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CNN Live Sunday

Seven States to Hold Primaries, Caucuses Tuesday

Aired February 01, 2004 - 11:08   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.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: To the campaign trail now, 48 hours from the start of the biggest day of the presidential election season so far. Seven states hold primaries and caucuses Tuesday. Among them, Arizona, 55 Democratic delegates at stake in the Grand Canyon state. A new CNN "Los Angeles Times" poll shows front-runner John Kerry leading in Arizona with support from 29 percent of likely voters. Wesley Clark is second; in third place, Howard Dean.
At stake Tuesday in Missouri, 74 Democratic delegates. Our poll shows Kerry with a big lead in the "Show Me" state with 37 percent of the likely voters supporting him. In second place, John Edwards. Howard Dean is number three.

In South Carolina, 45 delegates will be decided Tuesday. The nod there goes to native son John Edwards. The CNN/"Times" poll shows the senator from North Carolina has the support of 32 percent of likely voters in the Palmetto state. Kerry is a distant second. Wesley Clark is even farther behind.

Those new poll numbers for South Carolina must have Senator John Edwards feeling better about his prospects there. With us live from Charleston, CNN's Bob Franken. He's on the "Campaign Express," parked in the center of South Carolina's low country. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, and we're at the waterfront here in Charleston, the "Campaign Express" parked there, and you were pointing out the various stories about the battle for leadership, but one of the intriguing stories about this has been the fall of Howard Dean. He's not really showing up that strongly in any of the polls, and we're told that the new money figures show that of the $41 million that he had collected; the latest survey shows that he has spent $32 million of it.

The man who just quit as his campaign director, campaign manager who is no longer with the campaign, Joe Trippi, talked on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff just a short time ago, and said the campaign had no choice but to spend the money that way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TRIPPI, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HOWARD DEAN CAMPAIGN: History will show that winning these early states doesn't matter. What these early states are really about are winnowing the field down until there's a stark choice, and I believe a stark choice will be John Kerry, and a guy who took more money from lobbyists than any other senator in the last 15 years, and Howard Dean. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And Trippi pointing out that he is still a supporter of Howard Dean and that these were the reasons that he was giving us for it.

John Edwards, the man leading in a close race here in South Carolina, he is campaigning very hard. He is on the spot somewhat. He is expected to win here and the expectations game, of course can always oftentimes be problems for a candidate. In this particular state, Al Sharpton becomes a factor. Sharpton has not really been a factor in most of the races thus far, but South Carolina is the first state in this election year with a large African-American population and one of the tests, one of the things that could affect the outcome is the showing of Sharpton.

So it gets much more complicated now, Marty. Many, many states involved. Many different strategies are involved. But that is going to be the name of the game, the collection of delegates in all these states, which is only really now beginning. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Bob Franken, South Carolina, thank you very much.

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 February 1, 2004 - 11:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: To the campaign trail now, 48 hours from the start of the biggest day of the presidential election season so far. Seven states hold primaries and caucuses Tuesday. Among them, Arizona, 55 Democratic delegates at stake in the Grand Canyon state. A new CNN "Los Angeles Times" poll shows front-runner John Kerry leading in Arizona with support from 29 percent of likely voters. Wesley Clark is second; in third place, Howard Dean.
At stake Tuesday in Missouri, 74 Democratic delegates. Our poll shows Kerry with a big lead in the "Show Me" state with 37 percent of the likely voters supporting him. In second place, John Edwards. Howard Dean is number three.

In South Carolina, 45 delegates will be decided Tuesday. The nod there goes to native son John Edwards. The CNN/"Times" poll shows the senator from North Carolina has the support of 32 percent of likely voters in the Palmetto state. Kerry is a distant second. Wesley Clark is even farther behind.

Those new poll numbers for South Carolina must have Senator John Edwards feeling better about his prospects there. With us live from Charleston, CNN's Bob Franken. He's on the "Campaign Express," parked in the center of South Carolina's low country. Hello, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, and we're at the waterfront here in Charleston, the "Campaign Express" parked there, and you were pointing out the various stories about the battle for leadership, but one of the intriguing stories about this has been the fall of Howard Dean. He's not really showing up that strongly in any of the polls, and we're told that the new money figures show that of the $41 million that he had collected; the latest survey shows that he has spent $32 million of it.

The man who just quit as his campaign director, campaign manager who is no longer with the campaign, Joe Trippi, talked on CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff just a short time ago, and said the campaign had no choice but to spend the money that way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE TRIPPI, FORMER CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HOWARD DEAN CAMPAIGN: History will show that winning these early states doesn't matter. What these early states are really about are winnowing the field down until there's a stark choice, and I believe a stark choice will be John Kerry, and a guy who took more money from lobbyists than any other senator in the last 15 years, and Howard Dean. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And Trippi pointing out that he is still a supporter of Howard Dean and that these were the reasons that he was giving us for it.

John Edwards, the man leading in a close race here in South Carolina, he is campaigning very hard. He is on the spot somewhat. He is expected to win here and the expectations game, of course can always oftentimes be problems for a candidate. In this particular state, Al Sharpton becomes a factor. Sharpton has not really been a factor in most of the races thus far, but South Carolina is the first state in this election year with a large African-American population and one of the tests, one of the things that could affect the outcome is the showing of Sharpton.

So it gets much more complicated now, Marty. Many, many states involved. Many different strategies are involved. But that is going to be the name of the game, the collection of delegates in all these states, which is only really now beginning. Marty?

SAVIDGE: Bob Franken, South Carolina, thank you very much.

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