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Continuation of Campaign Coverage

Aired March 02, 2008 - 18:00   ET

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

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: What I do know is that 141 delegates are at stake in Ohio for the Democrats and Senator Clinton vying very hard to win that state. As you said, she was speaking in Akron, Ohio, just moments ago. She's wrapped up her speech now but we want to bring you some of what she said just a little while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) NY: The next president of the United States is going to walk into that Oval Office January 20th, 2009, and what's going to be waiting? Two wars, two wars. Yeah, somebody said a mess. That's for sure.

I think that it was mayor. Did the mayor say that? A mess. You know, two wars an economy that's not working for most people, more and more folks losing their health care, more and more people losing their homes. I mean, every day that goes by it just seems like nobody's home at the White House. Gas is going up. People aren't sure how they're going to afford to drive to work.

At the end of the day, everything is costing more, but wages aren't going up, people feel like they're invisible, that their president doesn't see them or hear them. But I know that we can turn this around. For every problem there's a solution in America. It just takes us rolling up our sleeves and working together.

You know, I've laid out very specific plans for what I do because I want you to hold me accountable. I don't want to be one of these people running for office. Oh, you know, I come and you got the bright lights and all the cameras and I give you this big old speech and everybody feels good and you walk out and you turn to your neighbor and you say, well, that was beautiful but what did it mean? What's going to happen? What can I count on? How is it going to change my life? Help my children, give me a better future?

So that's why I've been very specific, because when I tell you I'm going to work to turn the economy around, I want you to come to that White House and say, I hurt you in Akron, when are you going produce those jobs to give me a better life for me and my kids?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton in Akron, Ohio, earlier today. She made a charge right there but -- she didn't name Barack Obama but we know what she's saying when she said her opponent gives lofty speeches that are short on specifics. That's her charge. Barack Obama in a question and answer period at an event in Nelsonville, Ohio, earlier today took on that criticism head on. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Politics goes in cycles. And there's flux.

And when I first got into the race we had a couple of big rallies right after I announced and I made a couple of big speeches. Then we started having a lot of town hall meetings like this. It was interesting that some of the reporters started criticizing the fact that I sounded like a policy wonk. I was like a professor. I would be talking all these details and explaining how we were going to apply tax credits to rural communities and how we were going to do this and do that. They said, boy, this is boring. Whatever happened to the really exciting guy we saw at the Boston convention. Then we started getting a lot of momentum and suddenly we were having these big crowds and I was making a big speech. And they said, this guy, he just makes speeches all the time. And so, you know, it goes in cycles.

But your point, I think, is well taken, which is, I think the American people feel like nobody's been fighting for them in Washington. They feel as if Washington is where money and influence converge to take advantage of laws and loopholes and tax havens, and deals are cut. And that working families are left out in the cold and don't have a voice and aren't heard.

And the truth is over the last seven and a half years that is -- there's a lot of truth to that. And part of what is happening in this campaign is that ordinary families who I meet all across the country are saying enough is enough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: All right. Both the candidates in Ohio scoring or hoping to score a touchdown with voters. Hillary Clinton going for a grand slam on Tuesday. But the scoreboard is too close to call at this point, Jim. That's my best attempt with mixing sports metaphors. Back to you in New York, Jim.

ACOSTA: OK. ESPN's Jessica Yellin, thanks so much. No, just kidding there. A little too early for the Gatorade shower for Barack Obama, I would say, at this point. He's still going to have to win this one. It sounds, when you listen to Hillary Clinton, that she is the Eli Manning to his Tom Brady at this point. But I won't belabor the point. We've made enough of this as already.

Jessica, talk to you in a minute. On the Republican side, I just want to mention that we will be getting to some sound from John McCain in just a moment. He is taking it easy this weekend. Just an indication there as to how concerned he is about these upcoming contests on Tuesday. He is at his home in Arizona. Apparently hosting a barbecue to which I was not invited, with members of the media and lawmakers who are obviously supporting his campaign. And so John McCain taking it easy this weekend. But Mike Huckabee meanwhile is filling that gap out on the campaign trail down in Texas. He picked up the endorsement of I guess you could call it, a re- endorsement today from "The Dallas Morning News." "The Dallas Morning News" had previously endorsed Mike Huckabee but wanted to reiterate its support today.

