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Campbell Brown
Howard Dean Wants Democratic Nominee by July 1; John McCain Speaks Out on Anger Management; Bush is Advised to Boycott Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Aired April 01, 2008 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, everybody is furious about gas prices. And it was the big topic on Capitol Hill today. Members of Congress went head-to-head with the executives of big oil, demanding they justify those outrageous profits.
Well, the oil men, they were unapologetic. Gas prices also a hot topic on the campaign trail today. We have got the best political team on television on that story. And we're covering it from all angles tonight.
Also, check this out. This is a surprisingly personal moment from John McCain today, talking about his temper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a young man, I would respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone whom I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self- respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We're going to hear more on John McCain's struggles with anger management a little bit later. But we have also got more on the Democrats' knockdown/drag-out fight for the nomination.
Howard Dean will be with us tonight to tell us how he plans to fix it. But how can he when Hillary Clinton is talking like this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We have got more on the Democrats' battle shortly, but we want to start with something that is making everybody very angry these days: gas prices and gas price politics.
With record prices at the pumps and record profits for their companies, the executives of big oil pretty much thumbed their noses at angry lawmakers on Capitol Hill today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: If you were going to give awards for taxpayer abuses, this would win the Heisman and the Oscar and the Nobel Prize.
STEPHEN SIMON, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EXXONMOBIL: Imposing punitive taxes on American energy companies, which are already paying record taxes, will discourage the sustained investments needed to continue safeguarding U.S. energy security.
REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D), MISSOURI: Lee Raymond received a $400 million severance package from ExxonMobil, which translates into $141,000 a day. What do I say next Saturday to the people who come to my meeting who are struggling to get to work now because they can't afford to put gasoline in their car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was blown out of proportion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, people are worrying about gas prices every time they fill up their cars. The candidates are talking about it every day out on the stump. And we're going to talk about it right now.
We have got CNN senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, who is joining us from Philadelphia tonight. Here in the studio with me, CNN's Jennifer Westhoven. She's a member of our "ISSUE #1" team. And "Fortune" managing editor Andy Serwer.
Welcome to everybody.
Jennifer, let me start with you. So, what is the deal with these executives defending these profits? Is there any validity to their argument?
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you hear that they use words like these are punitive right now? They say these are punishing taxes that we can't handle right now. We're paying record taxes.
They're also making record profits. Now, their argument is that they need to be drilling. At a time when America is consuming so much fuel they need to be drilling a lot more. So, they want to be drilling deeper.
They want to be drilling in more places. They have talked Arctic Refuge and the continental shelf. So, they're arguing that they need these tax breaks.
But it is really difficult for Americans to hear them right now when you see these lines about how they're making -- ExxonMobil making more money than any company in the history of mankind, and people are struggling to buy their groceries.
BROWN: Why are they getting these tax breaks, Andy? Is it fair? ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE": Well, it is a very complicated system we have right now, Campbell, and it goes back in the time when we tried to give them breaks when the business wasn't doing so well. Remember, of course, the price of oil has skyrocketed over the past two or three years. So, we weren't there three or four years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: So, things are doing well, so why are they still getting the tax breaks?
SERWER: Well, they probably shouldn't. And they should unwind them very quickly. We tried taxing them, of course, back in the 1980s, a windfall profit tax, which some people are talking about today, in other words, putting a big tax on them when they're making a lot of money. That was very onerous and complicated and actually did discourage drilling in the United States. It is true, and it cost a whole lot to administer.
It's very hard to put something on and take something off right now. But, you know, no question, Jennifer is right -- $40 billion in profits for Exxon over the past 12 months.
BROWN: I just think with the pressure on in an election year, they are going to have to do something.
And let me bring Candy into this. Let's talk about the politics of it, Candy, because I was listening. On the trail today, you hear Obama, Hillary Clinton. They're talking about this constantly. But they sound, in some of their remarks, almost identical in terms of their position on it, how they would handle it.
Is there any daylight between the two of them at all?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you ask these campaigns, look, what is the difference between your energy policy and that of Barack Obama or the other way around, what the Clinton campaign will tell you is that they will require better mileage sooner.
They want to go up to 55 miles per gallon, that kind of thing. So, the CAFE standards are different. But in the general direction, they're almost identical. They both want to bring down carbon emissions by a huge amount, in the 20, 25, around in that range in that year. They want to bring them down by 80 percent.
