Go . Lets go. I appreciate everybody being here today. Its great to be here in my curtain county. This feels like home to me. A small town in North Carolina very much like this, except not this big. This is very big compared to where i grew up. Let me talk to a number of things happening in this country jerry mentioned a couple of them the loss of jobs so many to payties are having, on the jobs that they have got and to replace the jobs that have been lost. During the time that president bush has been in office, 3 million americans of pollen into poverty, almost 4 million americans have lost their Health Care Coverage. 9 millionplus americans without the dignity and selfrespect that comes from having a job and a paycheck. Very important work to do in this country. Here is what i want to do about jobs. First, we need to have not just free trade in america, but fair trade that allows our workers to compete. We do not want to be exporting jobs. We ought to be exporting american products. What i want to do is get rid of these loopholes in our tax code that give American Companies a reason to go overseas. The last thing we need is to have our own tax code giving American Companies and incentive to go overseas. I think we ought to give tax breaks to companies that stay in america, dont you . After senator edwards speech, he met with local residents. Senator edwards glad to see you here. [indiscernible] senator edwards thank you. Thank you very much. Come your name. Tell me youryou name. Nice to meet you. Im concerned about this energy. Senator edwards im worried about it, too. One thing i am concerned about the i know a lot of teachers and the things they are concerned about is the discipline in the students ck ofor edwards la discipline in these students. Eiger the same thing. Do you teach . I hear the same thing. Do you teach . How about making it easier to become a teacher . I have a degree from Florida State university and i cant get a job because i do not have 200 certification exams. Senator edwards [indiscernible] the history teacher becomes speaker of the house though. Exactly,dwards exactly. Appreciate your. Appreciate you. I had the legislative committee. Thank you. Ards i hope your endorsement process goes through. Senator edwards the South Carolina teachers just endorsed me. I feel good about how that is going. Fantastic. Will see whats happening with it. Senator edwards nice to see you. Thank you. Senator edwards youre welcome. Good to say you. We are with you. Senator edwards appreciate that. Thank you very much. Yes, sir . Hi. Senator edwards nice to see you. [indiscernible] senator edwards oh, absolutely. That is something i have worked very hard on. [indiscernible] aware of our program . Senator edwards tell me about it . Into revitalize our downtown the city senator edwards yeah, yeah. [indiscernible] for you,dwards good good for you. Thats important work. i want theirs support. Can you help me with that . Yeah. [indiscernible] edwards when is it . Do you know . No, i dont know. Senator edwards let me get one of my people over let me get hunter to speak to you for a few minutes, ok . Find out how we reach her . Thank you for the time to come here. We are so flattered. Senator edwards sure, sure. Come on. Mr. Chief of police. Today, we just stopped in oklahoma to take off our Real Solutions bus tour with all of r to the rent, oklahoma and head up north to more essential part of oklahoma in Seminole Shawnee and all the way up to tulsa, about 20 minutes. We stop about 20 minutes south of tulsa. We start the next day, another big schedule. From tulsa to friar, oklahoma two was skokie, to sell song, then we ended the day in mcallister and southeastern oklahoma. Cities chosen to be highlighted on this tour . We looked we wanted to reach out to real voters in the democratic primary in oklahoma. People relating with what he is saying, people who are excited. They feel like he knows where the where they are coming from. The president ial action here is new to oklahoma, candidates usually skip our primary and this is no longer the case. People are excited about the commitments under senator edwards has made, this is his 10th visit to oklahoma, he has tremendous support from elected officials. 30are rolling out on nearly endorsements from house and senate democrats, a big plus for us. You said he has been here 10 times. What are some of the other candidates . I think senator lieberman has made through, five times and the others have stopped in about once or twice. Once, we has been here had a few we had a four on an august with six of the nine candidates. Since then, it has been interesting to watch the reactions of oklahomans every day who never thought they would see a president ial candidates again, and they are excited to see this, they feel more engaged in the process and you will see those numbers reflect in turnout , inactivity among activists, so all in all, it is good for the state and the party of oklahoma and i think it is good for these candidates to get out here and work hard and connect voters like senator edwards has. You think coming to a smaller town is more effective than going to the larger cities . The larger cities are key, too, but voters like to see that you are paying attention to the