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Glenn Beck

Hillary Clinton wins Ohio and Rhode Island. Barack Obama wins Vermont; Texas very competitive. John McCain sins the Republican nomination.

Aired March 04, 2008 - 21:00   ET

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

GLENN BECK, ANCHOR: Hello, America. Tonight opinions you`re not going to hear any place else. Trust me. If you missed the 7:00 broadcast, we found out Obama was not the antichrist and we were pretty relieved to hear it.
The polls are closing now and we`re live in New York with coverage and analysis. We`ll be joined by experts from all over the country, Washington, Atlanta, Denver, Ohio, Texas, maybe even Puerto Rico just to throw in some spice. Remember it`s live, way past my bedtime. So anything can happen, next.

Tonight, it is make or break time for Hillary Clinton. At least that`s what all the experts say. I say bull crap; this woman is not getting out no matter what happens tonight. But she seems to be doing well in her bid for the Democratic nomination. She did buy some time it seems before she has to say goodbye or will she have to say goodbye? We`ll find out more as we kick off our second hour of live coverage.

On the primary, I`m in the studio joined my CNN political contributor Amy Holmes and my favorite Democrat, Democratic strategist peter friend. I want you to know there are other shows, I`m going to be frank with you, Keith Olbermann is saying he`s a journalist. I am not a journalist, I`m an opinion guy, and I`m a conservative. Know that going in, so you know where you`re getting your information. Now, a real journalist is Erica Hill and she has the latest in Atlanta from the election desk. What`s happening, Erica?

ERICA HILL, CORRESPONDENT: The latest and the most important at this hour Glenn is that CNN is projecting John McCain will in fact take the state of Texas and this is key because this puts him over the magic number of 1,191. He has 1,195 delegates, which means he has clenched the nomination.

BECK: OK. I understand that Huckabee is going to be speaking and giving a concession speech here in just a few minutes. Is that accurate?

HILL: Yes, I don`t have firm details on that, but we`re going to get that for you.

BECK: All right. And we`ll carry that live if he indeed does do that. I`m wondering if he`s going to drop out.

From Washington, D.C., we have our reporter from the "Congressional Quarterly," Jonathan Allen. Also, from Columbus, Ohio, chief political reporter for "The Columbus Dispatch", Joe Hallot. And from Austin, Texas, Wayne Slater. And, of course, my panel here.

Let me play a piece of audio that we had a couple of hours ago from my affiliate in Texas that spoke this morning, my radio affiliate, that spoke this morning with Bill Clinton. It will give you a little something about their strategy. Listen to what Bill Clinton said early this morning on one of my radio affiliates.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

FMR. PRES. BILL CLINTON, UNITED STATES: First of all, I think it`s almost impossible to make a case that Florida should have to do a do-over. They had a huge turnout. The Florida Democrats were completely blameless when their primary occurred. A Republican legislature and a Republican governor did it and the Florida Democrats specifically asked to go on February 5th. They were denied. Then Hillary followed the rules in Florida and did not advertise there. Only did fund-raising there. She won the votes fair and square and didn`t violate the rules.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: This is exclusive audio you haven`t heard before. KURV is the affiliate and Sergio Sanchez was in the news room at 7:00 Eastern Time when we went on the air. I played that audio. At the time we were on the air here, he was on the air with Hillary Clinton and listen carefully to what she said just a couple of hours ago.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that those Florida voters deserve to be taken seriously and I hope we can figure out how to get them to count. The people in Florida didn`t sign up to any rules. The Republican governor and Republican legislature pretty much pushed this on them.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: I have got to go to the panel. I don`t think I`ve ever heard anything like this. Peter, I got to start with you. It was the Republicans?

PETER FENN, FMR. GORE ADVISOR: You got a Republican governor, a good friend of John McCain. A Republican legislature. The problem was that our stupid party in Washington wouldn`t count the delegate votes. And they forced the senator, Senator Nelson said hey, if we`re going to have this election, the votes should count. This is 2 million people voting.

BECK: I want to make sure this is clear. Peter, this is why I say you`re one of my favorite Democrats because you`ll say my party sucks when my party sucks.