They want to cut back on electrical use by 25 percent, both of them, in the year 2020. They want to invest in renewable energy. They want to have -- end those tax breaks you have just been talking about and have big oil and big energy companies contribute to a pool of money that then funds alternative energy research and development. They call these jobs that would emanate from those projects green- collar jobs.
So, both are talking in the same direction. And, frankly, it's a direction we have heard from a lot of candidates in the past. But they're headed the same way, even if they differ on the numbers.
BROWN: OK. So, you guys gave me a reality check here. You know, people are screaming and yelling about this. They're going to do something. What is the most likely scenario for the new president, be he a Republican or a Democrat, whatever?
WESTHOVEN: Well, I think it might really depend on what happens in the Senate, because we have seen committee meetings like this before. Two years ago, they were blasting the oil executives, saying, record prices, oil prices are too high. Nothing happened.
SERWER: You know, one thing I want to point out, though, Campbell, is one reason why gas prices are so high is because Americans are driving so much.
We haven't stopped driving. Everyone is complaining about it so much, but they're still driving to the county fair on Saturday. It's not curbing use. Once it starts to curb use, then the price falls. So, we have ourselves to blame a little bit here, don't we?
BROWN: Yes. And, Candy, I think you have to give both Clinton and Obama credit for that, that they both have been clear about saying consumption really is the problem.
WESTHOVEN: But we are seeing signs of that, that it's coming down just a little bit.
BROWN: Yes. Well, let me, Candy, ask you one about more thing happening on the trail today. And it's just the images as they try to sort of take political advantage of this moment. You saw Hillary Clinton out there with truckers who were protesting the gas prices. Obama has cut an ad now where he's standing in front of a gas pump for it.
Is it realistic that they're going to actually do anything about it? Or are these sort of more "I feel your pain" moments that they're trying to convey when they're out on the trail?
CROWLEY: Sure. I mean image is everything. You know that. It is even everything-plus in politics. And -- but they do hear this a lot on -- in the town hall meetings. What are you going to do about gas prices?
But the reality is that the picture will be much different in January than it is right now. Maybe it will be higher. Maybe it will be lower. But they know that. In fact, Barack Obama says, listen, I have got to tell you something. Right away, you can't bring those prices down. We have got to stop consumption. Just, we're talking about -- or lower consumption. We have to look at alternative energy.
So, that's why they're really sort of focusing on the long term. And you will see in those commercials that -- or the ads that Barack Obama does -- that he does talk long term, and she does as well, because frankly they can't do anything about it now except for go back to the Senate and vote on several things. But really next January is going to be different. BROWN: All right, Candy for us, and Jennifer and Andy here in the studio with me, thanks to everybody.
Next: temper, temper. Which of the presidential candidates earned the high school nickname McNasty? We're going to tell you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: On the campaign trail today, the war of words continues, and it is all about war, Obama and McCain going at it again over who has the experience to be commander in chief, an exchange that is getting increasingly nasty.
Surprisingly, McCain addressed the nasty part of that today. The Republican contender -- contender, rather -- responding to concerns about the notoriously quick temper that earned him his high school nickname, McNasty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: As an adult, I have been known to forget occasionally the discretion expected of a person of my years and station when I believe I have been accorded a lack of respect I didn't deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, does McCain have the temperament to be president?
Well, Dana Bash sat down one on one with John McCain today after his town hall meeting in Virginia. And she's joining us along with our political panel tonight.
We have got Arianna Huffington, who is the founder of HuffingtonPost.com. We have got Kevin Madden, former press secretary of Mitt Romney, and John Avlon, who is the former speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani with me in the studio.
Hi, John.
Dana, though, I want to start with you, because you did get some one-on-one time with him today. I thought it was pretty surprising that he brought this up sort of unprompted without anybody pushing him. And then you asked him about it. What did he say?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I thought it was interesting, also, because, Campbell, I have been -- in order to prepare for this bio tour that he is on, I have been rereading some of his own books. And I was reminded how much he actually has talked about his own temper, a temper that he admits he has had since he was a toddler and how he's had a lifelong struggle to try to contain it.
