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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview with Ken Rudin

Aired March 17, 2002 - 11:39   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: So is Tipper Gore considering a run for the Senate? Sources close to the Gore Family say that Mrs. Gore, spending the weekend in Nashville to discuss the idea with her family. The filing deadline, as you know in Tennessee, is April 4th.

Joining us now from Washington to talk about all this is Ken Rudin. He's the political editor for National Public Radio. Thanks for being with us. What a great story we have to talk about tonight.

KEN RUDIN, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: It's a great story. Whether it happens or not is another story.

CALLAWAY: Yes, so give me your thoughts on this. Do you think it is going to happen?

RUDIN: Well, I don't, although if you would have asked me, you know, when Hillary Clinton, the rumors about Hillary Clinton were around, would Hillary run? I said absolutely not. But this is different. I mean when Hillary ran for the Senate, her husband was leaving the White House.

This time, basically Tipper would be running for a Senate seat two years before Al Gore may make a repeat bid for the presidency, and obviously Al Gore, you know, needs to mend fences in Tennessee. Basically, he's haunted by the fact that had he won Tennessee in 2000, he would be president today, and it may be too much of a risk to put Tipper on the ballot there, plus the fact, this is all one sentence, that when Al Gore -

CALLAWAY: Take a breath, Ken.

RUDIN: That's right. When Al Gore first, you know, ran for Vice President, Tennessee had two Democratic Senators, had a Democrat Governor, a majority of the congressional delegation was democratic, and now it's really a Republican state, two Republican Senators, Republican Governor, majority of Republicans in the House. So it's a different state than when Al Gore last ran for the Senate.

CALLAWAY: Yes. Let's examine a little bit of the plethora that you just ran through, first of all the fact that Gore lost Tennessee. You know, ran for president, lost his home state. Now how's his wife going to fare there, even though she is quite popular?

RUDIN: Well, she's very popular. She's certainly not polarizing. I mean we've seen a lot of comparisons to the Hillary Clinton model. Of course, Hillary Clinton was a very polarizing figure, but Hillary was also a political person of her own. We really haven't seen much indication from Tipper Gore at all that she was interested in running. As a matter of fact, conventional wisdom was that she didn't like the public campaigning on it.

But having said that, she's certainly very popular. She's very well liked in the state. But again, she's running again as you say, the filing deadline is April 4th, unlike with Hillary who had 18 months to conduct her so-called listening tour of New York State.

CALLAWAY: Right.

RUDIN: Tipper Gore doesn't have that luxury, and plus the fact that the Democratic party in Tennessee seems to be coalescing around a different Democrat, Congressman Clement of Nashville. His father was governor and senator. He's been around a long time, and Clement apparently is going to announce his candidacy tomorrow. So that's going to cause a real fraction in the party.

CALLAWAY: Ken, you say that she hasn't shown any indication that she wanted to run for office, but you know, she's never run from a battle, and certainly there are certain issues that she's been quite vocal about.

RUDIN: No, and obviously these are issues that are very good for her, women's issues, child healthcare, very concerned about mental illness. She's talked about that a great deal. And I think, you know, she's certainly well liked in the state.

But again it's very possible that the election in November, if the Republicans have any say in this, the issue will be George Bush and the conduct of the War on Terrorism, and it's very possible that given the fact that you have a likely Republican backing George Bush on the war, either former Governor Lamar Alexander or maybe Congressman Ed Bryant, the Republican will stand square right behind the President on the War against Terrorism. How does Tipper Gore handle that issue?

CALLAWAY: I'll tell you --

RUDIN: It's a tough issue for her.

CALLAWAY: Of course, but let's talk about what the Democrats hope to get out of Tipper Gore. They're obviously looking for a strong woman candidate. This is a loud group of Democrats we're hearing from in Tennessee. Why do they want Tipper?

RUDIN: Well she's certainly a big name. She'd obviously be a very good fundraiser, unlike Clement who has state sources for money, Tipper Gore would be able to raise money throughout the country, as did Hillary and she is a glamour figure. She's a glamour candidate, similar to what the Republicans have with Lamar Alexander, and clearly with the Democrats so desperate to retain control of the Senate in 2000, right now it's a one-seat difference. Every seat makes a difference. The Democrats would like to retain it, and if Tipper Gore runs, it's because they want that star figure in that contest.

CALLAWAY: You know that deadline's right around the corner, April 4th. She doesn't have a whole lot of time to make a decision. Is that going to hurt her or help her?

RUDIN: Well, a lot depends on tomorrow. If we see Congressman Clement announce to the Senate tomorrow in Nashville, as is expected, if he does that, that may be a signal that the Democrats have coalesced about Clement, that we like the Tipper flirtation but it's not going anywhere. If Clement puts off his decision tomorrow, then there may be something more to the story than we think.

CALLAWAY: All right. We'll have to stay tuned. Ken, thank you very much for being with us.

RUDIN: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: Have a great rest of your weekend.

RUDIN: Thanks.

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