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• Gov. Schweitzer's official site
• Article on Gov. Schweitzer
• Democratic Governors Association

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Tavis: Brian Schweitzer was elected governor of Montana in 2004, ending more than a dozen years of Republican dominance there. His victory was heralded by national Democrats in part because President Bush carried Montana that same year by more than 20 points. This fall, he was profile in 'The New York Times' magazine, which tapped him as exhibit A for how Democrats can compete in Republican states. Governor Schweitzer joins us tonight from Helena. Governor, nice to have you on the program, sir.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer: It's great to be on with you this evening.

Tavis: Let me start by asking whether or not the Democrats have finally righted the ship. Did they take a page out of your playbook? Something went right for them in November.

Schweitzer: Well, I think that the big ship Republican got a big hole in the side, and it started sinking. That's probably a better explanation than great candidates on the Democratic side. Now that the Democrats have won some elections, it's time for them to demonstrate that they can patch some holes in the ship, and make it sail again.

Tavis: And yet, your point notwithstanding, Democrats are faring much better, say, in the west than they have in years. There are now Democratic governors in Montana, in Wyoming, in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. So, at least concede that Democrats in the west are getting smarter, yes, no?

Schweitzer: Well, I think so. New Mexico and Colorado, they're different examples than Montana and Wyoming. Montana's probably still a Republican state, but we're not a parliamentary system. In England or in Canada and other places, when you go to the polls, you'll look at the party's platform and you'll decide based on a dozen issues whether you're going to vote for candidate Smith or candidate Jones.

In our system, it's a system of personalities. About a third of America are Republicans and about a third are Democrat, and about a third of them are Independent. Some states, the number of Republicans is much greater than the Democrats, and Democrats and Republicans. But people like Mitt Romney can win in a state like Massachusetts, and people like Brian Schweitzer can win in a place like Montana.

You're voting for individuals, individual ideas. Ideas that offer some hope and opportunity. I don't think we should read too much into states like Montana and Wyoming, that have elected more Democrats. It's going to take a little while before this fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats changes in places like Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming.

Tavis: All right, so if I accept your thesis at the moment, that it is about personalities, then what types of personalities ought Democrats be looking for the next time around? And of course, the next time around is the big one, the White House.

Schweitzer: Well, look, I don't know that being governor of Montana qualifies me to talk about who ought to be the candidate running for President of the United States.

Tavis: But you pulled it off in a red state. That's why everybody wants to know from you what people ought to do. What the Democratic Party ought to be doing.

Schweitzer: Well, from our perspective in Montana, I'm just a pickup-driving, gun-loving, go to church on Sunday, balance the checkbook, and believe in the future enough to invest in education kind of Democrat. That's the sort of Democrat that wins in the Midwest and in the Rocky Mountain west. And I think to some degree, there would be success for a Democrat like that on the east and west coast.

Tavis: You are very modest, as viewers can see now. But one of the issues that you are not modest about, whenever you get a chance to talk about it, and I wanna give you a chance to do so now, is an issue that is in the front of the minds of everyday Americans. And that is, how they can afford gas and heating and oil products. And you have made this your issue. That's your background. Tell me about it.

Schweitzer: Well, it seems like every American is concerned about buying oil, expensive oil, from third world dictators. Every American except about 535, who are members of Congress. And these folks in Congress, they appear to have their feet in concrete. They're not listening to the folks back home. I wanna be very clear with the people of America. We import four billion barrels of oil.

We consume about six and a half billion barrels of oil. Now, we can produce about two and a half billion barrels of oil, but we cannot produce the other four billion barrels. So our choices are pretty simple. Either we continue to empower these third world dictators and pay them $50 and $60 a barrel, which allows them to give money to terrorists, so that we have to send our next generation into battle to protect oil supplies, or we can get it right in this generation.

We can decrease our consumption by four billion barrels in the following ways. Number one, conservation. We can decrease our consumption of oil by one billion barrels. We did it from 1975 to 1983. We decreased our consumption by 17 percent. We can do it again. I believe that we ought to convert those acres that are dedicated of export of crops around the world to cares that are producing biofuels.

Now, I've done a little bath. I'm an agronomist, and I know that if we converted those acres in America to biofuel production, we could produce about a billion barrels. That still leaves us about two billion barrels short. And so that's why I've suggested that this old energy source of coal can be converted to a clean liquid source of fuel like this one. This source of fuel is cleaner than diesel, and it comes from coal.

We can do it for about $1.20 a gallon, and we can actually sequester the carbon dioxide. Now, I wouldn't suggest developing more coal if in fact what we're going to do is put smokestacks all over America and dump mercury and sulfur and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This process removes the mercury and sulfur so it doesn't end up in our water and our air.

And it also sequesters the carbon dioxide. So these greenhouse gases will not go into the atmosphere. We can easily produce two billion barrels a year with this process. That, coupled with conservation and production of biodiesel that comes from crops like canola and camolina produced on farms all over America would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and it would produce 100,000 jobs minimum in the Midwest, and hundreds of thousands of jobs in places like Wyoming and Montana and Pennsylvania, where we could be producing these coal-to-liquids.

