Settlement. That is true in the middle east as well. Schmidt are alumni along with joe biden. [applause] along with joe biden who has just been elected for a second term as Vice President of the United States. [applause] together, they are the reason the university of delaware has been called the epicenter of politics. And since then another alumnist governor Chris Christie of new jersey has demonstrated his brand of politics based on reality whether than wishful thinking. He embraced president obama after Hurricane Sandy to the dismay of some in his own party who saw his reality based actions and undermining the g. O. P. Candidate. These days Steve Schmidt is at one of the largest political firms. Since running the Mccain Campaign in 2008 he has been on campaigns around the world. And you saw him during the 2012 u. S. Campaign. He was Campaign Manager for the landslide reelection of california governor in 2006. Before that a top political advice sor in the white house of george w. Bush. He attended the university of delaware from 1988 to 1993. David plouffe crossed paths in schmidt in the late 1980s. He completed his political seasons degree and finned two years ago. He has completed two president ial bids. He was appointed as a senior advice sor to the president in the white house in 2011. He attended is the Marks High School before serving in a wide viret of state and National Political campaigns. Im going to ask the two speakers this evening to speak and i had to decide who is going to go first and i decided to use a standard that anyone this this audience could mean and that is whoever has won the most recent president ial election gets to speak first. I think thats the fair enough thing to do so please welcome David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt to the university of delaware. [applause] thank you for joining thus evening. Its great to be back where steve and i had our interest in politics fostered and have such great memories of the university and its faculty and the community. We talked on the way over here that we wanted to keep our remarks brief so we could spend a lot of time in dialogue with you. Because im sure you have questions about the elections that just passed and what is going to happen in the years to come. By the way, ralph, given your introduction, had we not won im sure you would have reminded me of the things i said that werent true so this was much more pleasant. It takes a long time to reflect on an election and really understand what happened and more importantly what ha means for politics going forward. I think theres been a lot of discussion of demographics and thats an important part of our country because thats changed rapidly. But that is not the core reason that the president won reelection. Obviously the American People take president ial elections seriously as they should. And they needed to think about what the president was offering in terms of economic direction, Foreign Policy direction. Had to reflect on the road weve just traveled in the last four years and as voters do, they spent a lot of time thinking about the future. So in the next four years who can i trust on the economy, on social issues and Foreign Policy. And we live in a country that is even pli divided politically and we have close elections. Our victory in 2008 was a landslide. It was clear this election was going to be closer, fwiven the economy and divisions in the country. With that being said, we still won electoral college, maybe not a landslide but a clear majority. Our popular vote is 3 which is a healthy margin. And i think the reason we won is people understood where we had been economically. All of you have lived through the recession. This is not something that is an academic theory. Everyone painfully lived through the recession. We are beginning to recover from that. The economy has created jobs over 5 fnt 5 million jobs which our economy is far too week but the electorate said im beginning to feel some progress. Does that mean im satisfied . Of course not. But im beginning to feel some progress and i think people thought it was a risk to go back and try economic policies that led to the recession in the first place or contributed to it. I think there was a sense like on energy and environment and education that the president had a vision for where America Needs to be in this new century where weve got rising competition in china and germany and india and if were going to have an American Century we cannot come in second place to those countries in technology of the future. And i think that played an important role. There was a sense that the obama vision was one that they thought better suited this moment in our countrys history. And there is no question on social issues whether its womens healthcare or immigration. There was asset of issues that for Younger Voters was important to think about the kind of country and kind of president they wanted representing them. So on all those questions people wrestled carefully. I think thats why ultimately enough people in enough battleground states chose the president to continue this journey were on. Quickly in terms of demoggrafi. We dont know this for sure but we could be seeing different elections in on years and off years. The election in 2014 is going to be different than president ial lecktorts. And the comments i made were predicated on what we thought would happen in a president ial election. You had latinos turning out. The president won the cuban vote. The first time infer florida. You saw young