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Discussion of Obama's Acceptance Speech; McCain to Unveil His Pick for Running Mate Today; Tropical Storm Gustav Heading Toward the Gulf Coast
Aired August 29, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Heidi Collins is on assignment. John Roberts will be joining us from Denver.
And we are in breaking news posture throughout the morning here.
See events coming to the NEWSROOM live on this Friday morning, August 29th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Who is number two? John McCain ready to reveal his running mate. We will bring you the Republican team live.
Historic night in Denver. Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination. We have the best political team on television breaking down his speech.
And killer storm on a Gulf Coast course. Our weather center tracking Gustav, in the NEWSROOM.
Presidential campaigns at the crossroads. John McCain chooses a running mate and any moment we could learn who it is. Some big names drop out, one new name emerges, a formal announcement from the Republican expected later in the NEWSROOM.
Barack Obama -- can he spring board from last night's big speech at the Democratic National Convention? He and his running mate Joe Biden hit the road. 67 days and counting until the presidential election. The sprint to the finish now underway.
Logging the miles and shadowing the races, John Roberts -- we will be joining John in just a couple of minutes. He is in Denver where the Democratic National Convention is now officially closed.
The national spotlight dims at INVESCO Field, and CNN crews have fanned across the political landscape to break it all down for you.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is part of the best political team on television. She's in Denver, we'll be joining her later along with chief national correspondent John King, and in Dayton, digging for news on John McCain's big announcement, is our Dana Bash.
Let's begin with Dana. And Dana, give us the very latest. DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the very latest and the best way to describe this is that, by the process of elimination, that's basically what we've been doing all morning.
Starting with Mitt Romney -- there are indications right now that the former governor of Massachusetts, John McCain's former rival who had been talked up a lot recently -- there are indications that he is not going to be John McCain's running mate.
I spoke to a source close to Romney who said he has no plans to be here in Dayton. And this is where we expect John McCain to formally announce his running mate just in a -- a couple of hours.
So that's one name we might be checking off the box. Secondly, the Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty. He's another person who is chatted up a lot lately. He -- on his radio show back in Minnesota where he is right now -- said that he is planning right now to stay in Minnesota and he said that he doesn't have any plans to come to Dayton. And he said that you can -- you can read into that what you will.
So we're taking him at his word on that. And a couple of other things. First of all, Tom Ridge, who's somebody who was kind of an outlier, if you will, somebody who is a close friend of John McCain's.
He -- our crew caught up with him in Suburban, Washington this morning. He said he was getting a haircut and getting coffee and he didn't seem to have any plans to come here to Ohio.
So, look, what we're doing right now is we are looking at the tea leaves and we are working our sources --
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: -- and we do know -- we do know that this is part of what the McCain camp wants us to be doing. They want us to be building the drama and the drama is what -- exactly what they're looking for.
HARRIS: Well, it's happening, Dana.
BASH: They're hoping to get -- yes.
HARRIS: Yes, it is absolutely --
BASH: It is happening. It is happening.
HARRIS: It is happening. The suspense is starting to build here no doubt about that. But I've been following some of your reporting throughout the morning.
Tell us about this -- the information you're getting on a mysterious plane.
BASH: It was -- a mysterious plane that arrived last night from Alaska. And we got word from somebody at the airport that it was a very hush, hush, very private -- plane. It was very sort of secretive. A woman and a couple of teenagers. And it was clear it was something that they didn't want people know about.
We -- basically suggesting that perhaps, perhaps, it was the governor of Alaska who had actually been somebody talked about as John McCain's running mate. She's young and she is somebody who is a conservative, a lot like John McCain.
We are getting -- hearing reports that perhaps she is now still in Alaska. We're chasing that down. But again, this is all part of the game right now. It's the reading tea leaves and we're trying to figure out exactly who's where.
And, again, it is what the McCain campaign wants us to be doing right now, to be sort of beating the drums --
HARRIS: Well --
BASH: -- and building the suspense as to who his running mate will be.
This is something, Tony, I can tell you from covering this campaign. This is something that they have kept in such close hold. Just a handful of senior aides have known about this. And, of course, John McCain have been deliberating about this in very, very, very close quarters.
HARRIS: OK.
BASH: So --
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: They've been pretty good about keeping it secret.
HARRIS: How about that?
BASH: Keeping this under wraps.
HARRIS: Both campaigns have been tremendous with their VP choices. And, you know what? We'll play along, we'll bang the drum, and we'll build the suspense a little while longer here.
I have to -- let's circle back just a bit here, Dana. Tim Pawlenty, Tom Ridge, boy, Mitt Romney, indications, at least, at this point that they may not be the choice.
How surprising would that be if none of those gentlemen ended up being the choice here?
BASH: It would be. But, you know, I can to tell you early this morning I was getting a vibe from somebody who was close to the McCain campaign that we should actually not follow the path. That we should not be thinking about folks that we have been talking about for a couple of weeks like Tim Pawlenty, like Mitt Romney, and that perhaps it would be a surprise choice.
