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More Campaigning, Attempting to Gather Delegates

Aired February 10, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. I'm Candy Crowley in Alexandria, Virginia. And this is CNN's "Ballot Bowl '08." I think you can see behind me, we're at an event where Barack Obama is taking questions after having a rally here inside the gymnasium at T.C. Williams in Alexandria. He, of course, is getting ready as we all are for the Potomac primaries. You can feel the tension both at the Clinton events and at the Barack Obama events.
The Potomac primaries of course are Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.. Over the next couple of hours, we will bring you the stump speeches. I put large portions of them, some of them live, some of them taped, always unfiltered letting you see these candidates and hear these candidates as we see and hear them. I am joined this hour by my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, who is in Manassas with the Clinton campaign, and Mary Snow, who has been in Lynchburg with Mike Huckabee, of course, on the republican side.

We want to first, though, bring you some results here. As you know, Maine is having some caucuses today, and we have now just some preliminary results, about 11% of the caucus results in now and we are showing Obama 50% of the vote, Hillary Clinton 48%. Again, that's just 11% of the delegates, nonetheless, you are seeing numbers here, Obama 50% of the vote, Clinton 48% of the vote. We want to remind you that those totals you're seeing are actually state delegates, not actual votes. These are after all a caucus.

We want to run through yesterday a very good day for Barack Obama. He took the Washington state caucuses, Nebraska caucuses, the Louisiana primary as well as the Virgin Islands caucuses. On the republican side, we saw Mike Huckabee really pound on John McCain in Kansas and he also took Louisiana. John McCain walked out with Washington state.

Now we are again sitting here with Barack Obama. He is giving a speech here, and we want to talk now and just give you a note that's just been handed me, a note that Maggie Williams is going to assume the role of campaign manager in the Clinton campaign. This is a switchover. Patti Solis Doyle was the campaign manager. Maggie Williams is a long-time friend of Hillary Clinton, so a changeover in that campaign. Obviously this has been a bigger struggle than, that Hillary Clinton thought it would be from the beginning. Everyone thought, in fact, that this campaign might be over by super Tuesday, but as you know, it is very close at this point.

I want to bring in Suzanne Malveaux to talk a little bit about this. She's been with the Clinton campaign today. You know, always when we see, Suzanne, a campaign kind of moving around at the top it tells us something about the campaign. Tell me about the mood over there today.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly it says a lot about the campaign. It really gives a sense of kind of the frustration and the need to change things.

Obviously they've been looking for, they say they've been looking forward to March 4th, kind of almost fast forwarding to the next couple of weeks, a disappointing day yesterday, disappointing looking forward. They don't believe that they really have the kind of support that is necessary that's going to get them those primaries, where you're talking about Maryland, District of Columbia, as well as Virginia. They hope to be competitive in Virginia, but this is really a concern that the momentum and at least the perception of momentum is all about Barack Obama. How are they going to survive the next who two-weeks here with, if he does a clean sweep of these states, even if they get some of the delegates from those particular states, how are they going to deal with that perception?

So that is one of the main challenges that they have in the next couple of weeks. We did hear from Senator Clinton here, she had several stops in Virginia, talking about some of the issues that they think hopefully will resonate with those in Virginia, those from the excerpts of Washington, D.C., federal employees as well as military families, soccer moms, all looking to the economy as one way really trying to identify with this candidate, but Candy it is clear that there is a lot of concern, where do they go from here? It is a delegate fight. It is an even match. It was a disappointing super Tuesday. It was a disappointing sense leading up on Saturday. Just yesterday, we saw those losses and then looking at Tuesday, looking forward here, obviously realizing that it's going to be extremely competitive, they need to do something different. Candy.

CROWLEY: Suzanne, we want to point out here some breaking news. Maggie Williams, a very close and long time friend of Hillary Clinton, who has been with the campaign, now moves to campaign manager. Patti Solis Doyle who has been the campaign manager is going to stay on as senior adviser. Again, when these seats change it is also looking to a campaign, may also be changing a little bit. Suzanne, I wanted to talk to you about where the Clinton campaign thinks it goes from here. As you mentioned, Maryland looks like Obama territory and Washington D.C. does, maybe a chance here in Virginia, but where does the Clinton campaign move forward from this, looking for a big win?

