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CNN Live Today

Palmetto Politics

Aired January 29, 2004 - 11:09   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: We're going to focus a little bit now on South Carolina. It doesn't offer the most delegates, but perhaps a symbolic prize is what it's holding for Tuesday. It's the first test in the South for the candidates, and it's the first time that African- American voters will play a significant role in the primaries. And, on top of all that, it's the first time the candidates will hear from a conservative electorate.
Lee Bandy is a political writer for the state newspaper. He is joining us from Columbia this morning. Lee, great to have you on with us.

So it's a big night tonight, there's this debate being held, and all seven all showing up. And you wrote a really interesting column. You offered some free, unsolicited advice for each of the candidates.

How big of you, Lee.

LEE BANDY, STAFF WRITER, "THE STATE": Well, I thought I'd have a little fun with them.

KAGAN: Yes, here to serve.

Let's go through the list, and you can dish out what you're offering up. First of all, John Kerry, the Yankee who kind of did the math, who said, you know, maybe you don't need the South after all. What would be your advice for him tonight?

BANDY: Well, he needs to assure South Carolina voters that he will not write off the South if he's the nominee. If he writes off the South as the nominee, then he makes it much more difficult to win the White House. It doesn't leave much room for margin of error. For instance, if you surrender the solid South to the Republicans, that means the Republicans only have to pick up 30 percent of the electoral vote outside the South. So the Democrats would make a serious mistake in writing off the South.

KAGAN: All right, the homegrown hero, John Edwards, born in South Carolina. He's kind of cashing in all his chips on this primary, it seems.

BANDY: Oh, he is, and he is the favorite son of the native son of South Carolina. He speaks our language. People understand his accent. And he has said himself that if he does not win South Carolina, that's it for him.

KAGAN: Or, as they would say in the South here, ya'll, what accent you talking about? No accent. All right.

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: But he's not the only one claiming Southern roots. Wesley Clark, he has Arkansas to claim some Southern roots.

BANDY: Well, Wesley Clark is not a bona fide Southerner. He was born in Chicago.

KAGAN: But raised in Arkansas, come on, Lee.

BANDY: Whatever -- he doesn't meet the test. John Edwards meets the test, born and raised in the South.

KAGAN: But what would be your advice to him tonight?

BANDY: You mean Clark?

KAGAN: Yes, uh-huh.

BANDY: Well, Clark needs to assure the people in South Carolina that he is not sidestepping South Carolina. We understand that he has downplayed South Carolina. Dean has downplayed South Carolina. And if they downplay South Carolina, then they're not going to get too many votes.

KAGAN: Yes, not polite to do that.

Howard Dean, perhaps he shouldn't mention anything about pickup trucks and Confederate flags.

BANDY: Or religion.

KAGAN: Or religion. That would be a good...

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: What else is there to talk about, though in South Carolina? There's plenty.

BANDY: Well, people do like -- people in the South like to talk about religion and politics, but the mistake Howard Dean made, was he said that his favorite New Testament book was Job. Well, the southern -- Southerners know better than that. And he also said that Jesus Christ would probably favor an increase in the minimum wage. Well, down South, that's not the language they speak in church.

KAGAN: Yes, all right. Joe Lieberman, you're suggesting a few math lessons for him, coming out of New Hampshire where he sees this as a three-way race.

BANDY: Right. He said he was almost tied for third place, and he was four percentage points behind. But Lieberman has a message that does resonate in the South. That's his faith and values message. Why he hasn't been able to do better than he has, I'm not certain. Maybe he's running in the wrong primary. KAGAN: We'll see. We saw he had -- he got the endorsement from the "Arizona Republic" in Phoenix, also another primary next week.

BANDY: That's the Republican paper.

KAGAN: Yes, well, there you go. He'll take what he can get at this point, Lee.

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: Al Sharpton, God bless Al Sharpton for keeping us all awake, you write, in these debates. Please show up, Al Sharpton.

BANDY: Well, Al Sharpton may do better than most people think. Right now, he's in third place in South Carolina, getting 15 percent of the vote. Of course his appeal is to the African-American community, but he could end up being a spoiler. If he gets his percentage of the black vote, that's taking the black vote away from the others. And so if the black vote is evenly split amongst the Democratic candidate, then the white vote becomes the swing vote in this election, so that's very interesting.

KAGAN: Very interesting. Your one line to Dennis Kucinich, just please cede your time to somebody else, very tongue in cheek.

BANDY: Right, but you know, everybody knows he's not going to get the nomination. And I'm afraid when he start to speak, a lot of people tune out.

KAGAN: Well, hopefully, folks will be tuning in tonight, and even more importantly, going to the voting booths, if they're Democrats, next Tuesday, next Tuesday, and participating in the process that I know fascinates you as a political reporter and columnist.

Lee, thank you.

BANDY: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: Lee Bandy with the state newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. That debate taking place tonight.

