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Ballot Bowl '08 - Polls Show McCain Pulling Ahead of Romney

Aired February 03, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN, ANCHOR: Until then thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in New York. For our international viewers, standby for WORLD NEWS. For those of you in North America, CNN's special coverage of the presidential candidate, the "Ballot Bowl" begins right now.
JOHN KING, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. And welcome to a special edition of the CNN "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm John King reporting live from Boston, Massachusetts. Many people around the country preparing for another kind of bowl game, especially here in this city of Boston today. We hope you will spend a few hours with us as we go through what we call the "Ballot Bowl." A chance to give you an unprecedented look at the presidential campaign on an incredibly busy day. The candidates are spread out across the country from east coast to west coast, north to south. All in advance of what's essentially a national primary. A big day ahead on super Tuesday. We will begin our coverage in just a minute. But before that I want to bring in my co-anchor, or co-quarterback on this "Super Bowl" Sunday, Candy Crowley, who's standing in Missouri. Hi, Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, John. We are in Bridgeton, Missouri, awaiting Hillary Clinton who is going to have a town hall meeting here in this union hall. Bridgeton is a suburb of St. Louis, working class, upper middle class suburb. So, a couple of key democratic constituencies going to be courted here. We also are going to hear, as you know, from all of these candidates over time, some taped and some live. As you know, this is super Tuesday. Coming up in two days. A critical contest so that these particular contests, in fact, will be very, very shaping of this race. We will, of course, have all of our correspondents around the country. Our Dana Bash in Fairfield, Connecticut, as well as Mary Snow in Chicago. We will also have Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin. But now, I want to go back to my colleague, John King.

KING: Thanks, Candy. We'll get back to you in a minute. Here is a bit of the game plan for the "Ballot Bowl" today. As Candy noted we have our correspondents everywhere across the country. And what we want to tell you is that we will have live coverage of Hillary Clinton. She is where Candy is in Bridgeton, Connecticut. We will also listen to her husband, Bill Clinton. He is at a church in Los Angeles. We will go to that event later this hour.

Mitt Romney is where Mary Snow is. He is campaigning in Chicago today. The republican candidate for president and the former governor of Massachusetts. Barack Obama, the democratic candidate is in Wilmington, Delaware, this hour. Also, John McCain, the republican senator in Arizona and currently the front-runner in the republican race. You will find him in Fairfield, Connecticut this hour.

We will get back to Candy and Hillary Clinton in a moment. But we want to begin by sharing with you some of the thoughts of the republican candidates for president. They started out talking quite a bit about the war on terrorism. quite a bit about the war in Iraq and the issue of illegal immigration. But of late, the dominant issue for all of the candidates including those on the republican side has been the economy. Let's listen to the republican contenders for the presidential nomination on the economy in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first thing I need to talk to you about, I'm sure you may have seen that very disappointing jobs report yesterday. Our economy is not the strong one that we want. There are challenges and we are going to fix it. The fundamentals of our economy are strong but we got some challenges to go through. The first thing we need to do is have the Senate to stop fooling around and pass the present stimulus package so we can get some of that done. The second thing we got to do and restore some confidence on the part of the American consumer. The second thing we got to do is make the Bush tax cuts permanent, my friends. Make those tax cuts permanent. So that the American people and businesses will not experience what is a tax increase and not that long from now.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You saw a report just yesterday, we lost jobs in our country this last month. You know our economy is a little unstable right now. People are looking at their savings and their 401ks and saying will there be enough for my retirement? Will my kids have enough for school? Let me tell you, when the economy is shaky, I think it is actually helpful to have somebody who has had a job in the private sector be the president.

Senator McCain said that the economy is not his strong suit. It is my strong suit. I can tell you that. I can tell you that. I will go to work to protect American jobs, to strengthen our industry, to keep our taxes down to make sure we trade around the world we do it on a level playing field.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I made comments about the stimulus package I think needs to be really reviewed by the Congress and that if we just take $150 billion, we are likely going to borrow it from the Chinese. If it's put back into the consumers' hands in the form of rebates it will most likely go and purchase Chinese imports. My point is I'm not sure whose economy we are trying to stimulate with that plan. That's a concern I have. And that I certainly want to see people get some money back but I think long-term tax changes are even more important to stimulating the economy than just a short-term rebate that may create a sense of consumer confidence but ever short-lived and not actually create jobs and economic activity that benefit Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I want to bring in two of my colleagues after listening to the candidates there. Dana Bash is standing by in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the republican contender, John McCain is campaigning this hour. And Mary Snow is out in Chicago where Mitt Romney is campaigning this hour. And Dana, let me begin with you, when the conversation shifted a few weeks back and the economy became the overwhelming dominant theme in the republican race, Mitt Romney went after John McCain on the issue of taxes saying this is not a man you can trust to cut taxes. It has changed the dynamic of the race quite a bit.

