Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ballot Bowl '08

Aired March 09, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

JESSICA YELLIN, CO-HOST: Hi. This is another edition of CNN's "Ballot Bowl."
I'm Jessica Yellin, coming to you from Cheyenne, Wyoming. This state has had its say. Its caucus happened yesterday, and Barack Obama walked away with the most delegates, but a pretty nice split between the two candidates.

We'll cover all angles of that race. And looking ahead, we've got another race in Mississippi. We will discuss that.

My co-anchor, Jim Acosta, is in the City of Brotherly Love, in Philadelphia. That state holding another primary coming up. It's the big one. The next big one.

Jim, it's a lot of energy and excitement there looking ahead to the next Democratic contest.

JIM ACOSTA, CO-HOST: That's right, Jessica. We are in Philadelphia. And I'm standing in front of, by the way, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

And history will be made next month, April 22nd. Both campaigns have circled their calendar to indicate just how important the upcoming Pennsylvania primary will be.

We'll be looking at the importance of that contest coming up. We'll also be taking a look at -- during our game plan -- let's take a look at that.

The Mississippi primary that you mentioned, Jessica, is just coming in a couple of days. That will be key as Barack Obama looks to build some momentum that he picked up in Wyoming.

So we'll be looking at not only the Mississippi primary, but the bounce that Barack Obama might be taking with him out of Wyoming. And again, throughout the afternoon, we'll be looking at the Pennsylvania primary.

Both campaigns will be putting a lot of resources in this state. Hillary Clinton is expected to campaign in this state tomorrow.

And we'll have all of that and a lot more coming up on "Ballot Bowl."

But in the meantime, I'll send it back to you, Jessica, out there in Wyoming, where there's a bit of a cowboy caucus, you could say, there yesterday. YELLIN: There was. There was quite a lot of excitement here, a big turnout. An unprecedented turnout, in fact.

Barack Obama, as we say, was the winner of yesterday's caucus. He picked up a seven delegates out of the 12 pledged delegates total.

Now, you'll see on your screen we have 18 up there. That's the number of pledged delegates plus superdelegates afforded by Wyoming to Democrats at the convention. But yesterday, only 12 of those were divvied up.

Barack Obama, again, got seven of them. Senator Hillary Clinton will walk away with five of them, which makes them still at a relatively similar distance.

Barack Obama with 1,527 total pledged delegates. Senator Clinton with 1,428 total pledged delegates. A very, very close race. And it looks like neither of them is likely to get to that 2,025 total by the time the national convention rolls around. So it could be up to those superdelegates we've been talking so much about, or it could be up to Florida and Michigan if they get their re-dos to weigh in on who becomes the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.

Well, Barack Obama was out here in Wyoming stumping hard to get that honor. As you know, he has been hit by Senator Clinton hard on this national security issue. She has insisted that she is the candidate best prepared to be commander in chief, but he's saying not so fast and laying down the line on where he plans to take this country if he were to become commander in chief.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won't hesitate to strike against those who would do us harm, but that means that we maintain the best military on earth so that our -- that means our troops are properly trained, properly equipped, on proper rotations, and that they are receiving proper treatment when they come home, getting screened for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, getting mental health services, getting disability payments, making sure the V.A. is assessable. And it also means using our military wisely.

You know, it means use are using our military wisely. And the war in Iraq was unwise. It was an unwise war.

(APPLAUSE)

It fanned the flames of anti-American sentiment around the world. It distracted us from al Qaeda. They are stronger now than any time since 2001 in Afghanistan.

We should have been hunting down bin Laden and his whole crew. They should have been caught, captured, killed, pinned down. And we didn't do it.

(APPLAUSE)

Obviously most profoundly it's cost us thousands of lives, and thousands of more who have been injured. Hundreds of billions of dollars. By the time this thing is over, we will have spent well over a trillion dollars, closer to two -- trillion dollars, money that we could have spent to put people back to work, to give them health care, to send them to college, to strengthen our homeland security, strengthening our ports and our chemical plants and our water supplies and our food supplies.

We could have done so much. So this war was unwise, which is why I opposed it in 2002. And that is why I will bring this war to an end in 2009.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Barack Obama speaking in Wyoming earlier this week, trying a link between the cost of the war in Iraq and economic fears of a recession here at home, and some of the problems with American infrastructure.