Are you verifying that she is throwing the Republicans under the bus for the national -- for what the national DNC did in Florida?

FENN: She wants the DNC to say that the votes will count. She doesn`t want to go after the DNC. What`s happened is, nobody campaigned there. As President Clinton said, they had an election and no one campaigned. But the Republicans did campaign there and did go there --

HILL: Glenn, I have got to jump in. You know, the Clintons, when in doubt, blame Republicans. Let me tell you something else that happened in this Florida Democratic primary. This is a direct quote from the chairwoman who said "Democrats could accept the 29th date and the penalties." So the Democrats, if they will accept this and whatever penalties the National Committee says --

BECK: The DNC.

HILL: Not the Republicans, or we could hold caucuses later. They chose to go with the 29th and you know why? The Democratic Party set this up for Hillary Clinton. They loaded the primaries in the expectation that Hillary would win.

BECK: Jonathan Allen, isn`t this exactly the kind of politics that America is sick of? There were no -- there`s no Republican figure person -- or fingerprints in Florida at all. This is the National DNC and look what she`s doing.

JONATHAN ALLEN, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY: The Democratic Party has an issue where 10 percent of the nation`s population is in Florida and Michigan and there`s a possibility those delegates wouldn`t be seated. That raises the prospect of a civil rights battle at the Democratic convention if it`s about to nominate an African-American. You heard from the NAACP they`re upset with the idea that Michigan and Florida wouldn`t have delegations that voters would be disenfranchised. That`s an incredible idea that you might have a fight over credentials with a civil rights group protesting the nomination of an African-American.

HILL: When it has nothing to do with Republicans.

BECK: And hang on, Wayne Slater in Dallas. This is absolutely incredible. And Wayne, as a conservative, it`s not surprising, but these guys have been feasting on each other. I believe Rush Limbaugh when he said, what was it yesterday or the day before, please go out as a Republican and vote for Hillary Clinton because it`s going to be fun to watch what happens to the Democratic party in the next few months. We could be sitting here at convention time with these guys feasting on each other.

WAYNE SLATER, DALLAS MORNING NEWS: It`s entirely possible that will happen.

In fact, I was talking this afternoon with a key Clinton adviser who was traveling with Bill Clinton in Texas, heading back to Austin. And he told me exactly what you were just saying, that the plan now is to win one, hopefully two of these big states to really raise the question of these two Florida and Michigan, and then go after the superdelegates. He was very aggressive about this.

This is going to be the campaign coming out now, make the argument she`s electable and that he isn`t. That he couldn`t close the deal in the big states. He can`t get Hispanic votes. That`s what`s coming up.

BECK: I just said I was having a -- kind of a round table dinner with some friends, and I said I`m trying to track Barack Obama. You never want to see somebody take off like a rocket, because they come down quickly. You want to see a slow, steady build. I couldn`t remember if it was a slow, steady build or not.

This has been a very bad week for Barack Obama and I think, and Jonathan, you`ve seen this firsthand, he actually this week switched gears and shifted gears. He went from these big arena rock shows into smaller venues and started competing differently.

ALLEN: That`s right. I saw him in a town hall meeting outside Columbus and he basically shifted from a big rally with lots of screaming people to a town hall, talking about policy, taking questions, trying to prove that`s something he can do.

There`s been a lot of questions thrown at him from the Clinton campaign where he can take questions. That`s what he was trying to signal to Ohio and Texas voters this week, that he would be able to do that, not only going forward in the Democratic primary but of course in the general election. It was a very different atmosphere than some of the rallies.

BECK: Back in a minute with more exit poll data from Texas and Ohio. Back in a flash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome back, America. We go right to Atlanta, Erica Hill at the election desk with another update. Erica?

HILL: Well Glenn, at the top of the hour we told you that CNN had called, projected that Senator John McCain would take the state of Texas.

So much talk about whether or not he was conservative enough. We wanted to show you how that conservative vote broke out in the state of Texas. 72 percent of Republicans there define themselves as conservatives. Look how close that was. 45 percent for McCain, 41 percent for Huckabee.

BECK: It`s Texas. Texas, they`re defending their own property with guns right now from people coming across the border. Of course they don`t like John McCain.

