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CNN Live Today
Reporter's Notebook: Enron Collapse; New Jersey Elections
Aired January 15, 2002 - 16:54 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us now here in the Washington studio with his "Reporter's Notebook": Bob Novak of "The Chicago Sun-Times" and CNN's "CROSSFIRE" and "NOVAK, HUNT & SHIELDS."
You are a busy man, Bob.
What about Senator Joe Lieberman? You know he has said that his Governmental Affairs Committee is going to look into the Enron collapse. He is going to do it an aggressive way and in a nonpartisan way. What are Democrats saying about his comments?
ROBERT NOVAK, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What's interesting is, he came back from Afghanistan and all those other places. He was saying, Judy, that there is no evidence of wrongdoing, that there is no case right now against the Republicans.
And some people thought that Joe Lieberman, who is a little bit of a moderate, was off the reservation. But I have been doing some checking with some of the toughest, hardest sources. And this is the Democratic line. They feel some of Democrats, like former Gore campaign chief Tony Coelho, got off the reservation by coming off too hard against Bush. And so this is the line. They don't want to get trapped in making a lot of accusations. They want to see where this investigation goes.
And they don't want to make the mistake of saying, "Gee, George Bush is a crook" when they don't have any evidence.
WOODRUFF: All right, moving on, President Bush claiming, saying that Enron supported Ann Richards when they ran against each other for governor back in 1994.
NOVAK: This is a wonderful little story. He said that. He said Ken Lay was a Richards man. Now, Democrats just got enraged. They said she never got any support from Ken Lay. Ken Lay was with Bush. It took a little checking.
What it turns out, guess what? Ken Lay supported them both in 1994. He gave $25,000 to George W. Bush and $12,500 to the Democrat, Governor Ann Richards, a typical Enron-Ken Lay thing. He's not a Republican. He's not an ideologue. He was an operator. But some people think that George Bush probably made a mistake in really tossing Ann Richards into the Enron lap when Enron was supporting both of them. WOODRUFF: Well, gave more to Bush, but gave to both.
NOVAK: Gave to both.
WOODRUFF: All right, Christie Todd Whitman being urged to run for office again?
NOVAK: There was a rumor around that she was going to run for the Senate this year against Senator Bob Torricelli.
WOODRUFF: In New Jersey.
NOVAK: In New Jersey. And Senator Torricelli is considered a shoe-in. Christie Whitman would give him a good race. Finally, what I'm told is that Christie Whitman doesn't want to run. She is through with elective politics. She is being urged by some of her colleagues. And the White House is putting a big run-up on her environmental causes, leading up to lot of environmental applause lines in the State of the Union.
The White House would love her to give Bob Torricelli a real race. She is not inclined to do it. But who knows?
WOODRUFF: Well, we heard it here. We will find out what happens.
Bob Novak, thanks very much.
NOVAK: Thank you, Judy.
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