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Aired January 12, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

MARY SNOW, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. You're watching CNN's "Ballot Bowl," a chance for you to hear from the 2008 presidential candidates in their own words. I'm Mary Snow in Clawson, Michigan. Michigan is the next state where republicans will have their showdown on Tuesday. Joined by Jim Acosta who's out in Nevada where democrats are getting ready for their caucuses. Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Mary. Yes, and slightly better weather here in Las Vegas, Nevada. I don't want to rub it in but it is awfully nice out here. And, yes, awfully good weather for the candidates to be barnstorming through this state. You'll be hearing from Hillary Rodham Clinton coming up in just a few moments. She was here at an event at the Steelworkers Union, trying to get out that union vote for this coming Saturday's Nevada caucuses, a very important vote for Hillary Clinton as she tries to keep this momentum going on the democratic side. Mary.

SNOW: Have you noticed I always pick the cold weather states but not too bad here in the suburbs of Detroit. It's fairly mild here. We have a lot coming up in this hour. We're going to be going to Florida to hear from republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. He's really banking on Florida in his national strategy as Jim mentioned a couple of minutes ago. And also here in Clawson, Michigan. We're waiting to hear from Senator John McCain. He just arrived a few moments ago. He's going to be addressing a crowd in this high school. But first let's go back out to Las Vegas. Jim.

ACOSTA: Hi, Mary. Yes, we are in Las Vegas, and nowhere near the strip, I regret to say. We're standing out in front of the sheet metal workers union where Hillary Clinton addressed some supporters earlier today. But we should not neglect what is happening at South Carolina. Because that is also a very important state for the democrats. John Edwards was in South Carolina earlier today addressing supporters in Barnwell, South Carolina, holding a town hall meeting in a state where he was born, a state that he carried in 2004 and a state that many says he has to carry again in 2008 to go in this campaign. Here's John Edwards earlier today in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got to stop giving tax cuts to the very wealthiest Americans and start giving tax cuts to working middle class families. What I have proposed is that we give tax breaks to help families save. People are having a terrible time saving, to help them send their kids to school, to make sure they can pay for child care. And by the way, as some of you may have seen this story. It tells you how messed up our tax system is. Do you know who the Forbes 400 are? The richest 400 people in America. Well, Warren Buffett, you all heard Warren Buffett. Warren Buffet issued a challenge. And his challenge was to the Forbes 400, which I believe they're all billionaires. They all have more money than you can imagine. Here is his challenge. He would give $1 million in cash to any one of the Forbes 400 who could prove that they were paying a higher tax rate than their secretary. Think about that. Nobody took him up on it.

Now, something is wrong when the 400 richest people in America are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries' pay. One of the reasons for it is most of their money is invested. So what their tax is capital gains rates and capital gains rate are a flat 15%. The result is the people who are working for a living, like their secretary, are paying a higher tax rate. When are we going to actually start valuing work in America again instead of just wealth? That's exactly what's happening today.

And the last thing I want to say is, you know, I'm proud of the fact that I have in the entire time I've been in public life never taken a dime from a Washington lobbyist or special interest pact, the entire time I've been in public life. I think it is important to be independent of those people so that your president is standing up for you, not standing up for them. You know, the money in (inaudible) Washington, their voice is heard with a megaphone. They are loud. They have extraordinary control over your democracy. And you need a president who will stand up for you. President Harry Truman used to say the American people don't have a lobbyist, their lobbyist is the president of the United States.

And that's exactly what you need, somebody who will fight for you, somebody who understands the struggles of the middle class, somebody who takes the fight personally so that when the going gets tough, they will never walk away from it. And somebody who does understand that these entrenched money interest are not going away without a fight. Drug companies, insurance companies, oil companies. I mean drug companies and insurance companies are the reason we don't have universal healthcare. The reason we haven't done anything about global warming, oil companies, power companies, and gas companies, it's that simple. The trade policy and tax policy in America has been established by these big multi-national corporations.

We need to create real opportunity for every single American, for working people, for low-income families, for middle class families. That's what this election is about. It's about having somebody who will stand up for you.

