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CNN Live Event/Special
Special Coverage of the Potomac Primaries
Aired February 12, 2008 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: There you see, there's excitement there. Usually someone who's not expecting to win comes out earlier than the winner who's waiting for the results to actually come in. I suspect the Hillary Clinton -- the Hillary Clinton camp is not expecting to do very well in Maryland, or, necessarily, the District of Columbia. We're waiting for those results.
She didn't do well in Virginia, as we now know. Barack Obama we've projected the winner -- the winner in Virginia.
Hillary Clinton getting ready to speak at this rally in El Paso, Texas, which has that primary is coming up on March 4th.
She's clearly looking ahead -- looking beyond Wisconsin, which is next Tuesday -- looking all the way to March 4th -- where there's important primaries in Texas, in Ohio, as well as Rhode Island.
Campbell Brown has got Paul Begala standing by, as well as Jamal Simmons -- Campbell, I'd be interested to hear what these guys have to say about what's happening tonight.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: So are we, Wolf.
And we should say, full disclosure, you are a Clinton supporter, correct?
PAUL BEGALA, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Sure. Yes.
BROWN: So what's going on with the campaign?
BEGALA: I voted for her today, in fact. I'm about the only one, apparently, in the State of Virginia.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: I was the Lone Ranger, yes. No, I'm just kidding.
BROWN: What's happening with the campaign shakeup?
BEGALA: Well, I think, as Jessica pointed out, donors have been I think -- and I am one -- have been pushing for change there.
BROWN: They need reassurance.
BEGALA: Well, they need victory. I mean, you know, these people, they would be all for this team if the team was winning. And you can't fire the candidate, you can't fire the whole staff. And Mike Henry is a veteran, experienced campaign manager. Patti Solis Doyle is a very talented woman. But somebody has got to take the hit when you lose, and it can't be the candidate. And I've been there.
BROWN: Now, what does she need to say tonight and what does she need to do going forward in the next couple of days, because they have put so much pressure on themselves, frankly, with everything now riding on what happens in Texas and Ohio?
BEGALA: But it's because, you know, this occasionally happens in politics -- it's because they're telling the truth. If they lose Texas and Ohio, I think there's no way she's the nominee.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's over.
BEGALA: And so at least they're being candid about that and I applaud that. And I'm troubled when Jessica is reporting that Hillary's camp is telling her she's not going to change her message. She needs to. She needs much more of an economic, populist message.
And Donna Brazile pointed this out. On Super Tuesday, Barack Obama lost every income group below 50 grand a year. Hillary won every income group below 50 grand a year.
Today in Virginia, Barack Obama won every single income group -- the rich and the poor and the middle class. She has got to find a way to get those John Edwards voters, those working class Democrats. And they're slipping away from her toward Barack. She had them a week ago. She's losing them now. She had better start stealing John Edwards' speech if she wants to get back in this thing.
BROWN: Well, could his endorsement -- if she gets it -- do you think she'll get it?
Could it help?
BEGALA: I don't think she'll get it. I don't have any inside knowledge. But, and, also, I'm not that big on endorsements. The Ted Kennedy endorsement mattered a lot and it still didn't deliver Massachusetts -- and he's my hero, and he's the hero of most Massachusetts Democrats.
No. She needs his voters, not his endorsement. She needs his message. Economic populism is a powerful force in my party and Hillary -- neither Hillary nor Barack is really speaking to that. And somebody is going to get there. Right now, Barack is winning the race to those middle class Democrats.
BROWN: Watching on the screen right now her -- the crowds behind her, anyway, they're chanting Hillary, as we get ready to hear her speak shortly.
But, Jamal, make your point.
JAMAL SIMMONS, OBAMA SUPPORTER: Really quickly, she also -- today Barack Obama won Latinos, which is a very big thing. And going into Texas that's going to be... BROWN: But it's only, what, 5 percent of the population in Virginia, right?
SIMMONS: Yes. But he was losing it in other places. So I think you want to watch that number. And he may have found a formula that he can start to appeal to some Latinos that may also exist. We'll see what happens in Maryland. We'll see what -- we may not know what happens in D.C. , because there are no exit polls.
But in places where there are Latinos, if he's starting to creep up on that number, that could be significant (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator (INAUDIBLE) addressed and introduced Barack Obama in Spanish on Sunday.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...an indication in Spanish.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on, what does he really need to do?
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No, but basically -- well, more than that. But -- and especially when you think about it's really a neophyte population in Virginia. It's very small. It's not politically mature. That's really not (INAUDIBLE). I think it was more of a message to say in Texas, I'm coming after you. There is no way you're getting a free pass from Latino voters. I repeat again, Texas is not California. They're second, third generation. You're going to have a lot of younger voters, open-minded, independent conservers. Fundamentally, they're going to go for McCain in the general election.
But in -- on March 4th, there's a very strong competitive advantage. No doubt, Hillary has the endorsements, but Barack is going to make (INAUDIBLE).
AMY HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: An interesting data point coming out of this exit polling data. You know, we've spent a lot of time beating up on John McCain and his appeal to conservatives. Yet in Virginia, if you ask Republican voters, would you satisfied if John McCain were to become the nominee, 74 percent said yes.
Ask those same Virginians -- or Democratic Virginian voters, rather -- would you be satisfied if Hillary Clinton were to become the nominee, only 64 percent, Obama, 81.