We just want to read a piece of that to you, that re-endorsement from "The Dallas Morning News" says, "We look forward to having him around," talking about Mike Huckabee, "to help shape and lead the Republican Party beyond November. That's why we encourage Texas Republicans to mark their ballots for Mr. Huckabee in the GOP primary. And I want to turn now to my colleague Mary Snow who is also in Houston. And we won't want to get into what Mary and Jessica are doing after BALLOT BOWL, but, Mary, obviously lots of politics can be talked about around that table. But Mary, Mike Huckabee is hanging tough. He is staying in this race. And he is not going anywhere for the moment.

I guess there is some talk that even if he loses a clean sweep for McCain, if it is a clean sweep for McCain on Tuesday he may continue this campaign, is that right?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Mike Huckabee is really kind of dodging these questions about his future intent. Today he was in Houston this morning and reporters asked him about his future. Trying to pin him down on what exactly what will happen after Texas. And he said, you know, it's for others to decide his future at this point. He hasn't made any definitive statement about his future.

Although he keeps saying that until somebody gets the 1,191 delegates need to clinch the Republican nomination he's going to keep on fights and he's resisting suggestions that he step aside. And his real hope is for a brokered convention. But to put in a sports analogy there, Jim, since you're so fond of them, he would need a Hail Mary pass here on Tuesday in order to really stay alive in this campaign. Although that endorsement reiterating the endorsement from "The Dallas Morning News" was certainly a boost for him. Although "The Dallas Morning News" points out in its endorsement, it initially endorsed him in December and today reiterated it, saying that John McCain is likely the nominee.

But the paper feels, as you pointed out that Mike Huckabee has a place. Although "The Dallas Morning News" did not agree with him on his social conservative issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. He is opposed to both. "The Dallas Morning News" says he is on the wrong side of the issues although conservatives that he really is speaking to.

This morning after attending a church service here in Houston he spoke with reporters about the endorsement which, of course, he welcomed and why he's staying in the race. Let's listen to Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What is the hurry? What is the big hurry here? I guess I fail to see it. The Democrats are still having a primary. And all these people for the last two or three weeks have been saying let's hurry and get ours over with. What's the hurry? It's March. It's barely March. We just turned the page on the calendar. The convention isn't until September. This entire election season for voting has been going on for less now than two months.

We have six or seven months before the convention. And another two months after that until we have the election. So I'm not understanding why some people are in such a rush to get this settled when I don't know that there's, you know, a bomb sitting under anybody's chair that's going to go off if we don't have the nominee all settled before we get through Texas and Ohio and then we go on to places like Mississippi and Pennsylvania and Nebraskan and North Carolina. Now, maybe there's some urgent need that we have to get this settled but nobody's explained to me what that is.

QUESTION: It's seeming like the party is going to remain fractured perhaps as long as you're in here taking the conservatives when McCain's trying to attain to pull together the conservatives and moderates.

HUCKABEE: First of all, I would argue that the party will come together when the nominee is selected. And we have a long history in our party of not having people bail before the elections and the primaries are over. Ronald Reagan didn't pull out in 1976 just because some people thought he should and, you know, you look at the history of John McCain. There's an example. He didn't pull out in 2000, even when it was pretty inevitable that George W. Bush was going to be the nominee and he kept his delegates and his campaign going for quite a while longer. So for us to suddenly act as if there's a different urgency in 2008 than there was in 2000 and 1976 or 1980, any time we've had a primary, I'm not sure what that is. And if somebody can present that to me I would be happy to read it but I haven't seen it yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: There you have Mike Huckabee earlier this morning here in Houston, Texas, answering questions from reporters as he fights hard in Texas. He believes that he has a strong shot here because he believes he can have a good showing among social conservatives. And, Jim, you know, he really has packed his scheduled tomorrow. He has ten of them throughout Texas where he'll be campaigning. He also has been joined in recent days by Chuck Norris who lives here in Texas. By the way, I know you've been talking about that John McCain barbecue, he and Chuck Norris had a barbecue a couple of weeks ago in Texas that was supposed to drum up support and Chuck Norris is back with him on the campaign trail and Mike Huckabee is hoping to make a statement here in the Lone Star State. Jim?

