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Campbell Brown
Democratic National Convention: Day 2
Aired August 26, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the interesting things that's going to come up and I think it's going to be sort of dramatic a whole bunch of women U.S. senators, they are going to be speaking relatively quickly one after another, starting with Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and we're going to listen to what they have to say because tonight is a special night that these Democrats are trying to reassure women voters that they need to vote Democratic.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is absolutely the strategy of the Obama campaign is we're there for you. We heard the message of these different franchise still pretty angry. Hillary Clinton supporters and as much as we've heard from I think a lot of people here that certainly the Clinton people and the Obama people and some of our Clinton supporters who have been doing analysis is there aren't that many disgruntled voters. And just in the short time that I have been here, you definitely sense it. There is disunity here that has to be resolved and that certainly what their aim is tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's overblown. It's overblown. I spoke to the women caucus...
BLITZER: What's overblown?
BRAZILE: This notion that somehow or another this is a dis- unified convention. It is not. I spoke at the Democratic Women's Caucus today and over 1,200 women were there and they are together. Yes, many of them came to the table to support Hillary Clinton but they are resolved to back Obama because they know Obama will support the same issues that Hillary Clinton supported.
I mean I have been to Democratic conventions since 1984 and I have seen a lot of tension on the floor. There is not a lot of tension out there because I just finished walking around and they are prepared tonight to hold Hillary Clinton signs as well as Obama signs tonight.
BLITZER: Explain to us this latest, what Jessica was reporting, these petitions that are going back -- you signed one of those petitions. We saw you yesterday. What is the latest tomorrow replacing Hillary Clinton's name formally and nomination, allowing a big roll call to go through? What are you hearing, Donna? What's going to happen?
BRAZILE: Well traditionally the roll call is called some time after the final speeches and the secretary, Alice Drayman (ph) will start the roll and the question is do we -- at some point do we cut it off and put Obama's name in by acclamation, as Gloria even mentioned a couple of nights ago, or do we allow all the states and territories to cast their ballots. Look, it's a technicality, but they'll work it out and the two teams are back there in the boiler room as we speak making sure that we have a smooth process tomorrow night.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a real problem if Barack Obama can't get all the people in this room together because these are hard and fast true Democrats and I believe that in the end he will, but a lot of those Independent voters, a lot of those undecided voters they're looking at are women.
BLITZER: All right, hold on for a second. I just want to let our viewers know what is going on. We are here on the floor of the Democratic National Convention. We're the only cable news organization anchoring from the floor of the convention. You're going to see and hopefully you're going to feel the excitement what we're seeing and feeling right here.
We're going to do the best to show you all the images and get to you the most important speeches that will unfold over course of the next seven hours. Campbell Brown is here with me. She's going to be with us the rest of the week. You're going to be with us next week in Minnesota as well for the Republican Convention.
We of course have Gloria and Donna and John King. He is going to be walking over to that magic map periodically, you know our viewers, John, they love that map and for good reason because they get good, useful information as a result from that map. We also have some of the best analysts who are standing by at the CNN Election Center joining us throughout the night.
Our own Jeff Toobin will be there and Alex Castellanos, David Gergen, Carl Bernstein. You see them all there. They're getting ready to weight in on what's going on. On the floor we have our reporter Candy Crowley. She is on the podium and she is going to be speaking with some of the very speakers up there.
We'll get all the latest information on what's happening. Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin, they're down on the floor. They'll be going to the various delegations and speaking with delegates. We want to hear what they have on their minds as well. Also here in Denver is Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist and Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist, so all of us are going to be trying to bring you some of the sense of what's going on and throughout this night it's not just going to be speeches.
We're going to show you some of the flavor including the rock band that's terrific here. Campbell, I don't know if you have been listening to this band. I love this band and they are partying. They're dancing. And maybe throughout the night, Donna, you're going to get up there and dance a little bit throughout the night too, right?
BRAZILE: Will you dance with me tonight, Wolf? BLITZER: I will. And our viewers will see that. They saw you with Paul Begala dance...
BRAZILE: Thank you.
BLITZER: And you're going to -- they are going to see the two of us dance tonight. That's a promise. Campbell, what do you think?
BROWN: Not to be missed. Absolutely not to be missed.
BLITZER: Campbell, what about you? Are you going to be dancing with us?
BROWN: That's why I flew out here.
BLITZER: All right. Good. We are going to all be partying. We're going to have a few laughs. But of course the most important speech tonight will be the speech that Hillary Clinton will be delivering. And Candy Crowley, let's go to you, up on the podium. You've been doing some reporting. Give us a sense of what we know that she is going to say.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A couple of aims here for Hillary Clinton's speech tonight. The first is that she does want to recognize those delegates who came here to support her. In fact, the people on the other side of the television screen who supported her and to sort of mark the moment. They have always said all along in the Clinton campaign that she felt this was an historic time. That her bid was an historic bid and that she owed it to those who voted for her to in fact mark a period.