DANA BASH, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know, first of all, the whole issue of taxes and the fact that John McCain voted against President Bush's tax cuts, that is just one of the many arguments that Mitt Romney uses to say that John McCain is simply not a real conservative on a host of issues. Tax cuts, obviously, that is the issue when you are talking about the republican base because they cut through whether you are a social conservative or fiscal conservative. Almost every republican wants to lower your taxes so that it is a universal issue for republican primary voters. But it really has changed the way John McCain has needed to approach this race. He has, even in the state of Florida where he won on the issue of national security, he has had to talk over and over again about the economy. Something he traditionally has not done and that has been a weak spot that Mitt Romney thinks he has gotten on John McCain. Even this morning Mitt Romney said over and over that he thinks John McCain simply does not get it on the economy. So, you know, you will probably see when John McCain starts behind me here in Connecticut. He is probably going to do what he did almost in every stop in the south yesterday which is to start not by talking about what he believes is his strong suit which is national security but by talking about the economy. About the jobs that were lost last month and about the fact that he insists that he will keep taxes low. He knows he needs to say that over and over again to appeal to these republican voters.

KING: And yet Mary Snow, as Dana Bash notes Senator McCain adapted and he tries to prove his credentials as a tax cutter. Governor Romney, of courser, was a CEO in the business arena before he got involved in politics, used the economy as an issue with great success in his birth state of Michigan. Tried to do in Florida and lost, a disappointing second place, in a distant second finish to John McCain. There has to be some frustration in the Romney camp that the campaign debate has turned to what he believes is his strong suit and yet, he is struggling at the moment.

MARY SNOW, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, there's certainly is frustration in the Romney camp. Because they felt that Mitt Romney was building up his momentum. But you know, in Florida, when voters were asked about their number one issue, the economy really ranked at the top of the list. And still the fact that Mitt Romney was making that a centerpiece, he lost to Senator John McCain. So this is a big struggle for him going forward in terms of becoming that candidate who can win on economic issues.

KING: And when we listen to Mike Huckabee on the economy, Dana, first you and then to Mary, for a quick thought. We listen to Mike Huckabee and up he sees the odd man out. He has the populous message. Dana, you know very early on in the race out in Iowa you would see John Edwards supporters at Mike Huckabee rallies. People who were coming in from rural community, a populous message, not necessarily a conservative mainstream economic message. And yet, Huckabee remains in the race and remains a factor in the race.

SNOW: You got it. He remains a factor in the race talking about that very issue. About the fact that he believes that this is problem where it is through big corporations but taking it to the little guy, if you will. And that is when he talks about over and over again on the campaign trail. Just like you said, he sounds a lot like democrats and has for quite some time on the economy. He likes to talk about the fact that he was talking about an economic downturn before any of his republican rivals even got that. And he says that this is one of the reasons why he really wants to do something quite striking with regard to the tax code which is overhaul the tax code. Call for an absolute abolition of the IRS. That is not necessarily - it's certainly got a lot bit of following but obviously isn't enough to propel him to do better in this race.

KING: And Mary, the striking -- Governor Huckabee criticizes Senator McCain saying he's more conservative than Senator McCain or he is not a Washington insider like Senator McCain but he directs most of his fire at Governor Romney. Among the things he likes to say is that if Governor Romney is such a Mr. Fix so the sensitive CEO who understands the economy, why was Mike Huckabee six months ago when the other republicans were saying they thought the economy was in good shape. It was Mike Huckabee at that early debate saying, hey, wait a minute, there are a lot of people out there who are hurting. So, when he does criticize Governor Huckabee, he often directs it at Governor Romney.