Mary, you mentioned that Hail Mary pass, he needs an asteroid to hit the playing field, I think is what Mike Huckabee needs at this point.

But thanks very much, Mary and now we want to talk about John McCain a little bit. But before we do that we want to get you caught up on the delegate count just to show you just how far back Mike Huckabee is and how difficult -- how impossible really this is for Mike Huckabee to catch John McCain. Here is the delegate count on the Republican side, 1,191 needed. John McCain at 1,033. Mitt Romney technically not in the race but ahead of Mike Huckabee with 255 to Mike Huckabee's 247.

So there you see the very difficult, almost impossible math for Mike Huckabee as these contests come up on Tuesday. But we want to turn to some sound from John McCain because he was out on the campaign trail, nonetheless, in Texas, in north Texas last week. He was in Richardson, which is right outside Dallas, where there's a lot of technology jobs, Texas Instruments is there. And so John McCain was talking about jobs. And the bleak economic picture that we're all facing right now, and John McCain was saying that essentially what is needed in this country to deal with that difficult economic picture is a better educated workforce and perhaps some re-education opportunities for displaced workers. Here's John McCain on jobs in North Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think obviously education is one of the keys to us having a trained and qualified workforce. And very briefly, I believe in choice and competition in the schools. I also believe that charter schools work in competition with public schools. I think we ought to make student loans far more affordable.

And you may have noticed that one of the major universities that has this huge endowment said that anybody who comes from a family of less than $100,000 income, then they can go to that university for free. I would like to see that particularly with our wealthier universities and have it filter all of the way down.

We've got to try do a lot better job in making a quality education available to all young Americans and that means student loans that are repayable and also organizations that can do that.

Look, these are difficult times. These are difficult times particularly in a state like Ohio that I just came from. And they're tough in Michigan. And one of the things we really have to do that's of vital importance and I'll end with this because it's a long subject, is there are displaced workers in America today, my friends, and these displaced workers unfortunately and even tragically at an early age have lost their jobs that maybe their fathers and grandfathers had, including particularly in the automobile industry in Detroit.

They're not prepared to do another line of work. We have to have education and training programs that work and the community colleges are the places to go to bring about a training and education programs that work and can prepare them for this new technology so they can come here and work, so they can apply for a job here rather than say that their lives are finished, their working lives are finished.

And we have to spend a lot of time on that. The present retraining programs and unemployment insurance programs were designed for the 1950s when there would be an economic downturn, somebody would be out of a job and then the economy got better and they went back to the same job. That's not happening. That's not happening. We've got to train and educate these people. It is a - it is a Judeo-Christian valued nations and an obligation that we have and we are not doing it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: So there is John McCain in North Texas, standing in front of the former majority leader Dick Armey. And Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas who has been mentioned for a potential running mate for John McCain after he clinches the nomination. Some people saying if you're going to have an African American or woman on the Democratic side it might make sense to fill that spot on the back end of the ticket on the Republican side with somebody like Kay Bailey Hutchison. Want to call your attention to Tuesday night, a coverage note. CNN will be bridging you our ELECTION CENTER starting at 7:00 p.m. For coverage of the big primary on Tuesday night, Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. Tune in to CNN on Tuesday night at 7:00 for CNN ELECTION CENTER right here on CNN.

And I want to turn it back to my colleague Jessica Yellin who is down in Houston. Jessica?

