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American Morning
Kerry Goes After First Southern Victories
Aired February 10, 2004 - 07:32 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk politics now. Democratic presidential front runner John Kerry goes after his first Southern victories of the primary season today. One hundred and fifty one Democratic National Convention delegates are at stake today in Virginia and in Tennessee. Kerry has a wide lead in total delegates, followed by Howard Dean, who now says he's going to continue his campaign whether he wins next week's Wisconsin primary or not.
Senator John Edwards, Wesley Clark, the Reverend Al Sharpton and Congressman Dennis Kucinich make up the rest of the field.
Yesterday, Kerry did not mention the other Democrats. Instead, he attacked President Bush's economic policies, accusing Mr. Bush of having the worst job records of the last 11 presidents combined.
Senator John Edwards is locked in a tight battle with Retired General Wesley Clark. Both yesterday tried to downplay expectations while jockeying for second place.
So, what can we expect from primary voters in Virginia and in Tennessee?
CNN's senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us this morning.
He's in Atlanta -- Jeff, let's start by taking a look at the latest Zogby polls. And you can see, obviously, John Kerry in Tennessee way out in first place. Edwards and Clark are in a dead heat for second place in Virginia. Kerry is way ahead with Edwards firmly in second place.
So my question to you there is if Kerry wins both Virginia and in Tennessee, what happens to everybody else?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I think, you know, we're going to be looking, obviously, at the end of tonight, if that happens, is whether Edwards or Clark or both are still going to be standing, because they both laid great stress on their Southern roots. Both Tennessee and Virginia happen to be neighbors to John Edwards' North Carolina.
So if John Kerry wins both, and he seems to be, as you've just shown us, so how does either Edwards or Clark say, you know, I can win the South in November, but -- and Kerry can't -- if they can't even win a Democratic primary against a Massachusetts native son?
There's something else that I'm going to be looking at and listening to very hard tonight, and that's for John Kerry to tell us more about his election themes. He's begun to do this. He's talked about mainstream values. He's attacked Bush as an extremist and he's clearly trying to claim some middle ground against an expected Bush attack.
But beyond that, is he going to be hitting the national security argument more than just saying let's bring it on? Is he going to talk concretely about what his ideas are in a post-9/11 world? And, maybe most intriguingly, will we get any moves to the middle on social issues?
So that's some of the stuff, Soledad, I'll be looking for tonight.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about Kerry's rivals. To some degree, they've got opposite strategies to see if they can propel themselves ahead, right?
GREENFIELD: Yes. They're both in a kind of a trap, if you will, and they're mirror images in a way. If you think about it, John Edwards was desperately hoping to win in Oklahoma last week to knock Wes Clark out of the race and to have Tennessee and Virginia to himself as the lone Southerner. Now, Howard Dean, I think, has to hope, believe it or not, that Kerry wins both primaries, to knock Clark and Edwards out so he, that's Howard Dean, can have Wisconsin to himself.
He's actually using an argument we kind of previewed here, telling the state, you know, you can be true to your progressive intent, your insurgent traditions, and keep the race alive. But that's a long shot even if he's the only one opposing Kerry. With Edwards and Clark, if they go on to Wisconsin, it's almost impossible to see how that works.
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean's changing his tune a little bit. Now he's going to say he's going to stay -- now he's saying he's going to stay in the race whether or not he wins Wisconsin.
Why? What's behind that? I mean to what point, I guess?
GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know, because I can't read minds. And the only thing that occurs to me is that John Kerry emerged from "certain loser" to "certain nominee" in a relatively shortly amount of time. It's hard to remember that the Iowa caucuses were less than a month ago. So I guess the notion is, you know, I've got -- after Wisconsin there's two weeks to Super Tuesday. There are something like 1,100 delegates at stake. There are places where the Dean campaign was at one time very strong -- New York and California.
Maybe the idea is I stay in, I keep hitting the insurgent themes and between now and then, you know, John Kerry stumbles. Somebody discovers a hidden vial of botox in his campaign bus. Something happens to change the dynamic. That's the only thing I can offer and it's -- I don't even convince myself -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Greenfield previewing the two primaries for us.
You can't read minds, Jeff? Shocking!
Thanks for being with us.
GREENFIELD: I can barely read the paper.
