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Putting the Candidates on Display

Aired February 09, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

CROWLEY: Welcome back. This is CNN's BALLOT BOWL 08 where we give you the candidates, sometimes taped, sometimes live, but always unfiltered. Both Republicans and Democrats. I'm Candy Crowley live Richmond, Virginia where later tonight we'll hear from both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Right now though, both of those Democratic candidates are in Maine. Hillary Clinton is in Lewiston, Maine. That's where we want to take you right now.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now I know we're not going to start doing any of this until the two oil men leave the White House. But as soon as they do, we're going to be ready! And then we're going to put our construction workers back to work fixing up America, rebuilding America, making it sure that we've got the infrastructure we need. We're going to end George Bush's war on science so that we can put our scientists and our researchers back to work doing more that will give us a better quality of life.

And I am passionately committed to achieving universal health care. This is not an issue for me. This is -- this is where my heart is because for 35 years I have worked as an advocate for poor children and families. I have been there in hospital rooms where somebody is told, I'm sorry. We can't afford to continue with your treatment. And I've had to scramble around trying to find some way to keep a child on a cancer treatment or to get the surgery that he or she needs. I've been there fighting the insurance companies when fathers and mothers come to me and say, what have I done wrong? I paid my premiums. We were healthy. And now all of a sudden, my son is sick. Or my daughter needs a bone marrow transplant and the insurance company says, we won't pay.

So I've argued and I've embarrassed and I've pushed. And every so often they'll say, OK, fine. Get me off their back they'll say, OK, fine. We'll pay for the operation. It should not take a United States senator to get a mother or father the health care they thought they had paid for, for their own child. So what are we going to do about it?

Here's what I think we should do about it, and I am the only candidate left in this race on either side who is committed to universal health care because to me it's a core value. It is a human right. It is not a privilege. And it is long past time that the United States of America, the richest nation in the world, figured out how to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And here is what I think we should do. If you have health insurance that you are happy with, nothing changes. You keep the plan you have through your employer, through your union, however you have it.

Nothing changes for Medicare. We're just going to make it better. We're going to get you more services. We're going to negotiate for lower drug prices to get the cost down, by getting the drug companies to cut a deal with Medicare. But if you are uninsured, or you have insurance but it won't pay for what you need, here's what we'll do. Because you see, we have two problems. How many of you know somebody who is uninsured? Yeah. And how many of you know somebody, maybe you yourselves that have insurance except you can't get it to pay for what your doctor or the hospital says you need.

See, we've got two problems. We hear a lot about the people that have no insurance, 47 million. But I estimate every year there are 30 or 40 million fight with an insurance company. Or their doctor is. Or the hospital is on their behalf. So if you fall into those categories, which are a lot of Americans, we're going to open up the congressional health plan. Congress has a good plan for itself, for its employees and for federal employees. It has more than 250 options you can choose from.

On average, they are cheaper than what you can buy in the open market or through your employer because you, the taxpayers, pay 75 percent of the cost. So I think if it's good enough for Congress, it is good enough for you. And for the people of Maine and for the people of America. And for people who have trouble affording it, we're going to provide health care tax credits. We're also going to limit the amount of money that anybody ever has to pay for their premium to a small percentage of your income because if everybody is in the system, that will help us get costs down. Every time somebody without insurance or who is denied their insurance coverage goes to the emergency room, they do get taken care of.

And I see some nurses and doctors probably out there nodding their heads. We take care of people in America. But then the cost has to be spread to all the rest of us. It's like a hidden tax. You know, because it doesn't evaporate. The hospital and the doctor and the nurses, we have to pay them. The equipment has to be, you know, paid for. So all these people who get taken care of add to the base of the cost and it keeps going up. And we've got to invest more in prevention. Because what happens is people end up in the emergency room after they are already sick, after they've been chronically contending with a problem.

It's more expensive to take care of then. And, oh, please, let us finally provide the same care for mental health as we provide for every other kind of health problem. This is a big difference between Senator Obama and me because he doesn't have a universal health care plan. Senator Edwards and I both introduced comprehensive universal health care plans. It's politically challenging to do that because you know immediately the Republicans and the health insurance companies, they go after you because, obviously, they don't want any changes.

But it was the right thing to do. And I was very proud that Senator Edwards and I really, you know, decided to put ourselves on the line politically and say, we're going to be focused on achieving universal health care. Senator Obama didn't. And he took a position that would leave at least 15 million people out, which will continue to drive up costs for everybody. I think that's a mistake. It's a mistake because universal health care is a core Democratic value.

