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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Rich Galen, Julian Epstein
Aired July 27, 2003 - 10:44 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Analysts are keeping score on partisan politics political gains with an eye, of course, to the all- important 2004 vote.
Joining us from Washington to talk about political party maneuvers, Republican strategist Rich Galen and Democratic strategist Julian Epstein.
Good morning to both of you.
JULIAN EPSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Well, let's begin with California. What do you say?
There are some supporters of the recall vote there who were celebrating in the streets yesterday, locking in that October date now for the recall election against Governor Gray Davis.
Julian Epstein, let me ask you, do you see this as something that is potentially going to be damaging to the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election?
EPSTEIN: No. I think it's probably from the Republican point of view, shooting yourself in the foot. If the Republicans were to leave this alone, I think they would have been very competitive in California, given Gray Davis' numbers.
Now, however, he has the opportunity to run against something. Either the Republicans on the right or utter chaos. So I think this is really a case of Republicans giving a chance for Gray Davis to redeem himself.
KOPPEL: But Rich Galen, Republicans must be licking their chops at this moment.
RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, if this were the remaining of "The Exorcist," Julian's head would be spinning around right now.
The fact is that bad news is bad news, as good news is good news. If Gray Davis weren't in the low 20s in terms of job approval, none of this would be happening. The fact is, the state is in disarray and in chaos now.
And let's say -- this is not for certain by any stretch, but let's say a Republican does win in that recall election on October 7. That means that the Republicans will have a year to put together a state-wide organization for President Bush to run in. And that's good news, not bad news.
KOPPEL: So Julian, it's a bit of an uncomfortable situation, I would suppose, for the Democrats. Do you support Gray Davis, or do you support one of, I guess there are four candidates who have come forward so far from the Democratic Party?
EPSTEIN: I would be behind Gray Davis.
And again, I disagree with Rich. I think that now Gray Davis has something to campaign against, whereas if the Republicans were to leave him alone, I think they'd be in a much better position.
But look, if it looks like Davis is going to lose, I think the Democratic Party gets behind the best alternative. And I think either way, the Democrats are going to come out with a governorship in California. And if someone like Dianne Feinstein were to jump in, for example, she would then be able to appoint the next U.S. senator.
So I don't see the gloom and doom that Rich, I think, would obviously want to see for self-serving reasons.
GALEN: Well, I don't see any Democrats parading in the streets saying "Yay, we're going to have a recall election. Boy, we're going to show those Republicans what's what, boy."
This clearly is not a good thing.
Look, California is California. Other than Louisiana, which politics is like being on Pluto, California is the next most bizarre state in the nation for politics. And for guys like me and Julian, we are just going to watch this with eagerness because it gives us something to talk and write about for the next four months.
KOPPEL: Well, let's take a look at something else.
These are the most recent poll numbers to come out in terms of President Bush's approval rating. This is coming out in July 16-17.
He dropped 8 percentage points from May until now. Clearly 55 percent is still nothing to sneeze at. But Rich Galen, do you think the Republicans have something to be worried about here?
GALEN: Well, I think anybody who's ever lived through a presidential election has got something to worry about.
I mean, the fact is that one of the things has happened to Bush 41, President Bush's dad, was that I don't think his staff, the campaign staff, took that re-election campaign seriously. And that's clearly different from what these folks are doing. They're taking it very seriously.
But there's a "Newsweek" poll -- let me just finish this quickly -- there was a "Newsweek" poll that came out just slightly after that, about three days later, that actually showed the president's numbers picking back up again. So these things, you know, the question is if the election were held today -- Julian and I have talked about this 100 times -- it ain't today.
KOPPEL: Julian, to what do the Democrats attribute this drop in numbers? Is this just a natural slide? Do you think that the release of the pictures of Saddam Hussein's sons and other moves in Iraq might be attributing to the president's slight decline in popularity?
EPSTEIN: Maybe on the margins. I think as President Clinton said, if you want to live like a Republican, you should vote for a Democrat because Democrats give you better economics. And I think any study of the Clinton administration's economic record versus this Bush administration or Bush 41, I think, makes that case pretty compelling.
I think the two things the Democrats really have going for them is that people don't have a great deal of trust in this administration's ability to get the economy moving again, one.
And two, there are great concerns, I think, and growing concerns about how well this administration is doing in securing our national security.
I think the fact that they went into Iraq and they were so unprepared for all of the post-war difficulties that they now face -- and I think this has been criticism coming from Republicans, not just Democrats -- I think is raising a lot of questions in people's minds as to whether or not we couldn't be doing a much better job. I think we could be doing a much better job.
GALEN: If you cover politics like a football game, Julian is right. But the fact is that most Americans don't do that and we'll see what happens next fall.
EPSTEIN: But most Americans do care about their pocketbook and they know that their pocketbook was a lot better when they had a Democrat in the White House.
GALEN: And Newt took over the White House of representatives.
KOPPEL: Well, certainly those poll numbers are still, I'm sure, many Republicans would say, something to be not too terribly concerned about.
I want to thank you both of you gentlemen...
EPSTEIN: Thank you, Andrea.
KOPPEL: ... Rich Galen, Julian Epstein. Thank you both for coming in.
GALEN: Pleasure to be with you. Good morning.
