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American Morning
Huckabee Drops Out of Presidential Race; Clinton Wins 3 Out of 4 Primaries; Interview with Barack Obama; Interview with Hillary Clinton
Aired March 05, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This nation is coming back and so is this campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton snaps Barack Obama's winning streak. The next battle begins right here. We're live with both candidates and breaking down the raw numbers. The most politics in the morning on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome back. It's Wednesday, another day after. Who has the hangover today, do you think?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I've got to tell you. Probably people who tried to stay up and see exactly how it all shook out. It was well after midnight that we knew for sure that Senator Hillary Clinton took Texas and Ohio, of course another win in her column. So she has some new life this morning.
ROBERTS: There's still one big contest that has to be counted as well because in Texas not only did they have the primary but they had the caucus process. After all, Texas is just too big to have a primary.
CHETRY: The two-step.
ROBERTS: It's the two-step. We haven't heard the results of that. Barack Obama was leading last time I looked, but that could all change.
CHETRY: They are continuing the counting a little bit later this morning in a couple of hours in Texas. That's where one-third of the delegates for that state will be awarded. We'll keep you posted.
Meanwhile though for all intents and purposes, it was a big win for Hillary Clinton. Her candidacy with some new life this morning after three big wins last night. She won the Texas primaries after most went to bed. She edged Obama by a three percentage-point win, 51 to 48 percent. We're still waiting for the caucus results in that state. The winner will pick up one-third of Texas delegates. Also, Senator Clinton won Ohio by 10 points, 51 percent to 44 percent there. Clinton said no candidate in recent history has won the white house without winning Ohio. Although as we know, this is an election where most conventional wisdom has been turned on its head.
Here's the delegate breakdown right now. The light blue states are Clinton victories. She also picked up Rhode Island last night. Barack Obama won Vermont last night. His states are in the darker blue. Texas will stay yellow until the caucus results are in.
Obama has the delegate lead, 1,451 to Hillary Clinton's 1,365. Still very close. There are 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination.
Senator Clinton was all smiles in Columbus, Ohio, last night as she thanked voters there for delivering the win. She called on the rest of the country to follow suit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: It will take leadership and hard work, but we've never been short on either. So I hope all of you will join, join with the Ohioans whose voices and votes have been heard today. Together we will seize this moment, lift this nation and heal and lead this world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Despite losing three of four states last night, Barack Obama still says he's the frontrunner. He told supporters in Texas, his promises are not just rhetoric as his rivals on both sides have suggested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can call it many things. But you can't call it empty. If I am the nominee of this party, I will not allow us to be distracted by the same politics that seeks to divide us with false charges and meaningless labels. And this campaign, we will not stand for the politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: A handful of delegates are up for grabs in Wyoming, at least 12 on Saturday, Mississippi on Tuesday and the next big race, Pennsylvania April 22nd; 158 delegates up for grabs in the keystone state -- John?
ROBERTS: And as many of our analysts have been saying this morning, it is a lifetime between now and April the 22nd.
John McCain is the presumptive GOP nominee after a four state sweep last night. He heads to the white house today to be endorsed by President Bush. They'll have lunch today together. An announcement will be made about 1:15 this afternoon. John McCain won 51 percent of the vote in Texas. Mike Huckabee came in with 38 percent. Ron Paul with five percent in his home state. But he won the Congressional primary in his district so he's got some victory to claim from last night himself. In Ohio, McCain took 60 percent of the vote. Mike Huckabee 31 percent. Ron Paul again with five percent.
John McCain now has 1,226 delegates, cracking that magic number of 1,191 that we've been talking about for all these weeks now. McCain states are red here. Huckabee's are in pink. Mitt Romney has got the states in the brownish maroon color and the white states have yet to have their primaries and caucuses.
McCain now has plenty of time to watch his opponents tear each other apart while he sets the stage for November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My friends, now we begin the most important part of our campaign. To make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president given the alternatives presented by our friends in the other party, are in the best interest of the country we love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And it was a heck of a ride for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He bowed out last night telling supporters that he was proud of his run.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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'd like to have finished it first, but we stayed in until the race was over. But I think more importantly, we've kept the faith and that, for me, has been the most important goal of all. I'd rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Huckabee also said he'd do whatever he could to help John McCain in the general election.
CHETRY: The best political team on television has you covered this morning. Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Columbus, Ohio, this morning. We have Suzanne Malveaux in Austin, Texas. Dana Bash in Dallas. And Ali Velshi is with the Election Express in Bandera, Texas this morning. I guess he decided to put the cowboy hat back on. It's his final stand before he comes back to New York.
