Station: KNUS, 710 AM

Show:     Dan Caplis Show

Guests:  Graham

Link:      http://dancaplis.podbean.com/

Date:      April 19, 2016

Topics:

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HOST DAN CAPLIS:  Now, let’s go to the VIP line and welcome Jack Graham to 710 KNUS.  [Good] morning, Jack!  How [are] you doing?

FORMER ATHLETIC DIRECTOF OF COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, AND CURRENT GOP CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATOR, JACK GRAHAM:  Good, Dan.  How are you?

CAPLIS:  Good.  [I] appreciate you being with us and you know, we  had a chance to meet at a GOP event earlier, and as I told you then, I mean, this is exciting.  I’m glad you’re in the race. I’m glad that we’re starting to sort of break that stranglehold of, you know, of professional political folks running for high office and we see this craving for outsiders. And you certainly are right in the wheelhouse of that.  So, Jack, if you would start by — I could read your bio points, but I think folks would much rather hear you tell your story.  Who is Jack Graham?  Where did you grow up? What motivated you? What animated you? What do you consider the greatest successes of your life?  And then let’s end it with, of course, the starting point question of, “Why are you running for U.S. Senate?”

GRAHAM:  Well, thanks for having me on, Dan.  And that’s a question – do you want me to take 60 seconds or 60 hours?  I could spend a lot of time talking about that, so –.

CAPLIS:  Honestly, as much time as you want to take.  I think that people — my sense, Jack.  I don’t know about you.  I know you’ve been out on the trail, there.  But my sense is, folks really want to get to know the candidate.  Just, you know, if you were sitting in the living room, telling your story, what would you tell folks about yourself?

GRAHAM:  You know, you’re right. I think it’s all about the people that we ask to go back to Washington DC and represent us.  And so it’s a good question.  I was raised in Northern California.  Came out to Colorado on a football scholarship, and played at Colorado State University.  I also played on the– I played on the football team, there. I was the quarterback.  I studied a History there.  I had a good football career at Colorado State and was drafted by the Miami Dolphins, and bounced around the NFL for a couple of years.  And following that effort, I started my business career. I had 35 years of business experience.  I was in the reinsurance business for about 20 years.  Reinsurance is a business that helps insurance companies to manage risk — to spread their risks so that when there are major disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, claims get paid by insurance companies.  So I did that for about 20 years and I thoroughly enjoyed that experience.  And then we started our own company here in Colorado –

CAPLIS:  Mm-hmm.

GRAHAM:  –[a] company called ICCAT –International Catastrophe Insurance Managers.  It was an insurance – it is an insurance company.  It is still thriving today.  We specialized in ensuring small business owners in catastrophe-exposed regions of the country.  So, small business owners in the Gold Coast that are exposed to hurricanes or Florida or the Eastern seaboard, or companies in California and Oregon and Washington that are exposed to earthquake risks, and in the middle West – the middle part of the country, as well. That was a good a good career. I enjoyed that a lot.  I sold the company and retired in 2011.  And then I was asked to become the athletic director at Colorado State, and thoroughly enjoyed that job.  We got a lot of things done in a pretty short period of time. We had a controversial project on our hands.  We wanted to build on-campus football stadium, and we got that approved by the board of governors, and designed it and financed it, and raised about $60 million, and is under construction today.  And I think that’s going to have a real impact on Colorado State.  The whole agenda that I was driving — that I was interested in– when I was at CSU was to find a way to keep tuition affordable for in-state students in Colorado.  As we all know, the cost of attendance in all universities across the country is going through the roof.  And one of the ways you keep that low – well, is two ways.  Number one, is you get a alumni to come back on campus and donate money to the University.  And you know, most people come back to football games when they come back to visit their alma mater. And so having an attractive football stadium was a magnet.  And the other — the other reason is we were attracting, through media attention, through successful results in football and basketball.  You get lots and lots of media attention on ESPN and other major outlets, and that attracts kids from outside Colorado to come the Colorado State University.  And they pay significantly higher tuition levels. And there is profit margins in that.  And that’s what keeps tuition levels down for in-state students.  And so, that was the agenda that was driving that process.  The other part of that –.

CAPLIS:  Yeah, and I just want to tell you in all candor I’m one of those people who were really opposed to that because I’m a CU fan, and I think any good CU football fan has to be opposed to that on-campus stadium at CSU because it’s going to do wonderful things for your program.  Yeah, I think–.