She has a ways to go with her own party.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all...
BROWN: OK. Hold one second. I do want to check in with Donna Brazile, who is joining us from Washington, D.C. to get your reaction, Donna, to what's going on in Clinton campaign. You ran Gore's campaign. Given the time frame that -- we're just talking about a few weeks before we get to these final contests that can mean so much, what does do this to campaign internally?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It allows the campaign to restart itself, to relaunch Senator Clinton. Look, she has an opportunity, as Paul just said, to take a page from John Edwards' script. And that is to talk about the economy. Talk about she will protect jobs in this global economy. Talk about how she will provide health care.
This is still a country that is desperately looking for leadership. And let me just say this -- when Hillary Clinton finds herself with her back up against the wall, she knows how to fight. She keeps telling everyone that she's vetted. She understands how to take a punch. Well, it's time to show not just her supporters, but those Democrats out there who are still undecided that she still is in the game and that she's ready to compete for the rest of the delegates.
BROWN: You see that reported often, especially people who have dealt with the Clintons before -- you can't count her out ever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, not at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't underestimates the Clintons.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: And Donna's point about her being able to take a punch is one thing. And that's all well and good. The Democrats have been taking punches for a long time. I think Democrats want to see somebody who can throw a punch.
There's a worry that some Democrats have about Senator Obama -- that all that peace, love and understanding, that may be fine for Elvis Costello, but we want someone who's willing to fight.
Today -- I heard this on the radio -- Senator Clinton whacked (ph) Senator Obama for his -- his legislation on nuclear leaks. In his state, there's Exelon Corporation. A nuclear reactor leaked radioactive tritium. Obama introduced the legislation requiring companies to disclose it. The company didn't like it, he weakened the legislation, according to Hillary and her campaign.
That's a populist attack on Barack, on his voting record -- nothing unfair or personal about it. She may -- she may be starting to move toward that. And it will be interesting to see if she develops that line of attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But she attacked him on a few other things, as well, which is always a little bit of a dangerous strategy, I think, going on the attack. But she clearly needs to at this stage of the game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
BEGALA: But look it, Barack is very, I think, fairly and adeptly drawing distinctions. He's attacking. And I -- of course, I like attack politics, as long as it's factual and fair and on the public record. And Obama's attacks are all of those things, OK?
He's saying she's the past and we lost the Congress when her husband was president, 15 years, blah, blah, blah. So he's drawing distinctions and she needs to do the same.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But...
BROWN: All right, wait, guys, we're going to take...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Hold on. We're waiting for Hillary Clinton. She's going to be speaking shortly and we want to throw it now to Anderson Cooper, who's joining us -- Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Campbell, thanks very much.
John King, the other night, you talked about a bunker mentality within the Clinton campaign.
What is going on?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of criticism that it's just the same group of advisers who have been with her forever, some of them going back 10 or 12 years, who don't reach out.
Now, as I said last night -- and you've heard more about this in the last few days, that Maggie Williams, her former chief of staff, who is certainly incredibly close -- probably the closest confidante to Senator Clinton -- unlike the previous campaign team, we are told she is reaching out. She's calling Democrats and saying, what are we doing wrong? She's opening up the phone lines, saying what are your suggestions?
They clearly think they need to change things inside. One of their criticisms of Patti Doyle running the campaign was that where was the money going?
They spent so much money, to what end?
So there's a recalibration. But, in the end, candidates win elections. You can juggle the staff, you can adjust the strategy a little bit, but the biggest concern...
COOPER: It's like a failing TV show, you can fire the producers, you can change the set and get a new theme song...
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: ...but ultimately, at some point, it's the anchor.
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: No, I think that's a very inappropriate...
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: We don't know anything about the failure of TV shows.
BORGER: Well, what's the message of the Clinton campaign?
We're winning, fire the staff.
Oh, OK. Well, it means they know they've got serious problems.
COOPER: Well, I want to ask Paul Begala -- something that he just talked about a moment ago, which was...
BEGALA: My show was canceled?
COOPER: Well, no, no.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: No.
BEGALA: (INAUDIBLE) and my mother is -- my mom is watching, you know?
COOPER: You said Senator Clinton...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: ...someone said they should take a page from John Edwards.
BEGALA: Right.
COOPER: You said she should take John Edwards' speech.
What does it say, though, about -- I mean isn't that the problem?
Critics of Senator Clinton will say she may take his speech and -- but that won't reflect well on her. I mean if she basically is suddenly changing her message after 35 years of experience, shouldn't she have a message?
BEGALA: Well, yes, she should. It would help if she did. But she is someone who has always had a career of being on -- according to progressive Democrats -- populist on those working class issues. It wouldn't be anything new for her in terms of her record. It would be new in terms of her rhetoric. And she needs to highlight those sort of things.
I mean one of the reasons that Senator Obama attacks her for being so-called "polarizing" is she took on big insurance companies. She took on big corporations. She took on the special interests that Democrats love to fight. And she should remind them of that, that the reason she got those scars that were honorable -- she should wear it as a badge of honor. COOPER: Do you think...
BEGALA: So I don't think it would be anything new in terms of her substance, it would be new in terms of her rhetoric.
SIMMONS: But I think...
