Live from the Values Voter Summit: Gary Bauer

Gary Bauer, who formerly served in Ronald Reagan's administration, is now the president of American Values. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show live from the Values Voter Summit. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his segment.

You're a former presidential candidate. Who's your pick out of the list we've got now?

I keep hearing the major media say that everyone's dissatisfied, but I think we've got a pretty good slate of candidates. 

I think any one of them would do a heck of a lot better job than the guy sitting in the Oval Office right now.

We've got to be careful we don't let the media pick our nominees, or make us think less of the candidates.

How about Herman Cain?

It has been surprising. I think it's evidence of the fact that the frontrunner, Mitt Romney, is a good guy, but he hasn't closed the deal, especially where Values Voters are concerned.

We'll see if the Herman Cain phenomenon has staying power. It's really tough, though, to raise the billion dollars you need to make a go of it.

Is it bothersome that you need that much money to be a possibility?

It is. It's intimidating, it's dismaying, and it's depresssing.

If you're going to have a real campaign staff, you have to have paid people in every state. You have to have media people. You have to have television ads. It's a huge obstacle that every candidate has to deal with.

Do we have any "Reaganesque" candidates?

I get this question a lot, and I understand it, because people do want another Ronald Reagan. But I think he's probably in a category of his own.

All of these candidates have the same opinions Reagan had on almost all of the major issues. I think it's whether they have the same manner.

There was just a feel to the man, that he knew what America was, he was confident in Western Civilization. I'm not sure the candidates in the field now have that same assurance.

If one of these candidates would start presenting himself or herself as the exact opposite of President Obama, in that they believe American has hope, I think they would skyrocket to the top.

How important are these "values" issues?

I believe all these issues are linked together. Having said that, while the election will probably turn just on the economy, it will be in part about the life of the unborn child, and marriage between one man and one woman.

Every city is suffering from fatherlessness. Instead of trying to figure out how to get fathers into these kinds of households, the liberals are pushing marriage between two men or two women.