O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot, Jeff.
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 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk politics now. Democratic presidential front runner John Kerry goes after his first Southern victories of the primary season today. One hundred and fifty one Democratic National Convention delegates are at stake today in Virginia and in Tennessee. Kerry has a wide lead in total delegates, followed by Howard Dean, who now says he's going to continue his campaign whether he wins next week's Wisconsin primary or not.
Senator John Edwards, Wesley Clark, the Reverend Al Sharpton and Congressman Dennis Kucinich make up the rest of the field.
Yesterday, Kerry did not mention the other Democrats. Instead, he attacked President Bush's economic policies, accusing Mr. Bush of having the worst job records of the last 11 presidents combined.
Senator John Edwards is locked in a tight battle with Retired General Wesley Clark. Both yesterday tried to downplay expectations while jockeying for second place.
So, what can we expect from primary voters in Virginia and in Tennessee?
CNN's senior analyst Jeff Greenfield joins us this morning.
He's in Atlanta -- Jeff, let's start by taking a look at the latest Zogby polls. And you can see, obviously, John Kerry in Tennessee way out in first place. Edwards and Clark are in a dead heat for second place in Virginia. Kerry is way ahead with Edwards firmly in second place.
So my question to you there is if Kerry wins both Virginia and in Tennessee, what happens to everybody else?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, I think, you know, we're going to be looking, obviously, at the end of tonight, if that happens, is whether Edwards or Clark or both are still going to be standing, because they both laid great stress on their Southern roots. Both Tennessee and Virginia happen to be neighbors to John Edwards' North Carolina.
So if John Kerry wins both, and he seems to be, as you've just shown us, so how does either Edwards or Clark say, you know, I can win the South in November, but -- and Kerry can't -- if they can't even win a Democratic primary against a Massachusetts native son?
There's something else that I'm going to be looking at and listening to very hard tonight, and that's for John Kerry to tell us more about his election themes. He's begun to do this. He's talked about mainstream values. He's attacked Bush as an extremist and he's clearly trying to claim some middle ground against an expected Bush attack.
But beyond that, is he going to be hitting the national security argument more than just saying let's bring it on? Is he going to talk concretely about what his ideas are in a post-9/11 world? And, maybe most intriguingly, will we get any moves to the middle on social issues?
So that's some of the stuff, Soledad, I'll be looking for tonight.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about Kerry's rivals. To some degree, they've got opposite strategies to see if they can propel themselves ahead, right?
GREENFIELD: Yes. They're both in a kind of a trap, if you will, and they're mirror images in a way. If you think about it, John Edwards was desperately hoping to win in Oklahoma last week to knock Wes Clark out of the race and to have Tennessee and Virginia to himself as the lone Southerner. Now, Howard Dean, I think, has to hope, believe it or not, that Kerry wins both primaries, to knock Clark and Edwards out so he, that's Howard Dean, can have Wisconsin to himself.
He's actually using an argument we kind of previewed here, telling the state, you know, you can be true to your progressive intent, your insurgent traditions, and keep the race alive. But that's a long shot even if he's the only one opposing Kerry. With Edwards and Clark, if they go on to Wisconsin, it's almost impossible to see how that works.
O'BRIEN: Howard Dean's changing his tune a little bit. Now he's going to say he's going to stay -- now he's saying he's going to stay in the race whether or not he wins Wisconsin.
Why? What's behind that? I mean to what point, I guess?
GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know, because I can't read minds. And the only thing that occurs to me is that John Kerry emerged from "certain loser" to "certain nominee" in a relatively shortly amount of time. It's hard to remember that the Iowa caucuses were less than a month ago. So I guess the notion is, you know, I've got -- after Wisconsin there's two weeks to Super Tuesday. There are something like 1,100 delegates at stake. There are places where the Dean campaign was at one time very strong -- New York and California.
Maybe the idea is I stay in, I keep hitting the insurgent themes and between now and then, you know, John Kerry stumbles. Somebody discovers a hidden vial of botox in his campaign bus. Something happens to change the dynamic. That's the only thing I can offer and it's -- I don't even convince myself -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Greenfield previewing the two primaries for us.
You can't read minds, Jeff? Shocking!
Thanks for being with us.
GREENFIELD: I can barely read the paper.
O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot, Jeff.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