rural voters. Senator edwards is the only one talking about solving issues , attracting america quality teachers to rural scores rule schools rural schools. People sense that he feels what is going on and is offering Quality Solutions to correct those problems and preserve a rural way of life for reallife oklahomans. Thank you very much. Next, they went to hugo, oklahoma, about an hour west of idabel were edwards met with voters. You. Ce to see doing . You thank you for including Rural America in your tour. I understand that. Good to have you here. Good to see you, how are you doing . We appreciate you being here. Good to see you. How are you doing . Good to see you. I did not mean to make you get up. Good to see you. You are the first candidate that i have ever come to see. Is that right . Thank you, happy to be here. How are you all doing . Nice to see you. All these people say they will vote for you. Good, thats what i was going for. I am retired in the army. Yes. Absolutely. How are you all doing . Good to see you. Glad to be here. Thank you. Appreciate you all coming. How are you . Nice to meet you. This is one of my highly motivated government students. Thank you both for being here. Nice to see you. Are you guys doing . How are you . Very happy to be here, nice to see you. Great to see you, again. Nice to see you. How are you doing . Nice to see you. Glad to be here. Thank you for coming. Good to see you again. Nice to meet you. Nice to see you. Thank you for coming. Very nice to see you. You. To be here, thank we will get him. You. To see here, nice to see you. How are you all doing . Good to see you. How are you doing . Im fine, thank you. I think we have to help veterans. You have aod, supporter here. I tried to get the veterans the same health care that senators have. That is good, they may not need that much. Good to have you here, thank you. After the event, we spoke with a couple of attendees about their impression. I like the speech, but we have a one in a nine chance, i will for the democrat that wins. I would vote for a dead senator before i vote republican. I like edwards. I think he is great. Do you think he has an opportunity to beat bush . I think any of our nominees other than sharpton and the lady will have a chance to beat bush. Thank you. It is the first time i have seen senator edwards and i appreciate the fact that he included Rural America in his president ial to her president ial tour. I appreciated the things he has to say, today, and i think it very early in the campaign. I will certainly take a look at all of the candidates, but im very impressed. I would say he is at the top of the list. Have you met any other candidates . No. Do you think he has the opportunity to beat bush . I do. There are a couple of democrat candidates that have the opportunity and i certainly think he is one of them. Thank you very much. Next, senator edwards went to do rant, oklahoma to meet with reporters. Can you tell us why you have come here . Is the first time a nominee has been here in almost two decades. I was the first president ial candidate to, with the details for a Rural America. I grew up in a small town in North Carolina, it is part of who i am and we need to revitalize Rural America which means creating jobs and protecting the ones that we have. Rural oklahoma is a conservative democratic state, very odd state. How can you stand out as being a front runner candidate . Come from Communities Just like to rent, so i feel very comfortable here. Getting Decent Health care they can afford, trying to bring jobs to these areas, improving schools, and of the issues that mattered in areas like this and i focus on those issues. One of the biggest problems plaguing taxes is the loss of manufacturing jobs to companies that want to move overseas. Do you have a plan to keep jobs here in the u. S. . What i would like to do is get rid of the tax loopholes that give American Companies incentive to go overseas and instead give tax breaks to American Companies who keep manufacturing jobs in america and also, get rid of not just have free trade, but fair trade so we dont see jobs continue to flow the way have been flowing. It has been devastating to this area and my state of North Carolina. It has been devastating in texas, but here it is a different story. People have been doing well here and this is encouraging in terms of jobs and creation. You think democrats can run on Something Like that went in the last few months, unemployment numbers have dropped . Because whatcan happens is, people all over the state are struggling and suffering. We have lost over 3 million private sector jobs while george bush has been in office. That we willo know create jobs and give middle class working families kind of opportunities that they need to be able to take care of their families. Oklahoma has not voted for a democratic president s and lbj. I intend to campaign everywhere in america. There is no place in america were i cannot campaign and compete against george bush and the reason is because i grew up in a rural area in North Carolina in the south, i feel a natural connection with people in these areas. Is very plan that practical and focused on creating jobs and providing health care for people in this part of the country, so i know that i can be competitive. I come from a working family, my father worked at a mill all his life. