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Ballot Bowl 2008

Extreme Weather, Flooding Continues in Midwest; Operation Boot Camp Pushes you to Your Limit; Did Obama's Speech Repair Damage of Pastor's Speech; CNN Hero helps Others Get Jobs.

Aired March 22, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's BALLOT BOWL coming to you from the Nation's Capital today. I'm Candy Crowley. During this hour you'll have a chance to hear the presidential candidates on the stump unfiltered discussing the issues that are important to you.
My coanchor Jessica Yellin is checking out the latest developments in a brewing passport story involving unauthorized access to confidential information from all three presidential hopefuls. Jessica?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Candy. It is quite a surprising story. No one is ready to call it really a scandal because there's every indication and many of the officials involved are saying this was a case of lookie-lous getting too curious and poking around where they shouldn't be. There is a news development today and a new twist that top executives at two contracting companies tied to the unauthorized access of these presidential confidential records of these presidential candidates actually have political ties. Phillip Nolan, the head of Stanley Incorporated, contributed to the Clinton campaign. That's one of the companies that was a contractor to the State Department, and the president of The Analysis Corporation which is also known as TAC, his name is John Brennan is an adviser and contributor to the Obama campaign. In all, three contractors from the companies accused of wrongdoing are examining passport files of Senator Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Three contractors involved, one, an employee of TAC has been disciplined. Two contractors employed by Stanley have been fired. And the State Department continues to investigate this, saying at this point they believe it's simply a case of imprudent curiosity, but also a very bad timing to be curious about these three folks. Candy?

CROWLEY: Thanks, Jessica. From one dust-up to another, a new one out there on the campaign trail, it involves comments made by former President Bill Clinton in North Carolina to a veterans group yesterday. He was in charlotte campaigning for his wife. An adviser to the Obama campaign is comparing the former president to Joseph McCarthy saying Mr. Clinton questioned Barack Obama's patriotism. We'll let you hear for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I think it would be a great thing if we had an election where you had two final who love this country and were devoted to the interest of the country and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues instead of all this other stuff that seems to always intrude itself on our politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Now, senior Obama campaign adviser and former Air Force chief of staff Tony McPeak pounced on that. He had this to say to an AP reporter. Quote, "Sounds more like McCarthy. I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it. Today in Medford, Oregon, McPeak went back to the topic again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY MCPEAK, FORMER AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF: President Clinton was speaking to a group of veterans yesterday in North Carolina, and he said something that frankly astonished me. He said, in promoting his wife's candidacy, "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who love this country and were devoted to the interests of the country and the people and the people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself in our politics."

Well, let me say first, we will have such an election this year. Because both Barack Obama and John McCain are great patriots who love this country and are devoted to it. So is Hillary Clinton. Any suggestion to the contrary is flat wrong.

And so as one who for 37 years proudly wore the uniform of our country, I'm saddened to see a president employ these kind of tactics. He of all people should know better because he was the target of exactly this same kind of tactic when he first ran 16 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: McPeak was referring to charges in '92 that Bill Clinton was a draft dodger. The Clinton campaign has come out with both barrels open saying this is outrageous, it is divisive and it is not true in any way, shape or form, that Bill Clinton was questioning Barack Obama's patriotism. The communications chief, Howard Wolfson says this is a transparent way for Obama to take the add tension off of what has been a pretty bad couple of weeks. That's where we are on that particular issue. We want to go back now to Jessica Yellin who is also in Washington with me. Hey, Jessica.

