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Ballot Bowl 2008

Continued Coverage of the Campaigns

Aired October 18, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here's a check of some of the hour's top stories we are following. Police have lifted an amber alert for 6- year-old Cole Puffinburger who was abducted from his Las Vegas home on Wednesday. However, we still don't know the status of the child. The boy's grandfather however, Clemens Tinnemeyer, was arrested yesterday in southern California in connection with the case. Police say they believe the abduction may be linked to drug dealings with Mexican nationals. Police scheduled a news conference at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, we will bring that to you live when it happens.
President Bush is expected to announce later on today that he will host a Summit of World Leaders to discuss the global response to the financial crises. Mr. Bush is discussing the economic crisis with talks -- in talks, rather, tonight with European leaders at Camp David. He's meeting French president Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso at Camp David right now at the presidential retreat in Maryland.

Hurt by the economic slowdown, retail chain Mervyn's is going out of business. The California retailer has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July said it plans to close all 149 of its stores.

And a festival now for the faint-hearted at all. Hundreds of jumpers with parachutes, of course, line up in West Virginia today for the once-a-year chance to throw themselves off the 866-foot New River Gore Bridge. You can see it there. Those are indeed thrill seekers.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More of the top stories coming up in the news room one hour from now. But first, let's kick off the next play in CNN's BALLOT BOWL.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN HOST: Welcome to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux in St. Louis, Missouri, the gateway arch. This is where Barack Obama spoke earlier before a crowd of a hundred thousand people. A couple of die-hard fans behind me. Your hunt to hear from the candidates, sometimes live, sometimes on tape but always unfiltered. Joining my co-host, Ed Henry, who is covering the Republicans in Woodbridge, Virginia. Ed, you must have supporters of McCain on your side, hey?

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Suzanne. Very large crowd there. They are starting to build a big crowd here, nowhere near 100,000 but a large crowd here at Woodbridge. This is one of the suburbs outside the Washington, D.C. area and quite interesting how the McCain campaign will be hearing from John McCain himself just in the next couple moments live right here on BALLOT BOWL. But to give you an idea of this crowd, they are trying to turn the Joe the plumber story into a populist crusade.

I'm seeing now, all over the crowd as you can see now Phil the brick layer, Rose the teacher, and there's another guy with Wayne the roofer. And there are also signs where someone has one saying, our son is G.I. Joe.

Our dad is G.I. Joe. Just as you heard John McCain and Sarah Palin trying to say they think that the Democratic ticket has been very unfair beating up on Joe the plumber and they are trying to turn that into a populist crusade to say that they think Barack Obama's tax plan is unfair to a lot of working class Americans. Obviously there in St. Louis, we are hearing a much different story, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: We heard from Barack Obama as well talking about the fact that his economic plan, he said his plan will work for teachers, for janitors and for plumbers. Obviously that Joe the plumber reference. But Barack Obama also taking a look at those polls, he's telling voters, warning them not to get too cocky about this. He's ahead in battleground states but they are trying to stretch what will get him over the finish line is voter registration. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are 17 days away from changing this country, 17 days. But for those who are getting a little cocky, I just want to remind you, Democrats have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I remember what it felt like when all of the polls said I was going to win in New Hampshire and I lost. I learned a lesson, with my great friend and supporter Hillary Clinton. You can't let up. You can't pay too much attention to the polls.

We have to keep making our case for change. We have too keep fighting for every vote. We have keep running through that finish line. This election is too important to take anything for granted. The future you and I are seeking for our children is too important to let them down. The change -- the change is coming if we work. The change is coming if we decide to come together. And just remember that Americans have done this before.

I looked at this magnificent art, this magnificent gateway. And it reminds me that somewhere in our fast -- somewhere in our past, with we had a parent or a grandparent who said, you know what, I might not be able to make it but I will go west. Because if I take that chance, maybe my child, maybe my grandchild will make it. I think of all of those immigrants who said, I may not have freedom in my country but if I travel across an ocean to America, maybe I will have freedom.

