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CNN Live Today

Presidential Campaign Action

Aired September 03, 2003 - 10:08   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It might still be sizzling where you are, but fall is in the air in New Hampshire, according to the thermometer and the surge of presidential campaign action.
Judy Woodruff is in the lead off primary state with our voter alert.

Judy, we have tracked you down. Good morning to you.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have found me and I found you.

KAGAN: Yes.

WOODRUFF: Daryn, thanks very much. Yes, I am in Manchester, New Hampshire. So is John Kerry. He's here. This is the latest stop on his presidential campaign announcement tour, after spending time in South Carolina and Iowa.

You know, the stakes are especially high for Kerry here in New Hampshire, where his rival John Dean -- Howard Dean has surged ahead in the public opinion polls.

I'm going to ask John Kerry about his campaign and whether a shake-up may be in the works on "INSIDE POLITICS." That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, all nine of the Democratic candidates are gathering for their first in a series of debates. They're going to face off in New Mexico tomorrow night. Another sign that campaign 2004 is picking up steam.

And a question, will retired General Wesley Clark join the ranks of White House hopefuls? Well, Clark may offer a clue when he joins me today live on "INSIDE POLITICS."

Turning now to the California recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger plans a speech later today at Cal State University in Long Beach, California. But he is not going to be taking part in today's first official recall debate. And that's a move that is sure to make him vulnerable to critics who say that he's not ready for the political prime-time.

CNN's Bob Franken is in California, where you've been following the recall. Bob, how are the other candidates getting ready for this debate tonight? BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're laying low right now and preparing for what could be a make or break kind of appearance for them. But Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided that he's going to do a make or break disappearance, not appearing the debate.

He will, in fact, do a campaign event at Long Beach State College today, where he is going to have what he calls a tone-setting speech. He won't be appearing in the debate, however. And the candidates are saying that his decision to appear in only one, where the California Broadcasters Association, has surprised everybody by saying the questions would be submitted in advance of the September 24 debate.

Well, that has prompted criticism from Schwarzenegger's opponents that he is only going to be an actor remembering his lines.

Of course, in interviews with local reporters, he had a different take on things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV CANDIDATE: We have gotten a lot of offers for different debates, dozens of offers. I don't want to do all of those debates, because I'd rather just go out and have direct contact with the people, go to television stations and radio stations and do interviews and talk, as we're doing right now, to get the message out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: That was his take on it, of course, Judy. The opponents are saying that what he's trying to do is avoid a situation he can't control -- Judy?

WOODRUFF: Bob, what about that debate where the questions are going to be submitted in advance? We know now the date has been pushed back a week. Is that going to put pressure on anybody to put together a debate where questions are not known in advance?

FRANKEN: Well, we already have some. And before and after, Schwarzenegger has not committed to any of those. The first debate of that type is going to be held tonight in Contra Costa, which is up in the more northern part of the state. And it's an interesting format. It will have Governor Gray Davis in the first 30 minutes appearing by himself. He'll be appearing and taking questions from reporters.

Then the other candidates, the ones who are among the possible successors today if he loses the recall will be appearing. Now what's interesting is, is that the organizers of this debate were planning to put together a situation where they had an empty chair.

Well, the Schwarzenegger people bitterly complained about that. So they're won't be an empty chair. There will be the empty dressing room that you just saw right there, Arnold Schwarzenegger's dressing room. He will not be appearing, but he will certainly be there in the spirit, that is to say the bad spirit of the opposition candidates who are probably going to say just about more than anything tonight, where's Arnold?

And we know where Judy is. She's in New Hampshire -- Judy?

WOODRUFF: Well, we can imagine the Schwarzenegger people were not happy about the empty chair. All right, Bob Franken, watching it all for us from California. Thanks, Bob.

Support for Arnold Schwarzenegger, we want you to know, in the just for fun Taco Bell poll appears to have made a run for the border. Week two of the poll finds Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante at 9 percent, with Schwarzenegger "Crunchy Beef Taco" as 0 percent. The "Grilled Stuft Burrito" is the runaway favorite. It represents the 133 other recall candidates.

It looks like there may be a little planning going into people's choice on the Taco Bell menu.

And you know all the big names in the recall campaign, but what about those other 133 candidates? Schwarzenegger is not the only immigrant in the race. We're going to be hearing from one man who says he is clearly living the American dream. He'll be joining us today at 3:00 Eastern.

But for now, let's go back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: And Judy, what is the thing with Wesley Clark? Why is he doing this so slowly and kind of piece by piece? What's the thinking behind that? Why not just come out and say what you're doing?

WOODRUFF: Very good question, Daryn. I think that General Clark believes that his strength is going to be in his being seen as an outsider, somebody who's not part of a political game, who's not in there campaigning in the traditional sense of the word.

He is trying to push off his decision, I think, as late as possible. All indications are at this point, I think, that he will get in, but we're going to have wait and see. And as I mentioned, he's going to be joining me today on "INSIDE POLITICS" at 4:00.

KAGAN: And you'll be pressing him hard there. Thank for that, Judy. Looking forward to that from New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Daryn. See you then.

