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More Campaign Coverage; Awaiting Vote Tallies From Numerous States

Aired February 09, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to this edition of "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Dana Bash in Washington. What we do on ballot bowl is bring you the candidates who are running for president as they appear on the campaign trail and we'll hear from them in their own words.
In some cases over the next several hours, we're going to be able to hear from them live. In other cases, we're going to have large portions of their speeches over the past several days as they've been campaigning for your vote and, of course, for their party's nomination.

Now we have a lot of my colleagues around the country with todays voting and, of course, more voting up in several days. Plenty of help by, as I said. We have my co-anchor Candy Crowley. She's going to be joining me in a short while from Richmond, Virginia. Also Suzanne Malveaux, she is in New Orleans today. Mary Snow, my colleague is over in College Park, Maryland, and Jessica Yellin is in Washington State.

Now we want to go over the game plan just for this first hour of this exciting "Ballot Bowl" today. First of all, we're going to hear from Hillary Clinton. She is in Maine today. She's going to be holding a town hall in Lewiston, Maine. Her democratic rival Barack Obama he is in Bangor, Maine.

Want to also quickly go over what is happening today on the campaign trail because there is voting today, this Saturday. In Louisiana, there is a primary both for republicans and democrats. In Washington state, where there are caucuses also for republicans and democrats. And on the democratic side, they are holding caucuses in the state of Nebraska. And on the republican side, they are holding their caucuses in the state of Kansas. And before we get to all of that, I want to bring in my colleague Suzanne Malveaux who as I mentioned is in New Orleans, Louisiana, as we talked about, is one of the states holding its vote today. Hi, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Dana. The name of the game here is voter turnout. That is the big question. Just how many people are going to show up? Already there are some state officials who believe that it's going to be quite low, expecting no more than 15 percent or so. Turnout has been very light where we are now. A lot of the people who have gathered here, generally tend to be a little bit older. They are not those young voters that Barack Obama is counting on. And they also really represent the group of people that were really devastated by hurricane Katrina, the ninth ward. And the big question, the big frustration among a lot of voters in New Orleans in particular is they haven't heard the kind of specifics that they want from the candidates about the democrats and republicans over what they are going to do to help this city recover. The gulf coast as well. Now as you know, Louisiana a very important state. But it does look like from what polls show, both campaigns acknowledging that Barack Obama may have somewhat of an edge here. A nearly 46 percent of the democratic voters are African-American, which would work in his favor. But again, want to point out here what the voters are looking for. This is a city where John Edwards announced his campaign using the ninth ward as a backdrop to really bring about the plight of the poor. It's also where he was last week where he dropped out to make that announcement. We saw two days ago Barack Obama at Tulane University. About 4,000 students gathered, lined up as early as 4:30 in the morning. A lot of those students when you talk to them, they weren't necessarily in-state Louisiana students. Some folks, we don't know whether or not they are actually going to show up today. We saw Clinton, not Senator Hillary Clinton yesterday, but rather it was her husband, the former president, cris-cross at least five different cities in Louisiana. 200 students showed up at Tulane University. Not a big crowd. Not the same type of enthusiasm. He was really meant to be a surrogate for his wife to talk about how she, too, is involved in trying to come up with some sort of game plan for recovery. But honestly, Dana, a lot of people wanted to hear more specifics from these candidates, a bit of frustration on that end. It will really come down to how many people are going to come out and vote today. Already state officials thinking no more than 15 percent. So we'll see how it goes. Dana?

BASH: That's interesting. That's actually one of the questions I was interested in asking you Suzanne. You know New Orleans so well. Obviously, you have family down there. You've been following what had been going on since the devastating hurricane. I'm just sort of curious how the campaigns are treating Louisiana differently given the fact that I assume the voter base down there is still quite different than it would have been pre-Katrina.