SNOW: He was talking about the fact that he wants a president you feel who work with rather than someone who is going to lay you off. That became the theme also in the republican debate this week with Senator John McCain bringing up the fact that when Mitt Romney was working the private sector, some -- there were layoffs in the companies that were restructured. Of course, Mitt Romney, as you heard, laughing at that comment because that has been a bone of contention in terms of his economic record in the private sector. But Mike Huckabee has been also trying to hammer away at the conservative's credentials and again taking aim at Mitt Romney this morning saying in his words he thinks it is ludicrous for Mitt Romney to consider this a two-man race because he's going to be fighting to the bitter end.

KING: It is a fascinating Sunday heading into a very, very competitive super Tuesday. Mary Snow in Chicago. Dana Bash in Fairfield, Connecticut. We will be back to both of in the hours ahead. We'll also be back in "Ballot Bowl '08" in just a minute. When we come back, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, she is in Bridgeton, Connecticut, this hour. A look at how the democrats are campaigning on this "Super Bowl" Sunday, and this "Ballot Bowl" Sunday. Please stay with us, we'll be right back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Hi and welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Candy Crowley. There you see it on your screen, the two democratic contenders for the democratic nomination to be president of the United State. They are both live. Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois, is in Wilmington, Delaware. Hillary Clinton, the senator from New York, is here in Bridgeton, Missouri with me. She has just started a town hall. And as promised we are going to go to her live and unfiltered. Here she is.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because they provided the bargaining power that gave workers a chance to get those good wages and those benefits. I see an America where the government doesn't tilt to the wealthy and well-connected. Where if you are an investment money manager on Wall Street making $50 million a year, you don't pay a lower income tax rate than a teacher or nurse making $50,000 a year. I see an America where we finally get serious about energy. Where we say we are tired of being taken advantage of by the oil companies and the oil-producing countries. $100 a barrel oil. Exxon-Mobil's profit $40 billion last quarter. Isn't it about time we stood up and said we aren't going to take it anymore and we are going to have a different energy future?

I see an America where we can put young men and women to work doing green collar jobs. Good paying jobs. Insulating homes and weatherizing homes and installing solar panels, putting up wind turbines, using geothermal. There is no reason we can't have a clean, renewable energy future with home-grown energy, more energy efficiency. Now, I know we are not going do that until the two oil men leave the White House but as soon as they do, we are going to start. I see an America where we reform our government. We get rid of these no-bid contracts and the cronyism and the corruption and the incompetence and the indifference and insensitivity we have seen. Where we get back to an old-fashioned idea of appointing qualified people to do the jobs. We ask them to do in the federal government again.

I see an America that is respected around the world again. Where countries are working with us. Where they see that we can find common ground to deal with common challenges from global terrorism to global warming to global epidemics. I see a president who will begin to bring our troops home from Iraq within 60 days. There's no doubt in my mind we could begin to do that but we got to do it careful. We got to do it responsibly. I have been pushing the Pentagon to plan, to get this done and they don't want to do it because they are not willing under President Bush to really make a commitment to withdrawal. And if you listen to the republicans on the other side, Senator McCain said it would be fine to him if we had troops in Iraq for 100 years.

Well, it is not fine with me. And I don't think it's fine with the American people. So, we need to elect a president that will end the war in Iraq! And I see an America where we take care of our veterans, where we don't warehouse them, deny them the health care that they deserve, the compensation that they have earned. I see an America where we, once and for all, honor those who have given us honorable service with a 21st century G.I. bill of rights, with money to go to college, to buy a home, to start a business. Dealing with the injuries both visible and invisible. We can see the lost arms but we often can't see the brain injury. And it's time that we have a president and commander in chief who knew our first obligation is to take care of those who served us. I will be that president because I see an America where our veterans are taken care of.

I see an America that begins to work with other countries and repair the relations that have been damaged by President Bush and I see an America that is coming together around our common goals. You know, I think we can find common ground for the common good in America. But I also think we have to stand our ground as well. You know in finding common ground in the Senate I have worked across party lines time and time again. You know, to help create the children's health insurance program and now every month and in Missouri, something like 60,000 children get health care because we created a program that made that possible. I have reached across party lines to work with republicans, to provide health care for our national guard and reserve, to have an emergency 911 system to do what we must to take care of our Homeland Security. And to give our people more opportunities. I think it is imperative we find common ground and there is no issue more important to do that on than health care. We've got to have quality, affordable health care for every single American.

