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CNN Live Sunday
Interview With Eric Hoplin, Ashley Bell
Aired August 31, 2003 - 11:13 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for our regular roundtable on politics. Today we'll get some perspective from the younger voters in America.
From New Orleans this morning, Ashley Bell -- that is not Ashley Bell. Let's go to Ashley Bell first. She's the president of the college -- I'm sorry. Pardon me, Ashley. President of the College Democrats.
And in our Washington bureau, Eric Hoplin. He's the chairman of the College of Republicans.
My apologies once again, Ashley. We see you now. Thanks so much.
Let me go ahead and begin with Arnold Schwarzenegger and this interview with "Oui" magazine that people are certainly talking about right now. Eric, tell us, is this going to hurt him in California?
ERIC HOPLIN, CHAIRMAN, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: Well, I think it's hard to say whether or not it's going to hurt him. I think the people aren't interested in electing a governor who is -- who is not -- who is, you know, a typical politician like Gray Davis has been. This guy's going to come in, Arnold Schwarzenegger, without special interests if he's elected and clean up the massive problems Californians are having. And I think that they're not going to be interested in what happened in the 1970s.
But if you look at Cruz Bustamante, we've found that he's also had problems in the '70s being involved in racist organizations. I think that the people of California are looking to the future and looking to fix the problems in California, and not looking to blame the candidates in what they've done in the past.
COLLINS: Ashley, what about this interview? Going to have a big impact in your eyes?
ASHLEY BELL, PRESIDENT, COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: I don't think Eric was listening to about 15 seconds ago when they mentioned that Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he wasn't going to accept political contributions from special interests, which in fact he did. And that seems like a typical politician in my eyes. The people of California want someone who has answers, not just problems. Arnold has pointed out a lot of problems that California has, but has yet to show any real substance to his campaign.
COLLINS: Do you think that's true, Eric? Is he going to debate these issues?
HOPLIN: I don't know whether or not Arnold's going to debate, but I actually think that he should debate. If you've taken a look at some of the policy issues he has come up with, talking about not raising taxes, not cutting education spending, but making sure that Californians live within the budget that is needed to bring the state back into economic prosperity, I think that Arnold should debate, because he's going to gain a lot of votes when he talks about the substance of his platform. And I think he is going to be a great governor should he be elected, and certainly, we all see Gray Davis needs to be recalled because the state of California is failing under his leadership.
COLLINS: Well, let's take a minute to talk about that, just for a second. Obviously this is the issue in California. Bustamante, in fact, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, now attacking gas prices. Gore tried to use energy in 2000. Do you think this is going to help Bustamante, Ashley?
BELL: Yes, I think it is. I think the key difference is that democrats are offering solutions to California's problems. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking advantage of the situation in California, which is dismal. But what he is doing is using this -- using the issues to not really -- to scare people into voting for him. Not really give anyone hope or reason to vote for him. Bustamante is offering clear solutions and people want to hear answers to the problems. Now, you'll see him jump on board. He'll attack Bustamante time and time again for his solutions, but he won't offer any that make any sense or communicate a message to the California voters they can get behind.
COLLINS: But Eric, according to some past investigations, in years past, that is, about the possible manipulation of gas prices by oil industry, none of those have really panned out. What are your thoughts on this?
HOPLIN: Well, I think that Bustamante is clearly moving far to the left in trying to have government regulate the entire oil industry and the oil prices. Bustamante wants to raise taxes on Californians by $8 billion. So you're right, Ashley, he has some ideas and he is putting forward some ideas, and it's the Bustamante/Davis ideas that have led to the terrible state of the California economy. So I think the more Bustamante talks, the fewer votes he's going to get. And Schwarzenegger in not raising taxes and cutting wasteful government spending is going to fix the problems in California. And I think voters will respond to that overwhelmingly.
BELL: Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger is the conservative candidate in this race? You're talking about Bustamante moving to the left. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not your traditional conservative. You're trying to paint him that way, but he is nowhere near close to the other candidates that you guys have offered. I don't even think that Arnold Schwarzenegger could even win an election in College Republicans, in my opinion.
COLLINS: Eric, is Arnold Schwarzenegger posing himself as a traditional conservative runner here?
HOPLIN: I don't think Arnold is trying to pose himself as a traditional conservative. He's talked about some of the social issues that he maybe doesn't agree with all Christian conservatives on.