YELLIN: Hey, Jim. Well, we are going to take a quick break. But on the other side of the break we're going to talk to Bill Schneider who is going to give us the lay of the land in Rhode Island. That is a state that only has 21 of the 370 delegates up for grabs on the Democratic side on Tuesday. But Obama and Clinton vying hard for it so tune in to check in with Bill Schneider.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin coming to you from Houston, Texas. But moving into the snowy Northeast we find our Bill Schneider who is staking out a spot in Rhode Island where though they have just 21 of the 370 delegates at stake in Tuesday's primary for the Democrats, the terrain is being very hotly contested by both Senators Clinton and Obama. What is the state of play there, Bill?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you want to know how tight this democratic race is? Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are fighting over Rhode Island, tiny Rhode Island!

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Is Rhode Island worth fighting over. The state has only 32 delegates and it's supposed to be Clinton territory.

DARRYL WEST, BROWN UNIVERSITY: Both she and Bill have spent a lot of time here. They have made almost annual pilgrimages to the state. Much of the state's political establishment supports Hillary Clinton.

SCHNEIDER: Last weekend, Hillary Clinton showed up in Rhode Island.

H. CLINTON: I love Rhode Island. I've been here many times.

SCHNEIDER: But guess who showed up on Saturday and spoke in the same arena to an audience three times as large as Clinton's.

OBAMA: Thank you, Rhode Island.

SCHNEIDER: Does Obama really believe he has a chance in Rhode Island? It is the most Catholic state and Catholic voters have tended to favor Hillary Clinton in primary after primary.

The latest Rhode Island poll shows Clinton with a single digit lead over Obama. Obama senses an opportunity to score an upset and Rhode Island voters are thrilled by all the attention.

WEST: There's a tremendous amount of excitement. It is the Off Broadway venue. But in this presidential campaign we're right in the middle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my 14 years I've never seen Rhode Island be relevant in the primaries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's more national attention here for this primary than we've ever had in the years I've been voting.

SCHNEIDER: What's at stake in Rhode Island? For Hillary Clinton, everything.

WEST: I think Hillary Clinton does have to win Rhode Island, because in terms of the politics and demography of this state, it is tailor made for her. If she can not win in Rhode Island, she is not going to be the next nominee of the Democratic Party.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (on camera): Rhode Island is not a swing state. It is the most reliably Democratic state in the country. If Hillary Clinton loses Rhode Island, it means she's losing the Democratic Party base. Jessica?

YELLIN: Thank you, Bill. And just a point of clarification, in bill's package he said 32 delegates are at stake, that includes the superdelegates. I was quoting the figure 21 delegates. That is the pledged number. This is all so endlessly confusing, isn't it, but we'll try to keep it straight or you. And we are going to have more BALLOT BOWL and CNN's Ali Velshi on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in New York. From what we're affectionately referring to as BALLOT BOWL field, we now want to turn to my colleague Ali Velshi who is down in Texas. He has been taking the pulse of the voters down in the Lone Star State.

And Ali, is clearly enjoying himself down in Texas as we can see from the Texas Longhorns shirt protruding from that leather jacket. And, Ali, you've been taking the pulse of voters. ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I knew you were going to say something about this. Jessica got me into trouble.

ACOSTA: Have you been doing any of this, the hook 'em horns thing? Have you picked that up? I imagine you have.

VELSHI: I'd better be careful because Jessica mentioned it and Roland Martin who graduated along with much of his family from Texas A&M is now alerting all the Aggies to the fact that I am wearing a University of Texas shirt. I like it because I thought the color was flattering and little steer is slimming on me. I'm here in Junction, Texas. We are on what has been called the front porch of West Texas. It's -- this town is basically a center for people who are ranchers, or go out and hunt. There's some industry in this town as well. I've run into a lot of Republicans in this town and some Democrats. But I did run into one woman who is not believing the hogwash on TV about how Huckabee isn't going to make it and he isn't, you know, when is he going to step out and all that kind of stuff. Here's what she told me about why she's supporting Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE KOTHMANN, CAFÉ OWNER: There's just something about Huckabee I like. You know, he's a Christian. You know, I try not to just, you know, do race or sexuality or religion, but there's just something about him I like and I feel like he's been kind of kicked to the curb and people have forgotten about him. I then, Obama, you just see so much positive about him on TV. You know, I really like them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Now, Jim, all through Texas I have run through a couple of themes. One is that the inflation and gas prices, the economy in general is the number one concern to most Texans.

