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American Morning
Group of Presidential Hopefuls Gathered Yesterday in Iowa to Debate
Aired January 05, 2004 - 08:17 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Say this for Howard Dean's Democratic rivals, they're consistent. A group of the presidential hopefuls gathered yesterday in Iowa to debate. And, as in previous forums, the theme once again was finding fault with the front runner.
Senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us this morning from Des Moines with his take on yesterday's debate -- hey, Jeff, good morning.
Happy New Year.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year.
And before the debate, Soledad, Dean campaign chief Joe Trippi said that his candidate was prepping at Home Depot to be ready for everything, including the kitchen sink, that his rivals were going to throw at him. That became especially clear when it became the candidates' turn to question each other.
Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who's more or less conceded Iowa, seemed more like a prosecutor than a candidate, as he challenged Governor Dean to release his sealed gubernatorial records and provided the visual highlight of the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have the power. I'm prepared to give you the pen.
DR. HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we have done is we've stepped aside. We've turned everything over to the attorney general of the State of Vermont and the attorney general of the State of Vermont will go to court and a judge will look over every document in our records and they are free to release whatever they'd like, and that's fine with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back to Senator Lieberman.
LIEBERMAN: With -- that is an unsatisfactory and disappointing answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Senator John Kerry, who's hoping for a second place finish here in Iowa, to rebound into New Hampshire, came closest to raising the character issue, as he challenged Governor Dean on his inconsistencies. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think these changes, even the difference of what you just said now, which is different from your own clarification, raises a serious question about your ability to be able to stand up to George Bush and make Americans feel safe and secure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last comment.
DEAN: A gaffe in Washington is when you tell the truth and the Washington establishment thinks you shouldn't have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Congressman Richard Gephardt, who has made Iowa a more or less political life and death matter, win these caucuses or get out, returned to familiar ground in challenging that Governor Dean had betrayed the Democrats in their hour of need.
Governor Dean responded with a verbal shrug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: My question has to do with 1995 and the fight we had in the budget over Medicare funding. The Republicans tried to cut Medicare by $270 billion and Bill Clinton and the Democrats fought them off. They even shut the government down. At that time, you were head of the Governors Association and you agreed with their proposal.
How do you explain that position?
DEAN: What I believe in is that we need to save Medicare, we need to make it work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Senator John Edwards turned in one of his stronger performances of the debate season, staying out of the give and take, and urging his follow Democrats to turn to broader focuses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The shifting of the tax burden from wealth to middle class working families is a problem. But all of it's part of the bigger issue, which is what's happening to most families, middle class families in this country?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Even long shot candidate, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, kind of took a shot at Dean by urging the peace wing of the Democrats in Iowa, which is substantial, to vote for him because he was the only candidate who actually wanted to get out of Iraq. Now, whether Kucinich or Gephardt or Edwards or Kerry or anyone else made a dent in Dean here in Iowa, we will find out, Soledad, in two weeks and 14 or 15 hours -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Not that you're counting, right?
All right, so there's two weeks to Iowa. Howard Dean now on the cover of both "Time" and "Newsweek,"
Give me a sense of, in spite of the other candidates' best efforts, is Howard Dean's momentum essentially unstoppable?
GREENFIELD: Well, I think in some ways the most important event that may have happened yesterday was that both "Time" and "Newsweek," for the second time, put Howard Dean on their covers. "Newsweek's" article, in particular, raised what Howard Dean knows he's going to be facing now. After the gee whiz, look at this long shot suddenly moving to the front of the pack, questions about doubts about Dean. What about his inconsistencies? Are there dents in his armor?
And I think we're going to find out in Iowa less than we're going to find out down the road, that is, the dents in Dean's armor, I think, are less effective here than they may be down the road in more conservative states as he goes for an early knockout -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Greenfield for us this morning.
Jeff, thanks.
Now, do you stay in Iowa or are you coming back before you head back out?
GREENFIELD: No, I'm going to come back as soon as I can to avoid the next snowstorm. We've got to start this process in Arizona sooner or later.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you then.
