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Ballot Bowl 2008

Bill Clinton Speaks in San Jose; Senator McCain Prepares for Service to America Tour; Barack Obama Speaks at Penn State University

Aired March 30, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to BALLOT BOWL '08, coming to you today from Meridian, Mississippi. I'm Dana Bash and over the next several hours, you are going to hear the candidates on the campaign trail as they vie for your votes and as at least on the Democratic side at this point, try to get the party's nomination.
At BALLOT BOWL, we bring you the candidates as we get to see as political reporters get to see and hear them -- unfiltered. Sometimes it's untapped, sometimes it's live. But we have tried to bring you the raw speeches as they try to get the votes as I said and in this incredible, incredible campaign season.

And joining me on this day on BALLOT BOWL is my colleague, Jim Acosta who is with the CNN Election Express in Pennsylvania, in the very important battle ground of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in particular. Hi, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Dana. Very important, yes indeed. And we'll be talking more about John McCain in just a little bit, but first we want to get to this hotly contested Democratic race in the Keystone State. And let's go over the game plan.

Barack Obama right now is getting ready to address supporters in University Park, Pennsylvania. We hope to listen to that in just a few moments. And out in California, former president Bill Clinton is stomping for his wife. Part of the reason why he's out in California even though that state already had its contest, he is hoping to sway some uncommitted super delegates out there to fall in line behind the senator from New York as that super delegate factor out there is looming very large over this race for the Democratic nomination.

Now, over the last couple days, the controversy that has popped up, the dust up on the campaign trail over the last couple days has largely dealt with some calls coming from Obama supporters for Hillary Clinton to drop out of this race. Late Friday, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy and Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd both urged Senator Clinton to drop out of the race, saying that mathematically it was going to be very difficult to her to secure the nomination.

And yesterday addressing supporters in Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, where there are states coming up after Pennsylvania, Senator Clinton said thanks but no thanks, I'll be sticking around for a while. And in the meanwhile, she told the "Washington Post" this morning that she is prepared to take this battle all of the way to the convention in late August in Denver. And she brought up the phrase the credentials committee. She said that if in fact these issues regarding the states of Florida and Michigan are not worked out, she's prepared to take this nomination contest all of the way to the convention, hoping to iron out this controversy at the credentials committee.

And in case you're not familiar with the credentials committee, that is essentially a committee that is made up of supporters of the individual candidates and essentially the candidate with the most delegates from our reading of how it works with the credentials committee will have control over that credentials committee, which puts potentially Hillary Clinton at a disadvantage there.

But just as you thought you grasped the concept of the super delegate, we're dropping now the phrase the credentials committee for all of us to understand now. But as we're checking in on Barack Obama out in University Park, Pennsylvania, we want to find out now if he's indeed ready and with the stage and with the microphone in hand talking to supporters. Let's listen to Barack Obama now. Sounds like he's getting to the meat of that speech there.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A war that has distracted us from the war we needed to win in Afghanistan against those who killed 3,000 Americans. A war that has fanned the flames of anti-American sentiment and has not made us more safe.

We're in a defining moment in our history. This past week, Wall Street was shaken up. Teetering on the brink of nobody is sure of what. But even before Wall Street got the news, all across main streets, all across America, people understood that they're going through a tough economic time.

People are working harder and harder just to get by. They've never paid more for college, never paid more for health care, never paid more for gas at the pump. It's harder to save. It's harder to retire. We have 47 million people without health insurance. Those who have health insurance have seen their co-payments and deductibles and premiums going up. They can barely afford to go to a doctor.

All across America, despite the slogans, we have millions of children who are being left behind, unable to compete in an international economy because the schools are under funded and their teachers are underpaid and the curriculums are under inspired.

In such circumstances, we can't afford to wait. We can't wait to fix our schools. We cannot wait to fix our health care system. We cannot wait to end global warming. We cannot wait to bring back good jobs and good wages to Pennsylvania. We can't wait to bring this war in Iraq to a close. We cannot wait and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.

