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Ballot Box '08; Taped Romney, Clinton, McCain, Obama Remarks

Aired February 02, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm John King in Birmingham, Alabama. Welcome to special edition of CNN BALLOT BOWL '08: The candidates in their own words. Over the next several hours you will see what see as we traveled covering the campaigns, unscripted moments from the candidates, unfiltered, some live events, some taped portions of their speeches as the Democrats and the Republicans spread out across in advance of what will truly be a history-making day in presidential politics. Contest in more than 20 states and American Samoa, essentially a national presidential primary critical, if not decisive for both the Democratic and Republican contests. The state of Maine also holding presidential caucuses this weekend and we'll check in on the process and the results there, as well, over the course of the next two days. And as we bring you the candidates, we'll also benefit of course from analysis from members from the best political team on television. I'm joined this hour, for example, by our Dana Bash. She's in Nashville, Tennessee and our Candy Crowley, our senior political correspondent is out on the west coast in Los Angeles and let's begin with Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, on Super Tuesday nothing is bigger than California. We want a flag for our viewers a couple things coming up this hour. We will have Hillary Clinton here at Cal State where she is expected to have a rally at this hour as these things go, candidates almost always run late, this late in the game. Also, we'll be going back to John in Birmingham, Alabama, where John McCain - Republican John McCain will also hold a rally. Now, as we say we will take a live feeds from both of those candidates, but right now, as we move along, we want to bring you a taped bit of Hillary Clinton last night in San Diego.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The most important difference that you heard was that between myself and Senator Obama over whether or not we should attempt to work for, make a commitment to achieving universal health care in America. You see, I believe with all my heart that it is a moral right for people to have quality, affordable health care. That is why I put forth a plan because I would not know who to leave out. How would we do decide who we would leave out? Would we leave out the woman with breast cancer who lost her job and lost her health insurance? Would we leave out the family whose child was born with a congenital heart defect and needs several very expensive surgeries? Would we leave out those who are healthy today but we never know what might happen to us tomorrow.

I think that one of the most important issues separating Democrats from Republicans is that when we stand on a stage against whomever the Republicans nominate, we are standing there 100 percent committed to universal health care as soon as we can possibly achieve it. You see, I am not running for president to put band aids on our program, but I'm running to solve our problems and to bring our country together to do that. I am running on a core set of beliefs that I have come to over the course of a lifetime.

You know, I was fortunate to be born into a family that cared for me and loved me, gave me an education, supported me and as a young woman, when the barriers were still visible and high, encouraged me to believe in myself and to live up to my own God-given potential. So, I was given gifts that I had nothing to do with making and I am so grateful for that, but I was also given the gift of being an American. Of being someone who had opportunities, who was given a chance to go as far as my hard work would take me. I want to make sure that that will always be the case for every generation of young Americans now and for years to come.

And here is what I believe we have to do in order to make that happen. We must have an economy that works for everyone that creates good jobs with rising incomes for those willing to take responsibility. And that means that we got to get back to having the government be a strong partner and helping the economy create those ladders of opportunity. What we have in the last years is a slowdown. The economy is working for the wealthy and the well-connected but the average American family has lost $1,000 in income. American workers are working harder than ever before, but too many whom I met feel like they're running in place. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had where someone says to me: I don't know what I did wrong.

You know, I got my education, I worked hard, I have been at the same company for 12 years now and I've just been asked to train my successor, because my job is moving to another country. Or the woman who said to me, I believe that I've worked well and I've always been given good reviews, but I just found out that, you know, I can't make ends meet. My health care premiums have doubled; college tuition is up, how am I supposed to be able to make it as a single mom? These are the voices of Americans. These are hard-working people. They're many of you, they're your parents and they're the people who built and made America great because with all due respect it is not rich people who made America great, it is the middle class and working families who made America what it is today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Again, Hillary Clinton last night in San Diego, a classic Clinton speech, the one we have heard across this country. A couple of things, health care, an emerging issue here for Democrats. When you hear her say, I don't want to put a band-aid on the problem with health care, when you hear her say, who would we leave out if we don't have universal health care insurance? There's no names mentioned, but she is talking about Barack Obama's health care plan, which differs with her. He tries to drive down costs in his health care plan. He says, if you can make health care insurance more affordable, people will buy it. She mandates that people get health care insurance; both of them have pools, subsidies to help those who don't have enough money to buy that health insurance. You also saw a classic Clinton in trying to relate to the middle class, to the problems. I'm worried about my job, I'm worried about my health care and I'm worried even the environment. She has been trying mightily over these past couple months to make that connection to working class Americans who, of course, form the base of the Democratic Party. Again, we're at Cal State. Senator Clinton is expected here and we're going to take you to her live when we can. We were also going to take you to Senator John McCain, who is going to be live at a rally there later this hour and we want to go back to John King, who is there.