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I have fought for working people by entire life, verse as a lawyer and now with the senator and i would be an extraordinary fighter for them as president. Thank you. Glad to be here. [chatter] a brief introduction. How are you . Nice to see you. [applause] hello, how are you . Nice to see you. Greeting various people] after this event, senator edwards took some personal time to go for a run. The bus continued to seminole where the senator would meet later after a short plane ride. During the bus trip, we talked with the driver about life on the road. Tell us about this bus. What kind of bus is it, who customized it. Init was customized columbus, ohio. We added a lot of stuff to it. Feet long, 13 feet high, 102 inches wide. Engine. Epower diesel how long have you been working for the campaign . In june or july. Have you kept track of how many miles you have longed . 7000 miles. Ly ran is is the First Campaign you have worked on . Last year, we worked with tony sanchez. He ran for governor. It is great to get out on the road in the campaign. Its on it is an honest way to get paid. Senator edwards met back up with the bus tour at seminole airport. When did you get first involved with senator edwards . I moved it to washington for the observer and the first part of 2000. I started covering edwards right around the time that he was considered for the Vice President ial slot on al gores ticket. I have been covering him for the whole how have things changed now that he is a president ial candidate . Certainly more reporters have been more interested in him that in the past. He has developed a whole range of policy proposals as part of a lead up to his president ial run. The last built over many months and we are hearing a lot more about that now and he has proposals and a lot more areas than he did as a senator. While in seminole, senator edwards sat down with look for residents to hear their concerns. Senator john edwards. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you all for being here today, i really came to listen more than to talk. I have some ideas about things we should do, about plants anding and going overseas effects that those closings are having on communities all over this country. My dad worked in a mill all his life and when we live in a small town in North Carolina and when the mill closed, it was devastating to the community and we had that had to the station and communities all over North Carolina and the same ring i know has been happening right here in oklahoma, not just with this plant but with others. Things ieas about think we ought to do, but before i Start Talking about my ideas, i would rather hear from you. I want to know what you are worried about, what your concerns are, what you see happening because i came more to listen then to talk. I may have toind, prod you a little bit, but i want you to talk to me. This is your chance to talk to somebody who is out talking to everyone in america every day and i want to hear what you are concerned about. My name is mary. Concerns but i will mention just one. That is to have as good of benefits as a congressman and senator. [laughter] that is a very good point. When you pick up the paper they vote themselves a raise i voted against that, by the way. After the very reason you describe very well, people are hurting, really hurting and one i think wegs that have a Health Care System in crisis in this country and people cant pay for their health care anymore and you got millions of americans with no Health Care Coverage and those who have it cannot afford it, it is breaking people, and then you get laid off and the washington bureaucrats say one that is what cobra is for. Who in the world can pay for cobra when you dont have a job . It shows you what a disconnect there can be. The good news is, and i want to say this because all of these things can be dealt with, the things i want to do in health care, besides the ideas about how to get jobs in here, is for people who are between jobs and they dont have to worry about looking for a job and somebody in their family getting sick at the same time, we need to be there for people who have worked hard all their lives and through no fault of their own, they are laid off and having to find another job. It seems to me that is the kind of thing we believe in, and that is one of the things that we ought to do in our Health Care System. I think there are other things we can and should do, like making sure that every young person is covered. We ought to mandate that and help our most portable adults, including those between jobs, then we should bring down health care costs. These are the kinds of things that people are worried about, very concerned about. The good news is, we can do something about it and we do silly about it, absolutely. Do something about it, absolutely. This bill is going to cause cost a lot of seniors become as they are ready have. Chance theyreat will quit providing you coverage under this bill, and there is billions of dollars that could be going to helping seniors get coverage going to hmos, but what and the board what in the