So, when I saw that he was actually going to bring it up, as you said, unprompted today, I thought, it's the perfect opportunity to ask him about that and ask him specifically about when people hear him say that whether or not there is a little bit of concern that they would rather not have someone like him with his finger on the button.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: Everyone's life is a work in progress. I have a better and more impressive record of bipartisanship and working across the aisle and legislative solutions and leadership than anybody that's running against me. When I see wasting needlessly of their tax dollars, when I see people behaving badly, they expect me to get angry. And I will -- and I will get angry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So, Campbell, you saw him answering the question in a noticeably very calm way. But, you know, it is interesting that this is and has been an issue. You remember that testy exchange -- I think it was just testy -- that he had a couple of weeks ago with the "New York Times" reporter on the plane. That raised the issue over and over again for the Democrats, calling him Senator Hothead.
So, it's a potential liability for him, for sure. And you saw him at least there try to turn it into a little bit of a positive. We will see.
BROWN: Yes, at the end. A fair point.
And, Kevin, there were a number of testy exchanges as you well know between he and Mitt Romney during the primary race. Do you think his temper will come up? Would it be an issue in the general election campaign?
KEVIN MADDEN, FORMER ROMNEY CAMPAIGN NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I can't help, Campbell, but think that John McCain would be very angry that we are talking about this tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
MADDEN: But, you know, look, I think that, during the introduction when they were showing the quote I was struck by how John McCain deals with it and how he explains it. And he did it proactively. He did it with a smile. He did it with self- deprecation. He did it in an explanatory way.
And he did so by attaching it to a lot of the things that Americans don't like about Washington. They're angry about overspending. They're angry about corruption. They're angry about people not really focused on the issues that are important to them.
And I also think that he does so in such a way that people can't help but attach John McCain humor. And that is a very important thing for him as he moves through this campaign, is that when he talks about even his liabilities, he does so with humor.
BROWN: All right.
Arianna, is there a way for Democrats to spin this and sort of make an issue of it?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: You know, Campbell, I sincerely hope that Democrats are not going to waste a minute of their time worrying about attacking John McCain on his temper.
After all, as he has said himself, he is not running for Ms. Congeniality. He is running to be in commander in chief. And Democrats need to spending every day attacking John McCain on national security.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: On Iraq, in your view?
HUFFINGTON: Exactly because -- on Iraq specifically, because this is a man who if he becomes president is going to keep us in Iraq as he has said himself for 100 years. This is a man who is so utterly delusional that he went to Iraq and just as everything was descending into chaos, he told us the surge was working.
This is really a catastrophic assessment of what is happening. He is ignoring what is happening in Pakistan. He's ignoring the fact that Afghanistan is descending into chaos. He is ignoring the fact that today we had a key official in Pakistan saying that we cannot be going after militants in Pakistan. And this is a man who is simply getting it all wrong.
BROWN: OK.
HUFFINGTON: And yet he has this reputation of being good on national security.
BROWN: Let's switch to Iraq. And let me bring you into it, John, because he was going at it today with Barack Obama. He is calling Barack Obama naive and unprepared to be commander in chief.
And it sounds like this is what is shaping up to be the central sort of debate they're going to have in the general election. Is it going to be all about Iraq? And does Arianna have a point? Is this a problem?
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "INDEPENDENT NATION": Well, I think what Arianna is doing is a great example of kind of the Karl Rove strategy at going at your opponent's strength. It's obvious that John McCain's great strength is national security.
And that debate is a tough one for Obama and McCain to have, especially for Obama. They come from very different traditions. John McCain comes from a national security, national service generation. While Obama's background, honorable, is more of a community service background.
So, it's a tough debate. But Iraq is definitely the center of the Democratic agenda and it's where they want to fight. BROWN: I know. But you have guys to concede, Kevin, or maybe not, the war is unpopular. It's an uphill battle to be selling yourself on that...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Hold on, Kevin.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Go ahead, John.
AVLON: What I think is the source of John McCain's strength among independents is his independence, is his authenticity. And every time he answers questions directly, every time he's self- deprecating about his temper...
BROWN: Right.
AVLON: ... every time he says, look, this may be unpopular, but I think it's the right thing to do, that raises his stock among independents.
BROWN: Kevin?
MADDEN: Yes. John makes a good point. And I think that the bottom line is that if this becomes a campaign about experience and leadership on issues, and it becomes a contest of attributes, you know, McCain wins. And not only that. National security is John McCain's turf.
Does Obama really want to go head-to-head on an issue like national security, foreign policy, with somebody who has been steeped in these issues for 25 years? I don't think it's a smart move for him.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Quick. Arianna, I will give you a few more seconds. Go ahead. You get the last word.