I have also met a lot of people who were Republicans, who are thinking about voting Democrat. Now I'm coming into Junction and I'm hearing from people who are not telling me straight out that the economy is their biggest concern. They do seem to be a little more interested in their allegiances to parties. I'm getting people telling me they've been Republican all their life and that's what they are. They are a Democrat all their life.

We had interesting conversation with one woman who said she would like Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination and John McCain to win the Republican nomination because she likes both of them and that would give her the best choice in the end. Lots of flavor that I'm getting here from West Texas. And I'm going to continue to do so over the next few hours.

Jim?

ACOSTA: And I'm curious, Ali, as you're down there in Texas. You mentioned gas prices and of course, Texans, they love their cars. The bigger the better.

VELSHI: Yep.

ACOSTA: But I'm also curious as to what is happening down there with the subprime mortgage crisis. I used to live down in Texas and those exurbs, those suburbs that extend way beyond the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex were growing by leaps and bounds. I'm curious how that crisis is affecting that.

VELSHI: Yeah, that is -- you're absolutely right by pointing out geographically what we're talking about because in the eastern part, in and around Houston, in and around Dallas, Houston has had pretty healthy economy for a while. In and around Dallas you've seen the high house price drop. So foreclosure and home prices are playing out as a bigger deal. There's been a lot of people concentrating on what the candidates are saying about that. Hillary Clinton has had the most distinct platform when it comes to what she wants to do about that. She wants to go further than the plan that was instituted last month by the government.

That is playing in those parts. Out in West Texas we're hearing more about gas prices and inflation because you're absolutely right, people are driving trucks for their own purposes and the farms and ranches and truckers, owner/operators of big trucks that run through this state. Jim?

ACOSTA: Thanks very much, Ali. Reminds me of that Lyle Lovett song watching you down there. "You Say You're Not From Texas But Texas Wants You Anyway."

VELSHI: That's right.

ACOSTA: Glad you're having a good time down there in the Lone Star State, Ali. We'll check back with you later on here on BALLOT BOWL.

And coming up after the break, and Election Day forecast which may figure very prominently out in Ohio. So stick with us. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Back to BALLOT BOWL in a moment. But first a check of headlines.

Investigators in Eastern Texas suggests family disapproval may have been the motive behind yesterday's triple murder in Alba. Mother and two children shot and stabbed to death. The father somehow survived but he is in critical condition. Today their 16-year-old daughter along with three others are charged with three counts of murder. Police think the daughter was dating one of the accused and that the family didn't approve.

Law enforcement officials were searching for a former address of the man linked to the deadly ricin poison. The search began this morning at a Utah home that Roger Von Bergendorf shared with a cousin. Agents also searched three storage units. Ricin was found last week in Von Bergendorf's Las Vegas hotel loom. He is in the hospital reportedly in a coma.

Deaths mounting today from the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The two-day count is more than 70, most of those killed are civilians. The offensive coincides with Hamas rocket attacks into parts of southern Israel. At least 25 of the homemade weapons landed today. But no serious injuries were reported.

The Russians went to the polls to elect a new president, Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev is expected to win handedly and name Putin the country's new prime minister.

He is fresh from war but ready for more. Britain's Prince Harry is back in the loving embrace of friends and royal family. His 10-week long employment to Afghanistan was cut short after the American Web site divulged his military service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, UNITED KINGDOM: I didn't see it coming. Obviously it's a shame. Angry is the wrong word but I am disappointed. I thought I could stay it through to the end and come back with sort of our guys and colonel himself. But I'm back here now and I suppose deep down inside it's quite nice to have a bath, so since I've had a bath it's nice to be back early but, no, I would like to still be over there with the guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The third in line to the royal throne says he's requesting a quick return to duty in Afghanistan. The British media is reporting on a bizarre assassination plot against Mick Jagger in the 1960s. The BBC says the hell's angels once plotted to kill the Rolling Stones front man after he vowed to stop using the motorcycle gang as bouncers. The promise followed the infamous Altamonte rock concert in 1969 where a person was killed. The BBC says gang members planned to surprise Jagger by boat at his Long Island home but all were tossed overboard when a storm swamped their boats.