HILL: Well, interesting --

BECK: I`m sorry. Did I say that out loud?

HILL: Did I say that out loud? That inner mute button isn`t working again.

BECK: Did I mention I was not a journalist, this is an opinion show?

HILL: You may not be, but I am. Let me get to the rest of the information I have for you right now. Looking at Texas, moving forward, you look how things break out. So much focus on Latino voters and how would they vote in Texas tonight? Based on our exit polls, 63 percent, overwhelmingly Latino voters going for Senator Hillary Clinton. Looking at Ohio, we talked earlier tonight --

BECK: Wait, wait, do you have Latino voters for the Republicans?

HILL: Yes, I can call that up for you. But I have another board ready for you. I have to update my screen.

In Ohio, let`s stick with the Democrats for a minute. The Democrats in Ohio, Glenn Beck. How are you me?

BECK: I am riddled with ADD and you`re a slave to credibility.

HILL: It ain`t easy being me, Glenn Beck.

Earlier, we talked about how in African-American voters were coming out. 89 percent. We talk about overwhelming, doesn`t get much stronger than that in terms of support for Barack Obama. You wanted to know the Latino vote in Texas for Republicans.

BECK: It`s got to be John McCain. Remember, he`s done everything that everybody said Republicans, you`ve got to be --

HILL: That one went to Huckabee, 49 percent Tto41 percent for John McCain.

FENN: There were only 12 of them.

BECK: Hang on, I thought John McCain was the winning ticket, that was the way Republicans had to be.

HILL: You remember Huckabee also got beat up from conservatives on the immigration issue.

BECK: But not like McCain. McCain is waving the flag, come on over, the water`s fine.

Let me go now to Doug Wilder, the mayor of Richmond, another Democrat that I like because he`s honest. How are you, sir?

MAYOR DOUG WILDER (D), RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: Fine, always good to be with you.

BECK: I want to ask you a couple of honest questions here. I think quite honestly, because this information that is coming out so far, I don`t know if it`s true or not, but it`s coming out from the Clinton camp it looks like on Obama.

Let me just start here. It`s been a bad week for Obama. Let me just tie these things together that have been leaked by the Clintons here on Rezko. Somehow or another, he`s involved with this guy who is -- who has visited Syria eight times in like the last 18 months. It looks as though there`s some sort of financial mishap that was happening according to the Clintons. They also didn`t release Barack Obama in Somali garb.

In this Rezko thing, you have an Iraqi millionaire who may have been laundering money for Saddam Hussein. Apparently he and Barack Obama had a weird chance meeting in Chicago. I mean, if this were done by a Republican, a, we`d be crucified. But the second thing is, don`t you think that this kind of stuff will play to the lowest common denominator in our society, the same kind of people that would be spooked by his middle name being Hussein saying, oh, maybe he`s really one of the enemy? Isn`t this kind of stuff just absolute smear?

WILDER: Well, it could, but I have greater confidence in the people of America than that. I`ve always believed this, Glenn, that the people of America are always ahead of the leaders. They were ahead 19 years ago in Virginia when people said, you can`t elect a black governor. The people said, yes, we can. Virginia has the smallest voting population of African- Americans in the south. We only have 15 percent voting population. Now, Obama is tough. He can handle it.

BECK: But you know what? This is the first time, Mayor, that Obama has been challenged. Because it`s not just here, but it was also -- they started questioning him on are you losing the Jewish vote? How are you on the Israel question? They started asking him on the Canadian memo thing. This is his first week of challenges.

WILDER: At the presidential level. But we have been questioned before about Farrakhan and you look at what has happened. Are you going to lose the Jewish vote? He`s renounced Farrakhan, he`s rejected Farrakhan. Yet those same questions would have to be asked of John Hagee and John McCain with reference to the Catholic vote.

BECK: They were on this program about two hours ago.

WILDER: I know. My thing on Obama is this -- he ought not to pay any attention at all to those negatives. Stay positive, that the people of America want someone to unite them, bring them together. If this is what you`ve got to do to win an election, tear somebody down, that person isn`t going to be ultimately elected to the presidency. They might slip through for the nomination, but trust me, that is not what the American people are about.