And the Democratic Party needs to stand for the proposition that we will fight for the right of every person to have access to quality, affordable health care. I also think it's a mistake because going into the election against Senator McCain and the Republicans, we want there to be a clear contrast on health care. Because otherwise we won't be able to convince people that we have the better idea. Health care is the most critical personal issue.

And next to the economy and the war in Iraq, it's what people talk to me about all the time. So if you believe, as I do, that we have to stand for and fight for universal health care, I hope you will go and caucus for me tomorrow because I will do everything I can to make sure we get that.

CROWLEY: Hillary Clinton in Maine, campaigning on what her campaign hopes is her signature issue. They believe a defining difference between Clinton and Barack Obama is health care. They say his health care plan doesn't cover everyone. Her health care plan mandates health care insurance for everyone. Obama responds that his plan will make it a lot more affordable for people to buy health insurance.

I'm Candy Crowley in Richmond, Virginia. But we are all over the place here today for BALLOT BOWL 08. We have Dana Bash in Washington, D.C. We have Suzanne Malveaux in New Orleans. And we have Jessica Yellin all the way out in Seattle. Jessica, I want to ask you a quick question because I noticed here when Hillary Clinton asked this crowd in Maine how many of you have ever caucused before, barely anybody said yes. Now these states are really having to come together and put together caucuses that in the past have not made much difference. I know Washington State has a caucus today. Are they prepared?

YELLIN: Candy, they are prepared, and they are expecting an exponentially higher turnout than they've seen in the years past. To give you a sense, in the year 2000, the Democrats here said 63 people showed up for their caucus. That represents 26 precincts, 63 people. In 2004, last time around, it was 600 people. This time, they are expecting 1,000 people. That's what they are prepared for in this room, which is prepared to take care of 13 precincts, 26 will be at this entire school we're at. And to give you a sense of the politics of this place, we're in a part of Seattle.

The organizer plans to greet caucus goers here with this message. She says, let's see a show of hands who is ready to stop the tragic and immoral war, tackle the threat of climate change and give public schools all the money they need and make the Pentagon hold a bake sale if they want new bombs. You can really get a sense where these folks are coming from. One of the volunteers here said this is the most important election of her life.

And as you know, Senator Barack Obama has done better in a lot of these caucuses and Senator Clinton's campaign is emphasizing they expect him to do better because, "a," his ground operation is stronger or, "b," it sort of favors his well-healed, well educated demographic who has the time to come at appointment voting if you will.

But certainly there's an expectations game going on there and Clinton has her supporters in this room already. Caucusing will start here at 1:00 local. They expect it to be very fast. Much faster than we've seen here in the past. Since we are in Washington State you may not be surprised to know that it's more organized than I've ever seen. They expect to have folks at each table with a laptop computer loaded with special software that's a delegate calculator that will allow them to rapidly crunch the numbers and get results.

Candy.

CROWLEY: Wow. It does sound like they are organized. Thanks, Jessica Yellin, inside one of the caucus places. She'll be with us throughout the afternoon. We don't want you to go away because up next we have Senator John McCain, the presumptive front-runner, of course in the Republican race. And also a little bit from Barack Obama who is in Maine. Stick with us on BALLOT BOWL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL 08. I'm Dana Bash in Washington, D.C. and as you see behind me, I'm standing in front of the building that all of these candidates are out campaigning to live in. To live in starting January of 2009. If they become the president of the United States, that, of course, is the name of the game.

First of all, what they are all trying to do right now is get their party's nomination. And Washington, D.C. is also a place that is going to hold a primary on Tuesday. It's one of three primaries in what we're sort of calling the Potomac primary. They are actually contests that are going on as we speak today, Saturday, 92 Republican delegates are at stake today. One state that's holding its caucuses is the state of Kansas. And John McCain was there last night appealing to voters on the issue that he thinks is going to best position him against a Democrat in November. And that's national security and the so-called war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you know, General Petraeus has said that Iraq is the central battleground in the struggle against radical Islamic extremism. I agree with General Petraeus.

