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Up Close Look at the Candidates; Speeches by Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani; Candidates Unfiltered; John McCain Reaches Out in South Carolina

Aired January 19, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John Edwards hitting populous themes and remarks earlier in Atlanta. And we have much more ahead including today's projected Democratic victor here in Nevada, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. We'll hear from her later in this hour.
Also, we'll talk to senior political correspondent Candy Crowley to help us understand just what this win really means for the Democratic race. And ahead, Rudy Giuliani speaking on the campaign trail. Stay with us on Ballot Bowl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: I'm Jessica Yellin in Las Vegas. Welcome back to Ballot Bowl where in Nevada here, big wins today. It looks like both Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mitt Romney can go to bed smiling tonight, projected wins for both of them in this state's caucuses.

We've heard from Mitt Romney. Ahead, we're hearing that Senator Clinton will be making remarks as well. We will bring that to you live when it happens. And also we'll be bringing you a live rally that Rudy Giuliani will be holding from Florida.

But first let's go to my colleague Dana Bash who's in South Carolina where voting on the Republican side is still underway. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is only a Republican primary today, Jessica, here in South Carolina. The Democrats are next Saturday. It's about two hours until the polls close here. As you can see, I'm actually in a polling station. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina. The turnout here has been pretty steady, a little bit slow at times, but pretty steady. A lot of concern from all of the campaigns about the weather. The weather has been pretty bad here, cold rain and reports of snow at least in the western part of the state.

Now, this is a state where traditionally the Republicans actually determine the Republican nominee. Since 1980, the person, the Republican who has won the South Carolina primary has become the Republican nominee. That is one of many reasons why this is such a crucial contest here today.

And it is also one of the reasons why there is a bit of concern, I'm talking about the fact that the polling seems to be going OK where I am. But not too far from where I am, in Horry County, there are reports of some major problems with voting machines. We're told by our CNN radio correspondent Lisa Dejardins who has been there and been watching some of the problems, that earlier today, at one point 80 percent of the polling machines, the voting machines were simply malfunctioning.

This is a big problem for John McCain because Horry County is McCain country. In 2000, John McCain lost South Carolina but he actually won in that area, which is basically the Myrtle Beach area, by about 2,500 votes. So the McCain campaign is very, very concerned about the voting problems in that particular county. And we understand that they are seeking to extend the polling. And the polls are supposed to close at 7:00 across the state of South Carolina. They want to extend it just in that county, Horry County for one hour. They're trying to find a judge to get permission to do that right now.

This is again a crucial, crucial contest for all of these candidates, but particularly for John McCain. He has a lot of ghosts here because of the fact that in the year 2000, South Carolina is where his presidential campaign effectively stopped when he lost big to George W. Bush. So he has been campaigning very, very hard on the issues where he feels obviously like he can connect with South Carolina voters.

Now we brought you earlier at least a portion of what was his closing argument to South Carolina voters talking about the Iraq war, talking about the economy, talking about spending. Again, what we're trying to do here on Ballot Bowl is give you a lot of these stump speeches from these candidates raw and unfiltered. Let's hear more of John McCain as he was trying to convince voters to come out and vote for him today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our economy is going through tough times. We all know that. But my friends, nothing is inevitable in this life. Nothing is without our ability to change it. Why are we having the difficulties we are? There's a number of problems. But the biggest problem, the biggest source of the problem and the things we've got to fix is that we have let spending get completely out of control. And we have gone on a spending spree which has mortgaged your children's features and it's got to stop. It's got to stop.

We start with the pork barrel earmark spending which has become an epidemic and has spread corruption in Washington, D.C. I don't say that lightly because there are former members of Congress residing in federal prison. We've got to stop it. We Republicans that came to power in 1994 to change government, and government changed us. The president just signed into law a couple weeks ago a spending bill with 9,200 pork barrel projects on it worth 17, one-seven, b, billion dollars of your money. My friends, that's disgraceful. It makes you laugh and it makes you cry.

