Slattery began his discussion by talking about where he's from. His humble roots from Good Intent, KS gives him the rural farm-cred to address this crowd.

Slattery said:

"If these issues were addressed by rural candidates we could begin to build the movement. Showing up and addressing the issues is important.

"The price of gas is a major issue. Urban America doesn't understand how its impacting rural America. In Oskloosa, Kansas a family that works has to drive to KC to work ... and you're paying $4 a gallon for gas it profoundly affects your livelihood.

"I was in Coffeeville - and was in a quick shop and looked at a gallon of milk and it was $5 a gallon - in Johnson County Kansas it is $4.20. That is no about milk is about transportation to those areas.

"And part of it is that we have a devalued dollar - The Bush Chaney and I say Pat Roberts Party, voted for the most ridiculous fiscal policy we've ever had. Right now 1/3 of country's debt since the revolutionary war has been created since 2001. That devalued dollar has a pretty big impact on our price of gas and consequently our price of food.

"The people that are hurting out there, they want to know the real causes of the problem and hear real solutions. We can give it to them, if we just go out there and talk to them..... (correspondent's note... I'm typing as fast as I can but he is talking fast.. so I'm missing some stuff)

"We have a lot of folks who have historically opposed fuel efficiency in our Congress, why aren't we talking about this - this is an issue that we need to understand when we look at rural America -

"The other is health care - and it connects with urban too - reimbursement rate has been low so much as 40% lower than in urban areas - so its hard to attract good doctors.

"85-90% of all of the revenue for a rural hospital comes from the federal government - when I would talk in rural communities about health care I would have to have the administrator of the hospital at the meeting so I could make this point and I'd tell the audience that 90% of the $ coming into your hospital is coming from the feds - and often times the largest employers are the hospitals and most people don't know that -

"We need to be educating people about the important role the government is playing in health care - people say we want government out our health care and I say - I hope you don't mean that, because they are the reason you've got the hospital.

"Telecommunications are other important issues - they are the future lifeline for rural America. we have to be committed to building broadband and high speed internet to rural America - high speed internet is vitally important to development, telemedicine, and reducing transportation through telecommuting.

"And a broader issue - there is a cultural disconnect with rural America and Dems nationally. If you go into any area and insult people by your language it reflects you're hostile or contemptuous of the dearest things to them - if they want to connect we have to learn how to communicate in a way that connects to people who are rural people of faith if you don't connect with the deepest levels of people you'll not connect with them in a real way."

"Its not just about what we're doing online - but when you're getting to rural voters you're in the diners you're in the churches - its not about Flickr. When I blog I have dial up, so if I put a graphic in my blogs i can leave and go make a cup of coffee and collect eggs from the chicken

Its also about small papers, most of those small town papers don't do a lot of editing and most people in the communities use those as their major source of news.

Another issue is helping rural veterans - rural veterans die disproportionately and get injured more, and often times you have to drive further to get care at the VA and even further if you need a specialist.."