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American Morning

Election Day in New York City

Aired November 06, 2001 - 09:08   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Two hours ago, President Bush in a live address carried on CNN spoke to an antiterrorism conference of several Eastern European nations meeting in Warsaw.

CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett listened to that address and joins us with more.

First off though, Major, any reaction from the White House yet to this news about anthrax-tainted mail being sent by the State Department to Russia?

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, Paula, no reaction yet from the White House.

Typically when these events have come up, the White House tries to gather information from various sources, puts out a statement later, but haven't heard anything yet on it so far.

ZAHN: All right. Carry on, and tell us a little bit more about the impact of what the president had to say this morning, what he was trying to accomplish.

GARRETT: Well, Paula, the president's speech part of concerted and week-long effort by the Bush administration to not only to update the world on its progress of its war on terrorism in its first venue, Afghanistan, against the Taliban and Al Qaeda network, but also to underscore the stakes of the war against terrorism. And in this speech to 17 central and European nations, the president said that those nations and really rest of the world face an evil like the fascist and totalitarians that darkened so much of the 20th century, and that's a message you can imagine was very resonate to those central and European nations. Both of who have to live through and suffered through those twin honors, fascisms and totalitarianism, during the 20th century.

The president also said that the war is being fought here in the United States and mentioned the anthrax anxiety. He said, he was happy, however, with the United States both responding with alertness and calm, and dealing with anthrax as best it could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people of my nation are now fighting this war at home. We face a second wave of terrorists attacks in the form of deadly anthrax that has been sent through the U.S. mail. Our people are responding to this new threat with alertness and calm. Our government is responding to treat the sick, provide antibiotics to those who have been exposed, and track down the guilty whether abroad or at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT: The president also said those who call themselves member of the coalition against terrorism will be expected to provide more than words of sympathy, concrete actions, the president said. The president said he will no Saturday on seat in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly articulate more fully what is expected of coalition partners as this campaign against global terrorism continues.

Major Garrett, CNN, reporting live from the White House.

ZAHN: Thanks, Major.

It is Election Day in many places across the United States, including right here in New York City.

And CNN's Jason Carroll is standing by at a polling station on the upper east side, where voters are helping decide who will be the next mayor of our city.

Hi again, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi again to you, Paula.

Very important job, and a lot of people want to have their votes counted. You can see here, there are lots of people here at this polling place on the upper east side of Manhattan. Looks a little better than it did earlier this morning, there's a little bit more space here, but still crowds of people here, everyone wanting to have their vote counted.

Right now, according to the polls, it's dead heat. On one side, we've got the Republican billionaire Michael Bloomberg. He had been trailing throughout the campaign, but late in the campaign he got the much-needed endorsement of New York City's popular Mayor Rudy Giuliani. That seems to really have given him a boost. Also giving him a boost is the $40 million that he spent during the campaign, mostly on TV spots.

On the Democratic side, let's show you who we have there. We have New York City public advocate Mark Green. Green has endorsement of the Clintons and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, also Senator Lieberman, as well as Senator Ted Kennedy. Lots of endorsements on both sides.

We also have lots of undecided voters. One poll showing we have as many as 15 percent of the people here in the city who still don't know who they want to be the next mayor. And there was so many undecided voters, and with the race in there being so close, it looks as if way after the polls closed, which is scheduled to be about 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, we still my may not know who the clear winner is in this race -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, you were in her way there.

CARROLL: I was. You know, it is so crowded in here and everyone is getting on little grumpy. You know how New Yorkers are, they want to get in, they want to cast their vote, but it's so crowded, everyone has to wait, so I'm trying to sort of stay out of the way as best I can,

ZAHN: Take as little personal space up as possible.

Good luck, Jason.

Running the city of New York is often said to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. It got a lot tougher after September 11th. David Dinkins knows that challenge firsthand. He held the office from 1990 to 1994.

Good to see you, Mr. Mayor.

MYR. DAVID DINKINS, FMR. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Thank you. Nice to see you.

ZAHN: Thank you for dropping by.

So the $64 million question, who is going to take the mayor's race?

DINKINS: I think Mark Green will win, but it will be far closer than it should have been.

ZAHN: And why is that?