We get right to CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley in Columbus for us this morning. Candy, they talked about it being a do or die time for Senator Clinton and she did it. What does she need to do now?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what she needs to do is keep this going.
Listen, they found a couple of things that work particularly in the final days. I was talking to a Clinton aide before all of this started, before we had the votes come in, a couple of days since she was campaigning in that last week. I said what do we need to do? He said we need to focus voters on what's at stake. Nothing did that more, we think, than the so-called red phone ad. We will be seeing I think a lot more of that type of thing.
Listen to Hillary Clinton last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Protecting America is the first and most urgent duty of the president. When there's a crisis and that phone rings at 3:00 a.m. in the White House, there's no time for speeches or on-the-job training. You have to be ready to make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Look for more pounding, pounding, pounding from the Clinton campaign. They clearly think in the final days it helped them. They are looking at those late deciders, and they swung very heavily toward Hillary Clinton. That's when she was being the toughest on Barack Obama.
On his side, I think you will see tougher responses now. I think you'll be seeing a stronger pushback. He said today -- last night, sorry, that, look, we are still ahead in pledge delegates. They obviously are still very much in the race. And he is pushing forward with that kind of transformational presidency that he keeps promising.
Here's a little bit of him last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Because of a movement you built that stretches from Vermont's green mountains to the streets of San Antonio, we can stand up, we can stand up with confidence and clarity to say that we are turning the page and we are ready to write the next great chapter in America's story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: So look for more of that kind of speech from Barack Obama. It's really what brought him to the table. He got knocked off that message while Clinton was pounding. Expect him to kind of try to stay on track. But also to respond a little more toughly, if, in fact, Clinton continues to pound, which I can assure you she will, Kiran.
CHETRY: The other question about that NAFTA/Canada controversy that emerged and the way that many voters in Ohio feel about NAFTA. How much did that hurt him, Candy, do you think, at the polls in Ohio?
CROWLEY: You have to believe that it certainly hurt him some. I'm not sure we have a way to quantify it quite yet; perhaps when we look deeper into the exit polls.
But again, with those late deciders, I think there were about 9 percent or 10 percent, moving so heavily toward Clinton, they certainly must have helped widen the gap. About a ten-point gap the last time I looked here in Ohio. It was a nice solid win for her.
Nothing matters more here in Ohio than the economy. And that was really the bulk of her campaign. And when this memo came out suggesting that Barack Obama was saying one thing in private, that he really wanted to make some fixes in NAFTA but was assuring foreign officials on the other side at least an aide of his was, that he didn't really mean it. She took a hold of that and ran with it. Her campaign ran with it. You have to believe that here in Ohio, where they really blame job loss on NAFTA that it really did help her in the end.
CHETRY: An interesting article from "Newsweek" today saying that even if she won the next 16 straight races, she still wouldn't beat Obama among pledge delegates and that's what really matters heading to the nomination.
What about the numbers that have been crunched right and left? This morning we're still waiting for Texas caucus numbers to come in about how close they are and how far this could go.
CROWLEY: Well, absolutely. And you heard Barack Obama in his speech last night saying, hey listen, no matter what happens, tomorrow morning we will still have more pledged delegates and we've done the math. A lot of people have done the math and it doesn't look as though she can catch up.
But what they are going to argue and have been arguing already is that, listen. She has won the states that are important to the Democratic Party in the fall. She has won the big states, New York, California, now Ohio and Texas. And so that she has a bigger claim to the nomination.
But in the end, this probably will come down to those superdelegates, and that's where I think they have been over the past few weeks and will continue to be on both sides of this equation going after those superdelegates because, as we've talked so much before, it's probably going to come down to them.
CHETRY: Superdelegates being those party insiders, elected officials and others who have to put their support behind one or the other. So we'll see. It's getting interesting still. Candy, great to see you this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Huge night on the Democratic side. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will both join us live coming up in this half hour of AMERICAN MORNING beginning in about four minutes time.
In the meantime now, Alina Cho here with other news stories this morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John, Kiran. Good morning, everybody.
Another setback in the Mideast peace process just as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is wrapping up a visit there. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says peace talks won't resume until there's a cease-fire in both Gaza and the West Bank.
But Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the military strikes will continue as long as Hamas keeps firing rockets into Israel. More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past week. Two Israeli soldiers and one civilian have also died. Abbas' declaration is a big blow to Secretary Rice's efforts to jump-start those talks. Today she's in meetings with top Israeli leaders.
