- [Frederica] All right, Scot Ross's topic to watch
also comes in the form of a question.
"Will Democrats finally embrace an economic agenda
"that addresses the needs of the nation's
"120 million post-Boomers?"
You are really on this topic.
Are you not feeling the love?
- Well, I'm simply saying that for the last
25 years, the economic message that's germinated
out of Washington D.C. for Democrats is Social
Security, Medicare, my employer-provided pension
is under assault, all critically important issues,
but for those of us under the age of 50,
and I'll still thankfully there, it doesn't do
anything related to my day-to-day life.
We as post-Boomers have a totally different
economic situation than our parents
or our grandparents had, and the economic
message of Democrats has not reflected that.
Need to have a very positive agenda,
especially when you're talking about Scott Walker,
'cause you're not gonna beat Scott Walker
by just saying he's gonna make Wisconsin worse.
You're gonna beat Scott Walker by saying
you'll make Wisconsin better.
- Don't the politicians appeal to voters
of a certain age, though, because they vote?
- Say you're talking about Generation X.
You're talking about 40 million voters
between the ages of about 51, 52 and 35.
This is a huge voting block that are not kids anymore,
I mean, I don't consider myself a child anymore.
I care about childcare.
I care about family medical leave.
I care about how am I going to-- my retirement is on my own.
All those types of issues,
student loan debt, you know that's literally probably
the biggest economic issue for post-Boomers
because there's 1.4 trillion dollars worth of it.
85 percent of it is held by people under the age of 50.
- Now Bill, Scott Walker is talking jobs
and training ads at millennials to come
back to Wisconsin.
Is that appealing in the way that Scot is talking
about Democrats ought to be?
- I think it's very appealing.
I mean, the economic statistics,
people vote their pocket books first,
and we've had that conversation here
on this program in the past.
That's in Walker's favor, whether it's more
people working than ever before,
the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years,
or bringing in new company after new company.
Those are things that resonate with people.
They see that good, positive energy
come into the state of Wisconsin and now,
as you just pointed out, he's advertising
to bring people back.
If you have any interest in finding real strong,
meaningful employment, come to that state of Wisconsin.
That's a new message for the state of Wisconsin,
and I think that's gonna be to his benefit.
- What do you think of that message
of trying to lure people back here?
- I think that when you give 4 1/2 billion dollars
to a Taiwanese billionaire to provide jobs
for people to cross the Illinois border,
it's not the cornerstone of an election victory.
Scott Walker does have an advantage in terms
of his age, currently.
You know, where he's at a lot of the leaders
in the Republican side are Gen Xers, that's for sure,
but if you think about history, the last 100 years
the ages of non-incumbent Democrats elected
president are 52, 51, 47, 46, and 43,
which means 2020's best thing for the Democrats
would be somebody between 1977 and 1968 born.
We have that.
- Do you see any of the Democratic candidates
embracing younger voters or their issues?
- Oh, absolutely.
Yes, no matter their age, they're all talking
about those important issues, student loan debt.
- We'll agree on that, right?
- There are some of them who are seasoned.
But there are also ones that are younger
than I am, so I think that's where
they are talking about a lot of those
critically important issues.
Can they stay disciplined?
I mean, that's the thing with Scott Walker.
In 2010 when he ran, if you copied
everything that Scott Walker had on his website
for issues, it's a page and a quarter long.
You just have to be message-disciplined.
Figure out the things that make
your base voters go out and vote,
and then talk to them about it.
- Very briefly, the universal issues that every
demographic cares about?
- Jobs is number one, without question,
and Walker's got the distinct advantage on that
going forward, and I don't know how a Democrat,
regardless of who comes through the primary,
can draw that contrast with him on economic issues.
- People all across Wisconsin who don't have jobs
are gonna have a problem with that.
I think that it's quality of life.
Are you working one job that gets you to pay
for the bills for your family,
and currently in Walker's economy, that's not the case.
He's been in charge for seven years.
If you're unhappy about anything, it's his fault,
and he's gonna pay the price for that.
- We leave it there.
Scot Ross, Bill McCoshen, thanks very much
and have a great new year.
- [Both] You too.