I believe that it is as core democratic principle that we achieve universal health care. Nobody left out, no exception. No excuses. This is a big difference between me and my opponent. His plan isn't universal. My plan is. Because I think if we don't start with a plan that will achieve coverage for everyone, you know what the insurance companies will do. You start by leaving millions of people out, pretty soon more and more will be left out. And every time someone without insurance gets taken care of in an emergency room, that is a hidden tax on all the rest of us. Those of us with insurance, we pay about $900 a year in trying to cover the cost of the 47 million uninsured.

And then think of all the millions more who have insurance except when they need it like the man who called me in desperation because his son needed a serious operation and the insurance company wouldn't pay for it. He said I don't know what to do. He said, I have always paid my premiums. I have paid everything I was supposed to pay. We have been a healthy family. Now all of a sudden I'm told they won't pay it. Or the man that I met who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August. A week later, the insurance company canceled his policy. He said what am I supposed to do he said, I have been fighting with them and they basically don't return my phone calls. He says, so the operation cost $50,000. He said I saved that money to send my daughter to college. So, what am I supposed to do? Those are not the difficult choices that we should be forcing on people when they and their children are sick in America. We should have a universal health care system, shared responsibility, everybody covered.

CROWLEY: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton here in Bridgeton, Missouri. Courting a key constituency. You got a pretty good idea there what all of the candidates do in the final days. These are kitchen sink speeches. They talk about a lot of things and they do what George Bush, the father, used to call the vision thing. With Hillary Clinton, the America I see as she calls it. We will continue to monitor Hillary Clinton and the others that are out there across the country. Right now I want to bring in our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. He has been taking a look at the numbers and seeing really how super Tuesday just two days away is shaping up. Bill, what does it look like, particularly for these democratic nominees

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, for the democratic nominees, Candy, it is getting closer. Hillary Clinton is ahead in most of the states. We have polls in eight super Tuesday states right now, including California where I am. Hillary Clinton is ahead in six of those states. But by single digit margins, never more than 10% except in her home state of New York where she, of course, is way ahead of Barack Obama. Barack Obama is ahead in Alabama and Georgia as well as in his home state of Illinois. But keep this in mind. While Clinton's lead and Obama's lead are all in single digits, you find 12%, 14% to 16% of democratic voters in all those states continuing to say they are undecided. So, you can't draw any firm conclusions except one. This race is tightening up.

CROWLYE: Thanks so much, senior political analyst Bill Schneider. A very exciting super Tuesday shaping up. Next up, out of the break, republican Mitt Romney in Chicago. We're going to bring him to you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Welcome back to a special edition of CNN's "Ballot Bowl." I'm John King reporting live from Boston, Massachusetts A number of events today to bring you live as the presidential candidate both democratic and republican compete for their nomination. You can see up there, that's Senator Hillary Clinton, the democratic candidate. She's in Bridgeton, Missouri. Barack Obama, the democratic candidate, live there in Wilmington, Delaware. And at the bottom of the screen, the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, an early front runner in the republican race over the summer months, struggling at the moment. Right now, he needs a big super Tuesday to reassert himself in the race against the leader of the republican pack, Senator John McCain. Let's dip in and listen to Governor Romney.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, let me tell you how well it is going out there. Let me tell you. You know, there are all sorts polls going all over the place. And so you can look at some and I tend to choose the ones I I'm doing real well in. So, this morning, I got the polls out of California. It is an important state, as you probably know. One poll had me and Senator McCain tied. That's fine. The other one -- the other one had me up three percentage points. That's better. And then polls aren't very reliable, particularly those that don't favor me. And there's nothing as reliable as what people actually do when they get the chance to vote.

And so you know, yesterday there was a caucus in Maine and Maine has a lot of cities, a lot of work out there. And it was kind of - it was a tough place for me to run because two U.S. senators there are both republicans and they both endorsed Senator McCain. And Jack McKernan, the former governor there, also endorsed Senator McCain. So, all the power structure was behind him. But you know what, conservative voices on talk radio and news magazines, they got behind me and they said this guy Romney is the guy. And so the race -- so the race pitted, if you will, all the establishment standing up and arguing for Senator McCain and on the other side was my son who was there campaigning for me and my grandson. And, of course, all those radio talk show hosts saying get out and vote for Romney. And we barely won it. 53% to 20%. So all I need you guys to do, all I need you to do is go out and vote a few times on Tuesday.