The White House is also weighing in on an escalating border crisis in Latin America. President Bush says he, quote, fully supports Colombia, the closest ally in the region, after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent troops with tanks to guard the border. The deployment came after Colombia's cross border strike killed a top rebel leader in neighboring Ecuador. Columbia's president is accusing Chavez of "sponsoring and financing genocide."
Some tense moments to report. A passenger jet was forced to make an emergency landing in Florida last night after several passengers mysteriously got sick. Here's what happened. The air transit flight was en route from the Dominican Republic to Canada when it had to land in Ft. Lauderdale. Eight people were taken to the hospital. The remaining 230 passengers were evaluated. They were then allowed to continue on to Canada. There's no word yet on what caused the illnesses.
Researchers have found more dangers associated with hormone replacement therapy. The new study found women who took those hormones during and after menopause actually increased their risk of cancer, especially breast cancer. The increase was only slight but the study's authors found it lingered for up to five years after the women stopped taking the hormones. Researchers also found the risk for heart attack and stroke diminished once those hormones were stopped but they say the risks still far outweigh the benefits.
Here's something you don't see every day, identical triplets. Take a look at these little ones. Doctors say it happens just once in every 200 million births. The baby boys are from Long Island, New York. The parents say they put dots of nail polish on their fingers to tell them apart. The boys are one week old today. They went home from the hospital over the weekend.
Can you believe it? Identical triplets. In fact, when I was reading the story, I had to read it a couple of times. I thought, is this possible? Turns out it is.
CHETRY: How do you get them to sleep at the same time and eat at the same time? God bless them.
CHO: You'll have two in a little bit.
CHETRY: Last time you said that, everyone thought I was having twins. No, I only have one and I'm only having one more.
CHO: Two is enough.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton racking up big wins in Ohio and Texas putting her back in the race. We'll speak with the senator coming up.
And Barack Obama doesn't seem fazed by Hillary Clinton's big primary wins. He's joining us live next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Senator Barack Obama is now putting together the next phase of his campaign after winning just one of four primaries on Tuesday. Senator Obama joins us from San Antonio, Texas.
Senator, good to see you. There were some people in your campaign who thought it might all be over by this morning. Where does this campaign go from here?
OBAMA: It goes to Wyoming and Mississippi, which we've got coming up this week and then on to Pennsylvania and a series of other states, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana. And so, you know, we are confident that after last night, where Senator Clinton had a good night, but said that, you know, she had to win Texas and Ohio decisively. We end up emerging with essentially the same delegate count that we had going in. And feel confident that we're going to be able to go on to the nomination.
ROBERTS: So you are really keying in on this word decisively saying she didn't win it decisively, so what does that mean?
OBAMA: Well, you know, we went into Texas and Ohio down 20 points. We had won 11 straight. Senator Clinton decided that they can only contest in these two states where she had an advantage. And she did well. But as I said before, we emerged with the same delegate gap between her and me that we had essentially before we got in.
And so, you know, we have constantly focused on the next states in front of us. We've got Wyoming and Mississippi this week. We think we'll do well. And then we go on to Pennsylvania and the other states in the fall.
ROBERTS: It's a long time between now and Pennsylvania. In a state you had been down. Your numbers are coming up a little bit. What can you do to regain the momentum and hang on to it for what in anybody's book is a lifetime in the world of politics?
OBAMA: Well, what's we've got to do is keep on doing what's we've been doing throughout this campaign, talking about the issues that matter to the American people, making sure that we're talking about my plan to provide health care to every single American, making sure that I am putting forward my plans for college affordability. Talking about how we can end the war in Iraq in an honorable, responsible way so that we can refocus our attention on al Qaeda and Afghanistan, which will keep America safer.
And so we can start spending some of those billions of dollars that are going to Iraq to building infrastructure and putting people back to work here in the United States. If we talk about those issues, then I think we'll end up doing well.
ROBERTS: Senator, there's certainly been a lot of talk about this so-called 3:00 a.m. the red phone. Even though it's a white phone in the ad, that Hillary Clinton had up questioning your experience to be able to react to a crisis. She took a pretty obvious shot at you last night in her victory speech.
Let's listen to it and I'll get you to respond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: When there's a crisis and that phone rings at 3:00 a.m. in the White House, there's no time for speeches or on-the-job training. You have to be ready to make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So she's saying she's got it, you don't. What's your response?
OBAMA: Well, she's yet to cite what experience, in fact, prepares her for that 3:00 a.m. phone call. When her advisers were asked about it, there was a deafening silence. So it was a clever ad, but the bottom line is that the most important foreign policy call that she's had to make since she's been in public office was whether or not to follow George Bush into Iraq. And she made the wrong decision.