YELLIN: Hi, Candy. What's fascinating about the story is that picture of General McPeak making the attack while Barack Obama is standing right there. We have been talking for some weeks now about how the Obama campaign faces a challenge, how they have to step up their negative attacks against Senator Clinton because they were getting buffered by her attacks and had to hit back. But Barack Obama couldn't be the one doing it. And I don't think I've seen before such a clear contrast where literally his surrogate is there making the negative attack while he's standing right next to him staying silent. But Barack Obama hitting a much more positive note, he talks a bit about how Americans have to realize that campaigns get very emotional sometimes. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The reason that we have to talk about and deal with these divisions is because we get distracted every political season and election cycle by these divisions. And then we end up ignoring these big problems. Think about what these last few election cycles have been about. We argue about immigration, but we don't try to solve the immigration problem. It's an argument that is all about people's passions instead of trying to figure it out. We argue about gay marriage. In the meantime the planet is potentially being destroyed. We've got a war that is bankrupting us. And we're going to argue about gay marriage? That doesn't make any sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Barack Obama talking about some of the issues he encounters on the campaign trail. And Senator Clinton was in the state I just spent quite a bit of time in, Indiana, she was there on Thursday in a town called Evansville. And she talked to the crowd about how prepared she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDNETILA CANDIDATE: Sometimes I just imagine what it would be like January 20th, 2009, we swear in our next president. And waiting in that Oval Office will be a stack of problems. We have so much work to do. And sometimes people say to me, well, don't you worry about everything that's going to face our country? Well, of course. But you know what? I'm absolutely confident we can do this. There isn't anything America can't do. Once we put our minds to it -- once we decide that we're going to start acting like Americans again. Because you know, we are the problem-solvers. We're the innovators, America has made the future. We are the country that is always looking to make tomorrow better than today. And there is no reason why we won't do that again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton saying she is ready to go on day one, a message we've heard from her almost from day one of her campaign, and she continues to hit that theme on the trail. I'll toss it over to my co-anchor, Candy Crowley again. Candy?

CROWLEY: Thanks, Jessica. A little look at the Republican side now. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, that's John McCain spent the week on the world stage cozying up to foreign leaders. McCain hoped to show he's got the foreign policy savvy to be president. His trip took him to Iraq and other parts of the Middle East and also to Paris and London. After talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Senator Mccain talked about his position on the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problem with Iraq in my view is because it was mishandled after the initial success. And that caused great frustration and sacrifice and sorry on the part of the American people and our allies. We are not succeeding in Iraq. Americans at least I believe are in significant numbers agreeing that the present strategy of the surge is succeeding. And they want us to succeed. And that will be, frankly, a very big issue in this campaign, as to whether we withdraw and have al Qaeda win and announce to the world that they have won and things collapse there, or we will see this strategy through to success and have that impact throughout the region of a stable and functioning, not very effectively, but functioning democracy in Iraq. And I believe that we can achieve that. And I believe if we have done what others are advocating, it would have had disastrous consequences for the United States, chaos and further sacrifice on the part of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Senator John McCain in London. He, of course, has the freedom to go over there. He doesn't have a rival. While meanwhile back here in the United States, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton still going at it, fighting for every delegate. We're going to bring our panel back to talk about the week on the campaign trail including that mess in Michigan, next up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Hi, and welcome back to the Saturday edition of CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Candy Crowley coming to you live from Washington, DC, the District of Columbia. Spring is arriving here. That campaign still going on. Lots of things to talk about this hour. Again, we're trying to give you these candidates taped mostly this weekend because all of them pretty much have gone down for the Easter weekend. Nonetheless, lots and lots happened last week, and we want to pour over it with you including that Michigan meltdown. Senator Hillary Clinton is accusing Barack Obama of dragging his feet in effort to come up with some sort of workable plan for a revote in the Michigan primary. Both candidates will have to sign off on any plan Michigan lawmakers might come up with. So far it looks like a stalemate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): The campaign action this day is the inaction in Michigan where a plan to hold a primary do-over was left for dead. Michigan now looks like Florida, which also stalemated in its efforts to put on a second primary. It's a double barrel blow in Camp Clinton. And she has raised the stakes.

H. CLINTON: I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee.

CROWLEY: As the Michigan plan fell apart, the Obama camp touted a press release by supporter and Senator Chris Dodd. He suggested the best outcome would be an arrangement where the delegates are apportioned fairly between Senators Obama and Clinton, which is to say, divide the delegates in half. Fair Obama told Larry King because the first primary cannot stand.

