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American Morning

Jeff Greenfield Looks at Elections

Aired March 20, 2002 - 08:19   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On to politics. In Massachusetts, the race for governor has taken a swift turn. The acting governor, Jane Swift, has dropped out and Mitt Romney, the Salt Lake City Olympic chief, has jumped in.

Joining us now with more on that and a look at who's tugging on Bill Clinton's coattails, CNN senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield -- good morning.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you doing?

WHITFIELD: I'm pretty good.

All right, Swift has said that she wants to spend more time on helping the state out as well as spending more time with her children. But most really believe that it's because of her unpopularity. The recent polls have showed that she just doesn't stand a chance.

GREENFIELD: I think -- here's a tip for all these future political candidates out there -- if you're the incumbent governor of a state and you are running 65 points behind a guy who hasn't lived in the state for three years, maybe you should update your resume. She was the victim of some self-inflicted wounds and I think she was also the victim of a kind of lingering problem that women officials have.

We've largely dispensed with the kind of first rank prejudice, you know, the obvious one. But she gave birth to twins while she was in office and there is a kind of feeling that new moms should stay home. She never quite overcame that.

WHITFIELD: Yes. At the same time, she was so celebrated having done that and the first female governor and so young, because so many women felt inspired that hey, she is an example of you can have it all.

GREENFIELD: Right.

WHITFIELD: You can have a family, you can have a strong career.

GREENFIELD: I think what particularly hurt was when the stories came out that she had used state aides to help her in this. Now, you know, if a male politician sends an aide to go pick up his dry cleaning, that's a one on the Richter Scale. But I think because of the real emotional feelings that are left about new moms should stay home, that fact really helped clobber her in those polls. And I...

WHITFIELD: What's the explanation as to why Romney is so popular there? I mean yes, he's a, you know, Harvard business grad and yes, you know, that's his home away from home, or has been. What's going on?

GREENFIELD: Well, first of all, he did run a credible statewide race against Ted Kennedy back in 1994 for senator. Had he deserted the state and tried to build a political career elsewhere, I think he could not have come home. But going to Utah and running the Olympics is almost like enlisting in the military. I mean it, you don't, you're not seen as a carpetbagger or an opportunist.

Let us also say that it's a long, long time from March to November to mangle the quote of a famous. So we'll find out how popular he is when the election time comes. But he was seen as a fresh start. He was seen as a guy who'd done something good. He wasn't seen as a kind of, at least not yet, as a scheming opportunist looking to come back and seize the governorship nomination away from an unpopular figure.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, we'll see what kind of political career, if there is yet one, for Swift after all of this.

Let's move on to some of the other races across the country. How unprecedented is this that there are so many former Clinton appointees, aides, etc., that are running for some sort of office, at least five running for governor?

GREENFIELD: There are six, there are four running for governor, one running for senator and Rahm Emanuel, the former top aide for Clinton, won the Democratic primary in Illinois last night, and that district they elect a Republican about once every 500 years. So he can probably start packing.

I've never, I don't believe there's a precedent for this.

WHITFIELD: We've got, in Florida...

GREENFIELD: Janet Reno.

WHITFIELD: ... Janet Reno. But she's still, you know, living under the shadow of the Elian debacle there.

GREENFIELD: Yes. You have Andrew Cuomo, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary, running in New York. He faces a tough primary. You have Bill Richardson, the former energy secretary, in New Mexico, and Robert Reich, the former labor secretary in Massachusetts, Erskine Bowles, the former chief of staff, running for Senate in North Carolina.

We've never seen anything quite like this.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Now we've hear Rahm Emanuel has associated himself with Clinton bravely.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, with a lot of pride. But are we going to see any of these other candidates be touting their relationship with Clinton? A lot of folks are divorcing themselves from that administration.

GREENFIELD: You have to look state by state. Bill Clinton, for instance, is very popular in New York. Andrew Cuomo has every reason to try to associate himself with Clinton. I mean Mrs. Clinton is a sitting senator. But he, but certainly Clinton's not going to step into that race because the other candidate, Carl McCall, the state controller, is the first African-American with a serious chance of being nominated for major statewide office in New York and I don't think the ex-president or Mrs. Clinton is going to get involved in that.

Now, on the other hand, in North Carolina, you've got the former chief of staff Erskine Bowles wanting to be the Democratic nominee for Senate. Bill Clinton's not the most popular figure in the world down in North Carolina. And in Florida, as you mentioned, you know, that Elian Gonzalez case is a tough one in a general election for any Democrat. The attorney general who ordered that child to go back to Cuba, I think a lot of Democrats in Florida are wringing their hands because they think, all right, she's got a shot at the primary, but do we want someone like that running in the general? And she's also got health issues.

WHITFIELD: Isn't it amazing the resiliency of the Elian debacle? Who would have thought this far down the line?

GREENFIELD: Well, you, we should remind viewers of that famous Tip O'Neill quote that all politics is local. So the Clinton factor will be different from state to state.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff Greenfield, thanks very much.

GREENFIELD: OK.

WHITFIELD: And good to see you up here.

GREENFIELD: Thank you.

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