When I announced - I realize that the size of our challenges had outstripped the capacity of a broken and divided politics. I was certain that the American people wanted something different. They were tired of the politics of tearing each other down. They wanted politics of lifting the country up. They were tired of spin and P.R. and double talk. They wanted straight talk and truth and honesty from their elected officials. Most of all, I believed in the American people's capacity to change. You know, some of you know I now live in Chicago, but I'm not originally from Chicago. I moved to Chicago when I wasn't much older than most of the students here today. I moved there because I had been inspired by the civil rights movement and I loved the idea of working at a grassroots level to bring about change.

And so there were a group of churches out in the far south side of Chicago in the shadow of steel mills that had closed down and these churches decided they wanted to figure out how can we help those in need. How can we help those who have been laid off? And for three and a half years, I worked with these churches as a community organizer. And we set up job training programs for the unemployed. And we set up after school programs for youth and tried to bring economic development to communities that had fallen on hard times.

It was hard work. I got paid $12,000 per year along with car expenses. And sometimes it was hard making progress. And you didn't see change happening in the neighborhoods. But it was the best education I ever had because it taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they work together.

It taught me that change doesn't happen from the top down. It happens from the bottom up. It taught me that if we could just come together and get past all of the divisions and there's nothing we couldn't accomplish. We are a decent and generous people, willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And if we could stop being divided along lines of race and religion and region, if all of us came together, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor, and challenged the special interest that have come to dominate Washington, but also challenged ourselves to be better -- better parents, better neighbors, better citizens -- that there would be no challenge we couldn't solve.

No destiny we could not fulfill. That was the bet that I was making 15 months ago when I announced. I'm here to tell you that after traveling in 46 states, speaking to hundreds of thousands of people, shaking tens of thousands of hands, kissing hundreds of babies, eating hundreds of chicken dinners, I am here to report that my bet has paid off because all across America, people are standing up and they are saying we want something new.

We want something different. We are ready to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history. That's what I'm hearing from the American people. That's what I'm hearing right here in Pennsylvania.

ACOSTA: So there you have it. Barack Obama talking to an enthusiastic crowd of lots of students it appears out at Penn State University. That's in the middle part of the state where Barack Obama is in the midst of a six-day but tour across the Keystone State, looking for every vote that he can as the conventional wisdom is that he's got some work to do in this state.

The estimates are that he's at least in the double digits in terms of being behind Senator Clinton in this state. But Barack Obama looking to turn that around here in Pennsylvania.

We also want to note that the only action that on the campaign trail this week is not necessarily here in Pennsylvania or out in Mississippi where Dana is at. Down in Texas we should note they are now holding the Texas convention and for all of you out there who thought that the process in Texas was the Texas two step, hold onto your hats. It appears it's the Texas three step.

The primary as we all know was won by Hillary Clinton and the caucus went to Barack Obama but today down in Texas, they are holding a convention and from what we understand there is a potential -- we want to underscore potential, for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton to peel away a delegate or two extra in addition to what they have now, which could change the overall delegate count down in Texas.

And from some early indications down in Texas, this process is getting somewhat heated. We were seeing some reports this morning that there was shouting going on at the meetings and from what I heard, Houston Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee was actually getting shouted down at one point.

So a heated process down in Texas during this Texas convention process. We'll be keeping our eyes on that.

And with that, I will bring my colleague, Dana Bash, back in. Dana, as it turns out, it's not necessarily the Texas two step but it may be the Texas three step, which is a dance that I am not familiar with.

BASH: But we all know that your Texas two step is just fabulous, right? You can show us after the break. We'll be ready for that, Jim.

ACOSTA: I'm still working on the one step. Yeah.

BASH: Yeah, you and me both. Well you know Jim, it's really interesting. Obviously you're in Pennsylvania and that is not only an incredibly important battle ground for the Democratic primary, but traditionally is for the general election. It's where Republicans and Democrats spend a lot of the time during the summer and fall.