Chicago does not have a history in that regard. And I need you to get your friends to round them up and say let's go to the polls. Let's make sure this party stands for conservative republican ideals. Let's say no to illegal immigration. And let's say no to 50 cents a gallon on gasoline. Let's say no to McCain-Feingold. Let's yes to President Bush's tax cuts. Let's say yes to opening up oil fields so we can become energy independent. Let's say yes to the house that Ronald Reagan built and together we will get that done. Thank you so much, guys. Thanks you. Thanks so much.

KING: A very spirited Mitt Romney there. The former Massachusetts governor, in Chicago, Illinois, urging people to get out and vote on Tuesday. Asking the city of Chicago to vote more than once if they can. A little joke there from Governor Romney, clearly in high spirits. The victory you heard him referencing was the main caucuses. Now, the caucus results are not official yet. There are still some caucusing up in Maine going on on Sunday.

But the preliminary results from Saturday did show Governor Romney leading early on in the republican caucuses in Maine. So, that lifting the governor's spirits at a time when he very much needs a strong performance on super Tuesday to reassert himself in the republican race against John McCain.

At the very beginning, you heard Governor Romney talking optimistically about the polls. Well, let's take a closer look with our Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst. He is in Los Angeles.

And Bill, when look at the super Tuesday map and you look at the Republican race, what do you see?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What we see in the Republican race, John, a widening lead for John McCain. The Democratic race seems to be tightening up. The Republican race seems to be opening up in states across the country. We have polls in eight super -- no, actually seven super Tuesday states because there was no poll in Arizona where McCain is expected to win his home state easily. McCain's lead is 10, 12 sometimes 20 points, 23 points in Illinois, 37-point lead for McCain over Romney in New York. It appears that McCain is inheriting most of the vote that would have gone to Rudy Giuliani when he pulled out of the race.

Mike Huckabee's coming in third in all those states, except Alabama and Missouri, two states with a lot of evangelical voters where Huckabee is running second and Mitt Romney is running third. And McCain in all these polls is doing better among older voters. They seem to be the base that he's relying on seniors. His fellow seniors, you might say, in these various states. There are a lot of undecided votes, however, 15, 17 percent in these states undecided. But the Republican race seems to be opening up. The one place I was looking for a poll I couldn't find one is Romney's home state of Massachusetts. I just wonder if he's going to carry his home state. John.

KING: Well that's where I'm sitting Bill, so I'll get out and do a survey myself. We'll be back to you a little bit later, Bill Schneider in Los Angeles looking mighty comfortable on the CNN election express there. Bill, we'll listen to you, check in with you a little bit later. As Bill noted, this is the governor's home state of Massachusetts here and guess what. John McCain will be here tonight to raise a little money, also have a rally here at Mitt Romney's home state just before super Tuesday. So we will keep track of Massachusetts, California, the other 20 states with contests on super Tuesday.

When we come back, we will get back into the Democratic race. Senator Barack Obama in another super Tuesday state, Barack Obama campaigning live this hour in Wilmington, Delaware. We will take you there when the "CNN Ballot Bowl" continues. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Welcome back to "CNN's Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Candy Crowley in Bridgeton, Missouri, where Hillary Clinton is holding a town hall meeting. But what you are looking at, of course, is Barack Obama. He's the Illinois senator far from home at this moment e in Wilmington, Delaware. I first want to bring in our Suzanne Malveaux who has been covering Obama for some time now. Suzanne, I look at the book and it says 15 delegates in Delaware. Of the more than 20 states you could pick, why there?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a very good point because they talk about every delegate matters here but only 15 delegates. Why would he be in Delaware today? It is all about the free media here and is it really about the spillover effect, getting those TV and radio stations to pay attention there and simply to allow some of those television markets in southern New Jersey to pick up some of that coverage and some of the momentum and the hype there. As you know, New Jersey very expensive to actually advertise there because their major markets are outside of that state, in New York and Philadelphia. So clearly, this is a strategic move to get as much attention as possible, but really, kind in a cheap type of way.

