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Stumping Hard; Candidates Get Out the Message; Georgia Authorities Charge Man Held in Missing Hiker Case with Kidnapping

Aired January 05, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: What a thought that is. Very pleasant. All right. Jacqui, appreciate it. Thank you.

And back to the best political team in television in a moment. Ballot Bowl continues right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to the CNN Ballot Bowl. I'm John King live in Bedford, New Hampshire. Three days now before the New Hampshire presidential primary. Our thanks again to our hosts here at the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, New Hampshire who are very busy.

Final hour of our CNN Ballot Bowl coverage today, more of the candidates in their own words, speeches, town halls and other campaigning across the state of New Hampshire as the democrats and the republicans try to win the first of the, first of the nation presidential primary.

You see them there out campaigning aggressively out across this state. Also in this hour, the first CNN/WMUR University of New Hampshire poll in New Hampshire in the wake of the Iowa caucuses. Will Mike Huckabee get a bounce? Will Barack Obama get a bounce from their dramatic victories in Iowa? We'll have those numbers for you up later in this hour.

Also today, not all the action is here in the great state of New Hampshire. Out in Wyoming, republicans caucusing today in the republican side. Their choice, we are told, is Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, CNN projects will win the Wyoming caucuses. 12 delegates at stake in the state of Wyoming and Governor Romney won six of those delegates so far; one for Duncan Hunter. He is the republican congressman from southern California and one for Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, TV star, as well. But former Governor Mitt Romney CNN projects will win the Wyoming caucuses. A modest number of delegates at stake there but still a victory for Governor Romney who of course very much hopes to win the primary in the state of New Hampshire.

Dramatically different campaign. It literally changed overnight as the winners and the losers from Iowa flew overnight here to New Hampshire adopting new messages, changing their speeches, trying to figure out either how to build on the momentum in the case of Huckabee and Obama or re-jigger and try to revive in the case of Clinton, Edwards and so many others especially Mitt Romney.

Let's bring in two of the best members of the political team on television right now, Suzanne Malveaux and Dana Bash. Suzanne has spent her time with the democrats out in Iowa and now in New Hampshire. Dana spent most of her time with republicans out in Iowa and now in New Hampshire.

Suzanne, let me begin with you. The biggest challenge for Barack Obama is convincing the people of New Hampshire that is for real and that he can win and if he can win here, he believes, doesn't he, that he can knock Senator Hillary Clinton, if not out of the race, certainly on to the ropes.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure and there are two groups that he is actually focusing on going after and it proved to be successful in Iowa. We saw the crossover some of the republicans and the independents, specifically those independent voters he's going after independent men, the republican women, both of those groups that he wants to join on in this sign, this message of unity and of hope.

The one thing we are hearing from Barack Obama, however, is hitting back from the idea that hope means ignorance, perhaps, that there are going to be road blocks ahead. That hope is somehow naive.

That is what the other two opponents are trying to paint. We heard from Senator John Edwards already who has gone after him saying he is too much of a nice guy here, that he hasn't gotten his hands dirty. John Edwards saying that he is a fighter. He's taken on special interest, that it's not an academic exercise when he takes on those big corporations. You can already see what's being set up between those two and how that's playing out.

We've heard from Senator Clinton today as well. She continues to talk about this idea of experience and we've even heard her use a parallel, if you will, between Barack Obama and President Bush saying we heard President Bush, he had very little foreign policy experience. He was reaching out, thought he could look into the eyes and the souls of what she said were rogue leaders. I think the kind of mix matching a little bit of those messages there but essentially saying that he was an inexperienced guy, look what happened there, trying to draw a parallel to Barack Obama. So obviously, we've got some sharp elbows that are coming out here. Everyone is trying to distinguish themselves. One of the lessons that Senator Clinton did learn, her aides say is that she has a lot more work to do. She's got to work harder for it, particularly when it comes to the young voters. John?

