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CNN Live At Daybreak
John Kerry Wins Big
Aired February 11, 2004 - 05:34 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry wins big. Wesley Clark is out. With most of the votes counted now, here's how Virginia went in the Democratic primary. Front runner Kerry took 52 percent, John Edwards 27 percent. In Tennessee, the senator from Massachusetts won 41 percent to Edwards' 26 percent. Wesley Clark took 23 percent of the vote in Tennessee, but those numbers not good enough. General Clark will bow out of the race today. One of his aides told us, "the mountain got too steep to climb."
That mountain, the Kerry campaign.
Our Kelly Wallace was in Fairfax, Virginia for Kerry's victory celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You won't hear Kerry's advisers say that this race is over and that John Kerry is unstoppable. But privately, Democrats close to the campaign say that John Kerry is pretty tough to catch right now.
A sign of the senator's very own confidence, he won't be on the campaign trail today. Instead, he will be trying to get over a cold and will be working the phones. He heads to Wisconsin on Friday.
Last night in a speech to a crowd of more than 2,000 people, the senator hailed a victory which he and his aides say shows he can win everywhere.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Once again, once again the message rings out loud and clear -- Americans are voting for change, east and west, north and now in the South. And I am grateful for that.
WALLACE: Kerry talked last night with Retired General Wesley Clark before Clark's campaign aides confirmed that the general was getting out of the race. In a statement, Senator Kerry said that General Clark ran a campaign that he and his family can be proud of and that he looked forward to working with him in the months ahead, in his words, "to defeat President Bush."
In a sign of how things just keep going John Kerry's way, later today he will get a boost from organized labor. A group of 18 unions originally backing Dick Gephardt will throw their support now behind John Kerry.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting from Fairfax, Virginia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And Wesley Clark will make his withdrawal from this race formal at a 3:00 p.m. Eastern news conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. CNN, of course, will bring that to you live.
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 11, 2004 - 05:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry wins big. Wesley Clark is out. With most of the votes counted now, here's how Virginia went in the Democratic primary. Front runner Kerry took 52 percent, John Edwards 27 percent. In Tennessee, the senator from Massachusetts won 41 percent to Edwards' 26 percent. Wesley Clark took 23 percent of the vote in Tennessee, but those numbers not good enough. General Clark will bow out of the race today. One of his aides told us, "the mountain got too steep to climb."
That mountain, the Kerry campaign.
Our Kelly Wallace was in Fairfax, Virginia for Kerry's victory celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You won't hear Kerry's advisers say that this race is over and that John Kerry is unstoppable. But privately, Democrats close to the campaign say that John Kerry is pretty tough to catch right now.
A sign of the senator's very own confidence, he won't be on the campaign trail today. Instead, he will be trying to get over a cold and will be working the phones. He heads to Wisconsin on Friday.
Last night in a speech to a crowd of more than 2,000 people, the senator hailed a victory which he and his aides say shows he can win everywhere.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Once again, once again the message rings out loud and clear -- Americans are voting for change, east and west, north and now in the South. And I am grateful for that.
WALLACE: Kerry talked last night with Retired General Wesley Clark before Clark's campaign aides confirmed that the general was getting out of the race. In a statement, Senator Kerry said that General Clark ran a campaign that he and his family can be proud of and that he looked forward to working with him in the months ahead, in his words, "to defeat President Bush."
In a sign of how things just keep going John Kerry's way, later today he will get a boost from organized labor. A group of 18 unions originally backing Dick Gephardt will throw their support now behind John Kerry.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting from Fairfax, Virginia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And Wesley Clark will make his withdrawal from this race formal at a 3:00 p.m. Eastern news conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. CNN, of course, will bring that to you live.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
