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Ballot Bowl 2008

Prez Candidates Talking Economy, Foreign Policy; A Possible New Entrant in the Race for the White House

Aired April 05, 2008 - 16:57   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to this Saturday edition of CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Suzanne Malveaux in Washington. Now this really is your opportunity to hear from the presidential candidates on the stump, live, unfiltered as they discuss the issues that matter to you.
Republican voters are casting their ballots in the Virgin Islands today. And both the Democratic candidates are hoping for a bit of campaign magic when voters in Pennsylvania go to the polls later this month.

Well, coming up, of course, the Democratic presidential hopefuls are campaigning out West today. Senator Hillary Clinton campaigning in Oregon before she heads to Montana's Big Sky country. Last night she spoke in Grand Forks, but she hit the Bush administration on the economy, saying the president's failed policies set the stage for the country's current economic mess. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think we can even imagine the damage we will find once we get back into the Oval Office. Eight years of neglect and of failure, eight years of abuse of power, eight years that have undermined our standing in the world, our economy here at home, the future that should be the birthright of every one of our children.

For the past seven years, President Bush has conducted a dangerous experiment, an extremism that has failed us and has taken us off course on a detour away from America's destiny. He has had two priorities, tax cuts for the wealthy and the war in Iraq. And he hasn't paid for either one of them.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: he inherited a balanced budget and a surplus and he's leaving behind a mountain of debt. When I look at the change of fortune from where we were when President Bush took office until today, it is heartbreaking.

President Bush has mortgaged our children's future with his reckless spending and he has ignored the problems that continue to pile up. He has put our country at risk and in debt.

We are living on borrowed money and we are seeing the results of what happens when we borrow money from so many countries, not just China, we borrow money from Mexico, and then we turn around and we use it to buy oil from the Saudis. That kind of transaction is not in the best interest of America. It has undermined our position in the world.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: It's as though George Bush took out a subprime mortgage on America. The interest rates keep going up in terms of what we're going to have to pay in order to keep funding this debt that he has so cavalierly imposed upon us.

And when he wasn't putting us into debt, he was handing out favors to the special interests, he has put corporate specialty interests first and hard working middle class families last. That is not an overstatement. That is a fact.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Just look at the record. Tax breaks for oil companies making record profits. Who here believes that Exxon Mobil that made $40 billion in profits last year needs more of your hard-earned dollars in order to conduct their business?

Tax cuts for billionaires, passing the bill onto the next generation, no bid contracts for Halliburton, and time and again cronies have made out like bandits while the rest of us were left holding the bag.

It's hard to even make up what has happened during the last eight years. I sometimes scratch my head. How on earth could we have a vice president who, as the CEO of Halliburton, oversaw the pensions of workers being ignored and denied, taking away $25 million of what those workers deserved to have and getting a $20 million golden parachute for himself?

I believe if we had made that known during the 2004 campaign, we might have had a different president in the White House when people stop to think about it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Now, don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against rich people.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: As a matter of fact, my husband, much to my surprise and his, has made a lot of money since he left the White House doing what he loves doing most, talking to people.

But we didn't ask for George Bush's tax cuts. We didn't want them and we didn't need them. We'd rather that we had invested in a clean, renewable energy policy and with better schools for our children and health care for the American people.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Senator Clinton, by the way was speaking at North Dakota's State Democratic Convention. Her Democratic rival, Barack Obama, addressed the convention as well. And here's what he said to say about the war in Iraq and the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have more than 150,000 Americans in the middle of two wars, brave men and women on their second or third or fourth tour of duty in Iraq. A place where we're spending $400 million a day to help a government that refuses to help itself, a war that should have never been authorized, a war that I believe should have never been waged.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: At home we just got the report, 80,000 people lost their jobs last month. We've lost more than 200,000 jobs since the year began. Jobless claims, the highest that we've had in several years.

We have millions of Americans who stay awake at night wondering if next week's paycheck will cover next month's bills, who wonder why two jobs or even three jobs aren't enough to put your kids through college any more or pay for health care or fill up your gas tanks.

People who don't know if their pension will be there when they retire or if their job will disappear along with all of those that have been lost this year. Who don't understand why they are putting a "for sale" sign up in front of their house while the CEOs of the companies that helped trick them into risky loans are walking away with million-dollar bonuses.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

But that's not the worst of it. We've been through big challenges before. The problem is we've lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about it. For too long too many in Washington have been either out of touch or out for their own survival.

