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Ballot Bowl 2008

Candidates Continue Campaigning

Aired October 12, 2008 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN's "Ballot Bowl." I'm Dana Bash coming to you today from Washington, D.C.. And in just 23 days, that is going to be election day and that means 23 days from now we are going to know who's going to be residing and working in the building behind me, in the White House, but today, we are going to bring you the candidates who are still on the trail. Sometimes it will be live, other times on tape. But always it is unfiltered. That's what we do on "Ballot Bowl" today. My co-anchor for this edition of "Ballot Bowl" is Jessica Yellin who is in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Joe Biden is having a rally there. Jess, it's not just Joe Biden. He's got some famous friends with him there, doesn't he?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: He does, Dana, Bill and Hillary Clinton are the guest speakers here. And Bill Clinton just spoke. Senator Hillary Clinton is on stage. Let's listen in to what she has to say and she'll be introducing Joe Biden.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hands on deck for America. We've got to work hard. And we've got to work together. This is a fight for the future and it's a fight we must win. It starts right here in Scranton where my father was raised and where he's buried. You know, my grandfather worked in the Scranton Lace Mills all of his life, starting when he was 11 years old until he retired at the age of 65. My family spent summers in a cabin on Lake Winola. We went swimming and fishing and played a lot of pea knuckle. My grandfather built that cabin nearly 100 years ago and it's still standing because here in Scranton, people are built tough.

Here in northeastern Pennsylvania, we don't go down without a fight. And I remember how proud my father and his brothers were that they could build a good life with good jobs. Jobs that supported the family, that gave my grandfather who didn't even finish elementary school, the chance to send three sons to college. The people of Scranton and northeastern Pennsylvania are like people I've met across America. The kind of people who get up every single day and work hard. You don't ask for much. You never give up. You soldier on for your families and your communities.

And you deserve a president who will get up every day thinking about you. And we are so lucky that by the side of our next president will be a man who really understands. Who has been fighting his whole life for what he believes in, the value he was raised with. Joe Biden is a good friend and a great man. Joe's never forgotten where he came from. He has never forgotten how his family had to struggle and his parents even had to move so his dad could find work. He's been a leader on national security, a leader for women with children and families as the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. Joe has been a voice for the hard working middle class of this country because it's not to him about politics. It's not theoretical or abstract. It's in the gut.

I could not ask for a better partner in the Senate and America could not ask for a better vice president. It really comes down to how much each of us is willing to do in the next 23 days. You know, sure, the polls show Barack and Joe ahead now and that's good news. But I don't pay much attention to polls. Nobody should be lulled into any false sense of security. You know, Bill was talking about how he and I have been involved in presidential politics since 1968. Ten presidential elections and democrats have only won three of them. And of course, Bill won two out of the three.

So that's why you have to leave here committed and ready to go to work. You have to talk to your friends and neighbors. I know that you've got friends and neighbors who aren't decided yet. I know you have friends and neighbors and family members who aren't decided yet. You might even have a few leaning in the wrong direction. So I'm deputizing every one of you to go out and make the case that has to be made because Barack and Joe are not asking you to marry them, they're asking you to vote for them and vote for yourselves.

If we can pull a big vote out of northeastern Pennsylvania for Barack and Joe, there isn't any way they lose Pennsylvania and if they win Pennsylvania there's no way they lose the White House. So let's work the next 23 days and let's elect Barack Obama and the next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Isn't she great? I got to tell you something before this official part of my speech begins. About ten months ago, I was talking about Hillary, and Jill looked at the kitchen table on Sunday dinner with everybody around, she said, I know, Joe, I know you love her. I do love you.

CLINTON: It's mutual, Joe. Thank you.

BIDEN: Ladies and gentlemen, it's good to be here. It's good to be home. My heart. You know, Mayor Dougherty once said that Hillary's toughness was a (intersight) trait. It was a Scranton trait. Well I couldn't agree more. Ladies and gentlemen, when Barack Obama and I, god willing, become president and vice president of the United States, we're going to have a lot of work ahead. And folks, one of the reasons why beyond my absolute confidence in Barack Obama and a little confidence in myself, one of the reasons why I'm so certain, I am so certain that we will in fact turn this country around is I was there, I was with him. I was for him, I stood by his side. I watched Bill Clinton turn this country around. I'll tell you what.

