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McCain Address; Clinton Remarks; Campaign Websites

Aired February 16, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

MARY SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon and welcome to a brand new edition of CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Mary Snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Wisconsin the site of another set of primaries on Tuesday, both on the Republican and Democratic side. Joining me is my co-anchor Jessica Yellin. Hey Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi Mary. We are here in Wisconsin where it is nice and chilly but there's a lot of political action going on. We will bring you events, sometimes live, sometimes on tape, but always unfiltered so that you can hear the candidates in their own words. You will hear from everyone who is on the campaign trail in recent days, including Senators Clinton, Obama and of course John McCain. And we are going to start off with some sound from Barack Obama, who has been in Wisconsin for some time now. He has been here campaigning to win this next state which is up for vote, having their vote on Tuesday. He was speaking in Oshkosh just the other night, last night. And he was taking on Senator Clinton, her accusation that he stands for promises and not solutions. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They say, you know Obama he may give a nice speech and he may have good policy ideas, but he has not been in Washington long enough. And so we need to season and stew him a little bit longer and boil all the hope out of him and maybe 20 years from now, when he talks and acts just like us, maybe he'll be ready. Now, they ignore of course the 20 years that I've worked as a civil rights attorney and law professor and as a state legislator and as a U.S. senator. But, even it had been -- I notice the American people are not buying this argument, because they understand the biggest risk would be to have the same old cast of characters doing the same old things over and over and over again and somehow expecting a different result. We can't afford that risk. We need to try something new and move in a fundamentally different direction in this country and change how Washington works instead of having elected officials change via Washington.

Now then Senator Clinton, who's my opponent now, there's only two of us left. Her argument I think yesterday was, well, Obama is a talker and I'm a doer. You know, he makes speeches, I offer solutions. Now, I understand as we get further and further along in this process that some of the arguments get sillier and sillier. But I have to say, first of all, when I brought Democrats and Republicans together to have health insurance in Illinois, that wasn't talk. When I fixed our criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions in Illinois, that wasn't talk. When I worked with Republicans on nuclear proliferation issues, that wasn't talk. So she's exactly right that speeches aren't enough. That's why I've been working for the last 20 years to provide real solutions to the American people. And, you know, in contrast, I have to say that Senator Clinton has done some good things, but NAFTA has not provided jobs in America, something she supported strongly. A bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out from under credit card debts and other burdensome situations, may be paying medical bills when they didn't have health insurance. That didn't help ordinary people.

So it's very important when we examine people's records to see who have the candidates been fighting for. I have spent 20 years fighting for ordinary folks on the streets of Chicago as an organizer, as a lawyer, and as a legislator. So don't be fooled by this talk about -- you know, speeches versus solutions. It's true, I give a good speech. What can I do? Nothing wrong with that. But understand the reason why the ability to motivate people and inspire people is important because the problems we face right now are not technical. Everybody has got a ten-point plan on everything. You go to Senator Clinton's website, my website, they look identical. There's all kinds of stuff on -- here's what we're going to do on this and here's what we're going to do on that. The problem is not the lack of proposals. The question is, who can bring Democrats, Independents and Republicans into a working majority to bring about change. That's what we're doing in this campaign. This is what a working majority looks like. That's how we're going to move the country forward. That's what I offer that she can't do.

Last argument is about hope. You know, I talk about hope a lot in my campaign. And out of necessity, I mean, the odds of me standing here are pretty slim. Let's face it. I was born to a teenage mom. My father left when we were 2 -- when I was 2. So I was raised by a single mom and grandparents. They didn't have money, they didn't have fame or fortune. They gave me hope. They gave me an education. They gave me love. That's what I had growing up. So I -- so I talk a lot about hope. I've got hope on my signs. I gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention about hope. I wrote a book called the "Audacity of Hope," and now I notice Senator Clinton has been criticizing me because -- this is a variation on the talker not doer argument. She says, ah, he's always talking about hope. He's so naive. He's not realistic. He's a hope monger. Actually, I made that one up. She didn't say that. She said I was peddling false hopes. Peddling false hopes. The implication is that if you talk about hope, if you are hopeful, then you must be naive. Your head must be in the clouds. You must just be passive sitting there waiting for good things to happen to you instead of being hardheaded and really working towards solutions. That's the implication, right? Well, that's not what hope is. Hope is not blind optimism. Hope is not ignoring the challenges that stand before you. I know how hard it will be to provide health care to every American. If it was easy, it would have already happened. I know how difficult it will be --

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: That was Obama speaking last night in Wisconsin using a line that has become very popular and a regular for him on the trail. That people accuse him of being a hope monger. He says but that doesn't mean that he doesn't know about practical solutions too. It always gets a big laugh and a lot of applause. We want to show you a live picture now of Barack Obama who has just arrived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, running slightly late but we're going to bring you some of that speech in just a few moments after he gets past his regular thank yous to the local officials. We'll bring you some of the meat of that.