They cling to the policies of the past, the retired politics that values scoring points against your opponent over solving problems for the people who send you to Washington. A politics that exploits our differences instead of focusing on the hopes and values we share as a nation.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We're seeing change all across America this year. Everywhere I go, every contest that we've had, we've been seeing record turnouts, people are paying attention like never before. They are saying that we are ready for change, we're ready for something new.

And part of the reason -- I'd like to take all of the credit, but I can't, part of the reason that we're seeing it is because everybody knows that no matter what else happens, when they go on the polling place this November to select the next president of the United States of America, the name George W. Bush won't be on the ballot and they are happy about that.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: He ran as a uniter, and divided like no other president. He promised a humble foreign policy but led with an arrogance that destroyed generations of goodwill and good standing with the rest of the world.

He promised compassion and conservatism but gave us eight years of policies that were neither, policies that have led us to record debt and greater inequality than any time since the Great Depression.

So I don't know anyone who is going to be shedding all that many tears when George W. Bush and my cousin, Dick Cheney...

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: ... finally take that road back to Crawford in January.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: But in this election, we have to ask ourselves not just what we're against but what we're for. What is next for America? What road will we take? What kind of future do we want for our children and our grandchildren?

That's what's at stake here. That's why not only Democrats but independents and yes, even some Republicans, we call them "Obamacans (ph)," have turned out in record numbers all across the country, it's because we know that this moment of great challenge is also a moment of great opportunity.

We know that this election is our chance to start over, to finally come together and solve the problems we've been talking about for decades. To put America on a different path, a better path.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And here's the latest delegate count for Democratic nominees, Obama 1,629, Clinton 1,486. There are 2,024 delegates needed to win this nomination. Still very close.

New dust getting kicked up on the campaign trail. And instead of the Democratic intra-party bickering of late, this is more of your standard across-the-aisle politics-as-usual fare. Senator John McCain taking exception to a radio host calling him a warmonger for McCain's support of the Iraq conflict.

The radio host in question was introducing Senator Obama when he made the remark reportedly before Obama arrived in the room. McCain in turn wants Senator Obama to repudiate the comment and had this to say in Prescott, Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a free country and we have freedom of speech in America. And Mr. Schultz is entitled to his views. I would hope that in keeping with his commitment that Senator Obama would rapidly condemn -- Senator Obama would condemn such language since it was part of his campaign. But that kind of thing I don't think is necessary at all in this campaign. I've made it very clear how I feel about war and my experiences with it. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: An Obama spokesperson told CNN: "John McCain is not a war monger and should not be described as such. He is in support of war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged."

More on McCain, more from McCain. We'll hear what he had to say earlier on his biography tour about the military, that's next on BALLOT BOWL. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in Philadelphia. And we want to switch gears now and talk about John McCain, you know, the presumptive Republican candidate, contender for the White House, has spent the last several days, as his campaign has been putting it, reintroducing himself to the American people.

It has been a biography tour, you might call it. He has called it his Service to America Tour, making pit stops in places like Annapolis and Jacksonville and Pensacola, which are also coincidentally big military towns. And in Jacksonville, Florida, earlier this week, he talked about the problems that he sees that are facing the country. But he put at the top of that list, military preparedness and homeland security.

So here is John McCain on those issues down in Jacksonville earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCCAIN: There's an old military maxim that battle commands never survive the first encounter with the enemy. Soldiers are taught to expect the unexpected and accept it, and revise, improvise, and fight their way through any adversity.

That doesn't mean the soldier doesn't grumble or complain about unexpected changes in their fortunes, but they are trained to get things done no matter the circumstances. That is an ethic that should imbue all public service in this country and it should be the quality all Americans demand from their elected leaders. We are the most accomplished nation in history. And our system of government is superior than any other. But we have much to do in this historically pivotal area of great change and challenge to ensure, as every preceding American generation has, that the country we leave our children is better than the one that we inherited.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: To keep our nation prosperous, strong, and growing, we have to rethink and reform and reinvent the way we educate our children, train our workers, deliver health care services, support retirees, fuel our transportation network, stimulate research and development, and harness new technologies.