COOPER: Jamal, it seems -- you're a supporter of Senator Obama. He does not seem to have that same problem. I mean people seem to know at least -- maybe they don't know the details, but they seem to believe -- those who support him seem to believe he is for something.
SIMMONS: Sure. They believe that what he's going to be for is getting past a lot of the old rhetoric, bringing people together to actually accomplish the things we want to get done in the country. And they kind of trust him.
And what we're starting to see is that Hillary Clinton has got a pretty high threshold. People know who she is. There's not a lot of new information.
With Barack Obama, the more they see him, the more they like him.
COOPER: Let's listen in to Senator Clinton, as she is speaking in Texas tonight.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, it is so wonderful to be here.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I want to thank the congressman so much. He does an extraordinary job representing you. And I know how proud you are to have him as the chairman of one of the most important committees in the United States Congress. Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: He and his wife, Carolina, have been friends and colleagues for a long time. And so it is especially a privilege to be introduced by him tonight and to be part of this extended family...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ...because it is family and I am proud to be part of the El Paso, Texas family starting right now.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: There are so many people who have come tonight and who have helped make this extraordinary event possible. I want to thank Rick and Louis Bolanos. They are part of Texas Veterans for Hillary. And the Bolanos family is so well-known because of their service to our country. And I am honored to have them supporting me. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE) CLINTON: I want to thank my old friend, Alicia Chacon, the former county judge; the UTEP Young Democrats for hosting me tonight...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ... Norma Flores Fisher, Danny Anchando, Aaron Rosas (ph), Senator Eliot Shapleigh.
I want to thank the students and the staff of the university. And I want to thank my huge, Texas-sized steering committee.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Well, I can't think of any better place to start our campaign for Texas than right here in El Paso.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And I am honored to be an honorary miner.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And we're going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks, bringing our message about what we need in America -- the kind of president that will be required on day one to be commander-in-chief to turn the economy around. I'm tested. I'm ready. Let's make it happen.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, there's a great saying in Texas -- you've all heard it -- all hat and no cattle. Well, after seven years of George Bush, we need a lot less hat and a lot more cattle.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Texas needs a president who actually understands what it's going to take to turn the economy around, to get us universal health care...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ...to save hardworking Americans' homes from foreclosure and the abusive practices of the mortgage companies.
We have a lot of work to do. And I know that El Paso understands that picking a president is one of the most important jobs we're going to do in this country in the next couple of weeks.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: When I think about Texas, I think about, as the congressman said, coming here 35 years ago. I was working for the Democratic National Committee and I was going along the border registering voters. And we had the greatest time. I met some of the best friends I've ever had in my life. We had a chance to go into people's homes. We ate a lot of great food.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: We listened to some wonderful music and we registered a few voters, too.
Well, here I am back in Texas, and I'm asking the children of those voters to vote for me for their future.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, some people, when they run for political office, they only think about the next election. But I like to think about the next generation, because that's what I think this election is about.
It is about what kind of country and world we're going to pass on to the young people who are students here, to that beautiful young boy who came up and gave me the flowers, for each of our children and grandchildren.
Are we going to give them the same shot at the American dream that many of us were given?
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Well, if we make the right decision in this election, we sure are. We're going to give our young people not only confidence and optimism, but real results -- 21st-century solutions for what we need to do to fix our problems, meet our challenges, and seize our opportunities.
As I travel around the country, I know from what people tell me that a lot of really hard-working folks are concerned. You know, they're working as hard as they can, but they don't feel like they're getting ahead. They're not getting the kind of health care and educational opportunities that they want for themselves and their children.
I hear the mothers who tell me they don't know what they're going to do because they can't afford health care and they have sick children. And the only place they have to turn to is the emergency room.
I've been in the homes of families that are on the brink of losing the American dream because they got sucked into one of these subprime mortgages and they can't afford to stay in their home. They're looking for somebody to say this was wrong and we will help you.
I meet the people who work hard every single day but can't pay their energy bills. They can't fill up their gas tank. They are looking for answers.
And then I meet all of the people who want to solve the problems -- the young people who are focused on a better future and want to make it happen.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: There isn't anything America can't do if we make up our minds to do it. Every one of us -- every single one of us knows that tomorrow can be better than today. But it doesn't happen just by wishing it or hoping for it. It happens by working really, really hard to make it a reality, to give everybody a better chance.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I see an America where everyone willing to work hard has a job with a rising income. And if you're willing to work full-time, you have wages that lift you out of poverty. I want to make sure every American who works full-time has a minimum wage of at least $9.50.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: In fact, I would require that Congress cannot raise its own salaries unless it raises the minimum wage.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I see an America where health care is a moral right -- not a privilege.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Where every man, woman and child has access to quality, affordable health care.
We can do this. We can have a uniquely America solution. We already have a plan that we can make available to everyone. It's the plan that provides health care to members of Congress. And it works well for members of Congress and our staffs and federal employees. It has lots of choices. I want to make sure you have the same choices as your member of Congress does.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And we will help people pay for it because I want everybody -- everybody to have quality, affordable health insurance.
And I also see an America where we end our dependence on foreign oil and we start growing and making our own energy right here in Texas and America.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Aren't you tired of paying those exorbitant costs at the gas pump?
Aren't you tired of sending billions of our dollars to countries that turn around and use it against us?
