NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript

Interview

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MR. GREGORY: He is challenging Bennet, the freshman senator and former head of Denver's schools, who was appointed to the seat after Ken Salazar joined the Obama Cabinet. Their campaign, among the most contentious in the country, mirrors the national debate: Has government helped or hurt in the "great recession," and who can voters really trust to fix what's broken in Washington?

And joining us now, the current junior senator from Colorado, the Democrat, Michael Bennet, and his challenger, Republican Ken Buck, who is still the district attorney of Weld County, Colorado. That was my mistake, I apologize. Welcome to both of you.

And this is a debate that matters. If you look at the polling, we'll put it up on the screen, the latest Denver Post/KUSA poll, it's a tight race with Mr. Buck with a 5 point advantage right now, both of you under 50 percent, so a lot on the line here.

Mr. Buck, let me start with you because you do have tea party backing. The tea party is a major movement in this midterm campaign, whether it's Sharron Angle in Nevada, Christine O'Donnell getting a lot of headlines in Delaware. And the question is whether the tea party represents an extreme, insurgent political force, or whether it's a legitimate political movement. What do you say?

MR. BUCK: I, I think it's a legitimate political movement. I think what we're talking about are folks that are frustrated that we are spending so much money in Washington, D.C., and they're every bit as frustrated with the Republicans as they are with the Democrats, because the Republicans are every bit as much to blame for the mess that we're in as the Democrats. And, and that frustration has exhibited itself in a lot of energy. Folks are, are not going to try to send the same type of Republican to Washington, D.C., that they've sent in the past. And so I think it is a lot more mainstream than it has been portrayed.

MR. GREGORY: But, you know, it's--is that point, there are a lot of folks who, supported by the tea party, in the tea party, say, `Oh, there's a mainstream movement.' But there are others who say it is anything but. As a matter of fact, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and the NAACP are releasing a report this coming week. And here it is, I'll show it on the screen. The "Tea Party Nationalism, a critical examination of the Tea Party movement and the size, scope and focus of its national factions." And there are some serious charges that I want you to respond to. "The result of this study contravenes many of the Tea Parties' self-invented myths, particularly their sole concentration on budget deficits, taxes, and the power of the federal government. Instead, this report found Tea Party ranks to be permeated with concerns about race and national identity and other so-called social issues. ... Tea party organization have given platforms to anti-Semites, racists and bigots, Further, hard-core white nationalists have been attracted to these protests, looking for potential recruits and hoping to push these (white) protestors toward a more self-conscious and ideological white supremacy." If you're senator, do you think these elements in the tea party need to be dealt with and need to be rebuffed?

MR. BUCK: Absolutely. First of all, I haven't seen it. I've been to over 800 events in Colorado in, in the last 20 months. I have not seen that. And, and I find it offensive that folks would try to label the tea party in that way. It's just not true in Colorado. I don't know if it's true in other states, I haven't been to the other states. But I can tell you that if there are people that hold those views, they are quickly asked to leave meetings. I have not seen them in, in meetings.

MR. GREGORY: Senator, is this a legitimate question? Is this a mainstream movement? Because this is high stakes in your, in your campaign, in this debate.

SEN. BENNET: Yeah. Well, you know, David, over the last 22 months, I've had town halls in every part of our state, red and blue, and said the same thing in all those places. And what I'll tell you is this, my favorite rooms are the ones where there are Democrats, Republicans, unaffiliated voters, and tea party people, because when folks are together in a room, they actually have to listen to each other. I think one of the things that we are facing right now is that we've stopped listening to each other in our politics. So I haven't seen a lot of that either, and I have had the opportunity to engage with people who are self-described tea party people, to have a serious conversation rather than just a bunch of slogans about how we are not going to become--you know, what, what we need to do so that we're not the first generation of Americans who leave less opportunity, not more, to our kids and our grandkids.

MR. GREGORY: Mr. Buck, the issue of the tea party matters, though, because one of the big knocks against you, it's been subject to the campaign between you, is whether or not you took positions to appeal to primary voters, to get that tea party support that you're now backing away from. This is how The Denver Post editorial wrote about it on Friday. I'll put it up on the screen. "Buck ... ran as a far-right tea party conservative in his primary race against more moderate Jane Norton, and" now has been tacking--"tracking back to the center.

"It hasn't been an easy waltz. He'd trip over his feet more often in his march to the center if they weren't in his mouth. Buck's critics now call his tap dance `Buckpedaling.'