OBAMA: We were told it wasn't going to count. And so we didn't campaign there. In fact, my name wasn't on the ballot in Michigan. But I think it's important to make sure the people of Michigan, the people of Florida, that their delegates are seated.

CROWLEY: Since seating Michigan delegates in accordance with the first primary results was a no-go, she has focused on the redo and blames him for the death spiral.

CLINTON: I do not understand what Senator Obama is afraid of.

CROWLEY: A revote would advantage her. He says the argument is about fairness in part because it bars people who may have voted Republican in the first primary because they knew a Democratic contest wouldn't count. No revote means she loses her best chance to overtake his leads in pledge delegates and the popular vote. But she says it's about disenfranchisement. In the end it may mean Michigan will end with no input at all.

GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D) CLINTON SUPPORTER: I would like to see us resolve this. I think the fairest way to resolve it is by having a vote. I think it would bring a huge amount of excitement to Michigan, our issues would be raised on a national level.

CROWLEY: It could well mean the Democratic National Committee will see a big fight at the summer convention in Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Fortunately for Democratic voters everywhere we're going to solve this right now with our analysts, Beth Frerking with politico.com, Joe Mathieu who is the host of "POTUS '08" on XM Radio, Keith Boykin, our Democratic strategist and Amy Holmes a Republican strategist and CNN contributor. OK. Let me start with Amy. Amy, I don't see any way out of this at this point. I think that's how both campaigns are feeling. That somehow these two states' delegates will be seated, but not in a way that will change the outcome. Where do you see it going?

AMY HOLMES, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I'm sure Democrats are not interested in my opinion on this. In looking at what needs to be done here, I think the fair solution of seating them but not giving an advantage to either one of the candidates in terms of actual numbers, that seems like the fairest resolution. Let's not forget, there were other Democrats in the field when this started, and they may have changed their campaign strategy if they thought Florida and Michigan were going to count. Now, I know people don't care about Joe Biden and Chris Dodd and their campaign, what happened to chair campaigns at this point in time, but this could have influenced and affected the Democratic campaign, possibly even significantly. But these two states chose to break the rules. And I think they need to live with the consequences. CROWLEY: Keith, what really struck me when Michigan was melting down up there was Hillary Clinton coming out and saying, boy, if these two states don't vote, it's really going to undermine the authenticity of the person who actually gets the nomination. It seems to me that she is teeing this up.

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: She is teeing this up as far as it could be teed up. It's like tiger woods out there. The problem for Hillary Clinton is it doesn't seem consistent. Before she was saying let's have the superdelegates decide the race and basically undermine the will of the people. Now she's saying let's have the vote counted in Florida and Michigan because we can't undermine the will of the people. I think the American people know what's going on. The Democrats know what's going on.

Both sides are posturing for political purposes. Barack Obama's campaign just wants to run out the clock which is what she would do if she were in this role. And Hillary's campaign wants to change the rules at the end of the game. Florida and Michigan both knew when this thing started they could not have their votes counted. And Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama knew that, too. If they violated the rules. You can't go back and change the rules at the end of the game.

CROWLEY: Beth, somebody told me you brought your crystal ball here today. So what's going to happen?

BETH FRERKING, POLITICO.COM: Well, I think the -- it's an appropriate comparison to, say, running out the clock when we're in the middle of March Madness. I think that's exactly what Barack Obama is going to do. And I think although it's a strong argument when she talks about people being disenfranchised, I think he also has a very strong argument when he talks about fairness and about this not being done the way it should have been done. I think the American people respond to following rules.

The other thing that has been talked a lot about in the Beltway here -- I don't know it resonates so much with voters outside of here or outside of Florida and Michigan, and that is they knew what the rules were before the game started. And they still tried to get around them. And, you know, I think if people think, well, what next, are we going to have primaries the summer before, the year before? We're talking about potentially extending that political season if other states look at this and say, well, maybe we won't go by the rules next time either, and we'll have our primaries or our caucuses before Iowa and New Hampshire. I think there's a real danger there. If wonder if the Americans voters would say please, no more, it's early enough.