(APPLAUSE) CLINTON: Well, why don't we get smart and start creating our own energy?
We have the sun, we have the wind, we can grow the products. We can turn what we have here in Texas into the energy of the future.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I think that if we do this, we will create millions of new good jobs -- jobs with rising incomes, jobs that will be right here in El Paso, right here in Texas. Jobs that will give a family a good potential opportunity to raise their kids and send them to school and feel like they're part of the American dream.
Energy can be the key that unlocks our economic future, makes us more secure in the world. And, if we do it right, we will begin to deal with the problem of global warming, which is a real problem that has to be attacked.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, I see an America where children are better prepared before they ever go to school, where we help families prepare their own children, where we have a universal pre-kindergarten program so that 4-year-olds can get off to a good start.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I see an America where the federal government doesn't tell the teachers and the principals and the superintendents in El Paso what they're supposed to teach and what they're supposed to test.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I will the end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And together, we will come up with a 21st-century education system for our children, where we look at each individual child and try to decide what we need to do to lift that little boy or girl to his or her God-given potential. That is the purpose of education -- not test after test after test after test after test.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I see an America where every young person who is willing to work hard will be able to go to college. They will not have the door slammed in their face because of the costs of higher education.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: In my America, we're going to make sure that the federal government gets back into loaning people money at a low interest like they did when I went to school, instead of the student loan companies. (APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: We're going to give young people the opportunity for national service, so that you can earn money to go to college. One year of national service, you can earn up to $10,000. That would give you the resources to be able to go to school. It is wrong in America when families have to mortgage or sell their homes to send their sons or daughters to college. It should be an investment we all make in you.
I see an America where we finally have comprehensive immigration reform with a path to earned legalization.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Senator Hillary Clinton speaking in El Paso, Texas tonight after her loss in the State of Virginia.
Polls close in the State of Maryland in about six minutes from now. We're going to bring those results live.
If you want to continue watching Senator Clinton's speech, you can go to CNNPolitics.com. And we'll continue to carry it there live.
Again, the polls close in six minutes.
We're going to take a very short break and then we are live all the way through the polls closing.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Two minutes and 40 seconds until the polls close in the State of Maryland. We'll see what's happening there. They were supposed to close an hour and half or so ago, but bad weather throughout the state caused a judge to decide they're going to keep the polls open for an extra 90 minutes. We're going to see what's happening in Maryland momentarily.
We're also waiting for some results to come in from Washington, D.C. Democratic and Republican primaries unfolding there. In Virginia, we've already projected the winners.
On the Democratic side, Barack Obama winning decisively against Hillary Clinton. Eighty-three percent of the precincts now reporting. Obama has 464,00 votes to Hillary Clinton's 265,000 -- 63 percent to 36 percent, with 83 percent of the precincts in. An impressive win in Virginia for Barack Obama.
On the Republican side, take a look at this. John McCain winning. We project that he wins in Virginia over Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee making it -- close, but not close enough. For Huckabee, 75 percent. Seventy-five of the votes are now in in the State of Virginia and John McCain is the winner.
If we want to take a look at the actual vote tally -- well, we're not going to show you right there.
But we are going to show you the race for the nomination as far as the all-important delegate situation is concerned. John McCain now has 783 delegates. He needs 1,191 to be the Republican presidential nominee. Huckabee has 217. McCain won all 60 of those pledged delegates in Virginia. That's one of those Republican states where winner takes all. So McCain gets those 60 delegates in Virginia; three more super-delegates in Virginia, as well.
On the Democratic side, take a look at this. Now, for the first time since Iowa, when Barack Obama won, we now estimate that Barack Obama has actually more delegates than Hillary Clinton. When you add up the pledged delegates, those who were -- that were won in these primaries and caucuses, as well as the super-delegates, Obama has 1,181 to 1,173. It's very, very close when you add -- when you add up the super-delegates to the equation.
Remember, the all-important number -- the all-important number is more than 2,000 delegates that are needed.
We're watching Maryland right now. In Maryland, the polls are going to be closed in a few seconds. And once they're closed, we're going to be able to share with you some of the information we've collected as a result of the exit polling we've been doing throughout the State of Maryland on this day -- this very important day in the race for the White House.
And CNN can project two winners in the State of Maryland -- Barack Obama on the Democratic side and John McCain on the Republican side. These are the second primaries both of these candidates will win on this day. Barack Obama beating Hillary Clinton in Maryland, just as he did earlier in Virginia and John McCain beating Mike Huckabee in Maryland, just as he did earlier in Virginia, as well.
The only results that we're still waiting for tonight are the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. We didn't have exit polls there. We're waiting for those numbers to come in. But those numbers are coming in very, very slowly from Washington, D.C. Rack up another important win for Barack Obama and for John McCain, important wins in the state of Maryland.
If both of them go on and win Washington, D.C., they will be clean sweeps for both of these candidates, giving them obviously a lot more momentum. On the delegate side, on the Democratic side, all of states are proportional based on Congressional districts. In Maryland, on the Republican side, there's a similar situation as well. John McCain wins all of the congressional districts in the state of Maryland. He'll capture those delegates in Maryland.