So I'm looking forward to having that debate because, in fact, Senator Clinton hasn't cited any particular experience that makes her prepared to make that -- to make that call.
ROBERTS: Let me ask you. What specific experience do you have in handling a crisis that would make you the better person to field that 3:00 a.m. phone call?
OBAMA: Well, and that's the point. Nobody does because nobody has been in that situation unless you have been president. The question then becomes, who has got the kind of judgment on these critical issues that is -- shows some evidence that you can, in fact, understand how the world is operating and when we have to deal with issues in a military way and on questions like Iraq, on questions like Pakistan and Iran.
I think that the judgment I've shown over the last several years has been superior most to Senator Clinton's and to Senator McCain's. And if longevity is the measure by which we determine who has got the best experience to answer that phone call, then John McCain wins because he's been there the longest. But that's not the criteria. The question is who has the best judgment and I think that my record looks pretty good compared to theirs. ROBERTS: She really went for the jugular over the last few days. Did she knock you off your game?
OBAMA: No, I don't think so. Keep in mind, it was just Tuesday where we had a debate, and she said, you know, come meet me in Ohio. And I think the general consensus was that we did very well in that debate.
And, you know, there's no doubt that she went very negative over the last week, but ultimately, you know, we started 20 points behind in Ohio and Texas. We closed that gap. We weren't able to close it as much as we'd like, but you can't discount the fact that we have won 11 previous contests by enormous margins. And that's why we're in a very strong position going forward.
ROBERTS: It's the next contest that counts.
OBAMA: That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: Senator Barack Obama, thanks for joining us this morning. Congratulations on your victory in Vermont. We'll see how the Texas caucuses turn out. Good to see you.
OBAMA: Thank you so much, John.
CHETRY: Glad we had a chance to talk to Senator Obama. Now it will be Senator Clinton's turn, on a roll. She won three in a row after dropping 11. What's next? We're going to talk to her. She joins us right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLINTON: People of Ohio have said it loudly and clearly. We're going on. We're going strong. And we're going all the way!
CHETRY: Senator Hillary Clinton, pulling off three of four primary wins last night, including the big states of Texas and Ohio. What does she think worked with the voters and what is her message now?
Senator Clinton joins us this morning from Washington.
Thanks for being -- thanks for getting up with us. I know it was probably a long night. Some of those decisions didn't come until well after midnight.
CLINTON: Thank you very much. I guess it was kind of a short night, actually.
CHETRY: A short night, a long morning. Let's put it that way.
CLINTON: Right.
CHETRY: I know your husband, former President Bill Clinton, said these were must-win states for you. What did he say when you both found out well into the early morning hours that you indeed won Texas and Ohio?
CLINTON: Oh, he was so excited. We all were because, obviously, we had worked hard. We put a lot of our energy and focus on these two states. We know how important Ohio is. Nobody in recent history has been elected president who didn't win their party's primary in Ohio. So Ohio carries special significance. As a Democrat, you can't win the White House if you don't win Ohio. And I think I proved last night that Ohioans want to see me as the nominee and that's what I intend to be.
CHETRY: As we've seen this election could be an election of many firsts. One of them Democratic race still is. You are getting a lot of big headlines this morning but Barack Obama is making much of the fact he's still ahead in the delegate count.
Jonathan Alter from "Newsweek" did the math and said you can win the next 16 races and still not beat Barack Obama among the pledged delegates. Do you think that math adds up?
CLINTON: I think what's important here is that this campaign has turned a corner. It is now about who is strongest against the Republican nominee John McCain. People who voted a month ago didn't know who the Republican nominee was going to be. They didn't perhaps factor in that it will be about national security because, indeed, with senator McCain, that's what it will be about.
What happened yesterday is that voters said, look, we want somebody who can go toe-to-toe with John McCain on national security. We want someone who can be a good steward of the economy. We're looking for a commander in chief and a president ready on day one. And I think that's what the voters in the upcoming states will decide as well. So we're, you know, going forward here.
This is a close, close contest. You know, just, you know, it's really neck and neck in the popular vote. The delegate count separating is very small relatively. We are really feeling good about where we are.
CHETRY: You mentioned the delegate count. To the superdelegates, which those are the elected party officials, some who are already in office that are also going to be pledging their support behind one or the other candidate. You've had some defections. Some who initially pledged their support to you and then went over to Barack Obama. How do you prevent that from happening and keep the superdelegates on your side?
CLINTON: I think a lot of people will be looking at the results from yesterday and determining who is really best able to be the nominee to win. I have no doubt that I am that person. And more and more voters are saying the same thing.
