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American Morning

Southern Showdown

Aired January 30, 2004 - 07:14   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: Seven states up for grabs on Tuesday. Democratic candidates are paying special attention South Carolina. Last night, they debated in that state that will hold the nation's first southern primary on Tuesday of next week.
As Candy Crowley reports now, the leader of the Democratic pack faced a challenge from his closest competitor last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Kerry is the front runner -- and I mean him no insult -- but in 19 years in the Senate, Senator Kerry sponsored 11 bills that had anything to do with health care, and not one of them passed.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Kerry, who has best of the field with two wins in the first two states, spent much of his time attacking the president, but would not let that one pass.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the things that you need to know as a president is how things work in Congress if you want to get things done. And one of the things that happens in Congress is you can, in fact, write a bill, but if you are smart about it, you can get your bill passed on someone else's bill that doesn't carry your name.

CROWLEY: Well, that settles that. Mostly the candidates disagreed agreeably on everything except for their unanimous opinion that George Bush has handled the war in Iraq very badly.

REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And as far as Mr. Bush saying that he doesn't need a permission slip from the U.N., he doesn't think he needs votes from the American people to be president.

CROWLEY: Mostly, though, they spent the time touting their electability -- Lieberman stressing his centrist views, Kerry, his foreign policy credentials, Edwards, his roots as a poor kid from the South.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have seen this my entire life growing up. I've seen mills close. I've seen what it does to communities. I've seen what it does to families.

CROWLEY: Dean and Clark, their life outside the Beltway.

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a Washington insider. I am an outsider.

CROWLEY: A question about whether any of them can survive a shutout during next Tuesday's seven-state contest produced the most harmonious responses.

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Candidates who run for president are very optimistic people, so I intend to win some.

CROWLEY: So do they all.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Greenville, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Candy, thanks for that.

Jeff Greenfield now, his take on last night's debate here with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

Howard Dean's own words described it as mellow. Was it mellow because they're tired, or was it mellow because some of these guys have seen the writing on the wall for this year?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, I offer a different explanation. In Iowa, where Howard Dean and Congressman Gephardt really had some tough fairly ads against each other, Joe Trippi, the now ex-Dean campaign manager called it a murder/suicide -- that is, Gephardt hurt himself and hurt Dean at the same time.

I think there is a real reluctance on the part of the candidates for two reasons. One, the press calls any criticism negative, which, in my view, is prissy beyond belief. You are allowed to say why the other guy is not as good as you are. And we've really made them frightened. And the other reason is they sense among Democratic voters an appetite for some kind of cohesive unity. The Democratic Party is not at war with itself the way it was, say, during Vietnam or when Clinton was trying to redefine the party. I think that helps explain it.

HEMMER: So, when you talk about going negative, did Howard Dean take a chance in his little jab at John Kerry last night?

GREENFIELD: You know, maybe it's because, you know, I'm at the point where I remember other campaigns. If that's an attack, you know, then I'm Lawrence of Arabia, and I'm not. He just said, you know, he passed a lot of -- he tried to pass a lot of bills and didn't. Ooh, boy, he's getting tough.

No, these guys -- they are all guys now with Carol Moseley-Braun out -- it's their job to try to draw distinctions. We heard little, tiny hints, as Candy alluded to. General Clark, I barely know how to find Washington on a metroliner (ph). You know, I'm an outsider.

And John Edwards, what he's really going to say, what's he's really saying is you can't send us another northeastern liberal like Kerry and hope to win, because the Democrats can't win unless they do something in the South.

And Lieberman is saying I'm more centrist, because the upcoming primaries in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Carolina, the Democrats down there are more conservative.

You're getting hints of the distinctions, but nobody is prepared to stand up and say, look, you can't get behind John Kerry and here's why. It's just not in the dynamics.

HEMMER: From afar, it appears over the past three days that Wesley Clark is falling further off the radar. I don't know if that's the case or not in South Carolina and in these other states as you move west.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

HEMMER: But if it's true, I want you to comment on that. And, secondly, did John Edwards hit a homerun last night? Because he has said South Carolina is a must-win for his campaign on Tuesday.

GREENFIELD: John Edwards, who has tended to dominate debates -- I mean, there's a reason why he got extremely rich as a trial lawyer. He's a great advocate. He was a little -- I don't know if it was tired or a little muted, but he did manage to get the point across in South Carolina, you know, I was born and raised in a mill town, I don't have to be instructed.

General Clark, the whole strategy behind him was thrown into disarray when Howard Dean ceased to be the front runner. Clark's gambit was Howard Dean would come roaring out of Iowa and John Kerry would be, you know, leading by the wayside, metaphorically. And here is this military leader, this commander, who knew how to deal with him.

When General Clark realized John Kerry, a Vietnam War vet with experience in foreign policy, was going to be his key rival, I think it threw the whole campaign off its game. And to be blunt, General Clark had a lousy week in New Hampshire. He was tripping all over himself. The press was very down on him. I thought he was better last night, but South Carolina really is a key state for him.

HEMMER: Even on the Monday before the primary in New Hampshire we had the case there.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

HEMMER: Howard Dean was surprising last night, even yesterday, talking about Michigan is more important to him now than next Tuesday. Michigan doesn't go, by the way. They go five days after that.

GREENFIELD: I know. Some of us actually suggested a couple of weeks ago that he might try looking at the calendar and retreat to higher ground, pulling off all of his advertising in these seven February 3 states is a high-risk strategy. But, (a), he has very little money left. And, (b), it may be his only gambit. And, (c), we don't know that it's not going to work. We have allocated 1.5 percent of the delegates. I know I sound like a broken record, record, record. But we don't know how this is going to end yet.

HEMMER: Have a great weekend.

