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Ballot Bowl 2008

Aired January 01, 2008 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe in strong borders and an incredibly strong military. And I could go right down the line. Those are the things that I truly believe.
I'm a conservative that's also pro-life. I believe life begins at conception and it's our responsibility to protect it at every stage.

(APPLAUSE)

When it comes to family and marriage, I'm a traditionalist. I believe that marriage is still what it has always been, one man, one woman, relationship for life, raising kids, training our replacements.

So right down the line, if you are a person who leans to the right of center, I mean, I'm there with you. But the next president has to not only be a person whose convictions are real, who actually believes in something, but a person who understands that wherever you are on the horizontal scale, the job of being president is lifting this country up and making sure that our children believe in this country again and believe that it offers for them the greatest opportunity that any place could be on the face of the earth. And that when your president comes on television, and you hear that he's about to make some comment, that you turn your eyes toward the screen and you say, I want to hear what he says, because I think he'll at least tell me the truth, even if it's not something I want to hear.

(APPLAUSE)

Every American has a right to know the truth. Every Iowan has the right to know what the truth is.

I believe this -- we're Americans, we're adults. We can handle it. Don't tell us something that isn't true. Tell us what it is, even if it's not pleasant for us, even if it's not necessarily what we want to hear.

If we really are $9 trillion in debt, be honest with us. Don't tell us that we can keep giving away things out of the public purse and it will never catch up with us, because that's not true.

Tell us the truth -- $9 trillion in debt has to stop, and we've got to start becoming responsible with things like Social Security and Medicare and our children's future. We can't keep adding debt on top of the debt for our kids. We can't keep spending like we are spending at the federal government, treating the Treasury as it's a sack from the North Pole and that Congress is Santa Claus, and they get to just simply take our list and fulfill every last one of them.

Tell us the truth about our tax system. Tell us it's the reason that a lot of jobs leave this country. Tell us it's the reason that there's $10 trillion of working U.S. capital offshore parked there because people have moved it to escape the U.S. tax system.

Tell us that the truth of the tax system is that a lot of people in the underground economy aren't paying tax. You and me, we're paying not only our taxes, we are paying theirs. Let's change the tax system. Let's implement a fair tax that would not penalize productivity.

(APPLAUSE)

And by the way, one of the things I love best about the fair tax, we get rid of the Internal Revenue Service once and for all, and no more tax forms and no more filing on April 15th. I know people say are you serious? We could actually do that?

Of course we could. We could change to a consumption tax, which was easy enough to understand that a 7-year-old running a lemonade stand could operate it. And that's a lot better than the one that requires $250 billion to $500 billion a year of spending money just to comply with the tax code.

That's not money that's producing anything except papers that the government can store it somewhere. That's a lot of paper stacking up. It's a lot of your money going out of your pocket.

We ought to change the tax system. Right now, we live in a country where more people are afraid of an audit of the IRS than they are of getting mugged.

I mean, I'm not making this up. Frank Luntz, the pollster that you see on FOX News, actually did a survey and found that people are more afraid of an audit than mugging. And I got to thinking about it and I said, it makes perfect sense, because if you get mugged, it only lasts a few minutes and they can only get what you have on you at the time.

My friend, if the IRS comes after you, they'll spend months, if not years, and they don't quit until they've cleaned your clock. That's why a lot of people are more afraid of them. If we rid ourselves of them, we won't be afraid of them anymore.

But there are other things we have to do in this country. I know a lot of people are concerned about our borders, and we should be.

Our federal government has miserably failed in doing anything to secure our borders. We have the most comprehensive idea on how to fix that. And it's got to be done.

It's no longer just a matter about the fact that we see people in line in front of those who waited patiently. It's an utmost issue of national security. The fact is, it's easier to get across the international borders these days than it is for you to get on an airplane in our own hometown. You have to have more paperwork to get on a plane. And you even have to take your shoes off and put your toothpaste in a plastic bag.