And one last thing. You know, I worry about what I see happening in America. But look at what's going on in Iraq. The first year that I'm president of the United States, I will end this mess of a war in Iraq. But I watch what's happening. And when our men and women in uniform are serving patriotically in Iraq, we have a bunch of paid mercenaries roaming around over there working for Blackwater. And these private contractors, they're making ten times what our men and women in uniform are making. We got Halliburton, Cheney's old company, getting billion dollar no-bid contracts in Iraq. Getting rich on this war. This war needs to be brought to an end. Now, here's the last thing I want to say, and then I'm going to take questions from you. You know, I look at America today and this is the picture I see. Some of you heard me talk about two Americas and the need to create one America, this is the picture I need to see today. You got Exxon-Mobil. Exxon-Mobile made $40 billion last year, highest profits ever, $40 billion in one year. The CEO of one of the largest health insurance companies in America made $200 million last year, in one year, $200 million to one man.

Take that picture, and you put it side by side with this picture. Tomorrow, 47 million Americans will wake up knowing that if their child gets sick, they're going to have to go to the emergency room and beg for healthcare because they have no healthcare coverage. I met a guy a few months ago, his name is James Lowe, 51 years old, three years younger than me. He told me the story of having been born with a cleft pallet and because he has a cleft pallet, he couldn't talk. He said a simple operation would have fixed it, but James had no healthcare coverage. So he couldn't pay for it. Finally, some healthcare provider voluntarily fixed it for him without compensation, fixed his cleft pallet. Now he can speak. Here is the problem, they fixed it when he was 50 years old. James lived for 50 years in America not able to speak because he had no healthcare coverage. And I thought to myself, how long are we going to let the drug companies and insurance companies run this country? When are we actually going to give voice to 47 million people who have no coverage, to James Lowe and people like him who have struggled and suffered in this country?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And that is John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina and South Carolina trying to keep his campaign from heading south. He needs to win in South Carolina to keep his campaign going, many people say. And so there is the senator issuing that same red- hot rhetoric, trying to whip up support down in South Carolina. Stay with us here on "Ballot Bowl" on CNN. Coming up after the break, you're going to be hearing from John McCain. He is doing well. He is surging after that victory in New Hampshire. He is trying to keep the momentum going. You will also hear from Hillary Clinton. She is in Nevada where we are, but is heading up to Reno, Nevada, talking to supporters up there.

And then later on, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City down in Florida. Again, part of that national strategy for Rudy Giuliani. He also desperately needs a victory in one of these primaries. We'll hear from all of them coming up after the break on "Ballot Bowl" here on CNN.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl," a chance for you to hear from presidential candidates on the campaign trail. I'm Mary Snow in Clawson, Michigan. We're going to be going right now into Clawson High School where Senator John McCain, the republican presidential hopeful, fresh from his New Hampshire victory is campaigning here ahead of Tuesday's primary. Here is Senator McCain. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will do what's necessary to make sure the most productive and greatest workers in the heartland of America and the world will get the technology, the advancement they need, the employment they need. And we will move forward and restore America's strength and also the beginning will be in Michigan. We will begin in Michigan. We will begin with technology. We have the most productive workers in the world, the highest technology. We will build hybrid cars. We will build battery-driven cars. We will build hydrogen cars. We will do what's necessary to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we will restore the economy of Michigan to its former greatness that saved the world.

It was the state of Michigan at World War II that created the wherewithal and the weapons that won the great war of the 20th century. Michigan can do that again. I am optimistic. Now, as you know, there's been some back and forth about whether I'm pessimistic or optimistic. I don't think you have any doubt about it. But if you looked at this morning's "Detroit News," it says experts backup McCain's job claim. My claim is, no, we can't go back, I can't tell the people in South Carolina that the textile mills are coming back. I can't tell the people in Arizona that industries that have left our state are coming back, but I can tell you that we will create jobs in a new America and a new Michigan and a new South Carolina. And Michigan will lead the way. And I'm committed to it, whether it be technology, research and development and whatever else is necessary.