There are 37 delegates in the state of Maryland. That includes the three so-called super delegates. That's what they call on the Republican side a modified winner take all status. So if McCain carries by a majority all of the congressional districts in Maryland, he'll pick up those 37 delegates in Maryland. He'll add it to his number. That's getting higher and higher and higher, very close to the number he needs to be the Republican presidential nominee. For Barack Obama, another win in a state that only a few weeks that Hillary Clinton was winning according to the polls by a wide margin. He's showing incredible momentum now, just he did over the weekend. He's winning state after state after state. He's gearing up to hear what's in store for him in Washington, D.C. and then next week, next Tuesday in the state of Wisconsin.
Anderson Cooper's here with our analysts. Hillary Clinton's not doing well in any of these states, not in Virginia, not in Maryland. We'll see what happens in Washington, D.C. I suspect she's not going to do all that well, Anderson, there either.
COOPER: The fact that we saw her in El Paso, Texas tonight shows you the importance she and her campaign are placing on Texas. As you were talking about before, momentum is with Barack Obama. That's a hard thing to stop. Can she stop it in Texas?
KING: Can she stop it? She needs to stop it. That will be a huge battleground. Anderson, when Obama was winning in places like Kansas and Nebraska and North Dakota, the Clinton campaign was saying, OK, fine, he's winning caucuses. He's winning in states we don't really care about in November. Maryland's critical to Democratic victory. It's been a Democratic state for a long time.
Virginia increasingly's on the Democratic target list. It's had two Democratic governors in a row. It has been a reliably red state. But it could be a battle ground this fall. How does the Clinton campaign spin this one? Barack Obama's winning big in Maryland, according to our projection. He's winning big in Virginia, according to the results coming in. The Clinton campaign has to build a firewall. They say Ohio and Texas, but what about Wisconsin? That's a week from today.
The question is, momentum has not taken hold in this campaign yet. If he keeps winning -- he had a big weekend. he's having a big night tonight. If he can win Wisconsin next week, there are a lot of Democrats who think the trap door may open up under Senator Clinton.
COOPER: State by state, primary by primary or caucus by caucus, he's starting to win over groups that previously, the week before, he wasn't winning over. We're seeing that tonight in Virginia. Whether or not Virginia's just a one off we don't know. Time certainly seems to be in his favor in this race.
BORGER: At this point it does. His victory in Virginia is kind of stunning because he does cut into all of her core constituencies, with white voters, with women, with low income voters. And I think this question of momentum. We have been wondering about it during this whole campaign. When does it kick in? Now, we're in home stretch. We have sequential primaries and caucuses, one right after the other.
I think anyone who continues to win for an entire month, you could say, has to have some kind of momentum at.
COOPER: Bill Schneider and Soledad O'Brien have been looking at exit polls and also right now are able to look at the various wins that Barack Obama has had over time, and the incremental changes that have occurred in terms of who he's able to reach out to, who he's able to win over. Let's go over to Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson, thanks. I think Gloria exactly set us up perfectly. Yes, you can thank me later, Gloria. Let's take a look at exactly how he has made those increases over time, looking back to Super Tuesday, exactly a week ago. The first category, women who voted for Obama.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is a dynamic analysis. What we're doing is comparing a group, in this case women, how they voted on Super Tuesday, one week ago, with how they voted tonight. You assume that women are for Clinton in every state. Well, last week on Super Tuesday, Barack Obama lost women. He got 43 percent. Tonight in Maryland, he carried them handedly. He got 59 percent of their vote. That's dynamic. That's momentum.
O'BRIEN: One group that Obama was carrying pretty handily, I think it's fair to say, was young voters. We were always talking about his power with young voters. When you look at voters aged 18 to 29 who voted for Obama, what do you see when you compare them?
SCHNEIDER: We see a big improvement. Look at this, on Super Tuesday, a week ago -- this is all 16 primaries combined -- Barack Obama was getting 57 percent of the vote among voters under 30. Now he's getting more than two-thirds of their votes, 68 percent. Again, a big shift in his favor, momentum.
O'BRIEN: Voters 65 and older was always a struggle for Obama. When you look at the numbers from Super Tuesday they were low. Compare them to now.
SCHNEIDER: Right. Super Tuesday, he only got 35 percent, barely more than a third of the vote among seniors. Tonight, he's carrying seniors, and this was supposed to be a core group for Hillary Clinton. It was the reason why she's carried Florida and the reason why she's very hopeful about carrying another state with a large population of seniors in April, Pennsylvania. But look at this, Barack Obama carried seniors.
O'BRIEN: That statistic right there could really be scaring the Clinton campaign when they looked at Florida. Let's talk another area of struggle for Obama, rural voters. That was a problem before. How did he do this time around compared?
SCHNEIDER: Hillary Clinton has been doing very well with rural voters in state after state. Take a look, on Super Tuesday, Barack Obama only got 35 percent of the rural vote. But tonight, he carried rural voters in both Virginia and this is Maryland, 59 percent, rural voters in Maryland. What this indicates is, you have to have a dynamic analysis, it can't be static. And the reason why this works is that most Democrats like both Obama and Clinton. If he is starting to win, they can easily shift from one to the other. In this case, all the shifting is from Clinton to Obama.