You can cross the border almost any time day or night, somebody helping you and you just slide right across. And we don't know who you are, where you're going, why you're here, do you have a communicable disease or a criminal background. We have got to secure our borders.

Those who are here illegally, we have got to say respectfully, you have got to go back and start over, and get in the back of the line and do it right this time. That's what all of us should have to expect.

(APPLAUSE)

And frankly, it's not because we're mad at people. It's because we want them, if they're going to be in this country, to live with their heads up and not afraid.

Nobody should be afraid of authority. We ought to respect it. We ought to have a rule of law that we all follow, everybody.

And again, that's not to hurt somebody. That's to lift everybody up. And the fact is, I'm proud to live in a country that people are trying to break in, not break out of. That's a good thing about America.

I don't want that to change. But if people are coming here, it ought to be legally, and they ought to come through the front door and not the back. And the next president has to fix this once and for all and not let it spiral completely out of hand as Washington has allowed to happen.

We're also a country that needs to realize that because of the danger and the volatility that's in this world, we can't afford to continue to stretch our military like we have. We're going to have to build it back up. The best way to avoid war is to have the kind of military that nobody on this earth even wants to think about engaging in a battle, because they look and see how truly overwhelming we would be in a fight and in a battle.

(APPLAUSE)

Our country can only be free if it has the capacity to, first of all, feed itself, which people in places like Iowa and Arkansas understand. If you don't feed yourself, if you have to depend on some foreign government to send food to us, then we're only as free as that foreign government wants us to be. That's why it matters that we have a strong agricultural environment.

Secondly, we have got to have a nation that can fuel itself. If we're not energy independent, we're not free. We're enslaved to whoever it is providing us energy, and for a long time we've been enslaved to powers in the Middle East and now we're financing both sides of the war on terror.

Our tax dollars pay for the military side of it. And every time you put your credit card in the gas pump, your oil dollars are financing the terrorist side of it.

I say that the next president -- and I want to be that president -- will say that within 10 years this country will be energy independent, and we'll tell the Saudis and the other oil producers, you can keep your oil, we don't need it anymore than we need your sand.

(APPLAUSE)

I want the next president to understand, because I look at myself in the mirror every day and say, it's not enough to say we're going to protect our borders. And it's not enough to say that we're going to protect the pockets of the hard-working Americans who just simply want government to leave them alone and let them earn a living and take care of their families and make their own decisions about where they spend their money.

If I'm your next president -- and with your help I will be -- I know that also this president needs to start fighting for those fundamental issues that define who we are as a culture and civilization. I want you to understand something. I am not pro-life because of politics. I'm in politics because as a person who is pro- life, I believe it is a defining issue for our culture and civilization.

The intrinsic worth and value of every human being literally does tell the rest of the world who we are, what we're about, and what we value most. And the idea that we would destroy innocent human life is not an issue that can be subjugated to the back of the discussion as if it doesn't matter, because it does matter how we treat each other.

And that's the ultimate test of the sanctity of human life. It's not just about life in the womb. It's life from beginning to the end in its natural form, and what we have to recognize is that when our founding fathers, with great sense of clarity and courage, said all of us are created equal, and they're endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, the first they listed was life, then liberty, then the pursuit of happiness.

It begins with life and it begins with the concept that all of us are equal. Nobody is more equal than somebody else because of his I.Q. No one is more equal than someone else because of where she lives. No one is more equal than another because of their physical strength or their last name, their ancestry or their net worth.

This is what makes us unique as a country, that all of us start maybe not in the nicest of homes, maybe not with the wealthiest of families or the most significant last name that opens doors for us, but we start out equal in our worth. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be standing here today. I didn't grow up equally with some people in terms of where my circumstances were. I grew up the son of a firefighter who worked a second job on his days off from the fire department. Two jobs, and we still barely paid the rent.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we have been listening to a live event here in Cedar Rapids from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, making his pitch on a series of issues. This is really a typical stump speech from Mike Huckabee.

