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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Anna Greenberg, Rick Reed

Aired October 05, 2003 - 10:20   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.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now, from the recall race for 2004 and the political race-- the president we're talking about. Time now to take stock of the week's headlines and how they add up for the political scorecards. For our discussion, Republican strategist Rick Reed and Democratic strategist Anna Greenberg. Both are ready to duke it out in Washington.
Good morning to the two of you.

ANNA GREENBERG, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning.

RICK REED, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning.

SAVIDGE: All right. Let's start off with Arnold Schwarzenegger; he seems to be the man of the moment in California and the allegations made against him. Rick, you think it's going to hurt him?

REED: Well, it's certainly not helping. It's not helpful to have this kind of inverse momentum at this stage in the campaign. I mean up until now, this election has been about Gray Davis, and to the extent it becomes more about Arnold Schwarzenegger, I don't think that's good. The only, I guess, bright light in this for Arnold is that it appears voters see some complicity between the Davis campaign and these last-minute charges.

Whether or not that's true, this governor's not a popular figure. He's widely disapproved of in terms of his job approval and the way he's running the state. And so the question is, will the attacks stick? I think they probably some of them will, but I still think it's Arnold's to lose. SAVIDGE: Ann, what do you think of that? Do you think that voters are going to be moved by this?

GREENBERG: Well, I do. I agree with Scott, they're very serious allegations, they're not helpful to him. It is true that this is an election that is better for Arnold if this was about Davis and not about him. It highlights his lack of experience, his lack of policy and gravitas. It highlights that he basically spent a life in entertainment and not in politics taking on serious problems. I think it's not good for him.

I think the other thing we're seeing is that the actual question of recall or not is tightening as well. And I think this is raising questions in people's mind, if they want to sort of engage in this sort of circus when they have serious problems in state and elect somebody who has absolutely no experience to take care of these problems. And so, the fact that that NBC poll shows support for the recall only at 50 percent, I think, is quite serious for Arnold.

SAVIDGE: All right, let's move away from California and to the nation's potential election that is coming up. Bush's numbers down; had a pretty rough week, that's for certain. Do you think now he may look beatable in 2004, Rick? Do you think there's a problem?

REED: No, I don't think it's a problem. And I think as much as the Democratic candidates would like to suggest that, I mean, this president is precisely with last five or six presidents have been during the third term -- third year of his first term.

SAVIDGE: You mean embroiled in a war in Iraq and embroiled with CIA leaks? I mean what do you mean by that?

REED: No. I mean in terms of his job approval and his favorability ratings. I mean let's remember, he's still in the low 50s. This is exactly where Bill Clinton was in his third year; exactly where Reagan, the last two presidents to get re-elected to a second term were in their third year.

I mean remember, Bill Clinton was losing, at this point, to Bob Dole and Reagan, at this point, in 1983 was losing to John Glenn who never even made it out of the primary.

SAVIDGE: Yes. But don't we also look at his father who was in a war with Iraq and we saw what happened to him. Ann, I mean, what do you take out of this?

GREENBERG: Well, honestly, I disagree with Scott. Obviously, the president is beatable. If you look at the national polls right now and you match up President Bush against a generic Democrat, not even a named Democrat, the race is basically tied right now.

It is true that if you look at, say, Clinton's favorability ratings at this time, that he was in a very similar place. But there's a very important difference -- In fact, two important differences. First, Clinton was presiding over an expanding economy, not a contracting economy, not an economy where people were losing jobs. And he was presiding over a fairly peaceful international situation. President Bush is presiding over a real mess in Iraq, a real mess internationally. Both of those problems are going to be very difficult for him to extricate himself. And certainly, I think, into the next year, I think they are going to pose serious challenges to his leadership.

So, I think, the situation is not equivalent to, say, you know, President Clinton's sort of third year in office, in his first term. I think they're completely different situations.

REED: Well, we're adding jobs. As you know, Anna, you saw the report come out from September, 57,000 new jobs. And I think by the time there's one Democrat and not 12 or 10 or whatever there are, the president can focus his campaign. And I think the country will be well served to see the contrast between Bush and whoever you all nominate. But the economy is recover.

GREENBERG: Most of those jobs that they added were temporary positions. They were not permanent jobs. They were not jobs with health care. People's No. 1 economic concern is not that they're going to lose their jobs, it's that they can't afford health care. Their second concern is they won't be able to retire. These are not -- these are intractable problems. They will not be solved by some short term, temporary job growth.

REED: Well, it's not short term.

SAVIDGE: All right. Anna and Rick, You know what? I'm sorry; we've got to leave it there. Rick, we started with you. Anna, we finished with you. We try to make it even as best we can. The voters in California and in the nation will have the final say. Thanks both for being with us this morning.

REED: Thanks, Martin.

GREENBERG: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: We appreciate the conversation. Thanks very much.