MALVEAUX: What's really interesting about where we are is that there are a lot of different precincts that have gathered for this one particular spot here. So this represents a lot of people from different areas. So this is really going to be somewhat of a representation of how people are feeling about these candidates and whether or not they are really committed to addressing the needs of the poor, to addressing the needs of the recovery effort. I want to also tell you as well on the republican side, we've seen even less of these candidates. Senator McCain was not here this past week or so. The reason why they say is because it's a very complicated process on the republican side. It was largely seen that he kind of wrapped up the nomination in the early January caucus process in Louisiana. There are multiple steps on the republican side. Mike Huckabee has not been here recently either in this state. Asking his campaign why they say well as governor of Arkansas he was very much involved in the post-hurricane Katrina recovery but really not looking at this state as viable. So once again, these voters are looking for those options. Those specifics from the candidates, somewhat frustrated by this. But we'll see if you have the African-American vote that turns out that was critical in South Carolina. Pretty much the same population, same representation and if you see some of those who were struggling, those who lost their homes, whether or not they are going to be motivated to come out here and vote for these candidates. Dana?

BASH: Thank you, Suzanne. It's really interesting that you point out the fact that Mike Huckabee isn't in Louisiana. Because as you know he's really been relying on wins in southern states to keep his campaign going, which he insists it is going. It's sort of curious that he decided not to campaign in Louisiana. So we'll see if that does him well or doesn't do him well at the end of today. Suzanne, thank you very much. We'll get back to you many, many times over the next several hours. Now I want to go to my other colleague, Jessica Yellin, who is across the country in Washington State where there's another set of caucuses going on today, democrat and republican. Jessica, you've been doing some really interesting reporting on the fact that Hillary Clinton, their campaign, it seems like it's more than the expectations game where they say they really don't expect to do that well there today.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Dana. They are really saying that the caucus format in general does not favor her. Nor does the demographic makeup of the particular states that are caucusing. Let me just pause for a minute and tell you I'm in a caucus room in Seattle. I don't know if you can see over here but there are some tables lined up. It's quite a big room because folks in the state are expecting an enormous turnout. We have seen it in every state we've been to so far. The enthusiasm on the democratic side is unprecedented. Huge record turnouts in state after state. And it's no different here in Washington State. Now I'll tell you there are two reasons why the Clinton camp thinks that today's caucuses don't favor her particularly in Washington. First of all, the caucus format itself, there are only, as you know, designated number of hours when you have to actually be here present to caucus. It starts at -- in about two hours from now, 11:00 a.m. local. I'm sorry, 1:00 p.m. local. Getting a little confused on my time. And will run for several hours. You can't be a working person who has a job and just show up any time of day to vote. Hillary Clinton's base, they say, are folks who tend to be blue collar folks, who do have jobs, might be working a Saturday, and can't necessarily make an appointment voting session or an appointment caucus session, whereas Barack Obama's folks are more likely able to do that.

The second reason is Washington State tends to be, in general, more affluent than most places and better educated than most places just on average. And that's Barack Obama's key demographic the well educated, well healed folks who are really drawn to his idea of a new kind of politics. Whereas Senator Clinton's message about policy specifics and how I'll deliver better health care, et cetera, tends to appeal to a blue collar audience a little bit more. Again, we're talking broad strokes. But this is the reason that Senator Clinton's team says they expect her to not fare quite as well. But I should put a huge caveat on that which is they certainly are not writing it off. As you point out, they also like to downplay expectations to some extent. They hope to get a good chunk of the 158 delegates that are at stake in the various contests around the nation today. Dana?

BASH: Jessica, there's something else that I saw you reporting over the last 24 hours or so about this. And that's the Latino vote, how that plays or doesn't play in the state of Washington.

YELLIN: Right. The demographics here are such that there's a smaller Latino population in Washington than on average. And Senator Clinton tends to do very well among Latino voters. So that does not bode well for her. On the flip side, I should say that there is a larger Asian population here and Asian voters do tend to favor her and the sense of consistency/experience that they get from her. So her -- what she loses from lesser Hispanic population she might gain from a greater Asian population. But again, sometimes some of these categories are a little overly general and it's tough to be too -- it's -- we can fall into the trap of being too broad. But she certainly does expect to get a hefty portion of the caucus vote here, just not necessarily win it. Dana?