That's why when we saw the report -- we got reporting about this plane from Alaska, we sort of jumped on it because that would certainly be an out-of-the-box person, somebody who would be kind of a game changer sort of choice.
But indications are now, and we should tell you indications are now that the governor of Alaska is still in Alaska. So that secretive plane doesn't look like that was one that was bringing John McCain's running mate from Alaska.
But you know what? It's important to note --
HARRIS: Wow.
BASH: -- as we're doing all of this, a lot of this is about giving us head fakes.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
BASH: And a lot of this is about giving us indications of one thing and indications of another thing in order to keep us guessing. But, you know, we're going to continue to do that, but the one thing I can tell you, and we have been able to figure this out by sort of the process of elimination this morning is that this does seem to be somebody who perhaps, perhaps, we haven't been talking about very much.
HARRIS: That's very interesting.
BASH: At least in the public chatter.
HARRIS: All right, Dana Bash for us this morning -- Dana, great to see you as always.
Let's bring in our John King. John did such a terrific job in breaking the news on Barack Obama's choice for VP.
John, what are you hearing? What do you make of this? And I have to say, I think we're willing to sort of play along for now. At some point, you know, you want something a little more concrete in the reporting on this. And I'm sure we'll get that. But at least for now, let's play along a little bit.
What do you make of what might be the head fakes and the tea leaves we're being left to read here?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I think we can say for certainty is it's not me, it's not you.
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: I asked John Roberts and Suzanne -- so it's not them. Look, the McCain campaign is enjoying this morning.
HARRIS: Sure.
KING: Because every minute we're talking about this, we're not talking about Barack Obama's big speech last night. And so it's not happening by accident.
HARRIS: Sure.
KING: You just heard Dana that Alaska governor's Washington office says she's in Alaska. I was told by conservative sources just two or three minutes ago that Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty did receive a call just a short time ago telling him he is not John McCain's running mate.
That is the first confirmation we have had of a call actually being made informing somebody they are definitely not John McCain's running mate. And that is an indication, Tony, that the calls are being made this morning.
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: I was told that call was just a short time ago. But, now we have to go back and run these traps we've been running for 24, 48 hours again --
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: -- and go back to all of the people on our list. And as Dana just noted, maybe it's not somebody on our list. So this is a -- it can be a frustrating morning. This is a day I have lived too many times, but here we go.
HARRIS: Yes. But it's -- you know, it's OK. It is part of the process. And you know, at some point, we will move on to other news if we can't advance the story. That's just what we do.
But it is interesting to think about this process that we're now engaged in. As you sort of think back and circle back on all of your notes and all the names that you've heard mentioned as a possible VP choice for John McCain, anything percolate? Anything bubble up for you?
KING: Well, they all take you bubbling in different directions, Tony. I'm getting a BlackBerry message now, I'm e-mailing back and forth with a very well-informed Republican who says don't count the Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin, out.
He heard me on television that said I would take -- I would make sure you keep her in the mix. She is a strong contender for this. 44 years old, a lifetime member of the NRA, the big argument from Democrats would be she's been a governor for two years. Is she ready to be president of the United States?
But just as we were saying, because her office has told us she is still in Alaska, I'm getting an e-mail saying I would not get away from her. I would keep her there. She looks good to me. So I'm going to get off the phone and try to make some more calls.
HARRIS: All right.
KING: If we've confused our viewers, we apologize, but we are just as confused as them.
HARRIS: OK, John King, tracking down his sources and on his BlackBerry right now.
We -- we're just going to continue to try to do the best we can for you in tracking the story. It is certainly the story of the morning.
When we take a look back at the speech from Barack Obama last night, which is something we will do during the course of the morning, but at least for right now, we are going to do the best that we can to try to sort through the information that we have, the best information that is available to us at this moment.
Gloria Borger is on the phone with us right now.
And Gloria, what do you make of this morning? Sure, I can imagine that the McCain campaign is enjoying these moments on the air for all of us as we try to figure out what's to come at either 11:00 or noon Eastern Time today.
And Gloria, are you there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thanks.
HARRIS: All right. Gloria, are you there? OK, we don't have Gloria on the line. I hear someone in our beeper line. But we'll sort that out and figure out just who is there and we will get Gloria on the air as soon as we can, because I'm sure she's working her sources feverishly right now trying to find out additional information.
But you just heard from our John King that, at least, one call has been made. And that Minnesota's governor Tim Pawlenty is not the choice of John McCain to be his vice presidential running mate.
We're going to take a quick break. We will reset all of the information that we know and we will ask the questions that we don't have answers to at this point.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: One presidential candidate about to make headlines while another makes history.
Republican John McCain set to announce his choice for a running mate. McCain will appear with his VP pick at a rally in Dayton, Ohio in less than three hours.
Democrat Barack Obama returns to the campaign trail in Pennsylvania today after accepting his party's nomination in a rousing speech last night.
Obama, as you know, is the first African-American to lead a major party ticket in the race for the White House.
But we are still trying to do our best to track the VP choice -- the VP choice of John McCain. And we have got our correspondents, the best political team on television, at least at the moment led by yours truly, trying to find whatever we can. A lot of tea leaves being read right now. Some potential head fakes as well.