Hold that prompter. I'll tell you what. I tell you what. Ladies and gentlemen, every time I hear although I've known President Clinton for 25 years, I can't bring myself to call him Bill. He's still the president of the United States and did the greatest things. Think about it, folks. All kidding aside. Ask yourself, when he started to talk, literally, I'm not being - I mean, literally, not hypothetically but when he stated to talk, I watched come over you exactly what comes over me every time he talks. We all started listening. You knew. You knew the guy was talking from his heart. You knew he knew what he was talking about and you knew he knew how to get it done.

Well ladies and gentlemen, it will be so good to have a president like that again. I cannot wait. I cannot wait. You know, there's one thing I love about, there's a lot of things I love about Hillary and we really are friends. That's not - people on hours talk and can tell you and as Bobby Casey can tell you, people in our business say, my good friend from the state of, when you hear us use that salutation in the Senate. I do have a lot of good friends but Hillary and I truly, truly are friends. And we have been friends for a long time. And the thing that I think I love about her, and I don't know whether it came from this valley, I don't know if it came from the same place. I don't know where it came from but I'm being absolutely deadly earnest. The one thing that I learned here at school and my family, in Greenridge, in St. Paul's, the neighborhood I grew up in. I'm serious now. I really mean this. And it was no different in north Scranton or south side. It didn't matter.

The one thing I find - the one thing I find in this city is what we learned in our faith and our family. There is the one most serious abuse, a man of a woman or a government can engage in is to abuse power. Abuse power. And ladies and gentlemen, the reason I love this woman, if you think about it now, you think about it. Everything - she probably even doesn't think about it in these terms. Everything she's devoted her life to have been on the side of people who have been on the other side of power, on the other side of power. Either watching the wealthy or watching the government or watching some mother or father physically abuse power.

And ladies and gentlemen, it's the only reason, the only reason I ever got involved in government without even knowing why I was getting involved. It just fit. And the reason why Hillary Clinton, I feel such a kinship to her, is more than she's just a fighter. I know fighters who fight for the wrong things. I know fighters who don't give up but have been consistently wrong. I don't know many fighters who's fight starts not from their head, but from their gut. There's just simple sense of balance and fairness. This is the woman who understands what's right and what's wrong, what's fair and what's unfair and is always, always fighting against the abuse of power by the powerful.

Folks, Hillary said she's living on the lawn on the back of the White House when health care is signed. No. She's going to be standing there, handing the president the pen and taking the first pen when it's done. Because she, more than anyone else in America, will get it done. Folks, the tendency is here when you're with friends and people you work with and admire is maybe to talk more about them than you should.

And my instinct is to talk about another great friend of mine, Paul Kanjorski. WE have been friends for a long, long time. Let me tell you something about him. It is critically important. Because it will say a lot about you. It will say about this region. It will say a lot about my hometown, whether or not they re-elect Paul Kanjorski. I'm counting on you, feeling like you always had. Backing somebody who's backed you your entire life, many of you, and some of you back him. Back him now. He needs your help. Look, folks. Right now, all across Pennsylvania, folks are trying to figure out what all this tough economic news means for them and for their families, but too many Americans, the economy didn't start collapsing a week ago. It didn't start collapsing a month. It didn't start collapsing a year ago. It started collapsing eight years ago. For too long, families have been asking questions as simple as they are profound. They've been asking in my hometown of Wilmington and here, will I have a job next month? Can I afford to go to the doctor? Can I fill the gas tank? Is my house worth what I paid for? Will I be able to send Mary back to college next semester? Am I going to be able to retire now that my 401(k) and the value of my home has evaporated.

Ladies and gentlemen, they're asking simple, simple and profound questions that this administration and John McCain and Sarah Palin have been unwilling, unable and apparently it seems like sometimes don't know how to even begin to answer. Folks, in 23 days, in 23 days, nothing less than our prosperity and security is on the ballot. My wife, Jill, said this is the most important election in your life. That is not hyperbole - this is the single most important election any one of you have voted in.

YELLIN: And Senator Joseph Biden giving an energetic endorsement of his ticket and also bonding with Senator Hillary Clinton over their shared roots here in Scranton. Before we dipped in here, former president Bill Clinton was on stage. He gave a comment calling on Hillary Clinton supporters here in Pennsylvania to come out for Barack Obama. We'll bring you some of former President Bill Clinton's comments later on this hour in "Ballot Bowl." For now, I'm going to toss it back to Dana Bash. Dana.