O'BRIEN: Bill, thank you very much. Let's send it right back to Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Soledad, thanks very much. We'll have to take a short break. We're awaiting speeches from Senator Barack Obama. He'll be speaking tonight from Madison, Wisconsin. We're also waiting Senator John McCain to be speaking at a rally in Alexandria, Virginia. We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Next Tuesday, Wisconsin votes in its Democratic and Republican primaries. Barack Obama a big winner tonight in Virginia, a big winner in Maryland. We're waiting for results in Washington, D.C. He's looking ahead to next Tuesday. He's speaking in Madison, Wisconsin right now, thanking his supporters. Let's listen in.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to say that you have lifted my spirits. Just a few thank yous I want to say very quickly. First of all, to your outstanding governor, someone who's working tirelessly on behalf of the working families of Wisconsin, Governor Jim Doyle. I am so proud to have the governor's support. I'm grateful for the first lady, Jessica Doyle, the governor's two sons, Gus and Gabe, who have worked on our behalf as well.
I want to thank the Milwaukee Mayor, Tom Berrett (ph), for driving over to Madison. He's been a great supporter.
But especially I want to thank our host this evening, the mayor of Madison, your own mayor Dave who endorsed me here today. Thank you Mayor Dave.
Thank you Mary Dave for your outstanding work. I always loved this city. And I want to thank all my director of Wisconsin Students for Obama, Brian Egan (ph), who's been working like a madman to help get this organized here tonight. Thank you.
So, today, the change we seek swept through Chesapeake and over the Potomac. We won the state of Maryland. We won the Commonwealth of Virginia. And though we won in Washington, D.C., this movement won't stop until there's change in Washington, D.C. and tonight we're on our way.
Tonight, we're on our way. But, we know how much further we have to go. We know it takes more than one night or even one election to overcome decades of money and the influence, the bitter partisanship and petty bickering that shut you out, let you down, told you to settle. We know our road will not be easy. But we also know that at this moment, the cynics can no longer say that our hope is false.
We have now won east and west, north and south, across the heartland of this country we love.
We have given young people a reason to believe. And we have brought -- and we have brought the young at heart back to the polls who want to believe again. We are bringing together Democrats and independents and yes, some Republicans. I know this -- I meet them when I'm shaking hands afterwards. There's one right there, an Obama- can. That's what we call them.
They whisper to me. They say, Barack, I'm a Republican but I support you. And I say thank you. We're bringing Democrats, independents, Republicans, blacks and whites, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, small states and big states, red states and blue states, all into the United States of America. That's our project. That's our mission.
This is the new American majority. This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. And in this election, your voices will be heard, because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up, with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in Washington just won't do, not this time, not this year.
We can't keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and somehow expect a different result because it's a game that ordinary Americans are losing. We are going to put this game to an end.
It's a game where lobbyists write check after check and Exxon turns record profits, while you pay the price at the pump and our planet is put at risk. That's what happens when lobbyists set the agenda. That's why they won't drown out your voices anymore when I am president of the United States of America.
It's a game where trade deals like NAFTA shifts jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers for minimum wages at the local fast food joint or at Wal-Mart. It's what happens when the American worker doesn't have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their position on trade with the politics of the moment. And that is why we need a president who will listen not just to Wall Street but to Main Street, a president who will stand with workers not just when it's easy, but when it's hard. That's the kind of president I intend to be when I am president of the United States of America.
It's a game where Democrats and Republicans fail to come together year after year after year while another mom goes without health care for a sick child. That's why we have to put an end to the divisions and distractions in Washington, so that we can unite this nation around a common purpose, around a higher purpose. It's a game where the only way for Democrats to look tough on national security is by talking and acting and voting like Bush/McCain Republicans, while our troops are sent to fight tour after tour of duty in a war that should never have been authorized and should have never waged.
That's what happens when we use 9/11 to scare up votes instead of bringing together the people around a common purpose. That's why we need to do do more than end the war. We need to end the mind-set that got us into war. That's the choice in this primary. It's about whether we choose to play the game or whether we choose to end it.
It's change that polls well or change we can actually believe in. It's the past versus the future. It's about whether we're looking backwards or whether we're marching forward. When I'm the Democratic nomination for president, that will be the choice that we will have in November.
Understand this, John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, is an American hero. We honor his service to our nation. We honor his service, but his priorities don't address the real problems of the American people, because they are bound to the failed policies of the past.
George Bush won't be on the ballot this November. George Bush won't be on this ballot; my cousin Dick Cheney won't be on this ballot, but the Bush/Cheney war and the Bush/Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy, those will be on the ballot. When I am the nominee, I will offer a clear choice. John McCain won't able to say that I ever supported this war in Iraq because I opposed it from the start.
Senator McCain said the other day that we might be mired for hundred years in Iraq, a hundred years, which is reason enough not to give him four years in the White House. If we had chosen a different path, the right path, we could have finished the job in Afghanistan, and put more resources into the fight against bin Laden, and instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Baghdad, we could have put that money into our schools and our hospitals, rebuilding our roads and our bridges and that's what the American people need us to do right now.
I admired Senator McCain when he stood up and said it offended his conscious to support the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in a time of war, that he couldn't support a tax cut where so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate. That's a quote. Somewhere along the road to the Republican nomination, the Straight Talk Express lost its wheels because now he's all for those same tax cuts. Well I am not. We can't keep spending money that we don't have in a war that shouldn't have been fought. We can't keep mortgaging our children's future on a mountain of debt. We can't keep driving a wider and wider gap between the few who are rich and the rest who are struggling to keep pace.