"First, he said he supports Colorado's `personhood' measure." An abortion-related measure. "Then he backed off. Now he says he isn't sure. During the primary, he told voters he'd support a Fair Tax. Then, when faced with a misleading Bennet attack ad, he backed off. He told one crowd he favored repealing the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of senators, then" he "later backpedaled. His position on Afghanistan has morphed so much it's almost incoherent. Buck says he doesn't believe in nation-building yet he says we can't leave Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists - as if it would be possible to control events there once our troops are gone." Is that litany? Is that charge fair?

MR. BUCK: No.

MR. GREGORY: Explain why.

MR. BUCK: Well, issues like the 17th Amendment. As I said, I've been to over 800 events in, in Colorado in, in 20 months. I have talked about the 17th Amendment. Someone asked me a question. I said, `The short answer is yes, but...' and then I gave an explanation of why I thought there were better answers than--to, to restoring the balance of power between the states and the federal government than the 17th Amendment. Senator Bennet has played a commercial over and over that misstates, misquotes, misleads on, on that issue. The next day, I called the person back and said, `You know, I, I've thought about it, and I, I don't want to leave you with the impression that the answer is yes.' Fifteen times more, with the Democrat tracker camera in my face, I explained that I wasn't in favor of repealing the 17th Amendment.

It is easy when you have a tracker and, and they have 100 examples of, of answers, and, and the questions are coming at you from different angles, to use tape that shows a slight deviation in the answer. It is not fair to say that I have backtracked on, on those issues.

MR. GREGORY: But isn't it also easy to flirt with positions in a primary, and then back off and say, "Well, I'm not sure I'd actually vote for that," you know, once you get into a general election? Isn't that what people really dislike about politics?

MR. BUCK: Well, they, they may dislike it, they--but people are also sick and tired of, of politicians not answering questions, politicians not being accessible. And I think it's, it's incumbent on us, if we're going to run in this kind of a race--and this is an important year, David. I think that, you know, this is a different year than most years. We've got to tell the American people that we have to live with less. We have a $13.5 trillion debt. And the only way to do that is an honest campaign with honest people. And, and I have let people know my heart. It hasn't always been the same exact words to, to the same questions, but it has been--they, they know where I'm coming from on, on issue.

MR. GREGORY: Is he a political opportunist?

SEN. BENNET: I think absolutely. I mean, I think it's very clear that he ran a primary election saying that he would privatize Social Security, that he would demolish the Department of Education, that the American people need to wean theirselves off of student loans, that he supported the personhood amendment, pro-life in all cases except for--including cases of rape and incest. He's not changed his position on that. And in the general election, even as recently as yesterday, he said, "Well, I, I don't, I don't support abolishing the Department of Education, but I wouldn't oppose it if it came up for a vote." That's not the kind of straight talk that people in Colorado want.

And what, what complicates it even further is that the primary election, virtually every dollar spent on TV on behalf of Ken Buck came from groups outside of Colorado, came from groups sponsored by people that got us into this mess in the first place, you know, that managed to drive this economy into the worst ditch since the Great Depression and double our debt. And in the general election, the same thing is happening. Eighty-five percent of the money that, that represents the TV ads that are running on behalf of Ken Buck are from outside the state.

But, but the other thing is, in these difficult times, I think it is enormously important. We're never going to say exactly the same thing every, you know, every second of every day. But the flip-flops in this race are unbelievable.

MR. GREGORY: I want to--you want to button this up before I move on to some questions. You say...

MR. BUCK: I would.

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

MR. BUCK: The, the, the media has looked at Senator Pennet--Bennet's ads. The--and in fact, the same editorial that you quoted from talks about the despicable nature of Senator Bennet's ads. They have been false, misleading, deceitful. The Colorado Springs paper talked about the fact that the--this was the sleaziest campaign in the history of the state of Colorado. And on, on Senator Bennet's side, he talks about his deep, deep empathy for Social Security; and he's on the Commission on Aging, he missed 92 percent of the meetings for the Commission on Aging. He talks about earmark reform. He voted against earmark reform four times in 2009. In 2010 he offers a bill, doesn't bother getting one co-sponsor, doesn't bother moving the bill forward in any way, but runs on the fact that he is a good government earmark reformer. It's, it's that kind of, of, of duplicity that, that Colorado voters are sick of.

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MR. GREGORY: So the president said you took the tough vote...

SEN. BENNET: Right.

MR. GREGORY: ...you helped the stimulus get passed. You say there's nothing to show for it but more debt. Isn't that an admission...