Hmm. Nasty winter weather is in the forecast for some of the states holding primaries on Tuesday. Just as folks head out to vote, let's check quickly now in with meteorologist Jacqui Jeras to see which states actually might get socked. Hey, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Well, four of them are going to have the primaries on Tuesday. Texas, you're out of the mix. The storms will have already passed you. Looking for good weather for voter there's. One of the states we're really concerned about, however, is Ohio. We think we're going to wake up in the morning to some freezing rain and sleet in the northwestern sliver of the state, but I do think as morning wears on it's going to change over to just a cold rain. Either way, it's going to be overcast. The roads will be a little slick and certainly wet across much of the state.

And then Rhode Island and Vermont look for rain in Rhode Island and Vermont will likely see a little bit of snow and maybe a mix, too. And there you can see the severe storms across parts of the South. (WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Here we go again. All right, Jacqui. Thank you.

I'm Tony Harris. BALLOT BOWL returns in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin in Houston, Texas. We are going to bring you more of the candidates and their surrogates talking the issues. Joining me this hour is Jim Acosta who is holding down the fort in New York City. And our own quarterback on BALLOT BOWL Candy Crowley is back with us. Candy was supposed to be with us earlier but you can't get around the Secret Service when they try to clear you from an event site, Candy. You can't say no to the Secret Service, can you?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can try as we did, but I can tell you that it doesn't work very well. So you know, so we went and hung out at Starbucks. Where else would you go?

Anyway, they've apparently swept the room, so we're back. As you know, Jessica, both these candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have been in Ohio most of the day. Largely working the eastern and some of the central part of Ohio. Here the biggest issue has been the economy as it is everywhere. More specifically, it has been about NAFTA, the North American Free Trade agreement. In Ohio many workers believe that NAFTA was the beginning of the end of the manufacturing base here, it has cost thousands of jobs, first to Mexico and then to China. Not long ago in Akron, Ohio, Hillary Clinton was campaigning and touched on this subject.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

H. CLINTON: We've got to have a new trade policy that says, look, we're not afraid to compete, but don't make us compete with one arm tied behind the back because the other countries are not playing fair and we don't have a level playing field. You know, across Upstate New York I have the same problems and hear the same stories as you see every day here.

You know, factories closing, picking up and moving, children leaving home, a sense that, you know, I've done everything I'm supposed to do and why isn't it working any longer? Well, because your government hasn't done everything it was supposed to do. It hasn't been there watching your back, standing by your side, creating what should be the 21st century economy. So we're going to prevent the disadvantages in the tax code and in trade agreements. I've said I would renegotiate NAFTA, I would say you're doing going to have strong labor and environmental standards in that agreement. They're going enforceable. And no foreign company gets any advantage over us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: You can see what a huge crowd pleaser anti-NAFTA rhetoric is here in Ohio. There are other issues as well. One of the things that has come up in the past couple of days has been who is best to be commander in chief. There has been an ad out from Hillary Clinton which has filled the airwaves about the red phone, the crisis phone in the White House, who do you want to have answer that phone at 3:00 a.m. in the morning. Barack Obama came back and said, well, this is about judgment. Who had the judgment about Iraq. That kind of thing. But there were other issues as well that really have caught on not just here in Ohio, but across the country. And one of them is Barack Obama's constant exhortation to voters saying, listen, we can do this together. There is no need for the partisanship that we've seen, for the gender wars, for race wars, any of that kind of thing. That if we all get together that he can solve some of these problems. So that's one of the issues that he does talk about at nearly every campaign stop. This was earlier in Westerville, Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: We're going to disagree sometimes. What we can make sure of though is that we listen to each other and we're not disagreeable when we disagree. That we can have a calm, honest conversation about how to make this country better.

