governor, thank you, so very, very plufrp. what a great start to summit saturday, 2012. governor mead and his wife and children. we wish them the very best. they are the best things to come out of yowyoming since dick cheney. and we hope to see more of you governor mead. let me introduce now someone who is an old friend of western conservative summit. when we first met in 2010, he was with us as a young colorado state representative, determined to return the representation of colorado's great eastern plains district to republican hands. when we met a year ago he was on the program to join us in person and was detained in washington. he was already a leader in the freshman class who were fighting to keep the debt ceiling. how pleased we are that he can be with us again in person. please welcome our republican congressman from the 4th congressal district, the honorable, corey gardner. [ appl ]

governor, thank you, so very, very plufrp. what a great start to summit saturday, 2012. governor mead and his wife and children. we wish them the very best. they are the best things to come out of yowyoming since dick cheney. and we hope to see more of you governor mead. let me introduce now someone who is an old friend of western conservative summit. when we first met in 2010, he was with us as a young colorado state representative, determined to return the representation of colorado's great eastern plains district to republican hands. when we met a year ago he was on the program to join us in person and was detained in washington. he was already a leader in the freshman class who were fighting to keep the debt ceiling. how pleased we are that he can be with us again in person. please welcome our republican congressman from the 4th congressal district, the honorable, corey gardner. [ applause ] >> good morning. well thank you very much. there is almost as many people in this room as in my home town. i grew up in yuma, colorado. probably most of you don't know where it i