BASH: That's right. And Jessica, before we go, I just wanted to ask you, obviously, you talked about the fact that Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton share roots in Scranton, but also with regards to the map right now and specifically Pennsylvania in that area of Scranton. That is an area where Hillary Clinton did remarkably very well. And I think it's interesting particularly from the perspective of the McCain campaign. That's one of the areas where they're trying to lure some of Hillary Clinton voters over to John McCain. But the fact they're having this rally together, this big rally shows you that I would guess that Barack Obama is not giving up on this kind of blue collar rural area that didn't do so well for him.

YELLIN: Absolutely right, Dana. Bill Clinton and Hillary said if this part of Pennsylvania goes for Obama, all of Pennsylvania will go for Obama. These are the very folks that after the primary, all the pundits were saying, oh those Hillary voters will they vote for Obama? Those Hillary voters are here in this crowd. This is that lunch bucket crowd that was a big question whether Barack Obama can woe them. A good turnout today. And Hillary Clinton's presence should help a lot. Dana.

BASH: Very interesting, Jessica. And obviously, we're hearing from the democratic side right now, but when we come back, after the break we are going to take you to some of what John McCain and Sarah Palin have been talking about this weekend and also our own Bill Schneider is going to check in with a look ahead to this coming week and the final presidential debate. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to "CNN Ballot Bowl" where we bring you the candidates on the campaign trail unfiltered. Well today, John McCain, the republican candidate is actually not on the campaign trail as we speak. He is at his headquarters in suburban Washington, not too far from where I am. He's hunkering down with some of his aides talking about what's next. Specifically, in terms of economic policy, his team is trying to figure out whether or not or if to put forward some new economic proposals this coming week. It is entirely possible if not probable that his campaign will do that.

Meanwhile, his running mate Sarah Palin is on the campaign trail. She's been spending the weekend in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. And yesterday, she spoke to reporters in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She answered some questions on two topics. One is North Korea and a potential deal there with regards to their nuclear program and the United States taking that country off the state sponsored terrorism list and also on the news, that not so great news for Sarah Palin on Friday night - the trooper investigation in her home state of Alaska, saying that she misused her authority as Alaska governor. Listen to what she says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Condoleezza Rice of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time. I have faith in her that they're making this wise decision and North Korea of course, had better live up to its end of the bargain in speaking to the other countries that they've been working with in promising verification, that end of the bargain has got to be lived up to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mentioned earlier about the report in Anchorage. You felt there was nothing unethical? Could you elaborate?

PALIN: I'm thankful that the report has shown that. That there was no illegal or unethical activity there in my choice to replace our commissioner. So now we look forward to working with the personnel board that the entity that is charged with looking into any activity of a governor or lieutenant governor or an attorney general. A partisan kind of process that had been undertaken by some of the legislators who have not been real happy with anything that I've done along the way as governor. That process now is over with that finding that I haven't done anything unlawful in replacing the commissioner. Now it's up to the personnel board. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The report says that you did abuse your authority in trying to get Officer Wooten fired. How do you explain that charge?

PALIN: There was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired. In fact, remember Officer Wooten is still an Alaska state trooper, which is up to the commissioner and the personnel top brass in the department of public safety to decide who is worthy of wearing a badge and carrying a gun in the state of Alaska and if they think that Trooper Wooten is worthy of that, that's their decision. I don't micro manage my commissioners and ask them to hire or fire anyone. And thankfully, the truth was revealed there and that report showed that there is no unlawful nor unethical activity on my part.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... it's pro-family, it's pro-gun. People should really be in your back pocket and a lot of them have told us over the past couple of weeks that they really like you, but they don't think that you're going to win so they're not going to come out and vote. What do you say to that?

PALIN: Well, I want them to come out and vote because not only can a lot happen in the last few weeks of an election, which history has showed us, over and over again and a lot has happened in the last two weeks but you know, we're going to be there in Washington, D.C. to work for those good people in John's town. And these people all over Pennsylvania who understand the economic woes that are facing us right now. We can change that. We can put government back on their side. We can reduce taxes. We can rein in government spending. We can get out nation on a firm path towards energy independence. All that to create jobs, build our economy. Those things that the people here in Pennsylvania are asking us to do.

BASH: And that was Sarah Palin speaking to reporters yesterday in Altoona, Pennsylvania. That's right, speaking to reporters. There was a lot of controversy everybody remembers in the fact that Sarah Palin had not done what you just saw here doing for weeks and weeks after she was picked by John McCain but she is doing that a lot more, having more casual conversations with reporters who are following her on the campaign trail. You heard her talking about North Korea, about the fact that a panel in her homes state of Alaska said that she abused her power there because she tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. You heard her defending herself there. And then just a question about the state of the race in the state of Pennsylvania.