BECK: Maybe that`s why I like you. The one thing that is uniting, left and right, is we are so sick of Americans - or I mean politicians dividing us over and over again.

WILDER: Sick of it. For god sake, on one hand you say I`m so honored to be with you and the next, you come and do all these nasty, mean things. If you want to win, that`s one thing. I don`t think in politics you have to tear anybody down to win.

BECK: OK.

WILDER: The public doesn`t want that.

BECK: Mayor, we`ll be back with you in just a little while.

Let me go to Ohio with Joe Hallot. He is the chief political reporter for "The Columbus Dispatch." Let me concentrate here a little bit, Joe, on the NAFTA scandal that kind of happened this week, if you can call it a scandal, where Barack Obama was clear, you know, we`re not going to deal with NAFTA, we`re going to rip this up and go in a different direction, et cetera, et cetera. But at the same time, one of his operatives was up in Canada having a meeting saying, listen, listen, we want you to know what`s being said on the campaign trail. Is there a discrepancy between what he said on the campaign trail and what his people told the Canadians?

JOE HALLOT, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Yeah, there is one. A pretty clear one if you believed the document that the associated press received. It does appear that Senator Obama`s chief economic aide was telling the Canadians one thing and the people of Ohio another thing and Clinton has jumped all over it. I think she`s been on the air in northeast Ohio where the union voters are, and so it might have made a difference. Particularly when you look at the exit polls showing white males are going for her by 16 points.

BECK: We`ll be back in just a second. I have to tell you, Americans will sniff out a fraud. And if this guy is inconsistent like that, it will spell his doom overnight. Because the one thing they relate to, he seems like an honest guy. That`s what we`re looking for in a candidate. At least that`s what I`m looking for.

More live primary coverage in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The heart and soul of our campaign.

The apostle Paul wrote that "I fought the good fight, I`ve finished the race, and I`ve kept the faith." I believe tonight that one of the things that we will be able to say is not only that we fought the good fight and finished the race, we would like to have finished it first, but we stayed in until the race was over. But I think more importantly we kept the faith, and that for me has been the most important goal of all. I would rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place.

BECK: You`re listening to Mike Huckabee. He`s withdrawing from the race. Would we call that official?

ALLEN: I would think so.

BECK: I would say that`s pretty official, yeah. So he`s out.

For the life of me, I haven`t been able to figure out why he`s been in it, other than you`ve got a right to stay in it as an American. I think it`s his party politics that say you`ve got to get out and unite behind the front-runner. But you`re going to hear that now between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, I`m sure as well. But Mike Huckabee is officially out.

We`re joined by CNN political contributor Amy Holmes, democratic strategist Peter Fenn from Washington, reporter from the "Congressional Quarterly" Jonathan Allen.

Why do you guys suppose he was -- he stayed in so long? I`ve heard one, that he wanted one more delegate than Mitt Romney so he could be the heir apparent next time, which I don`t buy at all.

AMY HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That`s a theory, raising his name I.D. for book sales, speaking fees for speaking engagements. Who heard of Mike Huckabee before this election?

BECK: How about this. Every time I hear these arguments I think to myself gosh, are we really that jaded, is there a chance that he was in it because he believed in the things that he believed in and wanted to spread that message?

FENN: The only thing you can say about Mike Huckabee is he was pretty much a straight shooter. He told folks why he raised taxes and wanted to have college education for folks who were born in the United States. He was right on the issues.

The other thing I think about him, he was a surprised, Glenn, as anybody else with what happened in Iowa. Here`s a guy with no money, everybody wrote him off. Everybody said you can`t win. You have nothing to offer. You know, he was very genuine and I think he may be looking ahead. He may have some ideas.

HOLMES: He`s a good guy.

BECK: Jonathan, if you`re just playing politics, he did exactly the wrong thing to get in line for the Republicans, because the Republicans stand in line. Mitt Romney did the right thing. Right before John McCain gave a big speech, Mitt Romney said, I want you to know I`m out. And then two weeks later he said, and I really encourage al my delegates to be -- pledge their support to John McCain. Doesn`t that really put Mitt Romney in line, if you`re going to play that stupid party politic thing?

