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Continuing Campaign Coverage

Aired January 26, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl." I'm Candy Crowley in Columbia, South Carolina. They are voting here. And what we are doing today is giving you the viewers a sampling of what these candidates, both Democratic and Republican are saying. As I said, we are voting here in South Carolina. But they are talking in Florida. Here's Dana Bash.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Candy. They are talking in Florida ahead of the primary. The Republican primary here just three days away. And what we're waiting for right now is a live event from Senator John McCain. Senator John McCain has been in an intense war of words with his chief rival here, at least for the top spot here it appears. Mitt Romney. And again we're waiting to hear from John McCain. We expect him to have some pretty tough talk for Mitt Romney on this issue of the Iraq War.

And Mary Snow, our colleague is in Sun City, Florida, with John McCain. Mary, tell us what we expect to hear from John McCain in just a few moments.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dana, we've been noting that John McCain has been really turning up the heat on Mitt Romney saying that he supports a secret timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. And references an interview done back in April of 2007. Mitt Romney says he never did such a thing, and he has asked John McCain for an apology saying that this is a false statement. But just before Senator McCain went in, he released a statement. Let's go to what Senator McCain has to say.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sun City, South Carolina, and so many other wonderful areas where people have had such a wonderful opportunity to enjoy life. And I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to be here. Thank you, Al, again for your support and all you've done. And I notice Miss Sun City Center is here. Thanks for gracing us with your presence. That's your husband. Congratulations to you, sir. I hope your children take after her. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be with all of you and I want to say to start with how much I love and appreciate the State of Florida. And I'd like to just mention to you, you may not recall that as a very young Navy pilot, I went through pilot training in Pensacola, Florida. When I was in the United States Navy and an A-4 Skyhawk pilot, I was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.

And after I came home from prison, I served as executive officer and commanding officer of the largest squadron then of the United States Navy. The people of Jacksonville, Florida, and all of Florida have been enormously generous and loving and hospitable to my family, and I will always very much appreciate it.

And another reason why I appreciate Florida, my dear friends is because the number of men and women who are serving in the military, our bases from Key West, Florida, to Pensacola, Florida. Our National Guard -- Florida Guard that is serving all over the world in defense of freedom, including a couple of thousand of them in Afghanistan as we speak. And they've been to Iraq.

The veterans and the men and women who are serving on active duty in the military prove that Florida is one of the most patriotic and most dedicated and bravest states in the United States of America.

And I can't go too much further without mentioning one of my favorite Florida residents and that was my senior ranking officer who lives in Niceville, Florida, Colonel Bud Day (ph). Congressional Medal of Honor winner. Fought in World War II and Korea and was my inspiration and guidance in prison and made me and others who served under his command capable of doing things we never would have been capable of.

And on the subject of the State of Florida, I am so proud to have the endorsement and support of one General Norman Schwarzkopf who endorsed my candidacy and is a great national hero and resident of this area. And our great senator, and our great Senator Mel Martinez who I just left. And Mel is a great supporter and friend. And I also know that you know that Mel is the great American dream. Mel is the best example I know of someone who came here at age 15 without his -- as an orphan. He became mayor of Orlando. Became secretary of HUD and then a United States senator.

And I'm honored to work with him in the united states senate. My friends, in the United States Senate, all senators are equal. Some are more equal than others. The senator from Florida is more equal than others, and I know you're proud of Mel Martinez and the great job that he does.

And I just want to launch right in. We've had numerous discussions, and you have, too, of this issue of catastrophic. I can lead this country. We need to prepare to make sure that every American has the ability to keep their home, to be compensated if there's a disaster. I am committed to it. I will sit down with the governors, with the legislators in the affected states in this nation that are also subject to hurricanes. We will sit down with the regulators. We will get insurance that crosses state lines. And we will work together.