Maybe my child will have freedom. I might not be able to buy my own business, but maybe my grandchild will have their own business. If but if I work hard in this dirty, tough job, maybe my grandchild will go to college. I may not be able to vote but maybe someday my grandchild will run for the United States of America! That's what this election is about.

That's what we are fighting for. And if each of you will stand with me. If you will organize with me, if you will talk to your friends and neighbors on my behalf, I promise you this, we will not just win Missouri, we will win this general election and you and I together, we will change this country and change the world. God bless you, St. Louis. God bless you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Barack Obama earlier today in St. Louis, Missouri, where we are. And he attracted a record-breaking number of people. We understand it was the largest crowd ever here for an Obama rally 100,000 attended. I want to show you a quick photo my producer Matt took on a life here. It shows you the gateway arch, obviously an iconic symbol of the city but also all of the people who gathered here. The key to the campaign obviously to get these folks out to vote in 17 days or so. Ed, I know that is a focus as well on the Republican side.

HENRY: Absolutely, Suzanne. We are here obviously in Woodbridge, Virginia; you were here this past week because Barack Obama was crisscrossing the state as well. It is a critical state for both sides. It is one of seven key battleground states, people go to CNN.com, they will see a shrinking number of battlegrounds that are a real toss-up, Virginia one of them. We are waiting to hear from John McCain. He will be out in moments. We will hear him live, unfiltered, and straight from John McCain. But in the mean time I want to let people listen to Sarah Palin. She was in another key state; she was in West Chester, Ohio yesterday talking up the McCain/Palin ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What about the other answers that we haven't gotten yet? This is not mean-spirited. It is not negative to call somebody on their record and on their own, OK? Senator Obama won't tell you the full truth about his tax increases, and now he's kind of fuzzying up his connections to A.C.O.R.N. and -- and this is the same candidate who's running ads as distorting health plans for lower health care costs for all of you. A.C.O.R.N. is under investigation for rampant voter fraud in 13 states and a front group for A.C.O.R.N. received over $800,000 from the Obama campaign.

Now -- [ booing ] -- Obama said that his only involvement with A.C.O.R.N. is when he represented the group as a lawyer. But what about the training that he provided A.C.O.R.N. in the past and A.C.O.R.N.'s staff and his role in past A.C.O.R.N.'s voter registration efforts and then there's the $200,000 when he got from A.C.O.RN. when he was on the board and the fact that A.C.O.R.N. endorsed him this year and they are working hard on his behalf.

Now, all of this would be lot of baggage to take into the oval office and Americans are entitled to answers before Election Day. In the words of John McCain, we need a little straight talk. These associations are important. They go to the heart of someone's judgment and truthfulness. And it is not mean-spirited. It is not negative campaigning to ask someone about their record. It's in fairness to the electorate.

As for A.C.O.R.N. and voter fraud, now they are under federal investigation and John and I are calling on the Obama campaign to release communications had had with this group and do so immediately. And we are asking for this, not picking on someone or someone's campaign. We are asking this in fairness to all of you, the American voters. You deserve to know -- you deserve to know because we do need to know more clearly about the choices that we have on November 4th.

In this election, especially here in Ohio, you're going to be asked to choose between a candidate who will not disavow a group committing voter fraud, and a leader who will not tolerate it. This group needs to learn that you, here in Ohio, you won't let them turn the buckeye state into the A.C.O.R.N. state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, Sarah Palin has been drawing very large crowds out on the stump. Sarah Palin used by this Republican ticket to really rally the party's faithful. You can bet in the final 17 days she will be a critical asset for John McCain in turning out the conservative base. We are going to hear directly from John McCain in his own words live right behind me just in the next few moments here in Woodbridge, Virginia. A real key battleground, another one of those battlegrounds is Missouri, where we find my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux. Barack Obama had a large rally earlier today. You showed a picture a few minutes ago. That crowd was massive.