John King reporting just a short time ago that Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is the only one that we are aware of at this moment who has received a call from the McCain campaign indicating and informing him that he is not the pick.
That's essentially what we know right now. The rest of it, at least at this point, is speculation and informed speculation.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is with us on the phone right now.
Suzanne, great to talk to you. I feel like I want to attempt to do a couple of things with you at this time. And we have a couple of moments together.
First of all, I want to know if there's anything you have learned about the process that is going on right now that we're following so closely as -- to try to determine who John McCain has selected as his VP.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, obviously, camp Obama's following this very closely. They're watching and waiting and reading the tea leaves as we are.
Obviously, they had a really, what they feel, is a successful night last night. And the big question is really who is going to be the next sparring partner --
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: for Barack Obama as well as his running mate Joe Biden. So they -- like us are awaiting news.
HARRIS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: But, yes, Barack Obama last night made history. And they feel like -- I was actually down on the floor when it happened. The enthusiasm, the excitement, the crowds, obviously, there was a lot of anticipation and the feeling was that he had to come out and hit hard against John McCain.
That that was something they need to come out with the specifics on health care as well as education and education that he needed to talk about the fact that, hey, I get it. Some people not believing that he is ready to become commander in chief addressing that directly. And to talk about some of the details, not this kind of soaring redirect, but details -- HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- about some of those plans.
HARRIS: Well, you know, it's interesting, Suzanne. I mean I -- can't imagine. It felt like a tricky speech to give. And like you, I'm sure, I read through some of the excerpts of the speech before it was delivered and it just appeared to be a really tricky speech to deliver.
So many themes he was trying to hit and so much ground he was trying to cover. There were absolute moments when it felt like a State of the Union address where the laundry list was offered up, and then there were the moments where he connected to his family, tying that to the American family.
It was quite an extraordinary speech to have to deliver, I thought.
MALVEAUX: One of the things that he had to do was that he had to really kind of knock down some of the criticisms from John McCain and his camp.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
MALVEAUX: Talking about the economy, a lot of times, they accused him of not -- actually being able to pay for some of the things that he's talking about. The tax cuts that he said he would give to the working class.
But he outlined very specifically what he intended to do. He provided some details that you usually don't hear in this kind of acceptance, kind of a grand sweeping acceptance speech. He got a standing ovation when he talked about energy independence and 10 years having the United States get off its dependency from --
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- foreign sources of oil. And, as you know, there was -- the whole racial component that he has not really made a part of his -- a part of his campaign, at least reluctantly, so --
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- but he was the first African-American nominee for president from a major party on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's...
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- "I Have a Dream" speech.
HARRIS: Well, Suzanne, let's do this.
MALVEAUX: Certainly, the symbol is not lost.
HARRIS: Suzanne, let's do this for that moment. Let me advise you to stay on the line with this and revisit some of the moments from last night's speech from Barack Obama. And then let's talk about it on the other side.
But one of the moments from last night's speech in Denver.
All right. Obviously, you're looking at a lot of the atmospherics of last night. And now I think we have the sound ready. Do we have the sound ready? OK, let's go to -- if we do. Oh, we don't have the sound ready.
OK, Suzanne Malveaux is back on the line with us.
And Suzanne, if you would, you were talking about, you know, some of the history-making aspects of last night. Talk to us about some of the reactions that you witnessed with your own two eyes being on the floor there -- on the field at INVESCO.
MALVEAUX: Well, Tony, it really was an extraordinary scene. And the energy, the excitement of the crowd. We were about three rows from the stage. So we got a very good up close look at what was happening.
If you can imagine just the kind of the sights and sounds, more than 80,000 people gathered in one place, cheering and clapping. And a lot of people were crying during this moment when he accepted the nomination.
I talked to a lot of people afterwards, went up to the Iowa section where it all started -- the Iowa caucuses. And a woman -- I met a woman who met him at Senator Harkin's steak fry two years ago. And she became a volunteer.
She said she did everything from sweeping the confetti off the floors to knocking on doors to recruiting volunteers herself. She became a trainer. And she knew him for about three years or so. She spent much of her life really believing in Barack Obama.
And she said, you know, I'm like many people here. She said 95 percent of Iowa voters are white. And she was one of them. And she said, you know, I really saw something that was special and very different in Barack Obama. And she said, we really believe in him.
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: We saw that. And there's a lot of, a lot of African- American people who also were just overwhelmed.
HARRIS: Yes. And I thought it was a nice touch --
MALVEAUX: Never thought they --
HARRIS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: -- see that in their life.
HARRIS: Yes. I thought it was a nice touch to see the John McCain ad congratulating Barack Obama on the historic achievement. I thought it was a nice touch. I guess some would quibble with it but I won't be one of those. Suzanne Malveaux with us this morning -- Suzanne, terrific work in Denver and great to talk to you this morning.
Alex Castellanos is with us now. He is a Republican media strategist. He's joining us from New York.
And Alex, good to talk to you. Good to see you again. It's been a while.
ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: Good to see you.
