Congressman Pence: You know, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the feedback that I’m getting in one-to-one meetings. I come to you from a morning of one-to-one meetings and I have an afternoon full of one-to-one meetings; I’ve been on the phone since last Wednesday. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to the degree to which almost every member I have spoken to has been willing to accept that our departure from fiscal discipline and limited government played an essential role in the erosion of the confidence of our core supporters around the country. Others will argue that there were other factors and I don’t quarrel with that. Iraq was a factor. Scandals were a factor. But there’s that old proverb that says, “If the foundations crumble, how can the righteous stand?” The foundation of the governing majority for the Republican Party in Washington D.C. was Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich’s commitment to a government that lives within its need, a government that is smaller after Republicans are there than it was before they got there, so the notion the government that governs least, governs best. You wrap all of that in a commitment to the traditional moral values that hold our community together and you have the Republican coalition. So I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the degree to which members will attribute some level of importance to the fact that we doubled the national debt under Republican control, and I as I said, we’re engaged in a very good debate and discussion among our colleagues about the degree to which that played a major factor. And let me just say, some of you have written very generous things about me and I’m grateful for that, but I don’t think any member of the 109th Congress on the Republican side of the aisle is blameless in this regard, with the possible exception of Jeff Blunt. Let me talk against interest here; I have requested earmarks since my first day in Congress, always saw it as part of my job. Always willing to stand by every earmark I request, and I am to this day. I voted for the Farm Bill, though I don’t expect to do that again. Some of my competitors in this race have never requested earmarks and have opposed the Farm Bill. The reality here is that we all bare some blame for walking away from a core commitment to fiscal discipline and reform. The reason I think I’m uniquely suited to lead our party back, is because on a couple of key, major signature issues, particularly in my work in leading the Republican Study Committee the last two years, I think I have a unique credibility in my commitment to limited government and fiscal discipline. I think that we will need that credibility to win back the confidence of the voters in the short time span that we have.

Question: What kind of response count have you been getting internally, and is there any time in the course of this week and a half campaign to go to newspaper editorial boards and try to get them to urge their local Congressman to support you, and if so, has that had any impact?

Congressman Pence: Two part question: The first part is we do have an internal count and no I’m not going to tell you what it is. But we’re encouraged and I think this is a very dynamic race. It’s more dynamic with three in it than it was with two. We’re very much in the show. I don’t precede any resentment. Joe Barton and I spoke for twenty minutes very cordially on the floor last night at his request. I have not yet spoken to Leader Boehner, but I think they get the sense and I get the sense that this is about a choice between good alternatives; this isn’t about running against one another. But let me say on the editorial board business, I was delighted when the Monthly Star Press endorsed me this morning, but I’m pretty solid on their Congressman’s vote. I have to tell you that while I believe, and this is meant as no disrespect – particularly to the writers in the room of very prominent national magazines and publications in print and on the internet – but quite candidly, running for a leadership position in Congress is a lot more like running senior class president, which is a race that I won. Running for senior class president is basically ends up to talking to about 200 people. And you’ve got cliques in high school. I had to get the shop guys to like me. I was pretty solid with the chess club and speech team, but the jocks could take me or leave me and I never got anywhere with the cheerleaders. This is very similar to the kind of campaign I’m involved in now. While they take some information from the outside, most of the information they take is from one another. It is a closely held process, and it’s one that I’m not altogether sure shouldn’t be closely held. I think members of Congress are, each of them, leaders – men and women of judgment – who have just proven their political acumen days earlier, and they have every right to apply their political judgment to who will lead our conference in this part of our national government. Our focus is on the members and talking to the members although I’m glad to be here.

Question: In your opening remarks, you mentioned Nancy Pelosi. I was wondering if you had any thoughts of her publicly embrace John Murtha for the Majority Leader?

Congressman Pence: You know, I’m just going to stick to my race. I will not be endorsing in that race. It does suggest that, despite the rather euphoric and understandable victory lap that our Democrat colleagues were taking in the press last week, that things over there will likely be more interesting than they initially appeared. I have to tell you what I think I bring to the table is a certain cheerful pugilism that fully expects a target-rich environment. I think the Democrats of majority will not miss the point in their willingness to advance everything from retreat in Iraq, to tax increase, to onerous regulations, to consideration of articles of impeachment. It is going to be an embarrassment of riches for those of you on this call. My challenge for the Republican conference will be to answer what will be an aggressive, liberal, big government agenda with substantive, thoughtful, main-stream conservative policy alternatives and a smile.

Question: We talk a lot in conservative circles about changing the culture of Congress and the culture of D.C. to get less spending, since government's rigged to just get bigger and bigger. We had a chance to do that and largely missed it, at least these past six years. But we did make a couple small steps-- earmark House rules and small budget reforms come to mind. What, logistically, happens to those small improvements now, and could you speak to how you work on changing culture from a minority position?

Congressman Pence: The House majority adopts the House rules. I was personally grateful to read in USA Today that our incoming speaker is committed to putting names on earmarks. We already did that, and I’m glad they didn’t do it again. There is much more that needs to be done. It is not just a matter of people knowing who has made the spending requests, it is that members should have opportunity at every stage of legislative process to call a vote and challenge specific earmark provision. I am not opposed to members of Congress under Article I of the Constitution, having the ability to vote to spend the people’s money in large ways and small ways. I am not categorically opposed to earmarking. I am categorically opposed to the kind of earmarking that has evolved over the decades, where members of Congress might anonymously slip spending projects involving millions or tens of millions of dollars, late into the night between the sheets, of ominous spending bills without ever any debate and any ever account or consideration. We have to push with greater transparency and greater accountability and a Republican minority will only be able to advocate those kinds of changes. As we talk about ethics reform, and I expect my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will make an effort to move an ethics package, it will be important not only that we change the way lobbyists spend money, but we have to change the way members of Congress spend the people’s money, and it will be imperative that members of Congress around thought leaders around this table and around the country press our new Democrat majority to put our money where their mouth is and to change the fundamental way that we spend the people’s money relative to earmarks. The answer is greater accountability, greater transparency, and greater challengability. If all we do is put names on earmarks which can be added without four in the morning, 2 hours before a 1500-page bill is passed, we have not made progress. Whether we’re calling them on it or working with them to create a truly bipartisan bill that serves the interest of the American people, it will be the role of the minority and the Minority Leader to press the substance of change.