You know, for me, this election has always been about who can be the best president. And, you know, that includes who can be the best commander in chief. And I have, you know, over 30 retired generals and admirals who include two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who have said that they put their confidence in me to be the next commander in chief.
On all of the important issues facing America, I think I have an advantage. As I've said many times in the last several weeks, there's a difference between speeches and solutions. I think voters are finally focused on, you know, how we really get to electing someone who is going to make a difference in their lives. And that's what I offer.
CHETRY: You mention that it's going to come down to who is strongest against John McCain and a lot of national security questions. Your campaign releasing the 3:00 a.m. phone ad. Can you tell us what specific experience in handling a crisis you can point to that would make you better equipped to answer that White House phone at 3:00 a.m.?
CLINTON: I have a lifetime of experience. Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience. Senator Obama's campaign is about one speech he made in 2002.
You know, I was involved for 15 years in, you know, foreign policy and security policy. You know, I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland. I negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo. I've been standing up against, you know, the Chinese government over women's rights and standing up for human rights in many different places. I've served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And I was the only senator of either party asked to be on an important task force put together by the Pentagon under this administration to figure out what to do with our military going forward.
You know, so I have so much experience. I have the experience of traveling to more than 80 countries, representing the United States. You know, sitting down with presidents and prime ministers and kings and you know, having the chance to, you know, represent our country in some very difficult situations. So, I am offering a lifetime of experience. And I think that's a stark contrast to my opponent's offer.
CHETRY: All of those points are well taken. I was wondering if you could point to a specific crisis where you were the go-to person?
CLINTON: Well, you know, there isn't any way that anyone who has not been president, but you know the administration sent me to war- torn zones. I was the first person from the Clinton administration to go into Bosnia after the Dayton peace accords. You know, I went to Macedonia and sat down with their government and negotiated opening up that border. There are a lot of examples.
But it's not just one thing. You know, Senator Obama's whole campaign is about a speech he gave in 2002 and, of course, by 2004 he had even backed away from his fervent anti-war sentiment and said he wasn't sure how he would have voted and actually agreed with the way George Bush was conducting the war. And by the time he got to the Senate, he voted exactly the same way I did.
So, if your entire campaign is about one speech and that's what you hold up as your credential to be president against a lifetime of experience from John McCain and a lifetime of experience from me, I think the voters can draw their own conclusion.
CHETRY: Well, you certainly have reason to celebrate this morning your two big wins last night. And of course, we can't forget your three big wins with Texas and Ohio, of course, the key.
CLINTON: Three big wins. That's right.
CHETRY: Thanks. It was great to talk to you this morning. Thanks for getting up with us. Senator Hillary Clinton, always great to see you.
CLINTON: My pleasure. Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: On the Republican side, all settled, all done. John McCain has the nomination in hand. And Mike Huckabee now out of the race. Texas and Ohio put McCain over the top. Looking at the breakdown here. McCain took 51 percent of the Texas vote. Mike Huckabee came up with 38 percent. Ron Paul had 5 percent. Ron Paul did win the primary contest in his congressional district. So, a big victory for him last night.
In Ohio, McCain won 60 percent of the GOP vote to Huckabee's 31 percent. John McCain now has 1,226 delegates. That's 35 more than he needed to win. Mike Huckabee finished with 251. McCain states in red here. Huckabee's in pink. The sort of brownish maroon color Mitt Romney's. And we still don't know what he's going to do with all those delegates.
McCain now emerges as the leader of the GOP. Today, he heads to the White House to get President Bush's endorsement and is looking ahead to November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: Americans aren't interested in an election where they are just talked to and not listened to. An election -- an election that offers platitudes instead of principles and insults instead of ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Mike Huckabee conceded the race soon after the polls closed. He thanked his supporters and talked about the importance of sticking to his principles. Then Governor Huckabee threw his support behind John McCain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUCKABEE: It's now important that we turn our attention not to what could have been or what we wanted to have been, but what now must be and that is a united party. But a party that indeed comes together on those principles that have brought many of us, not just to this race, but to politics in general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Huckabee says he's got no plan "B" for his future. Texas Congressman Ron Paul though still in the race but he's only got 21 delegates.
So, what's coming up next? We're breaking up the "Election Center" magic wall and CNN's chief national correspondent John King is here now with more on this. What does last night's result on the Democratic side, particularly in the state of Ohio, tell us about how this race may shape up going forward?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly tells us that Senator Clinton has stopped Barack Obama's momentum. And now, we have a bit of a wait. When everyone expects that he'll win Mississippi next week. That is down here that's a state with a significant African-American population. The Wyoming caucuses is coming this weekend out there. Obama is favored although Bill Clinton is on his way out there.
