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Ballot Bowl 2008

Checking on Today's Campaign Events

Aired April 19, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

MALVEAUX: I want to tell you, though. I want you to listen to a bit of sound. This is really what they are focusing on. Barack Obama here just moments ago talking to voters and what he is doing is he is really trying to paint a picture of himself, define himself and his character. It is something that both of these candidates have been sparing over, who is more trust worthy, who has more integrity, all of this because a lot of their plans when it comes to with drawing troops from Iraq or actually not taxing the middle class, reforming healthcare, very, very similar. So both of these candidates looking at the other one saying I'm the one who is more trustworthy, I've got more character. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And what I said in this campaign is that I don't want to just play the game better in Washington, I want to put an end to the game plan. I don't want to become like those who we've been fighting for the last 20 years. Instead, I want to convince independents and some disillusioned Republicans to join us in a coalition for change. I want to change people's hearts and people's minds around the idea that we can make this country work again. And put people back to work again and provide health care for every American and educate every child.

I am not -- I'm not running for office so that Washington can change me. I'm running so that I can change Washington, and that's why you're here today. That's the choice that we face. But, ultimately, understand, I can't change this country unless you are willing to work with me. Unless you, the people, in accordance to the ideas of the founding fathers, unless you make a decision that our government should reflect the decencies and generosity of the American people, unless you're willing to bring about change, change won't happen.

But if you are with me, if you are willing, if you are willing to make that choice to fight for what you know this country can be, then we can go ahead and tell the lobbyists their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over, because they haven't funded my campaign. I haven't taken Pac money, I haven't taken lobbyists' money, and they will not run our White House. They will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm president of the United States of America.

If you are willing to make this choice with me, then, we can actually start having an honest conversation, not spin and pr, but an honest conversation with the American people about how we're going to bring about change, because it won't be easy. It's not going to be easy to suddenly lower gas prices. We're going to have to work to increase fuel efficiency standards on cars and reinvest in renewable energy. And it's going to be a long project. It's going to take us many years to start finally ending our dependence on foreign oil.

But we can start now as long as you've got a president who's honest with you. And when I talked about increasing fuel efficiency standards, I didn't go and do it in front of some environmental group. I went to Detroit and did it in front of the automakers and I've got to admit that nobody clapped when I talked. But that's OK, because you need a president who will not just tell you what you want to hear, but will tell you what you need to hear, will tell you the truth. That's the choice.

That's the change we can make in this campaign. If you are willing to stand with me, then you can have somebody who can break the fever of fear that has dominated our foreign policy. Instead of just going along with the ride, somebody who's going to resist and fight for a foreign policy that reflects our best values and our best traditions. I opposed the war in 2002 because I said this will distract us from fighting al Qaeda, this will cost us hundreds of billions of dollars. It will cost us lives. It will help terrorists recruit. And I was right.

And so, when you ask yourselves who do you want answering that 3:00 in the morning phone call, you should figure out, out of the three candidates remaining, who's the one who got it right and who are the ones who got it wrong?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Senator Barack Obama emphasizing the case about judgment that he has better judgment than Senator Hillary Clinton. He is referring to, obviously, the decision over the Iraq war, that being one of the things that he is really pressed and pushed, one of the things Senator Clinton has come back and says that she -- talking to voters saying simply, think of it as a job here, a who is best equipped for this job that it's a competition and that the American people are really hiring the next president.

She making the case that she has more experience and that she is more qualified. Jessica, I know you've been following Senator Clinton and all of the things and the kinds of arguments that she is making to voters why she is the better candidate.

YELLIN: That's right, Suzanne, she, in addition to some of the themes we've heard from her since the beginning of primary season, particularly that she's ready from day one, that she's the most experienced, in her view. She has added this new theme of late that she is a fighter, that she's going to fight for the people and it's a theme that Senator Clinton has been hitting hard this weekend as she stumped in these last hours before the Pennsylvania primary.