Put a period on this particular chapter in history. But beyond that, the big key here is unity. How does Hillary Clinton bring the party together? Those delegates that are saying I don't care what she says, I am not going to vote for Barack Obama. So that is for not just these delegates, but for the people again on the other side of the television who are listening tonight.
So I am told that her message will be you supported me because I believe in this. Well Barack Obama believes in this too. You need to support him. To point out the choice, it was no longer Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama. It was Barack Obama versus John McCain and she wants to lay out that choice in ways in which she will give some of the red meat that James Carville was craving last night, you will see in this Hillary Clinton speech tonight.
But you will also see some of the soaring sort of rhetoric for wanting party unity, so lots of things that she is going after tonight. But the overarching theme here is unity and this will be viewed not just for the future of Barack Obama this fall, but for the future of Hillary Clinton in the years ahead.
BLITZER: I know you've been speaking with delegates, Candy. What is their sense about day one? How do they think it went here in Denver? CROWLEY: They liked it. I mean listen, before we came up here, Michelle Obama was a huge hit in this hall, but I'm not sure we should expect anything less. You know they thought she was wonderful. There were a lot of people here the were very moved by the history of the possibility of the first African-American woman to be first lady, so they -- she was clearly the highlight.
There were others that I talked to that really still had Teddy Kennedy on their minds, saying they thought it was a beautiful tribute to him. That they did notice as well what we noticed last night, which was that Teddy Kennedy didn't talk about the past, didn't talk about his own future, but talked about the country's future, so they were touched by that, so they saw the two highlights. They went away very happy and they are looking forward to tonight.
BLITZER: I think that's a fair point. Candy, stand by. We are going to getting back to you. Campbell, there is no doubt that last night, the real two highlights were the tribute to Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama's speech, followed by that cute little moment when her husband joined them via satellite from Kansas City, Missouri and those sweet little girls...
BROWN: Stole the show.
BLITZER: They really did steal the show and people can relate to that. Voters out there they see that and they understand it and it has an impact.
BROWN: And that's what you've heard from I think the outside. Was that one of the things they needed to accomplish was redefining, reintroducing Barack Obama, trying to address some of the attacks that have come from Republicans, especially against Michelle Obama and I think there was -- I heard Nicolle Wallace from the McCain company say she did that beautifully.
BLITZER: Right.
BROWN: You know as well as Democrats, applauding what she did last night and I think you know the red meat message that we may hear more tonight, what was less prevalent last night and I think that was the intent is they really wanted you to take one thing away from that evening, which was her performance and her message about what this family stands for.
BLITZER: All right, stand by for a minute. Suzanne Malveaux is down on the floor right now with a special guest who has played a significant role all during these many months of this contest. Suzanne, tell our viewers who you have there.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He is billionaire businessman Bob Johnson, the founder of BET. He's an ardent Clinton supporter and really a very close friend, a personal friend of the Clintons. I know during the primary season you were critical at times of Barack Obama, caused a dust-up, there was an apology, but since you've moved on. Give us a sense here, what is this night like for Hillary Clinton? You talked to her. You know her feelings about this. What is she going through? What is she thinking?
ROBERT JOHNSON, FOUNDER, BET: Well, Suzanne, I think Hillary is saying I'm still campaigning. But this time I'm campaigning for Barack Obama and the message that she's going to give is that the 18 million plus voters, now it's our turn to campaign just as ardently as we campaigned for Hillary, to campaign for Barack Obama.
I think she is going to make the case that all the issues that she fought for in the primary and all the issues that the 18 million voters supported her on in the primary are critical to this nation and the only way we get those issues implemented and make this country better is to have the kind of leadership that Barack Obama brings to this country in November, so she's going to ask her supporters to vote for the issues they fought for, vote for Barack Obama.
And more importantly I think she's going to ask them to vote for them because that is what she believes. And if they believe she is concerned about those issues, to support her and making sure that Barack Obama is the president of the United States in November.
MALVEAUX: Now you and I were talking about really trying to win over her strong supporters, you being one of them. Have you actually gotten to that point where you are on board here or are you more about working for the party instead of the man?
JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm very much on board with Barack Obama. I have raised over $2,000 for Barack Obama, it's essentially without being asked directly by the campaign. I have met with Penny Prigster (ph) to talk about ways that I can continue to be supportive. And so I am as I said before, as Hillary said before, once the primary is over, our job is to elect Barack Obama president. We'll do whatever the party ask and beyond and that's what I'm doing and that's certainly what Hillary is going to do tonight.
