This is not saving the money that seniors thought that it would, and it certainly is more complex than it needs to be. There are significant concerns in that regard, there are now 4 million more uninsured Americans than there were 4 years ago. There a lot of reasons for folks in their forties and fifties to be concerned, engaged, and involved – the least of which is the future of social security which this administration has incurred.

On the flip side, younger voters who do not get engaged as much in electoral politics are absolutely engaged in this election and with very good reason. with the situation in Iraq tt is very clear that this administration had no plan to win the peace, the result is that we have - and will continue to have for the foreseeable future - tens of thousands of people in harms way in Iraq.

There is concern amongst young people that there simply are not enough people serving in the military today or in the National Guard and reserve to continue to meet the needs and demands of Iraq and Afghanistan and other hot spots in the world, and that this administration has some secret plan in place to at some point in time re-instate the draft. This certainly gets the attention of a lot of people in their late teens and early twenties. The result of these two factors encourage a lot of folks to get involved.

I know in my state we are not only seeing increased registrations, but we are also seeing a significant increase in applications for early voting. We have almost a quarter of a million applications for early votes outstanding in Iowa. So you can see at this early date we already substantial number of people interested in voting.

Democratic Presidential candidates have not faired too well in the Midwest in recent history, are there issues affecting your region that Democrats could do a better job of speaking to?

Well, let me say that the upper Midwest has been pretty kind to Democratic candidates; certainly Al Gore was successful in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa in the last election. In fact, Iowa has gone to the Democratic candidate since 1988. Having said that, if you look at the larger or middle section of the country clearly Democrats need to do better than they have done in the past. One of the ways to do that is to speak to the concerns of rural voters and those who live in small towns.

The Kerry-Edwards team has done an interesting job, a good job of making sure that John Edwards in particular spends a lot of time in these rural areas which have been ignored in the past. This is good thing, and John Edwards is a great messenger to that part of the country. Secondly, they have developed an economic plan that speaks to lower health care costs to the average American family, which is music to the ears of folks in rural communities who are having a tough time making ends meet.

They are also talking about embracing renewable fuel strategies which would sever our dependence of middle-eastern oil and allow us to reap the benefits of ethanol and soy diesel and bio fuels which add profit to the bottom line for farmers and make it easier for jobs to be created in rural communities.

Not only do they have a message, but they also have a messenger. And I think you will see the effects of that, if you look at the recent polls in the state of Ohio and the state of Michigan – which has always been tough places for Democrats – we are certainly competitive in both of those states, which speaks to the work that John Kerry and John Edwards have done.

As the head of the Democratic Governor's Association, what do you think is the most compelling message for young people in the Midwest and Western states to vote Democratic and not necessarily on the presidential ticket – in in their local races?

I think the Democratic Party speaks to the hopes and dreams of the next generation of Americans. It is our party that is the party of innovation and speaks to the need of government to partner with the market place to create economic opportunity – the kind of opportunity that will give young people a good wage, a good standard of living.

It is our party that has always been supportive to obtain higher education, whether its by establishing or funding pal grant programs that provide economic assistance to young people, or simply at the state level funding our state universities and colleges to make tuitions more affordable than they are today.

What we have seen in the last four years is a complete ignoring of this issue on the part of the Bush administration Pale grant program resources have been cut, they have proposed reducing the Perkins Vocational grant program which provides opportunities at community colleges.

The result has been the cost of higher education has sky rocketed, and young people are making the decision not to pursue higher education because of the cost, which is certainly the wrong decision to make since it is clear that your earning capacity is substantially increased with more education – the more you know, the more you earn.

The bottom line is that John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan an interesting and innovative plan to encourage public service - a commitment of time – in exchange for the government's commitment to help them with the costs of their public university or college. That is great news for young people, and younger voters.

How could you explain to young people how the budget deficit relates to some of these problems? Earlier this year you and about 10 other governors’ voters sent a letter to President Bush demanding fiscal responsibility.

That's a great question because its one that relates to young people, and its a hard one to understand because they numbers are so large, but here is the bottom line: this administration by failing to stimulate the economy and grow jobs has not generated the tax revenues necessary to provide the services that Americans want.

They have also been embarking on a tax cut proposal that has been focusing primarily on the wealthiest Americans to reduce their burden while not significantly reducing the burden of the middle class. If you are going to have tax relief it ought to focused on those folks who are going to use those resources to stimulate the economy.