MALVEAUX: Well, they're looking forward to March 4th and those are two big states that are very important to them, that is Texas and Ohio. They hope that they can get the delegates, the numbers up that they need to move and beyond that to Pennsylvania, when you talk about April, April 2nd, that also being a very important contest, but they look at the lay of the land. Texas, she is going to be there as early as Tuesday, and that is what they're hoping for, the Hispanic vote, Latino vote, that that will be at least a group that she has relied on, that she can count on, that is what they are hoping for. You look at Ohio, there's larger groups of blue collar workers, of the traditional democrats, of white voters, older voters. They think that they're going to be strong in Ohio but those are going to be two key states that they are hoping to grab but again, I can't underscore the importance here of these two weeks in between, what we're looking at Tuesday, the Saturday disappointment, Tuesday, and then those weeks leading up to March 4th, how do they overcome the perception here that Barack Obama is the one who has all the support and the momentum and they're simply waiting, looking ahead for some sort of victory. Candy.

CROWLEY: Thanks so much, Suzanne Malveaux.

We also want to point out before anybody starts writing in obituaries here, Hillary Clinton leads in the CNN delegate count at this moment, and we heard Hillary Clinton say a little earlier today that even though she wrote her campaign a check for $5 million, they have since super Tuesday, raised $10 million. So, this is a campaign that remains very, very strong. We want to take you now back here to Barack Obama, who has just completed a rally and little town hall meeting and we want to bring you a portion of that came over here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So the era of Scooter Libby justice and brownie incompetence and Karl Rove politics will finally be over next year, finally be over. But that's not the only reason people are turning out. People don't want to be against something, they want to be for something. People want to feel as if we can still come together and do great things. And they know we got work to do because people in their own lives, they are struggling.

Everywhere I go I hear stories of hardship. I can't tell you how many times I meet people who, after working at a factory for 20, 30 years, suddenly see their jobs shift overseas and they're trying to figure out how to survive on a $7 an hour job at the local Wal-Mart. All across the country I meet people without health care, mothers, parents, who are trying to find out what they can do for a child who is disabled or they're going out without health care themselves because they want to make sure that their children are protected. Seniors who are taking half of their medications because they can't afford any more, even though the doctor tells them it's not safe to do so.

All across the country I meet teachers who are working second jobs just to pay the rent, or digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies for classrooms that are under funded. All across the country, I meet young people who have the grades, the will, the desire to go to college but just don't have the money and if they borrow, they end up having $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 worth of debt. They've got a mortgage before they even start their careers.

All across the country I meet veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, proud of their service, and rightfully so. They have done everything that has been asked of them. They have performed magnificently. But they think about those that are still over there and they question the wisdom of a mission that has cost us so dearly in blood and treasure and it's not made us more safe and sometimes I meet homeless and disabled veterans often from Vietnam, who wonder how it is that their service could have been forgotten, and sometimes in rope lines after a rally like this, I'll have to hug a mother who weeps silently over the memory of a fallen son or fallen daughter.

And all across America, I meet people who are proud of their country, they are patriots. They love this country, but they don't understand how our standing in the world could have diminished so rapidly. You know, they -- they are proud of America. They are proud of America, but they're not proud of Abu Ghraib. They're not proud of Guantanamo. They're not proud of suspending habeas corpus. They're not proud that we are even having a debate about whether or not we torture in this country. They love this country and they want their cherished values and ideals restored!

And so the American people know we have to move in a new direction, but somehow, you know, they're still skeptical about whether it can be done. We've been taught that the system can't change. We've been taught that politics has to be corrupting and that the fat cats are always going to have the final say. And so my job in this campaign has been to persuade people to convince them, to convince you that change is possible if you are ready for change, if you are ready for change. If you're ready for change, we can tell the lobbyists over in Capitol Hill their days of setting the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign. They will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voice of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.