KING: And Dana, among the overnight transformations that has been most striking is that of the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. His focus early on, whether he was down in South Carolina campaigning in advance of that primary or especially out in Iowa for the caucuses, was trying to court the evangelicals, trying to say that, yes, he used to be in favor of abortion rights but he had a genuine conversion to the anti-abortion position, speaking out against same sex marriage. Back here in the state of New Hampshire where they know him well from the days as Massachusetts governor, not only is the stakes huge for him, but he sound very different on the trail, doesn't he?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly different. You said the candidates, many of them had overnight transformations and nobody that had more of a transformation in terms of the message he was trying to get across than Mitt Romney.

You talked about what he said in Iowa. We heard it over and over again. Remember, he got a lot of some slack, basically, from many people because there he was really pushing his socially conservative credentials on abortion, on same-sex marriage. Here he says that he understands the lesson from Iowa and the lesson from Iowa is that voters want change.

And I think that people probably gave up counting the number of times he has said the word change since he has touched ground here in New Hampshire. He says it over and over again insisting that he is not a creature of Washington and, which is true. He is not somebody who sort of is a part of the establishment. He is trying to make himself somebody who is really different and outside. Really, it's happening into his roots as a businessman, who was a successful businessman and also reminding people here who really do know him because he was the governing of neighboring Massachusetts of what he was able to do there. Those were things you didn't hear very much on the stump back in Iowa. He was able to reach across the aisle with democrats in Massachusetts and able to get things done, particularly his health care plan, something he did talk about in Iowa, not as much as he has already done here in New Hampshire.

So there's no question about it that Mitt Romney has pretty much everything at stake in Tuesday's primary here. He was definitely wounded in Iowa where he had spent a lot of money, a lot of time and really had banked on a traditional strategy to win the nomination. He had banked on winning in Iowa, having that momentum into New Hampshire and carrying him through. He didn't win in Iowa and he got a neck-and neck race here with John McCain. In fact, some polls show John McCain beating him. If he does not do well here, it is a big question mark what happens next in the Romney campaign, John.

KING: More from Suzanne Malveaux, Dana Bash, other members OF the best political team on television as we continue the CNN Ballot Bowl here this weekend, a critical weekend of campaigning before the lead off presidential primary in the state of New Hampshire.

When we come back, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, joins us. A big event coming up on the hour ahead as we wrap up today's coverage of the CNN Ballot Bowl, the first CNN/WMUR poll of New Hampshire voters taken since the Iowa caucuses earlier this week. Bill will join us on the other side of the break and more members of the best political team on television and more of the candidates in their own words.

Please stay with us. You're watching the CNN Ballot Bowl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to the CNN Ballot Bowl. I'm John King reporting live from Bedford, New Hampshire.

Later this hour we'll have the results of the first poll, excuse me, since the Iowa caucuses the CNN/WMUR University of New Hampshire poll. Back with us then to discuss it will be our senior political analysts Bill Schneider. But Bill joins us first now.

Bill, help our viewers understand. You move on from Iowa to the state of New Hampshire. Only five days between the two votes. How is New Hampshire different in terms of the issues, the political terrain than Iowa and as we await those poll results, what is the biggest question in your mind? What are you looking for?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What we're looking for is whether there is any momentum for anyone coming out of Iowa into New Hampshire. You know there's two theories about the relationship between the two states. I've heard them both. I've been to New Hampshire many times during this campaign.

One theory is what happens in Iowa has a tremendous impact on New Hampshire. Look at John Kerry. He pulled out in New Hampshire. He won Iowa and then he won New Hampshire.

There's another theory. The theory that you often hear up here in New Hampshire is people in New Hampshire don't care about Iowa. They don't know where it is. They pay no attention. Look what happened in 1984. That was a long time ago, but Iowa voted for Walter Mondale, Gary Hart came in a distant second and then shortly thereafter, New Hampshire reversed those results.

Both theories have some credibility. We'll see what happens when we look at the poll.

KING: And, so, Bill, in terms of the issues terrain, out in Iowa, obviously people focus on the farm economy but you also have the evangelical basis especially on the republican side. Governor Huckabee did well here.

Let's just focus on him for the republican side for a moment. How different is this state, New Hampshire, the live free or die it says on the license plate, the libertarian streak on it? Somebody told me that the republicans in the state of New Hampshire are more pro-choice and more in favor of abortion rights than the entire electorate nationwide. How different is it when the Iowa winner on the republican side comes to the state of New Hampshire?

