomes campaigning on an industrial scale. 750,000 people come to canton, ohio. On some weekends 100,000 people come in groups of various sizes. They show up to the station, they go to the town square, the women go shopping, the men pick up some cigars. The merchants do well in town. Sometimes the community feeds them at the tabernacle. They have appropriate drinks for the men. If youre wet, theyve got a beer and a sandwich, and if youre dry, you get a cup of coffee and a sandwich. And its industrial in scale, but it is unified, organized and deliberate. He knows exactly what he wants to say. The message is tailored to that individual audience and repeated back in their hometown papers and repeated by them at home. I saw the major, and heres what he said to me. Which of these two men do you think addressed more people . Well, im convinced that bryant sees more people. The estimate is 23 Million People attended his rallies. He would go everywhere, and there were people. But he attracted spectators, and mckinley attracted supporters. Targeted. It was targeted. And what he did was he drew key he, in essence, created an army. And his campaign was based around this principle, we want to create an army of people who will serve as our surrogates and advocates. And, i mean, they organized everybody. They had groups for blacks and germans, they had women because some women could vote in western states. One of they organized traveling salesmen, the commercial club. Pause these were people who because these were people who traveled widely, spoke well and knew lots of people. There was a big craze sweeping the country. Lots of young men were falling into it, and it was great excitement, so they decided to tap it bicycles. You can watch this and other programs online at back tv. Orgful booktv. Org. Stanley greenberg has been a polling adviser to president s and prime ministers, hes also the author of america ascendant. What is americas biggest problem right now . Well, the biggest problem is that the main problems arent being addressed. You have a huge revolutions that are remaking the country from technology to breakdown of the family, new jenner roles, great gender roles, really a ch