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Ballot Bowl 2008
Palin Discusses Bush's War on Terror; Obama Speaks about the Financial Crisis; McCain Gives his View on the Financial Crisis; House Republicans Give an Update on Bailout Negotiations
Aired September 27, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Dana Bash coming to you from the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss in Oxford, this, of course, was the site of last night's debate and the election today is just 38 days away. And here on BALLOT BOWL, what we do, we bring you the candidates, sometimes live, sometimes taped but always unfiltered. Today we are talking about the campaign still rolling on. We want to bring in my league, Suzanne Malveaux. She's going to be co-anchoring with me today on BALLOT BOWL. Obviously we're talking about last night's debate. But today the candidates are already out, or at least one of them is.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dana, it's fascinating. I love this story because on the one hand you're chasing McCain, figuring out who's going to show up. I'm here on campus with all the excitement and the drama just anticipating this debate. Obviously, it happened and a lot of people were watching this. Already the Obama campaign seems to be claiming victory. There was a conference call this morning where they were saying that not only passes commander in chief test but he flew by it. We're really kind of getting a sense, they are capitalizing on the debate and we are already seeing Obama and his running mate Joe Biden on the trail. This is in Greensboro, North Carolina. This is where they are talking about one of the highlights of last night. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last night we had a debate. And on issue after issue from taxes to health care to the war in Iraq, you heard John McCain make the case for more of the same. The same policies that got us into this mess. But just as important as what we heard from John McCain was what we didn't hear from John McCain. He talked about the economy for 40 minutes, and not once did Senator McCain talk about the struggles of middle class families. Not once did he talk about what they're facing every day right here in North Carolina and around the country. He defended the plan to give $300 billion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans but he had nothing to say about the fact that wages have flat-lined and jobs are being shipped overseas. He didn't have anything to say about that. He railed against some study on bears in Montana. That's a old line he's been using since the beginning of this campaign. But he had nothing to say about the fact that more and more Americans can't afford to pay for their college education. Can't afford health care for their families, can't afford a retirement that is dignified and secure. Senator McCain spoke again and again about the need to keep spending $10 billion in Iraq. And he said nothing about the need to end this war so we could invest in good jobs and rebuild roads and bridges and put broadband lines all across rural North Carolina, all across America, so we can be competitive for the future. He didn't talk about that.
The truth is, through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me. But he had nothing to say about you. Didn't even say the word middle class. Didn't say the word working people. See, I think Senator McCain just doesn't get it. He doesn't get this crisis on Wall Street. He doesn't get the fact that it hit Main Street long ago. That's why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in a generation was to say that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. That's why he's been shifting solutions these last two weeks, looking for a photo-op, and trying to figure out what to say and what to do. He doesn't really know what to do. He hasn't been clear what to say. Well, North Carolina, I know what we need to do. We need to stop giving tax cuts to corporations and CEOs on Wall Street and start standing up for families on Main Street. We need to turn the page on the failed policies of the last eight years and finally put working people first. And that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Barack Obama, out of Greensboro, North Carolina, talking about the specifics about the economy. Also, of course, mentioning last night's debate. The Obama campaign believes that they can really capitalize off the momentum from last night. Even poll numbers backing it up. Many different polls showing that people thought that perhaps Barack Obama won this debate. Hard to tell really if there's a winner or a loser in all of this. But they are very confident that as they try to build on this, that they will gain some momentum.
BASH: Obviously, what they came here for was a debate on foreign policy. That was the initial subject that they were supposed to talk about for the entire 90 minutes but they talked about, obviously, the economy for about 40 minutes. No surprise, because that was the issue and has been the issue that has dominated and will continue to dominate. However, the McCain campaign, they were actually hoping to come here and use foreign policy and use the issue that everybody admits that is John McCain's strong point, right?
MALVEAUX: Sure.