The way, frankly, that Mel Martinez and Senator Nelson have been doing, have been doing to make sure that every homeowner, not only in Florida but in South Carolina, in Mississippi, in Louisiana, in Texas, that are subjected to these terrible hurricanes are going to be protected and we will do that for you, working together. I know how to pull them together and get it done. I commit it to you, my friends. And we'll get it done. Now, I just want to mention very briefly, there was a bill that passed the House of Representatives for $200 billion. It would not pass the United States Senate and it had no insurance reform associated with it. You know we've got to reform insurance if we're going to have any real -- we've got to stop this cherry picking. We've got to stop some of the practices that have made it impossible for you to obtain insurance.

And I want to tell you another thing very quickly. My friends, FEMA is broken. I'm going to give you some straight talk today. There's some things you want to hear, there's some you don't want to hear. FEMA is broken. We're going to fix it. What's one of the major ways we're going to fix it? We're going to go to the business sector, to the private enterprise sector that are used to distributing goods and services and supplies to people, and we're going to hire them and say, you have a distribution system. Don't rely on a federal distribution center. Don't rely on some federal bureaucrat. Rely on Fed-Ex or Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Or those people that know -- We're never going to have a truck full of ice end up in the State of Maine when we've got a crisis in Louisiana, my friends. I'll fix FEMA so that every American that's victim of a tragedy or manmade or other disaster, they will receive the assistance that's owed them by the federal government.

I am so happy to be here with you. I want to talk to you about a number of issues today. But I'd also like to thank again Dee Williams. Thank you, Dee. Thank you for everything you do. We're very grateful for all your support. And Sun City Republican club and your reward will be in heaven, not here on earth, Dee. Thank you. Thank you very much for everything.

And could I just say a word of thanks because I see a lot of hats here. I just want to say a word of thanks to our veterans. And would my veteran friends do me a favor and stand so that we can recognize and tell them thank you so much for your service. Here's a World War II veteran. Here's Vietnam. Here's Korea. Here's Iraq. Thank you and God bless you for your service to this nation. I would remind you that in my case, it doesn't take a lot of talent to get shot down. I was able to intercept the surface to air missile with my own airplane, which is no mean feat, as you know.

And I want to talk to the veterans for a minute and all of you. All of you. Not just our veterans, about an obligation we're not keeping. And that obligation is to give our veterans the health care that they have earned and deserved. My friends, we are not giving it to them today. And it's a national same and it's a national disgrace. OK?

And I want to read you a quote from General George -- from George Washington in 1789. I carry this around with me at all times to remind me of my obligation.

George Washington in 1789 said, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country." My friends, George Washington was right. George Washington is right. And I'd like to look you in the eye and tell you that's not going to be any more wars. I'd like to look you in the eye and tell you this terrible evil called radical Islamic extremism is defeated. I can't do that.

I've got to tell you that we're going to be in this struggle for the rest of this century because it's a transcendent evil. And it's a main reason why I'm running for president of the United States. There's terrible things that are a result of war. And this one is no less. In fact, we've got a lot of PTSD to treat as a result of this war. We've got a lot of wounds that are results from this terrible IEDs, these explosives that inflict such grievous injury.

The good news is we now have a great ability to get quickly our wounded from the battlefield to medical care and we're saving more lives. That means we're going to have a lot more work to do. I want to expand the VA's ability to do that. And I will do that.

And I also want to tell you another problem. My friends, some of our veterans here will tell you, they will tell you, that they are tired of driving for an hour, standing in line to stand in line and get an appointment to get an appointment. My friends, I want to tell you this right now. I'm going to make sure that every veteran that needs routine health care, has routine health care needs has a plastic card and that veteran will take that plastic card to whatever health provider or whatever doctor that person wants to see and get health care immediately and get those needs taken care of.

I want to promise you that I will do that for our veterans. So they don't have to stand in line to stand in line.

I'm very honored to have a group of great Americans and patriots here with me today. And that is the Sergeants Benevolence Association of the City of New York led by Mr. Ed Mullins. And here they are, my friends. Those that served and fought for America at 9/11 and who their comrades served and sacrificed. And I'm honored. I'm honored by their presence.

I'm honored by their presence and I'm honored by their support and their endorsement. And we also honor the memory of your comrades who are not with you today who we will always cherish their memory and they will always be our inspiration.