We are amassing a huge debt; this is like using your visa card and maxing it out. Number one, once your card is maxed out you can't use it anymore. This means that your opportunities in the future will be very limited. Number two, it means that you have to take your disposable income and start chipping away at the debt. So you have less service, less opportunity, and higher costs associated with that debt – all of which is going to born by the next generation.

Now this has implications because part of the way that this deficit has been funded in the past has been by robbing Social Security, which means that there may not be the level of resources necessary to support people my age, the baby-boomers when they begin to retire, - which is going to happen within the next five to ten years.

This will put an even heavier burden on those young people who are still in the workforce. Payroll taxes will go up, they will have less opportunity, they will continue to pay the interest on the national debt, and this is a VERY heavy burden we are putting on the next generation. And it is wrong.

It is not the way that America has worked in the past. The way America has worked in best in the past, has been by saying to the next generation "we in current generation will sacrifice so that you will have it better than we have it." This will be the first time in a long, long time where the reverse will take place.

We are basically out on a spending binge and using that Visa card like there is no tomorrow. And there isn't any tomorrow for us, but there sure as heck is a tomorrow for the young people and they are going to end up getting the bill.

Does this say something fundamental about how we run our budget in this country - can we have guns, butter, and tax cuts all at the same time?

We sure can't have tax cuts that are targeted to the wealthiest Americans. When you think about the fact that there are a rising number of billionaires in this country and a rising number of millionaires, and they are receiving a significant percentage of the tax relief – they don't need the money, they just flat out do not need the money.

At the same time we are providing the millionaires - and billionaires - of the world tax relief we are shutting down after school programs that are clearly helpful in reducing juvenile delinquency and crime – and providing youngsters help and assistance with their homework so they can graduate from high school and go onto to college.

At the same time we are providing tax relief to the folks at the top one percent who are making a couple hundred grand a year, who are doing quite well as it is, we are essentially reducing the amount of resources available to college students for student loans.

We are reducing our commitment to the K12 system but not adequately funding the No-Child-Left-Behind Act and the special education funding. We can't really provide a real prescription drug program for seniors because that would be too costly, so we come up with this goofy discount program where we not only confuse seniors, but prohibit and prevent the federal government from negotiating for lower prices.

This is a bizarre set of values that is reflected in this administration and it is not the values that young people have been taught by their mothers and fathers - you don't accumulate huge debt, you don't turn your back on your responsibilities.

You have a responsibility to those who have come before you to make sure that their later years are secure. You have a responsibility to those who come behind to make sure that America is a better place than when you we're growing up.

Young people need to realize when they look at the situation, that their future is on the line. I tell young people when I travel around my state and the country, that the decisions that are being made by presidents, governors, legislators, and congress have much more profound impact on people in their twenties than they do on people in their fifties.

Because I have a limited life time on this earth, but young people the age of my sons, all of their life is ahead of them. If we are creating an America with fewer opportunities, an America saddled with debt, an American that doesn't understand its place in the world – as leader, opposed to as a dictator – an America that is asking its young people to themselves in harms way based on misinformation and misleading information in terms of why we got into Iraq and why we are still there.

I think there are some serious issues here and young people are smart enough to figure this all out. If they figure out that they can change this, that they literally have the power to change this country and the power to change elections by becoming engaged in voting in the same percentages that senior citizens vote I can guarantee you that the debate and conversations in presidential elections would change

Let's switch tracks for a moment, I am wondering if you can recall a quote you gave to the Washington Post last year when Howard Dean was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. You said, "Dean is going to have to reassure Americans that he is just as tough as George Bush, but in a smarter way." Is John Kerry's campaign successfully doing this?

I think the debate last week went a long way to reassuring Americans that John Kerry has the character, the values, and the toughness necessary to make the tough and difficult decisions. After all, he is the only person on the ballot of either major parties, who has faced live fire. He is the only person who has faced life and death decisions in a jungle far far away from the comforts of America. And he made the right set of choices at that point in time in his early life, which suggests that he has the ability and toughness to make those decisions now.

Not only John Kerry and Howard Dean, but Democrats generally need to reassure Americans that they are committed to national security – and I'll tell you, we are. It is Democrats that is articulating the need for additional resources to put more police on the street and more firefighters in our fire stations. These are the folks in the front lines in the war on terror, but more importantly, they are on the front lines of another war we are waging which is the war on methamphetamine.