If you are ready for change, we can start providing healthcare to every American, stop talking about it. I put forward a plan that says every single American can have health care is as good as the health care I have as a member of Congress. We will not exclude anybody for pre-existing conditions. We will negotiate for the cheapest available price on drugs. We will emphasize prevention, so we've got a health care system instead of a disease care system, and if you already have health insurance, then you can keep it and we will help lower your premiums by up to $2,500 a year. And we are not going to wait 20 years from now to do it or 10 years from now to do it. We will do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Barack Obama here in Alexandria, Virginia, in an event that ended just moments ago. We want to give you a programming note, a little plug for "Larry King Live." Michelle Obama will be on Larry King's show tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern. So you want to watch that. We have much, much more coming up. We are beginning to get some caucus results from Maine. There is also some breaking news on the campaign trail, so you don't want to leave us. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl '08," our special Sunday edition, where we, of course, are giving you these candidates in their own words, unedited, unfiltered. We have some breaking news here. We want to first take to you the Maine caucuses. Yes, they are voting today, caucusing in Maine. We have some preliminary results. We have to remember, first of all, that only about 11% of the caucuses are reporting at this point but we can tell you with that much in, Barack Obama now leading barely, 50% to 48% for Hillary Clinton.

Now, those numbers you are seeing on the screen are not actual votes. Those are state delegates earned by these candidates. So again, about 11% of the vote in for those Maine caucuses. Barack Obama now to about 50%, Hillary Clinton at 48%. We also want to tell you a little bit of news. We are learning that Patti Solis Doyle, who has been the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton is stepping down and will become a senior adviser for the campaign.

At the same time, Maggie Williams, who has been with the campaign, becomes her campaign manager. Now, why does all this matter? It matters because it tells you with someone in the campaign thought that they needed to at least go in a slightly different direction. Our Suzanne Malveaux at this point is working the phones. We expect to hear from her shortly. Right now, we want to take you back to Manassas where Hillary Clinton spoke earlier.

There are two things that right now both these candidates on the democratic side are talking about. One is electability, who is the most electable, who can best, in this case, go up against John McCain, who both Clinton and Obama feel will be the republican nominee. The other issue, who is the most qualified? This has long been Hillary Clinton's mainstay in this campaign, that she is not only the most electable but she is the most capable or as she says, ready from day one. Here's a little bit of Hillary Clinton from earlier in Manassas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People say to me all the time, you're so specific. You talk about all these things you want to do. Why don't you just come and, you know, really just give us one of these great rhetorical flourishes and then, you know, get everybody all looked up. Well, I - I got to tell you, I want you to hold me accountable. I want you to know what I intend to do as your president.

I want you to understand that the way I think about this, the hardest job in the world, is that I can't do it alone. We have to do it together. It is not about me. It is about us. You know, when I come up with an energy policy that will move us away from our dependence on foreign oil, I'm going to ask everybody to conserve more, to be more energy-efficient. We're going to show the world that America can do this. We can do it together. It is about who we are as a people.

When I propose a universal health care plan, it's not just about making it possible for everybody to have insurance. We're going to try to take better care of ourselves, particularly our kids. We're going to ask them, once again, to do what we used to do all those years ago, participate in the president's physical fitness effort. I remember when I did that, I thought, I thought President Kennedy was signing that certificate himself.

I want kids again to know that they're going to have to be healthy in mind and body, because America needs them. So it's not just about legislation, but what we're going to do together and when I talk about how we're going to change education, I'm going to ask families to better prepare your own children, give your kids a chance to be successful when they get to school. Read to them. Work with them. Because you know, when the cameras are gone and the lights are out and the crowds have gone home, the president is alone in that Oval Office, trying to make the best decision about the most difficult issues confronting us in the world, and as we go forward in this campaign, I want -- because this is really what it comes down to, who do you believe would be the best president for you, your family, your future? Who can be?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary, Hillary, Hillary, Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

CLINTON: Well, clearly --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary!