My friends, I want to talk to you just a minute about the economy. You know we've got difficulties. You know that we've got problems. You know that there are many things we need to do to fix our economy and we're in a rough patch. The first thing we need to do, my friends, is make sure that those tax cuts are made permanent so you don't experience an increase in your taxes as a result of the lapsing of it.

The second thing we need to do is do away with the alternate minimum tax. There is a thing called the alternative minimum tax. It's eating into 25 million American families. It's got to be repealed. It cannot -- it cannot continue to grow and afflict American families. We need to have corporations have reduced tax rates.

My friends, corporations in America today pay the highest tax rate of any -- of any country in the world save Japan. That's why businesses leave.

BASH: We're listening to John McCain speak live in Sun City, Florida. We're going to hear a lot more of him again continuing live coming up right out of this break. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl." I'm Dana Bash in Miami, Florida. And we are listening to John McCain speak live in Sun City, Florida. Let's go back to that.

MCCAIN: But if right after 9/11 you and I would have been having a conversation. I said, by the way, there are some doctors in Glasgow, Scotland, educated, talented people who get mixed up in this radical message and they become suicide bombers and they try to go to the Glasgow Airport and kill themselves in order to destroy the airport there.

You'd have said that's unlikely. My friends, there's been arrests in Germany and Denmark. Our head of our CIA has said al Qaeda is trying to establish cells in the United States of America. And this challenge is tough and it's long. And one of the areas where we got to do better is in cyberspace.

As you know, this spread of evil over the Internet is their doing in a very accomplished fashion. Just in the last few weeks, Osama bin Laden has gotten this message of hate and destruction and recruiting and motivating these radical Islamic extremists. And I'm looking you in the eye right now, my friends, and I'll tell you right now. If I have to follow him to the gates of Hell, I'll get Osama bin Laden. I'll get him and you can count on it. You can count on it because I know how to get him.

So what is this? So what is this that we need to do? Well, I can tell you right now, it's the central battleground on the -- the struggle against radical Islamic extremism. It's clearly -- it's clearly Iraq. And that's what General Petraeus has said. By the way, General Petraeus, you may have noticed that "Time" magazine said that the man of the year was Vladimir Putin. My friends, I looked into his eyes and saw a K, a G and a B.

The man of the year is the American world is David Petraeus. A great and wonderful American and a great leader. Now, my friends, when times were tough, when times were tough in Iraq, I and a few others said they -- this Rumsfeld strategy is doomed to failure. I criticized him. I said I had no confidence in him and I said we had to adopt this new strategy. I'm the only one -- the only one that's running for president of the United States that rejected the Rumsfeld strategy and embraced the one that is succeeding. And I was criticized by Republicans at the time. I had to put my country before my party, obviously, but the point is -- the point is I'm the only one that did that. In fact, Governor Romney last April said he believed we should set a, quote, "timetable for withdrawal from Iraq." My friends, when he suggested that, General Petraeus' new strategy in Iraq was just beginning. That didn't work. They said that there wouldn't be any difference between the Democrat position on the issue and Republican. Well, I'll tell you, my friends. There's a great deal of difference between mine and Senator Clinton's who said in 60 days after she is president that she would withdraw American troops. That's surrender. That's waving the white flag, my friends. That's a huge difference.

And would it be different - Now I understand that Governor Rromney has changed his position again, as he has on several other issues. But my friends. I was there. He said he wanted a timetable for withdrawal. That would have meant disaster. That would have meant that al Qaeda would now be telling the world that they defeated the United States of America.

Now Governor Romney has said maybe that he thinks that I should apologize for saying what is clearly on the record is his support for timetables for withdrawal. I think the apology is owed to the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform that we will not let them down in hard times or good. Theirs are who the apology is owed to.

Now, my friends, these brave young Americans are succeeding in Iraq. They are succeeding. I look you in the eye and tell you that. If you forget everything I tell you today, please remember this word -- these words. Al Qaeda is on the run, but they are not defeated. They are on the run but not defeated. This is an implacable enemy. I see one of our World War II veterans here. Yes, sir. One of our World War II -- Thank you sir.