Senator Obama isn't the only one on the offensive against President Bush, in effect, and for the ways that he has run the government and his attention to domestic concerns. Senator Clinton hit George Bush hard on these very same issues when she was campaigning in Canton, Mississippi, earlier this past week. She was really taking on the administration for their responses to Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, the president did not respond and did not tend to the needs of the people here in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

(APPLAUSE)

It should not the have taken the staff of the president to give him a video of the footage from CNN for him to look at it to find out about the devastation that had swept across our country! And still to this day we do not yet have the level of response and urgency that natural disaster which turned into a national disgrace deserves.

I have said that I will do whatever I can to make up for lost time as your president. There will be one person in the White House who is responsible every single day to give me a report about the progress we're making in rebuilding, getting people back into their homes, fixing the infrastructure, dealing with the insurance claims! Because I know you can make a lot of speeches about all that's wrong, but what people are looking for are solutions. What is it you're going to do to make my life better to solve these problems, to give us back our sense of pride and progress? Well, I worked with your leadership here in Mississippi, especially with former Senator Lott, to try to make some of the changes that were needed. And I was happy to stand with you and vote to permit more drilling in the gulf so you could get more money to protect the coastline. Something that is important if we're going to mitigate against storms that might come in the future. And I will do whatever I can to be your partner and your supporter, because I fear that you won't see very much more progress before the current president leaves office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton campaigning in Canton, Mississippi, earlier this week.

Mississippi has 33 delegates at stake in their primary on Tuesday. An additional seven delegates, superdelegates, for a total of 40 delegates from Mississippi will go to a Democrat in -- after that primary.

Now, I'm going to toss it over to my colleague, Jim Acosta, who is in Philadelphia. We'll get more from the Wyoming race later.

But Jim, take it away.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Jessica.

That's right, and you just mentioned what's up for grabs in Mississippi -- 33 delegates, as you said. And so it's an important contest, and Barack Obama would certainly like to pick up those delegates, or at least a majority of those delegates, should he be victorious in that state on Tuesday night.

He's done well in the South. He captured Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, and so if he can pick up Mississippi, he might be able to make up the argument that he could perform well down South.

And the devastation along the Gulf Coast that you heard Hillary Clinton talking about in that piece of sound before Jessica tossed it over to me, just shows you how much down in Mississippi and along the Gulf Coast people are still hurting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And I'm wondering and a lot of people are wondering whether or not Katrina could play a big issue down on the Gulf Coast.

And I want to turn to my colleague, Sean Callebs, who works out of our New Orleans bureau and has spent a lot of time cataloging and taking a look at exactly what has happened to the folks who live down on the Gulf Coast.

And Sean, you have been talking to folks over the last couple of days as this primary gets closer in Mississippi. What are folks saying about the impact that Katrina could have on this upcoming primary and on the presidential election this fall?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, as you look along the Gulf Coast, to people here there is one issue. There is recovery. Everything else -- education, health care, is atmosphere.

If you look behind me, this is a former government building. It basically oversaw the ports here in the Biloxi, Mississippi, area. And you can see what the 20-foot-plus storm surge did. Two and a half years later, this building still devastated.

If you go over this way, just a little bit to my left, this is the future here along the Gulf Coast. They're rebuilding part of the marina here, but, boy, if you talk to people here, the recovery has been so slow. "Glacial" is the term that a lot of folks use down here.

A lot of frustration. They would love to sit down face to face with the candidates and say, what happened to us? What happened to all these promises to make us whole? We know that Hillary Clinton is out there saying she worked closely with former Senator Trent Lott to bring aid down to this area, but that aid only trickling in at this point.

Barack Obama is going to be in Mississippi campaigning on Monday. He'll be at Jackson, Columbus, and in the town of Greenville, up near the Arkansas border.

He has a plan for recovery in this area. People are very interested to hear exactly what that is.

Let's try to put a face on the people down here who are really suffering. We've been out this morning. We went and spent some time with three siblings who live in FEMA trailers, three separate FEMA trailers tucked on to one little piece of land as they try to rebuild their home.

We talked with John and Derrel Nutter, African-Americans in their 40s and their 50s. John just had a heart attack five months ago after working more than two and a half years trying to rebuild their family home. In the past year, their father has died, their sister has died. They attribute that to the stress, if you will, the depression, the sense of (INAUDIBLE) that lingers from Hurricane Katrina.