KING: And Candy, before I let you go, I want to follow up on a point you just made because for months, we talked about how the Democrats are largely in agreement, just small shades of differences between them. But as we get to the Super Tuesday vote, it seems like both are trying to stress a difference that they believe is their strength. Senator Clinton there as you noted, saying, my plan will provide universal health care coverage that Senator Obama's would not. He on the other hand is out telling audiences, I was against the Iraq war from the beginning, she was not. So, both playing up big issues, probably, the number one and number two issue among Democratic voters headed into this almost massive, almost national primary. Who's going to win?

CROWLEY: Well, thanks for that question, John. And I think I'll sort. But the fact of the matter is, they both feel pretty good. I can tell you that Hillary Clinton aides tell us that she is going to sharpen her message from now through Super Tuesday. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean she's a little more critical of Barack Obama? She's kind of laid off in the past couple days. Or does that mean she's going to focus in on those home and hearth (ph) issues? The Obama campaign really feels that their trajectory is good. They feel that they're on the march; that they're going to be very competitive. There are number of things that favor her in a national election, obviously, she has an infrastructure that he doesn't have but they believe that the passion of this race, that the acceleration of the Obama campaign really puts him in a good position to come out looking good on Super Tuesday. So, I'm not going to predict who's going to win but I will tell you that both camps think they'll do pretty well, John.