Toughest enemy in the Pacific in World War II. A kamikaze pilot. A pilot who was willing to take his own life in order to dive their airplanes into navy ships. Suicide bombers are the hardest thing to stop. Ask our Israeli friends how hard it is to seal their borders against people who come across. So these suicide bombers are going to continue, and I'm sorry to tell you that today as we speak the most explosive devices are being transported from Iran into Iraq and killing young Americans.

I'm sorry to tell you that suicide bombers are landing at the airport in Damascus and moving into Iraq in order to kill brave young Americans and innocent Iraqis. I can also tell you on new year's eve, thousands of Iraqis poured into the streets of Baghdad for the first time in years and celebrated the new year because they want freedom and they want democracy and they are about to get it.

And I'm telling you now, that if we continue this success, we will be able to withdraw more and more troops, we will be able to put them into enclaves, as the Iraqis assume more of those responsibilities. But it is going to be very long and it's very hard and it's very tough.

And, my friends, we are paying a heavy price for four years of failure under Rumsfeld or nearly so. And America is divided. America is divided. We all know that, my dear friends. But thank God no Americans are divided in our support for the brave young men and women who are serving in uniform in our military today. Thank God for that and thank you for your support and your love and your affection for these wonderful people.

Now there's a lot more I would like to tell you, and I will ...

BASH: There you heard John McCain speaking in Sun City, Florida, with some very, very tough talk against the man who appears to be his chief rival here in Florida for the republican primary on Tuesday. And that is Mitt Romney. What John McCain has been trying to do and you heard it there is make the case that he, more than anybody else, has been unequivocally for the current strategy in Iraq, which he is reminding voters time and time again is working.

But what he just did was go after Mitt Romney and accuse him of being at least a few months ago, a -- back in April of 2007, actually about a year ago, he said that he was for a timetable for withdrawal. Now I want to read you the quote that Mitt -- that John McCain was referring to. He was talking about an interview that Mitt Romney did with ABC News back in April of 2007. Here's exactly what Mitt Romney said. He said, "There's no question that the president and Prime Minister Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you are going to be gone."

He was also asked at that point if he would -- if he were president, if he would veto any timetable. He said he would. He said he would veto it. So there, back in April 2007, Mitt Romney suggesting it would be okay to have a private timetable for the president and for the Iraqi government for any kind of withdrawal, but not in public. Well, John McCain today saying that he thought that that was something that was -- he was equivocating at a time, remember, go back to April 2007. There was -- there was a lot of pressure on Republicans across the board to call for a timetable, to call for a pull-out from Iraq because of the intense public opposition to the war.

Things seem to have changed, particularly when you are talking about the Republican electorate. And that's why John McCain is trying to pounce on this. Mitt Romney's campaign insists he is distorting his record. And we're going to go now to Mary Snow who is there in sun city with John McCain. Mary, this is pretty intense between these two men. And very different explanations from their camps. Again, Mitt Romney's campaign saying that John McCain is distorting what he said.

SNOW: Yeah, and the language is very strong going back and forth between both camps. As you just heard, Senator McCain mentioned Governor Romney at least three times that I counted. And he also said that he understood that Governor Romney wanted an apology because earlier today, Mitt Romney said the Senator John McCain was being dishonest by this claim. And Senator McCain said the only apology that he feels should be made are to the men and women fighting in Iraq. The Romney camp is fighting back hard calling this, in their words, a desperate attack and also a cheap attack in their words. Saying that this is a distortion.

But certainly, as this gets so heated going up to Tuesday's primary, this has reached a new level in terms of these claims.

BASH: It sure is, Mary. As both men try to convince Republican voters here in Florida they are the best to be commander in chief. Mary, thank you very much.

We're actually going to hear later on from Mitt Romney himself. He earlier today called for John McCain to apologize on this issue. But right after the break, we're going to hear from a democratic candidate, John Edwards, as Democrats are actually in South Carolina because voters there are at the polls for today's South Carolina primary. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl" where we give you all of these candidates, Republicans and Democrats, raw and unfiltered so that you can see what some of these voters here in South Carolina and for republicans in Florida are hearing as they go to these town halls and as they go to these rallies.