BASH: That absolutely was a topic last night and specifically, no surprise, the war in Iraq. Let's listen to some of the exchanges about the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: John, it's been your president, who you said you agreed with 90 percent of the time, who presided over this increase in spending, this orgy of spending and enormous deficits. And you voted for almost all of his budgets. So to stand here after eight years and say that you're going to lead on controlling spending and, you know, balancing our tax cuts so that they help middle class families when over the last eight years that hasn't happened I think just is, you know, kind of hard to swallow.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have opposed the president on spending, on climate change, on torture of prisoners, on Guantanamo Bay on a long -- on the way that the Iraq war was conducted. I have a long record and the American people know me very well and that is independent and a maverick of the senate, and I'm happy to say that I've got a partner that's a good maverick along with me now.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, that obviously was not a discussion about the war in Iraq. That was a discussion about the economy. As we talked about, Suzanne, the economy was about 40 minutes at the beginning of this debate. And they were trying to, Jim Lehrer was trying to pin them down on where the two candidates stood on the bailout package. It was hard to do. Because there is no package.
MALVEAUX: Neither one of them could really do that, because obviously there are still negotiations that are going on in Washington but both of them really trying to seize the mantle here leadership, saying well I'm the one who's out in front of this. As you know, you followed McCain all over the country, and Washington before he got here, to this debate, to demonstrate that. It will be interesting to see what the voters think about who really takes the leadership role in this.
BASH: Absolutely. As we speak, you mentioned this earlier, Barack Obama is on the campaign trail. He's in North Carolina. What the McCain campaign is trying to do is insert him back into the economy because they realize that they don't have a choice. He's invested right now in what's going on in Capitol Hill. He's actually back in Washington right now. He's at his campaign headquarters but we expect him to go back to the hill where negotiations are in full swing. He's not a part of those negotiations. He won't be a part of them. But what his campaign is saying is that he is on the phone, he's making calls from the campaign headquarters. He's in touch with leaders. They are really trying to build up the idea that McCain -- if nothing else, brokered getting everybody back to the table. Obviously, there are a lot of people on Capitol Hill, mostly democrats, who say no, no, no, no. It's because John McCain left that we're back at the table. This is so political, it's hard to see what's reality and what isn't here.
MALVEAUX: I bet.
BASH: These negotiations, you know, are obviously critically important but everybody's playing politics here.
MALVEAUX: I know a lot of people here are just leading up to this debate and wondering what was going to happen were really angry. These were McCain supporters and republicans, as you know, in this state. Really, this is red McCain country, were really upset that the debate, felt it was somewhat rude that they didn't know whether or not he was even going to show up, whether or not this was really leadership at all. Considering that there was a deal that was made and he reversed himself on this.
BASH: Meanwhile, we're talking about the economy, but again, last night a big, big part of the debate, most of the debate was about foreign policy. And what divides these candidates more than the war in Iraq. Not just whether to go in but also the strategy right now and what to do. What would be on their plate if and when one of them becomes president. How do you deal with getting the troops out and as both of them say, doing it in a safe way that has some kind of V at the end, victory. So let's hear now some of the candidates' exchange on the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: Senator Obama said the surge could not work, said it would increase sectarian violence, said it was doomed to failure. Recently on a television program he said it exceeded our wildest expectations. But yet after conceding that, he still says that he would oppose the surge if he had to decide that again today. Incredibly, Senator Obama didn't go to Iraq for 900 days and never asked for a meeting with General Petraeus.
OBAMA: John, you like to pretend that the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge, the war started in 2003. And at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy, you said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were, you were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni and you were wrong.
(END OF VIDEO CL IP)
BASH: Now that was the exchange over the war in Iraq. That was just part of a very, very interesting, very important because it was the first debate between these two men, the first of three that we're going to see over the next several weeks. But if you want to watch this debate again or if you want to watch it perhaps for the first time, you can watch it right here on CNN tonight. It is going to be on at 10 o'clock eastern, 7 o'clock pacific. So tune in if you want to catch this 90 minute debate tonight.