Now, we are all waiting for her to take the stage, she'll be speaking live in York, Pennsylvania, shortly. We're going to bring that to you just as soon as she arrives, but in the meantime, I want to take us to some of her comments from West Lawn earlier today when she was really hitting this theme, that she is Clinton, the fighter, and that she has deep ties in the state of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The job of a leader is to bring people together to solve problems, but to understand that, sometimes, we have to fight to get the political will and the votes to make that happen. Now, you have to think about it. The wealthy and the well connected have had a president; George Bush has been fighting for more tax breaks for the oil companies. George Bush has fought for more tax breaks and subsidies to the pharmaceutical companies, to the health insurance companies, to Wall Street. So, he's fought OK, he just hasn't fought for the vast majority of middle-class Americans who get up every day, go to work, make a difference in their lives and their families.

So, I think it's about time we had a president again who would fight for you. Fight for your jobs, your health care, and your futures. And that's what I'm going to do. You know, for me, this election is one of the most important we've ever had. We cannot survive another presidency that ignores and denies, postpones and ridicules solutions for the problems that we have to address. We can't go and see more and more jobs lost. We can't see more and more homes foreclosed on because of unscrupulous lending practices. We can't see millions more who are uninsured and underinsured and young people who worked hard all their lives being denied a college education because they and their families can't afford it.

We sure can't see, as my friend and colleague, Senator McCain said, keeping American troops in Iraq for another 100 years, so I have campaigned across Pennsylvania and it has been a joy the last six weeks. I have to say, what a, what a treat because I've gone from place to place talking about what I would do as your president, because I don't think this election is about speeches. I think it is about solutions. I think it's about you knowing what I will do to try to help you make a difference for your future. And I feel really personal about it because my dad was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton speaking just a few hours ago in West Lawn, Pennsylvania. We are still waiting for her to take the stage in York, Pennsylvania. We'll bring that to you live when it happens and Senator Clinton will also be making a special appearance here on CNN on Monday night. She is a one-on-one guest with Larry King, 9:00 p.m. on Monday that is the eve of that crucial primary, so you'll want to tune in for that.

Earlier this hour, we heard Barack Obama take a few swipes at John McCain. Well, McCain has also been going after Obama on the stump. On the other side of this break, we'll listen to some of his attacks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Here on BALLOT BOWL, we continue to watch the Democrats as they stump across the state of Pennsylvania today and we are waiting on a live event with Senator Clinton. But as we await that, we want to bring you some sound from John McCain who took a couple of swings at Barack Obama in his speech in Pittsburgh earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Obama continues to refuse to condemn and repudiate president, former President Carter meeting with the lead are of Hamas. Clearly a leader of a terrorist organization, a murder. And one leader of an organization that has announced its dedication to the extinction of the state of Israel. With the business of international relations, you got to be tough. They should repudiate President Carter and reprimand him and tell him he should not have that meeting.

I noticed also Senator Obama continues to not apologize for his remarks concerning small-town America. Small-town America is the heartland of America. They've provided some of our bravest and most successful young men and women. They know that they have been through tough times and they know that the future of America is brighter and better ahead of us and they're not given to depression and they don't shape their values about hunting or about their religion because they're unhappy about the economy. That shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the American people and he's truly out of touch.

Yes.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Do you feel that Obama's comments were clumsy words or do you feel it reveals something about his character?

MCCAIN: I don't know what it reveals about his character but the fact that he has not apologized and repudiated his remarks shows that those remarks are elitist and he is out of touch.

(UNIDENTIFED MALE): How big of a problem do you think this is for him, sir?

MCCAIN: I think it may be defining in the respect, I think his remarks may be defining because it shows a fundamental attitude about the heartland of America. He basically says that its economic conditions that shape their values and their, and the things that they believe in and ranging from the Second Amendment to their religious beliefs or their religious convictions. So, I think it's pretty important and the fact that he continues to say that he does not apologize for those remarks I think indicates a certain out of touch elitism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator John McCain speaking on his campaign plane earlier this week.