SEN. BENNET: This...

MR. GREGORY: Hold on. Isn't that an admission that the major piece to help the economy simply did not work by this administration?

SEN. BENNET: Absolutely not. In fact, what I was saying when I say that, which I have said in every town hall meeting in Democratic and Republican parts of the state, is true, because what I say is we have $13 trillion of debt on the balance sheet and nothing to show for it. I say we have not even had the decency to maintain the assets that our parents and grandparents built for us--our roads, our bridges, our wastewater systems, our sewer systems; by the way, those weren't Bolsheviks, those weren't socialists that built those things for us--much less build the infrastructure we need for the 21st century. And it's not just transportation. Transit--listen.

MR. GREGORY: Yeah, but the president acknowledges that, that infrastructure spending has not been really dealt with in this stimulus bill.

SEN. BENNET: Transit and--transportation, transit and energy infrastructure as well. That stimulus package saved us from going into the second Great Depression. But that's hardly enough of a standard if the--if what generations ought to judge other generations is whether they left more opportunity, not less for them. That's the point that I'm making.
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MR. GREGORY: But what seems to be the issue that's hanging out there is that most Americans don't believe the stimulus has helped. You have been in lockstep with this president. Congressional Quarterly says you voted with the president 97 percent of the time. And in an editorial by The Denver Post, endorsing you, I should point out, this is part of what they say: "Michael Bennet for U.S. Senate. Since [Bennet] was appointed senator ... he has been running for election and, at times, running scared. ...

"If he had bucked his party and his president on just one major issue, and in turn showed some Colorado independence, it would have been much easier to endorse him. Instead, his 20-month career has been frustrating to watch, leaving voters, and us, with a difficult choice.

On December of 2009, "for example, he made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, blasting Washington lawmakers for their dirty dealing as they patched together a health care bill larded with special deals. ... Then, three days later, he voted for the bill.

"The current health care bill is law because of Bennet's one vote. That vote, and his speech, epitomize his short Senate career: So much potential, yet not enough spine."

SEN. BENNET: Well, let's focus on the potential question. Listen, I, I did vote--I did cast a vote for health care, and I also said that I thought the process was horrible. The status quo before we passed health care was also horrible. And part of what we needed to do was clean up the way Washington does its business, I completely agree with that, because it--it's one of the things that's eroding confidence in the American people and what's going on in, in this town. I also think that it's clear that the recovery, you know, package has grown the GDP somewhat and saved thousands and thousands of jobs in my home state.

Look, when I agree with the president, I agree with him. When I disagree with him, I disagree with him. He's done some things that were not helpful to Colorado, and I've fought back--canceling the Orion Project, making sure that we didn't change the tax treatment for natural gas producers in our state. And I might say, also, that today I was endorsed, not just by The Denver Post, but the Grand Junction Sentinel, who endorsed John McCain and Bob Schaffer, a Republican who ran for this seat.

MR. GREGORY: But on the big ticket items...

SEN. BENNET: And one of the--let me, let me just say, one of the basis for their endorsement was my willingness to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans and, and my opponent's stated desire to be the chief filibuster of the United States Senate if he gets back here.

MR. GREGORY: On the big ticket items, the ones that have really contributed to the debt, you were with the president.

SEN. BENNET: I, I don't disagree. And the president said, you know, in the clip that you had...

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

SEN. BENNET: ...that a lot of tough choices were going to have to be made here. And it's true, the choices are tough. And the politics right now are not supporting the aspirations we have for our kids and our grandkids. They're not allowing us to make--or they haven't allowed us to make even tougher choices that we're still going to have to make going forward.

MR. GREGORY: Why is that unreasonable in your view?

MR. BUCK: I'll tell you, Senator Bennet does one thing in Washington, D.C., and then comes back to Colorado and talks about a completely different thing. He has spent--on his watch in Washington, D.C., been part of the spending of $3 trillion. That's $3 trillion. We can talk about $13 trillion on the book; $3 trillion dollars has been accumulated since he's been in D.C., and that's something that he has to take responsibility for.

MR. GREGORY: And you take responsibility, as well, for what Republicans did in terms of running up the debt before that?

MR. BUCK: David, I have said over and over that Republicans are every bit as much to blame as Democrats, and I am not going to be one of those Republicans when I get to Washington.

MR. GREGORY: So to that...

SEN. BENNET: Well, just to be clear on that point, though, the, the budget, the budget proposals that he's made would blow, without even talking about the tax cut extensions, $1.3 trillion more of a hole into our budget than we already have and, and, depending on what we do with these extensions, an additional $4 trillion of debt on the balance sheet.