ALLEN: If you`re looking ahead four or eight years but a lot happens in that period of time. One thing Mike Huckabee may have done is getting a better speaking slot at the Republican convention later this summer. He may end up with a prime spot as a result of that.

BECK: But he still has less delegates than Romney, right?

ALLEN: I believe so.

BECK: We`ll be right back in just a second with part philosopher, all Texan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, it looks like Mike Huckabee has called it a night. He says he has run the good race and kept his faith all the way through and his integrity and his morals and it`s time for him to bow out. So now John McCain is the guy. We go to our panel of experts. It really is -- is it - - is it uncomfortable for you guys with so much credibility to be on this program for two hours? Let`s talk a little about -- we were talking about Mike Huckabee .

FENN: We were going to leave you out and just take it over.

BECK: What does this mean for John McCain now? John McCain has nobody, so he`s got a clear shot at just being positive, upbeat, message, message, message, which is exactly what the Democrats wanted to happen, they front loaded it so they could get Hillary to win. They thought she was going to win and be pounding away at the Republicans.

HOLMES: This gives John McCain the opportunity to court the conservative votes that Mike Huckabee was pulling away from John McCain. Of course, in these primary states, he`s still going to be campaigning, he`s still going to be voting, they`re still going to be voting and sending their delegates to him. You`ll see the media looking at that conservative exit polling number and see if John McCain`s number creeps up.

FENN: With the de facto nominee, everybody is going with him and they were basically tied. Huckabee beat him I think by a couple of points on conservative voters in Texas.

BECK: Texas. Texas is beyond the rest of the country. They are fed up.

FENN: Here`s his problem. When he brings in the reverend, when he brings in a talk show host from Cincinnati, every time he gets himself in trouble, McCain does, and he gets himself in trouble with the conservatives and he gets himself in trouble with the moderates. I think it`s going to be a tough road. If I were him, I think I would just sort of chill a little bit here. Have more barbecues out in Sedona with the press and chill.

BECK: Jonathan, have you seen anything other than just, and I don`t believe you win elections in America on this, other than just anybody but Hillary or anybody but Barack, I can`t imagine as a conservative what John McCain could do t o court my vote and get me to vote for him. I`ve seen his history. I know who the guy is. What does he have to do to get conservatives? Can he get conservatives?

ALLEN: I was going to say, Glenn, you sounded so thrilled when you were announcing coming back from the break that John McCain was going to be the nominee.

BECK: I`m not. Really, I just can`t believe, out of all of the people that we`ve had running, it`s this guy.

ALLEN: It`s going to be about national security. That is the thing John McCain talks about that can unite conservative voters and moderate voters and Republican voters of all stripes. That`s what he is going to pound hard in the general election, whether it`s Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

HOLMES: And I would also add judges. He has Ted Olson on his team to try to keep them on the straight and narrow when it comes to judges.

BECK: What -- Any suggestions on a vice president? I know people say they don`t vote for a vice president, but when George Bush picked Dick Cheney, and I`m sorry, America, to make you think I`m so evil, but I remember good, Dick Cheney. Remember the days when we all liked Dick Cheney?

FENN: Before he shot people.

HOLMES: Shame on you, Peter Fenn, shame on you.

BECK: Is there anybody that he could pick that people .

HOLMES: A name is out there, Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, he is young, he is energetic, he is a credible conservative. That could help John McCain on the ticket. We`ll have to see where John McCain feels he needs to shore up his support.

FENN: I`m not sure Pawlenty is conservative enough for him. I think he goes to the governor of South Carolina.

BECK: He`s got to go to somebody.

FENN: Jonathan might have another thought on this.

ALLEN: Peter`s right. I think the South Carolina governor, Sanford, is probably a lot more likely pick. If you look at the Republican Party, the nomination of John McCain was the result, to some degree, of people not feeling like there was a candidate. Finding a second one may be a problem too.

BECK: Let me go to Atlanta with Erica Hill, the credible journalist.

HILL: How are you, Glenn?

BECK: I`m bringing you all down, Erica.

FENN: We`ll hit a bleep button for Glenn.

BECK: What`s up, Erica?