MALVEAUX: Also coming up after this quick break of BALLOT BOWL, we're going to listen to their running mates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. They are squaring off, obviously getting ready for perhaps a contentious debate of their own this Thursday. Both of these candidates speaking out on the economy as well as foreign policy. Both of them preparing for that big day, just days ahead. This right after this brief break as CNN's BALLOT BOWL continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BASH: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Dana Bash here at the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. This, of course, is the site of last night's very first presidential debate. I'm here with my co-anchor, Suzanne Malveaux. We also have Bill Schneider, the guru of polls and knower of all things public opinion. We obviously at BALLOT BOWL like to see and hear the candidates in their own words but obviously we want to also take a little bit of a snapshot, especially considering the import of last night of how people think that these two candidates did. Specifically, we want to start on the subject that wasn't supposed to be the topic of the debate but obviously it was something that they can't afford to not talk about, which is the financial crisis.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That was the first topic of the debate. We interviewed debate viewers immediately after the debate. This is not the national public. These are people who watched the debate and they were a little bit more democratic than voters across the country as a whole. Now, we talked to them about who would do a better job handling the financial crisis. John McCain talked about abuses of the process, whereas Barack Obama talked more about problems in the policy of deregulation, which he thought let Wall Street business people do too much that abused the process. Who do they think would do a better job handling the financial crisis? The answer was, Obama by a sizable margin, 18 points, 54 percent said Obama, 36 percent said McCain. The other topic that got a lot of discussion was the war in Iraq. John McCain criticized Barack Obama for not acknowledging the success of the surge, where as Obama said that McCain got the whole war wrong way back in 2003. Who did the debate viewers believe would better handle the war in Iraq? This was a little bit closer. It's a foreign policy issue, where McCain generally has a strong standing. But even on this issue, the debate viewers said Obama has the edge 52 to 47 percent.
MALVEAUX: And the Obama camp, when they saw those numbers, really thought this is very significant. Because this is his home turf. This is what they said was really his strength, McCain's strength was national security, foreign policy, overall when you look at these numbers, is there a winner, is there a loser in this debate?
SCHNEIDER: Who did a better job in the debate? When we asked the debate viewers that question, they did give a clearer answer. Obama 51 percent, McCain 38. That's a 13-point margin and it's a very sizable margin. At least among the people who were watching the debate, Obama came out as the winner. Here's an interesting reason why they felt that way. We asked them, which of the candidates do you think is more in touch with the problems of people like you? That's an empathy question. Who do they feel was closer to them and understood them better? And that was the biggest margin of all, by almost 30 points. The viewers of the debate said Obama, not McCain, Obama was more in touch with them and their problems.
MALVEAUX: Their issues, those are their economic issues, their concerns, their struggles that they're having in their lives.
SCHNEIDER: By that they are almost certainly talking about the economic issue, since they are giving those issues much higher priority than foreign policy.
BASH: I want to ask you about this poll. Obviously it's a snapshot but not only that you see in these polls and all four that you just showed Obama doing much better than McCain. A lot more in the sample of the people who answered the questions were democrats than republicans, correct? SCHNEIDER: Yes, there were more democrats. The democrats were more numerous in the voting population but their margin among debate viewers was even larger than that. Which indicates that the people who watched were much more likely to be self-selected as democrats. We can't immediately generalize this to the public as a whole. This is only debate viewers. But the fact that the debate made a strong impression on the viewers and that they were even more democratic, more pro-Obama coming out of the debate than they were going in, indicates that Obama made some headway in the debate.
MALVEAUX: It was interesting too, because Obama keeps getting this wrap from the McCain camp that he's elitist, he's out of touch that he's not relating to people. The poll numbers are showing, at least for the debate, that they believe he really did relate. One of the things that the Obama campaign is doing, they put out an add today called zero. And it simply says 90 minutes debate, zero times that McCain talked about middle class. They believe they can capitalize off these numbers and at least off that perception last night that he connected to the issues that people really are thinking about, that really matter to them.
BASH: It could be. Certainly, it is interesting. All of these numbers are interesting, I think even most interesting -- most of the people who watch this debate are democrats and they are the ones who answered the questions.
SCHNEIDER: That's right.
BASH: Very interesting.