And, my friends, the challenge of the 21st century are this transcendental evil. This terrible evil called radical Islamic extremism that confronts our nation and the world. My friends, we have failed to appreciate how evil these people are until we see the manifestations of it. I'm sure you saw where just a few days ago that al Qaeda in Iraq, these evil people, took two women who were mentally disabled, two young women who were mentally disabled, put explosive vests on them, sent them into a marketplace and by remote control exploded and blew up those young women and innocent people around them. Is there anything more evil than that? My friend, this is what we're confronting. And I guarantee you this. If we had announced a date for withdrawal from Iraq and withdrawn troops, the way that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton want to do, al Qaeda would be celebrating that they defeated the United States of America and that we surrendered. I will never surrender to al Qaeda. And I will never surrender. I will never surrender.

My friends, I think you also know that there's an individual that lives some place in Pakistan or Afghanistan and quite frequently he's able to get out a message over the Internet and other ways that recruits, motivates and inspires these evil people. And that guy's name, as we all know, is Osama Bin Laden. I tell you now, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama Bin Laden, and I will bring him to justice. I will bring him to justice for what he did to the United States of America.

And, my friends, we are all frustrated and saddened by this war. We all know the heartbreak of the families. We know how tough this has been. And it was badly mishandled for a long time. And I'm happy to say that we now have this new strategy which is succeeding. But, please, if you forget everything I tell you on this wonderful, balmy, Arizona day that -- if you forget everything I tell you, please remember this. Al Qaeda is on the run, but they're not defeated. They are on the run, but they're not defeated.

And so the only person who we should be guided by for when we withdraw from Iraq is not some politician running for higher office. But by General Petraeus who understands the situation on the ground and a great American. So we're sad -- so we're saddened. We are saddened and frustrated many of us. And I understand America is divided about this war. You understand it, too.

But thank god none of us are divided in our support of the brave young men and women who are serving America in uniform today in the armed forces and the military. And thank you. Thank you for your support of them.

So, my friends, we will have success in Iraq over time, I believe, because we have great leaders and we have wonderful young men and women. The best of America who are serving us. And I -- and I want you to -- want to remind you that there were times when I supported this surge and things weren't going well in Iraq. And many experts said, well, McCain's political career is done. And I understood that.

At the time, I said I would much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. And every once in a while, you have an experience that puts everything into the proper priority for you. And that happened to me last August in Wolfborough, New Hampshire, at a town hall meeting. A woman stood up and said, Senator McCain, would you do me the honor of wearing bracelet with my son's name on it. Matthew Stanley, Matthew Stanley was 22 years old. He was killed in combat outside of Baghdad just before Christmas last year. I said I would be honored to wear that bracelet with your son's name on it.

Then she said, Senator McCain, I want you to promise me one thing. I want you to promise me that you'll do everything in your power to make sure that my son's death was not in vain. My friends, I will do everything in my power, not only to make sure that that sacrifice and those incredible sacrifices were not in vain, but we will never make any sacrifices in vain again in the defense of freedom and democracy in Iraq and throughout the world. I understand war. I understand.

No one understands better. Ask our veterans the tragedy of war and how tough it is than those who have been in wars. So I understand it. But I also know how precious freedom is. You may know some -- I spent a period of time when I didn't have my freedom. And I know how precious it is, no more than any other American. But I also know what it's like to lose it. And I am committed to you and to America and the world. We will never let this force of evil prevail anywhere in the world, much less the United States of America. I promise you that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaking last night in the state of Kansas. Kansas is one of the few contests going on today. It's a caucus that's being held in that state. The reddest of red states right in the middle of the country. John McCain at this point has, by our calculation, 714 delegates. That means he's officially about 60, maybe 62 percent of the way there to officially getting enough delegates. But that's 1,191 delegates that he needs, and anybody needs to secure the Republican nomination.

He is, by far, ahead of the other two Republicans that remain in the race. Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. But both of those men say they are in the race. Mike Huckabee in particular again today making clear that he intends to go nowhere and intends to compete in the contest, of course today. The contest coming up on Tuesday. The Potomac primaries and on through March and even beyond, he insists he is not going anywhere.

John McCain is off the campaign trail today but he told reporters yesterday he's going to spend a lot of time doing something that is quite necessary for a Republican like John McCain. He's going to be reaching out to conservatives. Reaching out to some of his colleagues in the Senate and elsewhere around the country in order to get them on board with his candidacy to make what he believes really is inevitable, being even more so that he is, as he says, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.

When we come back after the next break of BALLOT BOWL, we're going to go back it the other side of the aisle and hear from Democrat Barack Obama. You don't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL 08." I'm Candy Crowley in Richmond, Virginia, where later this evening, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will speak at Virginia primary next Tuesday. Along with Maryland and Washington, D.C.

