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ADAM SEXTON GIVES US A PREVIEW. ADAM IN CONVERSATION WITH THE : CANDIDATE, FIRST IN THE NATION VOTERS ASKED FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR BILL WELD WHY HE’S CONSIDERING A PRIMARY CHALLENGE AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP, AND HE DREW A STRONG DISTINCTION ON CHARACTER. >> I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO SAY THIS, BUT I WILL SAY THIS, I’VE NEVER GROPED A WOMAN, ANYWHERE, AND I NEVER WILL. HONESTLY. AND IF 13 WOMEN CAME FORWARD AND ALL SAID I’D GROPED THEM, I’D BE VERY UNLIKELY TO SAY, THEY ARE ALL LYING, BECAUSE IT WOULD SEEM VANISHINGLY UNLIKELY. ADAM WELD ALSO FACED QUESTIONS : ABOUT HOW HE’D REDUCE THE $22 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT. >> WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO REDUCE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DEBT AND HOW WILL YOU PREVENT LARGE DEFICITS? >> I WOULD DO WHAT I DID AS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, THAT IS TO ENGAGE IN WHAT IS CALLED ZERO-BASED BUDGETING. ADAM: IN ADDITION TO STARTING THE FEDERAL BUDGET FROM SCRATCH WELD WOULD ALSO PUT AN EMPHASIS ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY. >> I THINK THE PRESIDENT PULLING US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORDS WAS A DISASTER, AND I WOULD REJOIN ON DAY ONE. I THINK WE HAVE TO ADOPT 2050 CO2 LIMITATIONS CONSONANT WITH WHAT OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS ARE DOING. ADAM VOTERS TAKING THEIR MEASURE : OF HIM, SAY IF HE RUNS AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP HE NEEDS TO , BUILD A REAL CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION HERE. >> IT’S GOING TO HAVE TO BE A LOT OF HARD WORK. ADAM WHILE HE RAN FOR VICE : PRESIDENT AS A LIBERTARIAN IN 2016, WELD REMAINS, IN MANY WAYS, AN OLD SCHOOL NEW ENGLAND REPUBLICAN. IN A TIME OF DEEP DIVISION HIS , POLICY IDEAS COULD STRUGGLE TO GENERATE EXCITEMENT BUT HIS , STYLISTIC APPROACH RECALLS A LESS DYSFUNCTIONAL POLITICS. >> I LIKE HOW MODERATE HE IS, HE HAS A LITTLE BIT FROM BOTH SIDES, HE WASN’T TOO EXTREM

Advertisement Bill Weld says he would continue his practice of inclusiveness as president Republican former Massachusetts governor appears on WMUR’s ‘Conversation with the Candidate’ series

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Republican William Weld says he was a pioneer in including women and people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds when he served as governor of Massachusetts in the 1990s – and he would continue that practice as president of the United States.Weld said this week that for him, practicing inclusiveness and appreciating diversity is not limited to the backgrounds of people he would include in his administration should his long-shot bid for the White House be successful. He said it would also include appreciating political diversity by meeting and finding common ground with elected officials of all political parties and ideologies.Weld addressed how he would try to make the Republican Party a truly big tent during the latest installment of WMUR’s “Conversation with the Candidate” series. Weld’s meeting with New Hampshire voters aired Thursday night and can be viewed on WMUR.com and our mobile app.Exploring a challenge to President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, Weld’s visit to WMUR to meet voters was part of a nearly weeklong series of campaign-style stops throughout southern New Hampshire.Weld, a native of Smithtown, New York, is a 1966 graduate of Harvard. He studied economics at University College, Oxford and later received a law degree, also from Harvard.Weld was a lawyer with a private practice in Boston before being hired by the U.S. House Impeachment Committee to research the legal grounds for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Weld to the post of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, and he later served as the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Criminal Division.Weld was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. Two years later, he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the U.S. Senate against John Kerry. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York in 2005.In 2016, Weld was the Libertarian Party's nominee for vice president, appearing on the ticket as the running mate of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.Weld, who is 73, and his wife live in Canton, Massachusetts. He has five children, three stepchildren and eight grandchildren.During the town hall-style meeting, Elizabeth Radecic of Hooksett told Weld that as a mother of two African-American children, and as a woman, “I don’t feel like the Republican Party has an umbrella of inclusiveness.”“How would you change the party so a moderate woman like me with a multi-racial family could feel like the party actually wants my vote?” she asked.Weld began his answer by addressing why he believes women can be assured that he will be respectful to them. He did so with a sharp reference to Trump’s alleged past sexual aggression and language toward women – charges the president has either denied or apologized for.“I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will say this – I’ve never groped a woman anywhere and I never will,” Weld said. “Honestly, and if 13 women all came forward and said I’d groped them, I’d be very unlikely to say, ‘Well, they’re all lying!' because it would seem vanishingly unlikely.”Weld also said, “When I was in office (as governor), I was known for inclusiveness, and that includes racially as well as just trying to unleash everybody’s energy.”Weld said he created an African-American commission as governor of Massachusetts and included African-American people as well as people of Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, in his Cabinet.“I was the first guy out of the block with gay and lesbian civil rights during my first year in office, and I was alone there,” among Republican governors, he said. “On gender and racial grounds, you would find me about as friendly a public administrator as you would ever want to meet.“My Cabinet was eight women and three men and always included minorities,” Weld said. “I didn’t want anyone to feel that they weren’t part of the equation.” Weld said that as governor, he also met with Democratic legislative leaders weekly.“I was very successful, and they keep that tradition to this day,” he said. “Charlie Baker, who was a two-time Cabinet member for me and is now the governor, meets with the Democratic House speaker and president of the Senate every week, and it’s good for the people. You hammer out policies.”Weld said that although he left the Republican Party to run for vice president on the Libertarian ticket and recently rejoined the GOP, “My principles and beliefs have never changed.“I’ve been a Republican since I was 18 years old. I had a couple of years with the Libertarians. I’ve always been a Republican on the liberty side of the party, but I’ve always self-identified as a member of the party of Lincoln.”“I’m the same guy I always was.”He said that if he becomes a candidate, his long-shot bid would not be focused on damaging Trump’s chances for re-election. He said it would be focused on winning. “I’ve thought for a long time that I could start Monday in the White House,” he said, citing his two terms as governor and experience in the U.S. Justice Department.He said he has international experience, but he did not mention that his nomination as ambassador to Mexico in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton failed as a result of opposition by conservative members of the U.S. Senate.Overall, he said, “I feel qualified for the job, and I hate to say it, but poor President Trump had no preparation for the job when he took office. I tend to think it shows, but by and large, I’m going to be talking about what I want to do” rather than attack Trump. But Weld also said that if Trump wins the GOP presidential nomination next year, it is “not likely” that Weld will endorse Trump. He said their differences are “too profound” on domestic and foreign policy.“I’m not saying I would go with the Democrat, but I’d be very unlikely” to endorse Trump, he said.