CLINTON: Clearly, I think that's the right answer. But then for us who are democrats, we also have to ask who can win? Who can go the distance? I want you to think about this. If Senator McCain is the nominee for the republicans, as it appears he will be, you know that they will do everything in their power to make this election about national security, about Homeland Security, that is exactly what will happen.

I look forward to standing on that stage. I look forward to making it clear that I have big differences with my friend, Senator McCain. He is happy to have our troops in Iraq for 100 years. I want to start bringing them out in 60 days when I become president.

So this is an exciting election with a lot of intense interest, but none of it will happen without you. That's why your coming here today is so important, working for the next two days could be critical, reaching as many friends and colleagues and neighbors as you can, then getting as many people to show up and vote on Tuesday. If you will come out and vote for me on Tuesday, I promise you, I will get up every single day in the White House and work to make sure you and your family have pride in America, and we make progress again. Thank you all very, very much and god bless you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Senator Hillary Clinton campaigning in Manassas, Virginia. Virginia, part of the Potomac primary next Tuesday. Also including Maryland and Washington, D.C.. Lots of things happening here on "Ballot Bowl" right now. First of all, there are some Maine caucus results coming in, as we told you earlier. We continue to monitor those, a slight, slight edge for Barack Obama at this point but only 11% of the caucuses reporting.

Also along the campaign trail some personnel moves within the Clinton campaign, where her campaign manager has stepped down to become a senior adviser. She has a new campaign manager, Maggie Williams, who is a long time friend of Hillary Clinton, and has been advising the campaign until now. So I want to bring in our Suzanne Malveaux.

Suzanne, look, this is a woman who, on super Tuesday, won Massachusetts, California and New York and by some counts the majority of the delegate, at least more delegates than Obama. Why the change within the campaign? Have you been able to talk about that with your sources?

MALVEAUX: Candy, I've been talking to several sources inside of the campaign. And this is how they are describing it. I just want to read some notes here. They say there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the ground operation, that they felt there was nobody in charge with the message, that it was inconsistent, and that essentially that Patti Doyle was losing some of the respect from the senior staff, the senior advisers, that there was a problem in terms of returning phone calls to the super delegates and the surrogates.

That there was a great deal of frustration on that level, that the line of authority became diffused. And it was confusing that junior staff were reporting to one person Maggie Williams and another group of staff reporting to Patti Doyle. But they also, one of the sources here the insiders saying it did need to be a dual-layer hostile environment, meaning that Senator Clinton is close to both of these individuals, both of these women. They say that they are good friends so they don't think that there's going to be any kind of hostility about this, but that they need to sort all of this out.

And one of the other things that they said was frustration was that the endorsement process was getting messy, and that they also felt like there were some decisions that were made regarding the spending and whether there were enough spending restrictions that were in place so they felt like they were spending a lot of money too quickly, so all of those things kind of playing into this, but ultimately those insiders saying they think it's all going to work out in the end.

That there's no kind of hard feelings about it but that there was definitely two layers that was happening after New Hampshire when you had Maggie Williams who came in and essentially they were saying who has basically been doing the operation and doing the job as campaign manager for the last two weeks, kind of in an informal, unofficial way that that became very confusing to the staff, a lot of mixed messages, weren't really sure of what direction they were going. And so that this was a decision that had to be made and sources also saying that it obviously was a decision that Senator Clinton made. Candy.

CROWLEY: Suzanne, we know when these stories happen, lots of people don't know the names of the people we're talking about now. But it does give you a little snapshot into how the campaign feels that things are going. I want to sort of turn to a different subject now, that also may affect the Clinton campaign and that's John Edwards. We have learned through Jessica Yellin, those of you, myself that have been on the phone, that in fact, John Edwards met recently with Hillary Clinton and will soon meet with Barack Obama. Tell us a little bit about that and what you know.

MALVEAUX: Sure, this was something that happened very quietly. This was on Thursday, when she actually met with him at his Chapel Hill home. Obviously, they've had a couple of conversations on the phone but this was the first face-to-face, when they talked about what his priorities are moving forward, what her priorities are. Obviously, John Edwards made a point to let both Barack Obama and Senator Clinton know that he wanted the fight on poverty to be a main issue, a central issue in the campaign, asked both of them to make that pledge that it would become that before he officially stepped down. Both of them said that they would, so this is part of that process of whether or not he decides to endorse either one of these candidates.