MR. GREGORY: Well, let me ask you on that point, do you agree with Republican leaders who say that tax cuts do not have to be paid for?

MR. BUCK: No, I don't. I, I think we've got to find spending cuts. And I don't know what you're talking about in terms of tax cuts.

MR. GREGORY: Well, extanding--extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest earners. The president says it all the time, it would cost an extra $700 billion. Should those be paid for if the--if, if Republicans like you want to cut that deficit, bring it in balance, do you then have to pay for the tax cuts you want to extend?

MR. BUCK: Well, first, David, where are the families going to pay for the money that they've got to send the federal government? That's, that's the bigger question to me. Secondly, though...
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MR. GREGORY: But how can that be bigger? You either believe in the balanced budget or you do not. If you extend tax cuts, you said just a moment ago they have to be paid for. Then how do you pay for it?

MR. BUCK: Well, the, the--we pay for it by cutting spending. We also pay for it by growing government. When we leave money in the hands of taxpayers, they buy things, they pay taxes, they grow government. It's not a one for one exchange in the first year, but, but it would be bad, in my view--and, and I--every economist I've talked to has told me that it would be bad in a recession to try to increase taxes.

MR. GREGORY: Well, and you think there should be an extension on all the tax cuts for at least a year.

SEN. BENNET: For a year. For a year. In part to figure out how we do pay for it. I mean, the same thing that Ken is saying right now is what the Bush administration said when it created these tax cuts to begin with, and what we saw was the first period of economic growth in our country's history when middle-class income fell.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

SEN. BENNET: Our middle-class...

MR. GREGORY: But not--it's not fair to compare him to all Republicans. Republican leaders don't agree with what he just said, which is that you have to pay for tax cuts. So isn't he--aren't you guys more in line, wouldn't you say?

SEN. BENNET: Well, I didn't--I actually didn't hear him say that. I heard him say that you pay for it, and also by growing government you pay for it. I'm not quite sure what that means. But...

MR. BUCK: Well, let me explain to you. Here...

SEN. BENNET: ...my point is, my point is...

MR. BUCK: ...you grow government because as people have more money they spend the money and government grows. When we put people back to work, the government grows, we increase revenue and we decrease unemployment benefits.
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SEN. BENNET: Well I'm definitely not interested in growing government, I can tell you that.

MR. BUCK: I'm sorry, growing the economy. I apologize.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

MR. BUCK: Growing the economy.

MR. GREGORY: You're talking about growing the economy.

MR. BUCK: Right.

MR. GREGORY: Is there also a reality that how do you pay for an extension of middle-class tax cuts?

SEN. BENNET: Yeah. I think there's a reality to all of it. I mean, the, the, the top 2 percent is $700 billion. All of them together are, are $4 trillion. And we're going to have to make some very hard choices to make sure that our kids are not bearing a debt that we were unwilling to deal with.

MR. GREGORY: Mr. Buck, I want to ask you about women who are taking a hard look at this race and deciding how they're going to make up their minds, and some issues that have come up, controversial issues, for you. You've taken a hard line position on abortion, saying you'd vote for a ban even if it includes rape and incest. During the primary campaign, you said, you said that voters should vote for you because you don't wear high heels. And then there was an issue that's gotten a lot of attention, as a district attorney, about a 2006 date rape case. You declined to prosecute. You told the Greeley Tribune, "A jury could very well conclude that this was a case of buyer's remorse," after you looked at the circumstances of the case and decided not to prosecute. A lot of people thought that was an insensitive remark. The woman who was involved in this case has been critical of you, saying that your tone was one of, in essence, attacking her. It was not the first time that your judgment or your ethics as a lawyer has been questioned. And I wonder whether you regret using those words, and whether you think women should give some weight to those issues in deciding whether to vote for you.

MR. BUCK: I, I, I think women as well as men are concerned about jobs and the economy and spending and, and other issues. They're concerned that when their kids graduate from college they have an economy and they have a future in this country and they, they have the same opportunity that we've had and our grandparents have had. But I'd like to talk about a couple of those issues, if I can...

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.
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MR. BUCK: ...to clarify some things.

MR. GREGORY: OK.