HUFFINGTON: Absolutely he does. Barack Obama got the war in Iraq right. John McCain got the war in Iraq wrong and continues to get it wrong. Absolutely. Barack Obama will go after him every day.
BROWN: I think what we are hearing is going to be in all likelihood the general election debate. We will see.
Anyway, Arianna, Kevin, John, thanks very much. Well, actually, you are sticking around. We have got a lot more to talk about with you. Don't go anywhere.
Coming up, are Democrats headed for a convention showdown? I am going to ask party chairman Howard Dean when we come right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The Democratic Party is at war with itself. Florida and Michigan are in limbo. The superdelegates may end up deciding the nomination.
The one man who has to sort all of this out is party chairman Howard Dean. And he joined us a little bit ago to talk about what he is going to do.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So, Governor, Democrats are in a standoff right now. You have said you hope this thing is going to be decided by July 1. But we just heard Hillary Clinton say a few days ago that she is ready to fight all the way to the convention.
There are a lot of people who are looking to you to resolve this. How are you going to resolve it?
HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Well, the voters are going to resolve it. We have got, I don't know, roughly 10 states and Puerto Rico to go over the next couple of months and we have got 330 unpledged delegates out of the 800 that have not said who they're for. After we get to the end of the voting and while the superdelegates continue, I presume, to come out and say who they are for, I think we're going to know who the nominee is.
And I think -- I would like to -- there is no reason that the superdelegates have to say who they are for by July 1. But I would like them to think about the country and their party as they do. They are going to have to vote sooner or later. Sooner is better. We need to get this wrapped up by the first of July. And I think we can.
BROWN: But what happens if they don't? You are asking them sort of out of the goodness of their heart or in the interest of the party to do this. But what are you going to do if they don't?
DEAN: I'm asking them for the sake of their country to do this. We can't afford four more years of George Bush, which is what John McCain is offing us. He's offering us the same policy in Iraq as George Bush, stay there for 100 years, just like Korea, I think is the quote. He's supporting George Bush's tax cuts.
His attitude towards the mortgage crisis is, let them eat cake. He thought Bush's veto of the children's health care bill was a great idea. On all the issues that Americans really care about, John McCain is wrong. And the only thing that can that -- that can make John McCain president of the United States if we have a big fight at the convention and go off divided. And I'm determined not to let that happen.
BROWN: So, trying to get to that point, what do you think the superdelegates can -- should do, rather? Bottom line this for us. Should they be voting with their states or with their conscience?
DEAN: No, my job, Campbell, is to make sure that the losing candidate who gets 49.8 percent of the vote, which is probably what they are going to get, feels they have been treated fairly. The rules say that superdelegates can do whatever they want. I support the rules, because I am going to support the rules right down all the way through this whole thing.
BROWN: So, wait. I just want to be clear. You said 49-point- whatever percent of the vote. Are you saying that whoever wins the popular vote should be --
DEAN: No. No. What I'm saying is, somebody is going to win this. And somebody is going to lose it. And it is very, very close. And it is going to continue to be very, very close. I'm not here to tell the superdelegates what they have to do.
That is their job. And the rules say they can do whatever they want. I'm just asking them to make their preferences known before the convention starts, so that we have adequate time to prepare ourselves for the general election.
BROWN: Let's talk Florida and Michigan. Are you going to figure out a way to seat Florida and Michigan, so when you're up there on the podium looking out at that room on convention day, you are seeing those people there?
DEAN: I would very much like to have Florida and Michigan seated. Because of the circumstances under which they held their elections, essentially which were not valid elections, they aren't going to be seated the same way that everybody else is.
They can be seated in one of two ways. One, they can be seated by agreement between the two campaigns if there is no clear winner, or, two, they will be seated I suspect by whoever does win the nomination. Whoever wins the nomination will control the credentials committee, which will control the seating. And I strongly believe our nominee is going to want Florida and Michigan in the hall. Under which rules, that will depend. The nominee will set the rules.
BROWN: But just to go back a little bit, the campaigns have made no progress so far in trying to work this out amongst themselves. If you wait until after there is a nominee, then that sort of defeats the purpose of having Florida and Michigan participate in the process of deciding who the nominee is going to be.
(CROSSTALK)
DEAN: I think that the campaigns haven't negotiated this yet because they're in the middle of a very difficult campaign vying for the support for voters in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and North Carolina and other states, and Puerto Rico and places like that. So, I don't think you can expect them to sit and negotiate this right this minute.
