today. here in south carolina, a handful of republican presidential candidates took part in a forum organized by the conservative and tea party power broker senator jim demint. >> what are the programs at the federal level that we need to get out of the federal government? >> well, that's a difficult question because that's a long list. i'd rather you give me the list of one of the things we should keep. >> president obama was also on the road this labor day in detroit for what the white house billed as an official policy event. >> thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you. >> but those chants of four more years and the appearance with major players from organized labor left doubt the focus was on the troubled economic climate that puts the president's re-election hopes in serious jeopardy. >> now is not the time for the people you sent to washington to worry about their jobs. now is the time for them to worry about your jobs. >> action in new hampshire too, where the former alaska governor sarah palin did nothing, nothing to quiet speculation she is pondering a late september entry into the gop race. >> we need a pro growth agenda. >> run, sarah, those chants if you can't hear them at home. in south carolina, often the decisive state in contested republican nominating contests. today's presidential forum at the last minute lost the texas governor rick perry who decided he needed to return home to texas to oversee the response to destructive wildfires. but five other candidates fielded questions on jobs, taxes, health care and whether the federal government should try to outlaw abortion and same-sex marriage. the man behind the event is often labeled senator tea party, the conservative jim demint who is with us tonight from the convention center where that event took place. senator, let me just start with the this the question. you have yet to pick a candidate this campaign. did any of the five today convince you that's the guy or the woman in case of bachmann i want up against president obama a year from now? >> well, first, john i want to thank you and cnn for carrying this to the nation. we've gotten a lot of response that people really enjoyed getting a little deeper with the candidates. i did learn a lot about some of the candidates i thought i knew well. but the whole point of this is to show that the principles that unite the republican party are very different than the democrats. and the more we give these candidates a chance to talk about those principles, the better i think we have a chance to convince americans that it's time for a change. >> well, let's talk about one of them. let's have a contrast between the candidates. all of the candidates are critical of the obama health care plan. for one of them, the former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, this is, as you know, a significant challenge with conservative voters because of his state plan in massachusetts. listen first to congresswoman bachmann who describes repealing the president's health care plan as in her view the defining issue of 2012. >> this is an issue that must be solved in 2012 because i believe that obama care will so metastasize itself into every part of american life we will never get rid of it again and this is the foundation for socialized medicine. make no mistake about it. it will change the face of this nation forever. >> now, congresswoman bachmann said that she believes the constitution prohibits the constitution prohibits even the states from adopting an individual mandate like senator demint, governor romney has in his plan in massachusetts. yes romney in response to a question you asked him said he relishes a chance to contrast his approach with that of the president. >> the critical thing is this. he dealt with -- with 8%. he dealt with 100% of american people. he said i'm going to change health care for all of you. it's simply unconstitutional, it's bad law, bad medicine and on day one of my administration, i'll direct the secretary of health and human services to grant a waiver from obama care to all 50 states. it has got to be stopped and i know it better than most. >> senator demint, you backed governor romney in the 2008 campaign. he obviously did not win the nomination. you have not yet endorsed in this campaign. there are reports saying you want him to repudiate his massachusetts health care law or he has no chance of getting your endorsement. did he say anything today that convinced you, yeah, i can support him? >> well, he makes a good distinction between what the federal and state government should do. but i frankly think a mandate, a requirement that someone has to buy eight particular government approved health insurance policy is wrong whether it's at the state or federal level. that should be part of the debate. there are some big differences with what was done in massachusetts and obama care. certainly the constitution relates to what we can do at the federal level. and our hope is as a judge, the supreme court will the strike this down, but i think michele bachmann is right is we need to repeal this or we're going to end up with socialized medicine. we don't have much longer to go. about 2012, we need a president who repeal it. i think every one of the candidates here today made it clear they thought that was important. >> but do you view it as dis6:qualifying for your endorsement for governor romney in this campaign? and if the answer is yes, sir, how could you have supported him in 2008 in the massachusetts health care had already passed by then. >> well, the election in 2008 had a totally different feel. i'm waiting to look at the entire field, the republican party. things are very different. we're trillions more in debt and the economy is in the tank. i'm looking at the candidates with a fresh look so i have not decided who i'm going to endorse and i haven't ruled anyone out. >> and governor perry decided at the last minute, senator, that he could not participate in your forum today. i know you were disappointed. i know you suggested if maybe he could have gone first instead and then gone home to texas. are you disappointed in that decision? do you think he hurt himself in any way here in south