CROWLEY: The American voters and a lot of reporters I think actually, too. Joe, I know this gets you cranked up heard you before talking about this. The rules you think are sort of secondary to this whole notion of disenfranchisement.

JOE MATHIEU, "POTUS '08 LIVE": I think so. Absolutely. How can you leave millions of people out of this incredibly tight race. Talk about punishment, talk about penalizing people, rules are rules. Let's think about who really caused this? Shouldn't this be up to the state party officials and the national committee who got us into it as opposed to the millions of people who showed up to vote when they were told to, as opposed to the state officials who made what looks to many to be an ego-driven decision to move these contests ahead on the calendar to try to play a greater role in this primary process. Now look where we are. If they had simply waited their turn, they would have had a great and significant role in this process following Super Tuesday when their votes were needed most.

HOLMES: Looking at those state officials, Joe, Florida's Democrats had the opportunities, they were told they could hold a later caucus. But they chose not to. Getting back to Keith's point that Hillary Clinton says she wants this and then she wants that, basically whatever will give her the advantage, she was opposed to caucuses because she has seen in this whole primary process that they advantaged Barack Obama. I don't think you're seeing an argument -- again, it's not based on fairness, it's based on political advantage. That's going to enrage at least half the Democratic Party if that succeeds.

MATHIEU: If I lived in Michigan or Florida and I went to vote on that day when I was told to go vote and someone came to me and told me it didn't matter because a politician I never met either scheduled it in the morning way or the national committee did something wrong, I would be furious.

HOLMES: But Joe we knew it didn't matter. We knew it didn't matter going into it. That was the whole point. In Michigan, Barack Obama and John Edwards' name was not even on the ballot. When those voters went to the ballot box, certainly they were exercising their civic rights and civic duties, they were told going into it these votes were not going to influence pledged delegates, popular vote, et cetera.

MATHIEU: I'm not trying to suggest that ...

BOYKIN: What about the 48 other states, Joe? It's not fair to say, well, let's put all our concern about Florida and Michigan, it's not fair to the 48 other states that voted that Florida and Michigan get to have a revote sometime in June at the end of the process and ultimately after breaking the rules they would get to be the ones to decide the outcome. That would be completely unfair.

CROWLEY: Hang on guys. Let me just say in keeping with March Madness, a little the time out. We will be back with you. You're sticking around. Thanks very much. We'll be back with you on another subject. Right now a big endorsement for the Obama campaign this week. Jessica Yellin is coming back with more on that after BALLOT BOWL takes a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL on this Saturday, March 22nd, one month exactly before the next primary in Pennsylvania, a crucial primary not just a must-win for Senator Clinton but one she must win by a lot. One of Clinton's messages has been to the superdelegates who remain uncommitted, please wait until after the Pennsylvania primary and after those other upcoming primaries before endorsing anyone. She is making the argument that she can still win this thing and they must not decide before the voters do. That argument became one notch harder for her yesterday after her long-time friend and Clinton administration appointee, Bill Richardson, came out and endorsed Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN (voice-over): The one-time rival now sounds giddy as a school girl.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) NM: You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader. You will make every American proud to be an American. Barack Obama will be a great and historic president who can bring us the change we so desperately need.

YELLIN: It wasn't always this way. Hamlet, that's the name one Clinton staffer gave Richardson because he couldn't decide which candidate to back, even after his former boss parachuted in to join him for Super Bowl.

H. CLINTON: Do not get between Bill Clinton and Bill Richardson and the television set when the Super Bowl is on.

YELLIN: Some say the Clintons made Richardson's career, un ambassador, secretary of energy. He joked about being Hillary Clinton's vice president. As recently as last Friday both Clintons called him and asked for endorsement. He called Senator Clinton back last night with bad news.