I've been covering him a lot all across the state of Iowa, and this is what these small rooms of Iowa Republican voters are really listening to over and over again. And what they are hearing is him talk about opposition to abortion, the fact that he wants to abolish the IRS, the fact that he's pushing the idea of his opposition to illegal immigration, a huge issue here in Iowa.

And this is the kind of thing that a small room, an event with just a few people, that has really helped propel Mike Huckabee to doing well here, going from nowhere to, in some polls in the lead, but certainly in a neck-and-neck race with the person who has spent more money and more time and more effort here than anyone, and that is Mitt Romney.

And we're going to hear a lot more from other candidates. I'm going to toss it back to Jessica Yellin, who is with the CNN Express back in Des Moines.

Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Dana. Happy New Year.

So you have been covering Huckabee for a while, as you say. This litany of key issues has worked well for him. But yesterday there was an odd development when he unveiled to reporters a negative ad he said he was thinking of running and then decided not to run, and he vowed to stay positive.

So, I'm wondering, what did you hear from him today on that score?

BASH: That's right. You know, earlier today, he was in the western part of the state, and at the end of his stump speech, he kind of made a joke about the fact that he's really getting pilloried by the pundits for that -- what many are calling a stunt, frankly, what you just described yesterday. But he sort of made a pitch to the voters, saying, look, I did what I did, and I hope you that reward me for a positive campaign.

He definitely hasn't at all said Mitt Romney's name, he has not attacked him in an overt way. But he is going back to some of the things he was doing before, Jessica.

He's doing it very subtly, but he is making it very clear to Iowa voters why they shouldn't vote for Mitt Romney. I'll give you one example of something we just heard moments ago.

He said, I want you to think about when you vote for a president, somebody who you trust, somebody who you think is honest. There is no question that he is trying to tell voters that he does not think Mitt Romney is honest, as he has said many, many times before. He think he's waffled on many of the key positions, the key issues for Iowa Republicans.

So, the answer is, yes, he is trying to overtly stay more positive. But if you listen carefully, he's very gifted at saying things in a very subtle way, and he is continuing to do that here -- Jessica.

YELLIN: And that's what the candidates keep calling it, sharpening their differences, but not going negative, of course.

Thanks, Dana. You stay warm out there.

BASH: Yes. Thanks. You too.

YELLIN: All right.

And it's not just New Year's Day, it's exactly two days until voters here in Iowa head to the caucuses. We're bringing you a full day of coverage of the candidates as they make their way along the campaign trail here in Iowa and also in New Hampshire.

Ahead this hour in the CNN "Ballot Bowl," Republican contender John McCain at a house party in Tilton, New Hampshire.

We'll also hear from Democratic Senator Barack Obama, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator Hillary Clinton.

That's all ahead as the CNN "Ballot Bowl" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to the CNN "Ballot Bowl," where we're hearing from the candidates unfiltered and in their own words.

The candidates are crisscrossing Iowa today, and one top-tier candidate is in New Hampshire, where voters go to the polls just one week from today. We'll go there live to hear from Senator John McCain as he speaks to a group of voters assembled in a living room in Tilton, New Hampshire.

And some New Hampshire voters learned more about the presidential candidates in a special event put together by our CNN affiliate, WMUR TV. Here is what Democrat Hillary Clinton had to say at her stop at the Merrimack Diner in Manchester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello. How are you?

I am so happy to be here. Oh, my gosh. There is my husband. That's great. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like "The Sopranos"?

CLINTON: Yes, I do, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember the scene where you come in, Bill comes in?

CLINTON: That's right. That's right. It's kind of like this.

Actually, it's a diner near where we live in New York.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No onion rings?

CLINTON: I'm looking out for you.

It was such a funny idea that one of my young staff came up with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, if Hollywood was to do a movie about you, who would play you?