Right now I want to talk for a moment about the February 19th primaries that are coming up both in Wisconsin and the caucus in Hawaii. Senators Clinton and Obama vying aggressively to win that, of course, because both of them are calling this race now a delegate race. Every last delegate counts. This is a state in which Senator Clinton might have had a natural advantage. Her issues of talking directly to the working class, blue collar Americans. Their needs for improved economic circumstances resonate. Her policy positions resonate. But because Barack Obama has had this wave of momentum, because his organization has been better organized in some of these smaller states and especially in the post-February 5th, the post-Super Tuesday states, he's giving her a run for her money in this state. A lot of folks here very divided and the Clinton campaign downplaying their chances of winning. They say they are really focused on winning in Ohio and Texas. And realize they might not win here. But I emphasize it remains a very close contest with both sides running increasingly critical negative ads about the other with Senator Clinton accusing Barack Obama of shirking his responsibility to talk directly to the voters because he won't agree to a debate here and Barack Obama hitting back saying she's just distorting the facts.

He says we've had more than enough debates. We already know what happens there. They don't help the voters make the decisions as well as having candidates go out in the field and meet them one on one. Both Senators Clinton and Obama will be here tonight at a big event and a big speech. I'm sure we'll wring bring you some of that tomorrow. But I want to bring in my colleague Mary Snow who is also here. And Mary, on the Republican side it's quite a quiet weekend. One thing I've noticed lately is how much Barack Obama has been in John McCain's sights, as he's gotten sort of the front-runner status. We hear him talking a lot more, McCain talking a lot more about Obama.

SNOW: Yeah, you certainly do, Jessica. He has one eye on the Republican race and he is the likely Republican nominee as he moves closer to clenching enough delegates to do so. Although Mike Huckabee is staying in this race. John McCain also has an eye toward the general election. And we do hear more talk of the Democratic sides coming from John McCain. Also we heard Democrats talking about John McCain as well as he emerges as the likely Republican nominee. And particularly, we saw things get a little bit heated over the issue of public financing. Senator McCain targeting Senator Barack Obama saying that he had pledged if he won the nomination on the Democratic side, that he would accept public financing in a general election. And now Senator John McCain is kind of going after him on that issue saying that he would do the same. But he needs Senator Obama to also agree to do that. Of course, Senator Obama has been saying that he has to secure the nomination first. So we start to see tensions picking up a little bit more between Senator John McCain looking over to the Democratic nominee as the dynamics certainly are changing on the Republican side. And the Republican candidates were here in Wisconsin. They are going to be back again before Tuesday's primary. We're going to be hearing from both Senator John McCain and Mike Huckabee and we'll also be hearing from Senator Hillary Clinton. We're going to take a short break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL where we bring you the candidates unfiltered in their own words, often live. We want to bring you to a live event. We just heard a little bit from Barack Obama earlier. We promise to balance him out with plenty from the other candidates, but he's just shown up in Eau Claire, speaking at the University of Wisconsin. So we want to bring some of his live remarks to you. Let's listen in.

OBAMA: -- a politics that wasn't based on tearing each other down but was based on lifting the country up. A politics that wasn't based on spin and PR, but a politics that was based on being honest and truthful, straightforward with the American people about how we're going to meet the challenges ahead. Most of all, I was betting on you. The American people, because some of you know I now live in Chicago, but I'm not originally from Chicago. I moved there after college to work with churches who had set up an organization to try to deal with the devastation of steel plants that had closed. Thousands of people had been laid off. So I worked as an organizer bringing together people from all different walks of life to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after-school programs for youth and to bring economic development to communities that had fallen on hard times. And it was the best education I ever had because it taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they are given a chance. And so -- and so I am always reminded that change in America doesn't happen from the top down. Change happens from the bottom up. Change happens because the people decide to bring about a new direction in the country. And I believed that the American people were a generous people and a decent people willing to work hard and sacrifice on behalf of future generations. And I was absolutely convinced that if we could just get past all the divisions that are set up in our politics. Divisions of race and religion and region, if we could bring together blacks and whites and Hispanics and Asians and native Americans and young and old and rich and poor and, even yes, Democrats and Republicans, then I believe that there was no problem we could not solve. We could challenge the special interests and challenge ourselves to be better, and there was no destiny that we could not fulfill.