It's time to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history. Yes, we can. We need a new direction in this country. Everywhere I go -- everywhere I go, I meet Americans who can't wait another day for change. They're not just showing up to hear a speech, they need to know that politics can make a difference in their lives, that it's not too late to reclaim the American dream.
It's a dream -- a dream shared in big cities and small towns, across races, regions and religions, that if you work hard, you can support a family, that If you get sick, there will be health care that you can afford, that you can retire with dignity and security and respect that you have earned, that your kids can get a good education and young people can go to college even if they're not rich.
That is our common hope. That's our common hope. That's why we don't call it Joe's Dream, or Sally's Dream or Susan's Dream, or Jim's dream. We call it the American dream because it's dream we have for ourselves and our own families, but it's a dream we have for everybody. It's the dream of the father who goes to work before dawn and lies awake at night wondering how he's going to pay the bills. He needs us to restore fairness to our economy by putting tax cuts into the pockets of working people and seniors and struggling home owners.
It's the dream of the woman who told me she works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill. She needs us to finally come together to make health care affordable and available for every single American. That is long overdue.
It's the dream of the senior I met, who lost his pension when the company he gave his life to went bankrupt. He doesn't need bankruptcy laws that protect banks and big lenders. He needs us to protect pensions not CEO bonuses and to do what it takes to make sure that the American people can count on Social Security today, tomorrow and forever. That's what he needs. That's his dream.
It's the dream of the teacher who works at a doughnut shop after school just to make ends meet. She needs better pay and more support and the freedom to do more than to teach to the test because we want our children learning art and music and science and literature and history. And if her students want to go on to college, they shouldn't fear decades of debt, which is why I'll make college affordable, with an annual 4,000 dollar tuition credit. Every student, every year. But you won't get it for free, young people. You'll have to invest in community service, work in a homeless shelter, work in a veteran's home, join the Peace Corps, learn a foreign language, join the Foreign Service.
We'll invest you. You invest in your country. together, America will move forward. That's what we dream of. That's our calling in this campaign. That's our calling, to reaffirm that fundamental belief, I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. That belief that makes us one people and one nation. It's time to stand up and reach for what's possible because together people who love their country can change it.
Now, when I start talking like this, I have to say some people will tell you that I've got my head in the clouds, that I'm still offering false hopes, that I need a reality check, that I'm a hope monger. But you know it's true, my own story tells me that in the United States of the America, there's never been anything false about hope, at least not if you're willing to work for it, not if you're willing to struggle for it, not if you're willing to fight for it.
I should not be here today. I should not be here today. I wasn't born into money or status. I was born to teenage mom in Hawaii. My father left us when I was two. But my family gave me love, gave me an education, and most of all, they gave me hope. Hope -- hope that in America, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it and fight for it and work for it. Understand this, hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not ignorance of the barriers and the challenges that stand between you and your dreams.
I know how hard it will be to change America. I know it won't be easy to provide health care for all Americans like I proposed. If it was easy, it would have already been done. I know that it won't be easy to change our energy policy. Exxon/Mobile made 11 billion dollars last quarter. They don't want to give those profits up easily.
I know how hard it will be to alleviate poverty that's built up over centuries. I know how hard it will be to improve our schools, especially because improving our schools will involve more than just money. It will require in mindset, a belief that every child counts, that it's not somebody else's problem, a belief that parents have to parent and turn off the TV set, and put away the video game, and that our students have to raise their standards of excellence. That's not easy to do, changing attitudes, changing culture.
I know it's hard because I have fought those fights. I fought on the streets of Chicago as a community organizer...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... to bring jobs to the jobless in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant.
I fought in the courts as a civil rights lawyer to make sure people weren't denied their rights because of what they looked like or where they came from.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I fought in the legislature to take away power from lobbyists, and to provide health care to those who didn't have it, and to fix a criminal justice system that was broken. And I have won some of those fights, but I have lost some of them, too, because I have seen good legislation die when good intentions weren't enough, when they weren't backed by a mandate for change, when the American people weren't enlisted in the process of change.
I know how hard these things are. The politics of hope does not mean hoping things come easy.
But I also understand that nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened unless somebody somewhere is willing to hope, when somebody is willing to stand up...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... somebody who's willing to stand up when they're told, "No, you can't," and instead they say, "Yes, we can."
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's how -- that's how this country was founded, a group of patriots declaring independence against the mighty British Empire. Nobody gave them a chance, but they said, "Yes, we can."
That's how slaves and abolitionists resisted that wicked system and how a new president chartered a course to ensure we would not remain half-slave and half-free.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) That's how the greatest generation -- that's how the greatest generation, my grandfather fighting in Patton's Army, my grandmother staying at home with a baby and still working on a bomber assembly line, how that greatest generation overcame Hitler and fascism and also lifted themselves up out of a Great Depression.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's how pioneers went west. When people told them it was dangerous, they said, "Yes, we can."
That's how immigrants traveled from distant shores when people said their fates would be uncertain. Yes, we can.
That's how women won the right to vote, how workers won the right to organize...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... how young people like you traveled down South to march, and sit-in, and go to jail, and some were beaten, and some died for freedom's cause. That's what hope is.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's what hope is.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That is what hope is, Madison, that moment when we -- when we shed our fears and our doubts, when we don't settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept, because cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom.