Thank you, Bill for that. We will have you back in the next hour. Now we want to go to Capitol Hill. The campaign trail spilled onto Capitol Hill this week. Capitol Hill spilled onto the campaign trail. Now even during the weekend, the talks over how and whether and when to bail out Wall Street, they are going under way right now. We want to go to Kate Bolduan, who is on Capitol Hill following every single development that's going on today. I think the news, Kate, is that there are developments, right?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Dana, exactly. We have been hearing over and over again, we are making progress, we are making progress. But we do see real developments happening here on Capitol Hill today. The four principal negotiators, these are lawmakers in both the house and the senate from both the democratic and republican party, they will be sitting down later today to really hammer out the proposal that we have been hearing so much about, proposals, counterproposals and they are really going to get down and talk about the details. What's been going on all day? Talks have continued specifically democratic and republican aides on the staff level have been sitting down to go through a lot of these proposals and try to figure out what they agree on, what they don't agree on and what are the unresolved issues. Those unresolved issues that we hear are about a dozen of those unresolved issues that are really going to focus the conversation for these principles, when they sit down a little later today. What one of those sticking points that we have been hearing a lot about and I heard again today more about it when I was speaking with some lawmakers is this idea of how to finance the bailout. The proposal that came from the treasury secretary talked about financing the bailout through buying up -- the government buying up these mortgage assets from troubled financial institutions. Well, house republicans came out strongly against that saying that they also want private funding to be part of it. They don't want the taxpayers to be on the hook for such a potentially high price tag. They want something that could look like a government -- a government-backed insurance plan or loan that would require private funding. And that's one of the sticking points that we can be assured they will be talking about today. But what we've heard is after this, along with this principals meeting, we are hearing that they are hoping to have a single plan to come out to announce and agree on by 6:00, before 6:00 tomorrow, which would be before the Asian markets open for the Monday markets.
BASH: An important goal indeed. Kate, thank you very much. We know that you are running around the marble hallways there and trying to figure out every development throughout the afternoon and unfortunately sounds like throughout the evening. We will get back to you for sure. Thanks Kate.
MALVEAUX: We're also going to be hearing from the running mates for the candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin after a very quick break. Both of them addressing the economy as well as national security. Both of them obviously gearing up for Thursday's big debate where they square off. This brief break of BALLOT BOWL continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL, I'm Suzanne Malveaux here in Oxford, Mississippi. The site of the first presidential debate. Today the candidates wasting no time going back on the trail. Barack Obama, his running mate Joe Biden, both of them in Greensboro, North Carolina. That is where they are hitting McCain hard on issues over the economy. Obviously, the bailout plan as well as the financial crisis. Take a quick listen to Joe Biden. This was just within the last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Folks, on the economy -- on the economy, it's also about judgment, ladies and gentlemen. And here again John McCain demonstrated last night, as he's demonstrated the last 20 years, that he is out of touch, that his judgment is wrong. 9:00 a.m. last Monday John McCain said in a speech, the fundamentals of the economy are strong. At 11:00 on Monday John McCain said, two hours later, the economy is in crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, lurching, as he has, literally lurching from one position to another in a matter of hours is not what presidents, not what presidents are to do if they intend on instilling confidence in leading the world. Ladies and gentlemen, leaders at home and abroad looked at that display and they had to wonder, what is going through this man's mind? Ladies and gentlemen, I'll tell you what was going through his mind. He does not instill confidence. Where was John McCain a week ago? Where was John McCain a month ago? Where is John McCain five years ago. Well, I will tell you where John McCain was, where he's been for the past eight years. Tethered to George Bush's failed economic policies. And what were the essence of those policies, lack of oversight, shredding consumer protections, and deregulation. John was telling "The Wall Street Journal", as now he's telling us, the captains of greed, he was bragging to them, and I quote, "I'm always for less regulation." Ladies and gentlemen, John now expects us to believe he is the new maverick legislator that's come to town. Well, you know what we Catholics call that? We call that an epiphany.
Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, as Barack Obama said last night, it's not sufficient just to deal with this serious economic crisis. It's necessary that there be a wholesale, fundamental change in our economic philosophy. Because it is blatantly obvious that the policies of George Bush, supported by John McCain, what they have done to America over the last years has been devastating. Record unemployment, record home foreclosures, record deficits, and a middle class more under siege than any time it has been in the last five years. Ladies and gentlemen, and last night, John McCain's silence was deafening on the middle class. The word, the phrase never parted his lips once. Not one single time.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: There you heard Joe Biden, pretty tough stuff but seizing on the subject of the ad that the Obama campaign has put out today that Suzanne was talking about, the fact that they think it's just wrong for John McCain not to have mentioned the middle class last night. Now, that was Joe Biden, who is campaigning alongside Barack Obama in Greensboro, North Carolina today. On the republican side, neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin is out on the campaign trail. John McCain is in Washington. We expect him to head to Capitol Hill in a short time to at least get a sense up there of the negotiations over the bailout deal. But with regard to Joe Biden's counterpart, Sarah Palin, she's obviously not on the trail but what she's doing today is what she has been doing for the past several days and will for the next several days and that is prepare for the VP debate that she'll have with Biden. That is going to be this Thursday. But what we saw actually this past week is something that we almost never, in fact, maybe even close to never, have seen from Sarah Palin. That is Q&A with reporters traveling with her. She has stayed very, very far away from those of us who follow her on the campaign trail. But this past week when she was in New York, she took some questions from reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every American student needs to come through this area so that especially this younger generation of Americans is -- be in a position of never forgetting what happened here and never repeating, never allowing a repeat of what happens here.