HILL: The latest we have is that Rhode Island has been called not only for Senator McCain but also for Senator Clinton, CNN projecting the two of them will take that state. I know you`re going to be speaking with Kinky Friedman, so we thought we would look how independent voters worked out today. You look at Democrats. Kind of split there, not totally split, but 52 percent for Obama. They actually made up 24 percent of voters voting for a Democrat in this primary in Texas.

You move that over to the Republican side and it`s important to look at the independent voters in the state because they are able to vote where they would like. They were 21 percent of those voting for Republicans. A lot of people are probably not surprised that Ron Paul did pretty well among independents. In fact, maybe you would expect more from them in support for Ron Paul.

BECK: Ron Paul, I mean, Ron Paul he attracts the fringes, because as a conservative, your like -- hey, I love all of this, and wait a minute, national security. And then you`ve got it on the other side too as well. He`s a hodgepodge. So let`s move on. Let me go to Kinky Friedman. Kinky, as a Texan, here`s what I want to know. I keep hearing these polls that conservatives like Obama and the way I think it`s being interpreted in the media is, they would like to -- they would love to vote for him.

As a conservative, I like Obama. I think Obama could come over to my house and we would have a great time. He probably wouldn`t like me, but I would like him and we would have a great time. I like him. I just don`t want to vote for him for president. Am I interpreting that right or wrong?

KINKY FRIEDMAN, HUMORIST: You`re right. The rednecks have a hellish choice here in Texas. They don`t know whether to kill themselves or get a haircut. They have got Hillary and Obama and the Democratic Party is held together by duct tape here in Texas.

BECK: And the Republicans, I mean, when it comes to -- I think that the bellwether state in our union right now for disenfranchisement is Texas. I think Texas is ahead of the rest of the country of being fed up to here. They can`t take it any more. Now you have John McCain, who the hell does a Texan vote for?

FRIEDMAN: I hate to admit this, Glenn, but I think the bipolar crips and bloods two-party system may have delivered some pretty decent candidates here. All three of them .

BECK: For? Venezuela?

FRIEDMAN: The president of the United States.

Look, McCain is a man who does not put party first. That`s very simple. He`s like Davey Crockett or Sam Houston or Teddy Roosevelt or George Washington. He`s been to hell and back for America.

BECK: After reading a biography on Washington, I would have to disagree with you completely on that one. As we were talking about Texas, he`s also the guy, I don`t know if I need to remind you in Texas, that was saying hey, let`s give amnesty for everybody.

FRIEDMAN: No, no. Listen, he said -- what he`s saying is, who would Jesus deport? We`ve got 12 million illegals living here, half of whom is named Jesus. That`s all he`s saying. Let`s be humane.

BECK: First of all, Jesus wouldn`t deport anybody, he wouldn`t take a government job. He`s Jesus! He knows better! Don`t work for the government. Kinky, what do you predict is going to happen tonight, Obama or Hillary?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I`m like the great civil rights leader Al Sharpton. I`m remaining neutral in case I have to mediate down the line if I`m called upon. But I think Hillary pulls out the popular vote. That would be -- I may be a man in a mental hospital hearing a voice, and this is really between the Hispanics and the young little boogers, the kiddy crusades, which are very unpredictable voting blocs. Which one comes out? That`s what it is.

BECK: I have to tell you, Kinky, let me ask you this, have you ever seen Obama speak? Have you seen him in person?

FRIEDMAN: No, no, I have not.

BECK: I have seen him over and over again on television and the guy is -- he`s fantastic. But his supporters kind of freak me just a little bit. His supporters -- They`re fainting and crying and stuff. I`m just hoping at some point they`ll put out a press relief and say it was just really hot in there and that`s why people are passing out. It`s a rock star kind of thing that`s spooky . I don`t know if you know.

FENN: They put 30,000 people in area.

BECK: They put 30,000 people in arenas all the time and they don`t pass out and cry unless they`re rock stars.

HOLMES: I have to defend my own mom who is an Obama supporter and did that same thing and passed out and she`s a married woman.