DINKINS: I think it's because of Mike Bloomberg's money. There are a lot of other minor factors that played into it. The fact that we Democrats, we form a firing squad in a circle, and we've done that again this year to some degree.

ZAHN: Why? Self-inflicted wounds here?

DINKINS: Yes.

ZAHN: What did you do wrong? I mean, first of all,what I think is so interesting here.

DINKINS: We had a bitter battle in the primary, and then the runoff, and then 09/11 happened, and there were just a variety of factors that exacerbated the situation. But more than any other single factor is the tens of millions of dollars spent by Michael Bloomberg.

ZAHN: But the fact is Mr. Bloomberg didn't really close in on Mr. Green until last week or two, and now there is this 20 percent undecided figure.

DINKINS: Well, well, that's good for Green, I think, the undecided figure, it's good for Green. But the reason that the closeness occurred so late in the game is that that's the cumulative effect of a lot of advertising, and some people will attribute it to Giuliani. I don't.

ZAHN: You don't give Giuliani any credit for his endorsement and that having any impact whatsoever on the campaign?

DINKINS: No, no, no. I give him some credit. Rudy has always been popular, but his record of helping candidates by endorsement is very, very poor. I can't think of one he won. He didn't help Mario Cuomo. He didn't help Molinari in Staten Island. He has not been successful. It's difficult to transfer popularity. This is not to say he's not popular. The question is, can you transfer the popularity?

ZAHN: I think the more important question is, can you transfer the support he has of the people to whoever it is who ends up being our next mayor. Do you have concerns about that?

DINKINS: Yes, I do have concern about that. The next mayor faces an enormously difficult task, because prior to September 11th, we knew, because the city controller, the state controller, the financial control board, the rating agencies, the independent budget office and the citizens budget commission, six separate entities said that we face a structural imbalance in the out years. So we had a very difficult fiscal problem, and now the tragedy of the World Trade Center.

So all these things add up to a very difficult job for the next mayor. The next mayor will need the support of all the citizens of our city.

ZAHN: Is this the way to go around the support (ph)? We are going to quickly replay small parts of the commercials for the two candidates running for mayor, and you tell us, if this is what New Yorkers should expect from their next mayor.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GREEN, N.Y. MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I actually believe that, if God forbid, I was the mayor during such calamity, I would have done as well or better than Rudy Giuliani.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Kill it. Kill it." According to court documents, that's what Mike Bloomberg told a female employee when she informed him she was pregnant. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life that's something you want to consider before making Mike Bloomberg our mayor.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ZAHN: Ouch.

Do you think those are appropriate ads to run, given the climate that we are subjected to here in New York City?

DINKINS: Appropriate is, with respect, is perhaps not the right question. It's more like, is it fair?

ZAHN: Is it fair?

DINKINS: And Mark Green's position is since the Bloomberg campaign has distorted, in many respects, his record, he therefore choosing to tell the truth about him.

ZAHN: That ad, a lot of people who follow that case, case sexual harassment case, has nothing to do with reality.

DINKINS: The "kill, kill, kill" wasn't a sexual harassment case. That was a quote from his own material, wherein someone said he was going to have a baby, and he said, you know, kill it, kill it, kill it. Concern for maternity leave and what not, presumably.

ZAHN: All right. So you think that those as -- as long as they're accurate, those negative ads are...

DINKINS: I much prefer positive campaigns; it's just my style. But I have been the victim of often of negative campaigns, negative ads. Rudy Giuliani did it to me repeatedly. To this day, I speak of let's not return to the day's of Dinkins. And but, you know, you swallow hard and you take it.

But what's important is our city needs a mayor right now who has the capacity to govern in an enormously difficult time. And Michael Bloomberg, expert businessperson, perhaps because he's successful, but he's run a private company. It's not a public company, non-union company. He has no one to whom he must answer, but himself. It's vastly different. As you govern, you must not only deal with the government of your own city, but the relationship that the city has with the state and the federal government. So he is not the person for us at this time.

ZAHN: Well, we will find out, probably how close this is. Maybe by this time tomorrow, we'll know who our next mayor will be, and as always, it's good to have your insight.

DINKINS: My pleasure.

ZAHN: You, of course, have had some moments with Rudy over the years, not some very positive ones.

DINKINS: I think Rudy is a great American.

ZAHN: And a good patriot.

DINKINS: Yes.

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