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 September 3, 2003 - 10:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It might still be sizzling where you are, but fall is in the air in New Hampshire, according to the thermometer and the surge of presidential campaign action.
Judy Woodruff is in the lead off primary state with our voter alert.

Judy, we have tracked you down. Good morning to you.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have found me and I found you.

KAGAN: Yes.

WOODRUFF: Daryn, thanks very much. Yes, I am in Manchester, New Hampshire. So is John Kerry. He's here. This is the latest stop on his presidential campaign announcement tour, after spending time in South Carolina and Iowa.

You know, the stakes are especially high for Kerry here in New Hampshire, where his rival John Dean -- Howard Dean has surged ahead in the public opinion polls.

I'm going to ask John Kerry about his campaign and whether a shake-up may be in the works on "INSIDE POLITICS." That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, all nine of the Democratic candidates are gathering for their first in a series of debates. They're going to face off in New Mexico tomorrow night. Another sign that campaign 2004 is picking up steam.

And a question, will retired General Wesley Clark join the ranks of White House hopefuls? Well, Clark may offer a clue when he joins me today live on "INSIDE POLITICS."

Turning now to the California recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger plans a speech later today at Cal State University in Long Beach, California. But he is not going to be taking part in today's first official recall debate. And that's a move that is sure to make him vulnerable to critics who say that he's not ready for the political prime-time.

CNN's Bob Franken is in California, where you've been following the recall. Bob, how are the other candidates getting ready for this debate tonight? BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're laying low right now and preparing for what could be a make or break kind of appearance for them. But Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided that he's going to do a make or break disappearance, not appearing the debate.

He will, in fact, do a campaign event at Long Beach State College today, where he is going to have what he calls a tone-setting speech. He won't be appearing in the debate, however. And the candidates are saying that his decision to appear in only one, where the California Broadcasters Association, has surprised everybody by saying the questions would be submitted in advance of the September 24 debate.

Well, that has prompted criticism from Schwarzenegger's opponents that he is only going to be an actor remembering his lines.

Of course, in interviews with local reporters, he had a different take on things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV CANDIDATE: We have gotten a lot of offers for different debates, dozens of offers. I don't want to do all of those debates, because I'd rather just go out and have direct contact with the people, go to television stations and radio stations and do interviews and talk, as we're doing right now, to get the message out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: That was his take on it, of course, Judy. The opponents are saying that what he's trying to do is avoid a situation he can't control -- Judy?

WOODRUFF: Bob, what about that debate where the questions are going to be submitted in advance? We know now the date has been pushed back a week. Is that going to put pressure on anybody to put together a debate where questions are not known in advance?

FRANKEN: Well, we already have some. And before and after, Schwarzenegger has not committed to any of those. The first debate of that type is going to be held tonight in Contra Costa, which is up in the more northern part of the state. And it's an interesting format. It will have Governor Gray Davis in the first 30 minutes appearing by himself. He'll be appearing and taking questions from reporters.

Then the other candidates, the ones who are among the possible successors today if he loses the recall will be appearing. Now what's interesting is, is that the organizers of this debate were planning to put together a situation where they had an empty chair.

Well, the Schwarzenegger people bitterly complained about that. So they're won't be an empty chair. There will be the empty dressing room that you just saw right there, Arnold Schwarzenegger's dressing room. He will not be appearing, but he will certainly be there in the spirit, that is to say the bad spirit of the opposition candidates who are probably going to say just about more than anything tonight, where's Arnold?

And we know where Judy is. She's in New Hampshire -- Judy?

WOODRUFF: Well, we can imagine the Schwarzenegger people were not happy about the empty chair. All right, Bob Franken, watching it all for us from California. Thanks, Bob.

Support for Arnold Schwarzenegger, we want you to know, in the just for fun Taco Bell poll appears to have made a run for the border. Week two of the poll finds Governor Gray Davis and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante at 9 percent, with Schwarzenegger "Crunchy Beef Taco" as 0 percent. The "Grilled Stuft Burrito" is the runaway favorite. It represents the 133 other recall candidates.

It looks like there may be a little planning going into people's choice on the Taco Bell menu.

And you know all the big names in the recall campaign, but what about those other 133 candidates? Schwarzenegger is not the only immigrant in the race. We're going to be hearing from one man who says he is clearly living the American dream. He'll be joining us today at 3:00 Eastern.

But for now, let's go back to Daryn in Atlanta.

KAGAN: And Judy, what is the thing with Wesley Clark? Why is he doing this so slowly and kind of piece by piece? What's the thinking behind that? Why not just come out and say what you're doing?

WOODRUFF: Very good question, Daryn. I think that General Clark believes that his strength is going to be in his being seen as an outsider, somebody who's not part of a political game, who's not in there campaigning in the traditional sense of the word.

He is trying to push off his decision, I think, as late as possible. All indications are at this point, I think, that he will get in, but we're going to have wait and see. And as I mentioned, he's going to be joining me today on "INSIDE POLITICS" at 4:00.

KAGAN: And you'll be pressing him hard there. Thank for that, Judy. Looking forward to that from New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Daryn. See you then.

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