We want to bring you here to South Carolina to talk a little bit about John Edwards. He is the third person in this race. He is from South Carolina. He won here in 2004 during the primary process. They don't think he will, in fact, win again this time, but they believe he will be a factor.

Edwards has been around in the rural areas of South Carolina. That is where the bulk of his vote is. Yesterday he was in Orangeburg, South Carolina, trying to rally that vote to get to the polls for him today. Polls open between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. He also took a whack at Hillary Clinton for not spending her entire week in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What you have to ask yourself, if they're not spending time in South Carolina the week before the South Carolina primary, what are the chances they are going to spend time here after the South Carolina primaries?

Somebody who understands what it is you are going through. Who understands the struggle and the last thing we need is for anybody to be dividing the people of South Carolina. We need to be uniting the people of South Carolina to create real opportunities for everybody. That's what this election is about is creating hope and opportunity and making the promises of this country available to every single American. And that's what my campaign is about.

While they're busy squabbling and fighting, I'm going to ride above of it to talk about the things that you care about: Healthcare, jobs, public school, ending this mess of a war in Iraq. We know what needs to be done.

(APPLAUSE)

We just need a president of the United States that will do it. And you can learn a lot from watching the way these campaigns are conducted. Now, I have, all week long, while they've been fighting with each other and, man, it's been nonstop -- While they've been fight, I've been focused on the things that affect your lives. And having growing up in South Carolina and in North Carolina and in Georgia, I will never forget where I came from. And that matters now and it matters when I'm the Democratic nominee and most importantly it matters when I am president. Nobody has to explain to me what it means for jobs to leave South Carolina. Nobody has to explain to me when 6,000 jobs got lost, just last month, in South Carolina, what that does when unemployment is up.

Nobody has to explain to me what's happening with schools in South Carolina and our responsibility to do something about it. I have met so many families either that don't have healthcare coverage. Or if they have healthcare coverage, they're scared to death they're going to lose it. Worried how they are going to keep paying for it. We desperately need universal healthcare in the United States of America for every man, woman and child.

(APPLAUSE)

And I am proud of the fact that I was the first candidate to come out with a comprehensive, universal healthcare plan. You know, and I say there are differences between us on this issue. I have a universal plan, so does Senator Clinton, Senator Obama does not. And I think we have to cover every single American. Every child, every family in America is worthy of having healthcare coverage.

What are we going to do about our jobs? You know, you have seen the jobs leaving. We've had terrible trade deals like NAFTA and TAFTA that have cost American jobs. All they've done is pad the profits to the biggest corporations in America. When are we going to have a president who, whenever there's a trade proposal, is asking, is this good for working middle class families? Is this going to be good for jobs here in America? Are we going to have jobs that will actually support a family? The only question I'll ask on any proposed trade deal is, is this good for America? Is this good for American jobs?

You know, (INAUDIBLE) are we going to let China make everything? I mean, when are we going to start standing up for American jobs, American workers, the American middle class? My wife Elizabeth went to buy Christmas presents for my kids for Christmas, and she was trying to find something that wasn't made in China. She said she had a terrible time finding anything that wasn't made in China. How about if we have a president of United States that says to the American people: buy local, buy local. It's good for the local economy.

(APPLAUSE)

We actually have tax breaks in this country for American companies that are sending jobs overseas. This is crazy. I mean, completely crazy. And it has to be brought to an end. I will close those tax loopholes and end those tax breaks when I'm president of the United States. So, we know -- what about creation of jobs?

You know, we depend on -- by the way, gas prices. Gas prices are through the roof. And they're killing people in this country, killing people. We got to get off of our addiction to oil, that's the long- term answer, but the short-term answer is we need a president that will go after these oil companies to see if they're the American people, to see if they're violating the law -- the antitrust laws, the consumer law. Because you know what's happening, they control the whole process and we have no idea what they are doing. A lot of their process makes absolutely no sense. Your gas prices keep going up per gallon when there's no explanation for it. No excuse for it. So, this has got to change.

So whether it's -- college. We have got young people that want to go to college. This is a town that knows a lot about that. We want to make sure that every young person in America that wants to go to college and is willing to work when they're there, at least 10 hours a week, America ought to pay their tuition and books at a state university or community college.