They were scheduled to get about $80,000 in aid from the state, but after the father died, that all went away. Now they are trying to figure out how they're going to get the money, how they're going to rebuild, and they are faced with the prospect of being thrown out on the street.

Listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN NUTTER, BILOXI RESIDENT: The main thing that happened is after the storm, the mortgage company started giving people three months of relief without paying their mortgage, but they didn't explain to everybody that at the end of you paying your mortgage off, you have to pay them three months they gave you to relax on. You have to pay all of that back at one time. They wouldn't let you pay it back a month at a time. CALLEBS: But you had a big grant coming in that would have taken care of all the expenses.

NUTTER: Yes, which we haven't gotten yet. We applied for the grant. My father was approved for the grant. They even told us -- sent us a letter saying how much money we would get from the grant.

And before we received any money, my father passed away. So we had to go out -- go back and do the grant all over again, which right now it's been over two years and we still haven't received any money or anything, if we'll get the grant or anything. That's the house my father built, the house I was raised in.

DERREL NUTTER, BILOXI RESIDENT: Some people care and some people just don't. A lot of folks are probably in badder (ph) shape than we are right now.

J. NUTTER: Affordable homes for people, that's the main thing right now. More affordable homes.

And there's just-- like my brother says, there's a lot more people out there that are in worse shape than we are. It's people that don't have a home. They haven't had a home or a trailer to live in. They live in the shelters and stuff.

D. NUTTER: I'm done with it. I'm thinking in a few days we're going to be out on the streets, because we've got nowhere else to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: And that is a very, very real prospect, that they're going to be forced out of the FEMA trailers because they're on the property that the bank has foreclosed on. A realtor came in just a couple of weeks ago, changed all the locks on the house you heard that their father had built so many years ago.

It's agonizing to have to listen to people who tell these stories two and a half years after the storm, the sense of hopelessness, the sense of helplessness that really echoes throughout this whole area. People here would love to sit down face to face with Barack Obama, with John McCain, with Hillary Clinton and talk about these problems and say, what can be done?

They don't want people to forget about the Gulf Coast two and a half years after the storm. They know there's a sense of fatigue from Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, further on in the southwestern part of Louisiana, but the problems here are still very real. They hold the government accountable for so much.

A lot of people are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps as best they can. There are issues like education here in Mississippi, which is always a sore point. But they really want to find a way to get some kind of aid, rebuild this community, and get back on their feet -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Sean, that's right. And I have spent some time on the Gulf Coast as well, and there's a phrase down there, and I think the folks you were talking to sort of tapped into it. And that is mortgages and slabs.

There's still so many people down there who are paying mortgages on real estate that is essentially a slab at this point. And it's just so sad to hear those stories two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina. And it sounds like what they need is a storm surge of investment down there. But it's interesting to hear those stories still two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina.

Sean, we'll be coming back to you throughout the hour and throughout the day here on "Ballot Bowl."

And I want to take a look now at the national poll numbers in this race, because after Hillary Clinton came out of Ohio and Texas with those big victories, the race has tightened up again. A lot of Democrats were looking at the national landscape before Ohio and Texas and seeing Barack Obama had blown past Hillary Clinton, was ahead of her in many polls. Now she is gaining ground on Barack Obama, and it's almost a dead even race at this point.

According to the latest "Newsweek" poll, Barack Obama with 45 percent of the survey there, and 44 percent for Hillary Clinton. So as you can see, as it is shaping up in this contest, it is neck and neck, dead even, and in almost every possible sense when it comes to this race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

And having said all of that and showed you that poll, I'll bring my colleague Jessica Yellin back in.

And Jessica, you mentioned this earlier as "Ballot Bowl" was just kicking off here today. Barack Obama, despite the fact that he won handily at this caucus in Wyoming, only eked out two or three more pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton. And because of this proportional allocation of delegates, it is very hard when you do the math -- and I know we've said this time and again -- for Barack Obama to really put any distance between himself and Hillary Clinton or for Hillary Clinton, for that matter, unless something really dramatic happens out on the campaign trail, for her to catch up and move ahead of him in the delegate count, which brings us back to that question of superdelegates.

YELLIN: It is very tough to see how any -- either of them gets a significant enough advantage from the pledged delegates to really decide this race ahead of the convention unless somehow the superdelegates weigh in early or something dramatic happens.