I wish every American would come through here, I wish every world leader would come through here and understand what it is that took place here and, more importantly, how America came together united to commit to never allowing this to happen again.
And here from -- see these good new Yorkers who are rebuilding, not just this area but helping to rebuild America, has been very, very inspiring and encouraging. These are the good Americans who are committed to peace and security and it's been an absolute honor to get to meet these folks today.
UNIDENTIFIED REPROTER: Governor, on the topic of never letting this happen again, do you agree the way the Bush administration carried out the war on terrorism? Is there anything you disagree with them?
PALIN: I agree with the Bush administration that we take the fight to them, we never again let them come on our soil and try to destroy not only our democracy but community, like the community of New York. Never again. Yes, I agree with talking the fight to the terrorists and stopping them over there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think that our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and our continued military presence there is training Islamic extremists?
PALIN: I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security of our nation again because keep the fight over there. Do not let them come over here and attempt again what they have accomplished here. That was some destruction, terrible discussion, on that day. But since September 11, Americans uniting and rebuilding and committing to never letting that happen again.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you support the re-election bids of Ted Stevens and Don Young.
PALIN: Ted Stevens' trial started a couple days ago. We will see where that goes.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPROTER: Do you support...
PALIN: I don't support that until the provisions that Senator McCain has offered are implemented in that, in Paulson's proposal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN NEWS CORRESPODNENT: Again, with Sarah Palin this past week, speaking to reporters at ground zero. Actually covering a couple of issues there, talking -- taking questions from reporters, a very, very rare experience on the campaign trail for Sarah Palin. Today she's not campaigning. She's, again, in Philadelphia preparing for next week's debate with Joe Biden.
Speaking of that, as next week's debate, it is something that everybody, everybody is waiting for in the political world. Sarah Palin and Joe Biden will, of course, face-off on some of the issues and many more that Palin was just talking about. The vice presidential debates on CNN this Thursday. That is where you want to watch, only on CNN, your home for politics.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Coming up next, we will hear from Barack Obama. He's talking about the $700 billion, that's billion dollar bailout plan and what got us there in the first place, the economic crisis, the mess on Wall Street. He said it's all about the Bush administration, an indictment on his economic policies.
We will take a quick listen to Barack Obama after this quick break as "BALLOT BOWL" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL." I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in Oxford, Mississippi, or Ole Miss, the campus as it's called here. It was also the site of the first presidential debate. Obviously, a lot of talk about national security foreign policy but also the economy as well.
Barack Obama spending some time earlier in the week debating, actually prepping for the debate in Clearwater, Florida. That's also where he talked about the financial crisis, who he feels is to blame for this and also some basic principles about protecting taxpayers, homeowners, a need for a bipartisan, independent board to provide oversight of some of those financial institutions.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, there are many to blame for causing the current crisis, starting with the speculators who gamed the system and regulators who looked the other way. But all of us now have a stake in solving it, and saving our financial institutions from collapse because if we don't, the jobs and life savings of millions will be put at risk.
Given that fact, the president's stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar. This is not the time for my- way-or-the-highway intransigence from anybody involved. This is not the time for fear. This is not the time for panic. This is the time for resolve and responsibility and reasonableness.
It is wholly unreasonable to expect that American taxpayers would or should hand this administration or any administration a $700 billion blank check when a lack of oversight or conditions, when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess.
Now that the American people are being called upon to finance some solution, the American people have every right to certain protections and assurances from Washington.
First, the plan must include protections to ensure the taxpayer dollars are not used to further reward the bad behavior of irresponsible CEOs on Wall Street. There's been some talk that some CEOs may refuse to cooperate with this plan if they have to forego multimillion dollar salaries. I cannot imagine a position that's more selfish and more greedy at a time of national crisis.