MALVEAUX: A massive crowd. Barack Obama really gaining some steam and some momentum as well. Joe Biden is taking on Sarah Palin over a number of issues. He was in Henderson, Nevada earlier in the week and he was talking about the fact that Sarah Palin mentioned that she liked to campaign in parts of the country that were pro America and he took her on over these comments. Take a listen.

JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I can be serious about the politics for just a moment beyond the substance. It was reported last night at a fund-raiser in North Carolina that Governor Palin, John McCain's running mate, made a point of saying -- made of point of saying that she likes to visit pro-American parts of the country. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I was told by the press today one of the networks interviewing me told me that she has tried to clarify her words. I'm being serious. This is a big deal, at least to me it is.

She says that what she meant was, she accepts and she knows what we all know. That every state, in fact, is pro-American. Well, ladies and gentlemen -- ladies and gentlemen, every state that I have been in -- every state in this nation has sent their sons and daughters to die and to serve for this country. 2,300 sons are deployed in Iraq, 35 of them have given their lives! It doesn't matter where you live! We all love our country, Governor Palin! We all love our country!

Barack Obama puts his country first. I put my country first. These people put their country first! Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Palin may have stepped back electric some of the rhetoric today but the Republican campaign has stepped up its attacks that are just as divisive. You may have seen Harry Reid's comments today. You may have heard about the scurrilous phone calls coming into Nevada and in New Mexico and Virginia where I'm going that question Barack Obama's character and my implication that questions his patriotism.

Let me tell you, they don't hurt Barack Obama. They don't hurt me. They hurt the American people because they attempt to distract you from the issues that matter to your daily lives. Ladies and gentlemen, Barack is a tough guy. He can take three more weeks of these attacks but our country can't take four more years of Bush McCain policy!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Joe Biden taking on Sarah Palin over the issue of patriotism. We are waiting to hear from John McCain just moments away. My co host Ed Henry, at that site. We will bring that to you as soon as he starts to speak. We are also going to bring in our own Bill Schneider who's taking a look at all the polls just to see how these two candidates fair, all of this after this quick break when BALLOT BOWL continues. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENRY: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL, I'm Ed Henry in Woodbridge, Virginia. We are waiting for John McCain. His staff arrived. He's arrived on site. He will be behind me in the next couple of moments. Virginia a must-have state for him. Democrats have not carried it since 1964 but CNN's latest polling suggests that Barack Obama has surged ahead. That's why it's critical for John McCain to come here. You see the crowd getting fired up behind me as they bring in my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux. She's in St. Louis with Barack Obama. I hear the chants of "Rocky." I think that tells me John McCain is coming out.

MALVEAUX: Obviously, very enthusiastic crowd with you there, Ed. The poll showing here in Missouri that it is a dead heat between these two candidates. I want to bring in our own Bill Schneider to make some sense of our electoral map. What are we looking at with these two candidates? Obviously a lot of enthusiasm on both sides. Bill.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Suzanne, above all the crowd cheering for John McCain, I can tell you he's running behind our electoral map. If our election was held right now, we estimate that he would not win. But I can also tell you the election is not being held now. He has another two weeks to make up the difference. On our electoral map, if you total up all of the electro votes for Obama, the total is 277 that is 7 more than the majority you need to win. McCain is at 174, with 87 toss-up votes in 6 states that remain too close to call.

So right now McCain is running behind in electoral votes. He is hoping to take Virginia. That's where we are right now, that where he is. He's hoping to take Virginia out of the leaning Obama category and bring it back to the Republicans, where it's been for 44 years.

MALVEAUX: Bill, you bring up a good point. You say this is a snapshot if the election were held today, it shows looking at those numbers, Barack Obama would win. But I guess 17 days left, could there be game- changers at this point? Are people saying it's now over? SCHNEIDER: Well, it is not over. We have two more weeks. It's extremely close. In fact McCain is going after a couple Kerry states where he's been actively campaigning. Pennsylvania's one of them. Pennsylvania, Obama has a pretty good lead right now. We call it a leaning Obama state. That's a light blue state but John McCain has not given up on Pennsylvania. He's hoping to win that state.