I think they're going to find out where they are after the voting is over before they know what kind of the hand they have to play in any negotiations that might be taking place after the fact.
BROWN: You have said that this fighting between Obama and Senator Clinton has gotten personal, too personal in your view, and it's doing damage to the party. What do you mean by that?
DEAN: Well, I think there have been some things said in the past that have been a little on the personal side. But I also think both candidates have sort of a self-regulatory mechanism. The voters don't like that kind of stuff. And they let the candidates know about it. And I think the candidates have pulled back from that. And I think that's a good thing.
BROWN: And, finally, there are those -- and I think you know this -- who have criticized you for not playing a stronger role in terms of your job as head of the Democratic Party in trying to get this resolved. You have taken a back seat. And, as you just said, your view is it's up to the campaigns to work this out.
DEAN: No, my view is that the voters will work it out. And I have to chuckle a little bit. The people who are complaining that I'm not taking a stronger role, when you drill down on that a little, as I have, when they have called me, is, I see what you mean, is you would like me to be a strong leader and adopt your point of view and then ram it through the DNC. I am going to not going to do that for either side.
There are going to be donors and supporters on both sides that are mad at me. I am going to play this one by the rules, right -- there's this clear set of rules. Everybody knew what the rules were a year-and-a-half ago. Those are the rules that we are going to nominate the next president of the United States under. And we are not going to bend the rules for either side.
BROWN: All right, Governor Howard Dean for us tonight, we appreciate your time.
DEAN: Thanks, Campbell.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So does Howard Dean have the right approach or is he being too hands-off? Coming up next, some of the best political analysts weigh in on the sniping that threatens to do in the Dems. We will see.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: So, how is the battle for the Democratic nomination going to end? It is the cliffhanger that every political junkie everywhere is waiting to find out, hanging on the edge of their seat.
Let's bring back our political panel. Arianna Huffington is with us, along with Kevin Madden and John Avlon.
And, Arianna, let me start with you.
We just heard Howard Dean say that July 1 needs to be the deadline for the superdelegates. They have got to come forward by then and say -- say where they stand. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today backed him up and said, this is a good idea. This is the way we should handle this.
Do you agree? I mean, do you think that this is going to happen?
HUFFINGTON: I would actually say June 15. Why not? June 3 is after all when the last states vote. And after that. I think, and the governor of Tennessee thinks, and Howard Dean thinks, and a lot of other political leaders in the Democratic Party think, superdelegates should make up their mind.
Of course, all has been decided earlier. Because if Hillary Clinton loses Indiana and North Carolina, which are the two next states beginning of May after Pennsylvania, then I think she will probably walk away. I think it will be very hard for her to imagine any kind of scenario where she could win. But nevertheless if she does stay which is her prerogative, then I would think Howard Dean is absolutely right. I would just speed up the timetable.
BROWN: But here is where -- maybe she will step aside. If it doesn't, you know if it plays out as you suggested. But you heard her on the campaign trail today. She made the comparison to Rocky. She is going to fight to the finish. She said, frankly that she is going to go all the way to the convention.
John, does this look like a woman who is ready to step aside anytime soon?
AVLON: Certainly not the way she is playing it. I expect her to compare herself to Rambo one of these days. She keeps inching up the macho metaphors. But the only way she can win is win ugly and there is a joke, by actually a Democratic humorist with ties to the Clintons saying that Hillary is going after the nomination like Tonya Harding went after the gold medal.
There is a sense that they're getting desperate and anything goes. And the more that happens, the more it turns people off, the more it divides the Democratic Party, the more it alienates, I think the American people and independent voters.
BROWN: How good is this? Or bad? How excited are Republicans watching this from the sidelines right now?
MADDEN: It's great for Republicans. All this back and forth between the Democrats does two things, lets them air negative after negative against each other. Seeing Hillary Clinton under assault for not being transparent or somebody straight with the truth. Then you see Barack Obama under assault for -- for not being able to, not having the experience need to be president.
All the while, John McCain is building the organization, consolidating support among conservative Republicans, and he is appealing to independents a very important swing vote in the election. The number of independents out there that are going to matter in a lot of the swing states is growing.
BROWN: Arianna, let me get your take, one thing we didn't factor into this. Let's say everybody does do what Dean says and tries to get their opinions or votes out there, superdelegates by July 1, you still have Florida and Michigan hanging out there. Isn't that sort of the great unknown still?