voters actually exceeding in most states their turnout from four years ago to the surprise of most analyst. You saw african turn out even though the excitement was four years ago, you saw a real determination there to support the president and you saw africanamerican rise in a lot of places. That is getting a lot of attention as it should. You have to understand electorate to understand president ial politics. But the president carried most of the key swush suburban counties t. States that are the four heaviest in white population the president won all four of them. So it may be convenient to say we drove good turnout in the latino and Africanamerican Community but its more complex because the president won swing suburban voters and women voters all over the country. President ial campaigns are complicated t. Pursuit of 270 electoral votes is complicated. How we won 332 is complicated. Its not just one thing and well talk a lot about what that means for politics going forward. One thing ive learn sd you better not overlearn lessons of leck that is just happened because our country and our politics are changing so rapedly the important think now that the election is over hopefully well have a moment in washington where the leaders come together and on tax reform and education and immigration and fiscal policy, now that were no longer the issue of we have a reelection, thats done. Barack obama has run his last campaign and you have divided government. I think the mandate the American People was sending is Work Together. Focus on us not what divides you as politicians, focus on us. And i dont offer misplaced optimism often. Because in washington you can get pessimistic quick. But i do have confidence there is path way on tax reform, on continued education reform, on doing some smart things around energy. And thats the test of the ment and the leaders in the senate and houses. Can they come together post election. And for a period of time put your needs and the needs of the country first. And i have a great deal of confidence well do that. So i look forward to talking to you about the election that just happened. [applause] thank you for having me back. Its great to be back at the university of delaware and thank you for coming. When we look at this election in 2012, republicans should not be diluted about the magnitude of the president s reelection victory. This was a big night for the democrats not just at a president ial level but also look across the country in the u. S. Senate seats. And for my fellow republicans in the room to quote john mccain its always darkest before its completely black. But as we look at this election, theres a couple of things that i think are astounding to focus on. The last president ial candidate who achieved 60 of the white vote in the country was bush and he received over 400 electoral votes 24 years ago. In the 2004 Bush Campaign we received 44 of the latino vote in the electorate. We were having discussions in the white house in 2005 that we were within the territory that we were able to get to majority status with latino voters in the country. And if you look at the Election Results where mitt romney is below 30 , you can really see the Republicans Party deliberate strategy to annual nies paying off. And so when we look at as a party and we look at the demographic changes in the country in the west but also give consideration to the fact that some of the Fastest GrowingLatino States are North Carolina and ohio and not necessarily the southwest border states and states in the Rocky Mountain west. We also have to look in this election at the fact that we have given up as republicans five u. S. Senate seats in two election cycles because the nominees in those seats were manifestly unqualified to serve in the United States senate from an intellect youll level and Knowledge Level and social extreme level and their candda sis were rejected not just by moderate swing voters but by Republican Voters as well. If you look at the functional majority of democrats in the senate. When you nominate people like murdock in indiana, mr. Im not a witch odonnell. Ken bucken in cal colorado. Its impossible to advance a conservative agenda in the country because to do that you need to be able to win elections. Lets talk about this idea of conservism tonight a bit. Because conserve vative for too many voters in this country has become si no, maam mouse with loonnyness over the last couple of election cycles and we have a problem in the Republican Party that the democrats had a deal with in the 1970s and 1980s when our policy makers, our elected political leaders were scared to death to stand up to the special Interest Groups in the party. And chiefly in the Republican Party, thats the conservative Entertainment Complex. Conservatism is a serious governing philosophy that has served the country well over its history. Conservatism is not a cult of personality where we define who is and who is not a conservative over their fidelity to outrageous statement that is Rush Limbaugh makes. The mark of a true conservative isnt fidelity to Rush Limbaugh stigmatizing bullying and calling that young laid a slop. Its stame for our elected officials in the party to stand up to it and say enough is enough. And until we change the tone, were going to have a very difficult time even getting to first base with voters. It latinos dont think you as a party or the elected leadership of the party like you very much then youre not going to hear your message on Economic Growth or your message on education