BASH: Ok Jessica, thank you very much. But it's fascinating nonetheless just to see how different states break down and different campaigns tend to use that expectations game, whether it's true or not. We'll watch and see whether or not it plays out for Hillary Clinton there. Jessica, we'll also be getting back to you many, many times over the next several hours as the caucus voting starts there. We want to remind our viewers that we're going to have a live event from Hillary Clinton. She is going to be speaking very shortly from Maine. We're also waiting to hear from Mike Huckabee. He actually spoke earlier today at a --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl '08." On "Ballot Bowl" we bring you the candidates as they are on the campaign trail. In some cases taped but in some cases live as they are appealing for voters for their party's nomination. In fact we are waiting as we speak to hear one of those live events from democrat Hillary Clinton. She is going to be speaking momentarily we are told in Lewiston, Maine. We're going to bring you that as soon as that begins.

But while we wait, we want to go to the republican side and to focus on republican Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee is campaigning today in the state of Maryland, where republicans and democrats have their primary this coming Tuesday. And I want to bring in my colleague Mary Snow who has been covering Mike Huckabee today. Mary, Mike Huckabee is somebody who may not have as many delegates even close to the number of delegates as John McCain, but he says he's not going anywhere. He's staying in this race.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Dana that's the one question that keeps being asked of him. Why are you staying in the race because of the map? When you take a look at the delegates that he has compared to Senator McCain. It really -- everyone has been saying it's virtually impossible for him to catch up. And after Mitt Romney dropped out, so much focus has been on Mike Huckabee, whether he'll stay in the race. He says yes. That when his campaign is saying when John McCain gets 1,192 delegates, the number needed, 1,191 in order to secure the nomination, then Mike Huckabee will support him. But until then, he says he's going to keep on fighting. He spoke to a crowd here at the University of Maryland, largely students. And it was an enthusiastic crowd. He told them he didn't major in math but he did major in miracles and he is counting on them. Here's a little bit of what he had to say just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today I was asked by one of the reporters in Washington where I spoke at a meeting this morning. They said, well, do you -- do you understand that mathematically, it's very difficult for you to be able to capture the nomination at this point. And here's what I said, folks, because a lot of you students here at the University of Maryland, I said, I did not major in math but I majored in miracles. And I still believe in them. You know, I am energized by you today. I'm more energized by what I'm seeing happening in this country. Because I know that there are a lot of people who are frustrated with politics as it has been, politics that gets nothing done. Just south of you here in that magic city, it's amazing that the politics is all horizontal. It's all left, right, liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, people wanting to poke the eye of the other guy. They don't really care if the country gets improved. They just want to make sure their party wins, the other guy loses. Americans are frustrated with that, real frustrated with that. Look, I'm a republican. But I also believe that when republicans get elected, they get elected to solve problems and to make government work. Just to make it work with a lot less of it and to make it work more efficiently and with a lot less cost. But it's still supposed to work. And today, people are frustrated with both parties because they sense that it's all about the horizontal politics of D.C.

And I have been saying for more than a year that we need to change the concept because people in America are looking for a vertical political solution that is up, not down. That is not about just saying it's all us and nothing about them. That it's about the future of this country because many of you who are students here are going to get out of college. You're going to have a huge personal debt from your education. So you are saying, oh, boy. Thanks for reminding me of that. Some of you don't have it so bad. It's your parents that have the debt. So there you go. The sad thing is, in addition to what you have personally, there's $9 trillion of debt that this country has given to you. $9 trillion. And the reality is -- yeah, thanks a lot, huh? Look. I could have brought Chuck Norris here today. He would have taken you out. I wish Chuck could have come. He's been campaigning with me all over the country and a great guy. And, by the way, when people say, who will you appoint in your cabinet, I'm thinking, I kind of got for secretary of defense maybe Chuck Norris in mind. But the $9 trillion of debt that has been really piled on your head is there because we've got a congress that has absolutely been oblivious to the kind of spending and to its out- of-control nature. And the result is that no matter what we do in the next few years, we're going to have to make some serious changes in becoming responsible and do what I had to do every year I was a governor for 10 1/2 years. That's balance the budget. That's what you do in your household. That's what we need to be doing with our federal treasury.

