SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
Heading into Tuesday night's presidential debate, the polls are tight in several battleground states. Both parties are hoping their candidate will deliver.
One of President's Obama's supporters, spoke with KTIV about what he hopes to hear from the democratic candidate.
Kristie VerMulm said, "I'm joined by a former Iowa Governor and current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack who's in Washington. I want to point out that Secretary Vilsack is not speaking as a government official for this interview but on behalf of the Obama for America campaign. Mr. Obama is preparing for his 2nd presidential debate against Governor Mitt Romney Tuesday night in New York. Many have said the last debate went to Governor Romney. What do you hope to see out of the president Tuesday night?
Tom Vilsack said, "Well Kristie, what I think we will see is a sharp contrast between two visions for the country's future. The president's going to get an opportunity to explain to the American public how he wants the country to get back in the business of making, creating and innovating. Why he wants to see us continue to export, why he was focused on the auto bailout to really help us get back in the business of manufacturing. That's what's going to create good paying jobs. That's why he supports middle class tax relief. On the other hand, Governor Romney's going to explain his top down theory of tax cuts for the wealthy and regulating major businesses. The problem with that is, we've tried that, we saw what it gave us, 800,000 jobs lost when the president took office, a stock market and housing market that crashed. We've had 31 consecutive months of job growth, 5.2 million new jobs, we obviously want to move forward, not go back to things that didn't work."
Kristie asked, "This is a town hall style event. Do you think that will help the president?
Tom Vilsack said, "Well I think Governor Romney's obviously very good at this. He's had an opportunity to have a lot of town hall meetings during the primary, so I think he's going to be well prepared. I think the president, obviously will do a good job as well. He's going to be able to interact with regular people, which I think is important. But at the end of the day, it's not the format, it's the contrast, which I think is important, whether it's on tax policy. The fact is, Governor Romney's numbers just simply do not add up, but perhaps this is the opportunity for us to learn from Governor Romney precisely what exemptions and reductions are going to be eliminated, so middle class taxes are not going to be raised, so the deficit isn't going to be increased. Otherwise, those are the conclusions that you reach with this tax plan. It's an opportunity for the president and the governor to talk about their focus on medicare and how the president has proposed a plan to save medicare, to extend its life. Governor Romney has a different view, "voucherising" the program and basically compelling seniors to go out and purchase insurance, which will probably, likely, cost more money."
You can watch that presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Tuesday night on KTIV. NBC's coverage runs from eight until ten.