To defend ourselves, we must do everything better and smarter than we did before. We must rethink, renew, and rebuild the structure and mission of our military. The capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the purposes of our alliances, the reach and scope of our democracy and diplomacy and the capabilities of all branches of government to defend us against the peril that we now face.

We need to marshal all elements of American power, our military, economy, investment, trade and technology, we need to strengthen our alliances and build support in other nations in -- which must, whether they believe it or not, confront the same threat to their way of life that we do.

We must also prepare across all levels of government, far better than we have done to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. I'm not an advocate of big government, and the private sector has an important role to play in homeland security.

But when Americans confront catastrophes, either natural or manmade, their government across jurisdictions should be organized and ready to deliver bottled drinking water to dehydrated babies and rescue the aged and infirm trapped in a hospital with no electricity.

(APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: So there you have John McCain in Jacksonville, Florida, talking about military preparedness, homeland security, and then wrapping up his comments on the economy, which is a good segue, because coming up after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN, what we here at CNN refer to as issue number one, the candidates on the economy. That's coming up after a break. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: welcome back to BALLOT BOWL, campaigning in Pennsylvania this week, Senator Hillary Clinton talked a lot about the economic downturn which has hit that state particularly hard. She compared the fiscal policies of the Bush administration to those of the Bill Clinton White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: You know, it wasn't so long ago, I don't know, maybe some of you can remember 10 years back, but I remember it very well. I remember when we had created 22.7 million new jobs and young people graduated from college, they were in a great job market to pick and choose what would be their future.

I remember we lifted more people out of poverty than at any time in our nation's recent history. The average American family made an increase in income of $7,000 during the '90s. We had a balanced budget and surplus, so we were not leaving the country mortgaged.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: You know, I think part of the reason we're in the mortgage mess is that President Bush thought it was just fine to mortgage the country, so why not mortgage some houses. I don't think he understands what that means.

So now we've got to dig ourselves out of the hole we got into and we got there because of bad decisions and poor leadership. And that's something that I deeply regret but it's all reversible.

Yes, it's true that family income is down, job growth is down. We've gone from a balanced budget and surplus to $9 trillion in debt. We borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. We are more dependent on foreign oil than we were on 9/11.

And remember who flew those plains, they were primarily Saudis, and here we are more dependent than we were on 9/11. It would have been an act of great leadership and patriotism for the president who has been, you know, very involved no the oil business, to say, no, we've got to have homegrown oil, we've got to have homegrown energy, we've got to figure out how we're going to get on the right track.

But that didn't happen. So we've got a lot of work that we're going to have to do together. But I'm totally confident and optimistic we can do this. Number one, we're going to go after the economy, creating shared prosperity again, starting by ridding the tax code of one penny of benefit that goes to any business that exports a job out of Pennsylvania to a foreign country.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: You know, we have a free country and we have a free market. And I'm thrilled and grateful for that because that's the way it should be. But why should one penny of your tax dollars go to help some business export jobs? If they want to take jobs to some other country, let them do it on their own dime, not on the money of the American taxpayers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: That is Hillary Clinton talking about the economy and what she would do differently than the Bush administration, also talking about the good times and her husband's administration. Jim, I know that you're looking at Senator Obama's plan as well. That they are contrasting these two different plans. What have you learned?

ACOSTA: Well, Barack Obama was in Philadelphia earlier this week and he knows full well that issue number one is on the minds of voters in this state. The economy is looming large over many Pennsylvanians mainly because of the manufacturing job losses in this state.

Over the last seven or eight years some 200,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector have been lost. That's about a fifth of those jobs in this state. And we know that Barack Obama has been reaching out to blue collar workers. We saw him, Suzanne, last weekend bowling with voters with Senator Bob Casey.

He was also feeding a cow some milk. So he is definitely making appeals to those voters out there who are feeling this economic pinch. But earlier this week in Philadelphia he was talking about his plan for the economy and the plan that he would like to see put in place should he become elected president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: It's time Washington started the same -- showing the same kind of leadership that Pennsylvania's labor movement has shown, by fighting to create green jobs that are the jobs of the future.

I will invest $150 billion over the next decade to establish a green energy sector creating 5 million new jobs, jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. We're going to transform shuttered steel mills to make wind mills. Plants that have closed will make solar panels.

We will hire union workers to make buildings more energy efficient. We are going to work with the automakers to make cars that get more mileage out of a gallon of gas, because we've got to reduce demand, stop our dependence on foreign oil.