And I'm here to report, Eau Claire, that after campaigning for 13 months now, after crisscrossing the state and shaking thousands of hands and eating hundreds of chicken dinners and giving I don't know how many speeches, I am here to report that my bet has paid off and my faith in the American people has been vindicated because everywhere I go, people are standing up and saying they want to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history. (Cheers and applause)

Yes we can!

Yes, we can! OBAMA: Yes, we can do it. Now we've been just seeing enormous interest in this election. Turnout has been double in most states in each of the early states where we've had elections. And young people especially have been turning out in record numbers. Nobody has ever seen it in a generation. People are watching the debates and they're reading position papers. I would like to take credit for all of this. But I have to confess that this really doesn't just have to do with me. I mean, part of what's going on as people know that no matter what else happens, they will be going into the ballot box next -- this coming November to select the next president of the United States and the one thing they know for sure is that the name George W. Bush will not be on the ballot. And that has everybody pretty excited. The name of my cousin Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot. Some of you may have read about that. It turns out we have some distant ancestor in common. And when they do these genealogical surveys, you are hoping you are related to somebody cool. So Dick Cheney -- that's kind of a letdown. But that's ok. His name won't be on the ballot. 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 that you're here today. People don't want to just be against something. People want to be for something. People want to feel that we can come together and really go after the big problems that we face and those problems everybody feels them. I know this because I've been in conversation with the American people. And everywhere I go, the stories they tell me are stories of struggle and stories of hardship. I can't tell you how many people I meet who, after 20 years on the job suddenly find their jobs shipped overseas. And they don't just lose their job, they lose their health care, they lose their pensions. They are working at a 7- buck-an-hour job trying to figure out how to make ends meet. Some thought they were going to be able to retire and suddenly they have to put off retirement. They are 70, 75 years old. Still working just to make sure that they can afford the health care. All across this country, I meet families who have lost their health care, leaving children without health insurance or sometimes the parents get the insurance for their kids but they don't get it for themselves. All across this country, I meet teachers who are working second jobs just to pay the rent or I meet teachers who are digging in their own pockets --

YELLIN: Barack Obama you're listening to right there speaking to a -- an audience at a college campus. Always an environment that receives him with extreme warmth. We are going to take now a very quick break. But when we come back, we're going to bring you, first of all, we'll bring you Senator Clinton later on in the hour. But we're also going to bring you some of the Republicans after our break, both John McCain and Mike Huckabee. So stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back. You are watching CNN's BALLOT BOWL, a chance for you to hear directly from the candidates unfiltered. I'm Mary Snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Wisconsin has its primary on Tuesday. However, Republican candidates are not here today. Senator John McCain taking a break this weekend from the campaign trail. He is gearing up for what is expected to be a big endorsement on Monday. He's traveling to Houston and it's expected that former President Bush will endorse Senator John McCain. This as McCain moves closer toward being the Republican nominee. However, he is still being challenged by Mike Huckabee who is vowing to go on, despite impossible math. He says he will stay in this race until there are enough delegates to name a nominee. Senator John McCain was campaigning here in Wisconsin yesterday. But on Thursday, he was in the northeast and he campaigned in Burlington, Vermont. Here's a little bit of what Senator McCain had to say on the campaign trail in Vermont.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I would like to say, as you know, Governor Huckabee is still in this race. I respect his candidacy, and I respect his continued participation in this race. And I will respect that and we will continue to campaign hard. I will also campaign hard if we are fortunate enough to get the nomination all over this country. I will take my campaign everywhere in the United States of America if I am the nominee of the party. My friends, I will not concede a single vote or a single state to my opponent because I believe that the United States of America is going to have -- is going to have the opportunity -- the opportunity to have very stark differences in philosophy and view of the role of government. I proudly stand before you as a conservative Republican that believes in less government, lower taxes, less regulation, that families make decisions on health care and not government, and that I can provide this nation security, and I have the experience and knowledge and background.