Tomorrow we are going to see Barack Obama in New Jersey to kind of put an exclamation point on his message. Obviously, that's a critical state, about 107 delegates or so up for grabs, fiercely being fought over with Senator Hillary Clinton. He then goes on to Connecticut, once again, a small state, very Democratic. But what's important there are two things. McCain actually beat Bush in the GOP primary there. And that's because about half of the Republicans there really identify themselves as liberal or moderate Republicans. And that's the group that Barack Obama is really trying to steal from, to get a little bit of their traction to move them over, to cross them over to the other side. Connecticut also interesting in the case that it has the highest per capita income of all of the states in the country. That is a group that Barack Obama does very well with, those upper income voters. He is certainly hoping to capture some of those.

And then the last stop that he makes is going to be in Boston, Massachusetts. It's going to be a blowout affair. It is not only going to have Barack Obama, some of those new voters. But also some of the gray-haired folks that we have been seeing around, Senator John Kerry, the last presidential Democratic candidate as well as Senator Ted Kennedy joining the governor (INAUDIBLE). All of them trying to present this kind of new picture, this new alliance, a coalition of Democrats they believe that will win the kind of delegates, the numbers of delegates that he needs to be competitive beyond super Tuesday. Candy?

CROWLEY: Suzanne Malveaux, delegate by delegate by delegate. She is in Chicago which is always where Barack ends up, he being a senator from Illinois. Right now again, he's in Wilmington, Delaware and we want to listen in.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... a million dollar bonus for himself. All across this country, I mean teachers who are having to work second jobs just to make ends meet or digging into their own pockets to buy school supplies for their classroom because the schools are under funded. All across America, I mean young people who are ready and willing and able to go to college but don't have the money and if they are able to borrow, they end up with $30, $40, $50,000 worth of debt. They have a mortgage before they even buy a house.

I met one young lady in my travels. She was going to college full time but she had a sister with cerebral palsy whom she had to look after. So after a full day of school, looking after her sister, doing her homework, she would go to bed about 10:00, she'd wake up at 1:00 in the morning and work the night shift at Federal Express, taking packages out to the airplanes. She did this every day, three hours sleep a night. And she was not telling me this out of self- pity. She was determined to get her degree and make something better out of her life. But she was curious as to why her government did not seem just as determined to help her achieve her dreams. She believed that maybe Washington had forgotten her, did not hear about her struggles. And sadly, she's right.

All across this country, all across this country, I hear veterans talk about their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they speak of it with pride and rightfully so because they have done everything that has been asked of them. They have performed brilliantly, but they wonder about their buddies that they left behind. They question the wisdom of a mission that's cost us so dearly in blood and treasure. Sometimes I meet veterans from Vietnam, homeless, disabled who wonder how it is that the country could have forgotten their service so quickly. Occasionally as I've shaken hands at a rope line, I will have to hug a mother who is weeping silently over the memories of a fallen son or a fallen daughter.

And all across America, I mean young people and old people, patriots who are proud of their country, they love their country, but they do not understand how it is that our standing in the world could have dropped so precipitously, so rapidly. They are ashamed of Abu Ghraib and they are ashamed of Guantanamo and they are ashamed that our civil liberties have been undermined and they don't understand how it is that we could still be debating whether or not this country tortures or not. They love their country and they want our ideals and our values restored. That's what I have been hearing all across the country.

And what I said in response is that I am confident about our ability to move this country in a new direction. I am confident about the capacity of the American people to rise up once again and create a new destiny for ourselves. But I can't do it by myself. I can't do it by myself and so everywhere I go, I ask people are you ready for change? Because if you are ready for change, we can go ahead and tell the lobbyists that our days and their days of setting the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign. They will not run my White House and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president of the United States of America.

If you are ready for change we can stop talking about the outrage of 47 million people without health insurance and start actually doing something about it. This is personal for me. My mother died of cancer when she was 53 years old. That was tragic enough. What made it worse was seeing her on her hospital bed reading insurance forms because she had just gotten a new job and the insurance company was saying maybe there is a pre-existing condition and maybe we don't have to pay for your medical care. I have seen what it is like to have a loved one suffer, not just because they are sick but because of a broken health care system. And it is wrong.