That's how we're going to bring gas prices down in the long term, although in the short term we have got to go after those windfall profits that those oil companies are making, make them invest in refinery capacity, because it is a crime when ordinary people can't get to the job while Exxon Mobil is making 1 $11 billion in quarterly profits.

Thanks to leaders like my friend Congressman Patrick Murphy, these new green jobs in the energy sector are bringing back to life places that have been hard hit in recent decades, places like Fairless Hills in Bucks County where the old U.S. Steel plants now being used to make wind turbines.

Now if we're honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that we can't completely stop globalization in its tracks. Automation is here, technology is here. We're going to be opening up new markets that our goods can help -- that we can sell and strengthen our economy. But what I refuse to accept is that we have to sign trade deals like the South Korea agreement that are bad for American workers. What I oppose and what I will always oppose are trade deals to put the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of American workers.

That's why I oppose NAFTA. That's why I voted against CAFTA. That's why it didn't make sense to normalize trade relations with China without asking more from China. I will oppose the Colombia free trade agreement if George Bush is insistent on sending it to Congress because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we've insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: You can trust me when I say that whenever trade bills we negotiate come to my desk, they are going to be good for American workers, that they'll have powerful labor and environmental protections, and that we will enforce those protections.

These are the battles we should be fighting. This is the future we should be building. It's going to be hard to do all this so long as we're spending $10 billion a month fighting a war in Iraq. I opposed this war from the start. It was an unwise war. I've opposed it each year it has been going on.

That's why I'm the only candidate who will offer a real choice in November because I can stand up to John McCain with credibility. And when you ask yourselves, who you want answering that 3:00 in the morning phone call, you should ask yourself, who is going to ask for the good intelligence? Who is going to weigh the costs and benefits? Who is going to have the strategic vision to understand that we shouldn't be distracted from going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the ones who caused 3,000 Americans to die?

That's the person that you want answering that phone call. You want somebody debating John McCain who said no to the war in Iraq and will say no to 100-year occupation of Iraq and say no to a third Bush term.

It is time to bring our troops home. That's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And so there you have it. Barack Obama talking about the economy in Philadelphia. And it's interesting to note there that those comments that Obama made about the Colombia trade pact and how he opposes any move from the Bush administration to approve a trade pact with Colombia came before the disclosure yesterday from Mark Penn, the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's campaign, that as chief of Burston Marsteller, the big PR firm up in New York, that he was involved with the Colombians in that trade pact, separate and apart from his role with the campaign. Mark Penn no longer involved with the Colombians on that trade pact. But he mentioned -- Barack Obama mentioning that trade pact in that speech.

And Suzanne, he also talked about various economic issues. In the beginning and trying to make the transition in this state from manufacturing jobs to more green color jobs, talking about solar energy and wind energy. And Obama also working in some digs at Exxon- Mobil. And Barack Obama has been running a ton of ads in this state talking about the high gas prices.

Both of these candidates knowing full well people in Pennsylvania will be voting with their pocketbooks on April 22nd -- Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Certainly issue number one. Thanks, Jim.

There's also news headlines up next, coming up. Including much, much more news including the latest on dozens of children seized from a polygamist sect ranch. That, and much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOSH LEVS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST: Hello I'm Josh Levs at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. We have more "BALLOT BOWL" in a moment. Frist, a check of today's top stories.

A manhunt is under way in Texas for an alleged polygamist who is suspected of fathering a child with a teenage bride. This comes after a raid on the compound of the breakaway sect of the Mormon Church.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in El Dorado with the latest.

Hey, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Joshua, authorities here in Texas are looking for the 50-year-old man an arrest warrant has been issued for. Meanwhile, Children Protective Service investigators are still at the 16-acre polygamist sect compound here in El Dorado, Texas. They say they have continued to remove more children, more than 100, in the last day or so. That's the total of people that have been removed from the compound is 183, 137 of them are children. Investigators are interviewing them at the nearby civic center. And authorities here say the goal so to remove, at this point, every child from the compound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARLEIGH MEISNER, TEXAS CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES: We have trained staff, special investigators, who have come in from Child Protective Services officers throughout the state assisting. They are continuing to do one-on-one interviews with the women and with the children that are there trying to obtain further information.

