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CNN Live At Daybreak

A Night at the Ballpark Traficant Style

Aired August 15, 2002 - 06:49   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Former Congressman James Traficant may be serving time for racketeering and bribery, but some of his constituents showed a little love for him in an unusual way last night.
Belinda Prinz of CNN affiliate WJW takes us out to the ballpark for Traficant Night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, there you go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Jim Traficant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

BELINDA PRINZ, WJW-TV REPORTER (voice-over): They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I helped the people in Mahoning Valley and they're going to stick by me.

PRINZ: By that score, the irascible ex-congressman, who's now serving eight years in prison, has plenty of fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he gets out of it. He got railroaded big time. It was bad.

PRINZ: Jim Traficant's hairpiece stood out on Capitol Hill. True to form, wearing a toupee got fans into the Scrappers Minor League baseball game for free. So did being the son of a truck driver, which Traficant was fond of mentioning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here it says that my father is a motor lorry driver which is a truck driver in England.

PRINZ (on camera): What -- well what's your take on Jim Traficant?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well I live really in Opal (ph) so I don't really, you know, hear much about him apart from he's a bit of a nut case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing I'm missing was the bellbottoms, everything else we pulled out of the closet.

PRINZ (voice-over): The tongue-in-cheek tribute was the team's way of thanking the Youngstown area's favorite jailbird. After all, Traficant helped bring the team and the stadium to town. And knowing he had no qualms about poking fun of himself, the Scrappers did too.

See Jim. See Mini (ph) Jim. See the FBI go after him. Will he outrun the FBI?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going more for the Jim look. He's more for the Elvis look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a great congressman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for him before, and I'd do it again.

PRINZ: The night was not complete without a mock election. Traficant is running for Congress from prison.

The rest of the nation may count him out; die-hard fans know he plays to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right, one of these days these bars are coming down. And you know Traficant and Mini Me, we're back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to get reelected. You watch and see.

PRINZ: Belinda Prinz, Fox 8 News, Niles, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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