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: I think this act took a lot of bravery. He was close to the Clintons. They were wooing him. If Hillary Clinton won the nomination, he might well be the vice presidential nominee. That chance has gone poof. He's not out there. He's taking himself off that list. That's an act of some bravery.

YELLIN: The governor says he grew fond of Obama during all those democratic debates.

RICHARDSON: I noticed Scott mentioned everybody else in the poll. He didn't mention me, but that's OK.

OBAMA: Did that hurt your feelings?

RICHARDSON: Well, a little bit.

YELLIN: He saw him as a uniquely inspiring figure and decided it was time to pull the trigger.

RICHARDSON: It's time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and prepare for the tough fight we will have against John McCain in the fall.

YELLIN: The timing could not be better for Barack Obama, changing the story after a run of bad news including damaging stories about his pastor and an indicted former donor, missteps on NAFTA and losses in Texas and Ohio's primaries. So far there's no sign this will cause a stampede to Obama's camp. Aids to superdelegates, Al Gore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden say don't expect any imminent moves. And John Edwards is playing coy.

JOHN EDWARDS, FORMER SENATOR: I think either one would be a great candidate and either one would be a great president.

YELLIN: But it doesn't hurt to have such an outspoken cheerleader on the team.

RICHARDSON: There's something special about this guy, and I want to be a part of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN (on camera): And Bill Richardson said it was the speech on race that Barack Obama delivered earlier in the week that really sealed the deal for him. He said it was a courageous speech and he wanted to get behind Obama after that. We are going to talk about that speech on race with our panel, but first we'll take a check of other news including a snowstorm that's battering parts of this country. That's on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in the Severe Weather Center. We're tracking extreme weather with flooding continuing over parts of the Midwest. Some of the flood warnings have been extended all the way through Monday. A lot were expected to expire today. It's taking a while for the rivers to actually recede.

Taking a look at Google Earth, we've been seeing a lot of the flood stages for the rivers at their maximum point, whereas areas to the south and west, that's where it's remained dry. Not too many miles away we have weather extremes.

Looking at Missouri, looking good in terms of precipitation falling. We're seeing heavy rain in south Florida, especially in the Ft. Lauderdale, Miami-Dade area. Lots of rain with pressure from a cold front coming from the Gulf. That's bringing steady rain to the region. We had slight delays at the ft. Lauderdale airport: driving along I-95 and I-75, rainfall rates could be up to 1 inch per hour.

We're seeing a wintery mix across parts of western Pennsylvania from State College, a lot of the moisture sliding into the Philadelphia area.

Speaking of tonight, temperatures are turning much colder, especially for Easter Sunday morning. Look at the low temperatures, even though we well into spring, 23 for Chicago, D.C. checking in with 37 and 34 for your overnight low in Denver.

That's a look at your forecast. "BALLOT BOWL" returns in a moment. First, we're taking you to boot camp in our fit nation segment today. Here is our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Running drills, pushups, sit-ups, all of it before sunup. Operation Boot Camp is about pushing you to your limits.

SHANNON ALEXANDER, OPERATION BOOT CAMP PARTICIPANT: By 8:00, I'm off to work, and I know I can handle anything. I just handled rolling around in the wet grass and doing 800 sit ups. I can do anything that's going to come after me.

GUPTA: 34-year-old Shannon Alexander couldn't always handle it. A routine doctor's appointment became an epiphany.

ALEXANDER: I found myself in the doctor's office with lower back pain. I kind of had a moment, like, I'm 34 years old. I have a 6- year-old son. I should not be feeling this kind of crippled and limited by my own body.

GUPTA: So Alexander joined this intense, 6:00 a.m. boot camp class.

ALEXANDER: I really didn't know what to expect. I was terrified that first morning.

GUPTA: Now just six months in, Shannon has lost weight, gained confidence and started training for a marathon.

Most importantly, she says she feels happier.