We'll see how that one plays out. But as you just heard Senator Clinton said, John, she now is facing -- she is now factoring the race on this circle. I'm going to make it like this, right around Ohio.
Pennsylvania is next. Seven weeks away, it's is a long time to wait. They're going to slug this out in Pennsylvania. But it's a very similar economic state to what we had in Ohio. Remember, when we look at Ohio, look where she won. She won in Youngstown. She won in Akron. She won in Toledo. She won all down here along the River Valley. White, industrial, former industrial areas that are hurting right now.
She won the economic debate. You can carry that over into these communities across Pennsylvania. The old steel towns. Other light manufacturing towns that are struggling right now. So, she is hoping to carry the economic argument. We are hearing a lot of talk from her about the commander in chief, the national security part but on the ground they think her greatest success was convincing economically depressed areas right now to rally to her plan.
ROBERTS: You know, when you look at the map there, it looks very much like a general election where the Democrats win in the inner city and Republicans win out there in the collar counties, in the rural areas. Do you think we'll see that repeated in Pennsylvania where he might win in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, places like that and she'll win many other places?
KING: If there's a lesson for Barack Obama, heading into Pennsylvania and he has time to deal with it. Again, remember he won in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati where you have the African- American population. But imagine Cleveland as Philadelphia. If Barack Obama wins Philadelphia, only 53 to 46 percent, well then Senator Clinton is in a good position across Pennsylvania, across the broader parts of Pennsylvania.
ROBERTS: And you mentioned, that she had a lot of help.
KING: She had a lot of help. Congresswoman Stephanie Tub Jones there. She also had Governor Ted Strickland who just won back in 2006. So, his organization was still fresh and lean, if you will. He had a lot to prove. And remember as we move over here, Mark Halperin said it earlier this morning when he was on. Governor Ed Rendell, if there's a political animal in the governor's office in the United States, it is right there.
ROBERTS: Can he deliver in the inner city?
KING: That is the question now. Remember, he was the mayor way over here in Philadelphia where Barack Obama needs to win the African- American vote. Ed Rendell, some rough relations with some of the people on the ground there. But this is going to be a battle royale. It is an amazingly complicated and diverse state, very big city here. Medium-sized city here. A much more conservative area, rural in the middle where she has done well with rural. This is going to be a huge battle.
And what she is hoping to say, John, she cannot get to the delegate battle. She cannot get there. But if she can win these, she can block him and make the case where the economy matters most. The issue that the Democrats believe will carry the day in November that she's carrying the day. He needs to stop her here.
ROBERTS: Seven weeks of fun coming up. John, thanks very much. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the tight race on the Democratic side has a lot of people wondering what to do about Michigan and Florida. You may remember that the Democratic National Committee stripped both states of delegates for holding primaries before the approved date.
Well, Clinton beat Obama in January, 210 delegates available there. But again, none awarded. Now similarly, none of Michigan's 156 delegates were awarded when Clinton won there. Barack Obama not even on the ballot. So, what is the fair way to deal with this?
It brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What should happen to the votes and delegates in Florida and Michigan. Right now, 53 percent of you think that the delegates should count as is. Nineteen percent say they should hold new caucuses or primaries, to allow these candidates to get out there and actually campaign in these states. And 28 percent think the delegates should not be counted at all. We will tally your votes throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Pretty close split there.
CHETRY: How about it. And you know as we talked about before, in Florida, they all signed a pledge not to campaign at all. And in Michigan, Barack Obama and some of the other candidates weren't even on the ballot.
ROBERTS: And you got to think that all the Hillary Clinton supporters are voting for, you know, option number one and the Barack Obama supporters voting for option b or c.
CHETRY: Well, the economy a big issue with voters last night and AMERICAN MORNING's Ali Velshi was asking them in Texas, what are they looking for as they decide who to back? Their answers ahead.
Also, they say that age is nothing but a number but it was an important factor in yesterday's primaries. Bill Schneider breaking down the exit polls. That story in today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back
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ROBERTS: Forty-one minutes after the hour.
Ali Velshi joins us this morning from Bandera, Texas, where he has been touring the state on board the CNN "Election Express" bus. Last night he heard the poll results come in at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar where they were singing, dancing and barbecuing. But Ali, what were they saying last night?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, John. This is a place that is northwest of San Antonio. It's pretty rural. It's a ranching community. Everybody drives a lot. You know, throughout this tour of Texas, we've been talking about gas prices and inflation. That comes into play here. This is a pretty Republican town. They were getting together last night.
