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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Democrats to Take Control of Senate; Trent Lott Sets Combative Tone; Liberal Democrats Face Off in L.A. Mayoral Race

Aired June 05, 2001 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill ahead of the unprecedented power shift in the Senate. When the doors open tomorrow, Democrats will be in charge, thanks to an independent ex-Republican.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We still can get things done in a way that's positive for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As President Bush reaches out to lawmakers from all three sides, we'll go to Capitol Hill and the White House, and I'll discuss "tripartisanship" with the always-independent governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura.

And better screening and better treatments are knocking down death rates from cancer, but why are some cancers still on the rise?

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Capitol Hill, where there's been a historic transfer of power in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats are now the majority. That's thanks to Vermont's longtime Republican senator, James Jeffords, who now has become an independent. He says he will support Democrat Tom Daschle as the majority leader.

The new lineup -- 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans and one independent -- shifts the balance of power in Washington, and that's our top story.

CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl joins me now here on Capitol Hill.

Jon, this was a historic day in Washington.

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Absolutely, and when the doors finally did close on the Senate today, Tom Daschle was the majority leader. But Daschle is very well-aware that he has a very slim majority and that his hold on power is quite tenuous. As a result, he's striking a conciliatory tone toward the Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARL (voice-over): Getting ready for the handoff, Tom Daschle prepares to take control of the Senate by offering words of humility and promising to reach out to Republicans.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I have to prove myself to our Republican colleagues, and I hope I can do so.

KARL: Earlier, the Senate chaplain opened the last day of Republican control with a prayer of reconciliation.

LLOYD OGILVIE, SENATE CHAPLAIN: Especially we pray for those with whom we disagree on issues -- help us to see them not as enemies, but as people who will help sharpen our edge.

KARL: A different kind of sharper edge is precisely what Senator Trent Lott is displaying as he relinquishes majority control.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MAJORITY LEADER: We should have a war of ideas and we should have a full campaign for the Senate in 2002.

KARL: But some of Lott's Republicans colleagues are concerned about his sharper edge, specifically a memo he wrote over the weekend about the power shift, saying, quote: "Democrats hold a plurality, not a majority in the Senate. Their effective control lacks the moral authority of a mandate from the voters."

Moderate Republican Olympia Snowe said she hopes the memo doesn't reflect the way the Republican leadership will deal with their Democratic counterparts.

SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE (R), MAINE: Well, it wouldn't be the right tone, it wouldn't be the appropriate demeanor, and certainly shouldn't be the way in which we should proceed to grapple with this -- with this change and shift in power.

KARL: The most dramatic impact of the power shift will be in the committees that do most of the Senate's business, where control will shift from some of the most conservative Republicans to some of the most liberal Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: In just one example, on the Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, one of the most conservative Republicans, will be replaced by Joe Biden, one of the most liberal members of the Senate.

BLITZER: Getting back to Trent Lott, Jon, a lot of Republicans behind the scenes are said to be disgruntled, not very happy. How much trouble is Trent Lott in as the Republican leader in the Senate?

KARL: Well, Trent Lott doesn't seem to be facing, at least imminently, a leadership challenge. But that memo that was referred to in that story did cause some trouble around here. I mean, many Republicans said it's silly to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that Daschle is not legitimate leader. And in fact, several at the White House were taken aback by that, because if you start raising questions of legitimacy, it brings out Democrats who question whether or not Bush was legitimately elected as president.

So this was something that was not taken very well by his fellow Republicans, although it did play well among the conservative base.

BLITZER: OK, Jonathan Karl, thank you very much.

President Bush began the day in Florida, swinging a hammer to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity. But he spent the rest of the day trying to build bipartisanship and mend some political fences.

Let's go live to CNN senior White House correspondent John King over at the White House.

John, some interesting developments going on at the White House today.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. An important and intriguing guest, if you will: the president at this hour having dinner with his former camera -- excuse me -- campaign rival Senator John McCain. Cindy McCain here as well -- the first lady joining that dinner.

This as the administration tries to put the best face on all of this. White House aides insisting the president will not change his agenda, but they do acknowledge he will have a much tougher time now selling it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

KING (voice-over): Nervous laughter as the president got his first taste of the new balance of power in the Senate and a close look at the man whose defection from the president's party made it all happen.