SCHNEIDER: Iowa and New Hampshire are very different on the republican side. There are many, there are much - there's a much smaller number of evangelical voters in New Hampshire. It doesn't have that same kind of religious tradition as Iowa has. And that, of course, was Huckabee's base. He has not been doing well here in the polls in New Hampshire. We'll see whether his victory in Iowa give him appeal beyond the evangelicals to the kinds of voters we have here in New Hampshire. You use the word libertarian, that's exactly the streak you find among both democrats and republicans here. One of the things that means is that republicans dislike a lot of the social- issue conservatives, the views that religious conservatives have about government regulation of things like gay marriage and abortion rights. This is a state, after all, that recently just this year legalized same-sex unions, something that hasn't happened in most other states. It's a state with that kind of libertarian streak that doesn't like regulation. It doesn't like government in your pocketbook and it doesn't like government in your bedroom.

One other big difference, the issue of illegal immigration was enormous in Iowa. It was the top republican issue. It's an issue here in New Hampshire, as well, but I don't think it's quite as big in New Hampshire as it was in Iowa.

KING: Bill Schneider helping us understand the different terrain here in the state of New Hampshire. Bill will be back with us in about 40 minutes from now when CNN releases our CNN/WMUR poll here in New Hampshire, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, again, a first glimpse of how voter sentiments may have changed here in the granite state based on the Iowa results. Will Obama get a bounce? Will Huckabee get a bounce? Will Seator McCain continue his neck and neck race against the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on the republican side?

All of that just ahead as the CNN Ballot Bowl continues. We'll go back to our Suzanne Malveaux for more insight and for more of the candidate in his own words. We're talking about Barack Obama, the big winner in the state of Iowa looking to build on his momentum here in the state of New Hampshire.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to the CNN Ballot Bowl. I'm John King in Bedford, New Hampshire. Want to again quickly thank our hosts here at the Bedford Village Inn for providing us this space and this hospitality today.

You know we get a little bit cynical sometimes. We can get a little bit jaded. This has been a long campaign. Many viewers probably saying, enough already. Well, we are in the time where it really counts now, the Iowa caucus a few days ago and the New Hampshire primary just ahead.

As we have been talking about for some time, this is potential history in the make; the first serious woman candidate for president, Senator Hillary Clinton; the first African American with the chance to win his party's nomination and go on to the presidency of the United States, Barack Obama.

At the moment of two potentially history making storylines, it is Obama with momentum at the moment; the big winner in Iowa, not only winning the democratic caucuses there and coming here to New Hampshire, trying to capitalize on momentum, trying to tell the voters of New Hampshire that if they give him a victory here three days from now, he believes he will be the next president of the United States. Helping us track what is truly a remarkable story, our own Suzanne Malveaux with a little bit more insight into the Obama campaign. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Well John, they're really trying to capitalize off of that momentum and just build on it, keep building and building and building but what is happening here is you're already beginning to notice is that from both sides that are coming at him, he really represents change, he represents hope. What you're hearing from his opponent, Senator John Edwards, is he it is making the case that Barack Obama is too much of a nice guy, that he is willing to negotiate, that he's not a tough enough fighter when it comes to special interests.

On the other side, you've got Senator Hillary Clinton who is now trying to paint Obama as somewhat naive, perhaps even ignorant of foreign affairs and things that are necessary to start the job as president and be ready for it for day one. What you're hearing from Senator Barack Obama is essentially trying to define himself, define what he means when he talks about hope, when he talks about change and to make the case that he is, in fact, ready for the job.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I know how tough it will be to bring about healthcare reform in this country. If it was easy, we would have done it a long time ago. I know it is going it be tough. I know that solving climate change, alleviating poverty and fixing our schools, none of those things lend themselves to easy repair. If somebody says it's easy, they're not telling you the truth.

I know because I fought on the streets as an organizer with those steel workers. I fought as a civil rights attorney for those who had been denied justice and an opportunity on the job or at the polling place. I have seen good legislation go down because good intentions were not enough. And it wasn't matched and fortified with political will and a working majority. I've seen this country led into a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged because nobody had the courage to ask the tough questions before we sent our troops in to fight.