Now, moving from the vice presidential candidates to the presidential candidates and specifically, what we are all waiting for. And that is this coming Wednesday's final presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. And for that I want to bring in our very own Bill Schneider to look ahead to that. and I think the first question, Bill, we've talked a lot after the first and second debate about the format, about how the format may have helped or hurt these candidates. The format that the candidates campaign themselves actually put together and the rules that were kind of structured. This is going to be a little bit different in that the two men are going to be sitting at a table next to each other with the moderator, Bob Schieffer, what do you think that is going to do in terms of the environment?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think what it's going to do was limit their ability to attack each other because they're going to have to do it in their opponents face. And you know, they've sometimes been critical. John McCain has often criticized Barack Obama indirectly, looking at the audience, looking away. But if he does it this time, he's going to be sitting across the table and he's going to have to do it face to face, so to speak. This first debate, they stood in podiums. The second debate they took questions from voters. This debate will be different. The moderator and the two candidates will all be together around a table.

BASH: You obviously crunched the numbers and you look at kind of what happens after these debates. What kind of impact if any do you think both the first and second debate between these two men had with regards to the state of the race and voters, particularly those key independent voters, Bill?

SCHNEIDER: Actually, we've had the two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate and they haven't made much difference. The vote really wasn't very changed much by any of those debates. A few more people made up their minds, but it didn't really shift the balance. Obama continues to have a small lead in the presidential race. One reason is this. This election is not being determined so much by the campaign and what happens in the campaign like the debates. It's being determined by events and the events that are out there are very big events. The financial crisis, what's happening on Wall Street. That, more than anything else, is driving the vote. Not the debates so far.

BASH: You know, the other interesting thing about these debates obviously as you said there have been three, including the vice presidential debate, only one has been held in a swing state, in St. Louis. That was the vice presidential debate, but with regard to the next debate, that's going to be in New York. Not exactly what the McCain campaign would certainly hope that would be a swing state but the reality is it's not. What do you make of that, not just in New York but in Long Island, in suburban New York City?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I'm here at Hofstra University. The debate will take place in the building right behind me. This is not a swing state but it is a swing area. It is a purple area. It's historically republican Long Island. Suburbs all over the country are where the swing voters live. That's where independents live. The suburban vote is really up for grabs in this election. Historically, the suburbs have voted Republican ever since the days of Ronald Reagan and even earlier because they've been attracted by the Republican party's policy of low taxes. They're homeowners and they want taxes as low as possible. That's what's kept them Republican. But now, the polls show that they're tilting towards the Democrats.

Here at Hofstra, they have a Center for Suburban Studies. They did the national suburban poll. What they found out is suburban voters are hurting. They're hurting because of the energy prices. They live in their cars as much as in their homes. And it's gotten very expensive to drive everywhere. They're also aware, almost 60 percent of them say, their homes have lost value over the past year or so. And they're very anxious about the economy. So this may not be a swing state, but suburbs are certainly a swing area in this election and it's where most voters live these days.

BASH: Very interesting. It sure it. Bill, thank you very much. We're going to be checking in with you and our whole political team obviously when that debate takes place and we want to tell you that you need to tune in to CNN to watch that debate. It is the place to watch politics especially this final debate. That is again going to be this coming Wednesday. Tune in to CNN to watch that.

But up next on "Ballot Bowl," we are going to go to the Republican side again. And to the top of the ticket, again, John McCain isn't on the campaign trail today, but he was yesterday in the state of Iowa. We'll bring you what he told voters there after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL, I'm Jessica Yellin in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where vice presidential candidate Joe Biden has been on stage, appearing here with Senator Hillary Clinton and his wife, Jill Biden. The senator has been talking about Barack Obama's vision to change the economic structure of America to improve the financial situation of middle class Americans. Right now, talking about his promise to wean America off of foreign oil. Let's listen to what he has to say.

JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ladies and gentlemen, you know China's going to use it. We better give them the clean technology to use it. Making money doing it and saving the environment in the process.

Folks, folks, what we're going to do is cut health care costs for families and businesses and provide affordable health care to every single solitary American. As Barack said on Tuesday, health care isn't a privilege. When McCain and Obama were asked about whether or not health care was a privilege or a right, you didn't hear Barack hesitate. We believe health care is a natural, American right that every single American has. You know, it's something every one of us feel strongly about and there's no denying the problem.