We also have four workers, as of this moment, that are in the compound and trying to go from building to building with law enforcement trying to find other children that may still be in the compound.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: They say it's a very difficult situation. A vast complex -- compound. There are residential buildings, a temple and other buildings that these people have built to sustain themselves on that compound. Many of these people have never really ventured off of the 1,600-acre ranch here.

Of the 183 removed from the compound, 137 are children, 18 of those have been taken into state custody because officials feared they been abused or face the potential of abuse. They say they will continue to work this situation and still continuing to talk to the people.

As for the children, they say holding up well. They are trying to make everything as natural as possible. They understand they have been yanked out of their environment. It's the only environment they have ever known, so they are trying to make things as natural and friendly as possible for them so they will open up to investigators -- Josh?

LEVS: CNN's Ed Lavandera in El Dorado, Texas. Thanks for following that story for us.

Meanwhile, relative calm after strong storms hit parts of the South. It is a chainsaw symphony in and around Birmingham, Alabama. People cleaning up after a series of damaging storms blew through.

Next door, in Mississippi, the fast moving weather system snapped trees, downed power lines. Thousands of people are hoping repair crews can restore electricity ASAP.

To get those answers, CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. She is monitoring all of it for us in the Severe Weather Center -- Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Josh. Things are looking better in Alabama and Mississippi. It's been a day in Florida. Severe storms rolling through, causing wind damage and flash flooding. We're talking about torrential downpours with many of the storms. The upcoming hour to hour and a half will be the worst for north central and north eastern parts of Florida as this bow-echo line continues to hold together, pushing off to the east. This is the big one that has the history of producing wind damage, as strong as 60 to 70 miles per hour as it heads eastward.

This is Interstate 10 here. There you can see Tallahassee. So it's about halfway between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. We do have the severe thunderstorm warning in effect as the leader edge of the line continues to push off to the east. It's going to be real ugly the next couple of hours. You live in Jacksonville, thinking about going out for dinner tonight, you might want to wait until that line passes on through.

Look at the ample moisture feeding in from the Gulf of Mexico. We've got so much moisture here. It's been dumping down an inch per hour at time. Look at the flash flood warnings in effect in the western panhandle. Six to ten inches estimated by Doppler Radar here. Then we have the watches and warnings here from Jacksonville. This is mostly going to be urbanized flooding. A lot streets and underpasses will get filled up with water. Use a lot of caution if traveling along I-95. Additional rainfall, maybe looking at an inch on average across much of the southeast. There you can see everything is turning green. That's an inch of rain in the next 24 hours -- Josh?

LEVS: Rain is a good thing. But looks like it is turning ugly in a lot of place.

Jacqui, I know you'll with us for the night. Well, not us, I'm going home to crash. You get to chase all of this throughout the night.

JERAS: I'll be here.

LEVS: Stay tuned to CNN for those conditions.

The Internet proving a valuable tool in an area that you might not expect.

We have this "Fit Nation" segment with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He looking at one woman went online to take off pounds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: By all accounts Sharon Twitchle lived a quiet suburban life but she had a darker side.

SHARON TWITCHLE, LOST POUNDS THROUGH INTERNET: I would find any reason to eat. And I do a load of laundry and reward myself for doing a load of laundry. I had stashes in the house hidden away. And I was doing basically the thing an alcoholic does.

GUPTA: Frightened by her actions she decided to seek help.

TWITCHLE: I went to my doctor, hoping of course for the magic pill, which we know doesn't exist but we hope it does in our hearts. I saw the W start to form on the list. I say, don't go there and don't say Weight Watchers. I won't go.

GUPTA: Her doctor suggested, suggesting the online version instead. Could an online program be as effective as face-to face interactions?

TWITCHLE: It's good because it keeps me in check. If something goes in the mouth, it goes in the computer.

GUPTA: She was diligent in recording everything she ate as part of the Weight Watchers regimen and began exercises six times a week. She never set foot in a meeting.

Now more than 100 pounds lighter, Sharon says it has changed her life and marriage. TWITCHEL: My husband bought a new wedding band and as he slipped it on my finger he said, this is a renewal of our vows. And it has. I mean, we had a partnership for about 15 years. Now we actually have a marriage again.

My name is Sharon Twitchle and I've lost 110 pounds.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: One hundred and 10 pounds -- wow. Good for her.