HUFFINGTON: Well, you know, as Howard Dean said, if there is a nominee before the convention then that nominee can decide to seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan of course they will vote for him. By then it is ceremonial.
If there is no nominee then the two parties can decide theoretically to 50/50 divide them, 50 percent for Obama, 50 percent for Clinton. The point, Campbell, both campaigns agreed that Florida and Michigan would not matter if they moved the election date forward. This is not a surprise to Hillary Clinton, sounded like oh, my god, how did that happen? She agreed to it.
BROWN: Not anymore. Definitely a change of heart on that one issue. Anyway, we have to end it there.
Thank you to everybody. Appreciate your time tonight.
HUFFINGTON: Thank you.
BROWN: Coming up after the break, a candidate gives some tips to an eight-year-old with an eye on the White House. We'll be back in less than two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A check of more political news happening now. House speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should consider skipping the Olympic opening ceremonies in light of China's crackdown on Tibet, but doesn't think the U.S. should boycott the games because that would unfairly harm the athletes. Meanwhile, 15 House members took it a step further saying President Bush should not attend the games at all.
Also in Washington, a housing bill that was considered DOA was brought back to life in a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate. The Democratic senator, Harry Reid and Republican Mitch McConnell are giving the Banking Committee 24 hours to come up with a bipartisan bill to help the nation's foreclosure crisis. The compromise could potentially allocate billions of dollars to help fix the subprime mess.
And Barack Obama had some cute advice for an eight-year-old at a campaign speech in Pennsylvania -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you get to be -- run for president?
OBAMA: You have to work really hard in school and get really good grades. You have got -- who is this, is this grandma? You have to do everything that grandma tells you to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Obama went on to suggest he needs to go to college and get a job helping other people.
Well, just a year ago Bill Clinton was one of our most popular former presidents. Now, not as much. After the break, a look at whether his return to the political stage may have damaged his legacy. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Bill Clinton's work on the campaign trail these days has sometimes made him seem like another candidate in the race. And sometimes it gotten him into trouble when he compared Barack Obama to Jesse Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jessie Jackson won in South Carolina twice in '84 and '88 and he ran a good campaign. And Senator Obama has run a good campaign here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: He later sort of apologized. A few weeks later he suggested Obama run as vice president even though Obama was in the lead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
W. CLINTON: He would win the urban areas and the upscale voters and she wins traditional rural areas we lost when President Reagan was president. If you put the two things together you would have an almost unstoppable force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN : The Obama folks didn't take that too kindly. Then just this week we saw a more relaxed Bill Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
W. CLINTON: Chill out. We are going to win this election if we just chill out and let everybody have their say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So when this is all over where will it leave the former president. It seems the more people see him campaigning out there on the trail the more they don't like him. A recent NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll shows in the year he has been campaigning for his wife his popularity has taken a significant hit.
Joining me right now to talk about all this is former Clinton White House counsel and Hillary Clinton supporter, Lanny Davis, and Sally Bedell Smith who is the author of the book "For the Love of politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton, the White House Years."
Welcome to you both. LANNY DAVIS, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Thank you.
SALLY BEDELL SMITH, CLINTON BIOGRAPHER: Thank you. Good to be here.
BROWN: Sally, let me start with you. What do you think is happening out there. Are Americans sort of changing their view of him given what they're seeing on the campaign trail?
BEDELL SMITH: That certainly seems to be borne out in the polls. What we have seen is something quite unprecedented. A former president immersing himself in the political campaign where in the past former presidents have remained aloof from such things.
And as a consequence, he has said things on the trail, just his mere presence on the campaign trail means that everything he says is magnified and it also sort of gives the Clinton campaign a certain advantage because he is certainly not an ordinary presidential spouse.
But whenever he says something negative it tends to blow up. And there has been a lot of negative things that he has said starting back in the middle December when he said on the "CHARLIE ROSE SHOW" that voters would roll the dice by voting for Barack Obama.
BROWN: Right. So, Lanny, you know Bill Clinton, you know Bill Clinton really well. Does he even care, frankly? Does he view his legacy now as getting his wife elected president?
DAVIS: Well, first of all I think he cares about -- Hillary Clinton becoming president for several reasons. The most important is he genuinely believes as he said quite movingly one night in an event that I was present that if he weren't married to Hillary Clinton he still believes her to be the best presidential candidate including himself that he has ever worked for. And he is also very, very protective and defensive when he thinks he is being treated unfairly. So that is all to the good.
