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[chanting "amy"] [applause] >> thank you. it is so great to be here. thank you. thank you to the overflow crowd. behaved.very well it is wonderful to be here. i woke up this morning ready to go. i am ready to storm your state. we are going to go to every diner we can find, every moment leading up to the caucuses in iowa i had a constitutional duty. i was not there. these next few days, even playing field, i am here. [applause] it is great to see all of you in this wonderful state. i want to thank michael for that wonderful introduction. i know we have some great supporters of mine, former state senator iris estherbook -- and a former chief of staff. i defended her honor last night. as well as governor lynch. you are somewhere out there. thank you so much. we have been on a journey and i had an opportunity last night to address the people of new hampshire. i think that i was the one that mentioned new hampshire the most. maybe that is because i realized there is a primary coming up, and i also think it is part of being a good president and being a good elected official that you represent the people that you see and you get to know the issues and what matters to them. that is what has driven me so much in my work in public service. i have also had the opportunity to be able to tell people where i am from and who i am. i am the granddaughter of an iron ore miner who was the oldest of nine kids. his parents died really young and it was on him to raise his brothers and sisters. he married my grandma, the youngest of his sisters had to go to an orphanage and she was only 8 years old when the parents died. he borrowed a car to get her back. my dad and his brother saves the money in their little house to send my dad to a two year community college. from there, my dad went to the university of minnesota. my mom grew up in milwaukee, wisconsin, which will be the site of our convention. she wanted to be a teacher. she moved to minnesota because they had strong teachers unions. she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. [applause] i stand before you today as the granddaughter of a miner, as the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, and the first woman elected to u.s. senate from minnesota and as a candidate for president of the united states. [applause] and that is because we live in a country of shared dreams. no matter where you come from or who you know, or the color of your skin or where you worship or who you love, that you can make it in the united states of america, that is what bothers me so much about this president, because he tears down those dreams every day. four more years of him, no. the rule of law cannot withstand four more years of a president that thinks he is above it. our democracy and our constitution cannot handle four more years of a president that is willing to bulldoze through it. our collective sense of decency cannot handle four more years of a president that thinks -- [applause] of a president that thinks it does not matter, and our american dream cannot handle four more years of a president who thinks he can choose who lives it. that is was happening right now in our country. the case i made last night's we know we have a fired up democratic base. [applause] we also know that we have independents. they do not cheer as loud. they are there. just a little quieter. we have independents and moderate republicans. they are a little louder. they are watching mass and -- they are watching this and they may not agree with everything that is said on the debate stage. i do not agree with everything that is said on the debate stage. what they do agree on is that all of us, no matter where we are from politically, we agree that the heart of america is bigger than the heart of this guy in the white house. we agree on that. [applause] we know that this is an economic check on this president, because there is not shared prosperity. ask students how hard it is when you know you will be inheriting a world where you had a president who has done nothing on climate change, which is the existential crisis of our time, who has done nothing to make it less expensive for students to go to college, who has done nothing for pharmaceutical prices that have skyrocketed. people have jobs. they certainly have jobs in new hampshire. a state like my state that has a low unemployment rate. if you cannot get good childcare or affordable housing or you are in a rural area and cannot get broadband, the one thing i wanted to say last night that i did not have a moment to say is that it is easier to get cell phone service in iceland and broadband in iceland, a country full of volcanoes than it is in franconia notch. how is that? it is crazy. this is an economic check on our president. but it is more than that. it is a decency check. it is a patriotism check. that is what draws people along with us. because they see a president that if the g20 stood there and was asked by a reporter about russian interference in our election, and he literally made a joke about it to a ruthless dictator in vladimir putin. that is what he did. think about it, hundreds of thousands of americans, including thousands of people from this great patriotic state, have lost our lives on the battlefield standing up for democracy. that is what world war ii was about. four little girls the height of the civil rights movement lost their lives in that church in birmingham, alabama. why? because they were innocent. they were trying to be part of that democracy and other people were trying to push it away. so many of our great moments in our country and our worst moments have been about democracy, about our constitution. this guy makes a joke about it. that is what that impeachment hearing was about. it did not end as many of us wanted it to end. but it is still going to be part of what we talk about going forward. why? because it is the same concept -- conduct that we see over and over again, where we have a president who is trying to put his private interests in front of our country's interests. his partisan interests in front of our country's interests. he does not understand the words of my friend, john mccain. he does not understand those words that he showed me, the last thing before he died and it "there is nothing more liberating than fighting for a cause larger than yourself." that is what this democracy is. that is what this democracy is all about. [applause] that is what it is. when we think of that decency check, that patriotism check, have to think of having a candidate that can get a fired up democratic base, which i have done