HARRIS: You know, I'm curious in a couple of things with you this morning. Let's talk about, if you would, some of the things that you believe Barack Obama did well last night. And then, let's talk about some of the areas that you think are open to attack next week.
CASTELLANOS: Well, the list of things he did well is a long list. We could be here a while. It was a terrific speech. And, you know, even from the Republican point of view, we should cede him that. He demonstrated strength.
HARRIS: Hey, Alex, did you think it was a nice touch? I thought it was, and I'm sure some will quibble. I thought it was a nice touch for John McCain to acknowledge the accomplishments and the historic nature of last night.
CASTELLANOS: Very much so, you know? And we saw that from both sides. Obama reached out. I thought he drew his differences with John McCain sharply, but respectfully, and I thought Senator McCain did the same thing from the other side of the aisle, and said this is an important day for the country.
We've -- it shows progress that we've made in some important areas and that maybe -- maybe there are things we can all agree on and achieve.
So, yes, I thought it was something that's been lacking in our politics a little bit and it was nicely done.
HARRIS: You know, I thought there were moments where it felt a bit like a State of the Union address where, you know, you go through the laundry list. And I thought that that was the moment potentially where folks would sort of glaze over.
And, you know, I suppose it was all of the energy in the stadium and perhaps the way he delivered it. I guess, he delivered it as best you can that kind of content which can tend to be a little on the walkish side.
I'm wondering what you saw there that leaves him vulnerable to attack and are we going to hear the experience line again and a lot early and often next week?
CASTELLANOS: I think there are two or three things that leave him vulnerable. One of them is he explained very clearly that he was going to balance out his plan. He was going to pay for everything he was proposing, which was quite a lot, and that he was going to cut taxes on 95 percent of working families.
What he didn't say and is that that leaves taxes to be raised on business. And so if you get a paycheck from a business or if you buy anything from a business, guess who's going to end up paying?
And I think what you're going to hear Republicans say, look, Barack Obama's, you know, is a little bit of a trick here. He says he's not going to take water out of your side of the bucket, he's going to take it out of the other side of the bucket. And you know, we're all in the same bucket. And I think most people understand that.
The other thing, I think, is he made a claim last night that it's going to, I think, require a little bit more investigation. He said -- he basically said that if Washington doesn't help you, you're on your own in America.
And that's a pretty strong statement, you know? That means that churches don't help you, that means your community doesn't help you, that means your neighbor doesn't help you.
HARRIS: Yes.
CASTELLANOS: The only way to get anything done in America is to send your money to Washington.
HARRIS: Yes.
CASTELLANOS: Let it travel all around the bureaucracy and then try to get it back to somewhere and actually government may not be the best way to help people in a lot of situations.
HARRIS: Well, Alex, I would love to take a moment -- OK, great, I have another moment. We're going to get to John Roberts in just a couple of moments.
But, in terms of the tax issues that you raised from the speech last night, do you take him at his word where he says that let me find and close some of these loopholes. Let me make corporations more responsible for the taxes that they rightly owe each and every one of us in this country.
Do you take him at his word that before he increases taxes in other areas, on the top 1, 5 percent, before he increases rates for corporations, that he will at least look to see where loopholes can be closed and where folks who owe pay?
CASTELLANOS: I think there's --
HARRIS: Do you take his word on that?
CASTELLANOS: Absolutely. I sure would. And I think I would take both sides at their words on that. I think both sides have been very clear that bringing a little bit more tax fairness is something that the nation has really reached consensus on. So I would expect Democrats and Republicans to try to achieve that.
HARRIS: Yes, Alex, great to see you. Thanks for your time this morning. And I know we'll be talking to you a lot next week.
We're going to take a break. More of our coverage of, boy, so much politics today. Who is John McCain's choice for number two on his ticket? We're going to be talking to John Roberts in Denver in just a couple of moments.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris.
HARRIS: Bottom of the hour, welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Heidi Collins is on assignment.
Campaign crossroads in the presidential race this morning. Republican John McCain set to announce his choice of a running mate. We could find out any moment who it is. And we will bring you that information as soon as we get it right here in the NEWSROOM.
And, Democrat Barack Obama, hitting the campaign trail after his history-making nomination. He is the first African-American to lead a major party ticket in the presidential race. Obama and running mate Joe Biden will hold a rally in Pennsylvania this evening.
John Roberts will be joining us in just a couple of minutes from Denver.
But before we get to John, we need to get the very latest -- on tropical storm Gustav, on track to enter the gulf coast here soon. There he is, Reynolds Wolf in the severe weather center.
Reynolds, good to see you.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. Tony, the latest we have for you is a C-130, a specifically-designed C-130 just flew out of Homestead, Florida, not a long time ago, made its way south of Cuba and did a great deal of investigating of Gustav and now has some new information that we're sharing with you at this time.
The latest we have of the storm, it's still a tropical storm with winds of 65 miles an hour, some gusts have been stronger, and going to 75. It is moving slowly to the west-northwest at around 8 miles an hour. Not really well-defined at this point because of it's interaction with land, parts of Jamaica. But once the storm moves a little bit more to the west-northwest over open water with minimal sheer in very warm water, we do anticipate the storm is going to intensify.