And I would like to speak directly to those CEOs right now. Do not make that mistake. You are stewards, not only of your companies but of workers and communities all across the country who have put their trust in you. With the enormous rewards you have reaped come certain responsibilities. And we expect and demand that you live up to those responsibilities. This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives.
Second, the power to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money cannot be left to the discretion of one man, no matter who he is or which party he is from. I have great respect for Secretary Paulson, but he cannot act alone. We should set up some sort of independent board that includes some of the most respected figures in our country, chosen by Democrats and Republicans, to provide oversight and accountability at every step of the way. I'm heartened that Secretary Paulson seemed to be softening on this position in his testimony morning.
Third, if taxpayers are being asked to underwrite hundreds of billions of dollars to solve this crisis, they must be treated like investors. The American people should share in the upside as Wall Street recovers. There are different ways to accomplish this, including putting equity into those firms instead of buying their troubled assets.
Regardless of how you structure the plan, if the government makes any kind of profit on the deal, we must give back every penny to taxpayers who put the money in the first place. After the economy recovers, we should institute a financial stability fee on the entire financial services industry to repay any losses to the American and make sure we are never asked again to try to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes. We can ask taxpayers to make an investment in the stability of our economy, but we cannot ask them to hand their money over to Wall Street without some expectation of being made whole.
Fourth, the final plan must provide help to families who are struggling to stay in their homes. We cannot bail out Wall Street without helping the millions of innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure or, for that matter, are seeing home values decline.
There are a number of ways to accomplish this. For example, we should consider giving government the authority to purchase mortgages directly instead of simply purchasing mortgage-backed securities. In the past, such an approach has allowed taxpayers to profit as the housing market recovered. This is not simply a question of looking out for homeowners. It's doubtful that the economy as a whole can recover without the restoration of our housing sector, including a rebound in the home values that have suffered dramatically in recent months.
Finally, the American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do about the problems on Wall Street. I have repeatedly called on president Bush and the Republican and Democratic leadership to join me in supporting an economic stimulus plan for working families, a plan that would help folks cope with rising food and gas prices, save one million jobs by rebuilding our schools and our roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and help homeowners stay in their homes.
Now let me be clear. I do not believe we should include the stimulus package in the emergency plan being negotiated, but as we solve the immediate crisis on Wall Street, we do need to move with speed and dispatch with the same sense of urgency to help Main Street. It is absolutely wrong to suggest we cannot protect American taxpayers while still stabilizing our market and saving our financial system from collapse. I believe we can and we must do both.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Barack Obama, talking about the need to address the financial crisis but also the need to exhibit what he believes is leadership on the campaign trail by expressing his own vision to the American people.
John McCain this week taking a different position, saying he felt the financial crisis would merit at least suspending -- what he called suspending his campaign for a few days or least until there was some sort of deal on the table. We will hear more from John McCain on his position into all of this after a brief break.
We are also waiting for House Republican leadership on the Hill. They will be holding a press conference to give you the latest on what is happening, the negotiation process. It has broken down before. They are resuming talks again this weekend. Where they are with all of that, after this break. Stay with us. CNN "BALLOT BOWL" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BASH: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL '08." I'm Dana Bash in Mississippi. This is the site of the debate, first presidential debate that, of course, was last night. On "BALLOT BOWL," we obviously like to bring you the candidates on the campaign trail. We sometimes bring them to you live, sometimes on tape. But we always like to bring them to you unfiltered.
Obviously, this is about campaign '08 and about Barack Obama and John McCain. But as we speak right now, there is high drama on Capitol Hill. The high drama is over negotiations on a bailout, $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, that everybody across the board, Democrats and Republicans, no matter where they stand on this deal, hope will come to fruition at some point soon in order to save the markets, and they hope before Monday's markets open, have things calm down a little bit with the roller coaster, roller coaster, of an economic crisis really that the united states has been in.
We are waiting for House Republicans, House Republicans are going to come out for a press conference any minute. When that happens, we will bring that to you live. But meanwhile, John McCain has been very much involved in this whole process. He suspended his campaign on Wednesday. He decided to go back to Washington, perhaps -- perhaps he said, not even to come to the debate. That obviously didn't happen. Did he come here to Mississippi?
But in the meantime, he was explaining before he went back to Washington why he felt the need to suspend his campaign and race back to Washington.