BECK: I`m not saying all of them are, but you`ve got to admit, I talked to - Virginia Leahy (ph), are you still in the control room? She makes my eyes bleed, she`s so liberal. She was in my office today. They actually do believe. She was in my officer today and I said, you know what? I haven`t really talked to an Obama supporter, very few, probably on one hand, that could tell me why they support him in an intelligent way. I hear all the time, I like him, he seems like a nice guy. What about his economic policy? What about his policy on immigration? What about his policy on NAFTA? They can`t do it.

HOLMES: In fairness, and here I am defending Obama and Obama supporters but it gets back to what we were discussing about the idea people don`t want to be categorized anymore. No more balkanization, no more categorization .

BECK: You have to pay attention to the policies.

HOLMES: But Barack, he represents this postracial America that a lot of people are yearning for. And I think that is attracting so much support especially among the young reporters.

BECK: I have to take a hard break. Please, America, think, think! Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome to it, live television. In a way that I don`t think anyone ever intended it to be. Election desk now is Erica Hill from Atlanta. Hello, Erica.

HILL: Hi there. Want to get you -- we`re still waiting on these two contests, the Democratic races in Ohio and Texas. At this hour, it`s just too competitive is the way they were characterized earlier. Too close to call.

Let`s look at the most important issues in these two states. In Ohio, the economy. 58 percent. Iraq and health care are tied there. That is Ohio. Taking a look at Texas, the economy also scores very high. I think we have those numbers coming up, trust me, they`re coming. There you go. Forty nine percent followed by Iraq and then health care.

So there`s a little bit of a trend when it comes to the economy because that`s something we`ve been hearing so much about. There are also questions in our exit polls asking about whether or not you were worried for your family`s financial future. A lot of people saying yes. I am worried.

BECK: It bothers me so much. I`m a conservative. I am a conservative, and I`ve been ringing this bell over a year and I`m so sick and tired of Republicans telling me, shut up, stop talking the economy down.

Good heavens, man, look is what is on the horizon. This isn`t a politics thing. We`ve got serious issues happening with our economy. Let me go to Doug Wilder, mayor of Richmond, former governor of Virginia and always a pleasure to have you on, sir. I want to ask you a question, and I think I`ve asked you a similar question before, but I -- I don`t think Barack Obama is going to play this card, I hope not. As I said, I think he`s a decent guy. He appears to be a decent man and .

DOUG WILDER, MAYOR OF RICHMOND: He is.

BECK: And he doesn`t appear to play the dirty politics, like Hillary Clinton is blaming Florida and Michigan on the Republicans tonight.

WILDER: I heard you earlier. It`s amazing.

BECK: They had nothing to do with it.

Thank you, thank you for being a reasonable man. However, I am so afraid as a conservative, because they are already -- the GOP is doing stupid focus groups on what can we say in a race against a woman, what can we say in a race against an African-American? I mean, you don`t need a focus group for that, just stick to the issues.

But when the guns start to go and it`s candidate and candidate, and if it is Barack Obama and John McCain, how, sir, when we are talking about the border, and I`m called a racist, an d I want a fence at the northern border, so I guess I hate those white Canadians as well, how do we keep this above race? Will people in the Democratic Party actually come out and say, that`s below the belt? It is not about race. Or does it become .

WILDER: I think the more you talk about race, the more it intrudes into the discussion. The less you talk about it, that`s why earlier I said Obama is running for the presidency of the United States, not as an African American, not as a person of color, not as a young person, not as an old person. He has united more persons in this nation. I have never seen anything like it.

You need not be afraid. I know him well. I`ve talked with him. You need not be afraid of him playing any of those cards. He`s a decent man. He accepted what took place in Florida, he accepted what took place in Michigan. He`s not trying to complain about any of it, and yet you see what already happened to him by Democrats in his own party. And I`m telling you, that is not going to work.

BECK: If we can just put John McCain up in a box. He`s speaking, but we get it, John McCain won tonight. Mayor, let me go here. One thing I cannot figure out for the life of me is Barack Obama`s wife and the attitude that, I` m 40 and I`m still paying off my Harvard and Princeton payments, and the idea, the message, the constant message that you can`t make it in America. Here is an African American that could very well be elected president of the United States, somebody who really struggled their whole life, made it to Harvard, married somebody that made it to Princeton and yet the message is you need government to help you.