And by the way, you know, I believe that Republicans want to have a better America. I don't think they're terrible people just because they're Republican. You know, sometimes we start creating this atmosphere where people just can't work together. We should be able to do that.

And finally, and most importantly, finally and most importantly, I want to make sure that you know that I will wake up every single day while I'm in the White House trying to make your lives a little bit better, more importantly, your children and your grandchildren's live as little bit better.

That is -- that will be my focus and I will carry your voices with me when I am president of the United States if you give me that opportunity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And that was Candy Crowley out in Cleveland talking about what's happening on the Democratic side of the race. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton duking it out in anticipation of Tuesday's big primaries in Ohio and Texas.

On the Republican side, not quite the slug fest on the Republican side. I guess if anybody saw Frank Rich's article this morning or column this morning in the "New York Times" talking about John McCain channeling his inner Hillary, you can say that Mike Huckabee is channeling his inner Davey Crockett, promising to fight for the death down in Texas, speaking in front of the Alamo last week, speaking across Texas and insisting that he is still in this race, telling an audience at Baylor University, you can beat me but you can't make me quit.

But as for Mike Huckabee, who is sort of a little bit like that skit on "Saturday Night Live" last week where he is not quite leaving the stage, he was asked at a press conference last week about Mitt Romney's delegates and whether those delegates should be seated to John McCain or to Mike Huckabee and Mike Huckabee says the verdict is still out on those delegates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUESTION: No one has a real count of, you know, those delegates are where. A lot of networks are now looking at Romney's delegates and asking them who they will support. And if they say McCain, counting them for McCain. When you look at 1,191 and say you're not stopping until someone gets to 1,191, do you count those delegates?

HUCKABEE: You know, they have to make some type of declaration and pledge. Just because they answer a phone poll, I don't think that, in fact, is -- that isn't a pledged delegate. And so that's why there's a real need to get these numbers straight.

Right now nobody has them the same. And they're all over the board. And sometimes they are being counted maybe as McCain delegates when they may be unpledged delegates.

I just want to make sure that before I, you know, drain the bathtub, you know, that we've actually been in the water. And I think that's a little important for us to be very mindful of.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And so there is Mike Huckabee not quite draining the bathtub just yet, but let's look at the other candidate on the Republican side. Oh, yes, that other candidate, John McCain, and going back to bathtub references, he just about slipped in the bathtub when he was in Richardson, Texas, last week. He had a verbal slip of the tongue. Some said a Freudian slip when he referred to himself as, well, using the "L" word which is always a dirty word on the Republican side.

So here is John McCain with that verbal slip of the tongue down in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a proud conservative liberal -- conservative Republican -- hello. Easy there. Let me say this. I am a proud conservative Republican, and both of my possible or likely opponents today are liberal Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So there is John McCain and we can probably guess that that won't happen again, as John McCain accidentally calls himself a liberal. He might have been thinking a little bit too much about what those right wing talk show hosts were saying about him last week after he repudiated Bill Cunningham. But in the meantime, let me turn it over to my colleague Jessica Yellin who is down in Houston where she doesn't suffer from too many verbal slips of the tongue. At least not that bad, right, Jessica? We've all had them but not that bad. YELLIN: I don't want to share them with you. But that's very nice of you. You know, somebody who doesn't slip of the tongue, well, sometimes we all do, but Hillary Clinton's campaigner in chief, her surrogate in chief was here in Houston, Texas, stumping for his wife, President Bill Clinton was speaking on behalf of Hillary Clinton. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. One candidate says you have to vote for me because we've got to make a new beginning. And I have not been involved in this before. And the only way you can make a new beginning is to start out with someone new who has not been involved in the struggles to make good things happen or stop bad things from happening.

Well, I think first of all, the 1990s when I had the privilege of serving were a whole lot better than this decade and somebody that was involved in that is a pretty good argument.

