Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said he's the only candidate talking about Medicare, and how the health care system needs strengthened. Uninsured children need health care coverage and it doesn't have to be done through socialized programs touted by Democrats, he said.

He said America needs to "marshal its forces" to defeat cancer, likening it to the fight against Communism. He called for a cure to breast cancer by 2015, prostate cancer by 2020 and colon cancer by 2025.

On the economy, he said, the money being generated through the cornfields of Iowa shouldn't be going out of the country, but those revenues should stay in America and be invested in alternative fuels.

He also said he supports drilling for oil in Alaska.

He ended with his plan for the military and said he would add 100,000 troops to the military and 50,000 to Marines.

"We need to make sure America is safe," Thompson said.

Thompson said he's the "common sense" candidate.

"Folks, the best indicator of the future is what you have done in the past," he said, urging voters to look at his record and his work ethic.

-- By Gwen Tietgen