GRAHAM:  Did you go to CU, Dan?

CAPLIS:  Oh, yeah!  Yeah, yeah, yeah!  [I’m a] big Buff fan.

GRAHAM:  What, you couldn’t get into Colorado State?

CAPLIS:  [laughing]  You stole my line!  You stole my line!  But no, seriously, I mean it’s such a brilliant idea. It’s going to do such great things for CSU — in football and beyond.  And it’s how I first kind of tuned in to you, when you were, you know, chosen as AD, and you were leading that drive.  And I saw the way you handled yourself and I says, “Oh, this guy is authentic.  This guy is authentic, and he’s got the right idea for CSU because — I’m looking at our son Joe was in studio with me today.  They have a testing day at Creek. And he had the benefit of playing high school football.  And I was thinking, the only reason that I’m even his father is [because] I walked down into the basement 1972 or ‘73m and my dad –a Chicago police officer – I can still picture it, was in the corner of the basement and he was watching a CU football game.  I never heard of CU.  But, they showed this picture of the south end zone with the flatirons beyond it, and I said, “Dad, that’s where I’m going to school.” So. I think you’re exactly right, Jack. I think that stadium is going to just reap amazing rewards for CSU.

GRAHAM:  It is a big draw.  And you’re right.  It is a much, much bigger picture than just football.  There’s an agenda there that drives it, to –.  You know, Colorado State is a great university.  It’s one of the best teaching, academic, research universities in the country.  And yet, because of the mediocre results that it was experiencing — in football, in particular — the reputation had been tarnished.  And so we had to fix that.  And I think we’ve made some progress in that regard.

CAPLIS:  Oh, man!

GRAHAM:  You know, the other part of that job that I liked a lot, Dan – and I think it’s relevant to my run for the U.S. Senate — is that we did change the culture in athletics at Colorado State. We had some things that we had to deal with around character, making certain that our student athletes represented the university perfectly.  And so we insisted that they do that.  And they did. We said that they had to have great academic careers, and they turned in terrific academic results.  And we said, “You know, you’re here on a scholarship that is worth about $50,000 a year.  We’d actually like to have you deliver results.,  We’d like you to win.  And we taught them how to win, and they did win.  And so, you know, between character and academics and winning, we did change the culture and our last season at Colorado State we ended up being ranked number one in the country amongst all Division I universities in wins in football, men’s and women’s basketball, and volleyball which are the revenue sports that are monitored by the NCAA.  We got a lot of things done, and that culture conversation –. And by the way, culture is a word that describes behavior, from my perspective.  It’s how you show up.  And so, we did change the behavior and the culture at CSU, and we need the exact same thing to happen in Washington DC.   I know all of us are deeply concerned about the incessant fighting and bickering that’s going on. It’s rendered us to a state of almost permanent paralysis in the face of some incredibly important challenges.  We’ve got to get a lot of things done.  And we could talk at length about national security, and about our debt and the need to balance our budget, the need to create jobs, immigration etc.. And there are solutions to every one of those problems, in my opinion.  It’s the will to actually get things done – it’s the culture in Washington that is paralyzing us.  That is a core issue, in my opinion, Dan, and something we have to address.

CAPLIS:  Mm-hmm.

GRAHAM:  And that’s why I think having career politicians — that may have a different agenda than someone who is what I would characterize as a citizen legislator or a citizen servant — going back there without a career agenda–.  I’m not going back to Washington DC as US Senator to have a career in politics. I would be going back there to serve my country.  And those are, you know, — if you need the job versus you’re there to serve, it’s a very different [inaudible].

CAPLIS:  Amen!  Amen.  I can see people all over the state shaking their heads, “Yes!”  And the reason, I think, is let’s say a career politician – even if he or she had the same agenda you did, they’re not gonna usually have the same skill set.  I mean, you have this skill set, you know, that’s been honed through the competition of business, through the competition of high-level sports as a participant, as an AD.  So you’ve developed this fine edge skill set that I think is directly applicable the U.S. Senate because people don’t want to just send somebody back there who agrees with them.  They want to send somebody back there with the skill set to accomplish something.