CLINTON: Oh, well somebody obviously young.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel about our Red Sox? You went to school up here, but you are a New York senator, so...

CLINTON: That's right. I spent years explaining to people how I was both a Cubs and a Yankees fan, because when I was growing up, my father was a very strong Cubs fan.

When I was around 7 or 8, I wanted more balance in my life, and that meant I had to find an American League team that would win. And I also saw a docudrama about Mickey Mantle which made a huge impression on me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, what do you do day to day to stay physically fit? Are you out there? I know your husband is kind of famous for jogging. What do you like to do?

CLINTON: Well, I like to walk fast. I'm not much of a jogger. I'm probably the world's slowest runner.

Years ago -- Bill likes to run, you know, and he wanted to do a 10k. So I said, OK, I'll do it with you.

Well, about halfway through I realized I was last. And so, to save a little bit of my pride, I look around and I say, OK, I'm going to walk like I was doing this all the time. Right? It was -- it was so embarrassing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was the last book you read just for pure pleasure, not for work?

CLINTON: That's a great question. Right now, I'm reading a biography of Eisenhower by Michael Korda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No Danielle Steele?

CLINTON: No, but I did read this year this book that has been on the best-seller list, "Eat, Pray, Love." Have you read that by Elizabeth Gilbert? It's a really good read. It's kind of a girl's book.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can say chick book.

CLINTON: Yes, chick lit. It's really a good read.

John Grisham is distantly related to my husband. Bill's grandmother was a Grisham. And John Grisham was actually born in Arkansas.

So, when Bill was president, some genealogist wrote and said, "You're related to John Grisham." And he said, "Finally, a relative with money."

He had long hair and a beard. And it was red.

I saw Bill out there and he was talking to one of our classmates. And I was looking at him and he was looking at me. And I thought, you know, I really want to meet him.

So I got up, and I walked up to him and I said, "If I'm going to keep looking at you, and you're going to keep looking at me, I think we should be introduced. I'm Hillary Rodham. What is your name?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is harder, politics, or being a mother and a wife?

CLINTON: Oh my gosh. They are hard in different ways. I think all of us would say that what we do and our families is the most important work that we have. And at the end of the day, it's what matters more than anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is the most interesting person you've met?

CLINTON: Probably Nelson Mandela is the most inspiring, touching, admirable person that I have met. The 27 years he spent in prison, he went into prison angry, outraged. He said that if he -- if he didn't let his hatred go, he would never be free.

So I was incredibly privileged to go to his inauguration. And I will never forget this. He said there are many distinguished visitors from around the world, and I welcome all of you to the new South Africa. But there are three people that I personally invited here today that I would like to have stand, three of my former jailers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it sort of affect your spirit or your views on the world today?

CLINTON: Well, it affected the way that I think about any kind of obstacle or difficulty that I face or that anybody faces.

My father went to college on a football scholarship, and I knew I wasn't doing that. He went to Penn State. And my mother never got to go to college. So I was -- you know, I was apprehensive and excited. But when I got there, I really felt totally out of place.

I just felt like I was not going to be successful. And I called home, and in those days you called home collect, and thankfully my parents took the call.

And I said, you know, I don't belong here. Everybody is smarter and everybody is this and that. And I want to come home.

And my father said OK, because I think he missed me. And my mother said you can't be a quitter.

I look at my life and I think that it's so fortunate for all of us who came of age then, when all of these barriers started to fall. And we almost forget what it took to get to where we are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: Hillary Clinton, speaking to New Hampshire voters at the Merrimack Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire.

As our CNN "Ballot Bowl" continues, we'll go back to New Hampshire to hear Senator John McCain speak live to voters assembled in a living room in Tilton, New Hampshire, and we'll also hear from Democratic senator Barack Obama.

Plus, an update on the hour's top stories.

All ahead as the CNN "Ballot Bowl" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Suzanne Malveaux with the CNN Election Express in Des Moines, Iowa.

