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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Michael Weisskopf

Aired August 17, 2003 - 11:06   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: Well, it's been a week for power politics, from the political blame game, that being in full swing after the biggest ever electricity blackout, to the pressure on the dozens of candidates who want to replace California's Governor Gray Davis. Michael Weisskopf, "Time" magazine's Senior Correspondent, is along to take us through this political week. Good to see you.
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. If I recall correctly, it's the California blackout, the brownouts, that got the current governor in the kind of predicament that he's in right now. So for this North American blackout, who is likely to take this blame?

WEISSKOPF: Oh, everybody does, Fredricka. This is a failure of Congress and of policymakers, as well as industry at large, to provide transmission capacity for the nation's energy sector. We are a super- power operating in an almost 19th or early 20th century power structure, and so everyone really gets the finger pointing.

WHITFIELD: So when you say everyone, meaning the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, previous administrations because there are those who say this is a problem, this antiquated grid system would not have been fixed had there not been a failure of this magnitude.

WEISSKOPF: Yes, it's a free for all, really, for blame, in that the system has let us down. Really not because of any specific policy, but because of priority focuses elsewhere, even within the energy bill, for instance, which has been bantered around in Washington for a couple years, now. The focus has been elsewhere on oil resources, for instance, or gas development.

The concept of modernizing these transmission grids is something that's been pushed far back into the distance. And probably because nobody wants these things built in their neighborhood. And they are ugly, they are, and they provide a service that is only important when it's missing.

WHITFIELD: So if the Bush administration doesn't come up with a solution that appeals to everyone, how do you suppose this just might impact his re-election?

WEISSKOPF: Oh, I don't think it will. I think this has been a very regionalized and temporary phenomenon. We'll be back with the air conditioners humming at full speed again soon. Blackouts are something that are really very periodic and they don't really have a big political impact. Unlike, for instance, snow removal in a place like Chicago.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, talking about elections, in this case special elections, in California, the latest polls are showing that Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante seems to be edging it out, coming out ahead of what other recent polls had put Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead. How do you explain this one? If Cruz Bustamante is associated with Governor Gray Davis, the same system, why is it that this go around maybe voters might appeal to him?

WEISSKOPF: What you're seeing here is democrats bailing on Davis and realizing he probably is going to lose and they ought to begin focusing on a replacement. So you watch, for instance, the number of those preferring recalling increasing, even in the last few weeks from 50 percent to almost 60 percent, those are the same people now who are looking towards another democrat, Bustamante, a man with statewide control. Obvious appeal to the Latino community, which makes up a full third of the California electorate. And access to the normal democratic leverage of power in the state.

WHITFIELD: So you see voters as taking a stance of, this is more personal than it is political?

WEISSKOPF: No, I think in the end, that Californians will consider who will run the state better. These were complex economic and energy issues which have toppled Davis, and so it's too easy to look for just a bright Hollywood face to replace him. They will want specific concrete solutions. Unless Schwarzenegger can come up with them, he is going to fall in the polls.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about this huge field of republicans, who are all vying for some sort of position. And now sort of a drawing of straws, if you will, on, you know, which republican candidates ought to be weeded out of the process. Explain a little bit about how that's going off?

WEISSKOPF: Well, let's look at it in terms of the political sectors on the republican side. You have the moderates, and Schwarzenegger is right in the center of that. But a very strong republican right. And there you've got in a state senator, and in Bill Simon, who ran against Davis last time, two candidates splitting up the vote. And the question is whether they'll remain, both of them will remain in the race.

Schwarzenegger himself is not a traditional republican in that he reaches out to people like Warren Buffett, for instance, who supports Hillary Clinton politically, and opposes many of the things on the right, which Californians, and republicans in California, prefer. Such as tax cuts.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michael Weisskopf, thanks very much. Good to see you. We'll be looking for your "Time" magazine cover story.

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 August 17, 2003 - 11:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's been a week for power politics, from the political blame game, that being in full swing after the biggest ever electricity blackout, to the pressure on the dozens of candidates who want to replace California's Governor Gray Davis. Michael Weisskopf, "Time" magazine's Senior Correspondent, is along to take us through this political week. Good to see you.
MICHAEL WEISSKOPF, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. If I recall correctly, it's the California blackout, the brownouts, that got the current governor in the kind of predicament that he's in right now. So for this North American blackout, who is likely to take this blame?

WEISSKOPF: Oh, everybody does, Fredricka. This is a failure of Congress and of policymakers, as well as industry at large, to provide transmission capacity for the nation's energy sector. We are a super- power operating in an almost 19th or early 20th century power structure, and so everyone really gets the finger pointing.

WHITFIELD: So when you say everyone, meaning the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, previous administrations because there are those who say this is a problem, this antiquated grid system would not have been fixed had there not been a failure of this magnitude.

WEISSKOPF: Yes, it's a free for all, really, for blame, in that the system has let us down. Really not because of any specific policy, but because of priority focuses elsewhere, even within the energy bill, for instance, which has been bantered around in Washington for a couple years, now. The focus has been elsewhere on oil resources, for instance, or gas development.

The concept of modernizing these transmission grids is something that's been pushed far back into the distance. And probably because nobody wants these things built in their neighborhood. And they are ugly, they are, and they provide a service that is only important when it's missing.

WHITFIELD: So if the Bush administration doesn't come up with a solution that appeals to everyone, how do you suppose this just might impact his re-election?

WEISSKOPF: Oh, I don't think it will. I think this has been a very regionalized and temporary phenomenon. We'll be back with the air conditioners humming at full speed again soon. Blackouts are something that are really very periodic and they don't really have a big political impact. Unlike, for instance, snow removal in a place like Chicago.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, talking about elections, in this case special elections, in California, the latest polls are showing that Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante seems to be edging it out, coming out ahead of what other recent polls had put Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead. How do you explain this one? If Cruz Bustamante is associated with Governor Gray Davis, the same system, why is it that this go around maybe voters might appeal to him?

WEISSKOPF: What you're seeing here is democrats bailing on Davis and realizing he probably is going to lose and they ought to begin focusing on a replacement. So you watch, for instance, the number of those preferring recalling increasing, even in the last few weeks from 50 percent to almost 60 percent, those are the same people now who are looking towards another democrat, Bustamante, a man with statewide control. Obvious appeal to the Latino community, which makes up a full third of the California electorate. And access to the normal democratic leverage of power in the state.

WHITFIELD: So you see voters as taking a stance of, this is more personal than it is political?

WEISSKOPF: No, I think in the end, that Californians will consider who will run the state better. These were complex economic and energy issues which have toppled Davis, and so it's too easy to look for just a bright Hollywood face to replace him. They will want specific concrete solutions. Unless Schwarzenegger can come up with them, he is going to fall in the polls.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about this huge field of republicans, who are all vying for some sort of position. And now sort of a drawing of straws, if you will, on, you know, which republican candidates ought to be weeded out of the process. Explain a little bit about how that's going off?

WEISSKOPF: Well, let's look at it in terms of the political sectors on the republican side. You have the moderates, and Schwarzenegger is right in the center of that. But a very strong republican right. And there you've got in a state senator, and in Bill Simon, who ran against Davis last time, two candidates splitting up the vote. And the question is whether they'll remain, both of them will remain in the race.

Schwarzenegger himself is not a traditional republican in that he reaches out to people like Warren Buffett, for instance, who supports Hillary Clinton politically, and opposes many of the things on the right, which Californians, and republicans in California, prefer. Such as tax cuts.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michael Weisskopf, thanks very much. Good to see you. We'll be looking for your "Time" magazine cover story.

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