My friends, we spent $3 million a couple years ago to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue. But you know -- let me just mention, Ronald Reagan, our beloved Ronald Reagan used to say Congress spends money like a drunken sailor. Only he never knew a sailor drunk or sober with the imagination of Congress. And that's a pretty good line and a great place to use that line, by the way.

So I'm not making this up when I tell you I got an e-mail from a guy about six months ago and it said, "As a former drunken sailor, I recent being compared to members of Congress." Now maybe the guy who sent that e-mail is with us tonight. Anyway, my friends, just let me tell you this. In 24 years as a member of Congress, I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state.

I never will, and my state is doing fine. I'm going to make these other guys famous, and I'm going to have them imitate my record. So let me say again, fair warning, fair warning, I will veto every single pork barrel earmark project laden bill that comes across my desk as president of the United States. You will know their names. I will make them famous and I will stop it.

Let me finally put it into you in the right terms for you that are better understandable because it raises interest rates. It makes you pay more for your home loan mortgage. It makes you pay more in payments for your automobile. It costs you more when you go to the store.

My friend, Phil Gramm, as I told you, is one of the world's most renown economists said that in the last two years, the pork barrel spending in those two years, some $35 billion, would have meant that every child in America would have received a tax credit of $1,000.

Now, which would you rather do? Have a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, a $233 million bridge to an island with 50 people on it or $1,000 tax credit for every child in America? Which would you rather have? I know what you'd rather have.

Now, let me just briefly say, we need to cut the corporate tax rate. Right now it's 35 percent. It's one of the highest in the world, second only to Japan. We need to keep these businesses and corporations in the United States of America. Cut that tax rate so that corporations will then be able to pass on those benefits to their employees and they will stay in the United States of America.

My second point is, make the R&D tax credit. Research and development is the future of America. We have to encourage it as much as possible. The third thing, among others that we need to do is if you own a business and you have to purchase some equipment, expense it in one year. Expense it in one year. You get the gains from that, don't have to worry about the rest of it. Those are some of the things we have to do. And before we print more money, at least let's have a commitment to make the tax breaks permanent so that families in America don't experience a tax increase in 2010.

BASH: There you heard Senator John McCain talking about the issue that has absolutely exploded on the campaign trail. That is the economy, at the end there talking about a plan that he laid out a couple days ago to try to fix the economy. Now we're going to hear a bit later from the person who appears to be his chief rival here in today's primary for the top slot, and that is former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Mike Huckabee is somebody who is trying to appeal to voters here, many of the Evangelicals who are very, very strong in this state, trying to appeal as an outside Washington candidate.

And our Mary Snow is going to be with Governor Huckabee tonight at his headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina. And Mary is joining us now. Now Mary, tell us a little about what you have heard from Mike Huckabee in terms of the pitch he's making to voters here in South Carolina, why they should elect him and not somebody like John McCain?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Dana, as you just pointed out, he really has been courting social conservatives, but also making the point that his base is broader than that and really why he wants to win, one of the big reasons. If he wins tonight, it would be to show that his Iowa victory was not just a one-hit wonder. He has also has been hammering away at the economy.

And in recent days, he was saying that he was the first Republican candidate to really raise concerns about the economy months ago in a debate. His appeal has been to try to connect with the working class, saying he understands that. And one of the big pieces of his plan is to enact the so-called fair tax. That's the tax that would abolish the income tax, and instead have a national retail sales tax. So those are two of the things. As you mentioned, also, the theme of being a Washington outsider. That is certainly gaining momentum among a number of candidates out on the stump, and that is one thing that he's been stressing in recent days. Dana?

