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Hillary Clinton to Address Democratic National Convention; Analysis of First Night of Convention; John McCain to Speak to American Legion Convention; Athletes For Obama
Aired August 26, 2008 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon, everybody, and welcome. I'm Soledad O'Brien in the CNN Election Center in New York.
It is ladies' day at the Democratic National Convention. Today is the 88th anniversary of women in this country getting the right to vote.
In Denver, where the delegates gather in just under five hours, one woman in particular is on everybody's mind. Her name is Senator Hillary Clinton. And in this hour, we set the stage for her big speech tonight and take a look at whether anything can get her disgruntled supporters on the bandwagon of party unity.
Clinton could even turn into one of John McCain's best weapons. She's been featured in yet another McCain attack ad.
Let's get right out to Denver and right to the CNN Grill. It's where CNN John Roberts is live for us with more.
Hey, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon to you, Soledad. Or good morning from Denver. It's still just after 10:00 Mountain Time. Things just starting to get going here.
The convention will gavel open at 5:00 this afternoon, 3:00 Mountain Time. And as you said, Hillary Clinton is the big draw tonight. A lot of people will be looking to her to see what she is going to say in terms of unifying the party and whether or not she's going to take a swing at the Republicans.
We've got some information from our friends at Politico through an interview they did with Governor Mark Warner, who's doing the keynote address tonight, that he is not going to take any kind of punches at the Republican Party, not going to take a swing at John McCain. So it may fall to her to be the first one to try to land a few punches.
Our Jessica Yellin has been talking with folks on the Clinton side of things here. And she joins us this morning, this afternoon in New York.
So what have you been learning about what she is going to say tonight? JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Clinton is going to deliver two important messages. The first is to her supporters to say it is imperative that you come on board with the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. And they feel they know -- they have a strong message, in their view, to her supporters that it's time to unify.
The second piece of that is I do expect her to draw, as they call it this campaign season, sharp contrast with John McCain on the economy.
ROBERTS: Or compare/contrast as they called it in previous campaigns.
YELLIN: Yes, correct. So not negative, just contrasting. And I would expect her to be quite firm on that.
The issue tonight is the economy, and so she will hit home on that and draw sharp distinctions between where the Democratic Party and the Republican Party stands, and make that the case for party unity. Clinton has already started down this road. And I just wanted to play a sound bite of what she's told her supporters already about why she wants them on board.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Now, I understand that the McCain campaign is running ads trying to divide us. And let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads. I'm Hillary Clinton, and I do not approve that message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: So a little bit of a sense of humor there, too.
There will also be a film introducing her. It's as Soledad said, women's night. And so they'll have three generations of Clinton women, Rodham women, talking about women's role in politics and Hillary.
ROBERTS: Right. So she told the New York delegation, I want to release you, I want you to vote for Barack Obama. What's the sense that the delegates, not just in New York, but the other states who voted for her -- she got 18 million votes across this country -- will do what she asks?
YELLIN: You know, we have been wandering around the convention hall talking to people, and it's really divided. There are still quite a few people, you know, not wackos, not these, you know, crazy, ardent people who won't listen to anything, just people who feel that it's important to vote for Hillary Clinton because it's history. And they say that they are still going to vote for her because they want a woman's name entered into the record.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll see how it goes because there's going to be a very complicated process when it comes to calling the roll tomorrow night.
YELLIN: Right.
ROBERTS: So we'll see how many vote for her.
Jessica Yellin, thanks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, John. Thank you.
Let's begin with our panel of top political analysts now.
CNN political contributor Amy Holmes is right in the middle there. She's an Independent conservative.
CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen is to her right. He served as an adviser to four presidents, Republican and Democrat.
And the chairman and publisher of "The New York Daily News" is Mort Zuckerman, and he's with us, as well. He's also the editor-in- chief of "US News and World Report."
Nice to see all of you. Let's get right to it.
Critics say they should have, could have, but didn't come out swinging last night.
David, why don't you start? Do you think that was a mistake? Because others say it wasn't the right moment yet.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I thought it was a very soft, emotionally appealing beginning to a convention. But it was at odds with what normally happens at a convention.
I think a lot of viewers in the midst of hard times for Americans, two unpopular wars, and real challenges for the next president, would have expected more substance on the first night. But as it were, the two highlights, Teddy Kennedy and Michelle Obama, I thought were terrifically powerful and very appealing, especially Michelle Obama. But, you know, it's time now to get on substance too.
O'BRIEN: So is that going to be a problem? Because you heard just a moment ago from John Roberts that Mark Warner's people are clearly floating early on. He's not going to attack anybody. Is that going to be a problem?
MORT ZUCKERMAN, "US NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Well, you know, I think the American public, frankly, is a little bit sick and tired of the kind of attack politics that has been so characteristic of the partisanship in Washington. So on one level, I think it appeals to them that there is a sense of, look, here's who we are, you have to trust the people who are coming into office, and we want you to get some better idea of who we are.
I agree with David. I didn't have a problem with the fact that it wasn't attack politics. That, I think, was actually a good move. But there was not much substance to it. That's another thing. And I think they're going to have to fill in the blanks, and I think this is one of the problems with the way Obama campaigns. You get a sense that there's sort of a lot of general good feelings and philosophy about the way he approaches things, but there has to be a lot more specificity to the program for it to bite.