We want to remind you that on Monday, we are going to bring you the best of CNN's BALLOT BOWL, that's going to be on CNN.com. You can logon to the Internet and watch it streaming with all sorts of highlights from all the speeches of the candidates over the past months and some of the best moments here on CNN's BALLOT BOWL. In this up coming hour, we want to remind you Senator Hillary Clinton is yet to take the stage in York, Pennsylvania. We'll bring you that event live when it happens and we're also going to hear Senator Clinton speaking with Maya Angelou. That happened earlier this week and on the other side of the break, more of Barack Obama. Also, he was speaking in Pennsylvania earlier today. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL, I'm Suzanne Malveaux in Pennsylvania. We've been watching all of the candidates live and on tape throughout the weekend and this whistle stop that, from Barack Obama as well as Senator Clinton crisscrossing across Pennsylvania, the critical state leading up to the Tuesday primary but Senator Clinton also giving clear signs, indications that she is looking forward and beyond Pennsylvania.

Just yesterday, she was in North Carolina at Wake Forest University with Professor Maya Angelou. Both of them holding what they called kind of an informal conversation, kind of a get to know you chat session, but also Senator Clinton talking about her own policies, also talking about the potential here. She said that this was a chance for a woman and an African-American, the possibility, a shot at the presidency and these are some new words coming from Senator Clinton. Just take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA ANGELOU, POET: We need a president who can say, now, you can drop it.

SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Sounds like the beginning of a good poem for an inauguration.

ANGELOU: I think so, too.

CLINTON: But the point is so profound and important. If you think about where we are at this moment in history, it is rife with both great challenge and peril, and unparalleled opportunity and promise. We have everything we need to chart a new course. And to give every American the tools that he or she needs to chart that personal journey. The question is whether we will do it and letting go of not only the heavy burden of ignorance, but of prejudice and discrimination, sexism as well as racism.

ANGELOU: Yes, yes, absolutely.

CLINTON: Has never been so possible or so necessary as it is today. And what is exciting and, for me, humbling is that this contest that I'm engaged in with Senator Obama exemplifies that. Neither of us were written into the constitution. Neither of us would have had an opportunity to be doing what we are doing today. And because of what we are doing, I honestly believe we have broken one of those invisible barriers.

ANGELOU: I agree.

CLINTON: That never again --

ANGELOU: I agree.

CLINTON: -- will any little boy or girl in America not believe that he or she, black, white, brown, whatever, cannot grow up to be president because that is now over. We have created that possibility in this moment of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Senator Hillary Clinton pointing out the historic aspect, nature, of this campaign on the Democratic side, the first time either a female or an African-American could have a shot at the presidency. Obviously, Senator Clinton saying that Barack Obama offers this kind of unique perspective, an opportunity for voters, but she has also been making the case, that no question about it, that she believes she's the much stronger candidate.

One of those things that she's been talking about is toughness. She believes that she's the true fighter, the one that can actually handle and take on the Republicans because she had been vetted. Barack Obama has come back trying to explain why he believes that, yes, he is tough enough for this job; this is from Barack Obama in Winwood, Pennsylvania, earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't believe we can bring about change if we don't declare independence from the petty, trivial nonsense that passes for our political debate these days. That tries to exploit our differences and enflames divisions in our country, the politics that feeds on fake controversy and distractions and where you keep track of how many points you can score on your political opponent instead of how many problems you can solve for the American people. That may make for good headlines. That may make for good television, but it doesn't make for good government, and I'm interested in actually providing a good government for the American people.

I'm not interested in having debates about flag pins. I'm interested in having a debate about how I'm going to put people back to work and how I'm going to make sure our kids can go to college and how we're going to get our troops home from Iraq. That's what the American people are interested in. Our party, the Democratic Party, has always been at its best when it led not by calculation, but with conviction. When it led not by polls but by principles. When we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose, a higher purpose.