Mississippi where I am is not one of those battle ground states. It's pretty much reliably red. So, some might be wondering why on earth is John McCain coming to the state of Mississippi? Well the answer is because he's about to embark on what his campaign hopes will be a tour that will reintroduce him and his story to the American people and to the voters. His tour is going start right here in Mississippi. He's going to come here today. He's going to attend an air show at the Meridian air station. In the Meridian Air Station, there's something called the McCain Field. That's named for John McCain's grandfather, who was a four star admiral. That's just one part of McCain's story and his family story that we're going to be hearing about, pretty much starting on Monday.

And after the break, we're going to hear from John McCain as he has been campaigning out on the trail over the past week or so. And as he prepares to embark on this Service to America Tour. At least that's what his campaign is calling it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08, I'm Dana Bash in Meridian, Mississippi. And as we speak, we are monitoring two live events going on on the campaign trail, one on each coast. On the East Coast, Barack Obama is speaking now at University Park, Pennsylvania. We heard a little bit of that before the break. And Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton's top surrogate obviously and chief cheerleader is on the West Coast speaking in San Jose, California, to that state's Democratic convention. We're going to bring you some of Bill Clinton in just a moment.

But right now we want to turn to the Republican side and frankly why I'm here in Mississippi. That is John McCain. John McCain is embarking on a tour that his campaign calls the Service to America Tour. It's a tour that they hope will reintroduce him and his experiences and his family to the American people. They believe that he has a personal story that they hope will connect with the American voter.

And obviously they hope that will be his military service and it will help them on the issue that he hopes to really focus on and that is national security. National security, his campaign believes, whether it is good or bad with regard to Iraq is something that they think is his biggest asset on the campaign trail and going forward into the fall campaign.

However, the McCain campaign also knows full well there's another issue that is huge, huge, when it comes to the voters. Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike and that of course is the economy.

So last week John McCain gave a speech in Santa Ana, California, and he talked about basically broadly his philosophy when it comes to the economy but specifically when it comes to the housing crisis.

It was a bit controversial because he gave his point of view on it but didn't give very many specifics in what he would do. Listen to perhaps a little bit of tough love from John McCain with regard to the housing crisis.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: While I was traveling overseas, our financial markets experienced another, unfortunately round of upheaval. This market turmoil leaves many feeling both concerned and angry.

People see the values of their homes fall at the same time that the price of gasoline and food is rising. Already tight household budgets are getting tighter. A lot of Americans read the headlines about credit crunches and liquidity crises and ask, how did we get here?

The motivation and behaviors that caused the current crisis are not terribly complicated even though the alphabet soup of financial instruments is complex. The past decade witnessed the largest increase in homeownership in the past 50 years. Homeownership is part of the American dream as we all know.

We want as many Americans as possible to be able to afford their own home. But in the process of a huge and largely positive upturn in home construction and ownership, the housing bubble was created. A bubble occurs when prices are driven up too quickly, speculators move into markets and these players begin to suspend the normal rules of risk and assume that prices can only move up but never down.

My friends, let's start with some straight talk. I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis. I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with a crisis we face now.

I've always been committed to the principle that it's not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they're big banks or small borrowers.

Government assistance to the banking system should be based on solely preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy. In our effort to help deserving homeowners, no assistance should be given to speculators. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or a second home.

Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who are irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't. I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits and this crisis as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense.

BASH: There you heard Republican presidential candidate, the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain speaking last week in California. The candidate who admits that he knows far more about foreign policy than economics trying to give a detailed analysis of what he thinks went wrong with regard to the housing crisis but also saying a lot more about what he would not do as president to remedy the housing crisis than what he would do.

That sparked some pretty tough criticism from Democrats who said that he simply does not have a plan, one in particular was Hillary Clinton who called him Herbert Hoover. If nothing else, this shows the divide, the deep philosophical divide between John McCain and whomever the Democratic side will be his opponent with regard to the role in government in fixing the housing crisis or with regard to economic policy in general.

