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American Morning
Why Key Democrats are Supporting Dean
Aired January 06, 2004 - 07:32 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to politics now. He's billed himself as the party's anti-establishment candidate. Why is it that the Democratic establishment is lining up now between and behind Howard Dean?
This morning, about 15 minutes from now, the Democratic front runner will get another high profile endorsement, this time from another former senator and presidential candidate, Bill Bradley.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider back with us in D.C. -- nice to see you, Bill.
Welcome.
Good morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.
HEMMER: You believe this is a message.
What's the message in it?
SCHNEIDER: The message is that the party establishment is saying don't stop this guy. Look, he's going to get the nomination, they feel, and their view is, look, we're going to, not going to throw up a roadblock in front of Howard Dean, mostly because Democrats agree with Dean. His anti-Bush, anti-war message has a lot of resonance among rank and file Democrats. Even though he claims he's running against the party establishment and wants to transform the Democratic Party, he's running in the name of the values that most Democrats actually hold.
HEMMER: Why, then, Bill, is the Democratic Party not fighting back on this? There was a push back four years ago on the Republican side. Why not now?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, when John McCain challenged the Republican establishment in 2000, they fought back. In fact, Bill, they squashed him like a bug in South Carolina because he challenged the conservative values of the Republican Party, of the rank and file. Conservatives have fought and sacrificed and suffered to take control of the GOP and they weren't going to turn it over to John McCain.
Dean isn't doing that. He's running mostly on liberal values that most Democrats hold. So the establishment feels a little powerless to try to stop him because they agree with him.
HEMMER: Yes, what kind of clout do you think Bill Bradley holds right now?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he has influence in the party. He has a lot of stature. Obviously he did not beat Al Gore. He didn't even come close in 2000. But he has a constituency that admires and respects him, mostly profile, upper middle class voters who tend to be liberal on the issues and it's a natural fit with Howard Dean. But what's interesting is you have Al Gore and Bill Bradley, both of them competing for the nomination in 2000, and they both endorsed Howard Dean.
So what this suggests is the stop Dean movement that everyone's talking about may not even get started.
HEMMER: Well, we'll see then.
Bill Schneider, thanks.
Iowa is two weeks away, a little less at this point.
Come back any time here on AMERICAN MORNING, all right?
SCHNEIDER: OK.
HEMMER: Got it.
See you later.
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 January 6, 2004 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to politics now. He's billed himself as the party's anti-establishment candidate. Why is it that the Democratic establishment is lining up now between and behind Howard Dean?
This morning, about 15 minutes from now, the Democratic front runner will get another high profile endorsement, this time from another former senator and presidential candidate, Bill Bradley.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider back with us in D.C. -- nice to see you, Bill.
Welcome.
Good morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.
HEMMER: You believe this is a message.
What's the message in it?
SCHNEIDER: The message is that the party establishment is saying don't stop this guy. Look, he's going to get the nomination, they feel, and their view is, look, we're going to, not going to throw up a roadblock in front of Howard Dean, mostly because Democrats agree with Dean. His anti-Bush, anti-war message has a lot of resonance among rank and file Democrats. Even though he claims he's running against the party establishment and wants to transform the Democratic Party, he's running in the name of the values that most Democrats actually hold.
HEMMER: Why, then, Bill, is the Democratic Party not fighting back on this? There was a push back four years ago on the Republican side. Why not now?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, when John McCain challenged the Republican establishment in 2000, they fought back. In fact, Bill, they squashed him like a bug in South Carolina because he challenged the conservative values of the Republican Party, of the rank and file. Conservatives have fought and sacrificed and suffered to take control of the GOP and they weren't going to turn it over to John McCain.
Dean isn't doing that. He's running mostly on liberal values that most Democrats hold. So the establishment feels a little powerless to try to stop him because they agree with him.
HEMMER: Yes, what kind of clout do you think Bill Bradley holds right now?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he has influence in the party. He has a lot of stature. Obviously he did not beat Al Gore. He didn't even come close in 2000. But he has a constituency that admires and respects him, mostly profile, upper middle class voters who tend to be liberal on the issues and it's a natural fit with Howard Dean. But what's interesting is you have Al Gore and Bill Bradley, both of them competing for the nomination in 2000, and they both endorsed Howard Dean.
So what this suggests is the stop Dean movement that everyone's talking about may not even get started.
HEMMER: Well, we'll see then.
Bill Schneider, thanks.
Iowa is two weeks away, a little less at this point.
Come back any time here on AMERICAN MORNING, all right?
SCHNEIDER: OK.
HEMMER: Got it.
See you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