One of the reasons that I believe that our campaign is still going, because a lot of people know that if the solutions were to be found in Washington, they would have already done it. I am the only candidate running for president still left who doesn't have a Washington address. Now look, I think that's a plus for me. Not that I wouldn't like having a Washington address. It's just that there's only one I'm interested in, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But if somebody has been down there for a long, long time and they haven't been able to fix the problems so far, I'm not sure why we would entrust them and somehow believe that they are suddenly going to have this magic thought of how to do it now. That's why I believe that many of you are here and across this country we're seeing not diminishing crowds but growing crowds. In fact you may know that we had to open up the size of the room because we have almost three times the number of people packed in here than we anticipated and that's pretty amazing. Yesterday we were in Kansas for four different stops. Everywhere we went we had overflow crowds. We have more people going to our website, mikehuckabee.com and contributing than we've ever had in the history of the campaign. Rather than things going down, they are going up, which is exactly where we wanted it to be. This campaign is not over. It is not.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: That was Mike Huckabee campaigning here at the University of Maryland just a short time ago talking to supporters and really trying to portray himself as the Washington outsider. And that is one of the messages that he stressed in talking to supporters here today. Next up, Dana he's going to be concentrating on the state of Virginia, which also holds its primary on Tuesday. And he believes he has some good chances there. Dana?

BASH: Mary I noticed that he talked about the fact that the only address he wants to live in is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You can't see it, but that's exactly what's behind me, the White House, which is what all of these candidates out there are campaigning to do is to live in this building behind me. But you know I know you talked to one of Mike Huckabee's senior advisers, Ed Rollins a short while ago. And he talked about one thing I thought was interesting from your notes about the fact that they are going to portray this over the next, I mean who knows how long, as a generational battle between Huckabee and McCain. Tell us about that.

SNOW: You know, Dana, I noticed that when Mike Huckabee was speaking here today he made a point of saying he was 52 years old, comparing -- he didn't mention John McCain's name, but, of course, we know that he is 71. And he's also trying to portray himself as the person who is not the Washington insider. He would be a fresh face. This as he's also trying to say that he is the true conservative. I asked Governor Huckabee, in fact, about some of the contrasts he's going to make going forward. He's going to stay in this race, how will he draw that contrast between him and Senator McCain. And he pointed out just a couple of topics that he's going to be hitting on, immigration, of course. Senator McCain has taken so much heat from conservatives over his immigration reform bill. And also Bush's tax cuts. The fact that Senator McCain hadn't supported them initially saying that there wasn't enough cuts in spending. So those are some of the themes. But one of the things the campaign is also saying is they expect this to be a very civil race going forward. We've noted the tone between Senator McCain and Mike Huckabee. They seem to genuinely like each other and that's led to all kinds of speculation about whether Mike Huckabee is trying to run as John McCain's running mate. That's another thing the campaign said that said, no, he is not doing that and that he believes he wants to make a statement and stay in this race until he can.

BASH: Fascinating. Mary, as you know, you've been covering Mike Huckabee a long time and I've been with him for several weeks, even more in Iowa and beyond. He's the kind of candidate that's fascinating to watch because he can make a point and do it in a subtle way so it doesn't seem like he's going after his opponent. But he certainly is. And that comment he made about his age being 52 years old was a not-so-subtle reminder, I think, I'm sure you'd agree, about the fact that John McCain is a lot older than he. And you remember of course his sidekick Chuck Norris said point blank a few weeks ago he thinks John McCain is simply too old to be president. So, an interesting tactic that you're seeing here as Mike Huckabee says he's not going anywhere. He's staying in this race until somebody, John McCain or whomever gets the 1,192 delegates in order to be officially the nominee. So really interesting reporting. Mary, thank you very much. We're going to be getting back to you over the next several hours for sure. We want to remind our viewers. We are still waiting for a live event from the other side of the aisle from democrat Hillary Clinton. She's going to be speaking we are told very soon from Lewiston, Maine.