world are using taxpayer money and sending it to hmos and we have a medicare system and can provide the benefit directly to people . There is almost no cost control, we had some cost control and most of it got taken out. The Drug Companies are all for the Prescription Drug bill as lawyers they can charge whatever they want. That is a good use of our tax money, isnt it . Aarp very disappointed in when they came out for it. I think they are wrong about aat, dead wrong, but we need real Prescription Drug benefit under medicare, seniors need help with Prescription Drugs, but the possible way to do it is to provide a real comprehend the benefit, that keeps costs under control. That would require us taking on the Drug Companies, but we can do that. We can take them on and provide a real Prescription Drug benefit and keep costs down and make your seniors get what they are said most to get. They are supposed to get. Who is next . My name is Natalie Watson and i am a student. Students need more. Students i do not live at i support myself, and it is nearly impossible for a student to go fulltime to school and not work and if you work, you get less money, but there is no way you can make it on 2000 a semester. That is the maximum amount of health helped you can get. There is no way. What year . Im a sophomore in nursing. Are you working parttime . I was up until about three weeks ago when i lost my job at walmart. Now, im lucky, i married and being supported by my really just he is making minimum wage. That just that, the Healthcare System for students. Over the age of 19, you dont get support with the county. You dont get those kinds of systems. You cant even get on food stamps if you are a student, which is crazy. I went there to try to get some help in between schools with my pal grant, and there was nothing. There was no help. I did not know where else to turn. Luckily, my health grants came grants hell pell came through, but i had to take student loans. Steps. Ed more we will end up making more money want to get out of school, and the government is going to get that money back. That is the way you strengthen the economy. First of all, i know where you are coming from. I went through this, myself and to go through college, we had to scrap and save everything we could. I work parttime and borrowed money, which is the way a lot of young people a for their college and you know this, i dont know if everyone does, but i have this proposal out there to make sure that young people who want to go and are willing to work at least 10 hours a week, the first year of school can go tuition free to a State University or community college. It is also true, the point you are making, that they need help the yacht that. Insurance. Health under how are you now . 26. 21 under 21, you are covered, required, so they will all have 100 coverage. For people in your category, and there is a lot of young people who are either out of college for finishing college between the ages of 21 and 30, who are not covered, and they need help. That is one of the most vulnerable adult populations, and we can give you Health Health with your health care costs. Help with your health care costs. Being able to afford health care or going to college is an issue. Is,her one you brought up we really want to create jobs and have this economy grow the way it can grow, the single most important thing for us to do is strengthen the earning capacity and financial ability of working middleclass families. College is part of that, education is part of it, but if you look at whats happening in this country, over the last 20 used, in most families, it to be 20 years ago, most working middleclass families were saving money, 10 or 20 of their income, they had Financial Security case anything went wrong. All that has changed and now you have both parents working in a lot of families, in your case you have one spouse working in notgoing to school, and only are middleclass families not saving, they are actually going into debt. You have credit cards maxed out, trouble paying bills and what the economists call negative savings among middleclass families. I saw a statistic the other day that said if youre a child in a middleclass family in america of this decade, it is more likely that your parents will go into bankruptcy than divorce which is remarkable, think about what a change that is. Cipolla,n headed for the final event of the day, we join them on the bus for a portion of the trip. We were in the car going to the airport and it is like a pocket night and we are on our way, on the way to tell us we got some food trucks and a great restaurant in the backseat, i dont remember, but it was entrusted so i was starving. We get out of the car and go inside, ive got my bags, we get to the thing and i said where is the food . They said what food . I said the food in the car. They said they left it in the car. What good is it going to do us in the car . Here and they had food i walked up to the counter and said i want a sandwich. [laughter] they said they will at some hot dogs and can microwave them. [laughter] what a glamorous job. Young to put lots of catch up on it. The only thing you can taste is the ketchup and mustard. You probably ate that food . At think i went hungry i think