(APPLAUSE)

And we also need a president who will provide strong support for our HSPCs. You know, I, myself, have seen how important they are in North Carolina, in South Carolina, and all across this state. And our two states we have HPCUs that have played an enormous role in educating young people. And they have played an historical role in the history of this country. And we need a president who understands that, who's willing to do what's necessary. And we also, (INAUDIBLE), we need to do something about the issue of poverty in America. You know, this is essential to what I believe. It is wrong to have 37 million people who wake up every day in this country about worried about feeding and clothing their children. And there is so much that we can do: raising the minimum wage. Minimum wage is going to $7.25 an hour, Congress finally raised it. It's not enough. Minimum wage ought to be at least $9.50 an hour.

CROWLEY: Former Senator John Edwards, who represented North Carolina for six years in the U.S. Senate, but who was born here in South Carolina, and hopes that some of those roots will, in fact, get him a portion of those delegates, here in South Carolina. Not to forget what this election is all about here in this state, it's about getting delegates -- 45 of them are at stake. Edwards certainly wants to lay claim of some of those so he can move into those February 5 states.

We want to bring in correspondent Jessica Yellin.

Jessica, I know you've been covering him. It is difficult to see where Edwards goes after this for a win, but not necessarily is he looking for a win so much as delegates. What can he do with those when we move into the convention?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are two things he can do, Candy. One is in the worst case scenario, his chief advisers acknowledge, he could be the peacemaker or king maker, however you want to view it. If it's clear that senators Clinton and Obama split the delegate numbers, he could decide that his go with one or the other and thereby choose the other.

But, they are thinking of another scenario in which Edwards gets enough delegates, he racks ups enough, let's say, second-place finishes here and in future Super Tuesday states, that he has a sizable number of delegates and can go ahead and become, in a contested election, sort of the option that, if there's too much bitterness between Clinton and Obama, that he's the untainted option and he'd be recruited to be the nominee for the party. It may seem like an unlikely scenario, but that's something one of his top advisers told me they could see happening.

I want to make one other point, which is, I told you earlier that we're in a very heavily Democratic district that was having very weak turnout. But, I want to show you it has picked up -- well, it has sort -- there's finally a line here and it was quite significantly longer a little bit earlier. We are told there are 800 registered voters in this district; about 190 had voted as of about 15 minutes ago - Candy.

CROWLEY: Can't get those voters to line up again behind you on cue, I guess.

(LAUGHTER)

YELLIN: No. Live TV is so tricky.

CROWLEY: Listen, I know you were trying to grab a little bit of lunch in between live shots here today, and I understand you ran into one of the candidates.

YELLIN: Yes. We were out for a quick bite. I swear it was quick. And suddenly Secret Service agents start showing up, looking around with their ear pieces in, and no sooner do we notice them that Hillary Clinton's press corps arrives and there is Senator Clinton walking through the room, shaking hands and doing the rounds, trying to get out the vote. But, we suddenly noticed that so -- just at the same time, Barack Obama's press corps and some of his staff arrived in the restaurant, too. And we thought we were going to have a candidate collision. But, it didn't happen, the Obama folks -- Obama himself never showed up. Obama's press corps ended up having lunch there. And Senator Clinton ended up coming by saying hi, said she's in high spirits. But, you would expect to hear that. She did seem to have some good energy around her, today. Who knows -- Candy.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Jessica. We're going to go to a break, now. But, I want to tell you. You need to keep watching BALLOT BOWL. Up next, we'll return to California and you're going tor from Republican Mike Huckabee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to CNN'S BALLOT BOWL. I'm Dana Bash in Miami, Florida. And the BALLOT BOWL is a chance for us at CNN to bring you what those of us on the campaign trail every day with the candidates get to hear. We get to hear their stump speeches, how they are trying to convince voters, here in Florida, up in South Carolina, all across the country, how they would act and they -- how they would govern if they were elected president, Trying to convince voters, of course, to vote for them.

