HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Iowa wind energy jobs came up during the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney Tuesday night.
President Obama alluded to Iowa Senator Charles Grassley (R) in saying that Mr. Grassley supports Mr. Obama's plan to create the Iowa jobs. The debate was moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley.
The following is the transcript of the Iowa exchange:
CROWLEY: Mr. President, could you address, because we did finally get to gas prices here, could you address what the governor said, which is if your energy policy was working, the price of gasoline would not be $4 a gallon here. Is that true?
OBAMA: Well, think about what the governor — think about what the governor just said. He said when I took office, the price of gasoline was $1.80, $1.86. Why is that? Because the economy was on the verge of collapse, because we were about to go through the worst recession since the Great Depression, as a consequence of some of the same policies that Governor Romney's now promoting.
So, it's conceivable that Governor Romney could bring down gas prices because with his policies, we might be back in that same mess.
What I want to do is to create an economy that is strong, and at the same time produce energy. And with respect to this pipeline that Governor Romney keeps on talking about, we've — we've built enough pipeline to wrap around the entire earth once.
So, I'm all for pipelines. I'm all for oil production. What I'm not for is us ignoring the other half of the equation. So, for example, on wind energy, when Governor Romney says "these are imaginary jobs." When you've got thousands of people right now in Iowa, right now in Colorado, who are working, creating wind power with good-paying manufacturing jobs, and the Republican senator in that — in Iowa is all for it, providing tax breaks (ph) to help this work and Governor Romney says I'm opposed. I'd get rid of it.
That's not an energy strategy for the future. And we need to win that future. And I intend to win it as President of the United States.
CROWLEY: I got to — I got to move you on –
ROMNEY: He gets the first –
CROWLEY: — and the next question –
ROMNEY: He actually got –
CROWLEY: — for you –
ROMNEY: He actually got the first question. So I get the last question — last answer –
CROWLEY: (Inaudible) in the follow up, it doesn't quite work like that. But I'm going to give you a chance here. I promise you, I'm going to.
And the next question is for you. So if you want to, you know, continue on — but I don't want to leave all –
ROMNEY: Candy, Candy –
CROWLEY: — sitting here –
ROMNEY: Candy, I don't have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa and that — they're not phantom jobs. They're real jobs.
CROWLEY: OK.
ROMNEY: I appreciate wind jobs in Iowa and across our country. I appreciate the jobs in coal and oil and gas. I'm going to make sure –
CROWLEY: OK.
ROMNEY: — we're taking advantage of our energy resources. We'll bring back manufacturing to America. We're going to get through a very aggressive energy policy, 31/2 million more jobs in this country. It's critical to our future.
OBAMA: Candy, it's not going to –
CROWLEY: We're going to move you along –
OBAMA: Used to being interrupted.
CROWLEY: We're going to move you both along to taxes over here and all these folks that have been waiting.