MALVEAUX: All right, Bob Johnson, thank you so much. Back to Wolf and Campbell.
BLITZER: Thanks very much. And say hi to Bob Johnson from all of us here as well.
Let's talk a little bit about this special day and I want all of our analysts and our reporters sort of to weigh in. Because we are going to -- about to hear from the women of the U.S. Senate. And today is a very special day because it's the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage, the right for women to vote by via the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
Campbell, we are going to be hearing a lot about this as this night goes forward. Hillary Clinton certainly is going to be speaking about it. Hard to believe there was a time that women couldn't vote, but it's been 88 years since the Constitution said you, Campbell Brown, you can vote.
BROWN: It's true. And you -- it makes you think -- it makes me think a little about -- and Donna Brazile, you probably have some thoughts on this -- a generational difference and that we are seeing and many of these Hillary Clinton supporters, these older women who fought so hard to you know create situations for people of my generation and to allow us to get where we are today, wanted so badly to see her you know break through that glass ceiling and become the first woman president.
BRAZILE: Campbell, you're absolutely right. They're determined in our lifetime that we will elect a woman president. Eighty-eight years of progress, 16 female United States senators. I think back to that moment when Barbara Mikulski became the first woman elected in her own right without succeeding her husband in 1986. She is now the dean of the women's delegation. She will be the lead-off speaker tonight.
It will culminate with Hillary Clinton. This will be a very emotional moment for the women here of course. One woman will be missing tonight, that's because a few weeks ago she suffered a little injury, Dianne Feinstein and so this will be a very good moment...
BLITZER: All right, let's listen to Barbara Mikulski, the senator from Maryland.
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: We the Democratic women of the Senate are a force, a force for women. A force for families and a force for change. We're proud to introduce to you our checklist for change. You know how we women are. We make out to-do lists. We check off our accomplishments. We get things done and that is exactly what we Democrats are going to do when we take back the White House. Let's start with equal pay for equal work.
(APPLAUSE)
MIKULSKI: It's an absolute scandal that America's women continue to earn just 77 cents for every dollar men earn. Tonight you're going to hear from Millie Ledbetter (ph), who after years of dedicated service found out she had been paid less every day of her career. The Supreme Court said there wasn't anything they could do.
But there is something we can do about it. We can change the federal law book. We can put change in women's checkbooks. This November, we can't afford more of the same. Let's elect Barack Obama and finally get equal pay for equal work. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Hi, everybody. I'm Barbara Boxer.
(APPLAUSE)
BOXER: Thank you so much.
(APPLAUSE)
BOXER: Thank you. And thanks -- so nice, thank you. And thanks to the great people of California who have elected me three times to the United States Senate. I now chair the Environment and Public Works Committee. When I took the gavel from the former chairman, I told him this. I said elections have consequences. And when we win in November we will prove it.
Instead of protecting polluters, we will protect our families. Instead of ignoring the experts, we will fight global warming. Instead of facing Republican roadblocks, we'll have a Democratic majority large enough to ensure healthy communities. And I want to you remember this. When it comes to the United States Senate 60 is the new 50.
(APPLAUSE)
BOXER: Now, now when it comes to high gas prices, instead of a president with an Exxon policy, we'll have a president with an energy policy. So this November, we can't afford more of the same. So let's elect Barack Obama so that the world's economic and environmental leader will clearly be our nation, the United States of America. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, California!
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, Wolf, this parade of women senators. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana coming up next.
SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: I'm Mary Landrieu from the great state of Louisiana.
(APPLAUSE)
LANDRIEU: It has been three long years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the failure of the federal levee system devastated New Orleans, the region, and the Gulf Coast. The Bush White House and the Republican leadership and FEMA showed up not just late, but wholly unprepared. America deserves a FEMA that works, a FEMA that understands the best ways to leverage the private sector and the robust non-profit community.
A FEMA that will help us rebuild our communities with respect, dignity and determination. America deserves a president who is willing to lead, who will cut through the red tape and serve the people, not the bureaucracy. And a president who will be stand with mayors and governors and not against them to get the job done.
That is the hope of the people of America and that is the promise of Barack Obama. God bless our efforts to recover and God Bless Louisiana.
(APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: And we can only hope and pray that Hurricane Gustav, which is now in the Atlantic moving toward the Gulf of Mexico gets nowhere near New Orleans or Louisiana for that matter or any place else along the Gulf Coast. We are watching that hurricane very closely.