When we instead join arm in arm and decide we are going to remake this country, block by block, precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state, that's what hope is.
There's a moment in the life of every generation when that spirit has to come through, if we are to make our mark on history. And this is our moment. This is our time.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And where better -- where better to affirm our ideals than here in Wisconsin, where a century ago the progressive movement was born?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you want to continue listening to Senator Obama's speech, you can log on to CNNPolitics.com.
Senator John McCain is speaking live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Let's listen in to him.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
They are going to promise a new approach to governing, but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government's failures is to simply make it bigger.
They will appeal to our dreams of a better future for ourselves and our families and our country, but they would take from us more of the wealth we have earned to build those dreams and assure us that government is better able than we are to make dedications and decisions about our future for us.
They will promise to break with the failed politics of the past, but will campaign in ways that seek to minimize their exposure to questions from the press and challenges from voters who ask more from their candidates than an empty promise of, "Trust me, I know better."
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
They will paint a picture -- they will paint a picture of the world in which America's mistakes are a greater threat to our security than the malevolent intentions of an enemy that despises us and our ideals, a world that can be made safer and more peaceful by placating our implacable foes and breaking faith with allies and the millions of people in this world for whom America, and the global progress of our ideals has long been the last, best hope of Earth.
We will offer different ideas based on a better understanding of the challenges we face and the resolve to confront them with confidence in the strength and ideals of free people.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
We believe that Americans, not our detractors and certainly not our enemies, are on the right side of history.
We trust in the strength, industry and goodness of the American people. We don't believe that government has all the answers. We believe that government must respect the rights, property and opportunities of the people to whom we are accountable.
We don't believe in growing the size of government to make it easier to serve our own ambitions. We believe that what government is expected to do, what we cannot do for ourselves individually, it must be done with competence, resolve and wisdom.
The American people don't send us to Washington to serve our self-interest, but to serve theirs.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) They don't -- they don't send us to fight each other for our own political ambitions, but to fight together our real enemies. They don't send us to Washington to stroke our egos, but to help them keep this beautiful, bountiful, blessed country free, safe, prosperous, and proud.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
They don't -- they don't send us to Washington to take more of their money, and waste it on things that add not an ounce to America's strength and prosperity, that don't help a single family realize the dreams we all dream for our children, that don't help a single displaced worker find a new job, and the security and dignity it assures them, that won't keep the promise we make to young workers that the retirement they have begun to invest in will be there for them when they need it.
They don't send us to Washington to do their job, but to do ours, to do it better -- to do it better...
(APPLAUSE)
... to do it better and with less of their money.
My friends, the work we face in our time is great, but our opportunities greater still. In a time of war, and the terrible sacrifices it entails, the promise of a better future is not always clear.
But I promise you, my friends, we face no enemy, no matter how cruel, and no challenge, no matter how daunting, greater than the courage, patriotism and determination of Americans.
My friends, we are the makers of history, not its victims.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CROWD: John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MCCAIN: Hope, my friends, hope is a powerful thing. I can attest to that better than many, for I have seen men's hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience.
And I stood astonished at the resilience of their hope in the darkest of hours, because it did not reside in an exaggerated belief in their individual strength, but in the support of their comrades and their faith in our country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
My hope for our country resides in my faith in the American character, the character which proudly defends the right to think and do for ourselves, but perceives self-interest in accord with a kinship of ideals, which, when called upon, Americans will defend with their very lives.
To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas, that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope; it is a platitude.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
When I was a young man, I thought glory was the highest ambition, and that all glory was self-glory. My parents tried to teach me otherwise, as did the Naval Academy.
(LAUGHTER)
But I didn't understand the lesson until later in life, when I confronted a challenge I never expected to face. In that confrontation, I discovered that I was dependent on others to a greater extent than I had ever realized, but that neither they, nor the cause we served made any claims on my identity.
On the contrary, I discovered that nothing is more liberating in life than to fight for a cause that encompasses you, but is not defined by your existence alone. And that has made all the difference in the world, my friends, all the difference in the world.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I don't seek the presidency on the presumption that I am -- presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the presidency with the humility of a man who cannot forget that my country saved me.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I am running...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... to serve America and to champion the ideas I believe will help us do what every American generation has managed to do: to make, in our time, and from our challenges, a stronger country and a better world.
I intend to do that by fighting for the principles and policies I believe best serve the interests of the American people: for a government that takes and spends less of your money and competently discharges its responsibilities, that shows a proper respect for our rights and values, that provides a strong and capable defense, that encourages the enterprise and ingenuity of individuals, businesses and families, who know best how to advance America's economy and secure the dreams that have made us the greatest nation in history.
As I have done my entire career, I will make my case to every American who will listen. I won't confine myself to the comfort of speaking only to those who agree with me. I will make my case to all the people. I will listen to those who disagree. I will attempt to persuade them. I will debate. And I will learn from them. But I will fight every moment of every day for what I believe is right for this country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And I will not yield.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And, my friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Thank you, and God bless you. Thank you, and God bless you. Thank you.
COOPER: Senator John McCain speaking in Alexandria, Virginia, quite a contrast to the speech we heard just before him, Senator Barack Obama, speaking in Madison, Wisconsin.
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