BASH: Mary, you know there's been a lot of talk about the weather. I know you've been talking to the Huckabee campaign about what they think the impact of this bad weather is going to be on their campaign because of course one of the big question marks for Mike Huckabee is whether or not he as somebody who doesn't really have a real structure organization can overcome the McCain campaign which really does. Obviously Mike Huckabee won in Iowa with the kind of passion that he's hoping to win with here. How does the weather affect that in terms of what you're hearing from Mike Huckabee's campaign?

SNOW: Well, you know, in some of the really conservative counties here in South Carolina, there is snow. We talked to Senator Tim Hutchinson earlier today. And he was saying that the campaign feels pretty confident that turnout was study there earlier today before that snow came out. And I was asking him, well, how do you think this is going to impact the turnout? Overall, he said he felt that's Evangelical supporters are very passionate about their cause, about their candidate, and he believes that this will not impact the actual turnout at the end of the day. But certainly the weather, a big condition to factor in. Mike Huckabee even said that he was concerned about it earlier today.

BASH: Well, we will certainly see what happens in the end here. Mary, you will be at Mike Huckabee headquarters tonight. I will be at John McCain headquarters tonight. I know we'll both have a very interesting night. See you later Mary, thank you.

And we are going to take a quick break now. On the other side of the break, we're going to hear from Rudy Giuliani who is campaigning as he has been for quite some time now in the state of Florida. We're also expected to hear from Hillary Clinton who is the winner of the Nevada caucuses today, already declared the winner there. Certainly somebody who could -- needed a win from her perspective to break what has been essentially a tie between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Stay with us. This is Ballot Bowl.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to Ballot Bowl. I'm Jessica Yellin here in Las Vegas, in front of Caesar's Palace in fact which in addition to its usual delights, also offered voting today or actually caucusing. It allowed shift workers here inside this building to go and make their voices heard, the first time Nevada, this state in the west has weighed in this early in the presidential nominating caucuses. And CNN has projected the winners here, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats and Mitt Romney for the Republicans. Here are the vote totals or the caucus totals as we have them at this time. On the Democratic side with 88 percent of the vote, Hillary Clinton got 51 percent support, Barack Obama 45 percent, John Edwards just 4 percent.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney was really the only candidate who came to town and made much of an effort here. He got 52 percent of caucus-goers support. Ron Paul, interestingly, tied John McCain at 13 percent on the Republican side. Ron Paul the only one of them to actually run ads, media buys in this market.

Now it's a big victory today for Senator Hillary Clinton. The Democrats were aggressively vying for support. I'd like to bring in CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. Candy, in a mailing the Clinton campaign just sent out, they called this a huge victory. How big a win is this, how crucial was this for Hillary Clinton?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A win is a win. It would have looked bad had she lost. But it always looks bad if you lose and always looks good if you win. After the caucusing comes the spin. The Clinton campaign says, oh, my goodness, this win came despite the fact that he got the endorsement of the Culinary Union, despite the fact of what they called strong-arm tactics to keep voters away from the caucus if they were, in fact, supporting Hillary Clinton. And despite what they say, were smear tactics in some Spanish-speaking radio ads. So thigh are actually projecting this as a bigger win than it seems simply because they overcame all these odds.

The Obama campaign says, listen, you go back a couple of months ago, and she was leading by 20 and 30 points here, that we made up this kind of difference is really good for us. In fact, we have boiled it down to about a seven point difference. So it all depends on how you're looking at these numbers, Jessica.

YELLIN: Candy, one of the reasons the Democrats held this caucus here is because of the Latino vote in the state. They wanted Latino voters to weigh in. Does this say something about Senator Clinton's chances in other big states with Latino populations?

CROWLEY: Well sure it does. It shows that she does have wide appeal in the Latino community, remembering that that big endorsement, the union endorsement that Obama got has about a 45 percent minority membership. So the fact of the matter is that she won resoundingly in the Latino community. There is a reason while they were in the state of Nevada, the Clintons, both of them went back and forth to California, that obviously being a February 5th state. They really believe and have always thought that they had huge inroads into the Latino community, Jessica.