i went hungry. Microwaved. Nt that [laughter] problem with the primary calendar is the airports are pretty small. What was that place in omaha . That was a fine diner. The best ive had in a couple of years was in santa fe, like a takeout place air force takeout place at the santa fe airport. Breakfast, chili for a great breakfast burrito, it was really good. The western airports. We will have good food in tulsa. Is that where we are going . Always spending the night . Are we spending the night . Es yes yes. [inaudible] i say that to warn you in advance. This is my third trip to muskogee. I want to know how many other president s have been to muskogee. Remember when we were there we wille and they said very rarely get a president ial candidate. I said im coming back. [laughter] [inaudible] that blonde girl from officer and a gentleman. Yeah. [laughter] were you here today when i called the cattle farmer . That was a great call. I get him on the phone and they were telling me this, that he cant read, but he is smart as a whip. I get on the phone with a guy that little short boy told me he would be back down there about 10 00 or so and i realized because this is where i grew up, he meant lunch. He didnt mean dinner supper is what you eat at night. [inaudible] you know that old boy down the road . [laughter] [inaudible] i said that or you said that . [laughter] look how pretty that sunset is. Oklahoma is beautiful. I can never remember what day it is. It seems like saturday. [laughter] i got off the phone last night with the kids. Elizabeth has this habit of putting them both on the phone at the same time. They immediately start fighting. The next thing i know, it is am a saying jack pinto me is, andthat it jack pinchedaying me. [laughter] [inaudible] she heard me and said emma is mad at you and would not give me the time of day. She think you are making fun of her in, she gets really upset. I told her i said amber riley is asking she starts giggling and i was telling my friend that i thought it was so sweet that you had asked me told my family sweet girl you were in that all i was doing. She starts giggling and giggling. E have been great, ever since then there was jacks conversation. One of the first times he got on works upith sam and it to sam and says what is that over your mouth . Why do you have hair on your mouth . Andsays that a mustache jack looks around and says why are you wearing girls shoes . Sam. T your number, [laughter] kids do not lie. The final event took place at bernies restaurant in cipolla. There are a lot of issues in reallyection, but i believe the election itself is about something bigger than that. It is about what kind of america we are and what kind of america we want to be. It is about the power in your democracy because it belongs to you, it does not belong to that crowd in washington, it belongs to you. The power inetting your democracy out of that group of insiders who are running the country and giving it back to you and back to the american people. I dont believe in george bushs america. Whereeve in an america the family you are born into and the color of your skin never control your destiny, and i still believe in an america where the son of a metalworker cant beat the son of a president for the white house can be the son of a president for the white house. Thank you very much. It was my honor to be here. [applause] how about the first president ial candidate that is ever been in the First Political candidate that is ever been in our city . How are you . People]g my commitment to bringing jobs to oklahoma and providing Affordable Health care for most of the people of oklahoma that is so desperately needed. My plan is very specific and detailed. I have clear ideas about what i will do as president and i share their values. I come from making unity very much like this and i understand a lives. Thank you very much understand their lives i come from a community there is much like this and i understand their lives. Thank you very much. [laughter] people]g during campaign 2015, cspan takes you on the road to the white house as the all the candidates on cspan, cspan radio and cspan. Org. Up next, a portion of discussion on the history of the Death Penalty in america. Talks about the efforts to eradicate capital punishment. He was at the American Historical Association annual meeting in atlanta. This is about 15 minutes. Im going to tell one possible story of many which looks at what happened with the as a penalty since process that underwent a change in which the arguments against the Death Penalty and the efforts to attack the Death Penalty since greg have become shallower and shallower and their content and broader and broader in their Public Appeal to the point that we are now making very shallow arguments that appeal to bring much what all americans love and respect, and i make reference to money. I will start by talking about human rights discourse and due process and determines and it is since and all kinds of other things and innocence and the second half of my talk on the financial efforts to attack the Death Penalty in recent years, especially since the Great Recession of 2008 and some recent developments that might signal the end of the Death Penalty in the foreseeable future