I want to mention something in the poll, because you just showed those numbers that show the race so incredibly tight once again. If you read into the numbers further, it shows that some of the earlier trends we were seeing have re-emerged where Senator Clinton was gaining strength or has now held onto her strength among those who have less college education, more white voters, more blue collar voters. Barack Obama doing better among African-Americans, well- heeled voters, and those fresh to the process, newly engaged. So, it seems like the race is, you know, taking a step -- a page from where we saw it earlier before Obama's sweeping primary victories. But something else is interesting here.

It shows that Barack Obama is slightly ahead or statistically even with Senator Clinton in voters' opinion of the economy, who can address the economy better. And they don't have a real preference between Obama and Clinton.

This is important because Democrats consider the economy the number one issue. We've heard so much about Senator Clinton talking about national security and the Iraq war lately and who is ready to be commander in chief. Only 16 percent of Democrats say that's their top concern. So, this should be good news for Barack Obama.

The bad news is that both Clinton and Obama are beating John McCain, so he can't quite -- at least in this "Newsweek" poll -- can't quite claim that he's necessarily the stronger candidate to go up against John McCain, but those economy numbers should be very encouraging, at least for the Obama campaign. Something they can try to build on as they fight Senator Clinton on this national security issue -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Right. And the poll numbers we've just seen fluctuate, you know, from state to state and nationally. And it seems that we're almost dead even at this point, and even though, you know, we heard Bill Clinton yesterday talking about the idea of a dream ticket, he's floated it out there, so has Hillary Clinton.

We heard Barack Obama saying no thanks. Thanks, but no thanks.

But you have to wonder at some point -- and this is all sort of inside baseball, and why not it's not baseball season yet, they're just in spring training -- so indulge us for a moment. How do we get to a point in the convention -- and I'm asking you to speculate, Jessica -- I'm sorry about that -- but where these two sides sort of make peace with each other and figure out who is going to be on the top part of the ticket and who is going to be on the bottom.

I heard Democratic strategist Paul Begala on CNN the other night saying, well, maybe it's going to be a case of rock, paper and scissors, but exactly how do we sort this thing out? We're just in uncharted waters here, are we not?

YELLIN: We are in uncharted -- well, at least we haven't seen anything like this for a number of decades.

ACOSTA: Yes.

YELLIN: I have to say, this is a discussion that is really being driven by the Clinton campaign. Senator Clinton is the one who really benefits from a discussion of this dream ticket, because she can suggest that she is the more experienced, more practiced politician who should be at the top of the ticket, and the suggestion is that Barack Obama can kind of learn the ropes at her feet if he were to become her vice presidential candidate. That is the implicit suggestion in this dream ticket idea that's being floated by the Clinton campaign.

The Obama campaign is not playing on this topic, because they want to consistently remind voters that this is a contest for the top spot on the ticket, and not buy into this argument and this dream ticket discussion. Still, that doesn't keep all of us from having it.

And the question is...

ACOSTA: Yes.

YELLIN: ... could we get to a point where we see this race so close coming toward the convention that some group of powerful superdelegates sits the two candidates down and says, let's work this out, one of you is on top, one of you is going to be VP?

We can discuss this more on the other side of the break. But we've got to take a quick one.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Well, we have been talking about Senator Clinton and Obama battling with each other,. but on the other side of the ticket, John McCain has a battle of his own. He is fighting for support within his own party by conservatives. He is working hard to reassure the conservative base that he is a traditional Republican enough for them.

Let's listen to him as he made his case in New Orleans last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will stand on my record. That's probably the first place to investigate, and that's my record 24 years of pro-life voting.

And advocacy for the rights of the unborn in many, many ways, because I believe the noblest words written are that all of us are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights -- among these are life. And I believe that's the unborn as well as the born.

(APPLAUSE)

And in due respect, I know what it's like to lose one's rights. So I will continue to advocate for that.

I'm proud to have led an effort in my home state to change our state constitution to protect the sanctity of marriage between man and woman. So I will be standing on my record.

I was asked to speak as briefly as possible, and I apologize for that, but I will stand on my record. I will continue to advocate for those fundamental principles of our party and our faith. I thank you.

Yes, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator McCain, as president, could you outline to us what measures you would take to protect our southern border?

