No Labels, a bipartisan group working to break the grip of party politics in Washington, D.C., is holding its "Problem Solver Convention" today in New Hampshire. Eight presidential candidates from both parties are taking part in a Town Hall-style meeting.
No Labels was formed five years ago. Member Al Cardenas served two terms as head of Florida's Republican Party. Speaking from New Hampshire, he says the group includes Democrats, Republicans and Independents trying to tackle the nation's challenges.
"If we don't have a major significant cultural change in Washington, we're not going to be addressing the crises that befall the country," he says. "And the only way you're going to do that in a country that's divided 50-50 is by sitting at a table and working things out. And if neither party wants to do that, and if the leaders don't have the courage to stand up to that kind of behavior, we're in America in for a lot of trouble."
Cardenas says No Labels is tired of all the screaming and posturing coming from Washington.
"In sports, you have referees and you have penalties, and when people behave badly there are consequences. In politics, the only consequences are in the hands of the voters," he says. "And we hope the voters will become more and more responsive to the cultural changes that No Labels is proposing, and become a real force in doing nothing, more or less, than getting people to agree to work with one another."
He says 100 members of Congress have joined the group - the largest caucus on Capitol Hill.