GRAHAM:  Well, I think it’s a good point, Dan.  And I think what has happened over the weekend, with our budget, is a good example of something that just baffles me. I — my heart goes out to Paul Ryan, because I know Paul is working his tail off to try and get things done and create coalitions and move America forward.  But the fact that, you know, Congress left — adjourned — on Friday without having approved a budget, it just staggers me that we could run our country on that basis. You can imagine running a business — you know, there is no way that your Board of Directors would let you move into the next fiscal year without an approved budget, without knowing specifically how much money you are going to spend what you are going to spend it on.  That doesn’t sound like rocket science to me. And yet, somehow or other we continue to run our country without a budget. We go years and years and years with no approved budget until we jump in the middle of the fiscal year and we kind of spend money how and as the appropriations committees choose to spend the money.  It’s no wonder that we accumulate, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars of additional debt every single year, and our government continues to grow like a tumor.  There are some basic disciplines that we can employ, and I think they do come out of a business environment.  But I think it is more common sense than anything.  My view is that we ought to have a rule; that if you become a US Senator or a Member of the House, you sign a binding pledge – a law – that if you don’t approve the budget, you don’t get to go home.  You get sequestered in the capitol.  Full stop!

CAPLIS:  Yeah, that will do it!

GRAHAM:  Just like a soldier. A soldier doesn’t get to abandon his or her post, right?

CAPLIS:  Right, right.

GRAHAM:  They’ve got to stay there.

CAPLIS:  Yeah.

GRAHAM:  And how about if we said that our Congress people have to stay in Washington until they approve a budget?

CAPLIS:  Mm-hmm.

GRAHAM:  And if they don’t, you know, they get bread and water and that’s it —

CAPLIS:  Mmm!

GRAHAM:  –until they actually do the job that they were hired to do.

CAPLIS:  Love it!

GRAHAM:  And then we get into the fiscal year, and if they want to spend money that’s not been approved in the budget – so you want to spend an extra hundred dollars—well, you’ve got to go and get a hundred dollars out of the budget that was approved.  And everybody has to vote on it.  And then we need to move to a balanced budget. A balanced budget amendment is going to take a decade to get through Congress. That’s a very long process, and I’m in full support of it.   But let’s take some bites out of the apple and get some things done first, to get ourselves to a point that we can have some fiscal discipline about how we’re running our country.

CAPLIS:  [It] makes total sense. U.S. Senate candidate, Jack Graham, [is] our special guest we’ll be having all of the candidates on over the next couple weeks, kicking it off with Jack – football pon intented.  Jack, what did you learn from playing football that’s directly applicable to being a United States Senator?

GRAHAM:  Oh, there are so many things that I learned from football!  I—I—you know, I learned how to win.  I was taught how to win, and I’ve passed that message on throughout my career to people who have worked with me, as well as as Athletic Director.  And I always say there are three things that you have to do to win.  You have to be incredibly well-prepared, and in the culture of football that means you’re strong, you’re aerobically fit, you’re stretched out, you know your opponent, you’ve got a game plan, you’re prepared.  So that’s number one.  Number two:  you’re focused, so that when you’re in competition you’re focused on actually executing the game plan — whatever it is that you decided to do to win — and you learn how to be relentlessly competitive to win.  And I think all of those things are applicable to America.  You know, if America was a population committed to being compared, committed to being focused, and committing to being relentlessly competitive in a very competitive global market, — whether it’s national security or our economy and trade agreements — all of those principles are applicable.  And so I think that culture of winning is something that needs to be re-ingrained.  I do think we’ve lost that focus.  And I [inaudible].

CAPLIS:  Yeah, yeah.  And the hunger is there.  The hunger is there in America for it.  The hunger is there in Colorado for it.  It’s a lot of these elected officials, especially Obama and Bennet who are trying to tamp that down, saying, “No, that’s an unreasonable expectation.”  But I think America is with you.

GRAHAM:  I think you’re right.  Yeah, and I think there are actually elements of our political leadership that are embarrassed about our prosperity, embarrassed about our success – almost defensive about it.  I mean, we’re the most–you know, we are tough minded, disciplined people but we’re also the most generous, compassionate people on the face of the Earth.  And you can be both.  You can be compassionate and generous and tough at the same time.  There’s no reason for us to be at all embarrassed about our global leadership, at all embarrassed about our prosperity.   Let’s perpetuated that, and at the same time, let’s be global leaders through that process.

CAPLIS:  […]  And before asked the next question, Jack, how can people help you out?  What is your website?