O'BRIEN: Like what? Give me -- throw out some for instances. Like, what do you need specificity on?
AMY HOLMES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he needs specificity on how he's going to help the middle class out of this economic anxiety that we're all feeling -- the prices at the gas pump, you're looking at college tuition and the inflation there. You know, there's a whole list of things where Barack Obama needs to start talking very specifically to working class people.
We got a taste of that sort of in terms of sensibility last night with Michelle Obama, which he talked about her working class roots, his working class roots, the American people who get up every day, and this is America that she's proud. But, you know, I would disagree a little bit.
I think they have time to ease into it. Howard Wolfson said this weekend that they do not intend to make the mistake that they made in 2004 by not going tough, by not attacking the other party. That you can expect a lot of red meat at this convention.
O'BRIEN: It just hasn't happened yet.
GERGEN: Yes, but let me come back to the distinction Mort made, which I think is exactly right. And that is, I don't think people were looking for a lot of attacks last night either. But if you start a convention early in the evening, there has to be something compelling about it for television. And it was time when the country's facing difficult challenges, it was time to begin discussing and talking about who we are as people and where we're going.
As to the specifics, I think the last thing Obama needs to do is come out with a 12-point plan on Thursday night. And there was a fascinating piece in "The New York Times" Sunday magazine section this last Sunday about Obamanomics, and it was a long, long analysis. And what you saw was how complex his thinking is, how complex his program is, and what trouble he's finding simplifying complexity, getting beyond complexity in order to tell a story about the road ahead.
What's the road ahead for the American economy? How are the American people going to tackle that? All these big deficits, all these big challenges with health care reform and energy and all the rest. He's -- you know, one of the -- part of Reagan's magic was he was able to turn complexity into simplicity.
O'BRIEN: Communicating.
GERGEN: And communicated it. And I think that's...
HOLMES: But wouldn't you say, David, we did get a preview of that a bit with Joe Biden when he was talking about the Democratic Party, its connection to the middle class voter, and our values as a party?
GERGEN: I think Joe Biden's speech on Saturday was one the best the Democrats have had in the last few weeks about what it is they stand for. I thought it was a very well done speech. It had some attack in it, to be sure.
But I think people are looking for -- Mort has written about this extensively -- people need to have some sense that the Democrats, Obama in particular, grasp the seriousness of what we're facing and also have a sensible, well thought out plan that we can all understand.
O'BRIEN: Hope is not enough to be marketing yourself on.
So let me...
ZUCKERMAN: And he's saying hope is a good breakfast, but a poor supper. If he's got to go beyond that. But if he gets too complicated, you'll lose your audience.
At some point, as you know, when you're talking about communicating on television with a lot of folks that are watching it, you've got to have a enough of a ribbon to your language to give them a sense of what you're talking about. But if you get into too much detail, you'll lose them all the time.
O'BRIEN: You lose everybody.
Let me take the last moment before we run out of time to talk about Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech tonight, because she's got to do a lot of things.
It's got to be emotional because she's got to reach out to those 18 million people who supported her. She's got to hand them off to Barack Obama and do that successfully, that everybody's believing what she's saying. And she's also, you know, up there really doing the handoff to a guy she ran against, and has been, even with all of the denials, some very bitter feelings, you know? I mean, you can read between the lines clearly.
What does she do? Can she do it?
David, why don't you start?
GERGEN: Listen, I think it's very easy to spell out a formula for what she needs to do tonight in being gracious and supporting Barack Obama and calling for unity. The challenge for her is, can she get above the formula? Can she get to something that's really rousing, that's authentic, that moves people, and also begins to frame the argument of this convention?
It's clear coming into the convention the Democrats have to move beyond making this a referendum on Barack Obama. They have to make it a referendum on Republican rule. And the question is, do you want to go down the road we've been on with the Republicans -- we're in a ditch now -- or do you want to go down a new road that's much more promising?
She has to start framing that argument.
HOLMES: And I can tell you a small behind-the-scenes story, that a big fundraiser of hers in California, he had considered switching his support to John McCain, who he's known for many years, and Hillary Clinton called him up and said, you can't do that, for the good of the party you need to throw your support behind Barack Obama. So if she can then translate that publicly in terms of what she's doing for the party, that will certainly help.
O'BRIEN: But they're saying that in a way that everybody believes that you're saying it.
We're out of time, guys. Thank you so much. We could go on for, well, hours and hours, which we're going to do here on CNN, actually, well into the night and into tomorrow too.
Straight ahead, we're going to continue to talk about the Clintons. They're going to dominate the convention for two straight days. So, will what they say and do heal the party's wounds? We're going to check in with the Senator Clinton's former campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, as we continue our live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, a look outside the CNN Grill on this Tuesday morning here in Denver. It's 15 minutes past 10:00 Mountain Time. Just a little bit after noon on the East Coast.
And we're joined by three members of the best political team on television -- Candy Crowley, Bill Schneider, and Dana Bash -- to talk a little bit about what happened last night and where we go from here.
So, Michelle Obama's speech last evening, David Gergen said he thought that it saved the night. Right? Wrong?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think these conventions have a rhythm all their own. They very clearly, you know, seated Michigan, they seated Florida, they did all of that sort of housework that they had to do.