We want to play for you, remind you of what he said his reasons for doing that were. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know this is a crisis with serious implications and consequences for our nation and for the world. History must not record that when our nation faced such a moment, its leadership was unable to put aside politics and to focus in a unified way to solve this problem. It's time for everyone to recall that the political process is not an end in itself, nor is it intended to serve those of us who are in the middle of it.
In the Senate of the United States, our duty is to serve the people of this country. And we can serve them best now by putting politics aside and dealing in a focused, straightforward, bipartisan way with the problem that's at hand.
For the Congress, this is one of those moments in history, when poor decisions made in haste could turn crisis into a far-reaching disaster. If we do not act, credit will dry up with grave consequences for workers and businesses across American economy and beyond. People will no longer be able to buy homes. Their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. And as ever, the greatest burden is borne by the American people. $700 billion is a staggering, unprecedented figure. There should be no misunderstanding about the full dimensions of this proposal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: That was John McCain speaking last week about why he wanted go back to Washington.
But right now, live news in Washington, the House Republican leadership speaking to reporters about the developments today on the bailout. Let's listen.
REP. ADAM PUTNAM, (R), FLORIDA: Republicans have taken their seat at the table, prepared to negotiate in good faith on the best possible deal for the American taxpayer. One that results in effective intervention, that impacts not only Manhattan Island but all of Main Street communities across this country. We want to make sure not only is it effective for the taxpayer but that it is a clean bill that does not have special interest demands attached to it, simply because it appears to be the last train leaving the Congress for this month.
So one of our leaders in this effort, someone who has been strong on this issue to guarantee that those special interest demands are not a part of it, is our leader, John Boehner.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R), MINORITY LEADER: Adam, thanks.
I think all of America understands that we are in an economic crisis. And it's important that Congress act, and Congress act as quickly as possible. This crisis, while it may start on Main Street, our concerns are about American taxpayers, the American economy, the jobs, people's savings, their retirement security, are the things we are most concerned about protecting in our country. While we do believe the Congress needs to act to avert this crisis, we also need to believe we should not be bailing out Wall Street on the backs of American taxpayers. We will do everything we can to make sure that we take care of taxpayers, minimize their exposure as we work to avert this crisis.
It's important that we move, but it's important that we move with discretion. I think the American people sent us here to protect their tax money. So as we try to come to an agreement, what's first and foremost in our minds, is making sure we protect taxpayers so we are not using their money to bail out Wall Street.
Our chief negotiator dealing with this issue offer this weekend is Roy Blunt, our whip.
REP ROY BLUNT, (R), MINORITY WHIP: Thank you, John.
I think somebody, maybe it was Einstein, said things should be done as quickly as possible but no quicker than possible. And we are not moving on any kind of artificial timeline. We are moving toward the very best solution and the shortest period of time we can get to the very best solution. Our staff went to work yesterday as part of this discussion in a staff way for the first time. I think they worked until 2:00 this morning.
My last call, my last discussion with staff last night was at 11:30, my first discussion this morning was at 6:30. I have been on the phone with the -- with Chairman Frank more than once and with others who are involved in this and we will have schedule meeting now beginning in the next 15 minutes or so and begin to try to get down to some of the obstacles that are still there. Things like crammed-down provisions and bankruptcy that we dealt with earlier in this Congress, and I thought publicly dealt with earlier, and the discussion of this bill are still there to be dealt with. Housing funds to people that have just been funded in the housing package that was recently put together are back on the table.
But we're going to go in with the idea of negotiating the bill that does the right thing for free market principles, the right thing for taxpayers, has maximum transparency and also has all of the tools possible so that taxpayers are protected in every possible way.
Eric? REP. ERIC CANTOR, (R), VIRGINIA: We're here because I believe all of us want to see a bill passed and want to see us avert the financial crisis that is before us.
As the leaders have indicated, we are working in a constructive manner. The Republican Working Group that's been appointed by the leader has come up with a proposal. We have presented that proposal. And that is a proposal which tries to put the taxpayers first and says they shouldn't be the ones left holding the bag, that Wall Street should share in the cleanup of this mess.
We are trying to be flexible, but that principle that we must first look after the taxpayers, let Wall Street participate. As you know, it's an insurance proposal where Wall Street would be paying the premiums for the benefit of a government guarantee to enhance the value of the assets that are currently frozen.