Now, my friends - could I mention the other half of this equation, my friends? And we know what it is. We have left a lot of workers behind. There are workers that have had to depart from the workforce at a very early stage in their otherwise productive careers. We have six federal programs that don't work. We need to take care of those workers and give them a second opportunity to lead productive lives and help themselves, their families in America. I will do that, and I will do that by going to our community colleges. The strongest part of Michigan's education system is our community colleges to design and implement - to design and implement education and training programs so that they can take part in the workforce.

My friends, we are a Judeo-Christian value nation. We cannot leave people behind. We will not leave them behind. We will help them go back to work. And if it's an older worker, if it's an older worker and that person has to take a lower paying job, my friends, I'd compensate him. I'd compensate him so they could at least go back into the workforce. I think that's fair. I'd take the money, by the way, out of the existing job displacement programs that don't work. So we'll do it. We'll take care of these workers. And I know how to do it.

Now, what's another reason why we need this kind of technology that's in Michigan, my friends? Why do we need hybrid cars? Why do we need hydrogen? Why do we need all these new technologies? Because, my friends, we're sending $400 billion a year of your money to oil- producing countries to pay for oil, and some of that money will end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. We have got to eliminate our reliance on foreign oil, and we can do that. And we can do that, first of all, by building automobiles that will do that and help Detroit -- [ cheers and applause ]

And help Detroit meet these new standards. My friends, I want to tell you that this dependency has got to be eliminated. I'm tired of sending money to Hugo Chavez down in Venezuela. I'm tired of sending money to Vladimir Putin in Russia. I can tell you I'm tired of that. By the way, I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes, and I saw three letters - a K, a G and a B. And I guarantee you we're not going to like that guy, stick his thumb in our eye any longer.

The other issue we're going to address my friends is climate change. On the day like today I hate to use the words global warming. My friends, let's suppose -- let me just put it to you this way, suppose that there's no such thing as climate change and there's no greenhouse gas emissions and it isn't a problem. But we adapt these green technologies which, frankly, the state of Michigan and the University of Michigan and other institutions are uniquely qualified to develop, and we develop those and we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All we've done is give these young people a cleaner planet. But suppose we are right. Suppose we are right that greenhouse gas emissions are affecting our planet and damaging it and causing damage and we do nothing. Then what kind of a planet have we given these young children -- young Americans? I guarantee you that we can do this without asking you to shiver in the dark.

One of those, by the way, is nuclear power. We need to go back to nuclear power. It's clean and it's safe. We've had navy ships sailing around the world for 60 years with nuclear power plants on it and we've never had an accident. By the way, by the way, the French - we love to imitate the French. The French, 80% of their electricity is generated by nuclear power. If they can do it, we can do it. By the way, in case you missed it, we now have a pro-American president of France which shows, if you live long enough, anything can happen in this world. And we have that. [ cheers and applause ]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That's republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain speaking to a crowd at Clawson High School, really focusing on the economy, as so many of the candidates have been with the economy slowing down. But Michigan is also a separate case because the unemployment here, the unemployment rate that is, is higher than any other state. It's been so hard hit by the auto makers being hurt and having to lay off tens of thousands of workers in recent years.

You just heard Senator John McCain talking about what he would like to do to restore jobs. And he mentioned a back and forth. That's a reference to a back and forth with his chief rival in this state, republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is vowing to get those auto industry jobs back. Senator John McCain is saying those jobs aren't coming back. He said he would be embarrassed to tell people that they would be. He said he is focusing on retraining workers to move on and create new jobs. Also some friction between the two rivals over auto emission standards. Governor Romney being very critical of Senator McCain for endorsing higher standards. John McCain coming back saying the auto industry agreed to these standards. So, it gives you kind of a flavor of the tensions heating up as the primary gets closer when it is held on Tuesday here in Michigan. We have lots more to bring you from candidates in their own words.

Next up we're going to be going back to Nevada out to Reno. Democratic presidential hopefuls Senator Hillary Clinton is going to be speaking. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: And welcome back to Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm Jim Acosta. And welcome back to "Ballot Bowl" here on CNN. The candidates running for the democratic nomination for president, they've been singing Viva Las Vegas these last couple days. Barack Obama was in town yesterday, picking up a key endorsement. Now Hillary Clinton is in the state. She was here at the sheet metal workers union here in Las Vegas and is now in Reno, Nevada at a restaurant talking to supporters up there. She is focusing on the economy, talking about the mortgage crisis in this country. She hit on that theme earlier this morning. All of this harkening back to her husband's successful candidacy back in 1992 when he in those famous words, focused like a laser beam on the economy. Here is Hillary Clinton focusing on the economy, getting out that laser beam with supporters up in Reno.