I actually thought Teddy Kennedy did a pretty darn good job of revving the place up. I don't know that I totally agree with the idea that they should have all gone out and said bad things about John McCain, and I can tell you the people inside the convention were quite pleased with the night.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Ted Kennedy, I mean, don't discount that. That was a very important moment because he was signifying the transition from the Clintons to the Obamas.
I mean, he endorsed Barack Obama. Caroline Kennedy, they're Democratic Party royalty.
I think what David was talking about and what you did hear occasionally was, why didn't they talk about McCain? Why didn't they talk about George Bush?
They will. I think Hillary will tonight. You'll hear plenty.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And of course, the last thing on earth someone like Michelle Obama was going to do was offer red meat. I mean, that is the opposite of the entire goal that she had. But I think, obviously...
ROBERTS: Yes, that's not her mission, is it?
BASH: Yes, that's not her mission at all. And I think that what we're hearing is some of the sort of overriding feeling that we're seeing throughout this convention.
I know that you guys have talked about it a lot. The jitters. I mean, this is a result of the Democratic jitters. Why on earth are they where they are right now given the state of the country, given the state of the George Bush presidency?
ROBERTS: Right.
So a lot of this, what Michelle Obama had to do last night, was to say who she and who Barack and their family were. Illuminate their values, who they are, explain themselves to America, get to know them.
Did she do that last night?
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Yes, she did. And she made the point, these are the values I've lived my life by, this is what my family life was about.
And it was a perfectly ordinary middle class American life, but aspiring, wanting to get ahead, using the educational system. And then she said importantly, "And these are the same values that Barack and I share," because he's an unusual figure. His background is unfamiliar to most Americans. She wanted American voters to feel comfortable with her family.
ROBERTS: Hold that thought if you could, because we just want to go back to Soledad in New York, who's got Terry McAuliffe on the line.
Hey, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, we sure do. Thanks, John.
Senator Hillary Clinton, as we've been talking about all day, is going to be delivering that main speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight. So her challenge is to convince her ardent supporters to back Senator Obama.
So let's get right to Senator Clinton's former campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe. He's also the former chairman of the DNC. Nice to see you, Terry. Thanks for talking with us.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, FMR. CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Great to be back with you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
There are some reports that some high-level Clinton folks will depart the convention after Hillary gives her speech tonight. Is that accurate? Is that true?
MCAULIFFE: Well, I hope most people will also stay to hear Bill Clinton tomorrow night. And I think for most of the folks, we have all of our major supporters out here. I think most of them will be here through Thursday night.
You know, we're all out here to support Senator Obama. I think after Hillary gives her speech tonight, she's going to thank her supporters, and then most importantly, she's going to tell her supporters, we all have to come together and support Barack Obama, and here are the reasons why, talk about the importance of this election.
And she is going to fire them up and she's going to draw some distinctions, too. And she's going to talk about what John McCain will mean for this country and how we can't allow him to be president.
So, you know, she's going to give, I believe, one of the speeches of her life tonight. She did it several months ago, but she knows what she has to do tonight.
She's going to do it, President Clinton will come on tomorrow night and add to it. And then, of course, Thursday night, when Senator Obama gives his speech, at the end of this process, we will all be there moving forward to November 4th to elect Barack Obama.
O'BRIEN: So you're going to be there for the speech? Because you're one of the people named as getting...
(CROSSTALK)
MCAULIFFE: You bet. Yes.
O'BRIEN: For the long haul, as they say.
I can tell you're losing your voice a little bit, which means to me that everybody's been working, working, working like crazy.
MCAULIFFE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Including Hillary Clinton, I imagine. With all of the things that you just listed that she's got to work into her speech...
MCAULIFFE: That's right.
O'BRIEN: ... it's a lot. It's a lot.
MCAULIFFE: It is.
O'BRIEN: David Gergen says she's going to have to find a way to get out of the formula and sort of be extraordinary. Can she do it?
MCAULIFFE: Of course she can do it. She's an extraordinary woman.
Eighteen million votes. Look what she accomplished on the campaign trail. She understands how important this speech is tonight. You know, obviously to get the supporters over, but more importantly, this is a very important benchmark for this election.
Senator Obama in the campaign, Senator Biden, we need those supporters of Hillary's to come together because they were so important in the big states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, all over the country where Hillary won these states, to bring her supporters in. But Hillary will say, you know, this election wasn't about Hillary Clinton. It was about the things that she has fought for 35 years on universal health care, on dealing with the education issues, dealing with getting our troops out of Iraq.
That's what this was all about and that's what her fight was for. And very similar to the primaries, she and Senator Obama had very similar positions on a lot of issues. We need to come together, because it's going to be a hard -- Soledad, I have no illusions. This is going to be a long, hard, tough fall campaign.
You've seen the Republicans, normally they are silent during our convention. They have been out every single day.
That's all right, but it signals what they plan on doing to us. And we needed to use tonight, tomorrow night, and the next night, bring this party together, reach out to Independents, reach out to Republicans and say, we've got to change to the course of this country. Barack Obama can do it, but we can't do it unless we're all unified.