GRAHAM:  It’s www.Jack Graham2016.comn — all one word.

CAPLIS:  And I assume your campaign is accepting contributions, but, uh–.

GRAHAM:  We are.  We absolutely are.  We’ve had some success in that regard.

CAPLIS:  Yeah.

GRAHAM:  My wife, Ginger, and I did invest in our own campaign.  We invested a million dollars at the front end, —

CAPLIS:  Mm-hmm.

GRAHAM:  –knowing it was going to take some funds to make this happen.  And at the same time, we said right up front, we’re not going to self-fund this thing.  If we can’t get people to support the campaign, there’s a message in that.  So, let’s make certain that we’re getting that kind of support, as well. And we did – I think we raised the most amount of money of any of the candidates.  And so, that was gratifying and I can’t tell you how much we’ve appreciated all the support we’ve gotten from people.  You know, money is a part of the process.  And I like the fact that campaign donations are limited to a relatively low amount because it does take a lot of the perversion out of the process, and I respect that.

CAPLIS:  Mm, and I think, while Bernie Sanders would be an abject disaster for the nation, I do think that his campaign is one of several that’s helping to shatter that model — that myth – that, you know, all of a sudden, whoever raises 100 million, 200 million, 300 million, is going to win.  I don’t know if you saw the piece in the paper today, the combined– I think– Rubio and Bush PACS ended up spending almost 200 million to win one state.  So, I’ve always believed the money will follow the success and you have all the ingredients to catch fire. I think that’s clear. Where do you think Michael Bennet is most vulnerable?

GRAHAM:  You know, I think there’s – first, I appreciate Michael Bennet and the service that he’s given to our country.  And one of the commitments I’ve made to my fellow Republicans that we’re competing with is that we’re never going to criticize people for their character or their background.  This is going to be a respectful campaign.  But we are going to talk at length and in detail about public policy matters, because there are major differences.  I think one of the starting points is, you know, I think that Michael Bennet and I are very different in terms of our orientation towards leadership.  I do think Michael is kind of the prototypical career politician.  I think he is more of a warrior for the Democratic Party than he is a representative of the state of Colorado, and representative of the United States of America.  Um, he was the Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and he is entrenched in Democratic Party politics and that agenda.  He voted 98% of the time with President Obama, and I – you know, I tell you what.  I think my wife is one of the smartest and most capable people in the world.  And if there is anyone I agree with, it’s my wife.  And I don’t agree with her 98% of the time.

CAPLIS:  Right, right!  You just act like you do!

GRAHAM:  You’ve got that right!  [laughs] So, you know, I’m not going back there is a career politician.  We’ve talked about that at length.  I will go back there with an agenda to speak my mind and say what needs  to be said.  I think our positions around immigration are materially different.  Um, his position was amnesty, and that all illegal immigrants that are here today should be granted citizenship. I respect the right to vote way too much for that, and frankly, I think that his support of that is another example of career politics, where you’re politically motivated to require something like that, because the Democratic Party believes that illegal immigrants will register as Democrats and therefore they’ll get more votes.  And that’s not in the best interest of America.  That’s – you know, that’s career politician speak, so to speak. Obviously, big differences with regard to national security.  The Iran nuclear agreement would be the classic – you know, and as I say, that was the tipping point that moved me into the Senate race. And that Michael Bennet voted for that upset me quite a –.   ‘Upset’ is probably the wrong word.  It just concerned me greatly, that he did that.  And we’ve already seen the Iranians are collaborating with the North Koreans. They are buying weapons from Russia.  We’ve pumped hundreds of billions–you know, over a hundred billion dollars back into their economy. They support Hamas.  They’re at the root of what’s going on in Yemen today.  So, I think that was a terrible agreement.  And you know, Sen. Bennett supported that. Guantánamo is another example of  — you know, he would close Guantánamo and give it back to Cuba, which, you know – we could talk at length about Cuba — and how we got to that decision –

CAPLIS:  Yeah.

GRAHAM:  –is beyond me.  Obamacare – I think there are big differences between Sen. Bennett and me about – he didn’t even read it, and yet he supported it right alongside Nancy Pelosi.

CAPLIS:  Yeah, yeah.

GRAHAM:  And I think we’ve got real–.  I could bring some real substance to that conversation, Dan, having – I know a lot about financing risk, and healthcare risk is something that, you know, I can say more than just, “We should repeal and replace Obamacare.”  I’ve got some very specific thoughts about what we can do in place of that which will be much better for all Americans, in my opinion.