That's the party that America needs us to be right now. That's the reason I am running for president of the United States of America. The man I met in Latrobe who's out of a job and can't afford the job search because he can't afford to put gas in the tank. He needs us to come together for a more perfect union. The 1,100 workers at State College who lost their jobs when the plant shut down.

They need us to reinvest in clean energy technologies that can produce millions of new jobs and infrastructure that can bring jobs back and that will fight for the right to organize labor to organize itself to collectively bargain and to make sure that our trade deals are fair and that we're not raising our minimum wage every ten years but every year to keep pace with inflation and that we're looking out for small businesses and not just big multinational corporations and we're no longer giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas but we're giving tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in the United States of America.

The families that I've met from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg to Philadelphia were sitting around the kitchen table trying to figure out how to pay their health care premiums or how to tuition. They need a middle tax break, so that they can deal with these rising costs. They need a comprehensive affordable health care system for every single American that is a at least as good as the health care that we as members of Congress have and we're not going to wait for ten years to do it or 20 years to do it, we're going to do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

We need to make sure that our seniors are getting the security that they need in their retirements by protecting Social Security, giving them a tax break so they don't have to pay income tax on their Social Security, giving them an additional homeowners' exemptions so they can stay in their homes even when property taxes rise. Our young people have to have the best education that this country has to offer. Every child, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, native American, and they've got to be able to afford to go to college which is why we're going to give them a $4,000 tuition credit, every student every year in exchange for community service, we'll invest in them, they'll invest in America. Together, we'll move this country forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEUX: Senator Barack Obama in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, from earlier today, crisscrossing Pennsylvania throughout the southeast portion of this state trying to meet as many voters as possible before the critical primary on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania primary. We're still waiting to hear from Senator Clinton out of York, Pennsylvania. Both of these candidates, all the candidates, using celebrity and star power obviously to attract voters to get the kinds of crowds and attention so that they can at least deliver their message to those folks. We are seeing Rob Reiner, the actor and director, famously meathead on "All in the Family," but also director of "When Harry met Sally." He is going to be introducing Senator Hillary Clinton. We will have all of that and much more on BALLOT BOWL after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL. We are monitoring Senator Clinton's event in York, Pennsylvania. We have a live picture of that right now. Governor Ed Rendell -- well, Governor Ed Rendell was introducing Senator Clinton. She is also joined by a number of other luminaries, including Rob Reiner. You see them there, him there, on one side is Senator Clinton, formerly "Meathead" from Archie Bunker and now quite a liberal activist in California. We're going to bring you back to this event when Senator Clinton takes the microphone, but let's take a diversion for a moment. This has been a week of a lot of surprise guest appearances on various variety shows. One of the most memorable was the "Colbert Report." We saw both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama show up there this week, but there was also another appearance by a former candidate. John Edwards was joking about what it would take to get his endorsement. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS (D), FMR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is no secret that both campaigns have sought my support. So far, I haven't decided which of these excellent candidates I'm going to endorse. On the one hand, I don't want to be seen as anti-hope, on the other hand, I don't want James Carville to bite me.

(LAUGHTER)

So, who? Who am I going to vote for in the next and last primary, North Carolina? Well, I'll support whoever presents a platform that's consistent with my values.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't support the candidate who will raise the federal minimum wage, somebody who will invite for the 37 million Americans who wake up in poverty every day, Somebody who will protect the interests of working families. Also, I'd like a jetski.

(LAUGHTER)

They are so much fun. And I don't really -- I don't really care which kind. But those, knows are pretty sweet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: We should check to see if Kawasaki's had donors for the various campaigns call in and flood them with offers to give John Edwards a Kawasaki jetski.

We're going to take a short break. When we come back, we will bring you Hillary Clinton speaking live when we have that and also the latest developments in the day's news including the pope's visit, right here in New York City. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the stories we're following this hour. Pope Benedict celebrating three years in his new job today, delivering a message of hope at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, once again addressing the clergy sexual abuse scandal at a mass attended by priests and nuns.