O'BRIEN: Have you seen the speech? I mean, is it -- how does it work? Does she continue as we speak scribbling notes in the speech and doing iterations and version 15.3?
MCAULIFFE: If you know Hillary Clinton, you got that right on. I mean, I tell the one story, Soledad, I let her look at the (INAUDIBLE), and the president looked at them, loved it, didn't have a mark on it.
It came back from Hillary, punctuation marks, commas, semicolons added. That's just Hillary Clinton. You know, she's a perfectionist, and until she is 100 percent satisfied. But you know, that's what I love about Hillary. When she does it, she does it 100 percent.
O'BRIEN: Well, everybody is watching to see that 100 percent tonight.
Terry McAuliffe, nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.
MCAULIFFE: You bet. Thanks, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: I know you're really busy, so we appreciate the time.
MCAULIFFE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And we want to get right back to reaction from the best political team on TV. John Roberts has got them all at the CNN Grill in Denver.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Soledad, thanks very much.
We're here with Candy, Bill, and Dana. Perhaps a little bit of a Freudian slip on Terry's part saying it's one of the big speeches of her "lives." Certainly during the primary campaign she proved she had a number of them.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
ROBERTS: Down and out in Iowa, came back. Down and out in South Carolina, came back. Down and out in Wisconsin, came back.
But what -- it sounds like, according to Terry, she's going to say all of the right things tonight.
BASH: I don't think she has a choice. You know why? Because she has more lives to go. You know?
I mean, she realizes that this is not it for her. And she doesn't want it to be it for her, regardless of what happens at the end of this election. If she wants to continue to be a player that is respected and admired in the party, she's got to say the right things and do the right things.
But, you know, don't expect her to say things like "Barack Obama will be a great commander in chief" or "Barack Obama has a great health care plan." She can't do that with a straight face. She is, as you just heard Terry say, we are told, going to be a lot more pointed about why John McCain is the wrong choice.
ROBERTS: And Candy, even though this will be her final speech here at the convention, her final appearance, we think, at least, it's still not the end of the Clintons because Bill Clinton is on tomorrow night.
CROWLEY: He is. And that's -- you know, honestly, because she is so disciplined, I mean, she will get up there, she will talk about what her supporters mean to her, she will talk about why it's so important to back Barack Obama and the issues, and she will hit John McCain.
We don't really actually know what he's going to do. And that's what makes him so much fun. I mean, he still -- I mean, they've tried to hard to keep him out of the limelight here in town. They've done very well at that. But, you know, it's his time. And it's one of those things that you kind of as a reporter love about the Clintons.
SCHNEIDER: And there's one thing -- there's one way to unify this party and there's one thing the Clintons believe, which is that they have to stop the Republican right from keeping control of the country. That's what they've devoted their lives to.
The last 20 years have been a permanent political war between the Bushes and the Clintons. That's coming to an end, because the Bushes are seating power in the Republican Party and the Clintons are seating power in the Democratic Party. But the one thing they want and that all these delegates can agree on is, we have to stop the Republican right. That will unify the party.
ROBERTS: Well, we won't hear from her, but at least we'll get an early look at Hillary Clinton. She's expected to do a walk through of the podium this afternoon sometime, most likely before they gavel the convention open. So we'll have a look at her and see how she looks in terms of body language.
Thanks all.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
BASH: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, John. Thanks.
The Democrats don't have Denver all to themselves this week. Some big-name Republicans are there too. And one of them just stopped in at the CNN Grill to talk to John. We're going to go back to him and hear that interview in just a little bit.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
John McCain has it kind of easy today. In the next hour he's going to speak to an audience that is certain to be friendly, the American Legion Convention. And they are conveniently meeting in McCain's home state of Arizona. That's easy for him.
Ed Henry joins us from Phoenix this morning -- this afternoon, rather. It's been a long day.
Hey, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good afternoon, Soledad. As you mentioned, John McCain will speak here.
Tomorrow night in Denver, it will sort of be national security tonight. You can hear the crowd behind me here, obviously. But tomorrow night it will be national security night. Joe Biden, the new running mate, front and center.
Democrats trying to talk about veterans' issues and foreign policy. John McCain trying to get ahead of that today, maybe once again questioning Barack Obama's qualifications to be commander in chief. And he's also doing the same with a new ad, yet again using the words of Hillary Clinton to question Barack Obama's experience.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: It's 3:00 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?
NARRATOR: Rogue nations, radicalism.
CLINTON: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.
NARRATOR: Hillary's right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, you can hear Senator McCain on the attack there. But last night, he also made time to sit down with Jay Leno and appear on "The Tonight Show."
He joked about his age, a self-deprecating way to get at the fact that John McCain will turn 72 this Friday. McCain at one point joking he's so old, his Social Security number is 8. Obviously a joke.
But it's interesting, because it shows John McCain is feeling a little bit loose, feeling good right now, whereas it sounds like Democrats a little bit anxious right now where this race is -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Although, you know, someone earlier today, I think it was Hilary Rosen, said, well, wait until he names his VP pick. Because if he keeps running ads like that, all of these folks have said nasty things about each other, and you can easily turn around an ad and play the same game right back. So maybe that will change his loose tone down the road, or maybe not.
Ed Henry for us today.
Thanks, Ed. Appreciate it.