But for today, the Democratic candidates are campaigning in Maine. Earlier today, both of them there right now. Those caucuses are tomorrow. However, both camps are keeping an eye on Washington State and Nebraska, which holds caucuses today. And, of course, on Louisiana, where there's a primary. And that's where we find our Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Candy. This time around, Louisiana could make a difference here. A real impact. But the big question is whether or not the voters are going to come out. Whether or not they'll show up. It's been very quiet here at this polling station. We'll see how the day unfolds. These centers closing at 8:00 this evening.

The last time that Louisiana really played any significant role in the primary was back in 1984. Walter Mondale as well as Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson all vying for the state. It was Jackson who ended up getting it. Some 40 percent. But Mondale who ended up getting the nomination, we'll see how this state delivers. Some 56 delegates are up for grabs today. We'll see if the voters actually come out. Senator Barack Obama here just two days ago at a university, local university tries to drum up support. A lot of students showed up as early as 4:30 in the morning. But a lot of those students not necessarily from this state. We don't know if they are going to come out and vote or whether or not it will make a difference.

Senator Clinton was not here recently at least, but her husband, that is, the former president, Bill Clinton, was here just yesterday. Zigzagged across the state or so. He was here for about 12 hours. Five cities. Stumping for his wife, making the case that she has a plan to bring the Gulf Coast back. Very important for folks here in New Orleans. They are looking for details. They are looking for new ideas from this candidate.

But Barack Obama here just a couple of days ago stressing that he was the one who had the plan and he was the one who also, he believed, could bring back that sense of honesty and commitment to the people from the government. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can talk about a trust that was broken. The promise that our government will be prepared will protect us and will respond in a catastrophe. But we also know the broken promises did not start when a storm hit. And they did not end there.

When President Bush came down to Jackson Square two weeks after the storm, the setting was spectacular. And as promises soaring, we will do what it takes, he said. We will take as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. But over two years later, those words have been caught in a tangle of half measures, halfhearted leadership and red tape.

Dr. Cohen described it aptly while we were talking outside. He said, it is a tale of two cities. A tale of two cities. Yes, parts of New Orleans are coming back to life. But we also know that over 25,000 families are still living in small trailers that thousands of homes sit empty and condemned and that schools and hospitals and firehouses and police stations remain shuttered. We know that even though the street cars run, there are fewer passengers. That even though the parades sound their joyful noise, there is too much violence in the shadows.

To confront these challenges, we have to understand that Katrina may have battered levees, but it also exposed silent storms that have ravaged parts of the city and our country for far too long -- the storms of poverty and joblessness, inequality and injustice.

(APPLAUSE)

Those are the storms that swirled before Katrina hit.

I was down in Houston visiting evacuees a few days after Katrina. I met a woman in he Reliance Center who had long known these storms in her life. She told me, and I quote, "We had nothing before the hurricane, now we got less than nothing." "We had nothing before the hurricane, now we got less than nothing." Think about -- I think about her sometimes. I think about how America left her behind before the storm. I wonder where she is today. America failed that woman long before that failure showed up on our television screens. And we failed her again during Katrina. And tragically, we are failing her for a third time, and that needs to change and that's one of the reasons I am running for president of the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

OBAMA: It is time for us to restore our trust with her. It's time for America to rebuild trust with the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. When I am president, I will start by restoring that most basic trust that your government will do what it takes to keep you safe.

(APPLAUSE)

The words "never again" spoken so often in those weeks after Katrina must not fade to a whisper. The Army Corps of Engineers has rebuilt the levees that were most damaged by the storm, but funding has sometimes stalled and New Orleans remains unprotected.

We can't gamble every hurricane season. And that's why am I am president we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011 with the goal of expanding that protection to defend against a Category 5 storm. Enough talk, let's get it done when I'm president of the United States of America.

MALVEAUX: And Candy, you heard that familiar refrain, he said "the tale of two cities," very similar to what we heard from the former candidate John Edwards, "a tale of two Americas." Both of the candidates, Senator Clinton and Barack Obama certainly hoping to get perhaps that coveted endorsement from John Edwards. We do know there have been discussions ongoing between Barack Obama and John Edwards. So, it is no accident -- no surprise that he is talking about this message of poverty, fighting poverty in New Orleans, the place of the lower 9th Ward, that is where John Edwards started his candidacy and where he ended last week - Candy.