When he had stepped down in New Orleans that was the first question I asked him, are you going to offer an endorsement here. He said at that time he had not yet made up his mind. That he wanted to have these sit-down conversations with both of them before he made his decision. We also know as well, Barack Obama tomorrow will find some time in his schedule to have a face-to-face with John Edwards as well.

We know that two days ago, he actually did have another conversation. They've had several conversations on the phone, and we'll see where that actually goes. There's mixed feelings about this within the Edwards campaign. Some people who believe it would be very useful for him to make an endorsement, that he should weigh in, that he has support at least among some of the union members, grassroots, working class folks that he's been trying to address. Other people believe that you should let this process play out, that it's not necessarily an appropriate time for him to weigh in.

Clearly, he is trying to make up his mind, try to figure out what he is going to do about this and this is simply part of the process is having those face-to-face conversations. It does underscore how important it is to both the candidates, as you know, it's all about the delegate count. They want those Edwards voters. They want those supporters so obviously both of them willing to sit down and have that kind of conversation with John Edwards. Candy.

CROWLEY: Suzanne Malveaux, a couple of things, as you pointed out, they do not know those around John Edwards whether, in fact, he will even endorse anyone and who that might be. He's still thinking that over. Again, we are covering also a changeover in Hillary Clinton's upper echelon of the campaign. We will continue to follow that.

We are told by people within the Clinton campaign that Patti will -- the former campaign manager will begin to travel with Hillary Clinton so she's still very much a part of this campaign, though not in the role of campaign manager. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks very much. We are going to go over to the republican side, listen to a little from Mike Huckabee and John McCain, but first we want to take a break, as "Ballot Bowl" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08" our Sunday edition. I'm Candy Crowley in Alexandria, Virginia, where Barack Obama has completed a roundtable about economics as well as a rally here as you can see they clear out quickly when it's all over.

Hillary Clinton earlier today was in the area as well in Mannas, Virginia, also giving her speech and a town hall meeting; in the meantime while we bring you large portions of these speeches, both on the Democratic and the Republican side, we are watching Maine. Maine is having caucuses today.

We are watching these results, still at this point, what we have reported to you before, about 11 percent of the caucuses have been, have reported in at this point, Barack Obama with a very small lead, about 50 percent of the state delegates to her 48 percent. Those numbers that you are seeing are not actual votes. They are state delegates given to the two candidates so we will watch Maine very closely and let you know, as we've said, 24 delegates at stake. This is a hugely close race, in a Democratic Party, a terrifically exciting one, so every single delegate is being hard fought.

So we now want to take a look on the Republican side of things, which is why we bring in our Mary Snow, who this morning was with Mike Huckabee down in Lynchburg, Virginia. Mary.

SNOW: And Candy, Mike Huckabee is taking his message to the pulpit. Mike Huckabee himself a Baptist minister, spoke here at Jerry Falwell's church here in Lynchburg, Virginia. We an enthusiastic crowd, estimated to be around at least 6,000 people, as he addressed them, he kept his comments very brief. He did not really talk about presidential politics at all. He made reference to moral issues but did not talk about his presidential aspirations.

This comes one day after saying that he is depending on a miracle in order to catch up with Senator John McCain, who is way far ahead of him in terms of delegates, but Mike Huckabee is hoping to do well with the right wing of the Republican Party, also tapping into discontent among conservatives with Senator John McCain, so Mike Huckabee here earlier this morning, let's take a listen what we to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We misunderstand that our freedom does not exist in a vacuum. It exists only when there is moral clarity that guides it. The reason we have so much government and so much law is because it is proportionate to the level of individual capacity that we have for our own moral direction.

Frankly, we really don't need a lot of law if we're people of morality. There are only ten basic laws that we need. If you think about it, the Ten Commandments cover it all. There's no need for an 11th. Everything that we need in life is covered in the ten. And the reason that law gets more complicated is because we try to figure out clever ways around those ten.