Just two days to go until the Iowa caucuses. More of the CNN "Ballot Bowl" coming up, candidates in their own words.

But first, a quick check of today's top stories.

(NEWSBREAK)

MALVEAUX: And just ahead on the CNN "Ballot Bowl," we'll go live to New Hampshire, a living room where supporters of Senator John McCain are waiting for him to speak. We're actually going to take you there live, yes, to a living room.

Also, a presidential candidate and a TV superstar. Oprah Winfrey draws a big, big crowd as she campaigns for Senator Barack Obama.

That, and much, much more on the CNN "Ballot Bowl" as it continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: I'm Suzanne Malveaux with the CNN Election Express in Des Moines, Iowa, where the Iowa caucuses are just two days away. This is the CNN Ballot Bowl, where we hear from candidates unfiltered, raw, in their own words.

We're going to be going live to New Hampshire where Senator John McCain is set to address voters in a living room in Tilton, New Hampshire. And we're expecting to go live to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as she addresses voters in Sioux City, Iowa.

But, first, the power of a superstar. T.V. talk show host Oprah Winfrey is backing Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Recently she hit the road on a tour with Obama, drawing thousands of people. This stop, Columbia, South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am proud of being a Democrat. I want everybody's vote, but I'm proud of being a Democrat. But I know this about the Democratic Party. We have always made the biggest difference in people's lives when we led not by polls, but by principles. Not by calculation, but by conviction. When we summoned an entire nation around a higher purpose, a common purpose.

And I am running for president of the United States because that is the party that America needs us to be right now. We need a bold, Democratic Party that is going to stand for something. Not just posture and pose, but stand for something. That's what -- that's what people are looking for. That's what they are hoping for.

You know, one of the best trips I've had in this campaign. I went out to Oakland, California, because the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, had organized every presidential candidate to spend a day walking in the shoes of one of their members. So I went out to Oakland and I woke up at 5:00 in the morning and I went to the home of a 61-year-old home care worker named Pauline Beck. And Mrs. Beck was already up at 5:00 in the morning because she was fixing breakfast for a couple of foster children who didn't have a family of their own.

And after we fixed them breakfast and got them ready for school, we went it over to her regular job which is at the home of an 86-year- old amputee named John Thornton. He lives in a ramshackle house all on his own. He couldn't live there, except Ms. Beck takes care of him each and every day. And so that morning, I did under her supervision what Ms. Beck usually does. I helped him out of bed, put on his clothes, helped him fix some breakfast and took the dirty sheets, cleaned them, and scrubbed the floors, cleaned the house. Michelle couldn't believe it when she found out I was doing housework. I had to show her the video.

But working alongside this woman, listening to her talk about the hardships of her life without a trace of self-pity, just glad to be of some service to somebody, not asking for much, but hoping maybe she could get a little more pay to look after those foster kids. Hoping that maybe she could have a little more security in her retirement. Hoping maybe just maybe she could get a day off once in a while, because she doesn't get paid much and a lot of times she can't take a day off, she can't afford it.

I was reminded of why I got into public service, why two decades ago, I went to Chicago to work with steel workers who had been laid off and try to help them get back on their feet. Because there are millions of people all across this country, all across South Carolina, just like Ms. Beck. You know who you are. You're working hard. And you know that government can't do everything for you. You don't expect government to do everything for you. You know you've got to work hard for the American dream. You're doing the right thing. You're looking after your children. Sometimes you got two jobs. Sometimes you got three jobs. You are not afraid of hard work.

But what you also hope for is -- you know, if you're able and willing to work, maybe you can find a job that pays a living wage. Are you hoping maybe you can get health care so are you not bankrupt whether you get sick. You are hoping that you can send your child to a good school and that you are not going to be - that you can send your child to college even if you're not rich.