CROWLEY: You know, Suzanne. I just talked to a voter here, and I said, well, who do you like because in Richmond, they're going to listen to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton later tonight. And she said: you know, I was a John Edwards supporter, I'm still in morning, so I suspect a lot of them are like that, still trying to figure out where they are going to go from here. So, thanks so much, Suzanne Malveaux in New Orleans.

As we've been telling you, there are contests across the country, today, not many of them, but with the delegate race so tight in the Democratic race, certainly a lot that matter.

Also, there are some Republican contests, and we want to go back to Dana Bash.

We're told you've got some results - Dana.

BASH: We do, Candy. From the Republican caucuses that are going on in Kansas today, we do have some preliminary results that we want to give to our viewers: 36 delegates at stake today, we should tell our viewers, in the state of Kansas. Right now, here's what we have, Mike Huckabee is -- has a pretty commanding lead with 41 percent of the vote, 41 percent of the vote for Republican Mike Huckabee. John McCain has 24 percent of the vote, Ron Paul 11 percent.

Now that is with about 65 percent of the votes reporting now from the caucuses there in Kansas. So, it's not -- we're not ready to call this race for Mike Huckabee yet, but certainly it shows he has a commanding lead. And the reason we don't want to call it is because at this point what we're getting in terms of the vote is from some of the rural areas in Kansas. We're still waiting to hear results from more urban areas in that state. So, we're going to be able to give you more information on that in a little while.

But again, the headline here at this point, with 65 percent of the vote reporting in Kansas, Mike Huckabee does have a commanding lead, it looks like, with 41 percent of the vote.

Now, that's going on right nuas we speak in Kansas. We have a lot more voting going on around the country, today, Republicans and Democrats. And we're going to actually hear from Mike Huckabee, the kind of message that he is giving to Republican voters. In fact, what he said today, here in Washington, at a convention of conservative activists. We're going to hear about that in just a minute. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Dana Bash in Washington, D.C. Now, today is a day that we are bringing you candidates' speeches from all over the country as they campaign, but it's also a day where voting is going on and one of those states where, at least on the Republican side, there are caucuses is the state of Kansas. And we told you right before the break that we're getting some more information. We have even more updated information about the results coming in there and that is that Mike Huckabee now has a 60 percent lead, I should say he has 60 percent of the vote there in the Kansas caucuses. John McCain still has 24 percent, Ron Paul at 11 percent. So Mike Huckabee seems to be doing very, very well. Has a commanding lead, though we're not ready to call that state for Mike Huckabee, quite yet. We'll let you know when we have more information on that.

But, I want to bring in Mary Snow who has been with Mike Huckabee, today. Mike Huckabee has been campaigning in the state of Maryland, which holds its primary on Tuesday, a lot going on.

And I want to ask you about something that appears to be significant in terms of Mike Huckabee and the support he's getting and that is an endorsement he got yesterday from James Dobson. Some viewers may not know who he is, many do. He is somebody who is extremely influential in conservative circles. He is the head of what's called "Focus on the Family," he has tremendous reach with his radio show, with some pamphlets and books and you name it, he's got it. He has a lot of influence with many conservative voters. And he decided to go ahead and endorse Mike Huckabee yesterday. And I'm wondering if that could explain a little bit of why Mike Huckabee seems to be doing so well in that very conservative state of Kansas where James Dobson has his radio show and really has a lot of influence with his listeners and with voters there.

SNOW: Right. And, Dana, that endorsement came out yesterday, as you know. And, you know, Mike Huckabee was saying when he was asked about it, he said that when he talked with James Dobson that Dobson wanted to know that he was going to stay in the race and not decide when he got to speak to conservatives this morning that he was going to say that he was withdrawing, just as Mitt Romney did. That endorsement, of course, Mike Huckabee is calling significant and it's also worth noting that it came the day after John McCain addressed conservatives.

We've been talking about this anger from conservatives against John McCain and this was kind of seen as a slap to him that this endorsement came to Mike Huckabee. Everybody keeps talking about the fact that the math is now impossible for Mike Huckabee to catch up and really John McCain has become the presumptive Republican nominee, but the endorsement went to him. And Mike Huckabee has really been trying to position himself as the conservative candidate, now. Now, that Mitt Romney is gone, he's been vowing to stay in the race. This morning, he addressed conservatives in Washington, D.C. Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that there is some speculation that I might come here today to announce that I would be getting out of the race. But, I want to make sure you understand, am I quitting? Well, let's get that settled right, now. No. I am not.