Right now, we are here on the floor of the Democratic National Convention. A lot of pageantry, a lot of excitement. You've been listening to this parade of women senators. They are speaking on various issues. We're standing by -- by the way, go to cnnpolitics.com. You can see all the speeches uninterrupted. We're streaming them there, cnnpolitics.com.
You get a lot more information there as well. Remember also that this is the place you want to be to see what is going on to happen over the next several hours, including Hillary Clinton. We're anticipating a major address tonight. She is going to try to unify this party around Barack Obama. Will she succeed? How far will she go? Lots going on. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. We are watching all the excitement and there is going to be a lot of excitement here on this night. One of things that's going on right now on the floor, women U.S. senators, they are speaking on this, the 88th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted women the right to vote in this country.
Hard to believe there was a time when women couldn't vote. Right now women vote in bigger numbers than men. There are more women voters in the United States than men voters. John King is here with us. John, I want you to walk over to our magic map and show us a little bit about these swing voters. I think a lot of these women, they're going to go determining who the next president of the United States will be.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, let's start with the basis of the 2004 race for president. The red states are states won by George W. Bush, the blue states, states won by John Kerry. You've seen these senators come in. And let's look, Claire McCaskill is up on the podium right now.
Why does she matter? Well she's an early Barack Obama supporter, but she is a female member of the United States Senate from a state where women suburban voters could be the decisive voting block. Let's go in and look at the state of Missouri and let me bring this in so we bring in the country results.
These are the results in 2004, and as you can see, George Bush carried Missouri with a pretty decent margin, 53 percent of the vote. Look down here. This is St. Louis, let me take (INAUDIBLE) and bring this out for you. This -- let's come up a little bit more here. We go right up here.
This is St. Louis County. This is the big suburb just outside of St. Louis, St. Louis city here. But look at these ones here. These are the more color suburbs right in here. Take this off and give you a peek.
St. Charles County, a huge swing suburban county. George W. Bush carries it 59-41. Barack Obama wants to win that state. He needs to do better in this county. He'd like to win it, but at least cut that margin. Down here as well, Jefferson County, you're a little further out in the suburbs, 50-49, a close battleground there, a critical, again, area of the suburbs for women voters are huge.
Now I want to come over this way now and you're over by Jackson County. This is where Kansas City is here in the western part of the state. John Kerry wins the city, the urban area, but if you come out into the suburbs around Clare County, George W. Bush is winning. When you come further down, the further south here, George W. Bush, you're getting more rural down here.
Another key state we just heard from Michigan's Debbie Stabenow just a few moments ago, Wolf. Let's bring up Michigan. Look at this. Now this is a state that John Kerry carried, but again a narrow margin. And if you come north of Detroit, you come up in here Wayne County is where Detroit is. I'll pull the map down a little bit.
Right here is Oakland County. John Kerry, 50 percent; George W. Bush, 49 percent. This is where Mitt Romney could play if he ever ends up on the McCain ticket. But in these suburbs right here, this is where you find not only Reagan Democrats, but also women suburban voters. And the Obama campaign who I had a briefing with them today, they say that is one of their issues. One of their problems right now.
They want to increase their numbers among white suburban women in the age 30-to-60 range. And they matter. They matter in Pennsylvania. They matter in Missouri. They matter in Michigan and they would matter in some of the smaller battlegrounds, too, including right here in Colorado in the Denver suburbs, Wolf.
BLITZER: Women, it's an important issue tonight. And one of the most important women in the United States Hillary Clinton will be speaking later tonight. Campbell, let's go up and speak with our Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen and our Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez. They are up here at the convention as well. And Hilary, I'll ask you quickly give us a sense of how much of a problem Barack Obama may have with disgruntled Hillary Clinton woman supporters.
HILARY ROSEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well I was really listening when Barbara Boxer said that for the women in the Senate 60 is the new 50 because that is exactly the age span of those older women voters that Barack Obama needs to get. And that where the margin of Hillary Clinton's victory in the tougher closer states. So those women are going to hear from Hillary Clinton. I think that's one category where her words are really going to be important.
I've been saying the last couple of days that Barack Obama is going to have to convince a lot of women about his support for them, but there are some people particularly those who take a while to get to know a candidate, like older women, who are going to listen to Hillary Clinton and I think that that's the group that she can make the most difference in.
BROWN: Hilary, we just want to mention, everyone seeing this group shot of all the women senators on stage right now. Pretty amazing picture there.
ROSEN: It's pretty amazing. You know...
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: ... it's important that people understand...
BLITZER: ... wasn't that long ago when there weren't any women in the United States Senate, now take a look. How many are there? I don't know. Are there 12? Donna Brazile, how many women in the United States Senate?
BRAZILE: Sixteen women in the United States Senate. The Democratic women, I noticed that Patty Murray of Washington is also missing there tonight.