I know how tough it can be. But, New Hampshire, I also know this. That there has never been meaningful change in this country unless somebody somewhere stood up for something that others said couldn't be done. That's how the colonists threw off the tyranny of the British Empire. The odds were against them. Nobody expected them to be able to found a nation that would survive, much less become the most powerful nation on earth.

It was hope that allowed slaves and abolitionists to resist that evil system and would allow a new president who many said wasn't ready to chart out a new course that would ensure that this nation would not remain half slave and half free. It was hope that allowed the greatest generation, my grandfather fighting in Patton's army in World War II, my grandmother staying at home with a baby working on a bomber assembly line; that generation to not only defeat fascism but also lift itself up out of a great depression. It was hope that allowed workers to have the courage it organize against so that we could win a minimum wage and overtime and all the benefits that every worker, union and non-union now takes for granted. It was hope that allowed women to stand up and say, I'm as smart as a man. I'm smarter than man. I need a seat at the table of our democracy. I deserve the right to vote.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So, John, it's a message that, obviously, resonating with voters but it is also this win from Obama, the result of a lot of hard work and that is getting people who have not participated in the process before, those first-time voters and it is yet to be seen whether or not you're going to get that same kind of response from New Hampshire voters; those young people that he relied on so heavily in Iowa. John?

KING: Suzanne Malveaux providing insight on the Obama campaign here in New Hampshire. We're going to take a quick break from CNN Ballot Bowl and turn it over to Rob Marciano at the CNN Center in Atlanta with some breaking news. Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this story we've been covering out of north Georgia, within the past few moments another in a series of ominous developments in the search for that missing hiker in the mountains of north Georgia. Authorities announced charges against Gary Michael Hilton, the so-called person of interest. He's charged now with kidnapping and bodily injury in the case of Meredith Emerson. Hilton was apprehended last night in a suburb north of Atlanta and late this morning and without explanation, investigators shrank the area being searched to five square miles near the trail where Emerson last was scene on New Year's Day. Yesterday afternoon, the missing woman's dog walked into a grocery store about 50 miles south of Blood Mountain where Emerson and the animal had both been hiking.

Again, Gary Michael Hilton is charged with kidnapping and the intent to do bodily injury and at this hour, Meredith Emerson is still missing. More on this story as it develops.

Let's get back to John King and the Ballot Bowl. John?

KING: Thank you, Rob. And we're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, more of the CNN Ballot Bowl, the candidates in their own words.

Also ahead in the next half hour, the CNN/WMUR poll here in New Hampshire, the first glimpse at voter sentiment here since the Iowa caucuses.

Among the candidates we'll hear from when we continue, the Arizona Senator John McCain, a campaign that was struggling all summer long now with a chance to pull off yet another victory for Senator McCain. The winner here in 2000 on the republican side, he hopes to re-create that again this year.

Stay with us, you're watching the CNN Ballot Bowl, the candidates in their own words. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Welcome back to the "CNN Ballot Bowl." I'm John King, live in Bedford, New Hampshire.

As we share with you the candidates in their own words, unvarnished campaigning both in Iowa and now here in New Hampshire, we're getting a great assist from our affiliate here in the state of New Hampshire, WMUR. A series of voter forums they call Candidate Cafe. The candidates for president, Democrat and Republican, meeting with small groups of New Hampshire voters. Let's have a small glimpse of the Candidate Cafe with Senator John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN MCCAIN, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, how are you, dear? Nice to see you. How are you? Nice to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the Merrimac Restaurant.

MCCAIN: Thank you, sir. Glad to be here. Thanks. Cindy is not here because she injured her knee while shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did she do that?

MCCAIN: While shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was she doing?

MCCAIN: Actually -- actually it was grocery shopping so the story isn't quite as good as it sounds at first.

I had the great honor and privilege of serving in the company of heroes. I observed 1,000 acts of courage and compassion and love, and those that I know best and love most are those that I had the honor of not only serving with, but being inspired by. And the people that I -- the heroes that I knew made me do things that I -- inspired me to do things that I otherwise would not have been capable of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to thank you for your service as a naval aviator. You went through some experiences after you got back to this country, personally adapting to a culture that had changed probably before you left. What would you suggest to our current warriors, men and women, that are coming back wounded or even not physically wounded, but emotionally damaged? What would you council them?

