Chet, there you go again. I can tilt at windmills or try to make a difference. I choose to try to make a difference.

But when you're talking about replacing, expanding, renovating an existing facility, I think that has to stay in the community it came from.

Children who are not covered still get sick, they still seek treatment. And the cost is dramatically higher if we ignore the problem.

If you look at it on a chart, it looks like a bad week on Wall Street. We've got to find a way to reverse that.

If we want Iowa to thrive ? not just survive in coming years ? but really thrive, we should establish Iowa as a health care leader and take the bold and responsible steps to protect our children.

If we want to honestly pursue a system in which we leave no child behind, we have to reform the entire system, because we're leaving a lot of kids behind today.

I introduced a bill to create the minimum wage in Iowa when I was a freshman legislator. I set it at a buck an hour, and they called me a socialist for trying.

They believe I can win. They believe as governor I can work with them.

It's going to take five or six years, at a minimum, to fund it properly, and it's going to take another 10 years to see outcomes.

It starts here in this building where the past collides with the future in our present struggle for where this state needs to go. It starts here and I'd like to be part of that clash as we define our future in the months and years ahead.