KING: Candy Crowley out in California, we'll be back with Candy later. And I'd only asked the question because all of us correspondent joke always as the one question we never want to be asked and we can't answer, so, we're asking it in good humor and Candy, we'll back to see you in a little bit and as Candy noted, John McCain here in Birmingham, Alabama, one of the Super Tuesday states. We will hear from John McCain live. In the minutes and hours ahead, we'll also hear from Hillary Clinton, still out campaigning in California. Please stay with us. You're watching the special edition of the CNN BALLOT BOWL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to a special edition of the CNN BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm John King in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the next several hours, the candidates for president, the Democrats and the Republicans, the dwindling field of candidates for president in their own words, unscripted moments for the candidates for president and many live events, also some taped snippets of their speeches, all this as they campaign in advance of the decisive and critical Super Tuesday primary, potentially decisive Super Tuesday primaries, more than 20 states, plus American Samoa holding contests this Tuesday. Maine is also holding presidential caucuses this weekend. John McCain will be here live in Birmingham, Alabama in just a short while. Earlier today, he was campaigning up in Nashville, Tennessee. That's where we find CNN's Dana Bash. And Dana, interesting for an answer into this question, Governor Romney of Massachusetts, the former governor has been saying he is more conservative than John McCain trying to revive his candidacy by drawing (ph) that contest and, of course, especially across these southern states, the former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee is also campaigning and we know from past contests, his key base is social conservatives. So, as Senator McCain tries to build on his momentum and lock this race up, is he, himself, stressing the social issue?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Not all. It's quite interesting in the speech that he just gave here in Nashville. He didn't talk about social issues at all. If you remember, when he first went to South Carolina before that primary, he did suddenly start talking about, openly about his long-time opposition to abortion and he did start hitting on the social issues, but he didn't do that at all today. And I was quite curious, we actually asked him about that after his rally here, why he didn't do it and he said, well, you can't squeeze everything in to one stump speak, don't worry I'm going to talk about it. Don't worry; I am a strong, social conservative. I have the long-time opposition to abortion, but, instead, what he tried to focus on, certainly, there's no question, he's trying to sell himself as a conservative because he knows that's what Mitt Romney is trying to sort of play on the fact that conservatives don't think he is. But, instead, he really focused on fiscal issues, on the fact that he does not want to raise spending and the fact that he wants to lower taxes. But as you can imagine, the issue that they still think is the dominant one for John McCain is national security and that is predominantly what he focused on here in Nashville.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want to tell you this thing, one thing. If you forget everything I tell you today, al Qaeda is on the run, but they're not defeated. But I will never surrender to al Qaeda and I'll never set a date for withdrawal. And I -- and I will never set a date for withdrawal which is a date for surrender. Senator Obama and Senator Clinton want to wave the white flag of surrender, I will never surrender. They will surrender, my friends. They will surrender. And I just want to remind you, there is this guy, there is this guy, he is in some place in Pakistan or Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, and he is able to get out a message of hate and destruction and evil and he instructs and he motivates and recruits people to his evil cause. I look you in the eye, my friends, I tell you, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell I will get Osama bin Laden and I will bring him to justice. And that justice will be swift and sure. I will get Osama bin Laden. And let me just remind you, this war in Iraq has been long and hard and tough, I'm sure you may remember that when things were going, right after the initial invasion, I said that Rumsfeld strategy would fail and we had to adopt a new strategy and that's the one now being used by and employed by, I think, probably one of the greatest generals in American history, General David Petraeus. My friends, in case you missed it, in case you missed it, "Time" magazine had the man of the year, Vladimir Putin. Well, I looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and I saw three letters, a K, a G and a B. I want to tell you, the man of the year in America and the world is none other than General David Petraeus. Because he is saving our lives, he is making this place, having his strategy is succeeding and there are those, there are those who will deny that the strategy of succeeding. But please, remember this, as I said, al Qaeda is on the run but they're not defeated. And the only person that should be deciding what the date for withdrawal is should be David Petraeus, not some politician running for public office in Washington, D.C.

So, my friends, this is a tough struggle we're in. This is a long, hard struggle. And at the time when things were probably at their worst and I said that we've got to support the Petraeus strategy and have this new strategy, most of the political experts said that John McCain's political career is finished. And, my friends, at the time I accepted that. I said I would much rather lose a political campaign than lose a war, but we were right and now we are succeeding. And I just want to tell you that I know America is divided about this war. I know how frustrated we are because of the sacrifice that has been made. It's been terrible and tough and hard. But thank God, no American, no American is divided in our support of the brave young men and women who are serving in the military today and our armed forces and thank you for your service, thank you for your support of these brave, young Americans. And every time and every time you see one of them in uniform, just go over and say, thanks for serving. That's all they want from America. And I thank you for that. And my friends, every once in a while, you have an experience that puts everything in the right priority in your life and makes you understand what's important and what isn't. And that happened to me last August in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Town hall meeting, woman stood up and said, Senator McCain, would you do me an honor of wearing (ph) a bracelet with my son's name on it, Matthew Stanley. Matthew Stanley was 22 years old; he was killed in combat outside of Baghdad last year just before Christmas. I was honored to wear this bracelet with your son's name on it. Then she said, Senator McCain, I'd only want you to promise me one thing. I want you it promises me that you'll do everything in my power, in your power to make sure that my son's death was not in vain. I said I would be glad to do that.