Everyone brought their steaks and having a drink and there was a band called the Almost Patsy Cline band. There seemed to be some desire on the part of some people for change. We weren't clear what they meant by change but change. We had Hillary supporters, Barack supporters. John McCain supporters. Even some Mike Huckabee supporters around here. And everyone was just having a good time. In the end, the band actually read the results as they came in.
At one point, actually, they stopped to sing "America the Beautiful" and everybody came to a standstill. And then the crowd went wild. I mean, it was a really, really good sense of camaraderie around here that people understood that the political process does seem to be working. Very active. Very large voter turnout. Very large advance voter turnout here.
So, everybody in town was somehow interested in the political system. But there was this -- here the interesting thing here, and I think this will continue as the primary race goes on. There is some sense of discussion of something has to be different. But we couldn't get a full handle on what that something is.
People thought their gas prices are too high. Inflation is too high. Generally positive about the country and the economy. But understood that there were problems and didn't quite know what the solutions were. In the absence of that, they were at least having a good time last night -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, it's interesting, Ali. Because I've been going through our exit polling this morning. That this idea of change was important to a lot of Texans and the majority of -- not the majority, but the bulk of them thought that Barack Obama was the agent of change and they still put Hillary Clinton over the top down there.
VELSHI: Yes. And that's interesting because I think the word, the use of the word change in Barack Obama's campaign has instilled that idea that some people want change. But they weren't all saying that Barack Obama was the one for change. To some people, change meant a change from this administration. Could be John McCain. So but they all did say they liked the idea that things need to be done differently. It's time for a different approach.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi for us this morning in Bandera, Texas. He's going to be losing the hat later on this morning. Coming back home. Ali, thanks very much.
Well, how much of a role did the red phone ad play in Hillary Clinton's victory in Texas? Our Bill Schneider will break down the exit polls for us. That's coming up.
And he burst on to the national scene, dazzled at the debates, cracked a few jokes, quoted the Beatles, played the bass and quoted the bible as well. So, what's Mike Huckabee's legacy and is he really done? His campaign director joins us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, some strong late campaigning may have pushed Hillary Clinton over the top in Texas. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider takes a look at those late deciding voters and who they decided to cast their ballots for in the very end.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, something happened in the last three days of the campaign that turn the whole thing around. Let's take a look at the exit poll. We asked people, when did you decide how to vote? Now, the people who decided the last three days of the campaign in Texas voted very heavily 61 percent to 38 percent for Hillary Clinton.
Now, among the majority of Texas Democrats who decided more than three days ago, well the race was a tie. So it looks like it would have gone down to the wire except something happened in those last three days that tilted everything to Hillary Clinton. There's going to be a lot of discussion, debate, analysis.
CHETRY: Right.
SCHNEIDER: What happened? That red phone ad?
CHETRY: Was it the negative ad? Was it the flop with Canada and NAFTA that cropped up in the days right before the voting as well. So a lot of questions there.
SCHNEIDER: A lot of questions. But that ad shown in Texas, not in Ohio. I think a lot of fingers will be pointing at that ad.
CHETRY: The 3:00 a.m. ad. And then within minutes it seemed he had a rebuttal out there as well to that.
SCHNEIDER: That's right.
CHETRY: Let's talk a little bit about how age factored in to who voted for whom?
SCHNEIDER: Who rescued Hillary Clinton, not when it happened, but who did it? Well, we have the answer to that, too. Among the vast majority of voters who are under 65, shall we call them juniors? They were tied between Clinton and Obama. 50 percent Clinton, 49 percent Obama. But among seniors, look at his, Hillary Clinton really wiped up the vote among seniors, 67 percent. Two-thirds of them voted for her. Just 30 percent for Barack Obama. That's better than two to one.
The senior vote has always been strong for Hillary Clinton. And In Texas, it proved to be critical because it really did put her over the top. Seniors are heavy users of government services and resources. And they want a candidate who will deliver.
CHETRY: And they're also reliable at the polls.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, they are.
CHETRY: And history has shown. It will be interesting. The question now John McCain is the GOP nominee for all intents and purposes. Does he still have the conservative problem?
SCHNEIDER: He has some conservative problems, not entirely. Let's take a look at how conservatives voted in Texas. Those who call themselves somewhat conservative, that's about 40 percent of the Republican primary voters. They did come around and vote for McCain over Huckabee by 20 points.