(APPLAUSE) And the reason -- and the reason is simple, because I go back to that which helps crystallize in me a conservative viewpoint as a teenager when it wasn't easy or popular to be a Republican or a conservative in my hometown.

Because I do believe that America is about making choices, not simply echoing that of others. Let others join the me-too crowd, but I didn't get where I am today, and I didn't fight the battles in a state that when I became its governor was 90 percent Democrat, by simply echoing the voices of others. I did it by staking out a choice, stating that choice, making that choice and fighting for that choice to believe that some things were right, some things were wrong and it's better to be right and even to not win than it is to be wrong and to be a part of the crowd.

(APPLAUSE)

When I was a teenager, there was a phrase that came late in the '60s and early '70s that sort of was a mantra for many of us as conservatives and quite frankly, I remember it on bumper strips, it said, "my country right or wrong." And I guess many of us ascribe to that, that view that it is my country, right or wrong. But the real history of that statement goes back to the 1800s, with a senator from Missouri named Carl Schurz who served from 1869 to 1875, but a German immigrant who came to this country, later elected to the U.S. Senate, once served in the president's cabinet after that, died in the early 1900s.

But the full context of this statement is this. He said, "My country, right or wrong, when it's right, we will keep it right. And when it's wrong, we will make it right."

And, ladies and gentlemen, that ought to be the heart cry of every conservative. When it's right, we will keep it right, but when it is wrong, we will make it right.

I want to say again that freedom does not exist in a vacuum, it has to have moral clarity. We have to believe that murder, lying, stealing are wrong, or freedom doesn't work. Freedom has to always operate in the context in which responsibility is the other wing of the airplane on our individual freedom and choice.

If we as a nation ever fail to understand that, then we will disintegrate and become like many of the cultures that we today have to confront and, in fact, fight, who do not believe that it is wrong to murder, even to murder one's own child for the sake of the political cause of Islamo fascism. What separates us from that very culture out to destroy us is that it never would be conceivable to us that we would strap a bomb to the belly of our own children and march our children into a room full of innocent people to detonate the bomb in order to make a political point, because we believe some things are right and some things are wrong. And we would believe it wrong to kill our own children for a purpose beneath that.

(APPLAUSE) But, we also believe that there are some things that are right. For example, as conservatives, we believe that it is right to protect the sovereignty of the United States and to make sure that we never, ever for any circumstance under any purpose ever yield one ounce of our sovereignty over to some international tribunal. That's why we have to fight...

(APPLAUSE)

That's why we need to fight against the law of the Sea Treaty and make sure that it gets a good burial at sea. That's why we should say no to Kyoto, because it's not giving over our sovereignty. And it's why that any time some United States judge who has taken an oath to the Constitution of the United States should invoke some international law as a basis upon which to make a decision, he should be summarily impeached for having done so.

It is right -- it is right to have a strong military. In fact, one of the mistakes that we have made is we have allowed ourselves to believe that the peace dividend of the Clinton administration is something that is anything less than has become now the war deficit because we have failed to keep our military spending up to the level at which we can have the troop strength that we desperately need. That's why, in the next election cycle and hopefully in the next administration, we will return to the kind of at least GDP spending that we had during the Reagan years because, quite frankly, the quickest path and the surest path to peace is to make sure that we have the kind of military that no one on earth wants to engage in a battle knowing full well they don't stand a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Mike Huckabee earlier this morning, in Washington, D.C., speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference. This of course, after President Bush, Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney spoke to the same group.

Mike Huckabee making his case to conservatives. He says on the campaign trail going forward he really is going to be contrasting himself more with Senator John McCain on a couple of key issues such as immigration and tax cuts. He didn't do that this morning and when asked about it, he said he wanted to make the case for himself and present himself and what he plans to do with his campaign. This is Mike Huckabee, Dana, keeps vowing to fight on, trying to pick up any state that he can in terms of delegates. Kansas, as you reported, he's doing well. McCain campaign was really trying to put down expectations yesterday, lower them for Kansas, acknowledging that Mike Huckabee had been campaigning in the state -- Dana.