And that's why I have said we are going to have a health care plan that is at least as good as the health care I have as a member of Congress for every single American. If you want to keep your existing health care you can keep it but we are going to help you lower premiums by $2,500 per family. And if you are self-employed or don't have health insurance and underinsured, you can buy into this plan and we are not going to exclude anybody from pre-existing conditions. And we are going to negotiate with the drug companies for the cheapest available price on drugs so our seniors don't have to take a half a dose because they can't afford it. And we are going to emphasize prevention so our children are not going to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma, so that we have a health care system and not a disease care system. So we can save money and improve quality and we are not going the wait 20 years from now to do this or 10 years from now to do this. We will do this by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America.

CROWLEY: Is there a three shot? Barack Obama in Wilmington, Delaware and they are all over the place today, again, Senator Obama in Wilmington. We also have Hillary Clinton here in Bridgeton, Missouri and Republican John McCain. He is in Fairfield, Connecticut and we promise you McCain as "CNN Ballot Bowl '98" continues right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: Welcome back to this special edition of the CNN "Ballot Bowl." I'm John King in Boston, Massachusetts. We are tracking all of the presidential candidates live this hour so that you can hear them unfiltered, unscripted, in their own words, in live events, some taped events, all this as they campaign in advance of the critical super Tuesday primaries in 24 states coming up on this Tuesday. You see them there. Barack Obama is at the top left of your screen. He is campaigning live in Wilmington, Delaware this hour, the Democratic candidate. Senator Clinton, also a Democrat, campaigning in Bridgeton, Missouri, this hour. And at the bottom of your screen, Senator John McCain, a Republican who can take command of the race for the big day on super Tuesday. He is campaigning in Fairfield, Connecticut. Let's listen in to Senator McCain.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And that's a pretty good line. It makes people laugh and all that. I use it all the time. I'm not making this up when I tell you that I received an e-mail from a guy six months ago, an e-mail and the guy said as a former drunken sailor, I resent being compared to members of Congress. I don't blame him. I don't blame him.

My friends, this spending increases interest rates. It makes you pay more for your home loan mortgage. It makes you pay more for anything that you do and let me just give you an example that I think puts it in the kind of terms that all of us can understand better. In the last two years, the president of the United States signed into law two big spending pork barrel bills worth, $35 billion - B -- billion of your dollars. Instead of those $35 billion worth of pork barrel projects, we could have had $1,000 tax credit for every child in America. What do you want, a bridge to nowhere or a thousand dollar tax credit for every child in America? I think we know the answer to that. And we are going to stop it.

And I stand before you proudly, proudly to tell you that in the 24 years I have represented the state of Arizona, I have never asked for nor received a pork barrel project for my state of Arizona and we are doing pretty well. And I might add in her short time in the United States Senate, the senator from New York, Senator Clinton, has gotten $500 million worth of pork barrel projects. My friend, that kind of thing is going to stop when I'm president of the United States of America. So let me just say, I've got an old pen that Ronald Reagan gave me years ago. I'm going veto every pork barrel bill that comes across my desk. I will make them famous. You will know their names and we will stop it.

My friends, I want to talk to you for a minute about judges. I'm proud to have been part of a team that got Justice Roberts and Justice Alito appointed to the United States Supreme Court. I will appoint judges that -- my friends, I will appoint judges that strictly interpret the constitution of the United States of America and do not legislate from the bench. That's an important role for the next president of the United States to play.

At these gatherings and I'm honored you are here today, I'm honored you are here. At these gatherings I always am so proud to have the presence of so many, so many brave men and women who have served our nation in uniform. Could I ask our veterans to raise their hands in the audience so I can say thank you, thank you for your service. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you for being here. God bless you, sir. Thank you.