A big Republican presence in Denver today, including one of the party's most prominent and most guessed about as a VP pick members. That would be Mitt Romney.
Let's get right back to John Roberts. He's at the CNN Grill.
ROBERTS: All right, Soledad. Thanks very much.
And we're joined this morning by a rare breed around these parts, and that's a Republican member of Congress, Eric Cantor from Virginia.
It's good to see you.
Not only are you here as a surrogate for John McCain, to talk about the Republican side of things, but you're also said to be on the short list potentially as his running mate.
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), VIRGINIA: Well, you know, John, we're here in Denver really as a part of the McCain truth squad. And that's the role we're assuming today. And really to try and cut through a lot of the celebrity and a lot of the extravaganza that is what this place is about this week, and to begin focus in on the facts and the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: So you had a chance to look pretty closely at what happened last night. What did you think of the first night, particularly Senator Kennedy and his very emotional appearance last night on the stage, and Michelle Obama's speech?
CANTOR: Well, you know, I think as any political party convention would have it, there's a lot of drama and a lot of emotion that comes out at these things. And I'm sure we'll do the same in St. Paul.
But at the end of the day, I think that the mission last night was to sort of -- for the country to begin to see Barack Obama as someone that they could relate to, because I think obviously most of America's having a little bit of difficulty now in connecting to who Barack Obama is. And a lot of difficulty in the past months in identifying with Michelle Obama, because, you know, all the things that she had said during the primaries didn't really sit well. So I think last night was her chance...
ROBERTS: Well, it wasn't all the things she said. On occasion there were a couple of comments that perhaps raised a couple of questions.
Did she address those last night? And I think you're talking about the patriotism (INAUDIBLE).
CANTOR: Right. And I think so. And I think it is, you know . . .
ROBERTS: So is that off the table then?
CANTOR: America's opinion of their country. And I think we'll have to see because, at the end of the day, I think voters, you know, as long as they see that people are being straightforward with them, they'll give people the benefit of the doubt, give politicians the benefit of the doubt. And I think we can get into a discussion of the issues. And that's what we needed to do.
ROBERTS: So James Carville was quite intense last night that Democrats didn't take the opportunity to more aggressively to compare and contrast themselves with Republicans. Was that a missed opportunity? I mean, at the Republican Convention beginning next month, will Republicans waste any time doing the same with Democrats?
CANTOR: Well, you know, I don't -- John, I think right now the mood of the country is, they're sick and tired of Washington and they want a federal government that works for the people again. And there's a lot of problems out there. And, frankly, John McCain's got a lot of solutions on the table. So I don't think that we'll need to go in and bash anyone. I think all we'll need to do is talk about the record. John McCain's record versus Barack Obama's. No comparison.
ROBERTS: Got to ask you about this before you go. As I said, you're apparently being vetted as a potential running mate. You're from Virginia. You're Jewish. What could you bring to the table for John McCain?
CANTOR: You know, look, John, it's really not about me. We are here about John McCain and making sure that we can make a case. And, frankly, I'm going to do everything I can to win Virginia. You know, our governor was often spoken about up until the last couple of days as a potential running mate for Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: And it looks like it's going to be a tough race.
CANTOR: And, you know, listen, Virginia will be competitive. At the end of the day, John McCain wins Virginia. Virginia is a center right state. We are heavily supportive of our military. John McCain is a war hero. John McCain's somebody who's been a national leader.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, there's some people who would bet against that calculation. So we'll see.
Eric Cantor, thanks for being with us. Good to see you.
CANTOR: John, good to be with you.
ROBERTS: All right. Let's send it back over to Soledad in New York.
Hey, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, John, thank you.
The delegates in Denver have to sit through about 40 speeches today. You at home will have it much easier, especially if you stick around CNN. I'm going to highlight some of the times and the important speakers that you really don't want to miss. That's right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: I'm Soledad O'Brien in the CNN ELECTION CENTER in New York.
We are just about four hours away from the start, the official start, of day two of the Democratic National Convention. The official theme is called Renewing America's Promise.
Now during the 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour, the governors of Iowa and New York, as well as Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, will take the stage. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will be speaking at 6:00 p.m. So will Governor Ted Strickland of the all important swing state of Ohio.
The women of the U.S. Senate will come before the convention during the 7:00 p.m. hour. 8:00 p.m., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and the Arizona governor, Janet Napolitano, will be speaking. 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, will be followed by Senator Robert Casey. And his speech is very important because he opposes abortion rights.
So tonight's keynote speaker is the former Virginia governor, Mark Warner. We've been talking about him all day. He is running for the U.S. Senate. And then Hillary Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, is going to be talking at the 10:00 hour. She's got that hour all to herself. So lots to watch. Many speakers and lots to listen to today.
The economy, of course, is the number one issue in the election. One organization, which is called Green For All believes that we can solve our economic problems and curb global warming all at the same time. Van Jones is the president and the founder of Green For All and he joins us from the CNN Grill in Denver.
Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us. Certainly appreciate it.
VAN JONES, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, GREEN FOR ALL: Glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
Renewing America's Promise. That is the theme today. And I guess it's, in a lot of ways, a nod to the importance of economics and also the importance of solving this energy crisis that we've talked about for a long time but haven't done a whole heck of a lot to really solve. What issues do you hope that you hear over the next few days here at the convention?