Now, we are monitoring John McCain who was still speaking here in the Sunshine State, three days before the Republican primary, here. And one of the things, one of the issues that has absolutely exploded on the campaign trail for Democrats and Republicans is, of course, the economy. And we are very lucky at CNN that we have our own Ali Velshi who has been making his way across the country with the Election Express, talking to voters about how they feel about the economy and whether or not they are hearing what they want to hear from these candidates who are trying to get their votes.

Ali, you are in Tombstone, Arizona. Good to see you. Great hat. I know you have a guest, there.

ALI VELSHI, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. I do.

BASH: Take it away.

VELSHI: As you said, Dana, we were traveling from South Carolina to California. We've got another couple of days on the trail. We're in Tombstone, Arizona. I decided I needed to suite up, got the hat. I got a lovely handmade holster and a replica gun, just so we're sure about that. And I'm here with Dan Kelly. We're here on the main street in Tombstone.

Dan was a union carpenter for a long time. I asked him, I told him we're here talking about politics and the economy and your response to me was that you weren't too fond of either.

DAN KELLY, FMR UNION CARPENTER: No, I said, the politics sucks and so does the economy.

VELSHI: Tell me about your story. You were a carpenter, now what are you doing?

KELLY: I was a union carpenter up until a couple of weeks ago. Before Christmas, I got laid off and there was no hope for work for at least a month, so I had to take a nonunion job.

VELSHI: And now you're involved in the border fence that's going up.

KELLY: We haul from 24 miles from here in Tombstone to the border fence. It's a 13-1/2-hour roundtrip.

VELSHI: Now, Dan, one thing about this county in Arizona, Arizona is a Super Tuesday state, there are 56 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats, 50 for the Republicans. Dan is a registered voter. But, you were a Republican.

KELLY: Yes, I was a life-long Republican until this year. I've changed to Democrat. VELSHI: Who are you thinking of supporting, right now?

KELLY: John Edwards is the one that looks good to me, right now.

VELSHI: Because?

KELLY: I like his hands-on approach at Hurricane Katrina.

VELSHI: A lot of people in this county, Dana, work on minimum wage. As you can see here, it's a big tourist attraction, unlike a lot of places in the South, you know, in the eastern part of the South, jobs are a big issue. As we got to Texas, energy became an issue. In west Texas, people were more concerned about the markets because on the income side, they're doing OK because of energy. Now we're in a place where tourism really matters. This town depends on people driving to it and spending money. So, a downturn in the economy, Dan, has to affect a place like Tombstone.

KELLY: By the time they've spent their money on gas to get here, they don't have money to spend in our shops or seeing our shows and it hurts the entire town.

VELSHI: Have you noticed a change? Have you noticed a downturn?

KELLY: Oh, yeah. There's been a tremendous, tremendous change. There was -- I heard from one vender, he was down 17 percent this year at Christmastime.

VELSHI: We've heard this story actually going down the street talking to vendors in Tombstone, business is really down. They usually get a lot of visitors this time of year from Europe and from Canada. That, at least, helps because the dollar is low, as a result. So, tourists find this an attractive place to come. But again, you can't fly into Tombstone International Airport when you are here, so you've to drive to Tombstone. Even local people, people from Tucson and other parts of Arizona, with gas high and the economy a problem, you find fewer people from Arizona coming in?

KELLY: Yeah, actually, we do. And it's sad because even those that do come in, they've spent what they had to come, so they don't have the $5 to see a show.

VELSHI: Dan, thanks for talking to us.

Dana, here we are in Tombstone, Arizona. We're heading off right after this, we're heading west. We're going to get to California by tomorrow. We'll keep talking to people along the way with the CNN Election Express -- Dana.

BASH: Thanks, Ali. Help out the economy there, bring me back one of those cowboy hats, would you?

VELSHI: Absolutely, I will.

BASH: OK. Thanks, Ali. Appreciate that. Ali with the Election Express in Tombstone, Arizona. The Election Express isn't the only king of the road, we also have the Election Express Yourself, that is out and about across the country, as well. In fact, today's dateline, it is in Santa Monica, California, bad weather and all. We'll take you there live in the next hour, right here on CNN's BALLOT BOWL 2008.