KING: Senator John McCain there campaigning in Fairfield, Connecticut, one of his big targets on super Tuesday, campaigning with the Democrat turned independent Senator Joe Lieberman, part of Senator McCain's effort not only to campaign for the Republican nomination, but to try to make the case that he would be best suited not only to win a general election reaching out to Democrats and independents but promising to govern in a bipartisan way. Standing by at the McCain rally in Fairfield, Connecticut, our own Dana Bash. Dana, it looks like an enthusiastic crowd there for the senator here in New England.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A big crowd, in fact this is probably the biggest crowd I have seen yet for John McCain. The school here where he's speaking says about 2,000 people, maybe not a lot for our colleagues who cover Democrats who are used to seeing huge crowds, but a big one for John McCain, who remember not too long ago was speaking to rooms of 10, 20 people as he tried to rehabilitate his campaign back in New Hampshire.

But interesting John, one of the things that we just heard John McCain talk about, judges. That in talking to his campaign, again, as we have been talking about it non-stop but important to keep reminding our viewers of the challenge that John McCain still has going into super Tuesday which is convincing conservatives that he's one of them. The issue of judges is a huge one for conservative voters. That is a code, if you will, for -- letting them know that he is somebody who is going to -- if he is president, make sure that he's going to put people on the bench who are going to go their way with regard to abortion, go their way even with regard to the staple issue that he's getting hammered from Mitt Romney on, on campaign finance reform.

So when you talk to John McCain's advisors, they say that the way they are trying to appeal and reach out to Republicans right not subtly and not so subtly is on judges, is on abortion, is on taxes especially, is on spending and on the number one issue and that is the war. As you see, in trying to pivot from the primary to looking ahead to the general election which is a big part of their strategy, this air of inevitability, it is to make it very clear that if you want a Republican to go head to head with either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on the fundamental issue national security, there is nobody better they say to do that than Republican John McCain. John.

KING: Dana Bash with that McCain rally in Fairfield, Connecticut. We'll hear more from Dana and Senator McCain as "Ballot Bowl" continues, but want to take you now - we're showing you these speeches so that you can see the candidates as we see them on the campaign trail. I want to take you out to Chicago to the man who is making the case he is more conservative than John McCain in the Republican race. Another thing we get to see every day on the campaign trail that we think will help you learn and understand more about the candidates, their sessions with reporters. Governor Romney taking questions in Chicago. Let's listen in. MITT ROMNEY (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... last few hours. And in places like Florida and other states, polls swung wildly from one person to another. I think Mayor Giuliani was way ahead in Florida. I can't remember when that was, but I think maybe a month before the primary. And then, you know, a lot of people said gosh, do you stand a chance in Florida? Suddenly he was -- he dropped way back. It is very fluid at this stage. I also think that as Republicans across the nation and across Illinois are concentrating on this race, listening to conservative voices across America, they are saying you know what, we cannot let our party take that left turn if we become so much like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that on key issues we are indistinguishable, we won't win the White House. That old saying if it is a race between a Republican acting like a Democrat and a Democrat, the Democrat always wins.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

ROMNEY: That's great. I will be watching it from St. Louis and zipping around from place to place. I exchanged e-mails yesterday with Tom Brady and he's a friend. And I wish him the very best and I wish the team the very best. I -- I didn't -- no business at all was conducted, just wished him the very best. And I -- I feel the Patriots are going to be really successful today. Sure hope so.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) How do you stop them?

ROMNEY: When you say -- the polls being what they are, which polls? There's one national poll that came out today with me tied. There's another one with me behind. California polls, one with me ahead, the other with me tied. They are all over the place. And that's the way they have been over the last several weeks. And so what do you do? You campaign. You talk about the issues you care about. You hopefully get strong voices that step up and say why it is that they are behind you. And then you let the voters decide. And I'm going to see what the voters decide on Tuesday. But I think they're going to vote for a conservative for a nominee.

KING: Governor Mitt Romney there taking questions outside of Chicago, Illinois, campaigning in one of the key super Tuesday battlegrounds. You heard Governor Romney there putting in a plug for the Patriots. Senator Clinton not a long time ago put in a plug for the New York Giants. I'm John King sitting in Boston, my hometown. I'm going to have to say on this front, I agree with Governor Romney.

Much more of "Ballot Bowl" still to come in the hour ahead. You will hear again from the Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Senator Clinton campaigning in advance of super Tuesday. We're going to take a quick break. Please stay with us. You're watching a special edition of the CNN "Ballot Bowl."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: I'm John King in Boston, Massachusetts, welcome back to a special edition of CNN "Ballot Bowl '08," our chance to let you see the candidates as they campaign across the country.

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