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.






Aired January 30, 2004 - 07:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Seven states up for grabs on Tuesday. Democratic candidates are paying special attention South Carolina. Last night, they debated in that state that will hold the nation's first southern primary on Tuesday of next week.
As Candy Crowley reports now, the leader of the Democratic pack faced a challenge from his closest competitor last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Kerry is the front runner -- and I mean him no insult -- but in 19 years in the Senate, Senator Kerry sponsored 11 bills that had anything to do with health care, and not one of them passed.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Kerry, who has best of the field with two wins in the first two states, spent much of his time attacking the president, but would not let that one pass.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the things that you need to know as a president is how things work in Congress if you want to get things done. And one of the things that happens in Congress is you can, in fact, write a bill, but if you are smart about it, you can get your bill passed on someone else's bill that doesn't carry your name.

CROWLEY: Well, that settles that. Mostly the candidates disagreed agreeably on everything except for their unanimous opinion that George Bush has handled the war in Iraq very badly.

REV. AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And as far as Mr. Bush saying that he doesn't need a permission slip from the U.N., he doesn't think he needs votes from the American people to be president.

CROWLEY: Mostly, though, they spent the time touting their electability -- Lieberman stressing his centrist views, Kerry, his foreign policy credentials, Edwards, his roots as a poor kid from the South.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have seen this my entire life growing up. I've seen mills close. I've seen what it does to communities. I've seen what it does to families.

CROWLEY: Dean and Clark, their life outside the Beltway.

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a Washington insider. I am an outsider.

CROWLEY: A question about whether any of them can survive a shutout during next Tuesday's seven-state contest produced the most harmonious responses.

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Candidates who run for president are very optimistic people, so I intend to win some.

CROWLEY: So do they all.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Greenville, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Candy, thanks for that.

Jeff Greenfield now, his take on last night's debate here with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

Howard Dean's own words described it as mellow. Was it mellow because they're tired, or was it mellow because some of these guys have seen the writing on the wall for this year?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, I offer a different explanation. In Iowa, where Howard Dean and Congressman Gephardt really had some tough fairly ads against each other, Joe Trippi, the now ex-Dean campaign manager called it a murder/suicide -- that is, Gephardt hurt himself and hurt Dean at the same time.

I think there is a real reluctance on the part of the candidates for two reasons. One, the press calls any criticism negative, which, in my view, is prissy beyond belief. You are allowed to say why the other guy is not as good as you are. And we've really made them frightened. And the other reason is they sense among Democratic voters an appetite for some kind of cohesive unity. The Democratic Party is not at war with itself the way it was, say, during Vietnam or when Clinton was trying to redefine the party. I think that helps explain it.

HEMMER: So, when you talk about going negative, did Howard Dean take a chance in his little jab at John Kerry last night?

GREENFIELD: You know, maybe it's because, you know, I'm at the point where I remember other campaigns. If that's an attack, you know, then I'm Lawrence of Arabia, and I'm not. He just said, you know, he passed a lot of -- he tried to pass a lot of bills and didn't. Ooh, boy, he's getting tough.

No, these guys -- they are all guys now with Carol Moseley-Braun out -- it's their job to try to draw distinctions. We heard little, tiny hints, as Candy alluded to. General Clark, I barely know how to find Washington on a metroliner (ph). You know, I'm an outsider.

And John Edwards, what he's really going to say, what's he's really saying is you can't send us another northeastern liberal like Kerry and hope to win, because the Democrats can't win unless they do something in the South.

And Lieberman is saying I'm more centrist, because the upcoming primaries in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Carolina, the Democrats down there are more conservative.

You're getting hints of the distinctions, but nobody is prepared to stand up and say, look, you can't get behind John Kerry and here's why. It's just not in the dynamics.

HEMMER: From afar, it appears over the past three days that Wesley Clark is falling further off the radar. I don't know if that's the case or not in South Carolina and in these other states as you move west.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

HEMMER: But if it's true, I want you to comment on that. And, secondly, did John Edwards hit a homerun last night? Because he has said South Carolina is a must-win for his campaign on Tuesday.

GREENFIELD: John Edwards, who has tended to dominate debates -- I mean, there's a reason why he got extremely rich as a trial lawyer. He's a great advocate. He was a little -- I don't know if it was tired or a little muted, but he did manage to get the point across in South Carolina, you know, I was born and raised in a mill town, I don't have to be instructed.

General Clark, the whole strategy behind him was thrown into disarray when Howard Dean ceased to be the front runner. Clark's gambit was Howard Dean would come roaring out of Iowa and John Kerry would be, you know, leading by the wayside, metaphorically. And here is this military leader, this commander, who knew how to deal with him.

When General Clark realized John Kerry, a Vietnam War vet with experience in foreign policy, was going to be his key rival, I think it threw the whole campaign off its game. And to be blunt, General Clark had a lousy week in New Hampshire. He was tripping all over himself. The press was very down on him. I thought he was better last night, but South Carolina really is a key state for him.

HEMMER: Even on the Monday before the primary in New Hampshire we had the case there.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

HEMMER: Howard Dean was surprising last night, even yesterday, talking about Michigan is more important to him now than next Tuesday. Michigan doesn't go, by the way. They go five days after that.

GREENFIELD: I know. Some of us actually suggested a couple of weeks ago that he might try looking at the calendar and retreat to higher ground, pulling off all of his advertising in these seven February 3 states is a high-risk strategy. But, (a), he has very little money left. And, (b), it may be his only gambit. And, (c), we don't know that it's not going to work. We have allocated 1.5 percent of the delegates. I know I sound like a broken record, record, record. But we don't know how this is going to end yet.

HEMMER: Have a great weekend.

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.