every time. i know you guys have high voter turnout. when i lead an hour to get in minnesota, we had the highest voter turnout in the country. it is also bringing in independents and moderate republicans. we had a long line of voters. stickers that said, i am a reproductive rights voter. i am a climate change voter. this guy comes up with a jacket and does not have a sticker. i say sir, you do not have a sticker. and he says, "that is because i was a trump voter and we do not have stickers here." he said, "i don't want my neighbors to know. they don't know that i did that, so don't say anything. but i am not doing it again." that is what i'm talking about here. [applause] when we talk about this president, yeah he's a bully, he is a racist, all kinds of bad things. we have to put ourselves in the shoes of some of those people. a lot of people in new hampshire where hillary only won by 2000 votes. lots of people we have to think about where they are now and all of the unmet promises. they say this president, they see him standing in front of his helicopter, whining. talking with reporters, whining, whining, whining. i noted this last night. when regular people have problems and you cannot for something, you have to get a loan or your spouse has to get another job or you have to work more hours. what does this guy do? he complains. when something goes wrong, he blames barack obama. that is one of his targets. he blames the head of the federal reserve that he appointed. he blames the energy secretary that he nominated. he blames the troops that he commands. he blames the generals. remember that recently came out as something he did. he blames the entire kingdom of denmark. who does that? that is what he did. the most favorite recently, he blamed the prime minister of canada of cutting him out of the canadian version of "home alone ii." who does that? that is what he does. when you put yourselves and those people, small business owners in new hampshire, staff workers in michigan, they look at this guy and they think, he has the best job in the world. he lives in the nicest house in the world. million over the course of his career from his dad. you cannot fit that in a coffee can in a basement of a house. if you are given opportunity from anyone, a grandparent, a parent, a teacher, you do not go into the world with a sense of entitlement. you go into the world with a sense of obligation. obligation to lift people up instead of shutting them down. obligation to bring people with you instead of pushing them away and hoarding it for yourself. that is why i closed with that story of franklin delano roosevelt, because i was thinking, i had so much time to think during that impeachment hearing. i really did. [laughter] i had a lot of time to think about our founding fathers. i would sit there and by about midnight, some of my colleagues -- i had a lot of time to think about it. as i sat there and thought about it, i thought, we know all about this guy. , the 15,000romises lies. it came to me, what he really lacks for regular people is empathy. he cannot put himself in their shoes. that is why i told that story of franklin delano roosevelt, someone who was so beloved that when he died, they put his body on this train coming from georgia up to washington, d.c. and people spontaneously stood at the train tracks to show their respect. this reporter asked this one guy who was standing there, a regular guy with his hat on his chest sobbing and the reporter says, "sir, did you know president roosevelt?" and he says, "no, i did not know president roosevelt, but he knew me. he knew me." [applause] that is empathy. that is empathy. if you are trying to stretch your paycheck to pay for your rent, or in this great place to pay for your tuition, i know you, and i will fight for you. if you are trying to decide about whether you fill your refrigerator or fill your prescription drug, i know you and i will fight for you. if you are having trouble deciding do you pay for long-term care for your aging parents that you love so much, or childcare for your kids, i know you and i will fight for you. that is about someone that has lived a life where it is not perfect. i have grown up, i had a dad that struggled with alcoholism his whole life, and i literally saw treatment changes life. so you wonder why was the first candidate to lead with a major plan for mental health and treatment and doing something serious about the opioid epidemic and making sure we are investing in states like new hampshire that needed -- need it? it's because i lived it. after his third dui, the judge looked at him and said is it jail or treatment? and my father, who had this successful career as a journalist and wrote books including "will the minnesota vikings ever win the super bowl?" sadly it is still relevant today. [laughter] when he faced that judge he said, i choose treatment. that changed his life. he in his words said he was pursued by grace because of the treatment, because of his faith, he was pursued by grace. i think everyone should have that same right in this country. [applause] he is now 91. he is in assisted living. his aa group still visits him there. and in his words, it is hard to get a drink around here anyway. [laughter] that story as you go toward the story of my dad, he has long-term care insurance. i don't know why. but that is allowing him to stay in that place. i know exactly when that is going to end in a year and a half, then we go into his savings, which is not as much as it should be because he got married three times, but we do not have time to discuss that right now. then he goes on to medicaid, like so many people do in our country. that is why i am devoted to keeping medicaid strong. he cannot stay where he is, because they do not take medicaid. i talked to catholic eldercare, and they are willing to take him in. so many families have stories like this, but they are even harder than this, because a lot of people did not get long-term care. a lot of people do not have the savings that you need. it is what i am devoted to this issue. it may not seem sexy, but it is like the elephant that does not fit in this room. it is about our seniors. it is about people caught in the middle that are trying to take care of their parents and their kids at the same time. guess what, we can do this. strengthen social security. it is straightforward how we do that. medicaid, keeping that strong. it is making it easier for people to buy long-term care insurance. making it easier for people to stay in their homes. in keene onathering new year's eve at 5:00 p.m., 500 people there on new year's eve, that was when