You're hoping that you can retire with some dignity and some respect. And what you hoping for is that your government is going to help you knock down some of the barriers to your success, help you achieve your American dream. And the problem, Washington isn't listening to your dreams right now. And that's why I'm running for president because I want somebody in the white house that is going to listen to your dreams, South Carolina. That's why I'm running, to be president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Senator Barack Obama speaking to supporters earlier this month in Columbia, South Carolina. As the CNN Ballot Bowl continues, we'll go live to Tilton, New Hampshire, where Senator John McCain is about to address supporters in an event in a living room. We'll also hear from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former governor Mitt Romney. It is all ahead as the CNN Ballot Bowl continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to the CNN Ballot Bowl. I'm John King in Tilton, New Hampshire at the fabulous Tilton Diner. John McCain due here in a little more than an hour to meet supporters in the traditional New Hampshire retail politics style. At the moment, he's in a living room nearby in the town of Tilton where he is thanking his supporters and is about to speak to them. We will take you back to that message with Senator McCain to get the meat of his remarks there in that living room. First though we want to share with you part of the coverage from our affiliate here in New Hampshire, WMUR. They have a series called "Candidate Cafe" where they sit down with the major candidates for president and have New Hampshire voters ask them questions. Let's listen now to a little segment on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Let's go Mitt! Let's go Mitt.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning. How are you? How was breakfast? Oh, that's good. Good morning. Down there, OK. What was the best? I'm looking to see what's best here for breakfast. The oatmeal. Is the oatmeal good?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have fresh muffins that just came out of oven that everyone is raving about.

ROMNEY: Well I'm partial to chocolate chip muffins. If I'm going to have something bad for me, it's going to really be bad for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does Mitt stand for?

ROMNEY: Mitt is an unusual name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard it's not your first name.

ROMNEY: No, it's not my legal first name. It's my middle name. My first name is Willard. And I was called Billy in kindergarten as a conjunction of Willard. And so I was called Billy, but they had a song in kindergarten. Maybe those of you who are a little older might remember this song, where have you been Billy boy, Billy boy? And the girls would sing this song to me, and I didn't like that at all. So I came home one day and I said, I don't want to be called Billy anymore. So in kindergarten or first grade I switched to Mitt and have been Mitt ever since. And Mitt Romney in the 1920s was the quarterback for the Chicago Bears. Can you imagine? So I think they imagined that by giving me that name, I would have great athletic talent. Unfortunately it did not go with the name, it goes with the genes and I didn't get the same genes he has.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are actually a runner?

ROMNEY: I do run. I do run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Off those chocolate muffins.

ROMNEY: Yes, exactly. Otherwise I would be carrying a bigger tire than I've got. I try and run three miles every other day. I ran in cross country in high school, I was not good. But I gave my heart. It's sort of a family tradition. We may not have a lot of talent, but we make up for lack of talent with determination and effort. The values that my church has are the same values would you find in your churches. I don't think you would see a difference in that regard.

Love of family, recognition that we're all the family of human kind. We're all children of God, but there's a responsibility to serve others, the teachings of Jesus Christ are very much at the foundation of my church, just like they are yours. And I don't think people choose their candidate based on what church they go to, but they care very deeply about what their values are. And I think that's the way it ought to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is obviously easier for you to do than it is for me. What do you to do let your hair down?

ROMNEY: You let it down, you just didn't pick it back up. You know, for me, the greatest joy imaginable is being with my kids, my daughters in law, and my grandkids. I love movies. I don't get to go to movie theaters very much. I do get DVDs, look at some old movies on occasion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a favorite movie?

ROMNEY: I do have a favorite movie, but you will have never have heard of it. It's called "Oh brother where art thou."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yeah. We've seen that.

ROMNEY: You've seen that? My boys and I watch it every summer and the guys know the lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you sing any of the songs?

ROMNEY: I can, but there's no way I'm going to do that. You are my sunshine. You could all sing that song.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell us about a proud moment with your wife.