BLITZER: There are a few Republican women including Kay Bailey Hutchison, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, so they are not all Democrats.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: All right.
BROWN: Let's go to Jeff Toobin in New York and Jeff, what does the message need to be? I mean what are the issues that are most important to these women this time around? We remember the security mobs that we talked about so much in 2004. What do they need to be talking about? Is it those bread and butter kitchen table economic issues?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think there is a particular gender divide this time about what people are interested in. I think men and women care about the economy preeminently. I think polls show slightly more interest among women in the issue of health care. Health care has somewhat vanished from the debate recently because there's been so much focus on the economy, but Hillary Clinton you can be sure will talk a lot about health care. It's her signature issue. It's an issue of interest to a lot of women, but I don't think -- at least I'm not aware that there is a women's issue or a men's issue this year. I think everybody is focused on the economy.
BROWN: And Alex Castellanos, we've heard the Republican campaign talk about how they are trying to reach out to these Hillary Clinton supporters. But is that spin or is there something really to it? Do they in your view have a real shot at connecting with these women?
ALEX CASTELLANOS: Well I think so. And if you want to know what works, look at what Hillary Clinton was doing, the kind of campaign she was running at the end of the primary. She was running a campaign, saying that -- you know asking does Barack Obama have the strength of character. Does he have the experience to keep the country safe if the phone rings at 3:00 in the morning and she was winning with that campaign. She was running a very Republican campaign against Barack Obama and so that is what we -- I think we're going to see from the Republicans. BLITZER: All right, Alex, stand by. I want to go to the podium. The governor of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, Ed Rendell is speaking. Let's see if he has some red meat for the Republicans.
GOV. ED RENDELL, PENNSYLVANIA: Energy policy, the results of the Republican energy plans are plain. Back then, the price of gas was about $1.50 a gallon. Today, the price of gas is $4 a gallon. Back then, it cost about $900 to heat your home through the winter. This winter it's more likely to cost over $2,500.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil just announced the largest quarterly profit in the history of the world. That's not just an outrage. That's obscene. This happened because for the last eight years the Bush- Cheney team stonewalled the taxing of oil company profits and prevented efforts to promote alternative energy production. And guess who voted with the Bush administration 90 percent of the time? John McCain.
Now, as another Republican convention approaches, we are hearing more of the same. We're hearing talk about alternative energy, energy independence and wind power.
If you look past the speeches of John McCain, here's what you see. Many of John McCain's top advisers worked as lobbyists for the oil and gas companies. I guess that explains why he wants to give another $4 million tax break to oil companies. If you look past his speeches to his record, one thing is absolutely clear, John McCain has never believed in renewable energy and he won't make it part of America's future.
For all of his talk, here is the truth and the American people need to hear the truth. John McCain voted against establishing a national energy standard. He voted against tax incentives for renewable energy companies and for all of the big talk about drilling, he refused to endorse a bipartisan effort to expand domestic oil production because that bipartisan proposal would have ended tax breaks for big oil.
BLITZER: Ed Rendell, he's delivering a little red meat to these Democrats, the governor of Pennsylvania. He was a Hillary Clinton supporter but now he is a major Barack Obama supporter. And he tells us, he is going to do everything he can to make sure that Pennsylvania goes democratic come November 4th in the election.
We are going to take a quick break. When we come back, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, the Republican presidential candidate, guess what? He is here with us at the democratic convention. We will tell what you he is doing here and speak with him live when our coverage continues. Remember, CNNpolitics.com. You can watch the speeches and get information. CNN is the only cable news organization anchoring from the floor of the convention.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Welcome back, everybody, to our coverage of the Democratic convention in Denver, Colorado. I'm here with Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television and we did say the Democratic convention, but we happen to have a Republican joining us now. Mayor Rudy Giuliani is here with us.
Mr. Mayor, Wolf and I were talking about this earlier, it used to be the republicans would go on vacation when the democrats were hold b their convention and vice versa. Not anymore. You guys are here in force, trying to get your message out even in the midst of this audience. What's changed?
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No more vacations, 24-hour television I think has changed and the length of these campaigns and the reality there is not a lot of time and there is a lot of stake. A lot of things have changed and I think this is one of them. I've seen a lot of old friends here. I was the mayor of a democratic city. I just saw Charlie Rangel. I was on a TV show with him and Mayor Rendell, was the mayor, now governor, was the mayor of Philadelphia when I was mayor of New York. I have a lot of pals here. I think they made a big mistake in the choice that they made.
BROWN: Well, let me ask you about that because obviously the big news tonight is the speech we are anticipating from Senator Hillary Clinton and you have said that you believe Obama should have chosen Clinton, that it was a no-brainer. But you've also said some pretty harsh things about her and you've had some praise for Senator Joe Biden. What is really going on? Are you trying to stir up trouble or cause problems?