MCCAIN: I would counsel them that the best therapy for them is the continued support of the American people. No matter how we feel about the war, and we're divided, none of us are now, thank God, in America, are divided in our appreciation and our support of the men and women when are in the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're all privileged to be here, to be able to be with you in a more personal setting to see a real person in a real place. You started to talk to something, which I think is fundamental, which is how presidential leadership can reengage the American people. Can you say a little more about that?

MCCAIN: I think the American people almost always can figure somebody out. And I think they can figure out whether they're sincere and whether they mean what they say. And you couple that with a fundamental fact of America. Its citizens are willing to serve and sacrifice if called upon to do so for a worthy cause.

Our daughter, Bridget, was -- that we got from Bangladesh is because Cindy went to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Dakar (ph), where we found our little daughter Bridget 15 years ago. By the way, she's doing fine. The nuns at the orphanage said, look, you take these babies or they die. Bridge had a serious cleft pallet and she wasn't going to live. There was another little baby that had a heart problem. Cindy brought them both home. I met her at the airport and she said, say hello to the new daughter. That's the consultation process we went through, really. We've never had our life more enriched than we had by our daughter, Bridget.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you when you're running for Senator, also running for the president, how do you manage your family life?

MCCAIN: When I was first elected to Congress I had not lived in Arizona very long. That and because I don't think that Washington, D.C., is the most healthy environment for young people. Cindy and I made the decision to raise our kids in Arizona.

Our daughter, Megan, who just graduated from college, is spending time on the campaign. Jack is at the naval academy, very worried about him. He had no demerits for a long time. He couldn't have been a son of mine with demerits. And another son in the military and Bridget at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have five children. I know you have seven total, right?

MCCAIN: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, it's chaos a lot of the time and I know that you're probably familiar with that but maybe just a couple of your favorite memories.

MCCAIN: We have a place up in northern Arizona and we'd have somebody -- somebody dress up like Santa Claus and we would -- as you know in southwestern tradition is luminaries, the paper bag with the candle in it. And we would put luminaries all around our house and on the road and everything. And it would be so beautiful.

The only thing I recommend is lots of pictures. I wish we had taken more pictures. I really do. We only took 10,000. I wish we had taken more.

I'm old-fashioned in music and way behind the times in music. Because I like Frank Sinatra. My wife is incredibly embarrassed that I would say that I like Abba. "Oh, no! Nobody likes Abba." They sold more records than anybody in the history of music. So I'm trying to think of a recent movie that I really enjoyed. Oh, "The Notebook." Have you heard that movie with James Garner in it. Such a touching little movie. I admit, I cried. That's a sweet little movie. That really is my most favorite movies. And my favorite book is a book by Ernest Hemingway "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It's about a guy who is a professor at Montana University that went to fight for a cause, the communist side and the Spanish Civil War, became disillusioned with the cause but still was willing to die for his comrades and those who he had grown to love.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, you're a candidate who is very committed to traditional values. That's something that I respect a lot and look for a candidate and I'm curious if you can share with us, where is that coming from? Maybe some of your experiences in your past?

MCCAIN: I attend North Phoenix Baptist Church. Pastor Dan, he has a message of redemption and Christian love and, believe me, with all the mistakes I've made in my life, I'm a great believer in redemption. So, so -- one of the three most painful life lessons that helped form your character?

Once I failed in prison and didn't live up to my hopes and expectations. Another was I went to South Carolina and they were flying the confederate flag over the capital and instead of doing what I knew was right and say that that symbol that is offensive to so many people should be taken down, I said that it was a, quote, "state issue," an act of cowardness. And I went to a meeting one time many years ago with some regulators that created the appearance of improper influence. And that was something, obviously, that was -- that was wrong. And I want to tell you I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I have no claim to -- and I think the key to it is -- is learn and do better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Arizona Senator John McCain there in the Candidate Cafe, a contribution from WMUR an affiliate here in the state of New Hampshire as we continue the "CNN Ballot Bowl." The candidates for president in their own words, the personal side. Some of the small, intimate settings you can only hear in the state of New Hampshire now that the Iowa caucuses have passed.