WILDER: Glenn, let me cut to the chase on that. That was not Barack Obama speaking, that was his wife -- and the man supposedly went up to Canada, that was one of his emissaries. And the thing that bothers me .

BECK: His wife plays a role. Just look at Hillary Clinton.

WILDER: But it was a remark that should never have been made. It was something that was senseless. She should have been proud when he was elected senator, proud when he was elected ...

BECK: No, no, you`re talking about a different comment. I`m talking about the speech that she give s where she`s talking about how, you know, how hard the struggle is and how she was -- how she is still in her 40s now just paying off a Princeton and Harvard education.

WILDER: I heard that, and I would say this, the only thing I would say about that is this, and I know it`s going to sound critical of the campaign. I think he`s had a well-run campaign. There is a time and place for your wife or your spouse to speak, as was evidenced by Bill Clinton. There was a time for him to shut up and quite honestly there is a time for Michelle to step on the sidelines and let the candidate, Barack Obama, be elected to the next presidency of the United States.

BECK: Mayor, always a pleasure to have you on. We`ll be right back. Final thoughts coming in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, we`re live tonight from New York. Let`s go to Erica for an update in Atlanta on voting totals in Ohio and Texas.

HILL: You want to look at the last two races that we are waiting for and it would be a little while before - but let`s see where we are in Ohio.

Twenty three percent of the precincts reporting. Senator Clinton has the lead. Taking a look now, let`s get you Texas. Both of these states were called earlier tonight on the Republican side for John McCain. Obama leading with a slim margin there. But just eight percent of the precincts reporting.

These are going to be the two we`re watching throughout the night. And there`s this little tidbit I`ve got to share with you. We were just told and CNN has confirmed that Senator Obama called Senator McCain and told him, I look forward to running against you in the fall.

BECK: When, when did that happen?

HILL: Apparently about 9:30 tonight.

BECK: That`s a little presumptuous, don`t you think? Does he know something we don`t know?

HILL: It`s either very presumptuous or perhaps a good-faith gesture, who knows. But there you go.

BECK: Wow.

HILL: I thought you would enjoy that.

BECK: I think it`s a little arrogant myself. My panel, Amy Holmes, Peter Fenn, Jonathan Allen, I want to go back real quick to what I was just talking to with Doug Wilder. About hope and it`s something that I don`t understand and our apologies to Gary Hubble who is from Aspen who is talking about the disenfranchised American, or the angry white man, being that guy who just is doing his job and never seems to get any special breaks.

We had to cut him loose and my apologies also to Ben Affleck too that we don`t have time to get to. I want to go back to, how can you be the candidate of hope at the same time you`re saying I made it, I may be the next president of the United States, but you can`t?

You might say affirmative action got him into college, but it didn`t make him president of the United States. It didn`t give him the opportunity. His character did. Let me go to Jonathan first.

ALLEN: Well, I think it`s this, Glenn, I think hope works with upper and middle income voters who have done well. They hear the message of hope, and it doesn`t work as well for voters who are on the lower end of the spectrum because they`ve hoped too and things haven`t worked out as well for them.

All I`m saying is the term itself, having talked to voters across Ohio, those in Columbus and that area that does really well, hope works for them. It doesn`t work in Youngstown and Warren.

HOLMES: But if anything, Barack Obama having won the 11 straight primaries in a row shows hope was a theme that transcended all those categories. But to get back to the point that Glenn was making, hold on, to get back to the point Glenn was making, how can you say I`m for hope and yet this is a hopeless country if you are African American? Or if you`re making less than $50,000? That is a classic liberal line that you need government to help you to get across the finishing line.

FENN: This is not a classic liberal line, this is the politics of inclusion, that`s what Barack Obama is talking about. And it is also the politics not working in Washington. And that is inclusion.

BECK: The politics of big government. Hang on, this is of the CNN producer journalist that is covering the Clinton campaign. This is where they put an actual journalist, can you imagine if I were covering the Clinton campaign where they would put me?

FENN: I would be with the cake.

BECK: I just don`t know if you would want to eat that cake. From New York, good night, America.

END