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CNN Live At Daybreak

John Kerry Still Man to Beat in New Hampshire Primary

Aired January 26, 2004 - 05:51   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, John Kerry is still the man to beat in the New Hampshire primary tomorrow. The latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup tracking poll shows that 36 percent of likely voters questioned want Kerry to get the Democratic nomination. Howard Dean comes in second with 25 percent and statistically, Clark, Lieberman and Edwards are all bunched up into third place.
Well, of course, the New Hampshire primary is the buzz of the day.

Marc Ericson and Danielle Carrier, better known as the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, are on the phone with us.

All right, glad you guys are waking up with us.

Well, you guys were already awake. Glad you could, you know, be awake with us right now.

All right, well, the polls are showing that Kerry is the pick.

According to your viewers, does it seem like the polls are getting it right?

MARC ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKEUP CREW: Well, you know, it's...

WHITFIELD: Or listeners.

ERICSON: Well, it's kind of interesting, and what we kind of gauge things by is how many signs we see placed out and about in strategic snow banks along roadways and whatnot. And over the weekend, supporters who were braving very cold temperatures out and about and the only people that were standing around at intersections by the dozens, Fredricka, were people that were supporting either Kerry or Dean. So those do seem to be the front runners in the state.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

And, Danielle, I understand a lot of these candidates were actually knocking on doors. They weren't all staying, you know, inside in the cozy little town hall meetings. They were really, you know, out there stumping it.

DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKEUP CREW: No, they were definitely out there stumping it. They were hitting door to door and they were hitting everyone's phones, too. Myself alone, I got seven phone calls from Kerry's campaign, I got like six phone calls from Dean's campaign. So they were definitely out there in force this weekend.

ERICSON: And on Friday morning, we had a live conversation with Howard Dean and he's caught himself a nasty cold running around doing all this campaigning.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I guess that's made him hoarse, as well as the famous scream.

All right, well, you know, New Hampshire is known for its independent voters and apparently a third of the registered voters were undecided before the weekend.

Are you getting a sense as to which way a lot of these independents and undecided voters might be going?

ERICSON: Well, Kerry seems to be grabbing a commanding lead in the state, but as these things have gone in the past, it's still anybody's game. New Hampshire is funny that way. And it's a little odd because Wes Clark over the weekend has decided that he's going to track the exact same footsteps that Bill Clinton did in 1992. He spent his Saturday campaigning at the same rural convenience store where Clinton was in '92 and then he followed that up with a house party at the very same residence that Clinton used in '92.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Is there an explanation for this three way tie of Clark, Lieberman and Edwards?

ERICSON: No, it's really just a question of the polls are tracking, obviously, either registered Democrats or likely Democratic voters. But until they actually go to the polls, and as Rob has been saying this morning, we've got this system moving towards the Northeast. We'll see how the snow tracks for all of that, as well.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ERICSON: We had snow in '84. We had a real live blizzard in '84.

WHITFIELD: We'll see how it affects the turnout tomorrow.

Marc Ericson, Danielle Carrier of WOKQ, the Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, thanks a lot.

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 26, 2004 - 05:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, John Kerry is still the man to beat in the New Hampshire primary tomorrow. The latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup tracking poll shows that 36 percent of likely voters questioned want Kerry to get the Democratic nomination. Howard Dean comes in second with 25 percent and statistically, Clark, Lieberman and Edwards are all bunched up into third place.
Well, of course, the New Hampshire primary is the buzz of the day.

Marc Ericson and Danielle Carrier, better known as the WOKQ Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, are on the phone with us.

All right, glad you guys are waking up with us.

Well, you guys were already awake. Glad you could, you know, be awake with us right now.

All right, well, the polls are showing that Kerry is the pick.

According to your viewers, does it seem like the polls are getting it right?

MARC ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKEUP CREW: Well, you know, it's...

WHITFIELD: Or listeners.

ERICSON: Well, it's kind of interesting, and what we kind of gauge things by is how many signs we see placed out and about in strategic snow banks along roadways and whatnot. And over the weekend, supporters who were braving very cold temperatures out and about and the only people that were standing around at intersections by the dozens, Fredricka, were people that were supporting either Kerry or Dean. So those do seem to be the front runners in the state.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

And, Danielle, I understand a lot of these candidates were actually knocking on doors. They weren't all staying, you know, inside in the cozy little town hall meetings. They were really, you know, out there stumping it.

DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKEUP CREW: No, they were definitely out there stumping it. They were hitting door to door and they were hitting everyone's phones, too. Myself alone, I got seven phone calls from Kerry's campaign, I got like six phone calls from Dean's campaign. So they were definitely out there in force this weekend.

ERICSON: And on Friday morning, we had a live conversation with Howard Dean and he's caught himself a nasty cold running around doing all this campaigning.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I guess that's made him hoarse, as well as the famous scream.

All right, well, you know, New Hampshire is known for its independent voters and apparently a third of the registered voters were undecided before the weekend.

Are you getting a sense as to which way a lot of these independents and undecided voters might be going?

ERICSON: Well, Kerry seems to be grabbing a commanding lead in the state, but as these things have gone in the past, it's still anybody's game. New Hampshire is funny that way. And it's a little odd because Wes Clark over the weekend has decided that he's going to track the exact same footsteps that Bill Clinton did in 1992. He spent his Saturday campaigning at the same rural convenience store where Clinton was in '92 and then he followed that up with a house party at the very same residence that Clinton used in '92.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Is there an explanation for this three way tie of Clark, Lieberman and Edwards?

ERICSON: No, it's really just a question of the polls are tracking, obviously, either registered Democrats or likely Democratic voters. But until they actually go to the polls, and as Rob has been saying this morning, we've got this system moving towards the Northeast. We'll see how the snow tracks for all of that, as well.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

ERICSON: We had snow in '84. We had a real live blizzard in '84.

WHITFIELD: We'll see how it affects the turnout tomorrow.

Marc Ericson, Danielle Carrier of WOKQ, the Waking Crew in Portsmouth and Manchester, New Hampshire, thanks a lot.

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