ALEXANDER: It's definitely had a huge impact on just helping me to feel stronger, more capable, more hopeful. I can play with my son now and keep up with him. Heck, he can hardly keep up with me.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL," on March 22nd, one month exactly before the Pennsylvania primary. I've got to say, I landed in Washington, D.C. this morning, and walked out of the airport to see the cherry blossoms are already blooming.

Candy Crowley is here with me.

Candy, I have to say I can't believe this primary is already going into cherry blossom season.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I know. Yes, absolutely, a political time warp. I've been in it now for some time. You see valentine's day coming, George Washington, and now the cherry blossoms out. YELLIN: And growing.

CROWLEY: Life goes on I'm finding. Thanks, Jessica.

If any Obama supporters were turned off by the comments of his long-time pastor, Jeremiah Wright, did the Senator's speech help prepare that damage. Bill Schneider tells us what the polls are saying?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): When tapes of the inflammatory statements made by Barack Obama's pastor came out last weekend, there appears to have been negative impact on Obama. A poll of Pennsylvania voters showed Obama's favorable ratings dropping from February to last weekend.

TERRY MADONNA, POLLSTER: I don't think there's any doubt that the Jeremiah Wright controversy played a role in the ten-point drop in his favorable ratings.

SCHNEIDER: Nationally Obama's lead over Hillary Clinton narrowed in the CBS News and USA Today-Gallup polls.

Among Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters, Clinton's lead over Obama more than doubled from seven points in February to 16 points as of last weekend.

Obama's association with Reverend Wright appeared to be hurting him as of last weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it probably hurt him by association. But I don't think it reflects his views necessarily.

SCHNEIDER: Then on Tuesday Obama gave a speech on race relations. Did his speech reverse the damage? The gallop tracking poll shows the speech may have helped Obama some.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I personally was more Hillary, but after hearing that speech was like, wow, this guy really is on to something.

SCHNEIDER: Look at the trend lines showing support for Obama and Clinton over Democrats nationally over the last week. Clinton started moving ahead of Obama last weekend when the Wright story broke. By Tuesday she had a statistically significant seven-point lead. Then Obama spoke about his relationship with Wright and his view of race relations. Clinton's lead began to narrow to five points and as of Friday, two points. Friday's results, statistically a tie, represent the first poll in which all interviews were done after Obama's speech.

(on camera): Tracking polls are not always as reliable as traditional polls. The Gallop tracking poll suggests that Barack Obama's speech may have helped him, but we should wait for additional data from other sources before reaching a firm conclusion.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: So the polls did move a bit after the Reverend Wright uproar and Senator Obama's speech.

Jessica Yellin is back with me to get some thoughts on all of this from our panel.

We have Beth Frerking from politico.com, Joe Mathieu, who hosts Potus 08 on XM Radio, Keith Boykin, our Democratic analyst, and Amy Holmes, on the Republican side, who is also a CNN contributor.

Let me toss this out, Beth, to you, do you think there's lasting damage to Barack Obama given the Wright comments that got so much play and then his speech? Was it enough to make up for whatever damage was there?

BETH FRERKING, POLITICO.COM: Well, I think what your trend line showed when we saw the tracking is we've got a long way to go in this race. I think the people who were -- I think there were a lot of people turned off by Wright's comments, but I think what you saw in that tracking after Obama's poll was people saying, you know, I can't necessarily associate him totally with this man after listening to this speech, and I think the only thing we can be sure of, if anything, we've learned not to make long-term predictions. We've certainly seen ourselves get burned by doing that in the press.

It's going to take a while to play out. It will be interesting to see what happens in Pennsylvania. But, you know, a week in politics and especially in primary politics is an eternity as we have seen. Remember just a few weeks ago we were talking about Eliot Spitzer. Who is talking about him now?

So I think that it's just going to take a while to see whether this last -- I think the people who were most turned off by it probably don't support him anyway. So it's really going to be a while before we know whether this has long-term damage with Democratic voters and independent voters as well.