GIULIANI: That would be one of the things that republicans do to democrats and democrats do to republicans. I made that as a political comment. It is a no brainer. She got 18 millions. Joe got 9,000 votes. She commands about 45, 48 percent of this convention. The normal political thing to do in terms of the best decision to make to win would have been to pick Hillary Clinton. I am talking about interested in politics. I haven't heard an explanation from Barack Obama as to why she passed her over. Why?
BLITZER: He won the democratic nomination. I suppose Mayor he does haven't to give an explanation just like John McCain next week, maybe on Friday, will announce who his vice presidential running mate is going to be and he can pick anybody he wants. Isn't that right?
GIULIANI: It is right. He doesn't have to explain it to me. I talked to a lot of democrats since I've been here and he better explain it to them because they're really upset but you know that's his problem. We have to deal with our own problems I guess.
BLITZER: All right. Let's look ahead. You are going to be delivering the keynote address next week at the republican convention in St. Paul. Give us a preview. Is it going to be just positive stuff about John McCain and his running mate or will it be a little red meat from Rudy Giuliani as far as Barack Obama and Joe Biden are concerned?
GIULIANI: I'm sure there will be comparisons. The reality is that's what the choice for president comes down to. It doesn't come to a choice between abstract and abstract. It comes down to a choice between two people. John McCain who has tremendous experience and is someone who has worked on both sides on the aisle, republican and democrat, against a senator from Illinois who is one of the least experienced candidates we've ever had for president. Someone that his own party have said is unprepared, some of the members like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden have said is unprepared for president of the United States. So you can't avoid that comparison. You've got one with a lot of experience and one with virtually no experience and someone who has displayed some pretty bad instincts about Georgia, about what he would do if there is an attack on an American city, about negotiating with dictators, without preconditions. So you can't give a speech like that would comparisons.
BROWN: But, sorry. Mr. Mayor, what you continue hear you mention is the economy. The differences between the two on the economy. You talk about experience. You talk about national security issues, commander in chief, but if you look at every poll what Americans care about is the economy. And as you well know, we have heard John McCain said himself it's not his strong suit.
GIULIANI: Well the reality is Barack Obama's approach to the economy would be a disaster. Front page of the Wall Street Journal today, it's clear he is going to raise taxes dramatically, he's going to raise spending. He is going to invent things like a world poverty fund. His spending will go through the roof. And he is going to do the two worst things you can do going through an economic cycle like we're going through right now, raise tariffs and raise taxes. I think as the American people examine his approach to the economy, as the most liberal member of the United States senate which is what Barack Obama was, I think they are going to reject it. And he selected Joe Biden, who is the number 3 most liberal member of the senate. I think this tax and spend approach will be rejected by the American people in favor of an economic conservative John McCain.
BLITZER: I think we heard a little preview of the keynote address at the republican convention next week. Mr. Mayor, it's always a pleasure to have you. See you in St. Paul next week.
GIULIANI: Looking forward to it. Thank you. See you in Minnesota.
BLITZER: See you in Minnesota. Rudy Giuliani is here at the Democratic convention. And there will be some Obama supporters at the republican convention next week in St. Paul.
We have a lot more. We are standing by to hear, as we said, Hillary Clinton the major speaker tonight. And Mark Warner, he's running for the senate from Virginia, the former governor, he will be delivering the keynote address later tonight. Much more of our coverage coming up.
Here's a good idea. You can watch us with your laptop, go to CNNpolitics.com. We are streaming all the speeches up there. you can see what's going on. Remember, we're the only cable news network anchoring our coverage from the floor at the convention. Same next week in St. Paul.
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BLITZER: Welcome back to the Democratic National Convention. David Gergen is among our analysts. He is joining us now from the CNN Election Center.
David, as you look at day two, I know you very impressed with the tribute to Ted Kennedy last night, the speech by Michelle Obama. You were not impressed the democrats didn't use that opening night as an opportunity to make a case against John McCain and the republicans. What do you think tonight?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Wolf, I think they are off to a stronger start, faster start, putting those women up there in the beginning with those little cameo appearances. I think that was very smart leading to the climax with Hillary Clinton.
But as you just heard with Rudy Giuliani, next week the republicans are going to try to tear the hide off Barack Obama. We all see that coming. It's clear and they're very good at it. There is a reason the republicans have won 7 of the last 10 elections.