And I'm so proud of these young men and women who have served. I want to make sure not only was their sacrifice not in vain, but I want to take care of our veterans and get them the health care they need. And I also want to tell you, I want to tell you as president to our veterans, I want to thank our veterans who are here today and I want to tell our veterans that we're going to do a lot of work to treat PTSD, we have to do a lot of work to take care for these wounds, the terrible wounds as a result of the IEDS. Thank God, we are saving more and more and more because of the rapidity (ph) with which we get them from the battlefield to treatment. But I also want to tell you, for routine health care, for routine health care today, it's a national disgrace that these veterans have to drive for an hour or two, get to the V.A. facility, stand in line to get an appointment, to get an appointment. I want to promise you right now, when I'm president, I'm going to give every one of these veterans that has a health care, need a plastic card and say, take that card to the health care provider, the doctor you need, and get the care you need and never will you have to stand in line to stand in line again. I'll care for these veterans and I thank them for being here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That's Senator John McCain earlier today here in Nashville appealing to voters here on the issue of national security. And of course, as you heard at the end there, fellow veterans talking about the policies that he wants to put in place if he is president. That is sort of what he talked about in terms of the substance but interesting in what he was talking about, John, also in terms of the strategy in trying to sort of give this air of inevitability for his campaign. He talk, make sure to talk about the fact that he has got on the endorsements of three governors from some of the largest states in the country, from Texas, from California and Florida trying to make the case that, basically, he's unstoppable. That is a big part of their strategy right now. John?

KING: And yet, Dana, as you stand in Tennessee, a state that perhaps would not have been viewed as competitive just a few weeks ago from Fred Thompson who was still in the race, the senator from Tennessee, that was taught that perhaps he might endorse John McCain, but not yet, if he will at all.

BASH: That's right. He has not endorsed him and as you know, John McCain and Fred Thompson are very, very good friends. There were some thoughts that perhaps, as soon as Fred Thompson dropped out of the race, he would endorse John McCain very quickly, much like Rudy Giuliani did but he has not done that yet. We asked John McCain about that today, he said that because they're such good friends, he doesn't want to talk to him; he doesn't want to call him and ask him to do that. We're told behind the scenes that it is likely that Fred Thompson will endorse John McCain, but not until after Super Tuesday. So, not before a time where he could actually give him some help here in the state of Tennessee. It's quite interesting.

KING: Dana Bash in Nashville, Tennessee, we'll check back in with Dana later. You'll also hear more from the candidates still ahead live in this hour, John McCain here in Alabama, Hillary Clinton out in California. Please, stay with us, you're up watching a special edition of the CNN BALLOT BOWL '08.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to a special edition of CNN BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm John King live in Birmingham, Alabama. Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate for president will be campaigning here in the hour ahead. Also, Hillary Clinton out live on the west coast, all of the presidential candidates campaigning this weekend in advance of the big Super Tuesday primary, contests in more than 20 states and American Samoa, essentially a national primary. Nothing like it before in our political history could be potentially decisive in both the Democratic and the Republican contests, as both parties seek - both candidates in both parties seek the delegates needed to clinch their nomination. Now, one candidate who was not out on the campaign trail today is the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate. He is a Mormon and he is in Utah this hour attending the funeral services of Gordon B. Hinckley, who was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Governor Romney felt it was important to attend those services. So, he is not out campaigning today, but we do want to give you a flavor of some of Governor Romney's campaigning. He is trying to draw a very sharp contrast with Senator John McCain, knowing that McCain has the momentum on the Republican side. Romney challenging conservatives to rise up saying that John McCain on many issues sides with the Democrats, not mainstream conservative positions. Let's listen to Governor Romney, this is last evening in Denver, Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I listened to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and they say -- they say they're going to bring change to Washington and they're going to change America. I think they would change America. Just not the way you want it to change. That's not the right course. You see, they take their inspiration, well, from the Europe of old - big government, big brother, big taxes. That's not the right way for America. Instead, you see, they happen to think that the source of America's greatness is our great government. That is, we do have a great government, but that's not the source of our greatness. The source of our greatness is the American people. Hardworking American people, people who love opportunity. Think about this, virtually every person here is either a legal immigrant or a descendant of a legal immigrant who came here seeking opportunity. It's in our DNA, we want to grow and create opportunity for our kids and for their kids. It makes this a very unusual nation.

We also, as Americans, we believe in something greater than ourself. For most of us, that's our faith for others that don't have faith, it's often their ethnicity or their community or their party. We believe in big things. Americans love America. We're a patriotic people. And Americans love family. This big guy, where did he go? Doug Robinson, he got off this stage (ph), he's right there. This guy here is my nephew. You know, I'll tell, one of the reasons I love family is that they have been working for me in this campaign. It's just amazing. He and Bruce and Marcie Benson have been leading my effort here raising money, and they just been amazing. We love family. All those values are what make America the strongest nation on earth and that will keep us that way.