I remember when I was Governor in the Jonesboro School shootings happened in 1998, and I remember there was an outrage, because people found out that we could only hold those shooters until they were 18 years old, and then by law, they were going to have to be released, and people were angry and they said, "What do you mean, you're going to have to release these kids who committed the murders?" And we said, "Because that's the law. You can't hold them longer."

We ended up changing the law but one of the things we were confronted with was that it was never in the minds of our legislature in 161 years of our state's history that we would ever have 11-year-olds committing mass murder on a school campus. So we had to add to the law to compensate for the degeneration of morality that had become a part of our culture. When I hear today people say, well all of you people that talk about morality just need to keep that separate, because it has nothing to do with this country.

Let me just remind us all that the day that we do not have personal responsibility in our own moral commitments, the day that we do not understand what is right and what is wrong is the day that we then have to compensate with additional levels of government. The reason that in many places on this earth, there is tyranny and dictatorship is because there is not a clear moral code as to right and wrong, and what things mean, and the reason that it is a dangerous direction for us to go when we no longer define life and we can't define marriage as being between a man and a woman, it's because once we begin to degenerate in our moral clarity, it only means that we will be paying for more and more government to overwhelm us with direction when our own personal freedom of conscience does not.

That's why Jesus said, "you shall know the truth and it shall make you free." The degree to which the truth is not in our hearts and in our lives is the degree to which we are enslaved, enslaved against our own moral code, and enslaved by more and more of outward restrictions to keep us constrained because our own inward consciences do not, and that's why I stand here today, not to make a political statement, but to make one that I hope you will hear, that what happens in this church every Sunday, what is spoken from this pulpit every week, what comes forth from the word of god is not a disconnected message from whether or not we will continue to be a free and great nation, because the day that our nation quits listening to god and the day that we no longer have moral clarity is the day that we will have to have increasing levels of government and law to restrain us, because then our own consciences will not.

I hope that you know Jesus Christ personally. I hope that he is in your life, in your heart, because to the degree to which he rules you and governs you, you need less and less of man's law to tell you how to live, and that is what our founding fathers understood, and we must understand.

SNOW: That was Mike Huckabee earlier today at the Thomas Rhodes Baptist Church. That is the church of the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's two sons who are continuing his tradition. One has endorsed Mike Huckabee, and the other Jonathan Falwell who presided over today's services has not endorsed any candidate so far in this race, and he's saying that, despite whatever happens, Mike Huckabee is really keeping in focus conservative causes, not only in conversation, but in the campaign, and obviously Mike Huckabee referring to two big ones, abortion and his opposition to abortion and opposition to same- sex marriage, that was echoed by followers here in this church and Mike Huckabee pretty much keeping it that afternoon to the pulpit. He's going to be speaking in another church later today right outside Richmond, Virginia. Candy.

COWLEY: Mary, let me ask you, we all know that famous line from Huckabee about not doing the math, looking for a miracle, but the math does, when you look at it, say that it's almost impossible for Huckabee to overtake John McCain at this point. What's the political reason for Huckabee to stay in?

SNOW: You know, everybody is talking about this openly and behind closed doors and saying that he's really doing this to run for vice president, to Senator John McCain, and it's a question that keeps coming up to Mike Huckabee, and he's repeatedly said, including today, he was on some of the morning talk shows, saying that he does not believe that he is going to be asked or saying that if he is asked, there's a lot of other people on that list ahead of him, so he keeps shirking away from that but the longer he stays in this race, with the delegate count being what it is, the more times he'll be asked that question because honestly, after Mitt Romney dropped out, the question turned to Mike Huckabee, why he was still staying in this race, and of course, he has a very good relationship with John McCain.

We saw John McCain and Mitt Romney get in such heated exchanges on the campaign trail. Mike Huckabee and John McCain have repeatedly talked about how civil they are to one another, which only increases speculation, but he keeps saying that's not why he's in it.