CAPLIS:  Yeah. And I think you have the added benefit, Jack – and I think this overarcs everything and it’s a big deal, […] and that is you’re a Colorado guy.  I mean, you’ve been here for ages, you know, you’ve fought and bled on the football field, here.  You’ve hired people here.  You’ve been successful here.  You’ve given generously, along with your wife to good causes here.  Michael Bennet’s a guy who parachuted in from the East Coast.  He’s really an East Coast guy who parachutes into Colorado, has a relatively unsuccessful stint at DPS, and I just think you’re Colorado guy!  And I think the contrast is going to be enormous.  Can I ask you about another category, here?  My understanding is – I think I read this somewhere– that you have made the same journey that I made from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.  If that’s true, tell people why.

GRAHAM:  It is true.  I – well, I was raised in a Democratic family.  My father, who is still living– my dad is with me right now, as a matter of fact — is 98 years old and he came out of the depression and he’s an FDR Democrat.  He thinks FDR walks on water.  And I was raised in the era of Jack Kennedy and I thought, you know, Jack Kennedy was a hero for me as a 12-year-old kid.  And then you just move into your adult life, and it was more habit than anything.  I never supported Democratics as an adult.  I supported the George Bush’s campaign and Pete Wilson when he was Governor of California and running for President, and never supported the Democrats.  So, it was more habit than anything.  And then when it became something I had to pay attention to, it was clear to me that I was a Republican, in fact. And you know, if I do end up winning this this this election I will be the fourth successive Republican US Senator from Colorado who was a Demorat and changed to the Republican Party.  It was Ben Nighthorse-Campbell,  and Wayne Allard, and Cory Gardner, and next would be me.  So–.

CAPLIS:  Yeah. And it’s a proud tradition.  I was just remembering, as you said that, when I had the pleasure of introducing Gov. Palin at Western Conservative Summit I made the point that at her age–which was then 48–Ronald Reagan was still a Democrat. You know, he didn’t even become a Republican until late in life.  So, no. You’re following, I think, a very proud tradition, there, of people who are intellectually honest enough to just pursue the truth and when the Democratic Party leaves them to break away–. Jack, let me ask you this: where you come down on what some folks refer to as the social issues?

GRAHAM:  I—I—well, I think abortion is always at the center of that question — abortion and gay marriage.   And I believe deeply in the sanctity of life.  It’s the way I’ve lived my life and raised my family.   And equally, I feel strongly that America is the land of individual freedoms and liberties.  We get to choose to live our life as we see fit, and that the government should be involved in our lives as little as possible. And so I do feel strongly that a woman should have the right to choose in the context of abortions.  I think those same principles apply to gay marriage. I just don’t believe that the government [should be involved] in  people’s personal lives to that extent.  And I know how emotional — it’s a very, very important question and I know how emotionally sensitive this question is.  And for me personally, I’ve made my own choices in that regard.  At the same time I feel strongly that we need to respect the right of women and people to choose.

CAPLIS:  And I think that those issues, which are so deeply held beliefs by people on both sides — I think on those issues that the big question is, “At the end of the day, who should make that decision?  The US Supreme Court, or the people of the states?”  And correct me if I’m wrong but I would assume that your position on gay marriage is, for the reasons you said, you believe people should be able make that choice but that it should be left to the people of the states to decide — that the Supreme Court, at least in my view, clearly overstepped its bounds when it decided that issue for all 50 states.

GRAHAM:  Well, you know, I think it’s a U.S. Constitution issue, Dan.  And I think that the U.S. Constitution does grant us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — and the pursuit of happiness in the context of getting to choose to live our lives as we see fit, so long as we’re not stepping on other people’s rights in that process.  And so I think the U.S. Constitution has been ruled on by the US Supreme Court.  So, I don’t think I’m aligned with you on that one, specifically, Dan.

CAPLIS:  All right.

GRAHAM:  I do think there’s a couple of important amendments that I need to include in this, that there are limitations with the rights to choose and the responsibilities.  There are some limitations. I do not believe in late-term abortions. I think there needs to be limitations around that. I don’t believe that there should be any use at all of public funding for abortions or abortion counseling, and that if Planned Parenthood clinics are going to continue to be engaged in abortions or abortion counseling, in any form, there should be no federal funding whatsoever. So there are some practical limitations around my views in this regard.