And so, when you realize the strength of America comes from the American people you don't try to strengthen government as you look forward, you don't try to build government bigger, you say, how do you strength on the American people? And you do that first by strengthening our families, making sure -- you make sure our families have good schools they can send their kids to. I think our better teachers ought to be better paid, by the way. You strengthen our families by making sure that they have good health care so everybody knows they're going to get the care they need and you strengthen our families by making sure that every child understands that before they have babies themselves, they should get married.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: It's in the home -- it's in the home that kids learn from their mom and dad those enduring values, those enduring values that America rests upon.

You see, as my wife and I now say, we got five boys of our own and 11 grandkids. There's nothing more important to the future of America than the work that goes on within the four walls of the American home.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: You strengthen America's families and American people also by making sure we have a military that can protect us. I want -- I want at least, I want at least 100,000 more troops for our military, I want better equipment, I want better equipment and better armorment for our troops so they can be successful on the battlefield and safe there. And I want better care for our veterans when they come home.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: And you strengthen America, you understand this, you strengthen America and our families and individuals by making sure we have a strong economy. You see, at the heart of what allows us to be such a great and powerful nation is our economy.

If you have a strong and vibrant economy with rising home prices instead of foreclosures and with people looking forward to great and prosperous futures, then you're able to have good jobs for your kids and have more kids and know that their future will be bright. If you have a strong economy, you're able to build a military that's the envy of the world.

But if your economy is fragile or weak or collapsing, you can't do those things. The only way to have the strongest military in the world is to have the strongest economy in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Now, my friend, Senator McCain, is a wonderful person, he's a national hero and I respect him.

CROWD: Boo!

ROMNEY: No, he's a person I respect greatly and he has a number of things that are great strengths of his, but he happened to say that the economy was not his strong suit. Well, in a time like this in a country like this, I think it's important to have a president for whom the economy is his strong suit.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KING: The Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts campaigning yesterday evening in Denver, Colorado. Colorado one of 21 states holding Republican contests on Super Tuesday. More than 1,000 delegates in all at stake.

And re-joining us now from Nashville, Tennessee is our own Dana Bash. And Dana, as Governor Romney tries to revive his campaign, steal the momentum back from Senator John McCain, he has pumped more than $35 million of his own personal fortune into the campaign and one gets the sense from listening to him and his top advisors that they understand they need to have a dramatic improvement on Super Tuesday for him to continue to be nationally viable.

BASH: They do, and you know, he's approaching it, John, as you know, in the kind of methodical way you could imagine somebody with his kind of business experience would do: looking at the kind of investment he has gotten in there from his own personal fortune as you said, also the money that he has raised.

But, you know, he -- just a few days ago sat down after the primary in Florida and really looked at the data to try to figure out how he can compete and what the best way to compete is. And it's interesting the way he's going about that.

Obviously, Colorado given the fact that he was there, is one of the states he hopes to do well in. He is focusing on kind of the Mountain West, those states and also the south, he even is dispatching some of his sons, I think maybe even all of his five sons out to places as far as Alaska. So, he is just trying to count up as many delegates as he thinks is feasible and possible in order to do well on Tuesday.

But you know, one of the things that he said, I believe it was yesterday in response to a question from a reporter, I thought it was quite telling and quite different from what we've heard from Mitt Romney all throughout this primary and caucus season. Somebody asked him whether or not he really thinks that he can do well on February 5th or whether he can see beyond that and he really wouldn't answer that question.

And, to me, that was sort of telling in terms of his state of mind and frame of mind that he's sort of looking at this in a bit of a more practical, from a more practical point of view.

KING: And Dana, it's interesting, he's trying to contrast himself, saying he is the more reliably conservative candidate than John McCain, trying to get the base of the party to rally to him before it is too late.