YELLIN: Thank you Candy, CNN's Candy Crowley here with me in Las Vegas. Now the pressure is on Senator Barack Obama to win in South Carolina, the next state up for the Democrats.

We're going to come back after a break. We'll have a live look at Rudy Giuliani in Florida and we'll also bring you remarks from Senator Hillary Clinton when she makes them. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to CNN's Ballot Bowl. I'm Dana Bash reporting from Charleston, South Carolina where the Republican primary is well underway. In fact, the polls will close in just about an hour and a half here in South Carolina. We do already have polls that are closed in the Nevada caucuses. We have results from both the Democratic and the Republican side that we want to remind our viewers of and bring our viewers the latest.

And that is on the Republican side, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is the winner there, with 52 percent. That is by far the biggest number there. Ron Paul and John McCain tied with 13 percent. Now that is what we have now with 78 percent of the caucuses reporting there.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is the winner there. She got 51 percent of the vote. Barack Obama, 45 percent, and John Edwards about 4 percent of the vote.

Now, this is CNN Ballot Bowl and what we try to do with this program is try to bring our viewers some of what we as political reporters get to see on the stump, get to hear from the candidates in their own words, in an unfiltered way.

We're going to bring you a lot more of that later in the hour. Actually live we're going to hear from Rudy Giuliani who is campaigning in the state of Florida. We are waiting Hillary Clinton. She is going to speak about her victory, the victory we just talked about in the state of Nevada. There you see the live picture of Rudy Giuliani, or at least former Congressman Bill McCollum who is one of his chief supporters there in Florida.

Now here in the state of South Carolina, everybody is on pins and needles because this is a very, very scrambled Republican race. And what we have now coming out of the state of Iowa, you have Mike Huckabee as the victor. Coming out of the state of New Hampshire, you have John McCain as the victor. Coming out of the other big, big state which is Michigan, you had Mitt Romney as the victor. But it is especially interesting to see what is going to happen with Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses, really came from behind, came from nowhere and did it primarily with the Evangelical vote. The Evangelical vote was huge there for him. And he was able to defy the political establishment, defy political expectations by getting the passion primarily of churches, home schoolers, people like that to get out and vote. He's trying to duplicate that here in the state of South Carolina where there's also a very big Evangelical, Christian conservative base that he's been tapping into. He's been traveling the state of South Carolina, particularly in the western part of the state. And we want to bring you what he was saying on the very last day of campaigning yesterday in Columbia to try to get those voters out to the polls today for him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I become president which is going to be really on its way as of tomorrow night when you guys elect me, winning the primary in South Carolina, I just wanted to tell you, I wanted to go ahead and get you sort of tuned in to the next secretary of homeland security, Ric Flair. Actually what we're going to do tomorrow, we're going to all the polling places, everybody that votes for us will get our thanks. Those who don't, Ric is going to take you down.

I want to say thanks to all of you for coming out. I know it's late. It's been a long day for us. We started after getting to Hilton Head area, about 1:30 in the morning and then starting early there, going to Greenville to Spartanburg to York County and then back here and all the places in between. But it's been the most exhilarating day. And I'll tell you why. Because the people of South Carolina are sensing the opportunity to do something historic tomorrow.

And what we've seen is a momentum that has been building over the past several days and come to a crescendo peak today. Except tomorrow we're going to simply take it completely beyond everything. And tomorrow night I'll stand on this stage, I'll only have one speech in my pocket and that's a victory speech because we sense something special happening tomorrow.