Afterwards, thousands cheered as the pontiff paraded up Fifth Avenue in his popemobile. The is due in Yonkers later this afternoon for a youth rally at a Catholic seminary.

And children of polygamy in Texas, a judge there orders hundreds of children taken from the FLDS compound to remain in state custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CODY TOWNS, ATTY FOR CHILD: Well, I think it was probably a difficult decision for her. She is obviously facing something that's unprecedented and under the circumstances, I think probably did the best that she could do in trying to work through the situation as an ad litem for the children, we're a little disappointed in what the process turned out to be and obviously, we will be appealing and continuing with our children's rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The children, some of them, just babies, are being placed in temporary homes. The judge also ordered DNA testing so the state can match children to their biological parents.

And a time to pause and remember. Thirteen years ago today, a terror attack on U.S. soil. The Murrah Federal Building was bombed in Oklahoma City, 168 people were killed in that attack.

A relatively easy day for Olympic torch runners in Bangkok, Thailand. The relay sticking to its planned course, there. Protesters flashing "Free Tibet" banners were kept well behind police barricades. Bangkok's large Chinese population turned out to rally the runners through the city.

And those are the news headlines. Hillary Clinton, live from Pennsylvania when the BALLOT BOWL returns right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. We now have live pictures of both Senator Clinton speaking in York, Pennsylvania, and Barack Obama in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. We're going to dip in first to listen to Senator Clinton speaking and we will bring you Obama shortly after, but let's check in with Senator Clinton.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't continue to lose jobs. I heard about the announcement from Harley. I've heard about what's going on in Hershey. We've lost manufacturing jobs. Well, what are we going to do about it? Well, here's what I'll do. If you give me the chance to be your president, No. 1, I'm going to get up every day and figure out how to create jobs for everybody, not just take care of the wealthy and the well connected in America.

You know, the wealthy and the well connected have had their president. Right? It's time everybody else had a president again who'll put the American people first. And we're going to end those parts of our government that are preventing us from keeping and growing jobs and we're going to get creative and invest in the creation of new jobs. No. 1, I'm going to end, in our tax code, any single benefit, one penny of benefit that goes to any business that exports a job from Pennsylvania to any foreign country. That is done.

(APPLAUSE) I actually consider that unpatriotic and I don't use that word lightly. Why should a company, here in Pennsylvania, be able to defer paying taxes on profits if they move the jobs out of Pennsylvania? I mean, that's too inviting, too tempting. Well, we're going to remove that temptation and we're going to say, if you want to invest in jobs, invest them here, right in our country. We're also going to change the tax code so it doesn't any longer advantage the richest of Americans the way it does now. We have money managers on Wall Street making $50 million a year who pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than a nurse, a teacher or truck driver living right here in York who makes less than $50,000 and I don't think that's right.

We are also going to take a time-out on trade agreements. We're not going to be entering any trade agreements unless we know that we're actually going to benefit from them and that American workers, who are the most productive workers in the world, will not be taken advantage of.

Look at what's happening now. I have said that I will renegotiate NAFTA. We will have strong labor and environmental standards and we will make sure that there are no advantages that we can compete against that would lose us jobs here in America.

We're also going to get tough on China. This is something that is long overdue. And look at the way that it's developed under President Bush. Because he squandered our balanced budget and our surplus, we borrow money every single day from foreign countries. It isn't right. And look what it means. We're living on borrowed money and borrowed oil. That is a recipe for disaster. So, we're going to start moving back toward fiscal responsibility. You can't blame the Chinese for taking advantage of us. That's not their fault if we let them take advantage of us. But, if we basically let them, you know, import lead-laced toys and contaminated pet foods and polluted pharmaceuticals that actually have killed Americans, that's not their fault, it's our fault that our government is not sticking up for us, protecting us, looking out for us.