We're going to be going to other events. We have a lot more on CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Mary Snow in Lynchburg, Virginia. We'll take you to some of the Democratic candidates; hear what they have to say. Stay with us we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center. Back to the BALLOT BOWL right after a look at some other headlines. Could the end of the reruns be near? We're getting word of a deal to end the Hollywood writer strike. Brooke Anderson is live from Los Angeles with the very latest. Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fred. Well I can now say that the writer's strike is officially coming to an end, this after more than three months of contentious negotiations and tension between the two sides. The board and the council of the Writer's Guild have voted unanimously to accept the proposed deal that they struck with the producer's alliance and send it to their members for ratification vote. Listen to how the president of the Writer's Guild West described the efforts of the strike and also described this agreement that they have reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK VERRON, WGA WEST PRESIDENT: It was arguably the most successful strike American labor movement in a decade, certainly the most important of this young century. It is not all that we hoped for, and it is not all we deserve, but as I told our members, this strike was about the future, and this deal assures for us and for future generations of writers a share in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Now the members of the Writer's Guild are actually voting in two days on Tuesday to lift the strike, so they could be back to work on Wednesday. Now, ratification of the contract could take a little bit longer, a week or two weeks or more, so this is cause for celebration for the entire entertainment industry, and speaking of that, I'm here at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. It's a big night for music.

And the question that's been on everybody's minds over the past few days is, will British soul singer Amy Winehouse show up. That's a big nominee here, six nominations for her break-through album "Back to Black." There were complications with her getting a visa getting into the United States. She was denied and granted late Friday afternoon.

Due to logistics she will not be here in person. She is in London, that is where she will perform live during the show via satellite. The recording academy typically doesn't allow this sort of thing but they felt it was very important for her to participate and for her to be honored for her work, with that album "Back to Black."

WHITFIELD: Meantime, one of the categories she's up for in her, you know, host of nominations, she's competing against Kanye West, he's had a tough year as well and folks are kind of wondering what to make of his appearance tonight following the death of his mom.

ANDERSON: Right, his mother's untimely death, as you mentioned back in November and Kanye West hasn't done much publicly since then. He's kind of been lying low. He's actually the leading Grammy nominee here today with eight nominations, including one for album of the year, the top category and he's been nominated for that prize twice before and has walked home empty-handed. So he is eager to get it this year.

As part of his performance he will sing "hey ma" the song written for his mother. He did rehearse the song and was able to get through it, but it did take a lot out of him and he's actually changed some of the lyrics at the end, so you bet it will be very powerful and also a very emotional night for Kanye West, who is scheduled to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Brooke Anderson thanks so much. You'll keep us up to date on all the developments there in Los Angeles involving the Writer's Guild strike now over as well as what's taking place there at the Grammy's. Thanks so much, Brooke.

ANDERSON: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: In the meantime, other news, roads piled high with snow and ice. Subzero temperature, dangerously high winds, treacherous conditions all facing people in parts of Michigan. Bonnie Schneider is watching the winter blast for us.

Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Fredricka. Some of the video that we are getting in is just incredible. If you take a look at what it looks at I-94 in southwest Michigan, we're getting reports of complete whiteout conditions. We have some video to show you that, unfortunately, illustrates how awful it has been there. For this region we are also looking at winter weather advisories that will persist straight into tomorrow morning and Osacola County, people are being advised to stay inside and not even to travel unless it's an emergency. With good reason.

This vigorous storm will continue to produce lake-effect snow for Michigan and also into upstate New York. Take a look at our next 48 hours some heavy snow still expected for this region. You can see on our key that's another 4 to 6 inches but we're not only dealing with the snow but we are also dealing with bitter cold temperatures. The super cold arctic air will stick around for the rest of the weekend and into next week. It is still winter even though we've had unusually warm weather.

WHITFIELD: Even though it feels like spring in some parts. Thanks a lot, Bonnie.

Overseas in Iraq a suicide bombing at a market north of Baghdad has killed at least 25 people and wounded 40, Iraqi police say the bombers sped toward the market in a car and detonated the blast as checkpoint guards opened fire.