MR. BUCK: Rape case came into our office, it was reviewed by an attorney with--a prosecutor with 30 years prosecutorial experience who's now on the Colorado Court of Appeals. He declined to prosecute. Two female chief deputies reviewed the case, talked to witnesses, they, they declined to prosecute. The case went to another chief deputy who had handled many of the high-profile rape cases in the, in the Denver metro area. He declined to prosecute. I met with this young lady, explained the circumstances. I then sent the case to the Boulder County district attorney's office for, for Boulder County because they had a lot of experience with date rape as a result of the University of Colorado being in that county. They declined to prosecute and told me that the case couldn't be prosecuted. It was after this--the young lady made this case public that I had to explain to the newspaper exactly what...

MR. GREGORY: But do you regret the way you either talked to her or talked about the case?

MR. BUCK: I don't regret the way I talked to her. I think, I think the--it is important that a prosecutor approach a victim with, with a certain amount of reality, and that's what I tried to do with this victim. I didn't blame her at all.

MR. GREGORY: Right. But what about what you told the Greeley Tribune?

MR. BUCK: What I told the Greeley Tribune, I gave them five or six reasons why I thought a jury could decline this case.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

MR. BUCK: One of the reasons was the fact that she had regretted this relationship, and she had buyer's remorse as a result of the relationship that she had with this young man.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

MR. BUCK: That is, that is something that I think when, when someone decides to make a case public, the public has to understand why.
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MR. GREGORY: Senator, is this an issue?

SEN. BENNET: I just--I, I do think it's an issue. Look, I have a lot of sympathy for the victim in this case. He just used the language again, buyer's remorse, and is the father of three little girls. I just think that's the wrong way to talk about this kind of set of circumstances, especially when you're a prosecutor.

MR. GREGORY: All right, we're going to leave it...

SEN. BENNET: I...

MR. GREGORY: ...we're going to leave it there. We're going to come back. We want to get to some other issues. We're going to take a quick break. More from our Colorado's candidates for the U.S. Senate when our special debate series continues, right after this brief station break.

MR. GREGORY: We are back to continue our special Senate debate series with the candidates locked in a tight race for the Colorado Senate seat.

I want to do a bit of a lightning round here. I want to get to some issues here and have shorter answers on these things.

And Mr. Buck I want to start with you. The issue of gays in our country, in a debate last month you expressed your support for "don't ask, don't tell," which we talked about with Mr. Gibbs, and you alluded to lifestyle choices. Do you believe that being gay is a choice?

MR. BUCK: I do.

MR. GREGORY: Based on what?
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MR. BUCK: Based on what?

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

MR. BUCK: Well...

MR. GREGORY: Why do you believe that?

MR. BUCK: Well, I guess you can, you can choose who your partner is.

MR. GREGORY: You don't think it's something that's determined at birth?

MR. BUCK: I, I, I think that birth has an influence over like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that basically you, you have a choice.

MR. GREGORY: Does that put him outside the mainstream of views on this?

SEN. BENNET: I absolutely believe he's outside the mainstream of views on this.

MR. GREGORY: About Afghanistan, for you, Mr. Bennet. If President Obama and General Petraeus were to determine that they need a significant number of troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the July 2011 deadline, is that a position that you'd be able to support?

SEN. BENNET: My position is that we ought to begin bringing our troops home in July '11. And there will be troops there, they'll have to leave troops there, and I recognize that. But this is the longest shooting war in our country's history.
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MR. GREGORY: But if a significant number of combat forces must remain to achieve U.S. goals, you'd be for it or against it?

SEN. BENNET: I would have to look at it then, but what I want to make clear is that I believe the president needs to honor the commitment that he made to begin bringing our troops home. I don't know what significant is. I imagine that there will be a substantial number of troops there for the foreseeable future.

MR. GREGORY: And you could support that?

SEN. BENNET: But I, but I believe what the American people need to see that our commitment there is coming to an end.

MR. GREGORY: How do you answer that, Mr. Buck?

MR. BUCK: Well, I, I don't think we set artificial deadlines. I think that we, we set realistic goals, and, and we try to accomplish those goals. I don't think we should be nation-building, I don't think we should be staying there over the long-term. I...

MR. GREGORY: What if General Petraeus says, "You know what, it's July 2011, but if we're going to achieve our goals, we can't pull any troops out. May need more troops, may need to surge up again here." Well, you could support that because you don't believe in deadlines?

MR. BUCK: No, I didn't say I could support that. I don't believe in deadlines, I don't believe in telling the enemy when we're going to withdraw. I need to know what he thinks the goals are. And if I agree with those goals, then evaluate at that point.