JONES: Well, first of all, it's just exciting to be here at the convention. Last night was pretty unbelievable. Sort of like the Huxtables are running for the White House, you know. So that was sort of exciting to see.
But, you know, I think that, you know, you look at Barack Obama's program. Obviously, you know, we're a non-partisan organization, so I'm mainly speaking for myself. But, you know, there's three things in that program, I think, that have been overlooked that are really exciting.
Number one, he says he wants to give $1,000 back to every American family. Try to relieve some of this pain at the gas pump. That's a real solution. That's not some kind of happy meal slogan of, you know, drill here drill now. That's a real solution is to help people.
Second thing he says, he wants to weatherize 1 million U.S. homes. Now if you think about energy prices and low-income people, they're looking at this coming winter and they're terrified because energy prices are going to be so high. He wants to give 1 million American families a year relief on that. That's another real solution.
The other thing he's doing, which I think shows a lot of political courage, he says these oil companies, they want to drill up America's coastlines, you know, slick and slime up our coastlines, throw away the health and safety of our coastal families. He says, well, hold on a second . . .
O'BRIEN: They don't -- you know they don't quite put it that way. They don't say, and we want to throw away the health and safety. But so we get your spin here. Keep going.
JONES: Yes, but, you know, when you think about it, you know, look at Mexico. You've got parts of Mexico's coastlines, they're slick and slimy. Why? Because they're doing that off-coast drilling.
I think what's courageous about Barack Obama, he says, guess what, before you do that, we already have a lot of oil companies that have leases to drill that they're not using. He says, use those leases or lose them. I think that shows a lot of political courage. He's standing up to oil company profiteering, standing up for the people with real solutions on prices, real solutions for weatherization, and real solutions for drilling. I think there's a lot to be impressed about in his energy program.
O'BRIEN: All right. So I get it. You're an Obama supporter on this one and that's the message you're giving out. I know that your program focuses a lot on urban renewal by going green and really, maybe more accurately, by training green. What kind of success have you seen?
JONES: Yes. Well, I mean, the most important thing we can say is that, if we're going to beat global warming, if we're going to have a clean energy economy, we are going to have to weatherize millions and millions of buildings, we're going to have to put up millions of solar panels. That's thousands of contracts and millions of jobs. We can put people back to work. The most important work that we have to do is to weatherize and solarize America. Put us in the front of this clean energy revolution.
We have so many people who need work. If we can connect the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done, we can fight pollution and poverty at the same time. We're seeing it work now in the south Bronx, we're seeing it work in Chicago, we're seeing it work in Richmond, California, where we're now training low income people, putting the tools, the technology in their hands to go out and lead this clean energy revolution, fighting pollution and poverty at the same time.
O'BRIEN: Van Jones joining us. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Have fun. You, obviously, are enjoying yourself at this convention. Appreciate it.
JONES: Yes, it is a lot of fun. Glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: Well, thank you.
Still to come from the CNN ELECTION CENTER, some opinion polls say that only half of Hillary Clinton's supporters back Senator Obama. So will Senator Clinton unite the Democratic Party in her speech this evening? We're going to have the very latest as we continue our live coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, right here on CNN. Stay with us.
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TERRY MCAULIFFE, FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: And we need to use tonight, tomorrow night and the next night, bring this party together, reach out to independents, reach out to Republicans and say, we've got to change the course of this country. Barack Obama can do it but we can't do it unless we're all unified.
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ROBERTS: Terry McAuliffe there talking about the road ahead and the task ahead for Senator Hillary Clinton as she gives her address tonight at the Democratic National Convention.
We're back live at the CNN Grill.
We should tell you that we're also monitoring a Senator Barack Obama event at the American Airlines overhaul base in Kansas City, where apparently thousands of jobs are going to be cut. He's going to be talking issue number one.
But, first of all, let's check in with our political panel.
Hilary Rosen is with us, along with Dana Milbank and Roland Martin.
Let me pick -- this was a really interesting observation from Eugene Robinson today in "The Washington Post," suggesting that, you know, given the conditions of the economy, issue number one, pocketbook issues that everybody cares about, the Democrats should be walking away with this and they should be walking on air this week.
Instead, he says, "since I landed here Saturday night, though, I haven't heard a lot of Democrats crowing about the terrible whuppin' they're about to administer. I've heard predictions of victory, yes, but also a lot of questions."
Hilary, how much uncertainty is there here? Is there a lack of confidence here among Democrats that they can pull this off?
HILARY ROSEN, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, "HUFFINGTON POST": You know, it's a little bit of a chicken and an egg. You know, I watched that clip of Terry and I thought, oh, it's Hillary Clinton day, Terry's on TV. And so, in part, I think sometimes we do this to ourselves. We kind of take a story out of the hat and make it be the moment that matters, when it's not the moment that matters. The moment that matters is, you know, the contrast, the match-up between Barack Obama and John McCain and what it means for the country.
I think that Gene has a point, except for this one caveat. This is a very close election. There is no walking away with it in any state that I think we're going to win.