(BEGIN VIDEO LCIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want people to understand that these are family members, these are hard-working people, these are neighbors. And a lot of them were taken advantage of and being put into these sub-prime mortgages that unfortunately now are unfolding in a way that they're going to be at risk of losing their homes, and others who want to help them. So let me start here, and I'm just going to ask everybody to introduce yourself. And you can stay seated because everybody can hear you at the microphone. So, thank you for coming.

SANDRA LEARS: My name is Sandra Lears, and I'm here because I have a loan that has gone up twice.

CLINTON: A little bit louder, Sandra.

LEARS: OK.

CLINTON: Can we add a little more volume?

LEARS: My name is Sandra Lears, and I'm here because I have a mortgage loan that I can't pay very soon because I'm using my credit cards to try to pay the extra, when the interest went up. So that's what my story is going to be about.

CLINTON: Sandra, when did you take out this loan? LEARS: I took out the loan about five years ago. And at the time I was making enough money that I qualified for interest only, 3 point - I think it was 3.4% loan, and my payment was $732. I told them that I wanted to retire to Reno. And so two years later I moved here. And I couldn't find employment that was equal to what I was making in California. And I got scared and I put my house up for sale, and I put it up at the exact wrong time. It was like the month everything started falling. And I felt really desperate. So I realized, you know, use my credit cards were going up because of having to make these extra payments.

And I went to Quicken Loans, a lender. And I asked them to help me. They said they could give me a second on my house to pay off all the credit cards I had been using to pay my loan. And then that I didn't need to worry because everything would be fine. So I gave them all my information, and when I got the papers back, it said that I was making $8,000 a month. And I was like, oh, my gosh. And I showed it to a mortgage person in my office building. And he said, you know what? That's dishonest and you can't sign that.

I said, I wonder where they got that figure. I told them I make $12.00 an hour. They said, well, I don't know, but you've got to call them now. I want to know what they say. So I called and I told them I can't sign the papers. And they said, why? It's perfectly legal. Everything is fine. We have a list here of all the jobs in Nevada, and, you know, the average salary for your position - and I'm an administrative assistant for a property manager. And they said that's what it was was. And I'm like, I don't know anybody who makes that much money. He said, oh, well, don't worry about it. We do this all the time, just sign the papers and send them back. And I said I couldn't. He was actually very angry because they spent - he said, we spent a lot of money already. You can't not sign it. I said, I can't, because that's dishonest. So, anyway, I didn't. And then I was like really upset because I didn't know what I was going to do.

So my first loan was with Countrywide. I called Countrywide and I said that I needed help, the same thing. I explained the same thing. They said, well, we have a thing called stream-lined loans. And if you made a loan within the last year, which I had a second to do my lawn because you have to have your yard done in a certain amount of time when you have a house. So I had that loan. So, since it was within a year, we'll take your previous salary and your previous appraisal. And my appraisal was like $80,000 more than what my house is really worth at the time I was talking to him on the phone. And I said, are you sure that this is okay? And he said, oh, yeah, we do this all the time. It's just this streamline loan program. And this is how it works and then nothing is going to happen. It's fine. I said, well, OK. Because you know, I mean I need to know how I'm going to make this payment.

I told him that my house is up for sale. He said, well, you have to take your house off the market. That's the number one thing you have to do. So, I had to take my house off the market. He said, then your loan will adjust in six months. So the rule of thumb for mortgages is you have to have your house off the market for six months before they can loan you any money on your first mortgage, and this is the second they were giving me, this streamline one. So he said, then that will work out just perfect because six months from now when your first adjust again, which has gone up from $732 now in six months, from $732 to $1383 and I can't pay that. So, he said, oh, don't worry about it, it will be fine because the housing is going to go up. And I trusted him because they're supposed to be the experts, right, the mortgage company? I said, well, OK. And so I got the papers. And it was based on my previous salary on the previous appraisal. And I got the money. And I told him, I'm going to have to keep using my credit cards, and they were fine with that because they thought in six months I could put the house back up for sale and sell it again -- you know, because it would be up.