Obama did not do well in the Pennsylvania primary. New Hampshire is another small state where McCain has strong base, it is leaning towards Barack Obama and McCain is hoping to take it away. Obama has big ambitions of his own. He's looking at a couple of light red states leaning towards McCain at the moment and hoping to add those to his total. One of them West Virginia, who has not voted for a Democrat for a long time. Voted for George Bush twice and Indiana, another state like Virginia, who hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1964. They are both leaning to McCain right now but Obama's ambitions have been raised and he's going after McCain in those two states.

MALVEAUX: Bill, obviously McCain not giving up on Virginia. Let's go back to our colleagues, Ed Henry who is there on site with the huge crowd. Ed, what are you seeing?

HENRY: Suzanne, McCain just started speaking. You mentioned that Sarah Palin will be on "Saturday Night Live" with a person he called her twin sister, Tina Fey obviously a joke. Let's listen to John McCain who is just getting into his remarks.

JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New! Thank you! Thank you!

(CROWD): USA!

MCCAIN: Thank you!

(CROWD): USA!

MCCAIN: My friends, we had a pretty good debate this week, don't you think? [Applause] and -- and I thought I did pretty well, but let's have -- let's have some straight talk. The real winner this week was Joe the plumber! And it's not just Joe the plumber. There's Rose the teacher and Phil the brick layer! [Applause] and small business men and women all over America that want to keep their earnings and not give it to the government, and they will create the jobs!

And, Joe, another reason why Joe won, my friends, is because he's the only person to get a real answer out of Senator Obama, about his plans for this country. Congratulations, Joe. That's an impressive achievement. Now, now, my friends, Joe didn't -- Joe didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. And he didn't ask to be famous. He certainly didn't ask for the political attacks on him from the Obama campaign! [Booing] Joe's dream -- Joe's dream, is so many Americans' dreams, to all own a small business that will create jobs in his communities and attacks on him are attacks on small businesses all over this country that employ 84 percent of Americans.

You know, we learned more about Senator Obama's plans from Joe's question than we learned in months of speeches by Senator Obama. We learned that Senator Obama's economic goal, as he told Joe, is to "spread the wealth around." [Booing] spread the wealth around. He believes -- he believes in redistributing wealth not in policy that's grown our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans. This explains -- this explains some big problems with my opponent's claim he will cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans.

You might ask, how do you cut income taxes, federal taxes, for 95 percent of Americans with more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce the number to zero? Well, that's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan. Since you can't reduce taxes on those would pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit and the treasury will have -- [ booing ] and the treasury will have to cover those checks by taxing other people, you, including a lot of folks just like Joe.

In other words, Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government give-away. And, you know, the thing that's most serious about this is the Obama tax increase would come at the worst possible time for America, and especially for small businesses like the one that Joe dreams of owning. The small businesses Senator Obama would tax provide 16 million jobs in America, and a sudden tax hike will kill some of those jobs at a time when we need to be creating more jobs in America!

And I'm not going to let that happen. I won't let that happen to you. You're paying enough taxes! America has an alternative to the phony tax cut my opponent started talking about only months ago. The McCain/Palin tax cut is the real thing. We are going to double the child did he deduction for every family. We will cut the capital gains tax and we will cut business taxes. We will cut business taxes to help create jobs and keep American businesses in America!

(CROWD): USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

MCCAIN: And as Joe is now reminded us all, America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government and spread the wealth around. And in this country we believe in spreading opportunity for those who need jobs, and those who create those! And that is exactly what I intend to do as president of the United States of America.

(CROWD): You go, John!

MCCAIN: My friends that is the choice that we face. These are hard times, and I need to give you a little straight talk. Our economy, our economy's in crises. America is fighting in two wars. And I will bring our troops home in victory and in honor! And I will bring them home in victory and honor and not in defeat, as Senator Obama would. We face many enemies in this dangerous world and many challenges here at home.