BUSH: We have an opportunity to show the American people that although the structure of the Senate may have been altered somewhat that we can still get things done in a way that's positive for America.

KING: The White House strategy now is to show that the president can still advance his agenda. He will sign the tax cut plan in a big ceremony Thursday and hopes Congress sends a major education bill his way soon. But the president might have to wait. Jeffords and the Democrats want to add more money to the measure, which would complicate negotiations with the Republicans, who run the House.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: You can't educate children with a tin cup budget and you can't educate children on the cheap.

KING: And things get even less certain from there. Senate Democrats promise to focus on issues on which they have major disagreements with the president: the so-called patients' bill of rights, a Medicare prescription drug benefit and an increase in the minimum wage.

This new political climate requires a new political strategy, and one of the president's priorities is trying to repair some strained relationships. So Mr. Bush invited his former campaign rival, Senator John McCain, for dinner Tuesday. Moderate Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee gets a one-on-one meeting Thursday, and new Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is the president's dinner guest that night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now this bipartisan outreach comes at a time there's a great deal of criticism of the president's early relations with Congress, and it's not just from the Democrats and the Republican moderates. Even many conservatives say they're not consulted enough. They hope now, as the president deals with this new power shift in the Senate, they'll be called down to the White House as well as all the Democrats and the moderates.

BLITZER: John, all these meetings the president is having with these moderates, is there a sense at the White House he should have done this a long time ago?

KING: Some of his aides privately concede that he should have done this earlier. Most of the criticism comes from outside the gates here at the White House: Lobbyists around town, Republicans are saying the president came to town without a mandate. He should have recognized that. Instead, they say he tried to govern a my-way-or- the-highway approach, is something you hear quite frequently.

But the White House rejects that criticism looking backwards. Looking forward, though, we already see with this dinner with Senator McCain, the White House, at least for now, taking a very different hands-on approach to congressional relations.

BLITZER: John King at the White House, thank you very much. And while Washington is preoccupied with its balance of power, the nation's two largest cities are focused on local politics. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg officially entered New York's mayoral race today, using a campaign ad to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination. The media mogul says he wants to pick up where Mayor Rudy Giuliani leaves off.

Meantime, polls close in about three hours in Los Angeles, where the next mayor will definitely be a Democrat.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez joins us now from a polling station in the San Fernando Valley.

Thelma, tell us how this day has been going.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been very interesting, Wolf. In fact, some of the traffic is starting to pick up here after such a quiet day.

Now this is an especially interesting race, because there has never been a time before when two liberal Democrats have made it into the mayoral runoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Daybreak on election day. For 48-year- old Antonio Villaraigosa, former speaker of the state assembly, and 51-year-old James Hahn, a four-term city attorney, this is the culmination of more than two years of hard work and $13 million of fund raising combined.

JAMES HAHN (D), LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Good. I'm great. Been a long campaign.

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be a very close election.

GUTIERREZ: Hahn and Villaraigosa are both Democrats. Ironically, it is the city's conservative votes that may tip the scales.

Villaraigosa calls himself a coalition builder with a proven track record in the assembly for bringing Republicans and Democrats together. Hahn touts his 20 years of experience in city government. He has built his campaign around the promise of making Los Angeles safe.

Local polls have shown Hahn holding a consistent, if narrow, lead, but analysts say this race may be too close to call.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUTIERREZ: Now we still have three hours to go until the polls close, and both candidates say that voter turnout is critical. In the primary, there was 34 percent voter turnout. If it goes up to 40 to 45 percent today, that will bode well for Villaraigosa. In fact, one analyst told us that is the only chance he has, because he has been running behind in the pre-election polls.

Now, I should mention that according to early exit polls released by the city, the turnout today is higher-than-expected -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thelma Gutierrez in Los Angeles, thank you very much.

He's an independent with an independent mind, and he's not afraid to speak his mind. I'll speak with Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. And we'll bring you some mostly positive news from the front lines of the war against cancer. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Washington is coming to grips with the fact that a new balance of power will put political cooperation to the test. But for Minnesota's governor, tripartisanship is an everyday reality.

A short while ago, I spoke with the always-independent Governor Jesse Ventura. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Governor Ventura, thanks for joining us. Here on Capitol Hill, there is a new line-up in the Senate, as you know, 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans, one independent. You're an independent. What's your take on this shakeup in the U.S. Congress?