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you a question about the Supreme Court. Obviously a crucial role as a U.S. senator, confirming a justice who's nominated by the president. Which sitting justices would you have voted against?

MR. BUCK: I would have voted against Justice Sotomayor, and I would have voted against Justice Kagan, for two.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm. Are there Clinton-era nominees as well, down the line?
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MR. BUCK: Perhaps. I didn't, obviously, study them as much as I have the last two.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm. For you?

SEN. BENNET: I probably would have voted against Justice Thomas, and, and, and I've been disappointed by what Justice Roberts has done. I think--my own view is that the president has a constitutional prerogative to nominate people, and if they're qualified, they ought to be confirmed, even if I disagree with their positions on a lot of things. I think one of the most graceful moments over the last 20 months, since I've been in this job in the Senate, was Lindsey Graham's statement before he cast his vote for Elena Kagan that set out the president's constitutional prerogatives and his constitutional obligations as a United States senator. I thought it was a class act what Lindsey Graham said, and I wish we saw more of that in the United States Senate.

MR. GREGORY: Mr. Buck, this is kind of related to something you told The Washington Post back in July, and I want to put it up on the screen. "There's a conservative movement within the Republican Party that distinguishes a lot of us, and we recognize that Republicans are a big part of the problem. ... I don't have any deep friends in Washington now, and in six years I won't have any friends." Is that...

MR. BUCK: Other than you, David. Other than you.

SEN. BENNET: I'll be you...

MR. GREGORY: But is that part of the problem?

MR. BUCK: Yeah. But you won't be in Washington, that's the problem.

MR. GREGORY: But is that part of the problem, that you want to come to Washington and not have any friends? How do you solve problems if you can't work with people on the other side?

MR. BUCK: Yeah. And, again, I think if you take that literally, you, you reach that conclusion. What I was saying there is I'm not coming to Washington, D.C., to make friends. I'm coming to Washington, D.C., to do the people's work. And the people's work has to do with reducing spending and cutting budgets and, and trying to get a grip on the size of government. Will, will I meet people here? Will I develop friendships? Sure. But I am not going to let those friendships interfere with my obligation to do the people's work.

MR. GREGORY: Who, who's a Republican--you've talked about working with both sides--who's a Republican you admire? You talked about Lindsey Graham.
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SEN. BENNET: I just mentioned Lindsey Graham. I, I wrote a bill--I wasn't here for the bailouts. Ken doesn't know that, but I wasn't here for the bailouts. I was here to write a bill called the Pay It Back Act that said that the money that came back from the TARP-recipient banks should be used dollar for dollar for deficit reduction. Bob Corker was an original co-sponsor on that bill.

MR. GREGORY: Senator from Tennessee.

SEN. BENNET: Johnny Isakson from Georgia, a Republican as well, helped with that bill. It passed with broad bipartisan support.

MR. GREGORY: (Unintelligible)

SEN. BENNET: That's what people in my town hall meetings want. They're sick of the hyper-partisanship. They don't want to send somebody back to D.C. that says I'm going to be the chief filibuster or I'm going to put my track shoes on...

MR. GREGORY: All right.

SEN. BENNET: ...because I'm going to filibuster so much. She--he should save his time. There are people back here that will do that.

MR. GREGORY: All right. We've got about...

SEN. BENNET: What we need is cooperation.

MR. GREGORY: I've got about a minute left, I want you both to take this. This is from Facebook. We partnered up with Facebook's politics page, and we've solicited some questions for you on the page, and here's one that we chose. Ashley Newberg: "This is what I would ask them: What do you hope to accomplish, both in your political career and in life in general (outside of politics?" But you've got to be very brief. Mr. Buck:

MR. BUCK: In my political career, I'd like to see a constitutional balanced budget amendment.
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MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

MR. BUCK: And in my life, I'd like to play more golf and, and get a decent handicap.

MR. GREGORY: There you go.

SEN. BENNET: I--this isn't a hard question for me because I've spent my whole life outside of politics. This is my first exposure to it. I hope to be able to accomplish a set of policies that make--create more opportunity, not less, for our kids and our grandkids. Outside of politics, I hope to raise my three little girls to be productive and happy citizens.

MR. GREGORY: All right. We're going to leave it there. Thank you both.

Early voting starting in Colorado, and Monday night, Bill Clinton, the former president, campaigning for you and for the Democrats out there. Strikingly, he seems to be one or the more respected political figures on both sides in Colorado right now. So a hard-fought contest, and we'll, we'll be watching.

And we will be right back.

SEN. BENNET: Thank you.

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