So, we're also going, though, not just to try to reverse the damage, we're trying to be positive and creative about how to create new jobs, and here's what I would do. No. 1, let's make some investments in clean, renewable energy jobs. These are the jobs of the future. I figure we could create at least five million new jobs and the way I would do it is to set up a strategic energy fund to invest in new technologies, to help train people to do these green collar jobs. And how would I get the money for that? I would take away the oil subsidies from the oil companies.

(APPLAUSE)

I mean, honestly, do you think that Exxon Mobil that made $40 billion last year in profits needs your tax dollars to keep making money? Let's put that to work so that we could start solving the problems that the oil companies and the oil-producing companies have caused for us. So, we're going to invest in solar and wind and geothermal and hydrogen and clean company and biofuels and everything that we can have produced right here in America. And I'm really excited about this because I think this could be a declaration of energy independence. If we got serious about it the way that previous generations of Americans did under President Kennedy when he said we were going to send a man to the moon and bring him back safely and then made investments in all kinds of new technologies, we created millions of jobs.

Well, we're going to do the same when it comes to energy and we're going to ask the young people of our country to put their minds to work and figure out how they can be part of turning this around. And we're going to have to do it for our security, for our environment and for our economy. But I'm absolutely sure we'll do it because we have no choice.

Now, we're not going to do any of this until we get the two oil men out of the White House, but as soon as they leave, we're also going to create jobs with a "Rebuild America Program," to invest in building our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our water and sewer systems, our mass transit, our light rail. We're living off of the investments of 30, 40, 50 years ago.

You know, President Eisenhower started it Interstate Highway Commission back in the 1950s and we're not keeping up. There's too much congestion, there's too much gridlock. But we can if we gave Americans a chance to invest like through a bonding program. That's what we did during World War II. Americans bought bonds, we used that money to build the industries that fueled our success in World War II. I think a lot of Americans would buy bonds to rebuild America and put three million of their fellow Americans to work again.

YELLIN: Senator Hillary Clinton hitting some populist themes there with some sharp criticisms of the oil companies and of NAFTA. We're going to transition now to Barack Obama who is also out at the microphone, he's speaking in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we've been going to the last five years costing hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives with no end in sight, that is not what we can afford. We need to bring this war to an end. I opposed it in 2002, I will bring it to an end in 2009. That's the change that the American people are looking for.

Just this week, John McCain said that after reviewing the Bush economic record over the last 7-1/2 years, he thought we had made great progress. "Great progress," these were his words. I guess he did not talk to the 8,300 Pennsylvanians who have already lost the job since the beginning of this year, the 232,000 Americans who have lost their jobs so far since the beginning of this year. I guess he didn't talk to the millions of people who are worried about losing their homes in foreclosure. I guess he didn't talk to the millions of people who don't have health insurance. I guess he didn't talk to the young people who don't think they can afford to go to college. I guess he didn't talk to those small business owners who are being crushed and can't get credit.

Now, John McCain is a genuine American hero, but by his own admission, he does not understand the economy very well. All he's offering are the same Bush tax cuts to the healthiest Americans, folks who didn't need them, folks who weren't even asking for them. Took him three tries to finally figure out that he had to do something about the home foreclosure crisis. We can't afford another four years of George W. Bush in the guise of John McCain and that's why Democrats will be united in November of 2008.

But, it's not just enough to change political parties in the White House. We've got to change how business is done in Washington and this is, this is the decision you have to make, right now. Those of you who are going to be voting in this primary on Tuesday, you do have a choice to make. Senator Clinton is a formidable candidate and she has done a fine job as senator for New York. But the fact of the matter is that Senator Clinton essentially buys into -- she buys into the kind of politics that we've become accustomed to in Washington.

I mean, you think about it. I mean, she said back in August during a debate, she said, I don't think that there's a problem with lobbyists because lobbyists, they represent real people. Well, I don't know how many of you have lobbyists in Washington, but I think she's fundamentally wrong about that, so when she takes more money from lobbyists and pacs than any candidate, Republican or Democrat, you can't expect that she's going to change the culture in Washington to push the special interests aside. She's accepted that they're part of the system, instead of a fundamental problem that has to be overcome.