When we return to "CNN's Ballot Bowl" in a few minutes, new poll numbers here in the state of New Hampshire. But, first, another Candidate Cafe segment with Senator Hillary Clinton. Please, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to the "CNN Ballot Bowl", I'm John King at the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, New Hampshire.

All day long we've been showing snippets of the candidates here in the town halls in the state of New Hampshire. Also getting great contributions from WMUR TV here in the state of New Hampshire. Just before the break, Candidate Cafe with Senator John McCain. And now we want to show you a snippet of a continuing segment Candidate Cafe, small intimate meetings with New Hampshire voters, Hillary Clinton, in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How are you? So happy to be here.

Oh, my gosh, there's my husband. That's great. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like "Sopranos?"

CLINTON: Yes, I do, actually.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember the scene where you come in...

CLINTON: Yes, that's right. It's kind of like this. Actually, it's a diner near where we live in New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No onion rings?

CLINTON: I'm looking out for you.

Such a funny idea that one of my young staff came up with.

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

CLINTON: Oh, somebody, obviously, young.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel about the Red Sox? You went to school up here, but you are a New York Senator?

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: What do you do day-to-day to stay physically fit? I know your husband likes to jog, what do you like to do?

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

Years ago --Bill loves to run and he wanted to do a 10K and I said, OK, I'll do it with you. Halfway through, I realized I was last. 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? I was so embarrassed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the last book you read for pure pleasure, not for work? CLINTON: Right now I'm reading a biography of Eisenhower by Michael Corda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No Danielle Steel?

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can say chick book.

CLINTON: Chicklet. It is really, really a good read. John Grisham is distantly related to my husband. Bill's -- 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. 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 keep looking at me, you should be introduced. I'm Hillary Rodham, what's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's harder politics or being a mother and a wife?

CLINTON: Let's see. They're hard in different ways. I think they're all hard. What we do in 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 met?

CLINTON: Probably Nelson Mandela, probably 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 didn't let his hatred go, he would never be free. So, I was incredibly privileged to go to his inauguration.

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 did that affect your spirit and your views on the world today?

CLINTON: 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 you don't belong here. Everybody is smarter and everybody is this and that and I want to come home. 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 these barriers started to fall and we almost forget what it took to get to where we are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Senator Hillary Clinton there in the Candidate Cafe. Our thanks again to our partner and affiliate WMUR for helping us share with you the candidates in their own words.

A few minutes left in the "CNN Ballot Bowl" today. And when we come back a test of whether the sale pitches we have been showing you are working. And exclusive CNN poll of voter sentiment here in the state of New Hampshire, the first poll taken since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. That and another conversation with the best political team on television.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: I'm John King in Bedford, New Hampshire. Welcome back to the "CNN Ballot Bowl."

All day long we've been bringing you the candidates in their own words and an unvarnished look at the candidates for president, Democrat and Republican, campaigning here in the key state of New Hampshire, just three days away from the lead-off presidential primary.

One of the key questions, as you move on from Iowa and New Hampshire, is there a bounce? Do the winners in Iowa, Barack Obama on the Democratic side and Mike Huckabee on the Republican side, do they get a bounce coming into the state of New Hampshire?

Well, we have for you now exclusive polling. CNN and WMUR teaming up for a survey conducted by the university of New Hampshire and Bill Schneider standing by the results.

Bill?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: John, we've got bounce and it wasn't just Obama and Huckabee. Look at the Democratic race, both Obama and Edwards appear to have benefited from the Iowa caucuses. Both picked up three points in New Hampshire after the Iowa caucuses. Hillary Clinton lost 1 point. No bounce for her. The Obama gain now puts the New Hampshire race dead even, 33 to 33, Clinton and Obama with John Edwards trailing at 20.

Now, Obama got something else out of winning Iowa, which was a bounce in his perceived electability. A week ago, when Democrats here in New Hampshire were asked, who do you think has the best chance of beating the Republican in November, Clinton led Obama by better than two to one? Now, they're virtually tied. 36 percent say Clinton has the best chance of winning, Obama 35. Obama's victory in Iowa, an overwhelmingly white state, looks like it may have resolved some doubts about an African-American's candidate's electability in the country as a whole.