As we go to break, we also want to tell you what's going on today on the Republican side in terms of the voting. We have 36 pledged delegates at stake in the state of Kansas. That is a primary going on today, as we speak. And we also have six unpledged delegates at stake in the northern Marianas Islands and Guam. So those are sort of interesting areas where there's going to be voting. No candidates of course except for those of us who follow them are going to be going to those interesting places. But we're going to have much more "Ballot Bowl" in the hours ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl 08." I'm Dana Bash in Washington, D.C. And one of the big events that's been going on here in Washington for the past several days is a meeting, a convention of conservatives. It's known as CPAC. And it's an organization that is -- or meeting, I should say, that is filled with conservative grassroots activists. And this is a critical arena for any candidate to come and speak to because these are the people that consider themselves kind of the base and the heart and soul of the voting Republican Party. Particularly those who consider themselves true social and fiscal conservatives. And so what we have seen over the past several days is all of these candidates go and speak before them, even President Bush did yesterday. But one of the most fascinating, most noteworthy moments, of course, before that CPAC audience here in Washington happened on Thursday where then Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was scheduled to go and to appeal to these activists as somebody who was going to be their alternative, their conservative alternative to John McCain. But instead, he came in there and surprised many of the people in the room with the dramatic moment when he made the case and made the announcement that he was no longer going to be a candidate for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY: Today, more than 4 million people have given me their vote for president. That's good. Yeah. That's -- that's, of course, less than Senator McCain's 4.7 million, but quite a statement nonetheless. 11 states have given me their nod compared to his 13. Thank you to those 11. Of course, because size does matter, he's doing quite a bit better with the number of delegates he's got. Now to all of you, thank you here for caring enough about America to show up, to speak up, to stand up for conservative principles.

Now I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him -- but I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq and finding and executing Osama bin Laden. And I agree with him on eliminating al Qaeda and terror worldwide.

Now if I fight on in my campaign all the way to the convention -- (APPLAUSE) I want you to know, I've given this a lot of thought. I'd forestall the launch of a national campaign. And frankly, I'd be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror. This isn't an easy decision. I hate to lose. My family, my friends, you, my supporters across the country, you've given a great deal to get me where I have a shot to becoming president.

If this were only about me, I'd go on. But it's never been only about me. I entered this race -- I entered this race because I love America. And because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country. You guys are great.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And that was Mitt Romney just a couple of days ago here in Washington, surprising that big ballroom of conservative activists by telling them that he had decided that he had looked at the map. He had gone over the data and it was pretty clear to him and to his top advisers that it would have been virtually impossible after what happened on Super Tuesday last week to get enough delegates to overtake John McCain in the race for the nomination.

And he -- clearly looking to his own political future, Mitt Romney decided that he wanted to step aside and to more quickly, as he's put it, unite the Republican party in the effort to beat a Democrat in November.

And again, that was quite dramatic for so many reasons. But also dramatic because of the fact that it was just two hours later that John McCain took to that very same podium and his task was already, even before any of this, was quite monumental because his task, as somebody who has some distrust among conservatives, was to try to reach out to these conservatives and assure them, reassure them that he is one of them. That he does agree with them in a host of issues, despite the fact that many conservative activists distrust him because of his stance on things like campaign finance reform and tax cuts and even drilling for oil in Alaska.

So, what John McCain did is he came out. And the first thing he did was he reached out to Mitt Romney supporters. Said that he had just been on the phone with Mitt Romney and that he hopes that people who had supported Romney now would come over to his campaign. But then, he started talking about some of the issues that divide McCain and many of these conservative activists and also many of them that unite them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Surely, I have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. I won't pretend otherwise nor would you permit me to forget it.

On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which ...

CROWS: Boo! Boo!