MCCAIN: Yes, sir. We would have to obviously secure our borders first, and I would have the border state governors certify that their borders are secure.

I come from a state where the borders are not secure, as you know, and we've paid a very heavy price for that. Americans want the borders secured first so that we don't have a repetition of what we did in 1986.

We didn't secure the borders. We took care of the issue. And now there's more.

I was disappointed in the failure of this last contract of the "virtual fence." I think you have to build walls in certain areas. I think you have to have UAVs, sensors, cameras, vehicle barriers, depending on where it is. In populated areas you have to have walls, and they have to be manned and we have to have a lot more border patrol as you do -- as you know.

And then we have to have -- after we have secured the borders, then we can move forward with tamper-proof biometric I.D. cards for temporary workers. And anyone who hires someone that doesn't have that, including an electronic employment verification system, would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

What I'll also tell you, these are God's children, and we are going to handle it in a humane fashion, but with the principle that no one that came here illegally would have any precedence over someone who either came legally or waited legally for a chance to become a citizen of this country.

(APPLAUSE)

Yes, sir?

I hope that responds to your question. And if it doesn't I'll be good to have a follow-up.

Yes, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, Americans on the left, the center, and the right, to a large extent have lost confidence in what politicians say, their promises. What comfort level can you give conservatives that if you were fortunate enough to move into the White House next January, that to a large extent conservatives would come into the White House with you. We as conservatives believe personnel is policy.

MCCAIN: Well, I can say again -- and I don't mean to be repetitious, but one is my record. Second is the vision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: John McCain speaking in New Orleans last week.

And we will bring you more of the candidates later in the hour in "Ballot Bowl."

On the other side of this break we'll check on other news stories, including the latest on that storm hitting the East Coast.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Jim Acosta in Philadelphia.

And you know, after Hillary Clinton captured those big victories in Ohio and Texas, she already started to draw those battle plans up for the Keystone State here in Pennsylvania. And it's interesting. We woke up this morning in Philadelphia to the front page of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" -- we want to show it to you now -- and here's "The Philadelphia Inquirer referring to the primary coming up in this state as "Penn-hio," and referring to the fact that the electorate in this state is an awful lot like the one that was in play in Ohio.

This is a big industrial state with lots of blue collar workers. About a quarter of the workforce here in Pennsylvania is blue collar, much like the electorate in Ohio, which bodes well for Hillary Clinton. But there's a lot of time now between today and April 22nd, and both campaigns know this battle will be waged from here in the City of Brotherly Love, all the way out to the Steel City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice over): Less than 12 hours after the ballots were counted in Ohio, Hillary Clinton's volunteers at this Pittsburgh union hall were already taking her blue collar message from the Buckeye State to a Steel City that's showing signs of rust.

COURTNEY PELLIGRINO, CLINTON CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I feel that people in Pennsylvania, like the people in Ohio, are looking for a hard worker. They're looking for a fighter. They're looking for someone who can really get results for the working people.

ACOSTA: Across town, team Obama is also just getting warmed up.

MARK ELLERMEYER, OBAMA CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: What I don't get is the way Senator McCain and Senator Clinton criticize him. I'm glad to be inspired. I'm looking to be inspired. ACOSTA: But there are still plenty of undecideds. Take Pittsburgh's 28-year-old Democratic mayor, Luke Ravenstahl. He wasn't old enough to vote for Clinton's husband in 1992 or '96, but that doesn't mean he's just another young voter leaning toward Barack Obama.

MAYOR LUKE RAVENSTAHL (D), PITTSBURGH: While I am a young mayor and represent certainly the youth of our city, I also represent the entire population. And I need to make sure that before I make a decision, my decision is based on what I think is going to be best for Pittsburgh.

ACOSTA: That could mean another race that turns on the economy. While three-quarters of the population is urban and could go Obama, a quarter of the workforce is blue collar, a number that may favor Clinton.

MARK HALPERIN, SR. POLITICAL ANALYST, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Pennsylvania on paper is a good state for Clinton. It's a lot like Ohio demographically. Like in Ohio, she has the support of the very politically active governor, Ed Rendell. So I think Obama has got his work cut out for him there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And when it comes to gaining some delegate ground, Pennsylvania is a good bet for Hillary Clinton. There are 158 pledged delegates up for grabs here. That is bigger than Ohio, but as I bring my colleague Jessica Yellin back in, I should mention that the conventional wisdom hasn't had a very good year this election year.