We'll be back here with more "BALLOT BOWL" after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's "BALLOT BOWL," a chance for you to hear the candidates up close, unfiltered, live as well as on tape.

And joining me is Jim Acosta out of Philadelphia, the key site for the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary.

All eyes on the next contest, Jim.

ACOSTA: Absolutely Suzanne. And while we have been focusing on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, there appears to be a new entrance in the race for the White House. Former Republican Congressman from Georgia, Bob Barr, who as Bill Schneider noted earlier in "BALLOT BOWL," switched parties to the Libertarian Party. He has announced today in Kansas City and told reporters there that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee, which doesn't necessarily make him a fully pledged candidate, but it certainly means he has the ball rolling. And he's apparently talking to a Libertarian convention at his meeting in Kansas City tonight. He is weighing weather or not to run as a Libertarian in the race for the White House.

And we have some sound now coming from Bob Barr talking about this decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BARR, (R), FORMER GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN: Therefore as a good Libertarian, I'm refusing, along with you, to sit back and remain neutral, particularly this year as we face the great moral crises that is enveloping our country and indeed all of Western civilization. And therefore I'm announcing here today in America's heartland, which is the appropriate place to do it, the formation of an exploratory committee to seek the presidency of the United States of America in the year 2008.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: It's a very interesting development because Bob Barr, who was very instrumental in the House impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, will appear appeal to some conservatives that are fired up about that. By the way, if Bob Barr decides to become a Libertarian candidate for the presidency, and Hillary Clinton, should she capture the Democratic nomination, that would put Bob Barr up against a Clinton and a McCain in the race for the White House.

And we're talking to Bill Schneider earlier about this. And I asked Bill, you know, about the potential impact on the Republican race because obviously, John McCain, while he has the nomination wrapped up, he could be feeling the heat from Bob Barr heading into the fall -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Jim. We're going to be checking and dipping in a live event listening as Senator Hillary Clinton, out of Eugene, Oregon. That coming up after this very brief break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Let's take you to a live event now. Senator Hillary Clinton speaking in Eugene, Oregon, at the town hall meeting. Let's take a listen.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By solutions, I mean restoring fairness to the tax code. It is wrong that a Wall Street money manager making $50 million a year pays a lower percentage of his income to the Federal government than a nurse, a teacher or truck driver right here in Eugene making $50,000 a year.

When I say solutions, I mean we're going to have a new trade policy that will be smart trade, pro-American trade and pro-worker trade because we can compete with anybody around the world. We can't do it if we're not on a level playing field. And it's time to unleash the American workforce to give them the competitive advantages they need to make sure others that trade with us are following the rules, not violating them. Then let us compete with anybody in the world and start exporting again.

When I say solutions, I mean getting back to a balanced budget and a surplus. George Bush inherited that from my husband. And he has squandered it. If we had stayed on the path that we were on when Bill left office, we would have paid down our debt. We would have paid back the Social Security Trust Fund and we would be shoring up the Medicare Trust Fund and making smart investments that will make us richer and safer and stronger as a nation.

Now where are we? $9 trillion dollars in debt and skyrocketing deficit. We borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. That's George Bush's idea of smart economic policy. And that is not in America's interest, is it?

So I want to get back to fiscal responsibility because I think that will strengthen us and better prepare us for the future. And we will once again see incomes rising. They went up $7,000 per typical family in the 1990s. We had more people lifted out of poverty than any other time in recent history.

Look, here we are under president Bush the typical American family lost $1,000 in income. And the price of everything is going up, from health care to gas to other energy costs to groceries. So let's get back to an economy that doesn't just work for the wealthy and the well connected but works for you and you and your neighbors and your friends.

And I want to be very clear here. I have nothing at all against rich people. I mean, God bless them. And of course, you know, much to my amazement and Bill's, he actually made a lot of money when he got out of being president. That's great. But it's not rich people who built America. It is the hard working middle class and working people that built America.

And we need a president again who gets it, who isn't isolated in the White House but knows what makes this country great and gets this economy going again.

You know, during this election, occasionally I've heard people criticize the 1990s. Well, that's fair. But I never been quite sure what they are criticizing it for. Are they upset about the peace or the prosperity? I can never figure that out.

We're not going backwards, let's at least learn from the past so we don't repeat the mistakes and build on the positive accomplishments so that we can go into the future with confidence and optimism because we can create new good jobs again.

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