But as you look at the Super Tuesday map, he was out there in Colorado, but there are also contests here where I am in Alabama, in Georgia, across the south, where you are in Tennessee, where one would assume there is a strong, conservative Republican base. But Mitt Romney does not have that conservative feel to himself.

Mike Huckabee is still out there campaigning and in some ways, almost running interference for John McCain, is he not?

BASH: He is, and you know, there was a comment from the governor of Missouri yesterday, Governor Matt Blunt and he said something to the effect of he's telling voters in Missouri, don't vote for Governor Huckabee, because a vote for Governor Huckabee is just like a vote for John McCain because the Romney campaign understands that that is a big road block to their strategy, the strategy just as you laid out of trying to say that he is the conservative alternative to John McCain.

But, you know, just, for example, Governor Huckabee's home state of Arkansas, that is a state that is likely to go for Mike Huckabee, of course. Even in some of these other southern states, John McCain is the one who is campaigning here, not Mitt Romney.

So, it really is giving Mitt Romney's campaign a little bit of heartburn. It's challenging them and making it pretty hard for him to really have the entire sort of anti-McCain feel to himself because a lot of those people who don't like John McCain, who are real social conservatives, they don't necessarily trust or like Mitt Romney either because of his evolution, if you will, on issues like abortion and gay rights.

So, those people who are really staunchly, socially conservative, many of those people are going to go for Mike Huckabee and it really is giving Mitt Romney a big problem in terms of his strategy of trying to take those votes from John McCain.

KING: It remains a fascinating Republican race. Dana Bash for us in Nashville. She'll be re-joining us.

And when we return, we'll take a look at the Democratic side, another fascinating contest there, now down to two candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton is campaigning live this hour in California. We'll take you there when the CNN BALLOT BOWL '08 returns in just a few minutes. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

This breaking story out of the Chicago area that we are following. We understand a shooting to take place right there in that Lane Bryant store in the Tinley Park Shopping Mall, just about 35 miles outside of Chicago.

We understand according to the "Chicago Tribune" that four people have been killed in this shooting. We understand initially five people in all have been shot and now, the latest information from the "Chicago Tribune" is that there are four people who are dead.

It's unclear what sparked the violence here at Tinley Park Shopping Mall there at the Lane Bryant store and it's unclear whether a gunman or gunmen happen to be in custody and where the investigation stands. But we wanted to get this information to you as soon as possible. This shooting taking place about 35 miles outside of Chicago at the Tinley Park Mall. More information as we get it.

Meantime, we want to go back to the BALLOT BOWL and Candy Crowley in Los Angeles.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Fredricka.

We are here at Cal State in Los Angeles, awaiting a Hillary Clinton event. There'll be a rally here on campus. You know, campuses are a very good place to go if you want to get a crowd. All the candidates, when they want to do these rallies want to bring in as many people, the pictures are great, the adrenaline is great and it's something that you want to do leading up to something as big as Super Tuesday.

Now, we often talk about how, at this point, it is a delegate race and just to tell you how much of a delegate race it is, earlier today, Barack Obama was in Boise, Idaho. There are 18 delegates at stake there, not much when you consider they need more than 2,000 to win. Nonetheless, every delegate counts and we saw Barack Obama today in Boise, Idaho, at Boise State.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's fun being an underdog. And I had to explain to people that I was not running because of some long-held ambition. I know that people have been looking through my kindergarten papers, but that's not why I decided to run. I am not running because I thought it was somehow owed to me.

Instead, I decided to run because of what Dr. King called the fierce urgency of now, the fierce urgency of now.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Because I believe there's such a thing as being too late. And that moment is almost upon us. As I travel around the country, you get a sense that we are in a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. Our planet is in peril. And the dream that so many generations fought for feels like it's slowly slipping away.

You see it in your own lives here in Boise and other parts of Idaho. People are working harder and harder just to keep pace. They've never paid more for college, never paid more for gas at the pump, never paid more to heat their homes. It's harder to save, it's harder to retire.