And I like you guys, too. Thank you. Over these past few weeks we've had a wonderful time in South Carolina getting to know people and you've been incredible, the hospitality here, the welcome, the reception. You've asked tough questions, but you ought to. I'm asking to be the president of the United States. You have a right to understand something about who I am, what I stand for and what I would do if I were president. In many ways I'm like a lot of people in America tonight. I'm a guy over 50 looking for a job. It matters who you vote for. So if you're not going to vote for me, just stay home tomorrow and watch cartoons, sleep in, make a pot of chili. Do whatever you've got to do, stay home. If you're going to vote for me, I don't care what the weather is, I don't care how you feel, get up, get to the polls and vote. And take somebody with you who is going to vote for me. And then we're going to make history tomorrow night. Because a lot of people said we can't run this campaign when I'm being outspent anywhere from 20 to one to 50 to one by some of the other candidates. You know why it's happened? Because there are a lot of people in America who want somebody to be president who will be a voice for them. I'm going to be the voice for the people who do serve the food and drive the trucks as well as for the folks at the top. I'm not sure they need the same voice because they'll find a way to have theirs heard. There's a lot of people in this country that need to know that a president remembers every day there's a world of hurt out there.

Look, I understand something about what it means to struggle. I came up in a family. Life wasn't all that easy. I was born out of two parents who came through the depression and a world war. My father was a firefighter in hope, Arkansas. That's what he did for a living. There wasn't much money in it. On his days off, he was a mechanic.

My dad never finished high school. Neither did his dad or his dad before him. In fact, I was the first male in my entire family lineage to finish high school much less go on to college. My parents wanted me to do better. My mother was the oldest of seven kids, dirt floors, outdoor tile let's. She didn't want that for her kids. They made incredible sacrifices. They instilled in us a work ethic and also an idea that the education would be a ticket to living a better life.

I paid my way through college working 40 hours a week, I got through in two years and three months. I wasn't because I was all that smart. It's because I couldn't afford to stay there for four years. I don't say that because, oh, it's terrible. It was wonderful. I learned that a kid like me cannot only get through college, but dream great dreams and see them come true.

When I was eight years old, my dad took me hear a speech by the governor of Arkansas who was coming to our part of the state to dedicate a lake. I'll never forget it. He said, son, I'm going to take you down there and you're going to hear the governor talk. I'm going to make sure you go. You may live your whole life and you may never see a governor in person. Little did my dad know that one day his son, the fireman's son, would become the 44th governor of the state of Arkansas. And more importantly, with your help tomorrow, I'll be well on my way to becoming the forty-fourth president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: You heard former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee talk about his kind of come-from-nowhere roots in the state of Arkansas. He, of course, is talking politically about the fact that he hopes to come-from-nowhere Republican nominee.

What you're seeing right now are live pictures of the actor, John Voit. He is in the state of Florida and he is a warm-up act of sorts for Rudy Giuliani who we expect to hear from live. Rudy Giuliani has been staking pretty much everything on the state of Florida. While we have contests today in South Carolina, we've had contests in New Hampshire and Iowa and Michigan, Rudy Giuliani has pretty much focused everything on the state of Florida. He is in the Villages, which is a retirement community, retirement city of sorts, which has a lot of New York transplants. That is one of the reasons why Rudy Giuliani thinks that, although he has not been doing well now, he can change things and can turn things around with people who get him, with people who know him in the state of Florida. We're going to hear from Rudy Giuliani live when he comes up.

We're still waiting to hear from the winner of the Nevada caucuses, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I'm Dana Bash in South Carolina where the Republican primary, the voting is still going on. Stay with us. You're going to have a lot more of "BALLOT BOWL" coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And hello everyone, I'm Tony Harris, back to the "BALLOT BOWL" in just a few minutes. Some other stories making headlines. Snow-covered streets in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Carolinas, a major winter storm has also brought sleet and rain, hundreds of flights have been canceled. Tonight, the mercury dives. That could make for some dangerous driving.

Let's get the very latest. Jacqui Jeras in the Severe Weather Center.