GOV. JESSE VENTURA (I), MINNESOTA: Well, Wolf, I don't think that, you know, other than changing the leadership that happens in the committees, I don't see it changing that drastically, you know.

Senator Jeffords was voting very much Democrat anyway on a lot of issues, or to that side of that ledger, and so, you know, I don't really see it as that -- as being that major of a thing that's going to happen. And if you look at the president's proposals, its budget, it's gotten quite a bit of bipartisan support out there, and you know, it passed pretty strongly with support from both sides of the aisle, so I really don't see it as being that drastic of a change.

BLITZER: Does it do anything for the third party, the independents, people like you?

VENTURA: First of all, I don't view the senator as really a true independent, because he didn't get elected as one. He ran as a Republican. He used the Republican caucus, he used all the Republican strategy and people in the Republican Party to get elected. Now he's simply quit that party.

And so, I don't truthfully view him necessarily as an independent. If I could say that, he's more a man without a party now, and if that makes him an independent, I guess that he is, but I don't see him until he runs as a true independent and gets elected as an independent him being an independent.

BLITZER: You probably noticed what Trent Lott, the Republican leader in the Senate said. He said this: "It was a coup of one that subverted the will of the American voters who elected a Republican majority." Since he wasn't elected as an independent, did he do the honorable thing by dropping out before an election?

VENTURA: Well, you know, it's hard to say. That's a personal decision, Wolf, that you've got to make within yourself. If you're that unhappy and you feel that the party that elected you is not in touch with your beliefs anymore, well, then you certainly have to look in the mirror and make a hard decision, and say, am I really a Republican? Is this where I want to be? And so, it's a personal decision to make.

And ultimately, it's up to the people of his home state to make that determination. It's not up to me to sit out here and criticize whether he should or shouldn't, or whether he betrayed the people who elected him. That's up to the people who elected him in the first place, his home state, and they'll make that ultimate decision.

BLITZER: As you know, governor, John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, is having dinner at the White House tonight with President Bush. Under what circumstance do you think McCain should consider becoming an independent, leaving the Republican Party?

VENTURA: Well, again, Wolf, it's a power situation. I mean, you have got a very volatile situation out there at the federal government, where if you have got a block of, say, three or four from each side to legitimately break from their two parties and form any type of coalition or third party movement out there, they can really control the voting very strongly.

So, from a power position, you know, it depends upon Senator McCain and whether he wants to alienate himself from his party, and make that type of move, but it should would prove interesting to both the public -- and I'm sure the media would jump all over it and love it.

BLITZER: I'm sure we would, at least it's big story. But do you think it's conceivable that John McCain, as an independent, a third party candidate, could be elect president?

VENTURA: Oh, yes. I felt he could have last election, very strongly. Now, is it too late now? Has the game changed some? Yes, it has, because when you move forward into the next election, which of course, will be 2004, you have an incumbent. See, the key this time, and I think one of the big keys to a third party movement is going after a position that doesn't have a seeded incumbent.

Now, President Bush will be that incumbent, so it changes the nature of the game a little bit. But you know, Senator McCain made it very clear to me before the last election that he is a Republican and he will stay a Republican.

Now, if he has a change of mind on that, he hasn't indicated it to me in any way, shape or form, because I made it very clear to him last time that if he'd break away from the Republican Party, I would be more than happy to endorse him and support his run for the president as a third party or independent candidate, but he made it very clear to me that that would not happen, but then again, now, you know, elements have changed, time has changed, and maybe it now is on the horizon, but that Senator McCain will have to answer.

BLITZER: You know, the last time I interviewed you, governor, in February, you offered some advice on taxes to the president. I want you to listen to what you said then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FEBRUARY 22)

VENTURA: I would suggest to the president that maybe a tax rebate might be the way to go, rather than just a simple cut. You send people a check in the mail, like I've done two years in a row here in Minnesota, we've given back almost $2 billion in the last two years, that's money that they love. In fact, in Minnesota, they call it a "Jesse Check" now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Governor, it sounds like they were listening to your voice advice. Few people were talking about a tax rebate then. You were offering that suggestion, and now American taxpayers are about to get $300, $500 or $600 in rebate checks. That's pretty good news for them, isn't it?