Right now, there are over 1 million people in Pennsylvania with no health care. Ladies and gentlemen, those of you with health care like me, we think in terms of deductible, but I promise you, every single solitary, those million people going to bed tonight without health care, they're staring at the ceiling and they understand the cost of a mamogfi (ph), the cost of delivering a healthy baby, they understand the cost of delivering a premature baby. They know, every single thing they work for is one serious illness away from being wiped out because they don't have health care. That is not right. It is simply not right.

What is John McCain do about it? What does John McCain say? The first time in American history, he says he is going to tax your health care policy at work. Those of you who get health care from your employer are going to pay for it just like if you got a raise in direct income. Let me tell you what's going to happen, it's going to then that point cause your employers to drop health care. An estimated 20 million people who have health care through their business will have it dropped because of this. But John says he'll make up for it by giving you a $5,000 tax credit to buy back a $12,000 policy. Folks, where I come from in Wilmington, Delaware, we call that the ultimate bridge to nowhere. Folks, we believe --

YELLIN: Senator Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a long rift about his push for clean coal technology and health care reform. Naming in particular, women's health care policies. That his health cares vision and Obama's would cover clearly an effort to reach women voters in particular. We've heard Barack Obama also name women's health care issues part of their effort to reach out to women voters.

We are going to take a break but when we come back, we'll listen to some of what Gov. Sarah Palin had to say when she wasn't far away, she was in Johnstown, Pennsylvania yesterday, talking about the issue of abortion. It's made an appearance on the campaign trail now and we will listen to it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back. I'm Dana Bash coming to you from Washington, D.C. Today, 23 days from now we are going to know who is going to be living and working in the building behind me, the White House. The two men running for that post John McCain and Barack Obama are actually off the campaign trail today. John McCain is not too far from here in Suburban, Washington at his headquarters working on some potentially new proposals on the economy and also, doing some debate prep. That's what Barack Obama is doing as well today.

Their running mates are on the campaign trail. We heard a little bit earlier from Joe Biden and we also want to bring you some of what Sarah Palin is doing in the very state where Joe Biden is. In fact, the crowd that Joe Biden is speaking to in rural Pennsylvania, Scranton, those are precisely the kind of voters that John McCain and Sarah Palin are trying to rule away from the Democratic column to theirs. These are socially conservative Democratic areas like Scranton. And in fact, Sarah Palin yesterday was speaking in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and she brought up thee issue, probably one of the most important issues to many of these social conservatives, Democrat or Republican and that issue is abortion. She had some tough words for Barack Obama on it. Take a listen.

SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Something else we haven't talked a lot about yet in the campaign, but I think is important, as governor, what I've been able to do is kind of manifest my commitment to life. In this same spirit, as defenders of the culture of life, John McCain and I believe in the goodness and the potential of every human life. Now -- of that innocent life I believe that the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and to speak for themselves. Who is more vulnerable or innocent than a child?

Now, when I learned that my son Trig would have special needs, to be honest with you, I had to pray that my heart would be prepared for the challenges to come. It was a shock. I wasn't ready for this. I had to ask for that strength. At first, I was very scared. Todd and I we did have to ask for that strength and understanding. Let me tell you a few things I've learned already. Every innocent life does matter and everyone belongs in the circle of protection and every child has something to contribute to our world if we give them that chance. Now there are the world standards of perfection and then there are god's standards. These are the final measures. Every child is beautiful before god and dear to him for their own sake and as for our beautiful baby boy, for Todd and for me, he is only more precious because he is more vulnerable. In some ways, I think we stand to learn more from him than he does from us. So when we hold Trig and care for him, we don't feel scared anymore. We feel blessed. It's hard to think of many issues that could possibly be more important then who is protected in law and who isn't.

Who is granted life and who is denied it. So when our opponent speaks about questions of life, I listen very carefully and I love that sound and please let that baby keep on crying. We love that sound. Not crying, just giggling. So I listened when our opponent defended his unconditional support for unlimited abortions. He said that a woman shouldn't have to be quote punished with a baby. Ladies and gentlemen, he said that right here in Johnstown. Punished with a baby. It's about time that we called him on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And that is Sarah Palin speaking yesterday in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Among her most personal comments to date about what happened in her own life, the fact that she has now a five month old baby the Down syndrome, her decisions to keep the baby. A story that has endeared her to many social conservatives. Also, pretty tough language for Barack Obama about the fact that he supports abortion rights. A very, very critical issue for the McCain campaign in that particular area if they want to lure some Democrats who are socially conservative over to the Republican column.