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 29, 2004 - 11:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to focus a little bit now on South Carolina. It doesn't offer the most delegates, but perhaps a symbolic prize is what it's holding for Tuesday. It's the first test in the South for the candidates, and it's the first time that African- American voters will play a significant role in the primaries. And, on top of all that, it's the first time the candidates will hear from a conservative electorate.
Lee Bandy is a political writer for the state newspaper. He is joining us from Columbia this morning. Lee, great to have you on with us.

So it's a big night tonight, there's this debate being held, and all seven all showing up. And you wrote a really interesting column. You offered some free, unsolicited advice for each of the candidates.

How big of you, Lee.

LEE BANDY, STAFF WRITER, "THE STATE": Well, I thought I'd have a little fun with them.

KAGAN: Yes, here to serve.

Let's go through the list, and you can dish out what you're offering up. First of all, John Kerry, the Yankee who kind of did the math, who said, you know, maybe you don't need the South after all. What would be your advice for him tonight?

BANDY: Well, he needs to assure South Carolina voters that he will not write off the South if he's the nominee. If he writes off the South as the nominee, then he makes it much more difficult to win the White House. It doesn't leave much room for margin of error. For instance, if you surrender the solid South to the Republicans, that means the Republicans only have to pick up 30 percent of the electoral vote outside the South. So the Democrats would make a serious mistake in writing off the South.

KAGAN: All right, the homegrown hero, John Edwards, born in South Carolina. He's kind of cashing in all his chips on this primary, it seems.

BANDY: Oh, he is, and he is the favorite son of the native son of South Carolina. He speaks our language. People understand his accent. And he has said himself that if he does not win South Carolina, that's it for him.

KAGAN: Or, as they would say in the South here, ya'll, what accent you talking about? No accent. All right.

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: But he's not the only one claiming Southern roots. Wesley Clark, he has Arkansas to claim some Southern roots.

BANDY: Well, Wesley Clark is not a bona fide Southerner. He was born in Chicago.

KAGAN: But raised in Arkansas, come on, Lee.

BANDY: Whatever -- he doesn't meet the test. John Edwards meets the test, born and raised in the South.

KAGAN: But what would be your advice to him tonight?

BANDY: You mean Clark?

KAGAN: Yes, uh-huh.

BANDY: Well, Clark needs to assure the people in South Carolina that he is not sidestepping South Carolina. We understand that he has downplayed South Carolina. Dean has downplayed South Carolina. And if they downplay South Carolina, then they're not going to get too many votes.

KAGAN: Yes, not polite to do that.

Howard Dean, perhaps he shouldn't mention anything about pickup trucks and Confederate flags.

BANDY: Or religion.

KAGAN: Or religion. That would be a good...

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: What else is there to talk about, though in South Carolina? There's plenty.

BANDY: Well, people do like -- people in the South like to talk about religion and politics, but the mistake Howard Dean made, was he said that his favorite New Testament book was Job. Well, the southern -- Southerners know better than that. And he also said that Jesus Christ would probably favor an increase in the minimum wage. Well, down South, that's not the language they speak in church.

KAGAN: Yes, all right. Joe Lieberman, you're suggesting a few math lessons for him, coming out of New Hampshire where he sees this as a three-way race.

BANDY: Right. He said he was almost tied for third place, and he was four percentage points behind. But Lieberman has a message that does resonate in the South. That's his faith and values message. Why he hasn't been able to do better than he has, I'm not certain. Maybe he's running in the wrong primary. KAGAN: We'll see. We saw he had -- he got the endorsement from the "Arizona Republic" in Phoenix, also another primary next week.

BANDY: That's the Republican paper.

KAGAN: Yes, well, there you go. He'll take what he can get at this point, Lee.

BANDY: Right.

KAGAN: Al Sharpton, God bless Al Sharpton for keeping us all awake, you write, in these debates. Please show up, Al Sharpton.

BANDY: Well, Al Sharpton may do better than most people think. Right now, he's in third place in South Carolina, getting 15 percent of the vote. Of course his appeal is to the African-American community, but he could end up being a spoiler. If he gets his percentage of the black vote, that's taking the black vote away from the others. And so if the black vote is evenly split amongst the Democratic candidate, then the white vote becomes the swing vote in this election, so that's very interesting.

KAGAN: Very interesting. Your one line to Dennis Kucinich, just please cede your time to somebody else, very tongue in cheek.

BANDY: Right, but you know, everybody knows he's not going to get the nomination. And I'm afraid when he start to speak, a lot of people tune out.

KAGAN: Well, hopefully, folks will be tuning in tonight, and even more importantly, going to the voting booths, if they're Democrats, next Tuesday, next Tuesday, and participating in the process that I know fascinates you as a political reporter and columnist.

Lee, thank you.

BANDY: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: Lee Bandy with the state newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. That debate taking place tonight.

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