ROBERTS: But, Roland, should he be doing better? Should Democrats be doing better than they are right now?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No. Why are we sitting here playing around with this topic? You've got a black guy who's named Barack Obama running against John McCain. You want to talk about this whole notion of change. There's uncertainty around that. We have been dancing around this whole issue. It's like, well, they should be up 10, 12 points. There are so many things.
The Bradley effect. That's one of the issues that's out there. Also, it's a generational issue. If Obama wins, he'd be the first post civil rights movement baby to be president. More older voters will vote for anybody else. And so you have people saying, wait a minute, McCain's 72, Obama's 47, do we want to trust America with -- in the hands of that person? Bill Clinton went through the exact same thing in '92. George H.W. Bush, baby boomer, do we want to do this? We are denying the generational and the reality of race as well.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, on the Bill Clinton point. An interesting observation in today's Financial Times, which points out that since 1968, Democrats have won three presidential contests. Both of the successful candidates were white southern governors. Whenever they nominated a liberal from outside the south, they lost. You've got a liberal from outside the south.
DANA MILBANK, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, we have to establish, first of all, that the Democrats are the party of worrying and hand wringing. That has to go on, no matter what's going on at a convention. You have to be able to do this or you can't get your card to be in the party.
But it is true. I think that if you look at the ballot where the generic Republicans against Democrats. The Democrats are whooping them. And I think, in a sense, Obama set up an expect that he would change the entire map. I think anybody paying attention would realize this would be a close race. It's just against those expectations, I think there's a bit of a surprise.
MARTIN: But, here, John, in your question, though, here's what's critical. We've been playing this whole historically, well, you know, they've been governors. But also, when's the last time you had a senator elected -- McCain or Obama -- that they were . . .
ROBERTS: Yes, but it's going to happen this year. First time since 1960. MARTIN: So what we'll have to do is, we throw all these historical references out. The historical references are gone. You never had a 72-year-old white guy, never had a 47-year-old black guy.
ROBERTS: No, but we had a 69-year-old white guy.
MARTIN: Yes, but he was 69.
ROSEN: Yes, but, you know, the economy today . . .
MARTIN: It's just -- everything is just so different.
ROSEN: The economy today is also much more like it was in 1992. And it hadn't really been like that since. There's been some relative prosperity. And which has traditionally favored Republicans, even when it was Bill Clinton being reelected. So, you know, there are other things that might be better analogies for where we are today. That, you know, I think Roland's right, you could lay this match-up out any way you want. It could be, you know, generational, it could be economic, it could be partisan, it could be mountain states versus old industrial states. You know, that's what makes it so fun.
ROBERTS: Well, so maybe there's a new paradigm this time around and the old models don't fit.
MILBANK: Or we maybe need to truck out something else, you know, from 1896 or 1908.
MARTIN: Right, when I couldn't vote.
MILBANK: And, you know, just sort of -- I'm sure there's the right historical analogy out there.
ROBERTS: You know, 1968 is not exactly ancient history.
ROSEN: Yes, it's true. It's true.
ROBERTS: But, I mean, what do you think is behind this? Why are they so close? Do you buy what Roland Martin says? Or have suggested the country is so (INAUDIBLE) . . .
MILBANK: (INAUDIBLE) what you're hearing the grumbling among some of the Hillary supporters is, ah-ha, we knew this all along that she was the stronger candidate and he was the weaker one. The fact of the matter is, the reason it's so close is because there are, as the CNN poll showed, 27 percent of her supporters are now going with him. Now, if they return to the camp, this is not necessarily going to be as close of an election as it is right now.
ROSEN: But, you know, this has just got to get said. As a former Hillary Clinton supporter . . .
MARTIN: Say it, Hilary, say it.
ROSEN: We don't know how many Barack Obama supporters Hillary Clinton would be having right now. We just don't know. But this number just keeps hammering at us here.
ROBERTS: Although any polling we did suggested that more of his supporters would go to her than hers going to him.
ROSEN: Yes, but there would still be this pocket. You've still got these unregistered voters, younger voters. We have this no matter what.
ROBERTS: Quickly, Roland, because we're out of time.
MARTIN: Hilary's right. This is where I think Democrats need to man up, woman up and say, look, supreme court, economy, a war. Either you stick with your party or if the other guy wins shut up for the next four years. You know, because, if you're voting against your own interests, you're nuts.
ROBERTS: On that note, we've got to leave it. Roland, Dana, Hilary, thanks very much.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. Coming up, Senator Obama, well known for his love of basketball. Less well known, though, is the organization called Athletes for Obama. It sends NBA players to Obama fundraisers. The founder of Athletes for Obama is going to join us up next as we continue live coverage of the Democratic National Convention right here on CNN. Stay with us.
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O'BRIEN: One leading Obama supporter is trying to mobilize athletes to support the Obama campaign. Karen Russell is the founder of Athletes for Obama. She's also the daughter of NBA legend Bill Russell. She joins us from the CNN Grill in Denver.
Nice to see you. Thanks for being with us.
I should also mention that you're a blogger with the liberal "Huffington Post" and you're at large Senator Obama delegate as well.
Why did you decide to found Athletes for Obama? Who's on your board? What do you do?