You know that. And the next president of the United States won't have time to get used to the office. He will have to act immediately. We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. I said it the last debate. I will say it again. I'm not George Bush. If Senator Obama wants to run against George Bush, he should have run for president four years ago! We need a new direction, and we have to fight for it. I have been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old. And, my friends, --

(CROWD): John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!

MCCAIN: My friends, I have been fighting since I was 17 years old and I have the scars to prove it. If I'm elected president, I will fight for America to take it in a new direction from my first day to the last. I'm not afraid of the fight. I'm ready for it. And so are you!

(APPLAUSE)

I'm not going to spend $700 billion of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I'm going to make sure we take care of the people who are devastated by the excesses and greed of Wall Street and Washington. I have a plan to protect the value of your home and get it rising again and we need to do that, my friends. We know what started this crisis, the subprime lending crisis, abetted, by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and defended by Democrats in Congress and we've got to stop the value -- loss of value in homes.

We need to buy up bad mortgages and refinance them at a new level so you request afford to stay in your home and realize the American dream.

So if your neighbor defaults, he doesn't bring down the value of your house with him. We've got to save the American dream and keep people in their homes. This administration is not doing that. I have a plan -- I have a plan to let retirees and people nearing retire the keep their money in their retirement accounts longer so they can rebuild their savings.

(APPLAUSE)

I have a plan to hold the line on taxes and cut them to make America more competitive and create jobs here at home.

Raising taxes, raising taxes may make an economy much worse, keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands and strengthens our economy. My friends, the explosion of government spending over the past eight years has put us deeper in debt to foreign countries that don't have our best interest at heart, weaken the dollar and make everything you buy more expensive.

If I'm elected president, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money on top the $700 billion we just gave the Treasury secretary, as Senator Obama proposes, because you can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt.

(BOOING)

I'm going to make -- I'm going to make government live on a budget, just like you do. (APPLAUSE)

I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans' care, social security and healthcare until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren't working for the American people. My friends, we will stop -- we will stop the earmark pork barrel spending. I will veto every bill that comes across my desk.

Congress puts in front of me. My friends,ly veto it. You will know their names, I will make them famous, we will stop this pork barrel spending.

If I'm elected president, I won't -- I won't fine small businesses and families with children as Senator Obama opposes, to force them into a huge new government-run health care run program, while he...

(BOOING)

You notice dv you notice in the debate, he said there was no fine. In his proposal there's a fine. He keeps the cost of the fine a secret until he hits you with it. I will bring down -- I will bring down the cost of health care and lower your premiums and make it more available to more Americans, and I will make sure -- I'll make sure you can keep the same health plan if you change jobs or leave the job to stay home.

I will provide every single American family with a $5,000 refundable tax credit to help them purchase insurance. Workers who already have insurance from their mess will keep it. Workers who don't have health insurance will keep it and have more money to cover costs. Workers who don't have health insurance, can use it to buy policies anywhere in this country to meet their basic needs. We will get healthcare costs under control.

If I'm president, I won't raise taxes on small businesses as Senator Obama opposes and force them to cut jobs. I'll keep small business' taxes where they are. Help them keep they are costs low, let them spend more earnings to create more jobs in this great nation of ours.

If I'm located resident, I won't make it harder to sell our goods overseas or kill more jobs as Senator Obama proposes. I will open new markets for goods in America to make sure our trade is free and fair and I'll make sure to help workers who lost a job that won't come back, and find a new one that won't go away.

(APPLAUSE)

My friends, my friends, the last president to raise taxes and restrict trade in a bad economy as Senator Obama proposes was a guy named Herbert Hoover, that didn't the turn out so well. They say those that those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Well, my friends, I know my history lessons. And I sure won't make the mistake Senator Obama will.