Thanks, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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Aired January 5, 2004 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Say this for Howard Dean's Democratic rivals, they're consistent. A group of the presidential hopefuls gathered yesterday in Iowa to debate. And, as in previous forums, the theme once again was finding fault with the front runner.
Senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us this morning from Des Moines with his take on yesterday's debate -- hey, Jeff, good morning.
Happy New Year.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year.
And before the debate, Soledad, Dean campaign chief Joe Trippi said that his candidate was prepping at Home Depot to be ready for everything, including the kitchen sink, that his rivals were going to throw at him. That became especially clear when it became the candidates' turn to question each other.
Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who's more or less conceded Iowa, seemed more like a prosecutor than a candidate, as he challenged Governor Dean to release his sealed gubernatorial records and provided the visual highlight of the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have the power. I'm prepared to give you the pen.
DR. HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we have done is we've stepped aside. We've turned everything over to the attorney general of the State of Vermont and the attorney general of the State of Vermont will go to court and a judge will look over every document in our records and they are free to release whatever they'd like, and that's fine with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back to Senator Lieberman.
LIEBERMAN: With -- that is an unsatisfactory and disappointing answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Senator John Kerry, who's hoping for a second place finish here in Iowa, to rebound into New Hampshire, came closest to raising the character issue, as he challenged Governor Dean on his inconsistencies. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think these changes, even the difference of what you just said now, which is different from your own clarification, raises a serious question about your ability to be able to stand up to George Bush and make Americans feel safe and secure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last comment.
DEAN: A gaffe in Washington is when you tell the truth and the Washington establishment thinks you shouldn't have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Congressman Richard Gephardt, who has made Iowa a more or less political life and death matter, win these caucuses or get out, returned to familiar ground in challenging that Governor Dean had betrayed the Democrats in their hour of need.
Governor Dean responded with a verbal shrug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: My question has to do with 1995 and the fight we had in the budget over Medicare funding. The Republicans tried to cut Medicare by $270 billion and Bill Clinton and the Democrats fought them off. They even shut the government down. At that time, you were head of the Governors Association and you agreed with their proposal.
How do you explain that position?
DEAN: What I believe in is that we need to save Medicare, we need to make it work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Senator John Edwards turned in one of his stronger performances of the debate season, staying out of the give and take, and urging his follow Democrats to turn to broader focuses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The shifting of the tax burden from wealth to middle class working families is a problem. But all of it's part of the bigger issue, which is what's happening to most families, middle class families in this country?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GREENFIELD: Even long shot candidate, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, kind of took a shot at Dean by urging the peace wing of the Democrats in Iowa, which is substantial, to vote for him because he was the only candidate who actually wanted to get out of Iraq. Now, whether Kucinich or Gephardt or Edwards or Kerry or anyone else made a dent in Dean here in Iowa, we will find out, Soledad, in two weeks and 14 or 15 hours -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Not that you're counting, right?
All right, so there's two weeks to Iowa. Howard Dean now on the cover of both "Time" and "Newsweek,"
Give me a sense of, in spite of the other candidates' best efforts, is Howard Dean's momentum essentially unstoppable?
GREENFIELD: Well, I think in some ways the most important event that may have happened yesterday was that both "Time" and "Newsweek," for the second time, put Howard Dean on their covers. "Newsweek's" article, in particular, raised what Howard Dean knows he's going to be facing now. After the gee whiz, look at this long shot suddenly moving to the front of the pack, questions about doubts about Dean. What about his inconsistencies? Are there dents in his armor?
And I think we're going to find out in Iowa less than we're going to find out down the road, that is, the dents in Dean's armor, I think, are less effective here than they may be down the road in more conservative states as he goes for an early knockout -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Greenfield for us this morning.
Jeff, thanks.
Now, do you stay in Iowa or are you coming back before you head back out?
GREENFIELD: No, I'm going to come back as soon as I can to avoid the next snowstorm. We've got to start this process in Arizona sooner or later.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you then.
Thanks, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
to Debate>