But here we are, six months later. Now it's worth even less which I called again during the Christmas vacation. They said, sorry, we can't help you at all because now you owe more than what the house is worth and we aren't doing those kind of loans.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wow.

Well, you probably saw in the paper that Countrywide was on the brink of bankruptcy. So it's been bought. And this is a perfect example of what I want the companies to do, which is to come to you and say, all right, how much can you pay? You're going to have to pay, obviously, you're going to have to pay as much as you can. We're going to work this out over a period of time rather than having you lose your home. That's what I would like to see happen.

But, you know, a lot of what you were told was being told to you by people who would make more money if you signed those papers. And that was never revealed or disclosed to you. And you really thought they were representing you, but that's not the case. So, I know, you're 65.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to have my house to live in.

CLINTON: I know you do. And I hope you can get some changes so that you'll be able to stay in your house. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Ross Miller ...

GUY: There's the former first lady, the senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, talking to supporters, engaging in one of those town hall meeting type formats which have been very successful for her as we noticed up in New Hampshire, part of her getting real with the voters approach that really paid dividends for her up in New Hampshire. I want to bring in on the phone now Sasha Johnson who is a CNN embed with the Hillary Clinton campaign. I know Sasha from the 2004 Kerry campaign. Sasha has covered politics for a long time and has covered Hillary Clinton for some time now.

And Sasha, we've been seeing Hillary Clinton not just have the town hall meeting today, but going door-to-door in Nevada, pressing the flesh, getting up close and personal with voters. We are hearing earlier this morning at this event with the sheet metal workers in Las Vegas, her softening that tone of voice, almost in a conversational tone with voters. What do you think is going on there? Why do you think Mrs. Clinton is taking this approach? It seems to be working for her. I guess that's the answer to the question. But it is noticeable, is it not?

SASH JOHNSON, CNN CORRESPONDEN (on phone): No, absolutely. I think in Iowa we saw a different Hillary Clinton, a Hillary Clinton that came out and gave primarily stump speeches to the audiences as she crisscrossed the state. She obviously lost there. So the campaign basically made a decision and she made a decision that she need to interact with voters more. So they hit New Hampshire and she started taking question after question after question, and she realized and the campaign realized that she really does well in these formats. She seems to come alive when she engages with voters. She's able to get across the message that this election is about them and not her.

And so they're trying to create those systems throughout the campaign in order for her to do those kind of town hall meetings in states like Nevada and California. But it's harder because these states are much bigger than New Hampshire and Iowa. So it's harder to connect with voters. We're hearing in this Mexican restaurant she's talking about home foreclosures which is something she's talked quite a bit about over the last week or so, but doing it in a restaurant, trying to take it more intimate, having her take questions, inviting a ton of media to events right here in Reno and beyond.

GUY: And Hillary Clinton said at this event earlier today that Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, but at the same time is having one of the most significant crises in terms of this mortgage meltdown problem across the country. And this question seems to come up time and again in Nevada. The economy seems to be a big worry for voters here.

And this is an issue that works well for the Clintons, is it not? It worked so well for her husband back in 1992 when they focused like a laser beam on the economy. We haven't heard the Clinton campaign use the phrase "laser beam" too much. I'm not sure if we've heard it at all. It seems to be a new focus, an added focus for her.

JOHNSON: Absolutely. And one thing, she talked about it in Iowa, talked about it in New Hampshire in the sense of trying to give middle class workers a better life. She talked about health insurance. She talked about those kinds of things. When we got to California yesterday and she unveiled I believe it was a $70 billion economic stimulus package. I feel the country slipping into recession, we need to do something about this. She did very, very well in New Hampshire and had the economy as a top priority. So that's why they're continuing to talk about it here in Nevada.