ROMNEY: Oh there have been a lot of proud moments with her. What's interesting is we met in high school. She was 15, almost 16 when we met, and I saw her across the room. I asked her if I could give her a ride home. That sort of thing. We've been going steady ever since. There's really nothing more enduring and more fulfilling I think in life than having children well raised and she raised five extraordinary boys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly, when you get that job, the trade offs are gigantic and family takes a second place. It has to. I can't imagine otherwise. What's motivating you?

ROMNEY: You come to a point where your kids are raised and they're married and they're on their own. They are having their kids and love those grandkids enormously and you begin saying, how can I make sure that what I've enjoyed, they will be able to enjoy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where were you on September 11th? And how did you separate your professional responsibilities with your personal reaction to what had happened?

ROMNEY: I was actually in Washington D.C. getting ready for a meeting on Capitol Hill to try and get money for the security system at our Olympics. I drove right by the Pentagon. And you could smell that the smoke was blowing across the highway. You could smell burning concrete, steel. It's a smell of war I never expected to experience in my own land. And it was very sobering. And, frankly, I couldn't think about, you know, any implications for what this meant for the Olympics. It was -- the world has changed. And then I began getting calls, saying were we going to cancel the Olympics? Because it was only four or five months away. And there were some Olympic committees in various countries that were saying, maybe they wouldn't come, they wouldn't feel safe in America, not sure if they could fly here.

And so I decided that I had to make a statement about holding the Olympics and I did so by the end of the day, saying, yeah, we're going to hold the Olympics, we will have safe games. We'll do whatever is necessary to do that. Now more than ever we need to bring the nations of the world together.

Derek Parra. Derek is a Hispanic American. He was a roller blader living in Los Angeles. One of his friends said you ought to try ice skating. He hadn't tried it before, straps on ice skates. He's good, he's fast. He's so fast on ice skates that he beats all these big Minnesota, Michigan, and Indiana guys and becomes a member of the Olympic team in speedskating. Wins a gold medal for the U.S. in speedskating, as well as a silver medal. And I said to him, what was the most measurable experience in your Olympics? And it was not the silver and it was not the gold. He said it was being able to carry in the flag that flown above the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.

They sang oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave or the land of the free and the home of the brave. He said that second time a gust of wind blew into the flag and lifted it into in hands. And he said Mitt, for me it was as if the spirits of all those that had died for American liberty has just blown into that flag. It's that love for this country and a recognition of the sacrifice of those who provided for our liberty that gives me so much confidence that our future is in good hands.

This is one of the highlights. This is fun today. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I have my picture with you?

ROMNEY: Absolutely. It's only five bucks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: A fascinating personal glimpse there at Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. That from our affiliate WMUR as part of their "Candidate Cafe" series. Mitt Romney telling voters there in the Merrimack Diner that he's partial to chocolate chip muffins and he also liked the movie "Oh brother where art thou".

A glimpse at Mitt Romney there. This is part of CNN's Ballot Bowl. Unprecedented, unvarnished coverage of the candidates for president in both major parties. I'm John in Tilton, New Hampshire.

Nearby in a living room at this moment, Arizona Senator John McCain, a Republican candidate for president, in a very close race with Governor Romney here in the state of New Hampshire. We're going to take a quick break. Back with more of our unprecedented coverage in their own words from the presidential candidates in both major parties. John McCain on the other side of the break. Stay with us.

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KING: Two days from the Iowa caucuses, one week from the New Hampshire primary here in the lead off primary state of New Hampshire. This is the continuing coverage of CNN's Ballot Bowl. Whether you support him or not, tip your hat to the perseverance of Senator John McCain on this day, campaigning in a living room here, taking questions in Tilton, New Hampshire. There is a driving snow outside that has closed many roads. His bus has been sidelined. Instead, it is the straight talk SUV today, not the normal straight talk express. Let's listen to Senator McCain take questions from voters here in Tilton, New Hampshire.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think it's got to be all kinds of alternate energy sources and the more oil we burn, the more the greenhouse gases are increased, and so I am bent on reducing and eliminating our dependence on foreign oil. My friends, a billion dollars today of your money will go to oil-producing companies and I mean countries -- to countries and some of that money will end up in the hands of terrorist organizations.

