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Gephardt Preparing to Join Presidential Race

Aired January 03, 2003 - 11:17   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Another Democrat who wants President Bush's job looks ready to step forward. Long time capital fixture Richard Gephardt is putting the paperwork in motion to seek his party's nomination in 2004.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Washington this morning -- Candy, what's the scoop?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, we are told that Richard Gephardt will establish an exploratory presidential committee officially Monday, and he is going to waste no time getting right down to it. The source also says this month, Gephardt will travel to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, site of the first three contests of the primary season. The source expects that Gephardt will make a more official and personal announcement of his candidacy later this winter.

After more than 25 years in Congress, as you mentioned, Gephardt is a fixture, and he comes to the presidential arena with assets and debits.

For instance, Gephardt has described this day one of the worst of his political life. It was 1995, the day as outgoing majority leader, Gephardt had to hand over the gavel to incoming Republican speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Now, since that time, Gephardt, now the minority leader, has failed in four elections to lead Democrats back to majority status. A primary problem for Gephardt both literally and politically may be another picture. It is that of Gephardt standing behind the president at the White House as Mr. Bush announced an agreement with House leaders on the Iraq resolution. Some of Gephardt's Capitol Hill colleagues were caught off guard, and some hardcore Democrats, the kind that turn out in Iowa in the dead of the winter for a caucus or in the snows of New Hampshire for a primary were furious.

On the plus side, Gephardt is a party stalwart. He has stacked up chips over the years, raising money for the candidates. He is widely respected by his colleagues, and he has a lot of union support. He has been a faithful supporter of unions, particularly on issues of trade which are so important to them -- Carol.

LIN: So in terms of his public image, I mean maybe not with his Senate colleagues or people inside the Beltway, but ordinary Joes out there, how has their impression changed of him since 1988 when he lost? CROWLEY: Well, you know, it's hard to tell because it's not as though he is one of those very high profile -- he's so familiar to us in Washington and certainly his name is familiar to Democrats across the country.

I think he has -- how he's changed politically certainly is that when he came 25 years ago -- he's from Missouri. He was a more moderate conservative, a Democrat. As the party, the Democratic Party began to change, Gephardt began to swing more liberal.

He was, in fact, one of the co-founders of the Democratic Leadership Council, which is a moderate group of Democrats. He parted ways with them over the trade issue and a number of other issues.

So whether his image has changed is unclear. I guess we'll find that out in the polls. Some people say, Oh, he's going to look like yesterday's news. On the other hand, it's post 9/11, and what is very unclear is whether Democrats are going to want a fresh face like, say, John Edwards, who announced his exploratory committee yesterday, or somebody like Dick Gephardt who's been around for a while and been around the block, and is an old hand. So -- it's very hard to know how that will play with voters two years from now.

LIN: Good point. Hey, Candy, you've got a pretty interesting story about how you found out about this, and how this all got out maybe before Gephardt might have wanted it to.

CROWLEY: Well, we will say first that no one is surprised that Dick Gephardt is going to run for president. They've been talking about it openly for some time now.

But yesterday about 5:00, over the fax comes an invitation to a reception, a money raising reception for the, in big bold print, "Gephardt for President Exploratory Committee," and we all sort of looked at it and said, Well wait, did he do this and not tell us, or -- and it was for January 22, and we are told by higher ups in the Gephardt office that a lower staff aide had inadvertently sent those out jumping the gun.

So, you know, what we do know is this may have pushed his timetable up just slightly a couple of days but made no real difference in what's happening, and that is that Richard Gephardt, as expected is going to run for president.

LIN: Right, right. Well, it just goes to show there are no secrets in Washington, are there, Candy?

CROWLEY: And thank heavens for faxes.

LIN: You bet. Technology on our side. Thanks so much. Candy Crowley, good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 3, 2003 - 11:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Another Democrat who wants President Bush's job looks ready to step forward. Long time capital fixture Richard Gephardt is putting the paperwork in motion to seek his party's nomination in 2004.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Washington this morning -- Candy, what's the scoop?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, we are told that Richard Gephardt will establish an exploratory presidential committee officially Monday, and he is going to waste no time getting right down to it. The source also says this month, Gephardt will travel to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, site of the first three contests of the primary season. The source expects that Gephardt will make a more official and personal announcement of his candidacy later this winter.

After more than 25 years in Congress, as you mentioned, Gephardt is a fixture, and he comes to the presidential arena with assets and debits.

For instance, Gephardt has described this day one of the worst of his political life. It was 1995, the day as outgoing majority leader, Gephardt had to hand over the gavel to incoming Republican speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Now, since that time, Gephardt, now the minority leader, has failed in four elections to lead Democrats back to majority status. A primary problem for Gephardt both literally and politically may be another picture. It is that of Gephardt standing behind the president at the White House as Mr. Bush announced an agreement with House leaders on the Iraq resolution. Some of Gephardt's Capitol Hill colleagues were caught off guard, and some hardcore Democrats, the kind that turn out in Iowa in the dead of the winter for a caucus or in the snows of New Hampshire for a primary were furious.

On the plus side, Gephardt is a party stalwart. He has stacked up chips over the years, raising money for the candidates. He is widely respected by his colleagues, and he has a lot of union support. He has been a faithful supporter of unions, particularly on issues of trade which are so important to them -- Carol.

LIN: So in terms of his public image, I mean maybe not with his Senate colleagues or people inside the Beltway, but ordinary Joes out there, how has their impression changed of him since 1988 when he lost? CROWLEY: Well, you know, it's hard to tell because it's not as though he is one of those very high profile -- he's so familiar to us in Washington and certainly his name is familiar to Democrats across the country.

I think he has -- how he's changed politically certainly is that when he came 25 years ago -- he's from Missouri. He was a more moderate conservative, a Democrat. As the party, the Democratic Party began to change, Gephardt began to swing more liberal.

He was, in fact, one of the co-founders of the Democratic Leadership Council, which is a moderate group of Democrats. He parted ways with them over the trade issue and a number of other issues.

So whether his image has changed is unclear. I guess we'll find that out in the polls. Some people say, Oh, he's going to look like yesterday's news. On the other hand, it's post 9/11, and what is very unclear is whether Democrats are going to want a fresh face like, say, John Edwards, who announced his exploratory committee yesterday, or somebody like Dick Gephardt who's been around for a while and been around the block, and is an old hand. So -- it's very hard to know how that will play with voters two years from now.

LIN: Good point. Hey, Candy, you've got a pretty interesting story about how you found out about this, and how this all got out maybe before Gephardt might have wanted it to.

CROWLEY: Well, we will say first that no one is surprised that Dick Gephardt is going to run for president. They've been talking about it openly for some time now.

But yesterday about 5:00, over the fax comes an invitation to a reception, a money raising reception for the, in big bold print, "Gephardt for President Exploratory Committee," and we all sort of looked at it and said, Well wait, did he do this and not tell us, or -- and it was for January 22, and we are told by higher ups in the Gephardt office that a lower staff aide had inadvertently sent those out jumping the gun.

So, you know, what we do know is this may have pushed his timetable up just slightly a couple of days but made no real difference in what's happening, and that is that Richard Gephardt, as expected is going to run for president.

LIN: Right, right. Well, it just goes to show there are no secrets in Washington, are there, Candy?

CROWLEY: And thank heavens for faxes.

LIN: You bet. Technology on our side. Thanks so much. Candy Crowley, good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com