We have been saying -- all of us are guilty of this -- we've been laying expectations for each of these individual contests, and it seems like there are times when it seems that a race is shaping up for one particular candidate and it goes the other way. That hasn't always been the case, but here in Pennsylvania there are some differences between Pennsylvania and Ohio given the fact that we're here in Philadelphia. We should note there isn't a city of this size in all of Ohio, and so this state certainly will be hotly contested, and Barack Obama, he's spending a lot of his time here in Philadelphia knowing all too well that there's a very big base of support for him here as well -- Jessica.

YELLIN: You're absolutely right, Jim. And you know, the Obama folks would say that he does well the more time he has to campaign and get to know voters, let voters get to know him. So they would say that this big lead-up to the vote on April 22nd gives him enough time to make his case to the voters there.

Now, of course, Clinton's team would respond, well, it didn't work for him with a lead-up in Texas and Ohio, so we're going to have to see. But there certainly is plenty of time for both of them to really refine their messages before those folks in Pennsylvania go to vote in a number of weeks from now.

But turning to an election that's right around the corner, on Tuesday Mississippi votes, 33 pledged delegates at stake. Senator Clinton acknowledging that unlike Pennsylvania, she does have an uphill battle there, because Barack Obama is favored to win that state.

Let's listen to her making that case to the voters she visited with earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I'm well aware that Senator Obama has an enormous amount of support here. You know, some people -- and as he should. As he should have.

Some people said, well, you know, Mississippi is very much a state that will most likely be in favor of Senator Obama. And I said, well, that's fine. But I want people in Mississippi to know I'm in favor of you, and I'm going to work for you, and I will be there for you and be your partner as we make this future!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton there in Mississippi earlier this week.

Now, our own Sean Callebs has been spending time there talking to voters, getting a sense of where the electorate is right now.

And Sean, why is it that Barack Obama is favored to win there, apart from the African-American vote, or is it really just that?

CALLEBS: Well, I think you can't overlook the African-American vote. Seventy percent of the registered Democrats in this state are African- American.

I had a chance to speak with the Obama campaign yesterday about this. And they said, you know, clearly that is in their favor at this point.

But Mississippi is a much different state now in 2008 than it was back in the '70s and, of course, the 1960s. We've talked with political scientists, and they believe there are going to be a number of white Democrats who vote for Barack Obama as well, telling us that perhaps you wouldn't have seen that 15 or 20 years ago, but now it certainly is the case.

You have to look at also just the sort of electric personality that Barack Obama is. And what we're hearing from people in this state, it's not so much that they have something against Hillary Clinton or against Barack Obama. The support is out there because of that candidate, that they are drawn to Hillary Clinton's plans, they're drawn to her outlook for the economy, for health care, for education, for jobs. And the same thing with Barack Obama.

So that is really what is triggering a lot of the support. But Obama's folks have seen polls before.

They say, look, we know that the polls indicate we're ahead right now, but we're not counting on anything right now. They certainly thought they would do better in New Hampshire. They certainly thought they would do better in Ohio.

So they're concerned. They're telling the electorate, look, if you support Barack Obama, make sure you go out and vote on Tuesday.

Now, here in Biloxi, where we are right now, the economy, of course, is the overriding issue, the continued recovery and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And if you look over just this way, you can see one of the economic linchpins, really the economic linchpin, if you will, in the Biloxi area -- casinos.

There were 10 casinos here before Hurricane Katrina. They were all -- all severely decimated by that storm.

Now, in the two and a half years since the storm, eight have rebuilt. That has brought a great number of jobs into this area.

However, the jobs are here in Biloxi, but the housing isn't. There are still some 14,000 FEMA trailers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. More than 40,000 trailers overall. Most of those are in Louisiana, but people here need housing.

We had a chance to spend time this morning with one of the directors of an aid volunteer group called Urban Life Ministries. He has been down here two years, and he has seen firsthand the heartbreak of so many people who simply have nowhere to live.

Listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK JONES, RELIEF WORKER: The people here aren't interested in an education. They're interested in a bed and a pillow and place they can call home. And there are no homes here for these people.

