Question: Tell us a story that will shed some light on Tom Vilsack.

I think it would be a story about children.  He feels very strongly that we need to provide children with a community and with the best possible opportunities and so I can remember him very passionately taking on education issues, early childhood education issues, child care issues on behalf of children, saying you know they don't have a lobbyist upstairs at the Capitol Building, and so I'm going to be that advocate for children.  And holding the legislature in session and keeping them there to negotiate a budget until he got what he wanted for the kids of this state.

Oh yes, absolutely.  We've expanded access, he's expanded access to health care for children to 98,000 children who were uninsured when we came into office eight years ago, who have insurance today. 

Through expansion of the Hawk-I insurance program, Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa, that's the national health insurance program for uninsured working families.  These are kids who are not covered by Medicaid and their families can't afford private insurance so --

Well we started it right after we came into office.  We made the application process simpler.  We marketed it in much more strategic  ways to get kids enrolled through school nurses and advertising it on radio in Spanish language and making the application form in English and Spanish.

He started really a program called Strong Start to have early quality child care and education for young children with the idea that all 4-year olds should have access to a pre-school program and that every child should have access to quality child care.

Well he works with people.  He very much has a style that engages people regardless of party in trying to find the way to accomplish the goals.  And he understands you don't just say, oh well I want it's, I want it 100 percent my way.  You find out what do they want to do, say in the education area or in the health care area and how do you find a compromise bill and position that you can support?  I think he can bring that to the national scene.