As the whip has said, we are also very intent on making sure we remove the items that have nothing to do with the current crisis. Such as labor boss positions, labor boss seats at the boardroom on company that's would participate here. It has nothing to do with the current crisis. Proxy access for unions. Again, these are issues that Congress could deliberate on separately.
Again, we look forward to being constructive and trying to make sure that we produce a piece of legislation that would not only protect Main Street but will also avert a calamity on our capital markets.
BOEHNER: We'll take a couple of questions.
UNIDENTIEID REPORTER: It seems as though you aren't really here on a deal yet. I understand the concerns you have. Was there room between what you guys are saying and what Mr. McConnell said this morning?
BOEHNER: There are a lot of issues still on the table. While I think there's goodwill is between both chambers in both parties in terms of trying to come to an agreement, there's a lot of conversation yet to occur.
UNIDENTIIED REPORTER: Mr. Boehner, Democrats said they might be willing to allow the insurance included in the overall package. Could that in itself be something you guys are on board with?
BOEHNER: We are working through that with the negotiators on how to make sure Wall Street pays its fair share by protecting taxpayers. And negotiators over the course of this afternoon and evening will certainly have a long discussion about the insurance proposal.
UNIDENTIEID REPORTER: (Inaudible).
BOEHNER: Anything that we can do to attract private capital to help solve this problem, I think would be in the best interest of American taxpayers and help clean up this problem much more quickly.
PUTNAM: Thank you very much? Thank you. Thank you very much.
BASH: And that is House Republican leadership copping out to give an updated report as negotiations progress throughout the day on this Saturday, yes, on this Saturday, on Capitol Hill. A very interesting and very important statement from this group, this critical group.
This is a critical group, why? Because it was last week that this group basically put the brakes on any kind of negotiations that were going on and the substantial negotiations, if you ask Democrats, with regard to how to figure out how to bail out these -- Wall Street, basically, particularly the mortgages, bad mortgages, that have caused this absolute collapse on Wall Street and in the banking systems across the country.
This group is important, why? Because, you heard them there, they are making clear that they -- at this point now, say they have a seat at the table. They are OK with the progress. But you heard very important terms like we are not going to work on an artificial timeline and that we are not going to bailout Wall Street on the back of the taxpayers. This is a group of conservative Republicans who philosophically, fundamentally disagree with the idea of the government bailing out Wall Street without some kind of free market involvement in that.
That is -- I'm going to bring in my colleague Suzanne Malveaux.
Suzanne, that has been the crux and had been the crux of the problem. The reason John McCain said he was coming back to Washington last week.
MALVEAUX: It's kind of confusing. Obviously, the House Republicans staged this revolt against President Bush and his initial proposal here. John McCain was in that meeting, the closed-door meeting with the House Republicans, with the president, with Obama. I understand he didn't really say very much during that meeting.
What is his role when it comes to dealing with this particular group? Is he really brokering? Is he influential at all in getting them to the table?
BASH: Here's what the McCain said he did. I was actually running after him Thursday after he had these meetings with Republicans, with the Republican leadership, including the House Republican leadership. What they say is he was encouraging them to have somebody at the table. It seems kind of fundamental they didn't have anybody who could voice their concerns with regard to these high- stakes negotiations already going on. So what the McCain said is that he sat with them and encouraged them to become involved, not just be naysayers, not just bomb throwers and flame throwers, but to actually have a seem at the table and to figure out if there's a way to come together.
MALVEAUX: Does he have sway with this group?
BASH: That's a very good question. Historically, he has not had a good relationship with Republicans in the House. He fought with them on every issue. He fought with them on immigration and campaign reform, historically, not so much. It's an odd couple to say the least.
But what both sides are convinced of, both sides, meaning the House Republicans and McCain camp, is he's the tilter head of the Republican Party. It is the Republicans who -- both sides, frankly, are not comfortable with the whole idea of the government cutting that large of a check, $700 billion, to do anything with regard to bailing out Wall Street. But they feel like they have to do that. So this is a very interesting press conference we saw here now because Kate Bolduan has been reporting that Democrats and Republicans have been reporting progress.
But this group, clearly wanting to say, OK, we think progress is great, but we still have our concerns. And we're going to make sure our concerns are heard as the trains roll on down towards Capitol Hill with a deal. It was very interesting. We will have much more on BALLOT BOWL after a break. Stay with us.