refomplet theyll stop at the place where they dont like us very much so i wont thereon them. Part of the problem we have is if you were to play a Word Association game with our elected leaders in the congress and you were to say latino the answer would be illegal immigrant as opposed to Lieutenant Colonel or doctor or silver star winner or teacher or mayor or governor. And so until the Republican Party can begin to talk to this community through a prism of respect, understand that the contributions that they make make the country a stronger place, that the strength of our country has always been in at least part because of our diversity and the strength of immigrants, were going to have a really difficult time in this election. Ive been married for 12 years and outside of my marriage in a country of 330 million people, i have no idea how any other american useles Birth Control with the acception of rick santorum. And i dont know why he wants to talk about it or why he thinks its a National Security issue and why the Republican Party is doubling down on issues like this. The prolife position is a serious moral position and i think the fact that on this issue the country is closely divided and there is no toveed suggest that being prolife is a disqualifier to being elected president of the United States. But surely we must understand the difference that being prolife doesnt default you into anticontraception and women in this country particularly young women dont want to here contraception leckchures from white over 50,. We are the limited government party. And we see too often from the leadership in washington a version of Big Government conservatism where the government is peering through the window into matters of sexual orientation, into life style choices and issues like continue tra acception. So there is an intellectle disdense when people are talking about tyranny and we stand on the precipice of a thousand years of darkness but at the same time were voting for people in state legitimate chures who are mandating trance vaginal probes for illegal procedure. It doesnt make sense and its being rejected and will continue to be rejected across the country. If you look at the extreme social agenda put forward by republican candidates, i ask you how do we possible win in a state like colorado thats legalizing marijuana when our candidates are talking about legitimate rape . Cant be done. So we have a lot of soul searching to do as a Political Party on this issue, on these issues. We also have to understand as republicans when we think about the middle class in the country. What was our offering in this election to the middle class voter . Wage stagnation in the middle class is a real issue. Declining opportunities in the middle class are a real issue. What is our answer to it . Certainly were not going to create Economic Growth on a platform of were going to get rid of medicare for everyone under 55 years old. Our messages stick no carat. We dont have a Forward Vision of Economic Growth, how to create it or sustain it thats in the interest of the middle class and we paid a tremendous penalty for that over the course of this election. So the Republican Party as a demographic problem. It has a message problem. It has a policy problem which and then in the expect cushion of the campaigns it has a technology program. The Obama Campaign in 2012 was ten light years ahead from a Technology Perspective being tible identify voters, target voters, turn out voters. And Republican Party through this defeat is going to need to go through a cycle of invasion to catch up and pass the democrats in our ability to do that over the next couple of years. What i would say lastly is when you look at the Republican Party today on issues from gay marriage to immigration to education reform, republicans have always thriveed. We have embraced our small government, limited government and the principles of fed raism which have endured and served the country well for over two centuries. And as we look ahead into the next election, i think that its important for us to have some optimism as republicans that we will have a class of serious governing officials who have solved real problems and have reality based solutions to issues of healthcare reform or education reform or how to grow the economy that are consistent with the Actual Solutions to problems that we face today. So our ability to go and communicate to all manner of voters in this election tooned deliver them our policy is conditional or our ability to reach them through the prism of mutual respect, tolerance and understanding. And the more intolerance that is imnated out from some of the talking heads in the Republican Party, the more we will continue to be shut off and shut down and not even be in a position to make a sale to voters out in the electorate. So after a defeat like this, there is always a period of soul searching and it may be that republicans have to lose another election or two in order to understand that the party has to meet voters where they are and not the other way around. And the democrats have struggled with this in the past and ultimately bill clinton was able to rebrand and change the partys image and the Republican Party remains to be seen who our bill clinton will be. But at the current trajectory were going to have a difficult time winning president ial elections for the future absent an ability to communicate in a more effective way with these groups. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you both very much and i