When you take a look at what is happening in the Midwest thousands and thousands of young people poisoning themselves with this drug which is highly addictive, very very addictive, highly dangerous to make, and leaves a dangerous situation when labs are closed in terms of clean-up and is an explosive hazard.

It makes no sense what the administration is doing they are reducing the money put into the COPS program, which was started by President Clinton to put into place a 100,000 new police officers on the streets. They are not funding the fire program which was designed to put 100,000 firefighters in fire stations all around the country.

This is pennywise and pound foolish, whether we want to tough on homeland security and terrorists or whether we want to be smart in terms of our efforts against methamphetamine. The bottom line is we need to put resources on the home front, and we are not doing that.

We are taking resources from states like Iowa and putting into cities like New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It ought not be a choice between our major cities and our rural areas – both need homeland security. After all it is the heartland that is producing a substantial portion of the food that is produced and consumed by Americans, and that is a source of interest in terms of terror.

John Kerry has certainly gone a long way in terms of the debate and I think that John Edwards did a good job earlier this week in terms of reassuring people that he too has the nerve and the backbone to protect the American public. They recognize that their number responsibility is the security of Americans.

Earlier this year, you were pushing for anti-bully legislation in Iowa to help elementary school children from being picked on. Well, the Bush administration is notorious for its bullying behavior, what do you think is the best tactic for dealing with political bullies?

First, let me say that the reason we were promoting this legislation is that all youngsters of my state – and for all intensive those of the entire country – should have a safe haven when they go to school. They ought not be picked on for any reason: whether it be the color of their skin, their complexion, their size, or their sexual orientation.

Any - or all of those - are not reasons to pick or bully people. There ought to be a safe haven for youngsters, at the same time, this country has always prided itself on being a leader - a place where people can pursue their dreams and actually accomplish a great with their lives. That is where America is at its best. It is about hope.

This administration has taken that America and changed the impression of people overseas to the point where people now fear us. A very disturbing recent poll of Europeans suggested that we are one of the three countries that they most feared. Now they are our allies, these are our friends, these are people we have fought next to defeating communism and Nazi-ism, and have created a more economically secure world than we had 50 or 60 years ago.

Now this administration is essentially saying "It is our way, or the highway. You either do it our way, or you are against us." Either you are with us or you are against us, it is either black or white. There is no grey. There is no complexity. There is no subtly. You follow America because America knows best. Well, you know the rest of the world does not respond to that kind of approach.

The result is that in Iraq it is mostly American young men and women who are on the front lines. It is Americans who are being shot at. It is Americans who are being wounded. It is Americans who are dying. It is Americans who are being sent home in coffins. It is American tax payers who are paying an enormous price to rebuild a country They are getting very little help from the rest of the world, with the exception of Great Britain. Now why is that? Its because of the approach that was taken by this administration.

Had they pursued the approach that American had traditionally pursued – which is listening and leading – then the situation in Iraq may have been fundamentally different. We may not have had over a thousand people die and several thousand wounded. And many thousand having their lives disrupted in the way that they have been disrupted by extended service. Nor would we be taken resources away from No Child Left Behind, funding homeland security, special education, after school programs – the kinds of things that will help young people grow up and succeed. And redirecting those resources so we can provide companies like Halliburton adequately so they can adequately supply our troops even though they are gauging us in terms of the prices that are paid. It's wrong.

And that's what this election is about – an American that is based on hope or an America that is based on fear. An America that leads or an American that dictates. And I think that America is always an its best when it inspires and it leads people the right way, when it talks about hope, optimism, and a brighter future.

That's not what I hear from this administration. I hear fear and anxiety, the necessity of America to protect itself and force other countries to join us. That is not the way we have worked well in the past, and I don't think that it is going to work well in the long term.

What do you feel is the best manner to deal with intimidators like Bush administration – is their a specific tactic that politicians need to use, that you might like to see from John Kerry?

Well, I think John Kerry needs to continue to do what he is doing, which is to suggest that there is a better way to make America stronger at home and a more respected America abroad. I think he needs to continue to forcefully advocate in the debates and on the stomp the fact that he has a plan and he has the capacity to produce results from that plan. I think if he keeps pounding away at that Americans will make the right decision come Nov. 2.