BASH: That's right, he had been campaigning in the state, no question about that. You know, you talked about the way Huckabee says he's going to continue to try to contrast himself with John McCain. We just got information about what Mike Huckabee's schedule is going to be tomorrow in Virginia, one of the primary states on Tuesday, he's going to be at Thomas Road Baptist Church, that is in Lynchburg, Virginia. Some of our viewers may remember the fact that that is the church that Jerry Falwell, the late Reverend Jerry Falwell started and now is a huge church. But, you know, that is sort of -- speaks to symbolically and even tactically how Huckabee is trying to differentiate himself from John McCain as he insists he's staying in this race.

He is, by just sort of inherently, the candidate of faith, but he's trying to sort of show that by his schedule. He's been doing this. He's been going to churches ever since he started his campaigns on Sunday, that's a big part of his campaign. But by doing this and by going to that particular church, it's interesting, isn't it - Mary.

SNOW: It really is. And as you said it really shows the contrast because John McCain is still reminded of the division he had with some of the Evangelical leaders back in 2000 when he was running for president. And, you know, he did make up with Jerry Falwell speaking at Liberty University before Reverend Falwell had passed away. But, certainly it has is brought up, and so for Mike Huckabee to be traveling there tomorrow, certainly shows that contrast because it's certainly a sore spot for John McCain.

And Mike Huckabee's campaign saying they are going to put a full- scale effort into the state of Virginia, which has its primaries on Tuesday and he is really is going after the conservative vote here and spending a good deal of time before Tuesday in the state of Virginia.

BASH: That's right, Mary. Well, we'll be there watching Mike Huckabee tomorrow and in the days ahead, that's for sure. Mary, we'll get back to you as BALLOT BOWL continues. And as we go to break, we go to break, we want to remind our viewers of the latest results we have from Kansas, Mary was talking about those caucuses, today. Mike Huckabee does have a commanding lead. The numbers that we have right now, he has 60 percent, 60 percent of the vote as opposed to John McCain with 24 percent. We're going to have a lot more of BALLET BOWL right after this, stay with us.

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BASH: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08 and we have some news for you. We have a projected winner now in the caucuses in the state of Kansas and that winner is former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee. CNN projects tgat he has won the caucuses in that state with 62 percent of the vote, John McCain 22 and Ron Paul 11 percent. So, the 36 delegates at stake in the state of Kansas today do go to Mike Huckabee who, as you've been hearing for the past several hours, during this BALLOT BOWL, is insisting, is insisting, despite the fact that John McCain still has a commanding lead in the delegate race to become the Republican nominee, he says he's not going anywhere. Now, we have a lot more for you on "BALLOT BOWL," right now. We're going to go, right now though, to Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta with the other news, today.

Hi, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, Dana. Thanks so much. Lots of news straight ahead. What's describes as a major fire has broken out in London's famous Camden Market. A spokesman for London's Fire Brigade says 12 fire trucks are on the scene of the nighttime blaze. No word on any injuries or casualties at this time. The open- air market in northwest London attracts huge crowds, especially on weekends.

Hollywood writers could be a step closer to shutting down picket lines. They have reached a tentative deal with the motion picture industry to end the three-month-old strike. The proposal that is being examined this weekend, well, it could mean that if all agree with the terms, writers could return to work by Monday.

Firefighters in Savannah, Georgia, say they've identified two key locations in the search for four people missing in the ruins of a sugar refinery. Authorities are still trying to pin down the cause of the massive blast that left four workers dead and 20 badly burned.

And overflow crowds are packing funerals for victims of this week's deadly tornadoes. At least 59 people were killed when twisters tore through five southern states. Nearly half of those fatalities happened in Tennessee. There were also dozens of serious injuries and many people were left homeless.

More BALLOT BOWL straight ahead.

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CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08. Obama, Clinton, Huckabee and McCain. I'm Candy Crowley sitting here in Rich...

(VIDEO MISSING)

That's right Candy, we have a contests going on all over the country today, and in Kansas, CNN now can project a winner in the Republican caucuses there and that winner is Mike Huckabee, the former governor or Arkansas. He has won those caucuses CNN can project, by a pretty wide margin, 62 percent of the vote, John McCain is pretty far behind with 22 percent and Ron Paul with 11 percent.

Now, Kansas has about 36 delegates at stake, today. There are 92 in all for all of the states caucusing and having primaries today, in the contest going on, today. So, this does help Mike Huckabee certainly in the race for delegates a little bit, but to be sure, he is still very, very far behind in the big picture in terms of the delegates needed to be the Republican nominee.

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