The latest path we have from the National Hurricane Center shows basically the same story. The storm is getting stronger, moving west- northwest, and notice, as we get into both Saturday and then into Sunday, this storm will intensify from a category one jumping to a category three, moving right across the Yucatan Peninsula or at least the Yucatan Channel, and then back into the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf of Mexico, it is going to move into another environment, very similar to what you'll find in the Caribbean -- very warm water, minimal sheer environment, possibility of it strengthening, once again, retaining that major hurricane status with winds of 125 miles an hour at 2:00 a.m. Monday.
Now, the way it stands right now, this path has it going closer to New Orleans and into parts of southern Louisiana. But you'll notice, the latest model of this latest forecast's path has been moving right -- I would say just southwest of New Orleans, still is a category three, but weakening a little bit with winds of 115 miles an hour as we get to 2:00 a.m. Tuesday. OK, that's the National Hurricane Center.
One thing I want to you to remember is that there's a very good possibility the storm may veer a little bit farther to the, say, the east, maybe even the west. You'll notice this big white area. To our viewers at home, we refer to this as the cone of uncertainty, which means that, well -- there's a chance room for error. There's a chance the storm could move off just a little more to the east or west. Just a few degrees of fluctuation of movement down towards Cuba could really mean later on hundreds of miles of differences as to where the storm may end up.
So, what we have to do is just watch this thing very carefully. I think we're going to have a much better idea where it might be headed as we get into, say, Sunday and, of course, into Monday. For the latest, we have the storm, again, still a tropical storm, expected to intensify, and one that is still very dangerous -- over 50 people lost their lives because of (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: Reynolds, just a quick question here. We were talking earlier that -- boy, the models are really good at predicting path and you're on top of that all the time, what is not so exact at this point is the ability to predict intensity. And even with the path you're looking at now, boy, what you tell me all the time is it is the northeast quadrant of these storms that is so dangerous. And even on the path that we're looking at now -- hello -- we're talking about the northeast quadrant impacting and maybe making a bit of landfall there --
WOLF: See, you're absolutely right. Tony, you're absolutely --
HARRIS: Well, because I spend so much time with you.
WOLF: Yes.
HARRIS: I want to know this stuff.
WOLF: Well, I mean, you'll remember to take our viewers back to Katrina. Katrina, you'll remember, made its way to the east of New Orleans, actually making landfall back up into parts of Mississippi. Actually, New Orleans was affected by the weaker half of the storm. But still, you know the outcome. You know how bad it was for New Orleans.
Now in this scenario, if it were to follow this route or just move somewhere just west of New Orleans, New Orleans -- forget about a direct hit -- certainly would bear a great deal of a brunt of this storm system, not as catastrophic as, say, a direct hit, but still, we're talking a major hurricane. Still the strong side of the storm is a tremendous fear for many people. And this is why people all along the gulf coast are taking this seriously.
One quick very point to make with you, Tony, one very, very quick point -- you'll remember with hurricane Charlie back in 2005, the storm was headed -- or rather 2004 -- headed right for Tampa Bay, all the models were showing it going right towards Tampa, and then boom, it made that quick turn right across Florida, defied all logic.
HARRIS: Yes.
WOLF: There's reason to believe this storm could do the same thing. There's no reason to say this storm couldn't veer off deeper into the gulf, maybe go back towards Florida. A lot of things could change -- back to you.
HARRIS: OK, Reynolds. Appreciate it. Thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
HARRIS: We've been promising John Roberts throughout the morning here. He's wrapped up his duties with "AMERICAN MORNING" and he is joining us now from Denver.
John, I cannot imagine you've been able to get much sleep this week. I know how much you love this. I know how much you love politics in general and these campaigns for the presidency, in particular. I'm just sort of curious, and we'll talk about McCain and his V.P. choice in our time together, but I'm just curious as to some of your thoughts on what has been a terrific week, it seems to me for the Democrats.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, let me preface that by saying, Tony, that when you come at it from an absolutely objective perspective and, you know, put aside partisan politics here.
HARRIS: Sure.
ROBERTS: When you look at what happened last night in INVESCO Field, it is an extraordinary political event. This is the seventh convention that I've covered. I've covered them on both sides. And I've not seen anything like we saw last evening.
Certainly, I've been in the hall of Republican conventions and Democratic conventions where the candidates have given very, very good speeches to very good reception by the people who are in the hall, but what happened last night in INVESCO Field took it to another level.
I guess you could say it was almost a sort of back to the future type of thing because in 1960, John Kennedy did something similar at the Los Angeles Coliseum. However, the coverage of that at the time -- well, people across the country didn't see it -- it wasn't the saturation coverage that we've seen now. Not the same technology, not the ability to reach out in the way that not only the campaign did last night, but individuals who are inside. They were on their BlackBerrys and on their cell phones texting each other.
It was an extraordinary example of the power of a campaign to be able to take the singular event and translate it across the country. There were some concerns in a lot of these, to be completely honest, were floated by Republican operatives trying to diminish the impact of what happened last night.