But I think if you look at the fiscal nature of Arnold's platform and policies he wants to implement as governor, I think conservatives across the country are rallying behind him. In fact, College Republicans in the state of California are, in droves, lining up behind him, and they're traditional conservative voters. And I think that if we've seen anything in the last week, that thousands of students are joining our organization, the College Republicans, because they're excited about the future of California under republican leadership.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and look at some numbers, guys. We'll get back to that question as far as how things have changed with young voters across the country. But I want to ask you about this new poll that's coming to us from Zogby International in New Hampshire. Let's go ahead and pull up those numbers and talk about them for just a second.
Howard Dean, 21 points ahead of John Kerry now in New Hampshire. 64 percent of the democrats say they think Bush will win anyway. So is Dean going to be good for the democrats, or will they lose America by going too far to the left? Ashley?
BELL: Well, the first thing we have to look at, and New Hampshire is an important state, so is Iowa an important state. They set the pace for this presidential election, but there are more primaries to come.
The media's focusing on New Hampshire. But actually, once you leave New Hampshire and you go into states like South Carolina that truly show the diversity of America, states where democrats have their constituency bases, with strong African-American voter turnout like South Carolina, you will see different polling there. You look at candidates like Edwards start showing up stronger in those polls. Dean is strong in New Hampshire, but you would expect so with him being the next-door neighbor.
COLLINS: Eric?
HOPLIN: Well, I think that Howard Dean is winning the hearts and minds of liberals across the country because he's the only democratic candidate in the race who is speaking his mind. Everyone else is poll testing their message and is shifting their position left and right and left and right to try to find what they think the voters are going to respond to most. I think if any one of them is selected, that type of wishy-washiness is going to be so transparent when compared to George W. Bush and his plain-spoken honesty.
BELL: Honesty and George W. Bush? My! I don't mean to skip the issues, but we can look at the recent fund-raising...
COLLINS: Unfortunately, guys, we can't skip to issues because we are out of time. We certainly appreciate you guys being here with us today.
Ashley Bell, president of the College Democrats, and in our Washington bureau, Eric Hoplin, chairman of the College Republicans, thanks again.
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 31, 2003 - 11:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for our regular roundtable on politics. Today we'll get some perspective from the younger voters in America.
From New Orleans this morning, Ashley Bell -- that is not Ashley Bell. Let's go to Ashley Bell first. She's the president of the college -- I'm sorry. Pardon me, Ashley. President of the College Democrats.
And in our Washington bureau, Eric Hoplin. He's the chairman of the College of Republicans.
My apologies once again, Ashley. We see you now. Thanks so much.
Let me go ahead and begin with Arnold Schwarzenegger and this interview with "Oui" magazine that people are certainly talking about right now. Eric, tell us, is this going to hurt him in California?
ERIC HOPLIN, CHAIRMAN, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS: Well, I think it's hard to say whether or not it's going to hurt him. I think the people aren't interested in electing a governor who is -- who is not -- who is, you know, a typical politician like Gray Davis has been. This guy's going to come in, Arnold Schwarzenegger, without special interests if he's elected and clean up the massive problems Californians are having. And I think that they're not going to be interested in what happened in the 1970s.
But if you look at Cruz Bustamante, we've found that he's also had problems in the '70s being involved in racist organizations. I think that the people of California are looking to the future and looking to fix the problems in California, and not looking to blame the candidates in what they've done in the past.
COLLINS: Ashley, what about this interview? Going to have a big impact in your eyes?
ASHLEY BELL, PRESIDENT, COLLEGE DEMOCRATS: I don't think Eric was listening to about 15 seconds ago when they mentioned that Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he wasn't going to accept political contributions from special interests, which in fact he did. And that seems like a typical politician in my eyes. The people of California want someone who has answers, not just problems. Arnold has pointed out a lot of problems that California has, but has yet to show any real substance to his campaign.
COLLINS: Do you think that's true, Eric? Is he going to debate these issues?
HOPLIN: I don't know whether or not Arnold's going to debate, but I actually think that he should debate. If you've taken a look at some of the policy issues he has come up with, talking about not raising taxes, not cutting education spending, but making sure that Californians live within the budget that is needed to bring the state back into economic prosperity, I think that Arnold should debate, because he's going to gain a lot of votes when he talks about the substance of his platform. And I think he is going to be a great governor should he be elected, and certainly, we all see Gray Davis needs to be recalled because the state of California is failing under his leadership.