But the very conservative Republicans, and that's a third of Republican voters in Texas, they held out for Mike Huckabee, only 38 percent for John McCain. So McCain still may have a problem with those very conservative voters, but Huckabee's endorsement after he lost the primary may help. And so may George W. Bush who McCain is meeting with in just a few hours.
CHETRY: That's right. Five hours from now he'll be throwing his weight behind McCain as well. Great to see you, Bill. Thanks. John.
ROBERTS: Ten minutes to the top of the hour. He ignored the math and looked for miracles but none came. So, what's next for Mike Huckabee? Is there still a ticket in his future? We'll ask his campaign director coming up next.
And does the price of the pill affect how well you think it works? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has got the answers from a very surprising study you'll want to hear about.
Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
It does make a difference because if you believe it's more expensive, you believe it's going to work better. It was a very interesting study. And I can't wait to tell you about it. It's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Ten minutes to the top of the hour. Well, no one could accuse Mike Huckabee of giving up. He bowed out last night after leading the crusade for conservatives from Iowa onward. And Huckabee kept to his word, stepping aside last night once McCain secured the delegates needed for the Republican nomination.
Ed Rollins is Governor Huckabee's campaign chairman. He joins us now from Little Rock, Arkansas. Ed, good to see you. What's the next move for your candidate?
ED ROLLINS, HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I thought it's a big move. First he'll go help John McCain win the presidency. He will campaign for other candidates across the country. I think Mike, who is the youngest of the candidates has a big future. He made a lot of friends, a lot of supporters in this campaign.
ROBERTS: In terms of helping out John McCain and trying to get him elected to the White House, what can he offer? What do you think he might do? What about this idea that many people have floated that he might make a good running mate?
ROLLINS: Well, I think he'd make a superb running mate but that's certainly not our choice. I've been in the room when a lot of vice presidents have been picked and you never know until the final moment when that happens.
But I think he can go out and try to energize the political base. Mike was certainly the conservative candidate in this race. And I think to a certain extent made a lot of friends, has a great deal of affection across this country. And he'll do anything to make those supporters turn out and help him beat either Barack or Hillary.
ROBERTS: Over the weekend, "The Dallas Morning News" pointed out that they didn't think that he had any chance of becoming the nominee this year but they said that he's good for the future of the party. What might they be talking about? Do you think he'll try to make another run for the presidency in 2012, if John McCain doesn't get elected?
ROLLINS: He may very well. Obviously, when you just finished a long race you don't think about the future. You think about today, getting more sleep. But I think at the end of the day, this was the guy who attracted younger voters. We had gigantic crowds of young people. This was a campaign that had 30 staffers.
I was the only one who has ever been in a presidential campaign or any real campaign. It began with his family, his sons and his daughters' sons and daughters, some people from his staff. And thousands of young volunteers across this country that call themselves Huck's Army. They are still out there. They still want him to continue on. At the end of the day, he did the honorable thing and he will continue to do the honorable thing. They're out there. There's lots of people that want him for the future.
ROBERTS: Ed, let's get you to look at the race going forward on the Republican side because you are a well-known party gray beard or maybe gray goatee, I guess, would be more accurate. But John McCain still got some problems with conservatives. We talked with Tony Perkins from the Family Research Counsel early this week. And asked Tony if he could throw his support behind McCain and where he thought conservatives were going with this.
Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY PERKINS, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: I hope that during the course of this campaign that he is able to convince social conservatives that he can lead the entire nation, including those that have social conservative issues that they focus on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So he says that he's not convinced yet. What can John McCain do to try to convince conservatives and what role might Mike Huckabee play in doing that?
ROLLINS: Well, I think Mike Huckabee will do everything he can to help John. You know, he's got six months until the convention. That's a lot of time in the world of politics. I think he has to reach out to a lot of the conservative leadership. I think he has to assure them that the positions he's taken over the last several months as he's running for president will be the positions that he'll try to implement. You know, the problems conservatives had in the past have been the McCain-Feingold and the immigration bill and some other things that we didn't support, the tax bills.
He's made pretty much strong commitments on many of those fronts that he'd be different and he just got to reassure them that he'd be different.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll keep watching. Certainly, it's been entertaining thus far. Ed Rollins, thanks for being with us this morning. Good to see you.
ROLLINS: My pleasure. Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, for any of the candidates, really no time to bask in any victory especially for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We've talked to them already this morning about where their fight goes on from here because it does continue on. And we're going to hear from them and also talk with senior political correspondent Candy Crowley coming up next. Also, a possible break in the Mideast peace process as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tries to revive the talks again in the region. We'll give you an update ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Game on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: This campaign has turned a corner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Clinton gets back in it. Obama battles on.
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