HARRIS: Sure.
ROBERTS: That the setting would only seem to amplify concerns about Barack Obama being all about celebrity and nothing about substance, and the fact that if you put a single person on a stage in a massive football stadium, it may actually diminish their stature because when you take the great big picture, you don't see a football team or you don't see a rock band, you see a singular figure on the stage.
But looking at it on television, looking at it from inside the arena last night, everything just seemed from a production standpoint, at the very least, to come together. And we even had Republicans this morning agreeing that there's just nothing that you could criticize about the presentation of that.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Our Leslie Sanchez this morning said being in there was like being in the middle of a massive Barack Obama snow globe.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Where there are differences is in the message and the substance of the speech.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Democrats believe -- Democrats believe that Barack Obama absolutely addressed every concern that there is about him raised by Democrats, raised by Republicans. Republicans say that this is back to the same old deception; it's at odds with his record what he was saying last night. So while there seems to be unanimous agreement about the presentation -- and this was an acceptance speech for the ages -- you get the disagreement on the substance here.
HARRIS: Sure, sure.
ROBERTS: That's where you can parse things back-and-forth depending on the person that you're looking at, period.
HARRIS: Well, John, I'm going to -- please stay with us. We are lining up all of your guests and making sure that we get those folks to you as quickly as we can. Stay there, if you would. We're going to bring in our Dana Bash. And as you know, Dana has been working the story of John McCain's VP pick.
We understand that he has made it, we don't know who that pick is. And, Dana, you've been working really hard to try to get that answer from a campaign that doesn't want to give it up. DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are being radio silent, as we like to say. It is unbelievable, you know, it's pretty much impossible to find anybody to answer an e-mail or a cell phone. Most of them are actually off right now.
You know, we were reporting earlier about this mysterious plane that we know arrived from Anchorage, Alaska, here in Ohio about 25 miles from Dayton where I am and where John McCain is going to have hi rally with his V.P. pick in just an hour, about 2 1/2 hours from now. And the reason that was mysterious to us is because it is the home state of Governor Sarah Palin.
Governor Sarah Palin had been somebody who had been talked about for John McCain's running mate a while back, hasn't been out there high on the list in terms of the buzz of contenders lately. But at this point, some sources -- and I want to make clear -- who are not inside the campaign, but who are knowledgeable about this are kind of nudging us back in that direction towards a possible -- possible pick of Sarah Palin.
Now, again, we have been talking about this, Tony, all morning about the fact that there are some head fakes here.
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: And about the fact that they're very interested in creating this drama as we lead up to this rally that we are going to have at noon Eastern here in Dayton. But that is sort of another interesting thing that we're not losing sight of, not losing sight of -- the possibility that it could be the Alaskan governor. She is somebody who is a lot -- just to tell you very quickly.
HARRIS: No, no, take your time.
BASH: They're saying, yes, they're saying, you know, who is Sarah Palin? She's very young, she's 44 years old, she's a first-term governor, she is very conservative on social issues, she's very conservative on fiscal issues. She actually -- if you read her bio, she sounds a lot like a young female John McCain who has spent a lot of time fighting corruption when she was a small town mayor in Alaska. And she's a she.
And as we know, the McCain campaign has been trying to figure out ways to steal Hillary Clinton voters for the general election. Having said all of that, we are still waiting for final confirmation.
HARRIS: Right.
BASH: That is something that we're looking at as part of the tea leaves, and it also is interesting, given the fact that we were told earlier today and in fact, a conversation I had with somebody close to the campaign, close to the senator yesterday that we should look for what this person called a "transformational figure" -- somebody who is not been out there in the conversations and in our chatter over the past couple of weeks, that (INAUDIBLE). HARRIS: Well, that's, Dana, that's very interesting. Yes, that's very interesting. We're going to talk to Ed Henry in just a couple of moments. But let me ask you this -- John King was with us, as you know, a short time ago.
And he was talking about Sarah Palin, and some indications that she might still be in Alaska and then there was the immediate e-mail pushing back -- I wouldn't write her off, I wouldn't write her off -- I'm wondering as we attempt just to drill down on the possible choices here, John also mentioned that Tim Pawlenty has received the call, "You were not the choice," have you received any e-mails pushing back and suggesting, "You're going with that a little too quickly"?
BASH: No, there was no indication and I was going to mention some of the people that we can start to rule out.
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: That's one of them that I was going to mention. Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota who had been somebody we've been talking about for quite some time. He -- you heard John McCain report that he actually, from a source, did get a call from John McCain making clear he's not going to be his running mate and that was alluded to be Pawlenty himself this morning on his own radio show back in Minnesota saying he's not coming to Dayton.
The other person we should be talking about because we've been talking about for so long is the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, John McCain's former rival. He is not coming to Dayton according to a source close to Romney that I spoke to. Indications are that he is not likely to be John McCain's running mate.
HARRIS: Yes.
BASH: So, that's what we have right now in terms of the two-- probably the two most frequently talked about potential contenders for this slot with John McCain over the past couple of weeks (INAUDIBLE).