A high-level dinner in Baghdad this evening. General David Petraeus hosting defense secretary Robert Gates, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki and other top officials. Gates arrived for an unannounced visit today to discuss troop levels and to encourage Iraqi leaders to build on recent progress toward reconciliation.

Much more on the BALLOT BOWL after this.

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CROWLEY: Good Sunday to all of our viewers. I'm Candy Crowley in Alexandria, Virginia, and this is CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08 when we give you these candidates large portion of their speeches, sometimes taped, sometimes live, always unfiltered so that you get to see and hear them as we do.

It's been a big day in Virginia for three of the main candidates, on the Republican side, Mike Huckabee has been campaigning in the states down in Lynchburg, Hillary Clinton in Mannas, Virginia, and throughout the state and Barack Obama here just a little while ago in Alexandria, campaigning.

While we are all looking toward Tuesday, which is the Potomac primary, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., we are also watching the caucus counting going on in Maine, which held their caucuses today. Much has changed since last we looked, not much has changed, 11 percent of the caucuses reporting, Barack Obama with a slight lead, about 50 percent of the state delegates versus Hillary Clinton at 48 percent.

Again those numbers that you are seeing next to the percentages are state delegates that are being pledged to either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We want to go back to the Republican side for a bit, as we mentioned Mike Huckabee was here, down in Lynchburg, Virginia, at the church of the late Jerry Falwell, courting those conservatives, which have really given him a base, with which to run against John McCain, who obviously is having a hard time kind of trying to pull the party together. Now the last time we heard from John McCain was Friday in Kansas, where he talked, in fact, about just that, unity in the party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Romney and I are committed to uniting this party and winning the election in November. We will work together to unite this party. I also spoke again yesterday to my friend, Fred Thompson, who assured me he is ready to do whatever it takes to help me win the election in November. I'm very proud to have the friendship and support of Fred Thompson as well and could I mention, my friends, we know that primaries are tough.

People work hard for their candidates. They commit hours and money and effort and dedication to their candidates. We understand that, but we also understand that once the dust settles, then we all join together, because we all know, we all know what would happen to the United States of America if the wrong party wins in November, and we have the vision, the strength for the future of this country, and I want to assure you right now, there will be a spirited debate between me and the nominee of the Democratic Party. My friends, we will draw differences, and we will have that debate. And that will be a respectful debate but it's going to be about things like, do you want the government to take over the health care system in America?

(CROWD): No!

MCCAIN: Or do you want families in America to run the -- make the choices about the health care for them and their families?

(CROWD): Yes!

MCCAIN: Do you want higher taxes and increase your tax burden in bigger government or do you want lower taxes and smaller government? I think you know the answer to that. Do we want; do we want this nation to declare that we are going to surrender in Iraq?

(CROWD): No!

MCCAIN: Do we want to do that after the sacrifice that has been made? My friends, I believe that this debate will be as stark a difference as any contest we've ever had, and I am proud to carry the banner of a conservative Republican with a record of conservative thought and action and voting and principles and values into this election in November and I need you to help me get there.

Kansas, Kansas is the heartland of America, we all know it, and I want to tell you what an honor it was for me back in 1996 to visit Russell, Kansas, on election day with one Bob Dole, and as we left the town of Kansas and the people lined up on either side of the street, as we left the city of his birth, it was nothing more moving or more wonderful experience to know that that great American hero was willing to serve his country again. My friends, I have had the great honor of serving my country and I want to serve a little while longer, and with your help, I can do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: Suffice it to-to-say that John McCain did not get enough help from Kansas voters. In fact, Mike Huckabee walloped McCain in that state in the caucuses on Saturday. McCain, again, calling for unity. He's going to have to get Mike Huckabee out of the race before he does that, and Huckabee says he is no n it until John McCain has enough delegates to be the nominee.

We are going to take a quick break here but after the break, you will hear from Barack Obama, you will hear from Hillary Clinton, and we have some news for you, Maine caucus results are beginning to come in. There's been some changeover in the Clinton campaign, and some news about John Edwards, so stick with us.

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