MCCAIN: ...which ...

(CHEERING)

MCCAIN: ...a position which obviously still provokes the outspoken opposition of many conservatives. I stood my ground, aware that my position would imperil my campaign. I respect your opposition, for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principle defense of the rule of law.

While I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons to convince Americans that we were. I accept that. And I have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, to secure our borders first.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: And only after we have achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: My friends, all I ask of any American conservative, moderate, independent or enlightened Democrat is to judge my record as a whole and accept that I am not in the habit of making promises to my country that I do not intend to keep.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: I hope I have proven that in my life, even to my critics, then vote for or against me based on that record, my qualifications for the office and the direction where I plainly state I intend to lead our country.

If I am so fortunate as to be the Republican nominee for president, I will offer Americans in what will be a very challenging and spirited contest, a clearly conservative approach to governing. I will make my case.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: I will make my case to voters no matter what state they reside in in the same way. I will not obscure my positions from voters who I fear might not share them. I will stand on my convictions, my conservative convictions and trust in the good sense of the voters and in my confidence that conservative principles still appeal to a majority of Americans, Republicans, Independents and Reagan Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now, there you heard, there was some booing that John McCain got from those conservative activists here in Washington a couple of days ago. Some even sat in protest with their arms folded and didn't applaud or boo.

But for the most part, he actually did get a warmer reception than perhaps some might have thought going into this given the intense problems that John McCain has had with some in his own party for the most noteworthy talk show host Rush Limbaugh and others who actually were in that room and even some hosts of that conference.

But at the end of the day, in talking to some of the more prominent Republican activists, even some who had backed Mitt Romney, they said that they thought that John McCain had taken at least a first step in terms of putting out an olive branch to some of these conservatives whom he will need going into the general election and, of course, in the days and weeks to come.

And Mary Snow, I want to bring her back in. She is in College Park, Maryland, covering both Mike Huckabee and John McCain. And Mary, you were with John McCain the day after the big day, the big day where Mitt Romney dropped out and John McCain became what his campaign and pretty much everyone else thinks is the presumptive nominee.

I'm wondering how his sort of rhetoric shifted, how his approach shifted the day after that sort of became much more of a reality when you were with him yesterday in Virginia.

SNOW: Well, you know, one major difference, you're talking about olive branches. And certainly, he extended one to Mitt Romney. He said that they spoke on the phone and he was looking forward to sitting down and meeting with Mitt Romney. And as you know, Dana, we've been covering these two candidates. There were so many bitter exchanges between those two men. So, that was one noticeable difference.

But also in terms of the tone. You listen to Mitt Romney earlier, when he withdrew on Thursday, he talked about the fact that Republicans really need to rally around each other in order to take on Democrats when it comes to national security.

And we saw John McCain picking up on that theme yesterday. He was in Norfolk yesterday where he had a national security roundtable talking about the Iraq War, really drawing some distinctions between himself and Senators Clinton and Obama on the Iraq war. Saying that if they go forward with a timetable to withdraw troops, that would have, in his words, catastrophic consequences.

So, we really saw that shift in terms of drawing that very big line there between him and Democrats and the fact that Iraq is going to be a major issue. And, you know, he is saying that he doesn't want to discount Mike Huckabee.

But that was one of the things that he really talked about yesterday going forward. And, of course, the fact that he wants to stress unity within the Republican party and he stressed that a number of times, at a number of stops along the way yesterday.

BASH: Well, Mary, it is true. There's no question that John McCain, I guess he started doing this at that CPAC event. But you're saying much more so yesterday in Virginia. The one way that he knows he can get Republicans behind him is reminding them that their opponents, the Democrats, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama from their perspective, would be a whole lot worse than a John McCain presidency. So, I'm sure that's going to be stepped up dramatically in the next couple of days and of course, between now essentially and November.

Mary, thank you very much. We'll be talking to you much more in the hours ahead.