HARRIS: And, Dana, when we talk to you again, maybe we can sort of get at the question of why not Tim Pawlenty, why not Mitt Romney -- as we try to figure out who, in fact, is the number two pick.
Dana, appreciate it as always, thank you.
And John McCain will officially introduce his running mate at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, today. Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is there.
Ed, if you would set the scene from the location, I know you're working all of your sources. So, big guy, tell me what you have for us this morning.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you can see the crowd building behind me. The excitement, I can tell you, the lines are snaked around this building here this building, the Nutter Center here in Dayton, Ohio. A much larger crowd than I've seen on the road for John McCain. You know, when he has town hall meetings, he has a much smaller crowd, more intimate.
And, you know, he's been wrapping Barack Obama with those celebrity ads saying he's all about the big crowds. This is a pretty big crowd; they're expecting about 15,000 people. Who knows? It could be more. And I think the bottom line is, as Dana was pointing out, it's just like we saw with Barack Obama last week.
HARRIS: Yes.
HENRY: You eventually get this through the process of elimination, Tony. And a lot of the folks who are not coming here, it's clear it's not going to be them, and that's why you start focusing on other people.
A lot of people have been talking about a game-changer, sort of outside the box pick, might be something like Joe Leiberman, an independent Democrat, but, of course, he supports abortion rights. And a lot of conservatives, Rush Limbaugh is saying that would lead to the destruction of the Republican Party.
Sarah Palin is somebody as the Alaska governor, a relative new-comer, but she's somebody that conservatives would be very happy with, and obviously one of the keys for John McCain will be turning out the conservative base. Conservatives have been suspicious of him. Turning out that base will be critical for him in states like Ohio right here, Tony.
HARRIS: You know, there is -- there is a historic aspect to, obviously, to a Sarah Palin choice. That can't be lost on the McCain campaign.
HENRY: Of course.
HARRIS: Does that, as we attempt to sort of go through the process of elimination, is that something that argues in her favor?
HENRY: Well, look, that would obviously be a strength for her. You can see the crowd starting to get a little excited here as they get closer. It's still a couple of hours away. But symbolically, this would get it out there again on all the front pages.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
HENRY: And get our conversation, chattering about not just the historic nature for the second time it would be, and it's not there yet, but it would be a woman being on a national ticket after Geraldine Ferraro, of course, in 1984 on the Democratic side. But also symbolically, it would get us chattering about the fact that, once again, reminding voters out there, angry Hillary Clinton supporters, Barack Obama did not pick Hillary Clinton.
So John McCain would be going after Hillary Clinton supporters with this move. It would also get out what we've been hearing from some McCain advisers that to underline his sort of maverick image, he's been thinking about an outside-the-box pick. Again, a lot of people have been thinking, well, maybe that means Tom Ridge, that means Joe Leiberman, but they, again, support abortion rights.
Sarah Palin is somebody who conservatives would be a lot happier with. So, there'd be a historic nature to it if it happened, and there'd also be a practical political nature, which would be John McCain would be making a statement about Barack Obama not picking Hillary Clinton. And he would be going after a lot of women in the suburbs in states like Ohio here, Michigan, all across the country, and saying, "He didn't pick a woman, I did."
HARRIS: And you want to talk about a great-looking family, Sarah Palin has a great-looking family. And there he is -- our White House correspondent, Ed Henry.
John McCain will announce his V.P. choice in that room right there where Ed Henry is at noon Eastern Time. And of course, we will have it for you right here in the newsroom.
When we come back, more on Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin -- in just a moment.
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HARRIS: Well, John McCain's short list of V.P. candidates is down to just one name. He has made his decision, and we could find out his choice at any minute. McCain officially introduces his running mate at a rally in Dayton, Ohio in just over two ours.
A live shot of the hall right now, we will take you there live, of course. And our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is there; our Dana Bash is in Dayton as well.
In the meantime, our reporters and correspondents are working their sources to find out McCain's choice. We want to get you to one of our correspondents, one of our contributors to CNN NEWSROOM -- Josh Levs.
And, Josh, one of the things that -- I know you're working all things to Sarah Palin at this time and one of the things that's helpful for us is that I had to be clear on the pronunciation of her name this morning. And it's Palin. I was reminded by one of our superiors, it's Palin like Van Halen because you look at the spelling, is it Palin, is it Palen.
And you've been working the Web sites to get even more information on Alaska's governor.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's the perfect sign, Tony. I mean, we know so little about her we actually have to use a Van Halen reference to make sure we're saying the potential V.P. nominee's name correctly. That really is stunning.
Plus, I'd just want to say at the top, I've been talking to you for days about some of the dark horse candidates. I think I mention Sarah Palin only once instead of some others who got four or five mentions. This really is fascinating. I'm also going to hyper-emphasize, folks, who just tuning in, we don't know who John McCain's V.P. might be -- a lot to speculation on Sarah Palin. Right now, let's go into the board, I'm going to show some stuff. It's going to interest you, we're going to start off with this blog right here, some folks who have been pushing for her to be the GOP nominee. Right here, "Draft Sarah Palin for vice president," and this comes from PalinforVP.blogspot.com. Of course, as you can imagine, they're very excited today.