carolina, about five months to go? at the moment, he leads the polls here. >> sure, i'm disappointed. i haven't met the governor in person. we talked on the phone and i think a lot of people here in the state wanted to hear what he really believed and how he would translate his principles into policies. but a governor's responsibility is first to their state and their people and there's a real tragedy unfolding in texas. so i don't blame him at all. i think he needed to be at home in texas. so he promised to make up for it by doubling his commitment in south carolina. so we'll work through that. >> senator, you asked each of the candidates about their jobs plan. and you rolled your eyes a bit. you had some sarcasm about the speech the president is going to give to the nation thursday night. you didn't sound very confident he was going to say anything that would convince you to support him. you just mentioned the economy is in the tank. that is something democrats, republicans and independents of all stripes can agree on. one of the things the president talked today about in his labor speech was some sort of infrastructure back to put construction workers back to work. he said labor and business is for this. the federal government would have a minimum investment to lever and private investment. is that something you can say yes, i may disagree with you here and there but i can support you on that one? >> i want to see the president write down his plan and we want to see what it costs. the way he sold his stimulus was not the way it unfolded. it the did not work. the president has given a lot of speeches. we have yet to see any legislation from him. i'm, frankly, just frustrated with him giving a spin to the nation and then never delivering on the details. so if he wants to deliver a plan to congress, i'm anxious to read it. and give him some objective feedback, but frankly, what they've been leaking out of the white house is just more of the same temporary ideas. i was in business my whole life. i would never hire people if you gave me a $5,000 tax credit that i wasn't going to hire anyway. that kind of thinking just suggests the president really doesn't understand how jobs are created. >> let me ask you lastly about the democratic criticism of your event here today. your freedom forum you called it. you brought in five of the republican candidates for president. what the democrats said was that most of celebrated labor day and that south south carolina because of your event celebrated tea party, a distraction into issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and the like. how would you respond to that criticism, sir? >> well, what we were talking about today is how to put america back to work. the democrats continue to talk about things that have put people out of work, and has actually put our economy on the edge of a cliff. what we were doing here today is the work that i think americans is want us to do is to develop a political consensus about how we can turn this country around and move us back towards prosperity. the democrats clearly don't have a clue about how to do that. >> senator jim demint, sir, appreciate your time today. we'll keep in touch as the campaign unfoeds here and across the country. a wildfire season that already is the worst in texas history now threatens the area, near the capital of austin. and next, president obama asks union members if they have learned the lessons of sometimes republicans. the teamsters president james hoffa here with us to discuss jobs and labor's role in campaign 2012. balance after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage has ginkgo for memory and concentration, plus support for bone and breast health. a great addition to my routine. 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[ engine revs, tires screech ] mom? ♪ what if we designed an electric motorcycle? what if we turned trash into surfboards? whatever your what if is, the new sprint biz 360 has custom solutions to make it happen, including mobile payment processing, instant hot spots, and powerful devices like the motorola photon 4g. so let's all keep asking the big what ifs. sprint business specialists can help you find the answers. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. it's schwab at your fingertips wherever, whenever you want. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. president's labor day rally in detroit today was billed as an official event, which means taxpayers, not the obama re-election campaign will foot the bill. but it had all the trappings of a 2012 pep rally with the appeal to the turnout of organized rally and something many union leaders and democrats have been urging for a long time, stronger direct attacks from the president on republican policies. >> you say you're the party of tax cuts? well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent americans. show us what you got. so when i hear some of these folks trying to take collective bargaining rights away, trying to pass so-called right to work laws for private sector workers, they really mean the right to work for less and less and less. >> but winning blue collar union support was an issue for candidate obama back in 2008 and with high unemployment now looms as a major challenge for president obama heading into the campaign. among those trying to give the president a boost today was the teamsters is union president, james hoffa. >> everybody here has got to vote. if we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and give america back to america where we belong. >> and president hoffa with us from detroit tonight. i want to begin with your assessment of the president's speech. you had a big crowd there. you had a pumped up president being more direct in his attack on the republicans. you have criticized him in the past saying he needs to get out and be more specific, get into the fight, not give speeches. are you convinced now the president gets is the message and is prepared on the substance to give you more of what you want and on the politics to be tougher? >> i think he's getting engaged now because he realizes what's at stake. you know, i think he learned a lesson with this debt ceiling