So we will have stark differences. That debate will be respectful. But there's no doubt in my mind that we have a difference between either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama and myself. I want to lower your taxes. They want to raise your taxes. I want to have less government and they want more government. They believe that government is the solution to your problem. I believe that the ingenuity and innovation and the individual strength of America lies with the family and small businesses across America and across Vermont. I believe -- I believe that this nation faces a transcendent threat of radical Islamic extremism, and I believe that my knowledge, my experience, my background and my judgment qualifies me to take on that with no on-the-job training. No on-the-job training. I'd like to talk to you just for a minute about our economy. You know that the economy is in tough shape right now, that we've got enormous challenges. And let me just start out by saying, I believe the fundamentals of our economy are still strong. We're still the greatest innovator, the greatest exporter, the greatest innovator, the greatest producer in the world and we will continue to be so. But we also know that we have some difficulties and some challenge. Let's take them on. Let's face them and let's fix them. That's what America is all about, my friends and I know that we can.

And the other thing I want to talk to you about that's contributed to all these problems, obviously is the wasteful, disgraceful, out of control, pork barrel spending which has destroyed the confidence and trust of the American people in our government. Now, my friends, we Republicans lost the 2006 election not because of the war in Iraq. But we lost the 2006 election because our Republican base became dispirited because we let spending get completely out of control and we presided over the biggest increase in the size of government since the great society. And, my friends, by the way, $35 billion in the last two years were signed into law of big spending projects. Of these large appropriations bills, $35 billion were earmarks. Projects like the $3 million you spent to study the DNA of bears in Montana.

I don't know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but it was your money. It was your money. And, of course, everybody now knows, everybody now knows of the bridge to nowhere. The $233 million bridge to an island in Alaska with 50 people on it. Now that same $35 billion, ok, could have meant $1,000 tax credit for every single child in America. Now what do you think American families want? A thousand dollar tax credit or a bridge to nowhere?

When I'm president of the United States, there will be no more earmarked pork barrel spending. I will veto every bill. I will veto every bill.

And I proudly stand before you, my friends. I proudly stand before you to tell you that in my 24 years in Congress, I have never asked for nor received an earmark pork barrel project from my state and my state is doing pretty well.

Now I want to talk to you for a moment climate change. I use the word climates change today -- oh, before I leave that subject. By the way, on the front page of the "Washington Post" this morning was an article about, guess what, earmarked projects. And it mentioned that the senator from Arizona, John McCain had not asked for nor received a single earmark project. That is in keeping with my record.

The senator from New York, Senator Clinton had gotten $342 million worth of earmark pork barrel projects. The senator from Illinois, because he's junior, had only gotten about $92 million according to that article, and the senator from Illinois, who says that he wants transparency in government, will not reveal the number of earmarks that he received in 2006 and 2005.

Is that transparency in government? I don't think so. I don't think so. So I call on the senator -- Senator Obama from Illinois go ahead and tell the American people how much money in earmarked projects and pork barrel projects that he got for his state and what they were for. And, my friends, examine my record on earmark and pork barrel projects and you will see a big fat zero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: There you have Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain speaking in Vermont earlier this week, on Thursday. You hear him hitting a familiar theme on the campaign trail, cutting wasteful government spending. You also hear him mentioning Democratic presidential hopefuls Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator McCain keeping an eye toward the general election and sharpening contrasts between himself and Democratic presidential contenders as he moves closer to securing the Republican nomination. However, Mike Huckabee is not giving up. He is competing here in Wisconsin. He's not out on the trail today. But he has been and saying that he's going to stick in the race. We're going to be hearing from him later on.

Also, we're going to be hear on the Democratic side from Senator Hillary Clinton and we'll take a closer look at the race for delegates. CNN's Bill Schneider is going to be joining us. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin in Wisconsin. We want to talk now for a little bit about the delegate totals on the Democratic side of this race. As we all keep hearing so much during this election season, it's all about who gets to that magic number 2025 delegates by the time the Democratic convention rolls around. Right now, Barack Obama by CNN's estimate, has 1,262 delegates. Senator Clinton not far behind with 1,213 delegates. Of course, John Edwards who has suspended his campaign left with his 26 delegates still aligned with him. Now these are all pledged delegates. On a conference call with the Clinton campaign this morning, Harold Ickes, one of the state elders of the Democratic Party and someone work with Senator Clinton said that he believes neither Obama nor Clinton will go to the national convention with that magic number of 2025. 2,025 delegates. He says neither one will have it which throws open the question, how does the Democratic Party choose their candidate?