As to the drop in popularity, I think that Bill Clinton and President Bush did so many good works around the world that when he -- when he is helping his wife and there is a hard core popular candidate they're running against, of course there will be hard feelings. But at the end of the day Bill Clinton's popularity was 65 percent when he left the White House. The most popular second term president this century according to the polls. He will be back after this campaign being popular. I can assure you.
BROWN: You also have to look though, I think, at, at, his administration and Sally address this. Because she is running -- in large part -- on her involvement in that administration, part of her argument for why she would be a great commander-in-chief because she was right there by his side. Does that in a sense call a lot of what he did into question, because she is making him a centerpiece of the campaign?
BEDELL SMITH: Are you asking me?
BROWN: Yes, Sally, you go first.
BEDELL SMITH: Well, yes, yes, sure. Because she has said that she has 35 years of experience and she has advanced her years in the White House as being an essential part of that experience and actually something that gives her an edge over other candidates in this case only one candidate, Barack Obama. You know, she has sort of, opened the door to -- to really scrutinizing everything during those eight years good and bad.
BROWN: And -- Go ahead, Sally.
DAVIS: Sally makes a fair point. I would simply ask this question of anybody including Senator Obama who I greatly respect, when he says he doesn't want to go back to the 1990s. Ask Democrats the question, and ask Senator Obama, what exactly about the 1990s and two terms of Bill Clinton do you not want to go back to? Twenty four million new jobs, turning deficits into surpluses, a very successful two-term Democratic presidency that repositioned us in the center. Having said that, Hillary Clinton found her voice, is her own person, and is running as her own person.
And while she has benefited by having Bill Clinton talk about her experience, working with him for eight years in the White House, she is going to be her own person as our next president. I think everybody who knows her believes that.
BROWN: All right. Got to end it there.
Lanny Davis, Sally Bedell Smith. Appreciate your time tonight. Thanks to both of you.
DAVIS: Thank you very much, Campbell.
BROWN: John McCain flexes his comedic muscles on "David Letterman." we have a sneak peek just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: "LARRY KING" gets underway at the top of the hour.
Larry, who do you have with you tonight?
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Campbell, we have got a very interesting show. Jesse Ventura, will he step into the ring again? I am not talking wrestling. I'm talking political. Find out on LARRY KING LIVE at the top of the hour. The Jesse man is here. Then a whole panel,
Campbell, carry on.
BROWN: Can't wait. We'll be there. Thanks, Larry.
Here are some of the other political stories that are worth keeping an eye on. The Republicans launched a new Web site making fun of the Democrats' superdelegates, gop.com and features a flying super hero donkey with SD, superdelegate, emblazed on his chest. We'll let you know if we spot any flying elephants.
And in the meantime look out for presidential candidates on late night talk shows. Hillary Clinton yuks it up on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." That is on Thursday. John McCain on David Letterman tonight getting back at Letterman for his jokes about his age.
Here is a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: He looks like the guy who always has wiry hair growing out of new places. He looks like the guy who points out the spots they missed at the car wash.
How you doing? Nice to see you. Good to have you here.
MCCAIN: Hi.
LETTERMAN: Hi. How you doing?
MCCAIN: You think that stuff is pretty funny, don't you? Well, you look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities.
LETTERMAN: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Payback indeed. Well, coming up, people are consumed with politics this election year. And they're talking about it in the most unlikely places. We'll tell you where when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: In this unusual election year, even nonpolitical radio shows are talking politics. Joining me now are three radio hosts that have been swept up in the excitement. Andrew Wilkow, host of the "Wilkow Majority," on Sirius Radio, Russ Parr is the host of the syndicated "Russ Parr Morning Show" and Lady Fay Carmona, co-host of Univision's "Luis Jimenez Show." And they are all joining me now.
Welcome to everybody.
FAY CARMONA, RADIO HOST: Thank you for having us.
BROWN: Faye, let me start with you. Normally you don't talk about politics on your show, right?
CARMONA: No, no, we talk. We talk about everything. To be honest, Campbell, we really do. In this election it's different. I think because of our Latin listeners are enthralled by everything that is going on.
BROWN: You have a huge Latino population listening to you, right.
CARMONA: We say it's Spanglish but mainly it's a Spanish radio show. They're very in tune with what is going on, the first election that maybe Latinos are knowledgeable with what's going on this time around. They want to know.