YELLIN: Beth, I think you're suggesting the press can be fickle with the focus on our stories.

Let me ask Joe Mathieu. Is it your sense that Barack Obama has found a winning way to hit back at the Clinton campaign? One of the issues we've discussed for some time is how can he go negative when he's developed such a positive themed campaign? Has he found the sort of right way to really push back? And we saw it with the speech.

JOE MATHIEU, XM RADIO'S POTUS 08: I think the speech was successful in that Barack Obama may be one of the only people in America who could have delivered it in an effective manner.

I think he scored on a couple of points. Number one, he didn't throw the Reverend Wright under the bus as a lot of people wanted him to and as would have been typical for a politics. Instead, a powerful line -- I cannot disown the Reverend Wright anymore than I could disown my own grandmother who admitted to him she was afraid of passing black people on the street. I think he crystallized what it is like, the confusion and complexities of being a mixed-race American or African-American in this country right now.

Furthermore I think he caught off the Clinton campaign on this particular issue. It seems to be buttoned up for the time being, following what was a well-delivered speech. It would be difficult for the Clinton campaign to reintroduce the story involving Reverend Wright unless it progresses or develops in some other way.

CROWLEY: Keith, moving on with Joe's point here, I think he's right in the sense that I doubt we'll see Hillary Clinton moving on this. In fact, we didn't see her say anything but complimentary things in public. We also saw reports that the Clinton superdelegate team was saying, see, there's this and the other thing. We've really got to be worried. Is he really electable?

What are some of the long-term ramifications here when you put it in the context of superdelegates?

KEITH BOYKIN, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: I think the Clintons want to try to scare the superdelegates into not supporting Obama -- or supporting her. But if you look at the numbers since Super Tuesday, Bill Richardson is the 62nd superdelegate to support Obama. She's had fewer than five. I think the momentum for superdelegates is clearly going in favor of Barack Obama.

This whole story has been really blown out of proportion. I've known Barack Obama for a long time. I met him back in 1989 or 1990 when we went to law school together. And the views of Reverend Wright, at least expressed in that video, are not the views of Barack Obama. The views he expressed in his speech were very eloquent and powerful. I think it was a brilliant, masterful recitation of the issues that face America and tissues of race.

The real question that we haven't dealt with, and I don't think we can deal with in the context of a presidential campaign is why is it that so many African-Americans feel this way? What Reverend Wright said is not atypical from the African-American mainstream opinion. That's the issue that America at some point is going to have to dig into.

YELLIN: Let me put the next question to Amy Holmes.

Amy, you've heard all this discussion about how this speech was sort of unprecedented. It's got nothing but glowing reviews. But there was also a political motive here. Has the press been a little bit too easy on Barack Obama as the Clinton campaign claims, heaping nothing but praise on him after this speech when there was a clear effort here to excuse, some would say, the remarks of his pastor?

Some say you can walk away from a pastor; you cannot walk away from your grandmother. Did you see anything to criticize in the speech?

AMY HOLMES, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think that the Barack Obama campaign would say the press has been easy on them since they were airing these clips, as they said, 24-7 on a continual loop, and asking Barack Obama what does this mean? You were with this man, you've been with this man for 20 years, called him a close personal mentor, officiated your wedding, baptized your children. I think those are appropriate questions to ask Barack Obama.

And unfortunately, Keith, for the average voter, they don't know Barack Obama as well as you do. They didn't go to law school with him. They're trying to find out who he is and what are his values. When he belongs to a church where the pastor making what Barack Obama later conceded were unpatriotic remarks, then the American public has every right to ask, how does this reflect on the candidate? He's given the church money. He named his book after one of this pastor's speeches. What is the nature of this relationship? He says this pastor has shaped who he is as a man.

This polling we're looking at is among Democrats. When you get to a general election, there are going to be people who haven't yet seen the clips, who didn't pay attention to Barack Obama's speech and what he said in it. They're going to be asking these questions all over again. I think that is by no means behind Barack Obama. If he were to win the nomination in the Democratic Party, he'll need to face these questions once again.