HENRY: As you can hear, John McCain addressing this large rally. If you want to continue to watch it, go to CNN.com/live. After this break, we will hear from his opponent, Senator Barack Obama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux in Saint Louis, Missouri. You just heard from John McCain, taking Barack Obama on over his economic plan. Barack Obama also saying, as well as, attacking John McCain over the financial crisis, saying it was a wreck the way that he was handling it. But Barack Obama also talking specifically about who he would tax and who he would not tax. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Senator McCain's been attacking by middleclass tax cut. He actually said this, he said, it goes to "those who don't pay taxes." Even though it only goes to people who work and who are already getting taxed on their paycheck. Let me repeat this. I'm not giving tax cuts to folks who don't work. I'm giving tax cuts to people who do work.

John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you're facing, he must be the first politician nis it call a tax cut for working people "welfare." Well, let me tell you, the only welfare is John McCain's plan to give another $200 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations in America including four billion in tax breaks to big oil companies that ran up record profits under George Bush. And who John McCain's proposing. I'm fighting for you. We can't afford four years like the last eight.

(APPLAUSE)

CROWD: Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

OBAMA: So -- so let us be clear. Let's just be clear, here. George Bush and John McCain are out of ideas. They are out of touch. And if you stand with me in 17 days, they'll be out of time.

(APPLAUSE)

We need new priorities in Washington. I think it's time to give a tax cut to the teachers and janitors who work in our schools, to the cops and firefighters who keep us safe. To the waitresses working double shifts, the nurses in the E.R. And, yes, the plumbers fighting for their American dream.

These workers are the backbone of our country. They're the one that's Washington has forgotten. They're the ones I'll fight for. And while Senator McCain ignores the payroll taxes you may to score a few political points, I'll put a tax cut in working people's pockets so they can pay their bills, put away some savings, pass on a brighter future to their children.

So, Senator McCain can keep on trying to attack me and distract you, but it's not going to work. You will not be hoodwinked, you will not be bamboozled. Not this time. Not now. Because while my opponent thinks this campaign's all about me, the truth is, this campaign's all about you -- your job, your health care, your retirement, your children's. That's what this election's about, that's what I'm fighting for, because I can fatake four more weeks of these attacks from John McCain, but the America can't take four year years of same failed policy, the same divided politics . That's why I'm running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Barack Obama saying do not be hoodwinked or bamboozled when it comes to his financial economic plan. Obviously both of these candidates sparring over who would best be able to fix this broken economy. And new words, earlier this week from Barack Obama saying that the days of easy money in America are over. We're going to bring you a little bit more of that after this quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHNEIDER: I'm Bill Schneider for CNN's BALLOT BOWL in Woodbridge, Virginia, where behind me a John McCain rally is just breaking up. Now, Barack Obama was in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday. That's where he met "Joe the plumber." He talked before the era of easy money that we've all lived through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We can't wait any longer. We can't wait to start creating new jobs. We can't wait to help struggling communities and homeowners. We can't wait to provide real and immediate relief to families who worried not only about paying this month as bills, but their entire life's savings. This plan will help ease their anxieties and along with the other economic policies I propose, it will begin to create new jobs, grow family incomes, and put us back on the path of prosperity.

Now Toledo, I won't pretend this will be easy. George Bush has dug a deep hole for us. It's going to take a while for us to dig our way out. We're going to have to set priorities as never before and we're going to have to stick to those priorities. That means pursuing investments in areas such as energy and education healthcare that bear directly on our economic future. But we're going to have to defer on some things we can afford to do without. It means fog through the federal budget, line by line, ending programs that we don't need and making the ones that we do work more efficiently and cost less.

(APPLAUSE)

And, Toledo, Toledo, it also means promoting a new ethic of responsibility. You know, part of the reason -- part of the reason this crisis occurred, if we're honest with ourselves, everyone was living beyond their means from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street. CEOs got greedy, politicians spent money they didn't have, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford and some folks knew they couldn't afford them and they bought them anyway. We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits, to take out as many credit cards as possible, to take out the home equity loans, to borrow, I stead of save. I know that in a age of declining wages and skyrocketing cost, for many folks this was not a choice, but a necessity, just to keep up. I understand that. People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just as our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills. But, we now know how dangerous that can be.

Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, and we can't put those off, we have to break that cycle of debt. Our long-term future requires that we do what previous did, that we do what's necessary to scale down our deficits and grow our wages and encourage personal savings again, to live within our means.

It's a serious challenge, but we can do it, if we act now and f we act now and if we act as one nation.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHNEIDER: Our next play on BALLOT BOWL, the Republicans are all over late night TV. John McCain mends fences with David Letterman, and Sarah Palin prepares to go on "Saturday Night Live." Yeah, you betcha.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, THE LATE SHOW: Now, what now, exactly happened?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

I -- see, I thought I was doing my part to save the economy, and then later I get to think, well, maybe I'm just not important enough.

MCCAIN: Can I give you an answer?

LETTERMAN: Please.

MCCAIN: I screwed up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: John McCain saying, "I screwed up," appearing on "The Late Show" with David Letterman this week. Quite interesting. You'll remember a few weeks back during the financial crisis John McCain canceled a scheduled appearance on David Letterman's program. Ever since, Letterman has just been ripping into him unmercilessly. So, John McCain came on and did a mea culpa. Quite a funny moment, there, McCain showing his sense of humor.

Someone else has been getting beaten up a bit by another program is Sarah Palin getting beaten up by "Saturday Night Live" with the Tina Fey impersonation, that dead-on impersonation. Well, tonight, Sarah Palin will finally get her chance to respond, if you will, she's appearing as a guest on "Saturday Night Live." Yesterday she talked to reporters about how she's looking forward to the opportunity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, man. Well, I'm excited for tomorrow night. I have no idea what to expect. I haven't seen any scripts or anything yet. But, it'll be fun. You know, the opportunity to show American television watchers, anyway, that you know, you got to have a sense of humor through all this or -- it's could really be wearing and tearing on you, so an opportunity to show that sense of humor and that side of all of this. I look forward to it.

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HENRY: Sarah Palin ready for the show tonight. In fact, we have new pictures of Sarah Palin. She's just arrived in New York City, a little downtime before her appearance tonight on "Saturday Night Live." A real opportunity for her to perhaps show a bit of sense of humor. She's gotten beat up a fair bit, not just by "Saturday Night Live," but McCain camp not happy with the treatment she's got in the media. I can tell you there's people standing behind me right now yelling, and screaming and not too happy with the media, as well, Suzanne, I'm sure you see that sometimes at rallies. But what do you think the chances of Sarah Palin talking about "Joe the plumber," tonight? Maybe 99 percent, 100 percent? 150 percent? What do you think?

MALVEAUX: I would bet on that, I'm sure, Ed. This should be really interesting. Maybe she'll impersonate Tina Fey. I don't know. But obviously it's going to be a huge audience. There's a lot of excitement about that. I think the show to watch is when they actually spoof us, Ed, you know, if they have somebody who's actually playing you, Tom Cruz or somebody. I don't know. That would be the day. But I'm looking forward to see how she's going to handle all of this. Maybe the two of them are together, side by side.

HENRY: Well, yeah, absolutely, Suzanne. You know, I mean, I think that at some point soon we're going to hear Joe Biden demanding equal time. He's going to want a chance to get on that program. Although on the other hand, sometimes it's pretty high risk putting your neck on the line, like John McCain going before David Letterman, who has been very, very tough on him.

MALVEAUX: It certainly takes some guts there, but it could be a good move. I know her adviser said don't watch the news. It can be very depressing. Obviously she has been watching "Saturday Night Live" to take all this on, so we'll see how this all turns out for her. But obviously we're going to have much more of that on BALLOT BOWL tomorrow, that is at 4:00 Eastern. Much of "Saturday Night Live," Sarah Palin, as well as the candidates live and on tape, always unfiltered. Now let's go to the NEWSROOM with Fredricka Whitfield.