COLLINS: Well, let's take a minute to talk about that, just for a second. Obviously this is the issue in California. Bustamante, in fact, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, now attacking gas prices. Gore tried to use energy in 2000. Do you think this is going to help Bustamante, Ashley?
BELL: Yes, I think it is. I think the key difference is that democrats are offering solutions to California's problems. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking advantage of the situation in California, which is dismal. But what he is doing is using this -- using the issues to not really -- to scare people into voting for him. Not really give anyone hope or reason to vote for him. Bustamante is offering clear solutions and people want to hear answers to the problems. Now, you'll see him jump on board. He'll attack Bustamante time and time again for his solutions, but he won't offer any that make any sense or communicate a message to the California voters they can get behind.
COLLINS: But Eric, according to some past investigations, in years past, that is, about the possible manipulation of gas prices by oil industry, none of those have really panned out. What are your thoughts on this?
HOPLIN: Well, I think that Bustamante is clearly moving far to the left in trying to have government regulate the entire oil industry and the oil prices. Bustamante wants to raise taxes on Californians by $8 billion. So you're right, Ashley, he has some ideas and he is putting forward some ideas, and it's the Bustamante/Davis ideas that have led to the terrible state of the California economy. So I think the more Bustamante talks, the fewer votes he's going to get. And Schwarzenegger in not raising taxes and cutting wasteful government spending is going to fix the problems in California. And I think voters will respond to that overwhelmingly.
BELL: Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger is the conservative candidate in this race? You're talking about Bustamante moving to the left. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not your traditional conservative. You're trying to paint him that way, but he is nowhere near close to the other candidates that you guys have offered. I don't even think that Arnold Schwarzenegger could even win an election in College Republicans, in my opinion.
COLLINS: Eric, is Arnold Schwarzenegger posing himself as a traditional conservative runner here?
HOPLIN: I don't think Arnold is trying to pose himself as a traditional conservative. He's talked about some of the social issues that he maybe doesn't agree with all Christian conservatives on.
But I think if you look at the fiscal nature of Arnold's platform and policies he wants to implement as governor, I think conservatives across the country are rallying behind him. In fact, College Republicans in the state of California are, in droves, lining up behind him, and they're traditional conservative voters. And I think that if we've seen anything in the last week, that thousands of students are joining our organization, the College Republicans, because they're excited about the future of California under republican leadership.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and look at some numbers, guys. We'll get back to that question as far as how things have changed with young voters across the country. But I want to ask you about this new poll that's coming to us from Zogby International in New Hampshire. Let's go ahead and pull up those numbers and talk about them for just a second.
Howard Dean, 21 points ahead of John Kerry now in New Hampshire. 64 percent of the democrats say they think Bush will win anyway. So is Dean going to be good for the democrats, or will they lose America by going too far to the left? Ashley?
BELL: Well, the first thing we have to look at, and New Hampshire is an important state, so is Iowa an important state. They set the pace for this presidential election, but there are more primaries to come.
The media's focusing on New Hampshire. But actually, once you leave New Hampshire and you go into states like South Carolina that truly show the diversity of America, states where democrats have their constituency bases, with strong African-American voter turnout like South Carolina, you will see different polling there. You look at candidates like Edwards start showing up stronger in those polls. Dean is strong in New Hampshire, but you would expect so with him being the next-door neighbor.
COLLINS: Eric?
HOPLIN: Well, I think that Howard Dean is winning the hearts and minds of liberals across the country because he's the only democratic candidate in the race who is speaking his mind. Everyone else is poll testing their message and is shifting their position left and right and left and right to try to find what they think the voters are going to respond to most. I think if any one of them is selected, that type of wishy-washiness is going to be so transparent when compared to George W. Bush and his plain-spoken honesty.
BELL: Honesty and George W. Bush? My! I don't mean to skip the issues, but we can look at the recent fund-raising...
COLLINS: Unfortunately, guys, we can't skip to issues because we are out of time. We certainly appreciate you guys being here with us today.
Ashley Bell, president of the College Democrats, and in our Washington bureau, Eric Hoplin, chairman of the College Republicans, thanks again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