There are tens of thousands of FEMA trailers. I think the number is 14,000 left in Mississippi. These families all had a home before Katrina. Everything the candidates are talking about is important to the candidates, but I don't believe it's hitting the pulse of what's happened to the gulf and the people here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Well, the state had a chance to hear from Hillary Clinton on Thursday and Friday in Canton and Hattiesburg. Her arguably best surrogate, Bill Clinton, made four stops yesterday.

Now, today one of Obama's top surrogates, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, is in Biloxi. We hope to talk to her later today, Jessica. She's down here talking about recovery, talking about jobs, talking about education.

Jessica, back to you.

YELLIN: All right, Sean. So much devastation there. Thank you.

We'll check in with Sean later and we'll get more "Ballot Bowl" on the other side of the break.

We've got to take a quick one, but we'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Jim Acosta in Philadelphia.

And we want to switch gears now from the campaign that has waged on the ground to the campaigns that are waged online. And I want to bring in my colleague now, Josh Levs, who has a look at that -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there. Good to see you out there.

And you're right, they are waging this campaign online. A lot going on in cyberspace today for all of the candidates, folks.

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to turn around. We have a camera facing this computer right behind me. Let me show you some things going on with all the major candidates today.

We're going to start off with this screen right here, which is "The Fact Hub." Now, this is from Hillary Clinton's Web site.

What she shows here is what she says are examples of her foreign policy experience. She stands up against some people she says who are claiming she doesn't have much experience. It's "The Fact Hub" from HillaryClinton.com, and she keeps updating this a lot.

Now, take a look at Barack Obama's "Fact Check" Web site. He has a huge posting today.

This has "Fact Check on '"New York Times' Story That Minimizes Obama's Senate Accomplishments." That's what they're call "The New York Times" article today on the front page. They list what they say are a lot of his accomplishments in the Senate and the article they are referring to right over here.

Now, even though he's not part of this whole back and forth, I'm going to show you John McCain regularly updates his "News" Web page as well. If you go to JohnMcCain.com, you can't miss this. It says "News" at the top. It gets you to a lot of the top stories about him.

Now, as you all know, one of the things that we like to look at here also are videos, because the thinking of "Ballot Bowl," unfiltered. We like to show you the messages that people are getting directly. Some of those messages come through Web video, especially in fundraising and especially these days.

On the Democratic side, a real heavy push for women voters, keys to Clinton's recent success in Iowa and Texas. Barack Obama has been fighting for those women voters.

Let's take a look right now at two of the videos, one from Clinton and one from Obama, that are focusing on reaching out to women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I well like about Barack Obama is that I feel like I can trust him. And I haven't felt that way about government or politics in a long time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has a new attitude. And Obama represents that change in the new attitude.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obama could be someone who honors the feminine values of caring for all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he has a very good understanding of what is just and what's not, of what's right and what's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She kind of took my hand and she said, "You're not one mother." She goes, "I'm a mother, too. And I want to help you."

And she was just so engaging and so compassionate and so warm. You know, she said -- she goes, "I could be sitting in your chair." She's like, "It's but for the grace of God that my child is healthy."

And she then followed up, you know, week after week with phone calls and putting me in touch with people that could maybe help me. And she kept true to her word, and this wasn't something for the media. This wasn't something, you know, to posture about and whatnot. She did it because she cared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now, these videos are really prominent on the Web sites. You can't miss them. And they're among many others as well.

Now, the Democrats have often been saying that what they expect John McCain to do -- and what he already seems to be doing -- focusing much of his campaign on the issue of national security. Well, now he has a new video front and center on his Web site. You can't miss that either.

Let's take a look at a clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINSTON CHURCHILL: We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the field and in the streets. We she'll fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.

MCCAIN: Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong.

Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up.

We're Americans. We're Americans, and we will never surrender. They will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So there you go. That's it unfiltered, the messages through video that these major candidates left in the race are now all using to try to reach the voters in the states who haven't weighed in yet. And also, obviously, especially in the case of McCain, Jim, looking ahead to that general election and focusing there on national security.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Josh.

And while we're extending our thanks, we want to thank the National Park Service for opening this space to us here in Philadelphia. We actually have to clear out of here. They have a beer festival coming up, Jessica.

So, is there a better way to express one's brotherly love than that? We are in Philadelphia after all.

So, on that note, so long, Jessica.

YELLIN: All right. Enjoy that break.

And "Ballot Bowl" will be back 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

"YOUR $$$$$" is up next.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxantshop.com