We could be energy independent in less than 10 years. Now back in the sixties, when Kennedy challenged this country to get to the Moon within 10 years, we had no idea how we were going to get to the Moon. In fact, most of us are carrying cell phones that have more computing capacity than that Apollo launch vessel had when we went to the Moon. But today, we already have the technology.

These kind of fuels are being made all over the world, and in fact have been made for the last 75 years. So when I challenge the American people, and more important, those members of Congress, to do the right thing. Produce our domestic fuels, decrease the pollution, and creates hundreds of thousands of jobs domestically, and bring our young men and women home from the Middle East. We shouldn't be defending the oil supply for dictators anymore.

Tavis: Now, if my grandmother were here right now, she'd say, Governor Schweitzer, that sounds too much like right. Just another way of saying it makes so much sense that people don't even wanna hear it. I didn't wanna interrupt you, and so I let you make your case, I watched you use those props, which I think is powerful, quite frankly. And I'm thinking, as I'm watching you, how someone running for president, how a John McCain or a Mitt Romney, how a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama could stand up in front of the American people in these debates, in these conversations, in a very simple, direct, forthright way, as you have just done with these props, and say to the American people, here's how this gets done.

The only person that comes to mind, other than you right now, (unintelligible) success. Getting Americans to hear what he has to say about the environment was Al Gore, but it came too late. It just came in his movie and his book, 'New York Times' bestseller, made money as a documentary, but it didn't happen for him on the campaign trail. That's a long way of setting up this simple question. How does one get that message that you just delivered across in an election where people can hear it and accept it?

Schweitzer: Well to start with, don't just tell the people of America that you have to sacrifice. Offer hope and opportunity. I'm not talking about sacrifice here. I'm talking about creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. I'm not talking about going to the Moon with technology that doesn't exist. I'm talking about technology that exists this day. But I am talking about making a more difficult life for those big oil company lobbyists in Washington, DC.

They're going to have to give a little, so that the rest of the country can take a little. I'm not going to suggest that we no longer produce oil in this country. In fact, I think we ought to invest more in producing more oil. Up to two and a half billion barrels, or even more. But these ideas, so that we have several legs underneath our energy strategy, so that we are energy independent, can be accomplished during the next 10 years. I don't think this is rocket science.

(Laugh) We went to the Moon with rocket science. We're just producing fuel domestically. And these folks that are running for president? They don't get it right at their own peril. The one who runs for president and doesn't get domestic energy correct will not be president, I'll guarantee you that.

Tavis: To your point, is there are particular party - I'm sitting here trying to assess this myself. I know that everybody has suggestions and ideas, and every now and then, this debate gets a little bit of attraction, a little bit of traction in these presidential debates and presidential contests. Is there a party right now that you think is out front of the other on trying to address this issue in honest ways that the American people can accept?

Schweitzer: Well, I think the Republicans have had the last five years to demonstrate their competency in energy and international diplomacy, and most of us would agree that well, they've got at least one leg that's not working properly. So, this gives an opportunity for Democrats to step up. We are a two-party system. If a Democrat comes forward with a plan, a plan.

A plan always beats no plan, and this is a plan that I've just described. We can describe the economics of it, and how Congress can act to set minimum prices of a $1.20 or about $40 a barrel, so that investment capital will flow into these alternative energies. But that's probably more complicated than a lot of people wanna hear. Simply stated, $40 a barrel, we can produce all of these fuels domestically, bring our troops home, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and end our dependency on foreign oil.

Tavis: All right, so two final questions and I'll let you go. Question number one, I'm just curious. How many Democrats, those who we already know are interested in running for the White House, have called you or called upon you, that is to say come to see you, to say Governor, you are the expert on this where elected officials are concerned. Sit down and give me a lesson on what I ought to be saying, and how I ought to be sharing this with the American people.

How many Democrats, has Hillary called you? Has Barack called you? Has anybody else called you, number one? And number two, if they haven't called, why not consider running yourself? If for no other reason than to put that issue out, since it's so important to the American people and our future, as you argue?

Schweitzer: Well, I wouldn't be presumptive that I have the only solutions for this country. And some have called, and I have made this presentation in front of some. I have been to Capitol Hill, and I have spoken to many of these folks that you've described that are running for president. I think that this issue, and this group of issues, will be the driver in this campaign, and there will be Democrats and Republicans who get this right, and there will be Democrats and Republicans that have it wrong. And the American people will make up their mind who's got the most likely possibility of A, winning, and B, delivering on their promises.

Tavis: He has done what Democrats want to do. That is, to win as a Democrat in a red state. He is Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana. As you can tell by his get up, he's a cowboy. Governor, (laugh) nice to have you on the program.

Schweitzer: Good visiting with you, and God bless everybody in this holiday season.

Tavis: Thank you, Governor, take care. Up next on this program, NBA all star Dikembe Mutombo on his remarkable work in Africa. Stay with us.