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American Morning
John Kerry Has Won 12 of 14 Democratic Races
Aired February 11, 2004 - 07:04 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: A few moments ago, Soledad, I talked with our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, from election headquarters at the CNN Center. First question today for Jeff, what now? And what is left in the campaign for the Democratic nomination?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, not much. We know that John Edwards' campaign thinks that if it can ever get John Kerry one-on-one, they have a chance to begin winning in later primaries. Howard Dean, having put down the marker in Wisconsin win or get out, has now said, well, win or maybe I'll stick around.
But there is one particular reason why it's so hard to imagine any other outcome but John Kerry. In years past when Democrats had winner-take-all primaries, somebody who won later primaries could amass a whole bunch of delegates and begin to catch up. The Democrats now do every primary strictly by proportional representation.
So, even if John Edwards or Howard Dean would be able to start winning later states, Kerry still is going to get a lump of delegates. And their campaign from the beginning has said if it ever gets to this point, he's just going to be unstoppable by simple arithmetic.
So, it would take something that is beyond my capacity to imagine.
HEMMER: At the same time, Howard Dean is the one who is taking the true legitimate shots at John Kerry. He mentioned many times in his speeches last night direct shots at Kerry, saying he's not a real Democrat. He's not a Democrat of change, because he's been in the Senate for so many years. Could it be a long-term problem for John Kerry to emerge from this primary caucus season without taking a lot of punches at this point?
GREENFIELD: Well, you just pointed out that Howard Dean is, if they're not punches, they're kind of slaps upside the head on the whole issue of insider-ness (ph) and special interests. It is true that if John Kerry keeps going this way, he will have been the only contender I can think of in decades to have won a nomination without ever having suffered a serious loss in the primary season.
But maybe we're in a different time period now, Bill. Maybe the hits John Kerry took all through 2003 when he was all but written off qualify as having taken a punch. I mean, anybody who survives the primaries is going to have one of his or her opponents begin to lay down questions that show up again in the fall. So, I don't think this is necessarily a fatal situation he's in right now at all.
HEMMER: I did not hear John Kerry last night mention any of his Democratic rivals in his speech. Is he now shifting officially to a general election campaign? Or has he already done that?
GREENFIELD: Yes. Well, in the first place, when you win, graciousness comes easy. It was Bob Dole famously, who having lost the New Hampshire primary in 1988, was put on with George Bush and asked if he had anything to say. He said, yes, stop lying about my record. Winners don't have to do that.
But in John Kerry's case, he has, I think, every night that he has won, he has aimed his fire squarely at George W. Bush and his administration. He is shifting to general election themes and has been, I think really, ever since Iowa. He talks about mainstream values. He talks about love of country. He cribbed a line right out of Bill Clinton's campaign last night -- people who work hard and play by the rules and who are suffering. So, he has clearly got his eye on November, even if he says he's taking nothing for granted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Jeff Greenfield from earlier. Much more on this throughout the morning here.
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 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A few moments ago, Soledad, I talked with our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, from election headquarters at the CNN Center. First question today for Jeff, what now? And what is left in the campaign for the Democratic nomination?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, not much. We know that John Edwards' campaign thinks that if it can ever get John Kerry one-on-one, they have a chance to begin winning in later primaries. Howard Dean, having put down the marker in Wisconsin win or get out, has now said, well, win or maybe I'll stick around.
But there is one particular reason why it's so hard to imagine any other outcome but John Kerry. In years past when Democrats had winner-take-all primaries, somebody who won later primaries could amass a whole bunch of delegates and begin to catch up. The Democrats now do every primary strictly by proportional representation.
So, even if John Edwards or Howard Dean would be able to start winning later states, Kerry still is going to get a lump of delegates. And their campaign from the beginning has said if it ever gets to this point, he's just going to be unstoppable by simple arithmetic.
So, it would take something that is beyond my capacity to imagine.
HEMMER: At the same time, Howard Dean is the one who is taking the true legitimate shots at John Kerry. He mentioned many times in his speeches last night direct shots at Kerry, saying he's not a real Democrat. He's not a Democrat of change, because he's been in the Senate for so many years. Could it be a long-term problem for John Kerry to emerge from this primary caucus season without taking a lot of punches at this point?
GREENFIELD: Well, you just pointed out that Howard Dean is, if they're not punches, they're kind of slaps upside the head on the whole issue of insider-ness (ph) and special interests. It is true that if John Kerry keeps going this way, he will have been the only contender I can think of in decades to have won a nomination without ever having suffered a serious loss in the primary season.
But maybe we're in a different time period now, Bill. Maybe the hits John Kerry took all through 2003 when he was all but written off qualify as having taken a punch. I mean, anybody who survives the primaries is going to have one of his or her opponents begin to lay down questions that show up again in the fall. So, I don't think this is necessarily a fatal situation he's in right now at all.
HEMMER: I did not hear John Kerry last night mention any of his Democratic rivals in his speech. Is he now shifting officially to a general election campaign? Or has he already done that?
GREENFIELD: Yes. Well, in the first place, when you win, graciousness comes easy. It was Bob Dole famously, who having lost the New Hampshire primary in 1988, was put on with George Bush and asked if he had anything to say. He said, yes, stop lying about my record. Winners don't have to do that.
But in John Kerry's case, he has, I think, every night that he has won, he has aimed his fire squarely at George W. Bush and his administration. He is shifting to general election themes and has been, I think really, ever since Iowa. He talks about mainstream values. He talks about love of country. He cribbed a line right out of Bill Clinton's campaign last night -- people who work hard and play by the rules and who are suffering. So, he has clearly got his eye on November, even if he says he's taking nothing for granted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Jeff Greenfield from earlier. Much more on this throughout the morning here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