Speaking of Hillary Clinton, we told you earlier that Bill Clinton, her husband, the former president, is speaking right now in San Jose, California. And we've also been telling you all weekend about the attempt by the Clinton campaign to try to quiet remarks that Hillary Clinton should get out of the race because many Democrats think that she has no mathematical chance of becoming the nominee.

Well Bill Clinton jumped right in there just a short while ago about this topic. Let's listen to what he said. BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now what I want to get out of the way is this. There is somehow the suggestion that because we're having a vigorous debate about who would be the best president, we're going to weaken this party in the fall.

Let me remind you of something. On June 2, 1992, when I won the Democratic primaries in Ohio, New Jersey and California, I had been so beat up, worked over and chewed out that I was running third in the national public opinion polls behind Ross Perot and President Bush.

Now, that will tell you how much you can attribute to these polls. Ross Perot was running first. Six weeks later with the Democratic convention open, thanks to you and many people like you, Al Gore and I were in first place and we never lost it.

The fact that we had a vigorous debate at the Democratic primary that the Republicans were actively involved in I might add, actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Don't you let anyone tell that somehow we are weakening the Democratic Party by telling the people in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Indiana and Kentucky and West Virginia and Montana and South Dakota and Oregon and Puerto Rico that they count, too. We're strengthening the Democratic Party. Chill out, we're going to win this election if we just chill out and let everybody have their say.

BASH: Chill out. It doesn't get more straight than that with Bill Clinton there trying to give Democrats a reminder of history. His own history in particular about just how bruised and battered he said he was from the process from the Democratic primary process and obviously he is still in 1992 went on to win the presidency.

This speaking directly to concerned Democrats, Democrats who are even more concerned minute by minute right now about the fact that this democratic primary is not only becoming so bruising and so bloody, but there is no end in sight right now.

And many people including the Democratic senator from Vermont, an Obama supporter, saying publicly now that they think that Hillary Clinton should just do what's best for the party and get out of the race.

Bill Clinton saying not only is that not going happen but it shouldn't happen. A bit of a history lesson from a man who is still very, very well respected inside the Democratic Party by the base on up. So an interesting moment there from Bill Clinton in San Jose, California.

Now, as we mentioned we're also monitoring the Democratic candidate who is opposing his wife, Barack Obama. He's speaking in University Park, Pennsylvania. We're going to hear more from Barack Obama just after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREKA)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in Philadelphia, where the race for voters of Pennsylvania is on and Barack Obama in just a few moments will be checking in with him. He is speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of students at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania.

But first we want to go to some sound from Hillary Clinton. She is responding as she does, very forcefully to these calls coming from Obama supporters, Patrick Leahy and Chris Dodd that she check out of this race because mathematically it is very difficult for her to secure the nomination according to those Obama supporters. She is on the campaign trail in Kentucky yesterday telling those supporters there that she's not about to bow out of this race.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, it's exciting because Kentucky is going to be helping to pick a president in a few weeks.

Now, there are some people who say, we should just stop these elections. Enough people have already voted, what's a few million more? Well, I don't know but I'm happy that Kentucky is going to be voting and you're going to be choosing.

This is such an important election, isn't it? There is so much at stake and I have to say I've been in lots of high schools. I think this high school has the best signs. The posters that I've seen in the hallways and here along the bleachers and in the gym, I love this.

It's so important we get young people involved. This is not about just the next election. This is about the next generation. And we're picking a president who will be sworn in to office less than a year from now who is going to be inheriting a world of trouble.

We're going to have to undo a lot of the damage that has been done over the last years. But I'm confident and optimistic we can do this. That we can set a new course and we can approach the future with the same commitment to a better tomorrow that has always marked America.

We are the nation that believes if you work hard today, tomorrow will be better. That the future is what we make of it. That's the way I think most of us were raised. And I look around here and I bet there are a lot of stories of overcoming some tough times, of going and going when it seemed like there was every reason to stop -- and giving up and just pulling back.