We're going to go back to the top of the ticket after a break. Talking about what John McCain and Barack Obama are saying both on health care and on the issue of the mortgage crises. I should tell you that John McCain just left his headquarters and he told reporters quoting here that he wants to whip (talking about Barack Obama) his you know what in this debate and then they're going to be out campaigning 24/7. We'll definitely give you more of that one when we get the tape in of John McCain speaking to reporters just now outside his headquarters in northern Virginia. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHNEIDER: I'm Bill Schneider at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, site of the next presidential debate, Wednesday evening, 9:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Health care found to be a big topic in that debate, a big issue with the election. Here's what Barack Obama said on Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana about his health care plan compared with John McCain's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In last night's debate, John and I had the chance to make the case for change, to talk about what we would do differently from the last eight years when it comes to lifting our middle class and growing our economy and restoring our prosperity. All we hard from Senator McCain was more of the same Bush economics that led us into this mess in the first place.

Take health care. Take health care. We were both asked whether we believed that health care should finally be the right of every American. I believe it should. But Senator McCain didn't say that. And when you look at his radical health care plan, you can see why. He talks about giving every family a $5,000 credit to buy health care. But he didn't mention that he'll also tax your benefits for the first time in history. It's an old Washington game. It's an old Washington game. They call it the bait and switch. He gives you a tax credit with one hand, raises your taxes with the other and he didn't mention that the average health care plan costs $12,000, not $5,000.

Senator McCain didn't tell us about the studies that say his plan would cost 20 million Americans to lose their insurance from their employers or how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it would be a disaster for businesses. He didn't mention how it would deregulate the insurance industry. So they don't have to cover things like mammograms or vaccinations or maternity care. He thinks we wouldn't notice these things. Well I've got news for John McCain, we notice. We know better. We notice, we know better, we're not going to be hoodwinked. We're not going to be bamboozled. We're not going to let him get away with it.

You know, this issue is personal for me. My mother died of ovarian cancer when she was 53. I'll never forget how she spent the final months of her life. Lying in the hospital bed, fighting with the insurance company. If I'm president, that will not happen. If I'm president, I will make sure those insurance companies can never do that to anybody again, preexisting conditions are going to be covered under every insurance plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: Now in the last presidential debate, John McCain talked about his idea for a mortgage plan to help troubled homeowners. He talked about it again in Strongsville, Ohio Wednesday. You'll hear him make an important claim. He says the status question is not on the ballot. Meaning I'm not George Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Under my orders as president, the secretary, the treasury will carry out a home ownership resurgent plan. The United States government will purchase mortgages directly and immediately from homeowners and mortgage services and replace them. Replace them with managerial mortgages, live with rates that people can afford. A dream, the American dream of owning a home should not be crushed under the weight of a bad mortgage. The moment requires that government act and as president, I intend to act quickly and decisively. I don't have to tell you that in so many ways, Washington is still on the wrong track. We need change and I know how to deliver it.

The status quo isn't on the ballot. We're going to see change in Washington. The question is what direction we will go. Will our country be a better place under the leadership of the next president, a more secure prosperous and just society? Will you be better off in the jobs you hold now and in if the opportunities you hope for, will your sons and daughters grow up in the world you want them to live in, finding the best of America?

And which candidate's experience in government and in life makes him more reliable leader for our country than commander in chief for our troops? Which one? In short, who's ready to lead and who's not in a time of trouble and danger for our country, who will put our country first? My friends, I set out, I set out on my campaign for president many months ago, I promised at the beginning to be straight with the American people knowing that even those who don't agree with me on everything would expect at least that much.

In 21 months, hundreds of speeches, town hall meetings and debates, by the way, pretty good last night. I've kept my promise to level with you about my plans to reform Washington and get this country moving again. As a Senator, I've seen the abrupt ways of Washington. As president, I'm going to end these abuses whatever it takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: It wouldn't be BALLOT BOWL without some football. Today, how about some hockey. In our next play, the vice presidential hopefuls make a play for sports fans. We'll drop the puck, next on BALLOT BOWL.

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YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where a rally has just wrapped up and brought together Senator Joseph Biden with his wife, Jill Biden, and both Clintons, President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton. As you'll recall, she did very well, winning here in the state of Pennsylvania, the primary season. She brought the whole force of her endorsement to Scranton, calling on folks here to give their support to Barack Obama.

We'll bring you some of what she had to say and the president later, but for now, I want to toss it over to my colleague and co anchor for this hour, Dana Bash who is in Washington, D.C.