You can't take their money and then expect that they're not going to have any influence. So, has part of what she's accepted, that way of playing politics. And then, she seems to have a habit of saying whatever it is that folks want to hear. So, she was -- she campaigned for NAFTA and then she started running for president and suddenly, she's been against NAFTA since it began.

She voted for what was called an authorization to have U.S. military forces in Iraq. She said, that was not an authorization to use military force in Iraq, that wasn't a vote for war, that was a vote for diplomacy. You know, so, the point is that one of the things that we need, if we're going to change how things work, is to be honest with the American people about how change can come about.

And then -- so she's embraced the strategy of Washington which says, say anything and do anything. And then the tactics of her politics. You know, over the last several weeks since she fell behind, she's resorted to what's called "kitchen sink strategies." She's got the kitchen sink flying and the china flying and the, you know, the buffets coming at me. And, you know, look, I come from Chicago. I know politics is hard. You know, it's not for the faint of heart, I understand that. But, when we end up involved in these constant distractions, these petty, trivial slash-and-burn, back-and-forth, tit-for-tat politics, so that we no longer talk about the things that the American people care about, that may be good for the television ratings, but it's not good for you. It's not bringing the country together.

And when I say this, Senator Clinton says, well, you know what, the Republicans are going to do it to you, so you might as well get used to it. But, here's the thing, see, I don't want to copy what the Republicans have done over the last two decades. I want to change the way the Republicans think just like I want to change the way Democrats and Independents think. I want to bring everybody together. I want to change our politics. I want us to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. I want us to focus on our common hopes and dreams, that's why I'm running for president of the United States. That's a fundamental choice that you've got, a new kind of politics versus the old kind of politics.

YELLIN: Senator Barack Obama speaking in Pennsylvania live right now, taking aim at Senator Clinton, effectively branding her a part of the problem in Washington and then pivoting to the message we've heard from him from the beginning, that he is offering a new and different way to approach problem-solving if he takes the White House.

I'd like to bring in my co-anchor, Suzanne Malveaux, who was in Pennsylvania and was there when Barack Obama was taking aim himself at John McCain, earlier.

I understand now McCain, his campaign is hitting back -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Jessica, they wasted no time in actually e-mailing their response. We saw Barack Obama here, really just about 20 minutes ago, 30 minutes ago, talking to folks, it's all part of this kind of tour, this train tour that he is taking across the state of Pennsylvania. And what we've heard particularly over the last week or so is this kind of back and forth between Barack Obama and Senator John McCain over who is best able to handle the economy. All of these problems, the gas prices, the foreclosures, people losing their jobs, these type of things, that voters are paying very close attention to. So, Barack Obama criticizing McCain for his plan.

Well, the McCain folks shot back, they said Barack Obama doesn't understand the economy and he's disguising it by distorting John McCain's comments, "Raising taxes on millions of Americans during an economic downturn makes absolutely no sense to families that are trying to make a mortgage payment and find their economic footing." This from Tucker Bounds, spokesman for John McCain.

The kind of back and forth we've heard over the week over McCain's comments he says that there's been great progress economically since George Bush was in office. That is a statement that McCain made earlier in the week. Barack Obama really went after him on that statement saying that he thought it was an indication that McCain really didn't understand what was going on, what -- the kind of pain that people were feeling and what voters were talking about.

McCain campaign came back, Jessica, saying that he was twisting McCain's words and that he has a habit of doing that. So, we have seen this really, the rhetoric ratcheted up throughout the week, specifically on an issue that voters are really focusing on and that is the state of the economy -- Jessica.

YELLIN: That's right, and clearly, Barack Obama right now has one foot in the general election, it would seem, parrying with John McCain and still one foot in the primary as he faces off with Senator Clinton this weekend in Pennsylvania ahead of that crucial primary.

Suzanne and I are going to be back, we're going to hear a lot more from both the candidates in the next hour of BALLOT BOWL, it's all ahead on the other side of this break, so stay with us.