Our health care system is broken, our education system ...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: ...our education system, despite the slogans, is not preparing our children to compete in a global economy and leaving millions of children behind.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: In such a state of the union, we cannot afford to wait. We cannot wait to fix a broken health care system. We cannot wait to fix our schools. We cannot wait to bring an end to global warming. We cannot wait to bring this war in Iraq to an end and start bringing our troops home. We cannot wait.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: What I realized was that the size of our challenges had outstripped the capacity of a broken and divided politics to solve. And I believed that the American people were hungry, were desperate for something new, something different. That they wanted a politics that was not about tearing each other down, but was about lifting the country up.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: A politics that was not based on ideology, but was based on practicality and good, old-fashioned American common sense. A politics, a politics that wasn't based on spin and PR, but was based on honest, straight forward, truthful communication with the American people about the choices that we need to make in order to secure the future of the next generation.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: But most of all, I was betting on all of you. I was betting on you. You know, some of you know I now live in Chicago, but I'm not originally from Chicago. I moved to Chicago to work as an organizer with a group of churches who had come together to deal with the devastation of steel plants that had closed there.

And for three years, I worked as an organizer, setting up job training programs for the unemployed and after school programs for youth and economic development strategies for these hard-hit areas. And it was hard work, but it was the best education I ever had because it taught me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they're given a chance. And what I've learned ...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So when I decided to run, what I was betting on was that change in America does not happen from the top down. It happens from the bottom up.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Because I was certain -- I was certain that we are not as divided as our politics would suggest. I believe the American people are decent people and a generous people, willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations.

And what I was banking on was if we could just draw our voices together, people from every walk of life, young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American. If we could bring all people together, bring our voices together to challenge the special interest in Washington, but also to challenge ourselves to be better, then I was certain that there was no problem we could not solve and there was no destiny we could not fulfill. That was the bet that I made a year ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Barack Obama at Boise, Idaho, Boise State, just earlier this morning as he reaches out, not just to the youth vote, but as you heard there, to the working class. "I understand, I was a neighborhood organizer, I have seen what people can do." Obama, of course, running on the promise of a transformational president, someone that can put the country on a whole new path.

He is looking for Republicans, he is looking for Independents and he's looking for brand-new voters to bring this amazing candidacy and this amazing challenge to Hillary Clinton and bring him through not just on Super Tuesday, but, of course, they want to go to the White House.

Now, one of the people we haven't talked about lately, of course, is John Edwards who has suspended his campaign after some disappointing finishes in the early primaries.

We want to bring in our Jessica Yellin who is in the Los Angeles Bureau for us. You know Jessica, you and I heard during that debate recently here in Los Angeles how much both Obama and Clinton went out of their way to praise John Edwards. We are beginning to see Edwards issue, poverty, crop up in these speeches that we are now hearing.

So, they -- what they really want, as you know, is John Edwards' endorsement. But you've got some information on that.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I do, Candy. We've learned from two separate sources close to John Edwards that he will not endorse either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama prior to Super Tuesday.

Now, as you've just pointed out, both of them have been aggressively courting his support and his supporters because with the race this tight, obviously, any of that could make a difference. John Edwards' endorsement would, obviously, be significant to either of them, but, again, CNN has learned that he just isn't going to make that decision before Super Tuesday.

CROWLEY: You reference (ph) here or just move it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: During the spring of 2006, I had the extraordinary experience of bringing 700 ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Candy?

CROWLEY: Thanks, Jessica.

We are, again, waiting for Hillary Clinton. We are here at Cal State in Los Angeles. She is just about to take the podium. So, we will have her live right after this as BALLOT BOWL continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to this special edition of CNN BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm John King reporting live from Birmingham, Alabama.

The presidential candidates out in force today competing in advance of the big Super Tuesday, almost a national primary coming up on just this Tuesday.

Senator John McCain, the Republican frontrunner, will be campaigning here in Birmingham in just a short time, but under way out in Los Angeles, the Hillary Clinton for president event on the campus of Cal State, which is where we find my colleague, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

And Candy, you were touching on the theme earlier that campuses are critically important in this campaign. I assume all the more so or in a more urgent way, perhaps, for Senator Clinton because one of the big surprises of the Obama challenge so far this campaign has been his success so far in getting these new, younger voters to not only be active in supporting him, but active in voting.