We've got to eliminate this dependency or foreign oil. Anwar is simply not the place. I thank you for your question. Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a question about how you would change Medicare and with the aging population increasing, I'm a physical therapist and I work with --

MCCAIN: Well first of all, thank you for being a physical therapist. Both of us have had great, long, and intimate experience with your work. And in all due respect to the medical profession, we know that the vital part of any rehabilitation after an operation is what you do, and thank you for that.

Look, the problem with health care in America is not the quality. The problem with health care in America is the inflation. It's out of sight. About three weeks ago -- or four weeks ago, there was an article on the front page of "USA Today" that said Medicaid costs skyrocket. There were over 10 percent last year inflation. No system can stand, and if you like a government-run, big government, single payer system, go to Canada and have a look before you decide you want to adopt that system in the United States of America.

I don't. I don't. And so I think you have to do about 50 things, and it has to do with responsibility to the recipient of the health care, make health care available and affordable.

One of them is an outcome bases proposal that, for example, right now someone is suffering from one of the five chronic diseases in America that consumes 75 percent of the cost. We pay a provider for every test, every procedure, every single aspect of it.

I want to say take this patient with diabetes, treat them for a year, we'll give you "X" amount of money and if the patient is well afterward, we'll even reward you for that.

So it's a results-oriented basis. I want to give every American family $5,000 refundable tax credit so they can get across state lines if they want to and get the health care they want.

I want community health centers. I want walk in clinics to relieve the strain on emergency rooms. I want us to practice wellness and fitness.

The most disturbing fact that we've heard lately is the rise in diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure amongst young Americans. We've got to fix wellness and fitness. Have the health care provider provide the incentives for people, wellness and fitness and lower premiums or cash rewards for doing so.

Medical malpractice reform has got to be part of it. I don't know what your insurance policy is, but I'm sure that it's higher than the premiums or higher than you want it to be or you can't afford it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's actually not bad fortunately for me professionally. I do have to say that.

MCCAIN: I think you would agree that many doctors --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Physicians, absolutely.

MCCAIN: I think it's very important that we provide - and I know you can appreciate this part of it, incentives for home health care. Now, instead of institutionalized long-term care facilities.

In Arizona, and I'm sorry for the long answer, but I know you will appreciate this we were the last state just about to adopt "Medicaid." So it's a program called Access, and we put incentives for the providers to treat and incentivize home health care. The physical therapist visits them at home. The doctor, the nurse, all the things that are necessary as opposed to institutionalization.

In Arizona, we have per capita one-half the number of people in long term care facilities under Medicaid than the state of Pennsylvania.

All of these kinds of incentives, I think, work and keep the costs down. As you can see, all these proposals that I have right now are to get the inflation down and preserve the best health care system in the world. And there are others.

Let me just tell you, I think it's going to be a great domestic debate in the 2008 general election. I really do because there is profound differences between Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, Senator Edwards, all the rest of them, ideas about how we address the compelling domestic issue of our time and I thank you for being involved in it, thank you for all you do. Any other questions?

KING: We'll leave Senator McCain there in a living room here in Tilton, New Hampshire. Much more ahead from Senator McCain and others as the CNN Ballot Bowl coverage continues. We're here at the Tilton Diner, not just for the great food and the friendly people - Senator McCain himself will be campaigning here in just a short time. We'll bring you that when the senator makes his way through the driving snow to this event here in Tilton, New Hampshire.

Also still ahead in our unvarnished, unprecedented coverage of the candidates for you today, one of the Democratic candidates, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigning out in Sioux City, Iowa. Again, stay with us, CNN Ballot Bowl, the candidates in their own words, continues on the other side of the break.

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