Hey, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Tony. The snow and sleet is pulling out of the Deep South and the focus is turning into the Carolinas as we speak. You can see the snow tapering off in Atlanta. Western parts of South Carolina is getting a light snow mix, just a trace being reported now in Greenville. On the east side you can see the heavier showers across the coastal areas. Temperatures are beginning to plummet. We're watching them drop from northwest pushing down towards the south and east. That's one of the big concerns, as temperatures continue to drop. we're likely going to be seeing those wet roadways turn into ice and black ice. Use a lot of caution. Winter weather advisories are in effect for much of western South Carolina, but apparently not affecting those voters as we speak.

What about your travel delays? We've had some big-time delays and cancellations as you mentioned out of Atlanta. Arrival delays four hours and about an hour and a half out of Charlotte.

Our other big story, the Arctic air pushing across the upper Midwest. Wind chill advisories where you see blue. We're talking the potential for the wind chill to be down to 30s and 40s below. One a.m., Duluth, Minnesota, at 41 below -- Tony?

OK, Jacqui, that's cold. Thank you. A quick look at the headlines. The Shiites targeted in Iraq as they take part in the religious rights of al Shura (ph). A bomb hidden in trash killed two Shiites marking the holy day in Kirkuk, and 17 were wounded when a rocket struck. Officials say nearly 70 people died in clashes with a cult.

Pakistani police arrested two suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. One is a 15-year-old boy. He confessed to being part of a killing team dispatched by a militant leader with links to al Qaeda. They are trying to collaborate his story.

Check out the man highlighted in this surveillance video. Police say it's Cesar Laurean at a Lowe's store. He is accused of killing pregnant fellow Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach. He was in the store buying items that may have been used to cover up her murder.

Congressional Democrats and the White House agree they need to come up with an economic stimulus plan. They don't yet agree on some of the details. Barney Frank says it must include assistance to Americans who work but don't make enough to have to pay taxes. President Bush prefers rebates for Americans who do pay taxes.

I'm Tony Harris. A break and then back to "BALLOT BOWL."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome to CNN "BALLOT BOWL." I'm Dana Bash in Charleston, South Carolina. One of the goals of this program is to bring you candidates unfiltered.

Rudy Giuliani is speaking live right now in the Villages, Florida. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUDY GIULIANI, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... a big central government. America is great because of you, the people of the United States. You're the reason why America is great. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE).

And what I want to do to unleash that great spirit that America has is to take the top off, you know, just take the top off the roof so that people can look way up to the sky, like that eagle and kind of dream of soaring as far as they can go. That's the kind of America -- that's the kind of America that we grew up in. That's the kind of America that we have to pass along. And one of the ways that you do that is, you don't have government take over everything. You don't have government run everything. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE).

And one very important way that we demonstrate that, that's why here in Florida last week we unveiled a tax program. The tax program would be the largest tax deduction in the history of this country. It would put money back into your pocket. It would reduce the income tax. It would reduce the corporate tax. We would take the inheritance tax or I call it the death tax and we would give it the death penalty and get rid of it. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE).

And we'd cut these taxes to stimulate our economy. And the reason I would do this, and the reason you can be sure I would do this is because, unlike some of my opponents, I've already done it. I've already reduced taxes, and it has worked for me. I did it in New York, not once, not twice, not three times. I did it in New York 23 times.

And John pointed out the changes in New York. We went from a city with high unemployment to a city with low unemployment. We went from a city that lost 300,000 to a city that gained 450,000. We slashed the personal income tax rates by 24 percent. And we were collecting 48 percent higher revenues. So I believe in tax cutting, strategic tax cutting as a way of stimulating the economy. If we are worried about the economy right now, the single best thing to do, reduce taxes, and reduce taxes that are anti-competitive and do it right now. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE).

There's a difference here. I'm running against some very, very good men, very fine men, all of whom have very good motivation. But on this issue of taxes, there's a big difference. I supported the Bush tax cuts. John McCain voted with the Democrats against the Bush tax cuts twice. And Mitt Romney did not clearly support the Bush tax cuts.