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 July 27, 2003 - 10:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Analysts are keeping score on partisan politics political gains with an eye, of course, to the all- important 2004 vote.
Joining us from Washington to talk about political party maneuvers, Republican strategist Rich Galen and Democratic strategist Julian Epstein.
Good morning to both of you.
JULIAN EPSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Well, let's begin with California. What do you say?
There are some supporters of the recall vote there who were celebrating in the streets yesterday, locking in that October date now for the recall election against Governor Gray Davis.
Julian Epstein, let me ask you, do you see this as something that is potentially going to be damaging to the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election?
EPSTEIN: No. I think it's probably from the Republican point of view, shooting yourself in the foot. If the Republicans were to leave this alone, I think they would have been very competitive in California, given Gray Davis' numbers.
Now, however, he has the opportunity to run against something. Either the Republicans on the right or utter chaos. So I think this is really a case of Republicans giving a chance for Gray Davis to redeem himself.
KOPPEL: But Rich Galen, Republicans must be licking their chops at this moment.
RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, if this were the remaining of "The Exorcist," Julian's head would be spinning around right now.
The fact is that bad news is bad news, as good news is good news. If Gray Davis weren't in the low 20s in terms of job approval, none of this would be happening. The fact is, the state is in disarray and in chaos now.
And let's say -- this is not for certain by any stretch, but let's say a Republican does win in that recall election on October 7. That means that the Republicans will have a year to put together a state-wide organization for President Bush to run in. And that's good news, not bad news.
KOPPEL: So Julian, it's a bit of an uncomfortable situation, I would suppose, for the Democrats. Do you support Gray Davis, or do you support one of, I guess there are four candidates who have come forward so far from the Democratic Party?
EPSTEIN: I would be behind Gray Davis.
And again, I disagree with Rich. I think that now Gray Davis has something to campaign against, whereas if the Republicans were to leave him alone, I think they'd be in a much better position.
But look, if it looks like Davis is going to lose, I think the Democratic Party gets behind the best alternative. And I think either way, the Democrats are going to come out with a governorship in California. And if someone like Dianne Feinstein were to jump in, for example, she would then be able to appoint the next U.S. senator.
So I don't see the gloom and doom that Rich, I think, would obviously want to see for self-serving reasons.
GALEN: Well, I don't see any Democrats parading in the streets saying "Yay, we're going to have a recall election. Boy, we're going to show those Republicans what's what, boy."
This clearly is not a good thing.
Look, California is California. Other than Louisiana, which politics is like being on Pluto, California is the next most bizarre state in the nation for politics. And for guys like me and Julian, we are just going to watch this with eagerness because it gives us something to talk and write about for the next four months.
KOPPEL: Well, let's take a look at something else.
These are the most recent poll numbers to come out in terms of President Bush's approval rating. This is coming out in July 16-17.
He dropped 8 percentage points from May until now. Clearly 55 percent is still nothing to sneeze at. But Rich Galen, do you think the Republicans have something to be worried about here?
GALEN: Well, I think anybody who's ever lived through a presidential election has got something to worry about.
I mean, the fact is that one of the things has happened to Bush 41, President Bush's dad, was that I don't think his staff, the campaign staff, took that re-election campaign seriously. And that's clearly different from what these folks are doing. They're taking it very seriously.
But there's a "Newsweek" poll -- let me just finish this quickly -- there was a "Newsweek" poll that came out just slightly after that, about three days later, that actually showed the president's numbers picking back up again. So these things, you know, the question is if the election were held today -- Julian and I have talked about this 100 times -- it ain't today.
KOPPEL: Julian, to what do the Democrats attribute this drop in numbers? Is this just a natural slide? Do you think that the release of the pictures of Saddam Hussein's sons and other moves in Iraq might be attributing to the president's slight decline in popularity?
EPSTEIN: Maybe on the margins. I think as President Clinton said, if you want to live like a Republican, you should vote for a Democrat because Democrats give you better economics. And I think any study of the Clinton administration's economic record versus this Bush administration or Bush 41, I think, makes that case pretty compelling.
I think the two things the Democrats really have going for them is that people don't have a great deal of trust in this administration's ability to get the economy moving again, one.
And two, there are great concerns, I think, and growing concerns about how well this administration is doing in securing our national security.
I think the fact that they went into Iraq and they were so unprepared for all of the post-war difficulties that they now face -- and I think this has been criticism coming from Republicans, not just Democrats -- I think is raising a lot of questions in people's minds as to whether or not we couldn't be doing a much better job. I think we could be doing a much better job.
GALEN: If you cover politics like a football game, Julian is right. But the fact is that most Americans don't do that and we'll see what happens next fall.
EPSTEIN: But most Americans do care about their pocketbook and they know that their pocketbook was a lot better when they had a Democrat in the White House.
GALEN: And Newt took over the White House of representatives.
KOPPEL: Well, certainly those poll numbers are still, I'm sure, many Republicans would say, something to be not too terribly concerned about.
I want to thank you both of you gentlemen...
EPSTEIN: Thank you, Andrea.
KOPPEL: ... Rich Galen, Julian Epstein. Thank you both for coming in.
GALEN: Pleasure to be with you. Good morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