Up next, don't go away, we are going to hear from Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Dana Bash in Miami, Florida, where the Republican primary is just three days away and it is going to be fascinating to see what this race, this primary means, for all of the Republican candidates, but especially we can take a look right now at former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. He did extraordinarily well in the first contest state of Iowa, but at this point here in Florida, the fact that he is a candidate running on a shoestring budget, as he likes to say, is hurting him in the way that it is pretty hard to campaign in Florida, a very, very large state, where it takes a lot of money to be on the air for television, a lot of money to get around this state. It's making it pretty hard for former governor Huckabee to campaign here. So, he is trying to do as much as he can, essentially by having events at airports, by going back and forth between here and some of the contest states -- southern contest states that he will be competing in on the February 5, on Super Tuesday.

But, we want to take you to the pitch that he is making to voters, here in Florida, a pitch that he made earlier today in Orlando.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to just mention something that I thought was very significant the other night in the debate, on Thursday. As we stood on the stage, it seemed that once again I was given a faith question. It's become a standard thing in every debate, apparently. And even though I got half the time of some of my competitors on the stage, always a good chunk of it is going to be carved up with tossing me a question about what I believe and do I really believe in God or something similar.

(LAUGHTER)

As if that's such an oddity in America these days that somebody should once again find out, is it really true? Am I going to change my mind one of these evenings? But I thought the manner in which the question was asked was rather revealing, because the question was, how would I react to a person, apparently in the administration, who said that my faith made him queasy. For me, it was a turning point and a Seminole (ph) moment in this entire process. And as I thought about that, I thought, have we changed so much in America that we are queasy because a person in public office has faith? It wouldn't have been that long ago that would have made many people queasy is if a person believed only in himself and did not believe beyond himself, in a God. And I thought, maybe that's why this country is so confused and disoriented. I am not pretending that I want to be the pastor-in-chief, though it's what I've been accused of. Longer than I was in church-related work, I was governing a state. Meaning I had more executive experience, actually running a government, than anybody running for president, Democrat or Republican.

In most news articles and in most debates and other forums, rarely is that point brought up. The headline is: Mike Huckabee, former Baptist minister, not former governor of Arkansas for 10-1/2 years, not a person who was named by groups as diverse as AARP, "Time" magazine and "Governing" magazine, as a public official of the year or one of the best governors of the country. Almost as if to marginalize that really what I bring to the debate, and the only, thing is my faith.

Well, I want to make clear as I have tried to in every debate. My faith is so much a part of me that I'm never going to run from it. Nor would I ever run from these and so many others like them who stand with me today. In fact, I find it almost disturbing that people who represent those in America who have deep faith are now considered almost marginalized, as if they shouldn't really be in the process. It's OK if we go and hammer out some yard signs for some other good person who might run for office, but, God help us all if we would actually want to run ourselves.

It's almost as if that word "disenfranchised" could easily be applied to people of faith. And I think one of the reasons that you see these behind me join with me today is to say that every citizen, whether one has faith or doesn't, should have a rightful place in the public square to speak openly about what's right and what could be made better in this country.

I not only very gladly receive and welcome the support and the endorsement of these who stand with me, today. I notice I didn't say "behind me," because I learned in politics a long time ago when people say, "Mike, we're behind you," what that meant was, they are, way behind me.

(LAUGHTER)

I've learned that what you want is people to be with you. And there is a real big difference in people being with you and being way behind you. I am glad that these folks are standing with me, today, shoulder to shoulder. And I'm very grateful for the support that they give, a part of, not the total coalition of people who support me, but a very important part for which I am exceptionally grateful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: That's former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, speaking earlier today, here in Florida, in Orlando, Florida. That is part of what we are trying to do for you today, bring you these candidates who want to be your next president, live, raw, unscripted -- unedited, I should say. And we are going to hear much, much more coming up in the next hour, including a live from Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. And we're also going to take you back up to South Carolina where voting is going on as we speak in the Democratic primary, there. We're going to hear from Hillary Clinton, from John Edwards, from Barack Obama and also, don't go away at all today because tonight, primetime we are going to have the results from that South Carolina primary. Stay with us.

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