Now, I clearly supported the Bush tax cuts for a very simple reason, because I had done the same thing several years earlier. I had done the same thing in New York. I knew it would work. I knew it would work to grow our economy. And the reason I'll be able to get these tax cuts done and maybe some other won't is because, not only do I believe in it, I can prove it.

I used to walk around with a chart when I was mayor of New York City. This is how I got a Democratic city, 45 Democrats in the city council and only six Republicans. I was actually going to pass an endangered species law for Republicans, but I didn't think I could get it through city council.

I used to carry around the chart and it showed how you could make money if you lowered the right taxes. We lowered something called the hotel occupancy tax. We were picking up like $100 million more for the lower tax than the higher tax. Right now we can do the same thing, right now in Washington, if we had a leader like me, if we cut the corporate tax from 35 to 25 percent, we would make money and more people will go to work and investments will go up. If we cut the capital gains tax, kept the dividends tax low, we would see our economy stimulated. We would see our economy grow.

So tax cutting is about stimulating the economy. It's about understanding there are certain things that drive businesses and jobs and income out of America.

I know the Democrats like to talk about, oh, it's only to help the rich and only to help the rich, they're only going to raise taxes on the rich. You know how they define the rich? Anybody paying taxes. That's the rich. When Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards tell you they're going to raise taxes, that is a promise you can bet they will keep.

So the reality is, that if you over tax, over spend, over regulate and over use, you drive jobs out of your country. And we have problems in each one of those areas. We do over tax. Our corporate tax is the second highest in the world. We do over regulate. We're losing business in the financial industry to many parts of the world because of that. We do overspend, and we do sue each other too much. We need a president -- part of my 12 commitments to the American people -- that will moderate all that. I've explained to you what I would do about taxes. We would lower taxes, and we would come up with a one-page tax form. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE). One page. Honest. One page.

I believe in options. That's kind of at the core of my becoming a Republican is, I believe part of my job as a Republican president is to increase freedom, increase more decision-making by people. You can use this short form, or you can fill out the other one, if you want. If you think it will help you, you can go look at the other -- I don't know how big it is, about that big or this big. But if you use this one, you'll save money, just three rates. You'll be able to have the most important deductions still maintained. But you can get it done in some reasonable period of time in a way that people can understand it.

So not only will we lower taxes, we will have the biggest reform of the tax code since the day the taxes started. In fact, when it started in 1913, it used to be only one page. So we're going to go back to one page.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: That is Rudy Giuliani in the Villages, Florida, talking about the tax cuts.

Tax cuts are the thing, sort of a Republican credo if you are trying to win in a Republican nomination fight. That has been one of the things that Rudy Giuliani has been hitting very, very hard in terms of his record and in terms of what he would do as president.

Now, this is part of our "BALLOT BOWL" coverage where we are seeking to bring you what you just saw, live coverage, perhaps some taped speeches of these candidates speaking on the stump. You get to hear what we hear as political reporters out in the field, out covering these candidates, Republicans and Democrats.

We'll have a lot more coming up, including we're going to hear from Hillary Clinton who has won the Nevada caucuses.

We're also going to hear from another Republican candidate who is hoping to do very well here in the state of South Carolina for the first time. And that is Fred Thompson. I'm at a polling station here in Charleston, South Carolina. A voter just came up to me and said he just voted for Fred Thompson because he considers him the most genuine candidate. Certainly, Fred Thompson is hoping he gets a lot more of those. His campaign has made it clear it's do or die here in South Carolina. So we'll hear from him and a lot more coming up on CNN's "BALLOT BOWL." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL." I'm Dana Bash in Charleston, South Carolina. The goal of today's program is to give you a sense of what the candidates sound like, what they hear, what they say on the stump as they are talking to voters, particularly as they are making their closing arguments for why they think voters should vote for them in this primary season.

Today is a special day, because it is also voting day in South Carolina. The South Carolina primary for Republicans is well underway. I'm at a polling station here. And part of the news today has been some problems in another polling station not too far from him in Horry County.