They're in it to win it. They also understand the gossip. OK, why did Hillary cry, why did she cry that one time. They also want to know about immigration laws, they also want to know about bringing the troops back. They're knowledgeable this time around. I think that has come into our radio show. Even if we didn't like it, it's there.
BROWN: So you are adapting to it and you're dealing with it.
CARMONA: Completely.
BROWN: Russ, it's kind of the say with you. You usually play music on your show. I understand that Hillary Clinton is going on your show tomorrow?
RUSS PARR, "RUSS PARR MORNING SHOW": Yes, scheduled 7:45 in the morning Eastern Time.
BROWN: You ever think you would be interviewing a presidential candidate?
PARR: Well, I've talked to her one time before when she needed urban radio. After the things that transpired in South Carolina they went away and kind of targeted Latinos which is fine.
BROWN: Are you going few ask her tomorrow? The fact that African Americans have been back-burnered by the campaign.
PARR: Campbell, I have been wanting to talk to her for quite a while. So many things. Initially a lot of my listeners were kind of into Hillary, they talk the red phone moments. We had a couple red flag moments. Such as what happened with her husband in South Carolina, inferences there, little veiled reminder that hey, Obama is a black man.
Don't forget about that. That is troubling. I think what happens as African-Americans we become defensive and we tend to defend our individual, that we believe is wrong. That's what has really gone wrong for Hillary. Because I believe that she had something going there for a minute. What happened once they started doing that it just changed the whole landscape.
CARMONA: Wow.
BROWN: Andrew, let me bring you into this. Politics has been your territory.
ANDREW WILKOW, RADIO HOST: That's all I really do.
BROWN: Now you are competing with these guys. These are entertainment-oriented radio hosts. And they're going at it sort of up against you. What do you think is happening out there?
WILKOW: Depending on the type of music radio. Doing a morning talk show you are talking topics can go from pop culture to politics back and forth sports whatever. If you are doing music straight music. Then after you -- I used to do top 40, I did alternative rock, did it all before I did talk.
After you have played the same song, 10, 15 times of the day people are going to fill their brains up with that and hear something else in a political cycle. So some listeners are going to hear political talk on local morning show or other morning show and some are going to --
BROWN: With a political audience what is your number one issue?
WILKOW: Taxes. Taxes.
BROWN: You have a fairly conservative audience?
WILKOW: Very conservative audience.
BROWN: Very conservative audience. What about you, you have a Latino population, is it immigration?
PARR: It's sounds very -- Are you a Republican, consider you a Republican?
WILKOW: Well, individual patriot first, conservative second. Republican third.
BROWN: It's not that simple anymore, Faye.
CARMONA: You are right. It's crazy. Because I have the -- I'm very blessed to not only represent Latinos, I also get to represent the gay community, I am a personality on the "Luiz Jimenez Show." It's funny enough that Latinos and gays don't really know. They're fighting for almost the same thing.
They want equal rights. They want health care for their partners. We had a topic the other day where it was what is your biggest fear? And a lot of our Latino audience called in and said my biggest fear for immigration to come to my door and take me away from my family. I have to say our biggest, listeners, that's, also, go against Russ for a second. Apologize, Russ, can you hear me?
PARR: I can hear you.
BROWN: Got like 30 seconds. Quickly.
CARMONA: Apologize. Where it was initially, a very immigration geared race, and now I think it is more racially targeted towards blacks.
PARR: I think, a lot of the issues. We want to deal with more issues than looking at the man and his color. The economy is the number one issue for a number of African Americans. Because of the housing situation. Campbell. Heard you got to go.
BROWN: Up against a hard break. Thanks to everybody. Discussion for another time. So much to get into.
Andrew, Fay and Russ. Appreciate all of you being here with us.
WILKOW: Thank you.
CARMONA: Thank you so much for having us.
BROWN: We'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: So always time for fun on the campaign trail. Check it out. There is Barack Obama, sleeves rolled up working on his regular guy image. And bowling for ballots. But oops, gutter shot. And Hillary Clinton isn't one to shy away from a challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
H. CLINTON: Today I am challenging Senator Obama to a bowl-off. A bowling night right here in Pennsylvania. Winner-take-all. I will even spot him two frames.
It's time for his campaign to get out of the gutter and allow all of the pins to be counted. So let's strike a deal and go bowling for delegates. We don't have a moment to spare. Because it's already April Fool's Day. So happy April Fool's Day, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And happy April Fool's Day to you. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
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