I want to bring in now our colleague Bill Schneider who is our resident numbers guru and we like to call him Professor Schneider in the newsroom because we can always go in and ask him a question like, Bill, what happens if. So let me put this to you, Bill. What happens if neither one of these candidates gets that magic number, 2,025 by the time the Democratic convention rolls around?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN ANALYST: If nobody has a majority than clearly the decision will be up to those remaining superdelegates who will then have the balance of power to make either Clinton or Obama the party nominee. But here's one other important consideration. The superdelegates are not going to contravene the will of the people. If the pledged delegates show an edge for either Clinton or Obama, I believe the superdelegates will simply confirm whoever had -- whichever candidate has the edge in the popular vote.

I think for them to say the people have preferred one candidate, but we're going to nominate the other, that way invites catastrophe because they are contradicting the will of the people. And the last time that happened, the Democrats were in very bad shape. It was in 1968 in Chicago.

YELLIN: Let me ask you this, Bill, because you could determine the will of the people by a couple of different scenarios. It could either be the popular vote, whichever candidate has the most total votes or caucus support. Or it could be whoever won the most delegates. And it's possible one person has more votes. The other person has more delegates. So which one reflects the true will of the people?

SCHNEIDER: Well then, if the people won't express their will, if there's something close to a dead heat, it's going to be very, very tough. The rules say the pledged delegates are the expression of the will of the people and my guess is that the pledged delegates, pledged delegates will prevail. But it is theoretically possible for one candidate to claim more supporters and the other candidate to claim more pledged delegates. It could happen because of caucus votes.

You know, caucuses have much lower turnout than primaries. So it's -- you need fewer voters to win caucus delegates than primary delegates. Then what you are inviting is a real showdown over whether caucuses should be given equal weight with primaries. The rules say, yes, they should. That's the way the rules are. I think we learned in 2000 that Americans believe in the rules. When the Supreme Court made its decision, there was a surprising willingness to abide by that decision, even though many Americans thought it was partisan and unfair. In the case of the convention, I think the pledged delegates are likely to hold sway over the superdelegates.

YELLIN: You are talking about a showdown. There could be another kind of showdown which is over Florida and Michigan's place at the convention. Both states, the DNC decided, the Democratic Party, that they would not have their delegated seated at the convention because of intricate party rules. Senator Clinton's campaign has made it clear again in a conference call that they are going to contest this and say there is a record high turnout in both states. It would be disenfranchising the voters if their delegates don't count. They are going to fight this and insist their delegates do count. Who gets to decide if they count or not?

SCHNEIDER: The credentials committee can make the initial decision and then, of course, it could go to the convention floor, which means whoever has more delegates on the floor will be able to make that decision.

This is a very tough one because there are conflicting principles, competing principles at stake. Hillary Clinton, as you just indicated, argues that you had 2.3 million people voting in Florida and Michigan that should not be disenfranchised. The Obama people say, we abided by the rules. Barack Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan. So how can you say it was a fair contest? There was no campaign in Florida and Michigan. The best known candidate, Hillary Clinton won the beauty contests in both states that the Democratic National Committee said would select no delegates. So that's a tough race and could go to the credentials committee, which is why the chairman of the Democratic Party and leaders of the Democratic Party say we have to work this out before the convention. We don't want to see a fight on the convention floor. That could get very ugly.

YELLIN: All right. Whoever thought we'd all learn so much about the Democratic convention's rules? Looks like we'll have a lot more to learn before this is all over. Thank you, Bill Schneider, as always, for trying to make a very complicated scenario very clear.

And we want to now turn back to the primary purpose of BALLOT BOWL to give you the candidates in their own words. We're going to bring you some Hillary Clinton. She was speaking in the State of Ohio, in Warren, Ohio. She has said that her campaign has to win there in order to get to the nomination. Let's listen how she's fighting for those votes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, over the years, you've heard plenty of promises from plenty of people in plenty of speeches. And some of those speeches were probably pretty good. But speeches don't put food on the table. Speeches don't fill up your tank. Speeches don't fill your prescriptions or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night. That's the difference between me and my Democratic opponent. My opponent makes speeches. I offer solutions.

