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CNN Live Today
Look at Who Might Fill VP Slot for Democrats
Aired February 10, 2004 - 10:33 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, KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the not the No. 1 position, but the No. 2 position, who might fill the VP candidate slot for the Democrats. Jay Carney from "Time" magazine joining us this morning.
Jay, I believe, We tracked you down in Washington D.C.?
JAY CARNEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: That's right, yes.
KAGAN: Very good. Well, good morning to you.
CARNEY: Good morning.
Let's look who is on the trail. Is it possible that John Edwards, Mr. Nice guy, with that don't say a bad word campaign, is actually campaigning for the No. 2 position on the Democratic ticket?
CARNEY: Well, I'm not sure that he's campaigning for the No. 2 position, but his strategy leading into Iowa of running the most optimistic, positive campaign, the campaign that did not go out after his Democratic opponents, puts him in a position of being a palatable choice for John Kerry when he wins the nomination, because there aren't a lot of videotapes out there showing Edwards criticizing John Kerry or his positions. Edwards has, by and large, stayed upbeat and positive and avoided the attacks on the front-runner, so that makes him a possible choice.
KAGAN: All right, let's throw some other names at you this morning. First of all, the name that can bring up emotions unlike any other, Hillary Clinton. Would she go for that No. 2 position?
CARNEY: You know, I have a feeling that this notion that Hillary Clinton might be on the ticket is being fueled by people who are probably on the other side of the party aisle, and the Republican Party, who wish and pray that she would be, because she's such a divisive figure. I don't see any benefit to John Kerry of placing Hillary Clinton on the ticket, because Hillary Clinton would mobilize and energize Democrats, but it sure seems like the Democratic party is already mobilized and energized. She would not bring a great number of swing voters. She's a divisive figure. What she would do is mobilize and energize conservative Republicans who really don't like her and would see her presence on the ticket as a reason to go out and vote against John Kerry.
So I just don't see it happening, and I don't think it's in Hillary interest. We know that she is certainly eying 2008 as a possible year when she might run for president herself. There's no percentage in attaching herself to a ticket now.
KAGAN: All right, sit this dance out now. Somebody that did step in the dance and then stepped out, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt. We saw him right along with John Kerry within the last week. Could that be a prelude of things to come?
CARNEY: It could be. There are certainly people within John Kerry's broad circle of advisers who argue that Dick Gephardt makes the most sense in sort of the old-fashioned sense of how you pick a nominee, which is, who out there would bring you a state, and Richard Gephardt might be the person who could deliver Missouri perhaps for John Kerry, and Missouri -- in a race that would be as close as the 2000 race, any state that John Kerry could pick up that Al Gore did not win in 2000 would put him over the top to victory, as long as he won all of the others that Gore won. Missouri could be that state. Bush won it, but not by a huge amount. If Gephardt could deliver to that ticket, 2, 3 percentage points, it might make the difference.
KAGAN: All right, let's throw a little diversity in here, not just geographic, but color as well. What about Bill Richardson? Currently the governor of New Mexico, but has held just about every job in Washington, I think, or many at least.
CARNEY: He has. He's had a bunch, former Congressman, former ambassador to the United Nations, former energy secretary. Bill Richardson is now a governor, which now makes him, in addition to all of those titles, his current title is the most attractive because he's not in Washington, he's out there as a governor and executive of a state. But his biggest asset is the fact that he's Latino, he's Hispanic, and he's a very, I think, good presence on TV. In giving a speech, he's pretty smooth, and I think he could prove an asset to John Kerry in states like Florida, Arizona, and Richardson's home state of New Mexico, all of which are very close and tight in 2000, but have a lot of Hispanics. He could be a big help in those areas.
KAGAN: And finally, when it does happen, when the announcement is made, is it going to be a huge to-do? Do you think they'll wait until the convention this summer, or will they come out ahead of time?
CARNEY: Well, conventional wisdom holds that you wait until the week before the convention, and you get a boost out of picking your running mate as you head into the convention, and, hopefully, take that boost out of the convention all the way to Election Day. That's the standard practice. Now, it could be because this primary season will be over so early that the Kerry campaign will decide that they need some attention in May or June, and that announcing a nominee at that time would be the right thing to do, just to get a little of excitement and attention around a ticket and a candidate in John Kerry who would have been old news by then.
KAGAN: We'll be tracking it. Thanks, Jay. We will be doing cut and paste now and then, this one with that one. It's fun. Thank you. Appreciate it.