So the question tonight is whether the democrats can come off last night which was reassuring and Michelle Obama was terrific, as was Teddy Kennedy. But they need a battle cry and they need to start raising that tonight and I think one of the challenges for them Wolf tonight is this that it's unclear what the message is, what the theme is. They have three different themes they're actually trying to sell tonight. One, celebration of women. That is very important, good that they are doing that. Secondly, very importantly. Hillary Clinton calls for unity. Third this is supposed to be a night about the economy and you know to make a case on the economy. How do they craft one strong message out of those three themes? I think that is one of the challenges for them tonight. We will see how they do it. I think that is going to be tough to do. The economy to me is one they really have to drive home.
CAMPBELL: Gloria, you were dying to jump in here. You totally disagree?
BORGER: I don't disagree but I think there is a way to link them and that is David that women are most of the low wage earners in the country and I think what the Obama campaign is trying to appeal to are those not only the suburban women who are 30 to 60 years old, but also those women who are lower income, the so called waitress voters that Hillary Clinton appealed to so much. And I think that when you look at pocketbook issues in this country, women feel them because they --
GERGEN: I agree with that. But it's also true that we a facing the biggest financial crisis since the depression. These are serious times and it's not just women but men and men are not voting for her, are not registering to vote for Obama right now. They're not leaning that way. They are leaning strongly to John McCain. This is a convention that has to reach both men and women with a message about the economy that if you stick with the republicans, you are going to be in the ditch. If you go with us, we'll get you moving again. You know they have to drive that home because the republicans are going to come out of just the other way next week and say you go with Obama, you are taking the biggest risk in your life.
CAMPBELL: Hilary Rosen who is here with us in Denver, let me ask you about that. Why isn't Barack Obama able at least not yet, to connect with the working class women that Gloria was talking about?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he wasn't spoken yet, so give him a chance m. I think there is a real focus on the economy and on jobs over the next couple of days. I think you are going to hear lots of folks talk about it. In particular I think you're going to hear Hillary Clinton really make the case as she did so effectively on the campaign trail. It's that empowering of women, it's women having to take care of you know multiple generations in their family whether it's their kids and their parents, and go to work every day. Those sorts of you know bread and butter issues for women are what she connected on. I think she is going to take that experience and she is going to throw it right back in John McCain's face tonight. There is going to be no mistake for anybody that John McCain is not going to be good for those women when Hillary Clinton is through with this speech.
BLITZER: Hilary, I know that it's fair to say the two most important women in Barack Obama's life at least right now would be his wife Michelle Obama and another Hillary. That would be Hillary Clinton. I know you have a friend who indicated to you there was a meeting today, wasn't there?
ROSEN: Well Wolf, I have a report from backstage at the Emily's List event. Emily's List you know is that organization that elects democratic women. Today was their big gala event. They had Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama all sharing the stage together and Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama had a chance to meet backstage prior to that gala. Senator Clinton I'm told warmly praised Michelle Obama for her speech. She went immediately over to her and embraced her. As we know that she had called her last night but didn't get through. Chelsea was with Senator Clinton and the three of them stood in a huddle and spoke for well over five minutes on and had what was a really nice, warm chat. And when Michelle Obama went on stage, she praised Hillary Clinton. She talked about how nice the families were and how much they enjoyed each other's company.
BLITZER: It's a pity there weren't any cameras there. Were there cameras there?
ROSEN: No this was all backstage.
BLITZER: It was just behind the stage.
ROSEN: Yeah.
BLITZER: Unfortunate for those of us who work in television.
ROSEN: You have to take my word for it, Wolf.
BLITZER: We believe you, Hilary. There's no doubt about it.
What is the relationship, Paul Begala, between Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama? PAUL BEGALA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: They don't know each other very well. Because Senator Obama was working in the state senate for quite a while before he came to the United States Senate, they just don't have the same sort of relationship that perhaps Senator Clinton has with people who have been around in Washington a lot longer.
But I do know that Hillary Clinton understands probably better than almost anybody what Michelle Obama has been going through. And I suspect Hillary thinks some of the attacks on Michelle have been grossly unfair. Hillary suffered the same thing when her husband ran for president. And I think there is a bond there. I do know from talking to sources close to Senator Clinton, that she was very impressed with Michelle Obama's speech last night and did reach out to place a call to her and just thought it was a terrific speech.
BLITZER: Carl Bernstein is the biographer of Hillary Clinton. Carl, weigh in on this sensitive subject.