battle that he went through that there really is no dealing with the tea party people. you can't be reasonable with people that are unreasonable. and i think he learned a lesson that now he's going to have to take them on because there is no middle ground. there isn't any way he can work this out or sit down and reason with them. i think he's learned a lesson. i think that's why he's sharpening what he's talking about and going to start really getting ready for that speech that's going to happen on september 7th, which is going to be an important speech to outline how he's going to put america back to work. >> and so what should he do in that speech? there are some who say be bold even if you know the house republicans will not pass what you're saying. others say mr. president, with so many he americans unemployed, split the difference and get some of help by proposing things republicans will support. do you want him to give a speech that has in it proposals that maybe are more leaning towards republicans and get them passed or prefer he be bold even if it means nothing be done and we fight this out in the election. >> he's got to be bold right now. the lines are getting drawn right now. we have these attacks from the tea party on him, on everybody else. you've got mitch mcconnell saying it's their job to beat him in '12. i think he's got to be bold. i think he's got to the basically stake out a plan, a program that makes sense to the american people. he's the reasonable one to a say here is a plan that will work and i'm willing to take this to congress. if they turn it down, then he's going to say okay, this made sense. they don't want to do it. i'm taking it to the voters. i think that's where this is going to end up. i don't see any middle groundworking out between here and '12. >> and if he takes it to the voters, one of the big questions is, do your rank and file members and those of other unions, do they support the president in high numbers or either stay home or do we have a reagan democrat moment? a lot of them supporting republicans? the president seemed to have that in mind today when he recall add appearance labor day many years ago by president truman. let's listen. >> americans it that voted in some folks in the congress who weren't very friendly to labor. and he pointed out that some working folks and even some union members voted these folks in. and now they were learning their lesson. >> in the 2010 midterms, mr. hoffa, republicans had 37% of union households voted republicans for congress. that's about the same as the 2008 presidential election, 59% of union households voted for president obama, 39% for senator mccain. you remember the final days of the 2008 campaign. i remember them well. unions were spending a lot of time and money in the local union halls in the big states telling rank and file members vote for the president, support senator obama and they were reluctant to do so. some of them supported president clinton. some were hesitant because of the race issue. are you confident heading into 2012 that your rank and file will support this democratic president or will we see in places like michigan what we saw in the reagan days, blue collar reagan democrats helping the republicans? >> i think it's going to be different this time because of the attack on the -- on labor by the tea party. we had 100,000 people at a rally in madison, wisconsin. we had 50,000 people in ohio. we collected a million signatures in ohio. people realize what's going on, that they might have voted republican a small group of organized labor. but i think people are aware now that this group is coming after them. when they start talking about, you know, getting rid of social security, medicare, medicaid, rolling back collective bargaining in major states, i think this is -- this has been the wake-up call an maybe labor needs. and some of those people that voted republican are now going to say, what a mistake i made because i didn't know they were going to take my job away, i didn't know they were going to take clollective bargaining awa. you saw what they did and what they believe in. and you heard this debate in washington with regard to the debt ceiling that they want to keep cutting and cutting and they start talking about entitlements and about social security, medicare and medicaid. i ask them do you want to give those things up, and they say no. it's not about these other airy issues but how you live and what you expect of america. and i said that's the issue we've got to address and stay on that issue. >> you're in detroit tonight. among the republican candidates for president is a son of michigan whose father worked in the auto industry and went on to become the governor of massachusetts. i'm talking about romney. sell outline his economic plan tomorrow in an essay that will appear in "usa today" tomorrow, he says this, seeking to pay back political favors, president obama has catered to the institutional interests of union bosses at the expense of workers and businesses. i will fight against measures that deprive workers of basic rights such as the secret ballot. do you view that, labor right there front and center in the romney economic plan? >> i think he's making a big mistake. his father was george romney. you know, it's hard to imagine in coming from detroit where we had the successful loans to both chrysler and general motors that both companies have come back. they're paying the loans off. it's a success story. it's a success story here in michigan. we have hiring going on. we have new industries going on. i can't believe that he's talking this way and i don't know who he's addressing but it's not going to work in michigan. >> james hoffa is the president of the teamsters union. thank you for this time on your labor day. we'll keep in touch an the campaign unfolds. still to come, u.s. baess worldwide go on higher alert as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches and a mix of wildfires, winds and heavy rains puts is much of the country in emergency response mode. take a look at this ireport video. a tornado crossing the highway near albany, new york, on sunday. 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