Our CNN radio correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, has been doing excellent reporting. Lisa is on the phone right now.

Lisa, tell us what you saw, what you actually witnessed there and why this could be a potential problem for the McCain campaign.

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Dana, this has been a real frenzy. Horry County where Myrtle Beach is a huge county for McCain. In 2000 he did extraordinarily well here over George W. Bush. They are counting on support here.

Early this morning, around 10:00 or 10:30 I was at a polling place where they told me their machines had not been working since the polls opened at 7:00 a.m. They said the polls was at most of the precincts in this very large county. They were handing out paper ballots up to a point. Then they ran out of supplies.

I was there when they turned away voters and said we can't have you vote right now. You have to come back. Poll workers there told me some of those voters explained they had to work today. There's a lot of people in Myrtle Beach who work on the weekends and they said they couldn't come back.

Now the McCain campaign is deciding what to do. I was there when some of the leaders of the campaign got off a conference call. They decided to try to find a circuit court judge to see if they could quickly get an order to try and extend voting hours in this county to 8:00 p.m. eastern from 7:00 p.m. eastern. So far they tell me many haven't been able to find that judge. They haven't filed the order. They're reconsidering the lay of the land. They were hoping to buy some more time. Now it's not clear if they'll be able to do that.

BASH: Lisa, thank you very much.

We'll see if they actually get that extension there. I talked to a senior McCain aide earlier today and he said we need to win by one vote. If you have these problems, every campaign should be concerned.

Lisa, thank you very much for your terrific reporting there. One of the interesting things to note and to look for is how these candidates spend their day when they have all day long, there's not much they can do. They have made their arguments, made their pitch, put up their TV ads.

John McCain, what he did today was he went to a place here in Charleston, South Carolina, where they are building machinery and weapons for the Defense Department, not too subtle a symbol there for a war hero and a military veteran, really trying to reach out to the military community, which is very rich here in South Carolina. He is doing that to try to boost his vote here, perhaps to counterbalance what Mike Huckabee is hoping to see from the evangelical community.

John McCain said he didn't sleep well, he didn't sleep because he has a lot riding on South Carolina. He actually decided to go to the movies today. That's how he spent his day. He went to see the movie "There Will be Blood".

Mike Huckabee went for a run. Again, the weather is not good here at all. Mike Huckabee is training for a marathon, hoping to run the Boston marathon, I believe, next fall. So he went running today. He's somebody who likes to sort of blow off steam that way. He talks a lot about the fact that he recently lost about 100 pounds and talks about health as part of his stump speech among many, many other things. His populous pitch, pitch as a social conservative.

Jessica, you're somebody who likes to exercise like I do. It would be nice for us to get out on the track today. Clearly that's not going to happen.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. When was the last time you exercised on the campaign trail?

BASH: I'm not answering that question.

YELLIN: I'll tell you. It is not warm here in Las Vegas either. But it did not depress the turnout. In fact, there was a record high turnout for folks in Nevada going to these caucuses, and they are cheering about that.

The Democratic candidates here in Nevada did not do the sort of typical thing this morning. They went to casinos because that's where they expected so many of these votes, caucus-goers would be. That's with the lion's share would come. Senator Obama going to Mirage, Senator Clinton going to Mandalay Bay. Bill Clinton has been working the backrooms of the casinos, shaking hands, meeting with folks, like rock stars descending on this town, a town used to celebrities. This is a different kind of celebrity.

You talked to some of the old political hands in town. They say they never see folks this excited about politics here in Vegas. You also see the other folks who are here for other reasons. They find all of this sort of perplexing and fascinating that we're talking politics in front of Cesar's in the middle of Las Vegas. But we are.

Coming up, we'll bring you Hillary Rodham Clinton. We're waiting for her remarks, her victory remarks, as she is the projected winner here at the Nevada caucuses. And also comments, we hope, from Barack Obama ahead and also Fred Thompson...

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