GUY: Well, Sasha Johnson, thank you very much. We should note she's not only a campaign embed, she is a senior producer covering politics at CNN and one of the terrifically talented people working behind the scenes here at CNN to cover politics and bring shows like "Ballot Bowl" to you. So, Sasha, thank you very much for joining us. When we come back, "Ballot Bowl" '08 you'll be hearing from Rudy Giuliani, he hasn't been performing well in these early contests, but banking on states like Florida to turn his campaign around. We'll get to that in just a moment here on "Ballot Bowl" on CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're watching another edition of CNN's "Ballot Bowl," a chance to hear the presidential candidates in their own words. We're following several of them on the campaign trail. Here in Clawson, Michigan, Republican Senator John McCain has just finished a talk at the Clawson High School. He is bracing for Tuesday's primary here in Michigan, a state that's been so hard hit by layoffs of the auto industry. Coming up we're going to be hearing from Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. He is not here in Michigan.

He is in Florida and has been concentrating his efforts on January 29th's primary in that state. He's hoping to build momentum and take that to February 5th, Super Tuesday, where there will be 22 primaries around the country. Rudy Giuliani is coming up next. Momentarily. We're going to take a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta. "Ballot Bowl" number three will continue in a moment. But first a look at the stories making headlines today. Police in Jacksonville, North Carolina say they believe they've unearthed the body of this woman, 20-year-old marine Maria Lauterbach and her fetus. The charred remains were found in the shallow grave in the back yard of a comrade, now the suspect in the case, Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean. An arrest warrant for first degree murder has been issued for Laurean and a nationwide man hunt is on the underway. Lauterbach had accused Laurean of raping her. She was due to testify against Laurean at a military hearing when she disappeared nearly a month ago.

Also this heart-wrenching discovery near Mobile, Alabama today. A duck hunter found a baby's body about five miles west of a coastal bridge. Police believe the infant is one of four children allegedly thrown off the bridge by their father. Divers are searching for the other children.

And rescue efforts are underway in Vail, Colorado where a skier is believed to be trapped in an avalanche. The slide happened in an area below Vail Pass called the East Chutes. Another skier was trapped but apparently was able to dig himself out and then calling 911.

And some residents in the South are cleaning up in the aftermath of deadly powerful storms. Mississippi's governor has issued a state of emergency for several counties. Thursday's storms caused widespread property damage and is also blamed for at least two traffic deaths. Experts are confirming three tornados sliced across Alabama late last week. And one had 150 mile-per-hour winds. And crews in Kentucky say a phenomena known as a rain-wrapped tornado may be to blame for storm damage there. In that event the rain gets so heavy it actually hides the tornado from radar.

And President Bush is meeting with Arab leaders in Manama, Bahrain today. He is expected to meet with members of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet tomorrow. It maintains a headquarters in the Persian Gulf region. And afterwards the United States heads to the United Arab Emirates to deliver a speech in Abu Dhabi.

President Bush is trying to garner support from Arab leaders to temper Iran's growing influence in the region. All that taking place while he's in Bahrain.

And more "Ballot Bowl" right after this break. We're standing to bring you live coverage of Rudy Giuliani town hall in Florida. You see the live pictures right there. Next hour live event from Mike Huckabee as well. And we'll look ahead as the political spotlight shifts to Michigan for next week's primary.

RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks to Paul Sharpe (ph) who is our regional cochair ...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl." We're live in Clawson, Michigan. Michigan is the site of the next battle grounds for Republicans. The state's primary here is Tuesday. One Republican presidential hopeful, though, you won't be seeing here is Rudy Giuliani because he's been campaigning in Florida. He is there now and he is attending a town hall meeting where he's speaking to a crowd there. Let's go live to Florida, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani in his own words.

GIULIANI: The way you want to spend it. Now, here's a good change. Remember the word change with a question mark? Here is a good change. Lowering taxes by 20 or 30 percent. That's a good change.

That does leave more money in your pocket. That leaves more money in your pocket and you will spend it more intelligently, wisely, creatively, more effectively than government ever spends it. And that's what I believe in. And I could sum up my views or philosophy on domestic matters by saying where I can I trust the people, where I can I believe that people have better judgment than government.

So I would like to see us lower our taxes so you have more choice over your own money. I'd like to see you have more choice over your Social Security funds. I'd like to see you have more choice over your healthcare, more private options for you to make your own decisions about your health care rather than having the government do it. Here is another change, big word, change. The Democrats want to change. They want to give us socialized medicine.