Secondly, the issue is not whether you've been involved or not, it's whether you are in the position to make change. Now, I ask you to any about this. I asked Hillary this question about a year ago. If you're trying to -- if somebody's here and they're undecided or you're trying to reach somebody who is undecided or somebody you think you can change, here's my best advice. Ask them to decide how they will judge the next president when the president's term is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: President Bill Clinton using the catch phrase of this election season, well, the catch word, I guess, change, change, change, change. They all want on the change agent.

We are going to come back on the other side of this break with a final word from this hour's BALLOT BOWL so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Well, back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in New York where you may have heard they have this little program on Saturday evening called "Saturday Night Live."

Last night Hillary Clinton was on the program. No, not Amy Prohler but the actual former First Lady. The show gave her equal time in response to that so-called mock debate where Barack Obama got all of those alleged softball questions but without further ado, here is Hillary Clinton last night on "SNL."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H. CLINTON: How are you?

AMY POHLER, COMEDIAN: Good, thank you.

H. CLINTON: Well, I'm -- I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me. POHLER: Well, thank you for coming. I love you're outfit.

H. CLINTON: Well, I love you're outfit.

POHLER: Thank you.

H. CLINTON: I do want the earrings back.

POHLER: Oh, okay.

H. CLINTON: Do I really laugh like that?

POHLER: Well.

H. CLINTON: Oh, the campaign is going very well. Very, very well. Why? What have you heard?

POHLER: Nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The campaign is going well, as Hillary Clinton said just there. And meanwhile, we should note there was a former Republican candidate on "SNL" last night, Rudy Giuliani who chalked up his loss on the campaign not to his Florida strategy but to the fact that he's worn a dress. So there you have it. The candidates on "SNL" with that segue, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Jessica Yellin.

YELLIN: With the writer's strike over "SNL" really is the place to be these days. She takes that ribbing in awfully good rumor. A lot of teasing about her pantsuit Hillary Clinton gets.

I want to turn now to Candy Crowley who is in Ohio. Where Senator Clinton will be speaking eventually.

And Candy, one of the themes we've seen on the stump a lot in Ohio has been the economy. It's been a top concern of voters. Up until now, but the campaign has taken a different tone in the last weekend. Would talk a little bit about that?

CROWLEY: Absolutely. It's interesting because as we all know, Barack Obama has more money than Hillary Clinton, has been spending more money on the airwaves. Interesting to me that Hillary Clinton would spend her money in the last weekend of the campaign basically on an ad that said, at 3:00 a.m. in the morning when the red phone, the crisis phone in the White House, rings, who do you want to have answer it? Don't you want to have someone who is experienced?

Now, Barack Obama came back and like lightning speed with an ad of their own saying, okay, let's talk about that. Who do you want to have answer that phone. Someone with a judgment to have been against the war in Iraq from the beginning or not? So this is now elevated. Fits into the overall Clinton strategy for these final days of the campaign.

I was talking to somebody in the Clinton camp a couple days ago. And I said, so, what's your message, what are you going to do? They said what we need to do is focus voters on what's at stake. They believe that if they can say, listen, this is an important next four years, we don't know what's going to happen in the world. The middle class is really suffering. People are falling out of the middle class.

So let's remember what this election is about. So I think that's exactly where this ad was headed, was to say to voters, whoa, dangerous world here. Who do you want to have there. As I said, Obama camp came back and said you want someone with judgment. But it was very clear that's where they want voters to focus as they go into this final 24/36 hours of campaigning before that really critical, critical Tuesday primary day. Jessica?

YELLIN: Thank you, Candy. And Senator Clinton able to take control of the debate this last weekend by releasing that ad. We will discuss that ad and much more coming up in the 8:00 Eastern hour of BALLOT BOWL. That's when this show comes back. But for now, we are going to take a break. We'll bring you LOU DOBBS on the other side of the commercial. For Candy, Jim Acosta, and me, we all say thanks for watching and stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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