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 October 5, 2003 - 10:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now, from the recall race for 2004 and the political race-- the president we're talking about. Time now to take stock of the week's headlines and how they add up for the political scorecards. For our discussion, Republican strategist Rick Reed and Democratic strategist Anna Greenberg. Both are ready to duke it out in Washington.
Good morning to the two of you.

ANNA GREENBERG, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning.

RICK REED, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning.

SAVIDGE: All right. Let's start off with Arnold Schwarzenegger; he seems to be the man of the moment in California and the allegations made against him. Rick, you think it's going to hurt him?

REED: Well, it's certainly not helping. It's not helpful to have this kind of inverse momentum at this stage in the campaign. I mean up until now, this election has been about Gray Davis, and to the extent it becomes more about Arnold Schwarzenegger, I don't think that's good. The only, I guess, bright light in this for Arnold is that it appears voters see some complicity between the Davis campaign and these last-minute charges.

Whether or not that's true, this governor's not a popular figure. He's widely disapproved of in terms of his job approval and the way he's running the state. And so the question is, will the attacks stick? I think they probably some of them will, but I still think it's Arnold's to lose. SAVIDGE: Ann, what do you think of that? Do you think that voters are going to be moved by this?

GREENBERG: Well, I do. I agree with Scott, they're very serious allegations, they're not helpful to him. It is true that this is an election that is better for Arnold if this was about Davis and not about him. It highlights his lack of experience, his lack of policy and gravitas. It highlights that he basically spent a life in entertainment and not in politics taking on serious problems. I think it's not good for him.

I think the other thing we're seeing is that the actual question of recall or not is tightening as well. And I think this is raising questions in people's mind, if they want to sort of engage in this sort of circus when they have serious problems in state and elect somebody who has absolutely no experience to take care of these problems. And so, the fact that that NBC poll shows support for the recall only at 50 percent, I think, is quite serious for Arnold.

SAVIDGE: All right, let's move away from California and to the nation's potential election that is coming up. Bush's numbers down; had a pretty rough week, that's for certain. Do you think now he may look beatable in 2004, Rick? Do you think there's a problem?

REED: No, I don't think it's a problem. And I think as much as the Democratic candidates would like to suggest that, I mean, this president is precisely with last five or six presidents have been during the third term -- third year of his first term.

SAVIDGE: You mean embroiled in a war in Iraq and embroiled with CIA leaks? I mean what do you mean by that?

REED: No. I mean in terms of his job approval and his favorability ratings. I mean let's remember, he's still in the low 50s. This is exactly where Bill Clinton was in his third year; exactly where Reagan, the last two presidents to get re-elected to a second term were in their third year.

I mean remember, Bill Clinton was losing, at this point, to Bob Dole and Reagan, at this point, in 1983 was losing to John Glenn who never even made it out of the primary.

SAVIDGE: Yes. But don't we also look at his father who was in a war with Iraq and we saw what happened to him. Ann, I mean, what do you take out of this?

GREENBERG: Well, honestly, I disagree with Scott. Obviously, the president is beatable. If you look at the national polls right now and you match up President Bush against a generic Democrat, not even a named Democrat, the race is basically tied right now.

It is true that if you look at, say, Clinton's favorability ratings at this time, that he was in a very similar place. But there's a very important difference -- In fact, two important differences. First, Clinton was presiding over an expanding economy, not a contracting economy, not an economy where people were losing jobs. And he was presiding over a fairly peaceful international situation. President Bush is presiding over a real mess in Iraq, a real mess internationally. Both of those problems are going to be very difficult for him to extricate himself. And certainly, I think, into the next year, I think they are going to pose serious challenges to his leadership.

So, I think, the situation is not equivalent to, say, you know, President Clinton's sort of third year in office, in his first term. I think they're completely different situations.

REED: Well, we're adding jobs. As you know, Anna, you saw the report come out from September, 57,000 new jobs. And I think by the time there's one Democrat and not 12 or 10 or whatever there are, the president can focus his campaign. And I think the country will be well served to see the contrast between Bush and whoever you all nominate. But the economy is recover.

GREENBERG: Most of those jobs that they added were temporary positions. They were not permanent jobs. They were not jobs with health care. People's No. 1 economic concern is not that they're going to lose their jobs, it's that they can't afford health care. Their second concern is they won't be able to retire. These are not -- these are intractable problems. They will not be solved by some short term, temporary job growth.

REED: Well, it's not short term.

SAVIDGE: All right. Anna and Rick, You know what? I'm sorry; we've got to leave it there. Rick, we started with you. Anna, we finished with you. We try to make it even as best we can. The voters in California and in the nation will have the final say. Thanks both for being with us this morning.

REED: Thanks, Martin.

GREENBERG: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: We appreciate the conversation. Thanks very much.

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