KAREN RUSSELL, FOUNDER, ATHLETES FOR OBAMA: Well, early on in the campaign, you might recall, you know, the question was, is Senator Obama black enough? And through my family contacts, I thought I would just start recruiting athletes to sort of stand behind him and also make donations to the campaign. So I got my dad and there's Lennie Wilkins and Jim Brown and Dr. J and Matt (ph) Luke Walton from the Lakers. So, you know, many cities and many generations of athletes.
O'BRIEN: You said on your delegate web site, you said that you've been personally disappointed by many Hillary Clinton's African- American surrogates, like Bob Johnson is one you names, Andrew Young you named, and you named President Clinton, too, for trash talking Obama. That's sort of roughly a quote of what you said. What have you heard that you found personally problematic? And do you think, with all that, unity can actually be achieved, then?
RUSSELL: Well, I think early on that there were some. I think you can be a supporter and talk about the positive things of your candidate. I don't think it's necessary to sort of drag down the other candidate. And so, yes, I was taken aback by some of those comments.
But I'll tell you, my personal experience since the end of the primary has been pretty incredible in terms of Hillary supporters reaching out to us. I work with former Governor Gary Lock and he was a high profile Hillary supporter in my state and he picked up the phone and said, hey, what can I do and wrote a check. I work with Harold Icky's (ph) wife and she picked up the phone and said, hey, where can I write -- send a check? And so both within my personal network and also within the delegation, I feel like we have unity.
O'BRIEN: Well, that sounds good. Karen Russell, thank you for being with us. She's with Athletes For Obama. We certainly appreciate your time and your insight.
I want to go now to the candidate himself. Senator Obama is in Kansas City. He is at a town hall meeting. And let's take a look, if we can get that live shot up, guys.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But we're not going to stop there. We're not going to stop there. We're going to finally have an energy policy that's worthy of American innovation.
I saw some signs on the way in here. Some McCain people were standing outside. They said, "drill here, drill now." Listen, I don't know if there are any oil fields right out there, but I think we need to increase domestic production. There are untapped oil reserves here in the United States. We should tap them.
But here's the truth. Some of you have seen this ad from T. Boone Pickens. He and I don't agree on a lot of things, but we agree on one thing. If you've got 3 percent of the world's oil reserves and you use 25 percent of the world's oil, then you can't drill your way out of the problem.
So we want to do everything. But the main way that we are going to solve this energy crisis, and that is the main thing that is going to keep this airplane flying, and keep these jobs right here in the United States, is if we start developing a whole series of plans to create a clean energy future. It means that we are investing solar and wind and tapping nuclear energy and natural gas. It means that we're making our cars more fuel efficient. If we increased our fuel efficiency on cars, that's 30 percent of oil is used in the transportation sector.
We just made our trucking fleets more efficient. That could save enormous amounts. That drives down world oil prices and puts this airplane back in the air. And that's why I've consistently supported higher fuel efficiency standards on cars.
And tax credits for industries that are developing solar and wind and biodiesel. And that's why I've said that we are going to put $15 billion a year, every single year, in developing these new, alternative energies.
We're going to have an Apollo project. Just like Kennedy said, we're going to go to the moon in 10 years, we are going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil in 10 years' time so that we don't have to import oil from the Middle East. That is the kind of goal that America needs right now. That's what I'm going to do when I'm president of the United States of America.
I want to make sure that our trade agreements are fair. I believe in competition. I believe in -- that the U.S. worker is the best worker on earth. There's no country that can compete with us on an even playing field.
But I don't want a situation where we only send 4,000 cars into South Korea while they're sending hundreds of thousands of cars here into the United States of America. We want to make sure that there are no barriers to us being able to sell American products and American goods into the United States of America.
I want to have a health care system that works for all Americans. Look, if you've got health care through your employer, keep it. I'm going to work with your employer to lower your premium by $2,000 to $2,500 a year.
If you don't have health insurance, if you're one of those millions of people who have lost health insurance since George Bush went into office, you're going to be able to buy a health insurance plan similar to the plan I have as a member of Congress. And if you can't afford it, we're going to subsidize you. Because we want to make sure that everybody's getting regular check-ups and regular screenings. If we put more money into prevention, the whole system saves money, employers save money, workers save money, the American people are healthier, that's common sense that we need in the White House and that's what I'm going to do when I'm president of the United States.
I want to make our education system work for every child. Invest in early childhood education, pay our teachers more, make sure that college is affordable for every young person who wants to go by giving them -- saying to them, if you provide community service or national service, we will guarantee that you can go to college, that you can afford it. We will provide the money that you need. Because we want the next generation of engineers that are building jet planes, we want them to be building them here. And that means our kids are going to have to learn math and science.
And I want to make sure that we're reinvesting in our infrastructure here in America. Our roads, our bridges, broadband lines, a new electricity grid, sewer systems, levees. Look, with all the people that have been laid off from construction industries, imagine if we put people back to work right now, making America stronger, making America better. And if people tell you, if people tell you that we can't afford it, if people -- O'BRIEN: That's Senator Barack Obama at a town-hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. He's at the American Airlines overhaul base. And that base, the workers you see behind him in that shot, well, they've all been told that they're most likely going to lose their jobs. Hundreds of workers are going to lose their jobs because some of their work is moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. So clearly, they're sort of a tough time for them.
And people there, no question listening to proposals that would actually affect the U.S. economy and maybe even help them save their jobs if that's at all possible -- John.