BOYKIN: Amy, you've been to black church before, as have I. I've been to Reverend Wright's church, the Trinity Church in Chicago. I don't hear those remarks at church. I've heard those remarks at other black churches. I don't think it's possible for Barack Obama to be a member of any black church in Chicago where there wasn't a minister who didn't say something that was controversial from time to time.

HOLMES: Barack Obama himself said these remarks were deplorable, unpatriotic, he disavows them, disowns them. What I'm saying is he can't spend the rest of his campaign trying to address this issue, but he can't let these remarks stand alone; stand on their own as well. I think this is a dilemma for Barack Obama. I think for the time being he had solved it for the Democratic Party. By no means has he solved it in the general election. The poll that will matter is Pennsylvania. I understand one of the exit polls is on this issue. You'll see how constituents felt about it.

(CROSSTALK)

BOYKIN: But better to get it out of the way now than having it come up in October and November, which could ruin a campaign.

YELLIN: Go ahead, Beth.

FRERKING: Well, and I think you have to know that the Republican operatives right now are working on ads, I would imagine, with those very clips from Reverend Wright.

As Amy says, this may be going away for the Democratic race, but it is certainly going to be raised again in the general election if he is the Democratic nominee, no question about it.

(CROSSTALK)

MATHIEU: With regard to the media going easy on Barack Obama, giving him a free pass, wait a little while. Everybody gets their turn. Mitt Romney had the big speech on religion. It was well received. Barack Obama had the speech this week on ration. How long will it be before Hillary Clinton delivers the speech, the major address that everyone is waiting for on gender bias in the campaign in America? While we're at it, when will Senator McCain deliver the speech on age discrimination?

(LAUGHTER).

CROWLEY: We will end on a laugh.

Thanks so much, Joe Mathieu, Beth Frerking, Keith Boykin, Amy Holmes. We appreciate it.

We'll be back right after this with a final word as "BALLOT BOWL" continues.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT SILVERMAN, CNN HERO: When you are ready to say goodbye to the world, that is a clear bottom. I didn't think of myself as depressed. My drinking at the end got so bad I felt my life was over. The window is open, it's the 44th floor. I was thinking if I could just push myself back, the pain, it would be over. This guy walks in the office and said, Scott, what are you doing? I started to cry. The next day I checked into a treatment center. Everything after that was sobriety.

I got into volunteerism quickly. I hang out with people who are now in shelters, had lost their homes, had come out of jail and couldn't find a job. I had to find a way to help people get back on track.

My name is Scott Silverman. Every day I offer anyone who wants one a second chance.

Second Chance was started to provide jobs and housing for the chronically unemployed. We help get them placed and follow them up for two years. We know what they're trying to do takes time.

We go into the jails, introduce ourselves to inmates and when they transition out, we like to actually pick them up and bring them into our program and put them in our housing.

SILVERMAN: I've been to prison four times. My longest time is five years. I was inside and I found a flier. I waited until my home boys went to sleep to read it. I didn't know it was going to be different. I got there and I was like, wow, I almost feel like I know these people. They were there. They were just like me. That's what kept me there.

Thanks to second chance, I know I'm going to make it in life because I believe in myself more than ever.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: That is pretty much it for this Saturday edition of "BALLOT BOWL." We will, of course, have more for you tomorrow. John McCain is coming back from overseas. We may see at least a bit of him. There is also this ongoing passport story. So you can always expect some new stories along the campaign trail. And we will, for sure, have those for you.

I want to turn it over for a final, final word to Jessica Yellin.

YELLIN: Thanks, Candy. We will be back with "BALLOT BOWL" tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. with developments on all those stories you mentioned.

For now, we are going to take us to "This Week in Politics." That's coming up after the break.

So for Candy Crowley, and myself, we say thanks for joining us. And we'll see you again tomorrow on "BALLOT BOWL."

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