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 10, 2004 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the not the No. 1 position, but the No. 2 position, who might fill the VP candidate slot for the Democrats. Jay Carney from "Time" magazine joining us this morning.
Jay, I believe, We tracked you down in Washington D.C.?
JAY CARNEY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: That's right, yes.
KAGAN: Very good. Well, good morning to you.
CARNEY: Good morning.
Let's look who is on the trail. Is it possible that John Edwards, Mr. Nice guy, with that don't say a bad word campaign, is actually campaigning for the No. 2 position on the Democratic ticket?
CARNEY: Well, I'm not sure that he's campaigning for the No. 2 position, but his strategy leading into Iowa of running the most optimistic, positive campaign, the campaign that did not go out after his Democratic opponents, puts him in a position of being a palatable choice for John Kerry when he wins the nomination, because there aren't a lot of videotapes out there showing Edwards criticizing John Kerry or his positions. Edwards has, by and large, stayed upbeat and positive and avoided the attacks on the front-runner, so that makes him a possible choice.
KAGAN: All right, let's throw some other names at you this morning. First of all, the name that can bring up emotions unlike any other, Hillary Clinton. Would she go for that No. 2 position?
CARNEY: You know, I have a feeling that this notion that Hillary Clinton might be on the ticket is being fueled by people who are probably on the other side of the party aisle, and the Republican Party, who wish and pray that she would be, because she's such a divisive figure. I don't see any benefit to John Kerry of placing Hillary Clinton on the ticket, because Hillary Clinton would mobilize and energize Democrats, but it sure seems like the Democratic party is already mobilized and energized. She would not bring a great number of swing voters. She's a divisive figure. What she would do is mobilize and energize conservative Republicans who really don't like her and would see her presence on the ticket as a reason to go out and vote against John Kerry.
So I just don't see it happening, and I don't think it's in Hillary interest. We know that she is certainly eying 2008 as a possible year when she might run for president herself. There's no percentage in attaching herself to a ticket now.
KAGAN: All right, sit this dance out now. Somebody that did step in the dance and then stepped out, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt. We saw him right along with John Kerry within the last week. Could that be a prelude of things to come?
CARNEY: It could be. There are certainly people within John Kerry's broad circle of advisers who argue that Dick Gephardt makes the most sense in sort of the old-fashioned sense of how you pick a nominee, which is, who out there would bring you a state, and Richard Gephardt might be the person who could deliver Missouri perhaps for John Kerry, and Missouri -- in a race that would be as close as the 2000 race, any state that John Kerry could pick up that Al Gore did not win in 2000 would put him over the top to victory, as long as he won all of the others that Gore won. Missouri could be that state. Bush won it, but not by a huge amount. If Gephardt could deliver to that ticket, 2, 3 percentage points, it might make the difference.
KAGAN: All right, let's throw a little diversity in here, not just geographic, but color as well. What about Bill Richardson? Currently the governor of New Mexico, but has held just about every job in Washington, I think, or many at least.
CARNEY: He has. He's had a bunch, former Congressman, former ambassador to the United Nations, former energy secretary. Bill Richardson is now a governor, which now makes him, in addition to all of those titles, his current title is the most attractive because he's not in Washington, he's out there as a governor and executive of a state. But his biggest asset is the fact that he's Latino, he's Hispanic, and he's a very, I think, good presence on TV. In giving a speech, he's pretty smooth, and I think he could prove an asset to John Kerry in states like Florida, Arizona, and Richardson's home state of New Mexico, all of which are very close and tight in 2000, but have a lot of Hispanics. He could be a big help in those areas.
KAGAN: And finally, when it does happen, when the announcement is made, is it going to be a huge to-do? Do you think they'll wait until the convention this summer, or will they come out ahead of time?
CARNEY: Well, conventional wisdom holds that you wait until the week before the convention, and you get a boost out of picking your running mate as you head into the convention, and, hopefully, take that boost out of the convention all the way to Election Day. That's the standard practice. Now, it could be because this primary season will be over so early that the Kerry campaign will decide that they need some attention in May or June, and that announcing a nominee at that time would be the right thing to do, just to get a little of excitement and attention around a ticket and a candidate in John Kerry who would have been old news by then.
KAGAN: We'll be tracking it. Thanks, Jay. We will be doing cut and paste now and then, this one with that one. It's fun. Thank you. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