CAPLIS:  Yeah, it’s going to be real interesting to see how Hillary Clinton manages this during the campaign. It seemed a couple weeks ago she was really pivoting on the abortion issue, trying to pretend to be going back toward the center, since her “abortion through labor and delivery” position, you know, I think she realized is really starting to hurt her.  And that and when it comes to,say, the constitutional aspect of abortion, again, I think there are probably a good number of conservatives who would say that, even if they’re pro-life, would say, “Listen, at the end of the day, if somebody believes that the US Supreme Court was wrong on that and would favor ratifying,” — as you would as a US Senator, which you may very well be [since] you bring so much to the table, “Would you vote to ratify?  Would you vote to approve a Supreme Court nominee who believes that Roe v. Wade was correctly decided?

GRAHAM:  You know, I don’t think that would be a pivotal issue for me, Dan. I think that decision has been decided by the Supreme Court. I’m more interested in a Supreme Court – um, I want to consider the values of the Supreme Court nominee that he is a strict constitutionally conservative — conservative constitutionalist –that is not going to be legislating from the Supreme Court, but in fact will be enforcing the laws of our Constitution as they are written today.  And if today’s social environment – legal environment, whatever — is bringing a different set of circumstances than those that existed when our forefathers wrote those documents, it doesn’t matter.  It is still his or her responsibility to enforce the Constitution accordingly.  And our legislators – our Congress – our Senate and House of Representatives – it’s their job to legislate if they choose to change the Constitution, not the job of the Supreme Court.

CAPLIS:  Right.  Exactly.   […] And obviously, we disagree in those two arenas.  Because I think, you know, the big question is, with all of the strengths you bring to the race, you know, whether — and what I consider to be up a pretty darn good field of Senate candidates– whether at the end of the day that will overcome what others bring to the table. But I see you as having so many pluses in your column.  As you look at the GOP field, as you look at the GOP field, what you think the big differences are between you and the rest of the field?

GRAHAM:  Well, I respect the rest of the field, as you pointed out.  And I’m glad we’re getting an opportunity to run against each other, because I think we’re going to make each other better through this process.  You know, I think there are some very real differences.  Of course, we talked about the social issues.  And I clearly differentiate myself from the others in that regard.  When it comes to things like immigration, I think I bring a much more practical, rational solution to the table that is focused on, that number one, we must secure our borders. Full stop.  But beyond that, there is 11 million illegal immigrants here today and we’re not going to deport 11 million people and create a police state in that process.  We need them for our workforce.   Let’s bring some practical common sense solutions to the table, that do include deep background checks to ensure they are not terrorists, to ensure they’re not bringing a criminality to our country. They need to have healthcare insurance –either they’re providing it or their employer is providing it.

CAPLIS:  […]

GRAHAM:  I thought we were being invaded, for a minute there.  So, I think that there is –.  Well you asked me where I differentiate myself from my fellow candidates.  And I think, you know, a rational voice about immigration.  I think some real substantive solutions around the Affodable Care Act.  I think that we are significantly aligned with each other, all 4 or 5 of us – however many of us that are going to be on the ballot – around national security.  I think the depth that I bring to the table around the economic health of our country, how you create jobs – I mean, I’ve created businesses.  I’ve run businesses.  And I know that more jobs and better paying jobs are created when businesses succeed – when we’re forming more businesses.  And today, we’re closing more businesses today than we are opening.  And businesses that are in business today are struggling.  They’re having a difficult time succeeding, and they’re having a difficult time expanding.  And when businesses expand, they pay people more money and they hire more people.  And the business environment that exists in the country today is just simply toxic.  We pay almost double the average tax rate of any country in Europe, and the regulatory environment has become so oppressive that we’ve got the conditions that we’ve got today.  So, how do we solve that?  And I think I can bring real substance to that conversation. The discipline around balancing our budget – we’ve already talked about that.  So, you know, I’ve had almost a 40 year career at this point in time, so lots and lots of life experiences that I can think can contribute to the wisdom that I would bring to the office.

CAPLIS:  Well, I think you bring a ton to the table.  Obviously, we disagree on a couple of important issues.  But you bring so much to the table.  And I’m very glad you’re in this race. And I think the quality of the candidates in the field will help make our eventual nominee even better, which I think is going to be very important going into this race.