It's one thing to get people excited. I want to empower you. This is not about me. This is about you. How I help you live up to your dreams so we can all go forward together. There's a lot of talk in this campaign about what kind of change will bring. Well, you know change is going to happen whether we want it or not. Change is part of life. The question is, who will deliver progress to America? That's the kind of change we want. We want progress, not just any old change.

Now my opponent says he'll take on the special interests. Well, he told people he stood up to the nuclear industry and passed a bill against them. But he actually let the nuclear industry water down his bill and the bill never actually passed. On top of that, the same company that watered down that bill lobbied for Dick Cheney's energy bill. And my opponent voted for that energy bill with its billions of dollars of tax breaks for the oil industry. I voted against it. I think I was right. And that's what I will fight for.

My opponent says he'll stand up for workers. And he often talks about the plight of Maytag workers in his home State of Illinois. But the union at that plant supports me because when - when 1,600 jobs were being lost, they say he didn't do a thing to help them. My opponent says he will cut health care costs more aggressively than I do. But as an independent analysis shows, the most effective way to lower costs is to really cover everyone. His health care plan doesn't, but mine does.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: Senator Hillary Clinton speaking in Ohio offering, as her campaign says, promises -- policy solutions for all those folks hit so hard by the economic downturn.

We are going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll bring you new developments, some breaking news about the shooting in DeKalb, Illinois. And of course after that, more BALLOT BOWL. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. More of BALLOT BOWL in a moment. But first this update. New details about the emotional state of the student who opened fire at Northern Illinois University. Steven Kazmierczak was armed with four guns and killed five students before taking his own life. According to the Associated Press and CNN affiliates, Kazmierczak spent time in a psychiatric facility after high school.

Police say he had become erratic in the past two weeks after he stopped taking his medication. They didn't say what it was. The medication, that is. Our Don Lemon is in DeKalb with new developments on what you've been learning there on the ground, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have some new developments about the investigation, Fredricka. Take a look at this. Take a look at these photos. Could the shooter have stayed in a motel right near the campus just before he went on that shooting spree? Well, that's a possibility because investigators are looking at a laptop that they confiscated from the Travel Lodge motel just yesterday.

I want you to take a look at these pictures of this motel room where they found this laptop and some other things they confiscated. And then today, CNN was on the scene as they were cleaning up that room, vacuuming that room after investigators had been there. Also, we were there when investigators were on the scene for a second time at least at the motel and we tried to talk to them about why they were back at the motel and what the significance was in all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is there anything you guys can tell us about this computer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I don't have any information about that.

LEMON: You don't know if it's the same guy that checked in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't release that information.

LEMON: Why did you come back to talk to the hotel, the motel owners again? Who are you guys with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: City of DeKalb.

LEMON: But you can't tell us why you came back a second time to talk to them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not right now.

LEMON: And nothing about the computer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing about the computer.

LEMON: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a good day.

LEMON: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now here is why this is so interesting. The person who checked into this hotel on Monday, his name was Steve. On the registry, though, his name was illegible. We managed to talk to the hotel manager who -- the manager's wife. The manager checked the person into the hotel and we talked to the wife just moments ago.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So you called police after he didn't come back?

RUPAL PATEL, MANAGER'S WIFE: No.

LEMON: How did police get here?

PATEL: He was looking at every motels and he said this person stayed here and I -- he gave me the name. So I saw him.

LEMON: So police called you looking for this person?

PATEL: Yeah.

LEMON: And asking about ...

PATEL: The person.

LEMON: And the computer?

PATEL: Yeah.

LEMON: What did they say about the computer?

PATEL: They say anybody forget computer in the room? And like check-out people, you know, the housekeeper clean all rooms and I say nobody found it, but that's the one room left. So they went to check it.

LEMON: Where is the registry where he signed his name?

PATEL: Police have it.

LEMON: Police have the registry?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Police have the registry and they also have that laptop computer that they are looking at now. Also, they brought in the bomb squad who swept that room and they also have other items that they found from the room. Clothing, suitcases and those sorts of things. We're on this investigation here in northern Illinois. As soon as we have more, we'll get back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Don, any way of knowing how long he may have been staying at that motel?

LEMON: He was staying at the hotel. He checked in on Monday. Here's what's interesting. As I said. Checked in on Monday. Signed in the registry as Steve. Tuesday they asked him if he needed maid service. He said no and then he still has not come back. No sign of the person who came -- who checked into the room and as we know, today is Saturday.