And talking about Hillary Clinton, we are now hearing from her. She is speaking in Lewiston, Maine. Maine is holding its caucuses tomorrow, Sunday. And we're going to get you Hillary Clinton live from the campaign trail right after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Candy Crowley in Richmond, Virginia where later on tonight, we will hear from both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at what's known as the J.J. Dinner, Jefferson Jackson. It is a huge fundraiser no matter what state you go to, Democrats use Jefferson Jackson as a fundraising tool. In fact, they are making a lot of money here tonight. We'll hear from the last two remaining viable candidates in the Democratic race.

Right now, however, both of them are in Maine where they will have caucuses tomorrow. They have been really, literally, criss- crossing this country, both of them, in Washington state, which also has caucuses today. So in between now and Wednesday, they will have more than 350 delegates that are at stake.

Right now up in Lewiston, Maine, we're going to take a listen to Hillary Clinton who has just taken the platform.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ...backstage who were here 'til midnight last night getting ready. I want to thank Maggie Chisholm and the rest of the staff here at the Lewiston Memorial Armory. Thank you all for your work.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Well, it's exciting because tomorrow, Maine gets to help pick a president. And as we -- as we think about the caucuses, I want to ask you. How many of you have ever caucused before? Well, that leaves a lot of folks who haven't done it before. And I hope everybody will seriously consider going out to caucus tomorrow. The caucuses are your way of expressing your support for who you think should be the next president of the United States, and ...

CROWLEY: OK, I lost my IFB. I don't hear her yet.

MALVEAUX: Well, Candy -- sorry, Candy. Having a little problem with IFB here, but, obviously, these two very much in a dead heat, very tight competition.

Senator Clinton gave the commencement speech at Dillard University back in May here in Louisiana. It was just yesterday that we saw the former president, Bill Clinton, at the same university before a group of students. There were some students who expressed disappointment that they really had hoped that she would return here.

Clearly, people are looking for some real signs, some real signals that they are serious about their recovery effort here. There are a lot of people who are expressing frustration. They look at both of these candidates, Barack Obama as well as Senator Clinton and they say, look, you two are in the Senate. What have you done for us lately? What are you pushing forward here? Have you really been proactive?

There are others, too, who say, look, you know, it does matter who's president here, but they've almost kind of given up on the federal government. So, the role -- it's been diminished because they're more interested in building up, laying the sheetrock on their home, improving their lives, taking their kids to school and they don't necessarily see the federal government, because of their experience after Hurricane Katrina, as being really responsive.

And so, you've got a lot of different conflicting emotions among voters. Different attitudes about the role of the federal government, a lot of disappointment, certainly after Hurricane Katrina. So, what voters have been saying is they are looking for specifics and they are looking for new ideas. That is something else that they say they have not heard necessarily from Senator Obama who was here just two days ago. And from the former president Bill Clinton who was here just yesterday -- Candy?

I'm sorry. I'm not hearing the program.

CROWLEY: So, we think we have the signal again. She is in Lewiston, Maine, which holds its caucuses tomorrow and we want to take a listen. Thanks, Suzanne.

Well, obviously, the gremlins are out at this point.

Suzanne, I want to bring you back in at this point. I want to talk a little bit about Barack Obama because it seems to me that the conversation really has changed over the past couple of days. And it really centers around now who is the most electable? I know that the Obama campaign has sent out some of the polls that we've seen lately. And I -- what is he basically been saying? What's his argument that he's the most electable?

MALVEAUX: Well, Candy, what you've been hearing from Senator Barack Obama is essentially he has been comparing himself, contrasting himself not to Senator Hillary Clinton but rather to Senator McCain, saying that he believes that there is a certain group of voters that he can take, that he can attract: those Independents and those crossover Republicans. That's why the caucuses are so important, the ability, the opportunity to get some of those voters involved in the process. That is his main argument.

He says he's the real reformer. He says that the mood is different. The sentiment among the country very much against the Iraq War. He does not believe that the surge has really produced the kind of results that are necessary and that he believes that this is an opportunity for him to really kind of capture what John McCain had so famously done the last time around, which is really getting those moderates, those Independents, really capitalizing off of the fact that he was the maverick Republican. That is something that Obama feels like he can make some inroads.