I want to change and I want us to have more private options, more of an ability for you to make decisions, not with a bureaucrat, not with -- sometimes they call them Hillarycrats. Hillary's idea is there are some decision that is are too important for people to make. Government has to make them for you.

She was talking about health care, by the way. I kind of look at it just the opposite way. I look at it as there are some decisions that are so important, people have to make them with their doctor. That's the way health care decisions should be made. And we've got to move toward a system and we have proposed one that creates considerably more private options for people. It will also bring down the cost of health care dramatically. That's a change. That's a change in a good direction. Their change is a change in a bad direction.

So the basic core of my twelve commitments to the American people, which are on this card. This is my cheat sheet. Isn't that funny? I make sure I never take this out with me to a debate so they don't think I'm -- I have them memorized now, though. Honestly, it's such a - it's so small, it wouldn't help. I can't see it. I actually can't see it. I've repeated it enough that I know it's there.

But here is the purpose of this. This is the change I want to bring about for the country. If you elect me president, this card, I'll have a bigger version of it. It will sit on my desk in the White House. And every day I will measure myself by how much have I made progress in moving toward these goals?

Have I lowered taxes? Have I reduced the cost of government? Have I made government more accountable? These are the things that I promise you. Have I appointed judges that are strict constructionist judges who interpret the Constitution rather than just make it up?

Have I reformed the legal system? There's another big change, here's another big change that I'm for, and those Democrats who have that slogan of change aren't for. You remember that case a couple months ago in Washington, DC, the man who lost his pants at the cleaning store. Do you remember that case? That case -- He actually sued -- I think I'm right, he sued originally for $64,000 -- $64 million, sorry. Sixty-four million. I don't want to cheat him. He'll probably sue me. The judge -- I think the judge reduced the case to $54 million for his pair of pants.

Now, pants don't cost this much even in New York. They don't. But he sued. He lost. The case is on appeal. It's all funny except for one thing. The family that had to defend that case, it cost them $100,000. Well, now here is how our legal system should work. He should now have to pay them $100,000.

That's a change that I'm for. That's a change the Democrats are against, because the Democrats want to see no change to the tort system that we have. And boy, you know, I picked a case -- I picked a case for purposes of illustration that everybody knows about and everybody understands.

But do you realize the damage that these cases are doing to our healthcare? Do you realize the damage they're doing to the medical profession? I mean, women in different parts of this country can't find an OB/GYN anymore. Right here. You have problems here. OK. You know why? Because the malpractice is so high. , because the malpractice is out of control.

That's one way to measure it. Here is another way to measure it. Defensive medicine. Who can blame a doctor for taking every test known to human beings to make sure that every single I is dotted and T is crossed and then three times over. When you add all these judgments, the malpractice, the defensive medicine, the fear to take a risk.

Sometimes the way you save lives is you take a risk. And sometimes you don't take a risk. You'd have to have doctors explain this, the impact that this has on both the increased cost of our healthcare and the declining quality of our healthcare. We've got to change our legal system.

SNOW: That's Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani making his case to voters in Bradenton, Florida, gearing up for the primary there later this month on January 29th, and to give you kind of a sense of the campaign trail, today, how crowded it is, the topics being discussed, as Rudy Giuliani was pretty much taking aim at Democrats over the issue of healthcare. On the other side of the country, Senator Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side talking to a crowd in Reno about the mortgage meltdown. And Nevada has been so hard hit.

This kind of just gives you a bit of a flavor for what is being said on the campaign trail today across the country. Our Susan Candiotti is with the Giuliani campaign in Bradenton, Florida.

And Susan, with so many of the Republicans either here or in South Carolina, how much is Rudy Giuliani really blanketing Florida because he's pretty much there by himself right now, right?

GIULIANI: ... which I describe as the terrorists war on us. Because really that's what it is. They're the ones at war with us. We don't want to be at war with anybody.

The American people ...

SNOW: Actually we're having a little but of a technical issue there. We're going to take a quick break, get back to Susan Candiotti in Florida. We have a lot more ahead on this edition of "Ballot Bowl" on CNN. Stay with us.

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