WHITFIELD: All right. Don Lemon, thanks so much in DeKalb, Illinois.

Well, police are seeking details of a street racing wreck that left eight people dead in Maryland. Witnesses say a sedan hit a crowd of onlookers after two competing cars sped by. The deadly crash occurred on Route 210, a strip of state highway about 15 miles south of Washington, DC. At least six people were injured.

Hard at work in space. The crews of the Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station are outfitting a new science lab. They worked on the outside of the lab yesterday setting up sun gazing equipment and several experiments. Atlantis is scheduled to leave the space station Monday and return to Earth Wednesday.

And those are the news headlines. We'll return to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08 right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL where we bring you the candidates unfiltered in their own words. Now we take you to a picture of Barack Obama who is still speaking in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We brought you some of his comments earlier this hour. And we will go back to Obama and all the other candidates in the coming hours. As we continue to monitor that event, I want to bring in CNN's Josh Levs who has been looking at some of the candidate' Websites on the Democratic sides and has found some interesting things. Josh, let me ask you. Your assignment today really is to surf the Web?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I guess I got lucky, huh? Yes. Nice and comfortable and warm. I got plenty of water in here. As you know, what a lot of them are doing is really is focusing on raising money, especially on the Democratic side. One of the main ways they do that is over the Internet. We have a separate camera set up here right here pointing at my computer. I want to show you what's going on.

This is really interesting. This is the Hillary Clinton site. I'm going to refresh it. So you can see what happens. She had a system in place where they were doing a million calls within a brief period of time. She must be having a lot of traffic right now. It didn't refresh right away. Look at that. It's filling it. I only checked it up a couple days. I only saw it a couple days ago at 100,000. They are already at 1.2 million calls, close to 1.3. So clearly, they are getting people going on the ground pushing for money and for support. In the upcoming states all looking at March 4th, the so-called next Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, this is Barack Obama's site. I find this really interesting as well. If you look at his site right now. Obviously, the "Yes We Can" video, very prominent. But what they are aiming for in time for March 4th, 500,000 new donations. Look where they already are this far in advance. Already about 450,000 donations. That's just since they started about a week ago. So a -- a couple of weeks ago.

So we're talking about a great deal of new donations coming in in advance of March 4th. Clearly, both of them very tight. Now Jessica, as you know, we spend a lot of time talking about the serious stuff here. I also want to tell everybody, they use their Web sites to get out lighter message to play a little bit to that cool factor. I want to show you right now something the Clinton campaign has going on. Maybe in the wake of "Yes We Can." What they are doing is playing with this idea that maybe Hillary Clinton isn't the coolest person in the world but she has something to offer. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, Hillary just quit the band.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was like, why? He goes, Hillary is running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: All right. So there you go. You're getting the main idea. They are like, obviously she's not this great guitarist. She's a president with a platform. She is getting some pretty good traffic on their site. They hooked up with YouTube. They have got that one going. Not to be outdone, Barack Obama has something I've never seen a candidate do before. Must be new in this election, I think. That is ring tones. Take a look at what he's offering now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, everybody. This is Barack Obama.

We can have universal health care in this country. We can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Yes, every time your phone rings you can hear that message from Barack Obama. He is putting his money where your mouth is. Obviously, we're taking a look at what they are offering people in general. Trying to reach new people who they haven't reached yet in the remaining states. And as we keep saying, over and over, really neck and neck in so many ways. All right. Jessica, I'm going to keep an eye on the websites and follow as the numbers go up and see how many more days it takes to hit the key numbers they are looking for. The kind of money that comes in. And yeah, I'll be comfy here. You keep chasing them around the country. How is that?

YELLIN: That sounds great. Great for you. Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: Let me say quickly cnnpolitics.com. You can see all of this. Thanks.

YELLIN: Nice plug. I am not surprised I was going to say that Senator Clinton was made the guitarist. Remember that YouTube video of her singing the "Star Spangl'd Banner"?

LEVS: They don't want to remind anybody of that. It's just too painful. But later on this afternoon if you stick around, we're going to hear John McCain singing. And honestly, I think they could have a bad singing competition.

YELLIN: Mmm. That sounds painful. Thanks, Josh. That's CNN's Josh Levs keeping us up to date on what's on the Web.

When we come back, we'll bring you some from the Republican side, both John McCain and Huckabee on the stump. So stay with us.

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