The other thing, too, is that he compares himself to Senator Hillary Clinton as well, saying that this is someone who cannot consistently say and have the judgment to oppose the war. He believes he can tap into those folks as well -- Candy?

CROWLEY: Suzanne, we've got a bunch of caucuses coming up. We also have the so-called Chesapeake Primary on Tuesday: Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C. It seems to me that the Clinton campaign has really been trying to place the expectations on Barack Obama, saying that the field between now and Ohio and Texas really favors him. Is there any pushback from the Obama campaign?

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, they're saying, that look, well, we're always the underdog. I asked -- we asked Senator Obama this just a couple days ago at the press conference if he was being disingenuous by saying that he was constantly the underdog, especially because they were claiming victory for Super Tuesday, that they had won more states and they were saying they won more delegates. And he said, well, we're not as much of a big underdog as we were before. We're now the slight underdog. So, they're playing this kind of low expectations game as well.

But the point that they're making here is that they're saying Senator Clinton has 100 percent name recognition. That there's a whole brand, there's a whole machine behind her, that this is something that they have to deal with, that they have to contend with. So, they're always going to paint themselves in that light. That, you know, that's kind of how it goes back and forth here.

Senator Clinton as well is saying that, well, she's not getting as much of the African-American vote and she's not doing as well in these open forums as Barack Obama. So, you can see how they're both trying to play to their strengths. Play up their strengths and play down their weaknesses.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Suzanne, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Of course, Louisiana holding a primary today.

We want to again take you back to Hillary Clinton. We believe we have that settled. But first, we're going to go to break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08 where we try to give you these candidates sometimes live, sometimes taped, but always unfiltered.

I'm Candy Crowley in Richmond, Virginia, where later tonight, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will speak to a Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner. The party's always used these as fundraisers.

Right now though, both Obama and Clinton are up in Maine. That's where we find Hillary Clinton. She is in Lewiston at a town hall meeting. Here's some of her.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CLINTON: ...green collar jobs with clean renewable energy that'll put millions of Americans to work if we get serious about it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I meet our scientists and our researchers who want to do stem cell research to cure diseases, to end pain and suffering, enable people to live longer and better.

So, yes, I know we have problems. I see them and hear about them every day. As a senator, I spend so much of my time trying to untangle the red tape and beat down the bureaucracy and fight with the insurance companies and take on the VA for our veterans. I know we have problems.

But I also know this is a great moment in time for America. If we seize these opportunities, if we start acting like Americans again, that means we roll up our sleeves and we get to work to make the future what it should be, America's best days are still ahead of us. And we can look at any young person and believe it when we say that to them.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: So, let's get about the business of acting like Americans again. Let's set some big goals. I want to rebuild a strong and prosperous middle class because you cannot have a strong and prosperous America if the American middle class is not doing well.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And I don't need to tell most of you that the economy hasn't been working for hard-working people. It works for the wealthy and the well-connected, quite well. They've had a president for the last seven years. He's taken very good care of them. He's given them a tax code with lower tax rates for people making $50 million a year than somebody making $50,000 a year. He's continued to let our jobs get exported, supported by your tax dollars.

So, this president hasn't been paying attention to what the needs are of the vast majority of Americans. But we can. And here's what we'll do. We're going to get back to fiscal responsibility because that worked really well in the 1990s. Because we invested money in our country by saving and being responsible.

We're going to make sure we meet the long-term challenges of Social Security without burdening those who are beneficiaries or about to become or put more tax burdens on the middle class.

We will create new jobs through both clean energy and through infrastructure building. If we get serious about clean energy, and by that, I mean energy efficiency, green buildings, higher gas mileage cars, more electricity from renewable sources, you can look across Maine and see the future. There is no reason that Maine cannot be a leader in everything from wind power to biofuels to geothermal to solar.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CROWLEY: Hillary Clinton in Lewiston, Maine. We will have more from the senator after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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