i was able to say sign those committed to vote cards. you won't even remember what you did the next day. two people were sitting out there and i raised this issue about how seniors want to volunteer and work part time. we need them in our economy. these two women start laughing and i go, why are you guys laughing? they said, we are the opposite. we are working but we want to retire. i think there are many choices. people struggle with alzheimer's, but not taking on these issues is a mistake. that is why when we have these debates on health care, i see it in a different context. when i say to my friend bernie, who is -- as you could tell last night, we are friends. we get along. we came into the senate together. but when i say to him, you know, you're not actually thinking big enough. i don't think medicare for all is the solution. i don't think doing something that -- [applause] i don't think that doing something that would blow up the affordable care act when it is now nearly 10 points more popular than the president of the united states is what we should do. [applause] instead, and this gets to the addiction and mental health care and long-term care, instead, what we need to do is make it better. and that means taking on the pharmaceutical companies in a big, big way. that means -- [applause] that means bringing down the cost of pharmaceuticals by unleashing the power of the seniors so they can negotiate better prices under medicare. as i pointed out last night, we did an amendment together and got 14 republican votes. we'll be able to pass this. i will when i'm president. that is to bring in less expensive drugs from other countries. we can do this. [applause] so, it is so important to talk about this in ways that people can actually relate to their lives. and i think that's been one of the perils of the debate. it's been good, because people get to know me, get to know where we stand. but you have to devote some time to the things they're really thinking about every single day. college. standing in this beautiful huddleston hall -- that's the name, right? [laughter] i don't want to get fuddleston hall, something embarrassing that would give you the faux pas of the day. but this is it. we have to connect our education system with our economy. and that means making it easier for students to get four-year degrees. i personally think that we should be targeting this and expanding pell grants, which aren't loans, right? pell grants are the good thing. that's money that you get that you don't have to pay back. right now you get $6,000 a year. that's the max. i would bring it to $12,000 a year. that's a lot. that helps a lot. [applause] i would change the income level where people qualify from 50,000 -- that's the limit right now -- to 100,000. if you do that, you include so many more families and get so much more help, because that's a total of $48,000 over four years. i would make the loan payback program work better. if millionaires can refinance their yachts, students should be able to refinance their student loans. [applause] two -- two, the loan payback program should be working better. it's a mess. the first thing we can do -- i have this 100 day plan of 137 things we can do with our congress that are legal. one of the thing i can do, in the first 100 seconds, and that is fire betsy devos. [cheering] [applause] that is how you make that program work better and then you phase it in and you include more people. you could include in-demand occupations. so that gets me to the last thing i want to say about this. and that is we have got to make sure our education system matches our economy. so when you do that, when you step back, what do you see? you see we have in-demand occupations, doctors, all these kinds of jobs that we know are now opening and are coming down the pike. we're going to have over one million openings for home health care workers in our country, that we do not know how to fill because of what i just talked about with long-term care. we are going to have over 100,000 openings for nursing assistants. it requires a one- or two-year degree. we're going to have over 70,000 openings for electricians in this country. we are not going to have a shortage of sports marketing degrees. i am really sorry if somebody is getting one. but we are not. we are going to have a shortage of plumbers. all right? we need to figure out how to do this. so i would start with big-time investment in preschool and k-12, so people are able to graduate and do that. then i would move to free one and two-year degrees. there's a lot of people that get their start in a community college. that's the best thing for them. sometimes they go right into good-paying jobs. sometimes they go to four-year colleges like this. it happens all the time. that is my reasoning for that. about half go right into the workforce. and then making it easier, of course, as we just talked about, to pay for these four-year degrees. that's how we match the economy. i know all this stuff i just said doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. [laughter] i know that. free college for all. i know. but i just don't think that's the right answer. i think it's this answer that's the right answer. next, and as you saw from last night, i'm not afraid to say what i think. [applause] so when we were asked, do i think that a socialist should lead the ticket of the democratic party? i was the only one that raised my hand. i said, no, that is not my preference. that is not my preference. [applause] i just think you need to be direct with people. they can agree with you or not. that is one of the reasons i've been able to win my races so big, because people know that i'm straightforward with them. and i tell them the truth. last crisis i want to bring up is climate change. something that is hitting this state with the changes you've seen with moose, what you're seeing with the lobster, oyster fisheries, right off the coast, that's happening right now. that's happening right now, to the seacoast. the changes that we're going to see with things like tourism. i head up the tourism caucus. weird fact about me, in the u.s. senate. i actually care a lot about tourism, and have led the efforts, called brand usa, to advertise our country in other countries, because every international tourist that visits new hampshire -- are you ready for this -- brings in over $5,000 to your economy here. and so that is why we were just cutting off our ability -- they were just only vegas and i think new york city and a few other places were advertising. when we got this thing going, no taxpayer money, it is paid for by visa fees on