VENTURA: Well, it's a quick injection into the economy, Wolf. You know, when you bring forward tax cuts, it really doesn't have an effect until a year, two, three, four years down the line, but if you're looking at a boost to the economy immediately or giving back money immediately, a rebate is the way to go, and I suggested it a couple of times when I was out.

I told the president personally at the White House that it was a thing that he ought to consider if he truly wants to give money back into the economy and do it quickly. Apparently, they listened a little bit, so I guess I'm presidential material now, right, Wolf?

BLITZER: Maybe you will. You're thinking about running for president in 2004?

VENTURA: No, I'm not, but, you know, I'll keep you guys on the line a little bit, and you know, wiggle the worm a little and get you to bite occasionally.

BLITZER: All right, presidential material Governor Jesse Ventura. Always good to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us.

VENTURA: Wolf, my pleasure, we'll do it again soon. You have a good one.

BLITZER: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And a new report is out on cancer. We'll have the results.

Also, what could the CIA do to help stop the violence in the Middle East? And a tropical storm threatens the U.S. economy. We'll tell you if it's headed your way. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

In other news tonight, CIA Director George Tenet is heading to the Middle East, to try to lay groundwork for resuming Israeli- Palestinian security talks. His visit is the latest sign the Bush administration is stepping up its Middle East diplomacy. In an interview on Russian television today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attacked Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, calling him a "murderer and pathological liar."

In Alliance, Ohio, state health officials are ordering thousands more high school students to be vaccinated to stop a deadly meningitis-related outbreak. Two student have died of the infection. Another is seriously ill. Officials stopped distribution of preventative antibiotics yesterday. The vaccinations will start again Friday.

Tropical storm Allison, the first major system of the Atlantic hurricane season, is bearing down on the Southeast Texas coast. The storm, packing 60 mile an hour winds and heavy rains, is expected to make land fall late tonight. A warning is in effect for Sergeant, Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana.

Tonight on the "Leading Edge," advances in technology are helping more and more Americans beat cancer. In recent years, incredible progress has been made against the leading cancer killers. CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Overall, fewer Americans are dying from cancer, especially the big four: breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers. Doctors say finding it earlier, such as in breast cancer, saves more lives.

BRENDA EDWARDS, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE: We think that there may be some changes in both the clinical management, surgical management, breast cancer and looking for nodes and the way they're being diagnosed pathologically.

BLAKEY: Same for prostate cancer. Screening for prostate specific antigen, or PSA, has sharply increased the number of cases and decreased deaths overall. Meanwhile, the report in the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute," once again, confirms lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer of women. Some specialists predict a future lung cancer epidemic.

DR. NAIYER RAZVI, LOMBARDI CANCER CENTER: There's this wave of teenage smoking that really is worrisome for another epidemic of lung cancer.

BLAKEY: Cancer experts say 90 percent of lung cancers are attributable to cigarette smoking. And the increase in female lung cancer mortality is evidence of a tobacco use trend that trails some 25 years behind a previous trend among men.

(on camera): The American Cancer Society says continuing the overall progress in the war against cancer, means furthering prevention and early detection. Those on the front lines want more tobacco settlement funds used for cancer research and treatment.

Rea Blakey, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: For more information on the cancer study, you can go to my Web site, cnn.com/wolf.

Up next, I'll open our mailbag. And it, too, is about cancer. Many of you reacted to my interview last night with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani about his battle with cancer. And one of you has a heart breaking story about the latest so-called "cancer miracle pill." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Time now to open our mailbag. Many of you reacted to my interview last night with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his battle with prostate cancer. Dee writes from Cape May, New Jersey.

"I have many people in my family who lost their battle with cancer as well as a few survivors. My husband had colon cancer six years ago, and is cancer free today. I have compassion for the mayor and the battle he has with cancer."

But for some people, potentially good news doesn't help. Andre from Saint Croix writes about the latest so-called miracle pill for a rare form of leukemia:

"When I first heard of Gleevec, I wanted to break the television. My father died six months earlier."

Remember, I want to hear from you. Please send your comments to wolf@cnn.com. And you can read my daily online column and sign up for my e-mail previewing our nightly programs by going to our WOLF BLITZER REPORTS web site, cnn.com/wolf.

That's all the time we have tonight. Thanks for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer from Capitol Hill. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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