But that is not who we are. And that is not who I am and I'm going to keep fighting in these primaries and keep asking for your votes because I believe that we have real work to do. You know, this election is not just about speeches we give. It's about the solutions we offer. What is it we will do to get the economy moving, to start creating jobs, to provide health care, to stand up for American values again, to take the Constitution out of cold storage, to be focused on making education the passport to opportunity for everyone.

So I come to this race with a lifetime of experience making positive changes. You know, there are children in Kentucky today who get health care because I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program. And there are members of the National Guard and reserve and their families who have access now to health care because I joined forces with a Republican senator and we passed it over the threat of a veto by the president and the Pentagon.

And on so many of the concerns that people care about that I've heard about from across our country, I've been working to make a difference and if you will give me the honor of serving as your president, we will put America back on the right track and feel like we are heading into that future.

ACOSTA: So there you have it. Hillary Clinton in front of a very big crowd of supporters there in Louisville, Kentucky, rejecting calls from the Obama campaign or at least from his supporters that she drop out of this race. There was no Louisville slugger in sight there, but she could not have been more forceful in putting down that idea saying that she is still in this race, still in it to win it, you might say.

And Louisville, Kentucky, we should mention is in the Bluegrass State of course and that state is having its primary coming up on May 20th. So if there's any indication that Hillary Clinton is staying in the race campaigning in Kentucky with a primary more than a month and a half away might be a pretty good indication that she's planning on staying in this race.

Now we want to go back out to University Park, Pennsylvania, where Barack Obama is talking to a crowd, whipping up a crowd of young supporters there at Penn State and he's been talking about all of the issues that are weighing heavily on voter's minds in Pennsylvania, chiefly the economy has come up time and again.

He's also been talking quite a bit about gas prices. He has a brand new campaign commercial that has been airing in that state about the subject. So without further adieu, let's go back to Barack Obama at Penn State talking about the economy and other issues here in Pennsylvania.

OBAMA: It's engaged and involved people like never before. I think it's terrific that Senator Clinton supporters have been as passionate as my supporters have been because that means the people are invested and engaged in this process.

I am absolutely confident that when this primary season is all over, Democrats will be united because we understand what's at stake in this election. I have the greatest admiration for the service of John McCain. He's a genuine American hero. He is a genuine American hero. He has sacrificed on behalf of all of us. And he deserves our honor and our respect.

But everybody has to understand what's at stake in this election. John McCain has suggested that we might leave our troops in Iraq for another 100 years. John McCain has suggested that he will continue the same Bush economic policies that have gotten us into this fix right now.

John McCain is clinging to the past. He's running for George Bush's third term. And so the question we have to ask ourselves is how are we going to debate John McCain? Do we want to debate John McCain with somebody who agreed with him on the war on Iraq or do we want to debate him with somebody who had the courage to stand up and say this is a bad idea? Do you want to debate John McCain about who has been in Washington longer? That's the debate John McCain will win. Or, do you want to debate John McCain about who is actually going to bring about change in Washington? Because that's a debate that we will win.

I believe that the Democrats will be unified as soon as this nomination is settled. We will be unified because we understand that we are not going to be clinging to the policies of the past. We are the party of the future. We don't want to look backwards. We're marching forward. That's what's at stake in this election. That's what this campaign has been about and that's what I want to bring about as president of the United States of America.

So let me just close by saying this. Remember I told you that Senator Clinton and Senator McCain and George Bush, all three of them have been so critical about my campaign. They say he gives a good speech. But he hasn't been in Washington long enough. They think I need to be seasoned and stewed a little bit longer. They want to boil all of the hope out of me.

In fact, they give me a hard time about talking about hope. You know, it's true I do talk about hope a lot. I put hope on my signs. I gave a speech in convention 2004 about hope. I wrote a book called "The Audacity of Hope." It's not surprising that I talk about hope because if you think about it, the likelihood of me standing here is very unlikely.

I was born to a teenage mother. My father left when I was two. I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. And they didn't have a lot of money. What they could give me was love, they could give me an education and they could give me hope.