KING: So, Bill, when you see that number changing on the electability question when it comes to Obama -- of course, Senator Clinton's peg all along she's ready on day one. Democrats shouldn't take a risk on a young guy like Obama in terms of selling himself here on out. Never mind the horse race numbers. That has to be something he thinks could help make his case.

SCHNEIDER: He has been arguing for some time that he is as electable and some polls show more electable than Hillary Clinton. A lot of voters had some doubts. Questions about race were certainly part of that issue and experience was another part. But right now, he won Iowa, winning is winning. And that means to a lot of voters this candidate, Barack Obama, may be a winner. And right now he and Clinton look like they're evenly matched on perceived electability among New Hampshire Democrats.

KING: And, Bill, evenly matched right now on the Democratic side. How are we doing on the Republican side out of Iowa?

SCHNEIDER: Well, let's take a look. Some bounce there, too, but not primarily for the winner of Iowa. Not for Mike Huckabee. Looks like the victory helped John McCain more than it helped Mike Huckabee. Huckabee gained one point since before the Iowa caucuses and John McCain went up by four. A week ago they were tied. Now we see here, McCain leads Romney by six, 33-27. Mike Huckabee went up one point from 10 to 11. He is now running fourth here in New Hampshire, where, of course, his base of evangelical voters is far weaker than it was or is in Iowa.

KING: Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, with the new exclusive poll numbers.

Let's bring in two members of our best political team, Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin.

Suzanne, to you first. When covering the Democrats you see those numbers, a dead heat here, the underlying electability number improving for Obama. What are we likely to see and how will the campaigns play this out?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that number is very significant because, clearly, Obama gets a big bounce and Hillary Clinton declining in electability. And Democrats, above all, they want a winner, they want someone who will beat the Republicans and get into the White House.

What you're going to hear is kind of a sharp rhetoric coming from both sides and we already have a hint of that from Senator Clinton today. We heard her talking about we don't need to take a leap of faith. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying it was a roll of the dice to vote for someone like Barack Obama. They're painting a picture one of a dangerous world, one of a world that has many risks and a world in which, she says, makes the case that she's the one ready to step in from day one.

We heard from the other opponent, Senator John Edwards, where he's trying to paint Barack Obama as kind of naive, as too optimistic and too much of a nice guy and he doesn't really have the oomph and the fortitude for the fight in all of this.

So, the sharp elbows are coming out here and it's all about that question electability here. Obviously, both of these candidates feeling sort of greater challenge from Barack Obama -- John?

KING: Suzanne, thank you.

Let's bring in now Jessica Yellin at the site of an ABC debate here tonight. And Jessica, wow, the Democrats come out of Iowa in a dead heat. Senator McCain an edge on the Republican side and as you look forward to tonight's debate and as the candidates are looking at these numbers as they're in their green rooms preparing for the debates, you have to think they understand the stakes.

JESSICA YELLIN: CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The stakes couldn't be higher tonight and you have to know that Senator Clinton's camp is hoping for some goof, some mess-up from Senator Obama that they could pounce on, that they can use to show that he is inexperienced or that he's off the mark on some count because, aside from some major slip up on Senator Obama's part, this is a very, very tough race for Senator Clinton, a very tough case to make tonight that she -- she has to retool her message in some way to try to reach out to the young people and the Independents, crucially those Independents that Senator Obama walked away with so handily in Iowa. They make up a major part of the electorate here in New Hampshire.

And I'll tell you, I went to an event for Senator Obama here in New Hampshire. I walked up to ten people at random, all ten of them were Independents who were showing up to listen to him and support him. She has to reach them tonight. Senator Clinton, that's the challenge for Clinton tonight -- John?

KING: Fascinating, Jessica Yellin.

All the members of our best political team on television, thanks for helping us today with the "CNN Ballot Bowl."

We'll be back with four more hours tomorrow beginning at 1:00. Thanks for spending part of your Saturday with us today. We hope it helps to hear the candidates in their own words. Have a great weekend. "Lou Dobbs Weekend" up next.

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