CARL BERNSTEIN, AUTHOR: I think first of all that something is going on that we haven't considered. And that is that this is one more great chapter in the national Clintonian psychodrama and tonight we're really going to see it. And only the Clintons could really deliver the presidency. They're uniquely positioned among all democrats to help Barack Obama win the presidency; starting tonight, Bill Clinton tomorrow night, going to campaign for him in these battleground states. I know there has been all of this tension between the two camps and a lot of it still persists, I'm told, that's what they're aiming for is to go out there and try and win this thing for them. And they are no -- David was talking about the three elections won by democrats in all of these years. Two of them were won by the Clintons. And they going out on the trail in Missouri, in Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and those states counts for an awful lot as does what they say here tonight. And I think we're going to see this place catch fire tonight. And you're going to watch something very interesting happen in terms of a different kind of Clintonian dynasty.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think the Clintons are very significant in the Democratic Party and I think they will be significant to Barack Obama from here on out. If the Clintons can deliver the presidency, couldn't they deliver the democratic nomination first? Wouldn't it be Hillary Clinton be giving the speech Thursday night would be my only point. If you're powerful enough to deliver the presidency, then you can win your own party's nomination first. She made strategic blunders. They think in their own campaign they blew. Don't get me wrong. I think the Clintons are very important to Barack Obama going forward in terms of campaigning in certain parts of the country. But if there is to be an Obama presidency, he is going to have to win it. Nobody can deliver it for him.
BLITZER: I want to get Leslie Sanchez into this conversation, as well. As a republican strategist Leslie, if you see this effort to patch over the differences between Hillary Clinton supporters and Barack Obama supporters, what do you make of it?
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, there's definitely distinct differences. I think the interesting part of the conversation, you are talking about women and, you know, it's not a mono-list group, but when you're looking at them, look at the married women. Those are a lot of your soft democrats, also you're highly religious women, independent conservatives in many senses and they live in those rust belt states. A recent poll this week was talking about 15% of those women are undecided when it comes to looking at these two candidates.
And what are they going to say? Yes, they're talking about pocketbook issues? Yes they're going to be talking about healthcare, they should be. Do they go to the good doctor, the bad doctor? They want to go to a doctor that knows their child's name. They have to make it personal.
I know she is a big democratic pollster. She was talking about for democrats to win this year, they've got to understand motive based messages.
The challenge is Barack Obama does not have a record he can stand on. And these are the most jaundice women when it comes to looking at political candidates. So that's a lot of ground to cover. And it doesn't necessarily have to do with the republican campaign as much as it is a deficit in who he is and his brand and how well it's known.
BLITZER: All right, Leslie, standby, I want all of our analysts to standby.
Campbell, this is going to be a night that people will focus not only on women, the economy, but they're really looking forward to hearing from Hillary Clinton and to a certain degree, it's her night. This is not the speech she wanted to give, but the speech he has to give.
BROWN: And just to put it in a little bit of a historical perspective, when people talk about her not sort of getting on board quickly enough, I mean look at previous people who are in this position. Ted Kennedy sure didn't make things easy when he lost the nomination, Gary Hart sure didn't make things easy when he lost the nomination to Mondale. Why is she being held to a different standard, frankly, as a woman? For not leaping on board immediately from day one. Her male counterpart certainly didn't and she got a heck of a lot more votes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's actually the point her staff makes and you will probably make. But also, don't forget, this was a longer fought contest, I guess, than the others. Although, you could argue Kennedy wasn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way to New York.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kennedy barely shook his hand on the platform.
CAMPBELL: You could see why feminists, it would hit a nerve for them. It's like OK, the woman is expected to sort of lay down and let him take the stage in the way that the male that came ahead of her were not. You could argue it both ways. You can see how this would stand the plain.
BLITZER: Paul, maybe you know the answer. One of our people knows the answer, is Hillary Clinton going to be at Invesco Field at the Mile High Stadium Thursday night to be on the stage after Barack Obama's speech?
BEGALA: If Senator Obama asks her, she will. I don't know her plans, but believe me, he is driving this. He controls this convention. He will decide whether there's a roll call. There's not some deal in the works. He runs this thing. This is his party. And if he asks Hillary Clinton to be there, believe me, she will be there. If that's the shot that he wants, I suspect it is. Believe me, she will be there.
But I do think, going back to David Gergen's original point. Hillary's very important to election. Her husband is very important. The most important thing is for democrats to have a clear, simple, narrative, and David noted accurately that we now have a long litany, not a tight narrative. Every republican who walked out of their convention in New York the last time around in 2004 said Bush is strong and Kerry is weak. That was it. Will democrats walk out of this convention and say I don't want four more years of Bush-McCain.
BLITZER: All right guys. Stand by because we have a lot more to talk about. We're going to be hearing from several more of these speakers, including Bob Casey, the senator from Pennsylvania. He'll be speaking. The keynote address from Mark Warner and then Hillary Clinton will be speaking later tonight, as well.
CNNpolitics.com, that's the place you can see all of the speeches streamed live. Much more of our coverage after the convention right after this.