I also want to jump over here, this is another blog we're jumping at, RightPundits.com. They're talking about her a lot this morning, of course. Now, I'm going to do something I've never done before on the air.
I'm going to show you a Web site that's not coming up. This is her official Web site. I've been trying to get on this thing all morning. Look at this.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: This is the governor of Alaska's Web site. Yes, folks, we're CNN, but we still don't have secret way -
HARRIS: Is that just a time-out? Did it crash? What do you think that is?
LEVS: Dude, I have been trying to get on this thing all morning.
HARRIS: Yes, it sounds like a crash, right?
LEVS: By the way, earlier this week, it was fine. I had no trouble getting there. But, I want to show you some mails we got.
We're going to toss to some sound in a moment. This is from you're CNN Political Ticker, as you know, best place to get political news all day long. June 26th when we spoke with her about V.P. speculation surrounding her, here she is. Let's toss to the sound right now, let's hear what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) ALASKA: They mentioned my name. They also mentioned other governors' names. So, I'm thankful for that because I do think there needs to be a governor on the ticket, a governor's there on front line, administering bureaucracy, and setting good policy for the people whom they are serving. They know how to run governments.
So, I think it needs to be a governor. Personally, for me, you know, I think, I've said this before, it seems so out of the realm of possibility. I feel like I don't even have to answer your question. But at some point in my life I would like to have an opportunity if it's handed me to serve on a national level. I don't think it's going to happen this go-around, though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: I'm going to emphasize, that's from two months ago, on June 26th. A lot has happened since then.
Tony, before I bring it back to you, I want to show you two more things. First of all at iReport.com, some people are talking about her. I found interesting quote right here, "Sarah is a great choice." I don't think that question mark is supposed to be there because this person goes on to say, "She's very popular, has 87 percent rating, she'd be wonderful for the McCain campaign."
And the last thing I want to show you, the political market, where people bet on whom might ultimately get the GOP slot, over here we have the veepstakes. And if you look at these lines, the green line is Sarah Palin.
HARRIS: Yes.
LEVS: So, all of the sudden, all these people, obviously, as a result of speculation, suddenly guessing that it's going to be her. If you look at the lines for everybody else, they're suddenly shooting downward. So, clearly, a lot of people in on the speculation, but we don't know.
HARRIS: We don't, we don't.
All right, Josh, appreciate it. And you get some more information because we want as much as we can get. Look, we don't even have a backgrounder on her prepared and ready to go because it is a name that for a lot of us feels a bit -- we heard her name surface maybe a month or so ago, maybe two months ago and then it seemed to fall off the radar a bit. But it is there, again, now prominently.
All right, Josh. Appreciate it.
LEVS: Well, we got a lot coming, we got the background. It's all coming your way.
HARRIS: Oh, good. I appreciate it. I need it this morning.
All right. Let's get you back to Denver right now and our John Roberts.
And, John, I heard you talking about Sarah Palin this morning when the name surfaced again. And, you know some things about her and some things about where she cut her political chops.
ROBERTS: Well, she, you know, I talked to her a couple of times, and mostly we talked to her about things that have been going on in Alaska. We haven't talked about national politics. But she's the youngest governor ever in Alaska's history, she's the first woman. She's only been in office for a couple of years now, which really raises the experience issue here.
Now, of course, Republicans have been raising the experience issue about Senator Obama, experience is not quite so important when you're talking about a vice president, except if in the case that John McCain today turned 72 years old. And one of the prerequisites, we'd like to believe a prerequisites for picking a vice presidential running mate, a person who can step into the office at a moment's notice and not missed a beat, a person who is prepared to be president of the United States.
Now, she is a manager, she is the governor of the state. She does have limited experience though. She's also been the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. And for a time, she was the ethics chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. But that does not add up to broad experience, particularly the type of broad experience that you think could launch you to the national level.
So, it would be a very interesting pick in terms of the dynamic that it would create next week at the Republican National Convention. You know, all of the speculation about whether Barack Obama was going to choose a woman and didn't, chose Joe Biden.
John McCain, all the speculation has been whether he is going to pick, perhaps, a crossover independent-type of candidate like a Joe Lieberman or a Tom Ridge. If he picked a woman, that would certainly create an interesting dynamic.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Maybe the fact that he has got the depth of political experience would take away some of those questions about her experience -- again, though, with the caveat that you want to have a vice president who can step right into the job.
HARRIS: Terrific analysis. And, John, we'll see you in just a couple of minutes at the top of the hour. John Roberts from Denver for us.
You know, it is Friday, time to recognize the news maker who helped shape the week. Today, shared recognition for two political rivals, Democrat Barack Obama, he becomes the fist African-American to win the presidential nomination of a major party. His impassion speech last night calling for unity and change. Today, grabbing the spotlight Republican John McCain, he chooses a running mate and rounds out his ticket. The final piece is now in place for a tight presidential race.
This is America Votes 2008, and we will be right back with more of the breaking news of the morning.
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