CROWLEY: Absolutely and you know, the Clinton campaign came to this after Iowa when they took a look at those entrance polls and saw that young people really were caucusing in greater numbers in Iowa. Clinton came out of there having lost, of course, and said to her aides and her strategists, we need to go after the youth vote.

So, we have seen -- we saw in New Hampshire, a definite outreach to young people and we have seen it all along, again, on these college campuses but elsewhere, as well. She goes out of her way to call on young people during these town hall meetings.

So this is -- you know, you and I have talked a lot over the years about oh, the youth vote and it's really powerful and then they don't turn out. We have seen in some of these numbers in the early states that they are turning out in greater numbers.

Now, when we get to this kind of national primary to states that actually didn't really think they'd have a say so in who was going to be the Democratic nominee, we're going to really put that whole idea that the youth vote is going to come out in droves to test. I just remember talking about it for so many years, but this may be the year it actually happens, John.

KING: And how is she different, Candy? I've spent all of my time, almost all of my time with the Republicans. How is Hillary Clinton different as a candidate now that she knows she is in a delegate chase, a struggle, a marathon, as opposed to early on when many in her camp thought she was the invincible, inevitable nominee? CROWLEY: Well, there was, if not a scene change, a pretty big visible change, once she moved to New Hampshire. That really -- New Hampshire really shook them up. I think South Carolina where they also launched shook them up, as well.

But what we saw, of course, was a Hillary Clinton that was much more in a kind of reaching out mode. What they wanted to do was link her kind of policy wonkism (ph) to people's everyday lives, who you now hear much more, the kind of, I understand your problems. I talked to a man that said he was fearing that he would lose his health insurance because his job was in jeopardy or I talked to a woman whose daughter was dying and she couldn't get health insurance for a liver transplant.

So, you're hearing a lot of those individual stories as a way to kind of reach into the hearts of voters and say, not only do I get you, but I get policy and we can link these two together and do something really important.

So, that link was not made particularly in Iowa. And you know, where they spent a lot of time courting female, the female vote, the kind of over 50, over 55 set and now, it's a much broader campaign and, again, reaching into a lot of different demographics.

But really trying to keep that personal level going. You see it in her commercials. You see it in these huge rallies where, of course, you're tempted to give a big sort of sweeping speech, but she goes back to that kind of town hall feel where she's talking about real people's problems and her way to fix them, John.

KING: Candy Crowley on the campus of Cal State out in Los Angeles.

You're watching the CNN BALLOT BOWL, our chance to let you see what we see on the campaign trail. Candy at Cal State because Senator Clinton holding a rally there this hour. As we show you what we see, the candidates unscripted, one thing we will spare you, the long list of introductions that go on at many of these campaign rallies.

That is what is happening at the Clinton event at this moment. So, we're going to work in a quick break. When we come back, back to Candy in California and Senator Clinton.

Stay with us, you're watching the CNN BALLOT BOWL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: I'm John King in Birmingham, Alabama. Welcome to a special edition of CNN BALLOT BOWL '08, our chance to show you the candidates for president in their own words, unscripted moments, long snippets from their speeches. Some of the events live, some of them on tape.

All of this as the candidates compete for the massive Super Tuesday, almost a national primary coming up on Tuesday. Contests in more than 20 states and American Samoa, if not decisive, certainly critical in determining who will be the next Democratic and the next Republican nominee for president.

And as we do so, we'll also get analysis from members of the best political team on television. Joining us this afternoon, our Dana Bash. She's in Nashville, Tennessee where John McCain campaigned just a short time ago. Tennessee, one of the Super Tuesday states.

Suzanne Malveaux out in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota also a big Super Tuesday contest for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Suzanne will be with us in just a moment.

But we begin with my colleague and our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. She is on the campus of Cal State University where the Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, candidate for president, is speaking this hour -- Candy?

CROWLEY: You know, John, they were lined up through this campus, Cal State L.A., to get in to see this event here with Hillary Clinton, again, a great place to hold a rally, if you're going to.

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