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Checking the Voting
Aired February 09, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Huckabee has picked up all 36 delegates at stake today in Kansas. With that, let's turn things over to Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Election Center in New York. Wolf?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, THIS WEEK IN POLITICS (voice over): It's a superdelegate. Before votes are casts, who are these guys? The sweet sound of the yes (ph) votes, they could swing the Democratic primary if they showed up.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) FMR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to keep on battling; we're going all the way to the convention.
FOREMAN: And when the going gets tough, the tough (ph) gets going. And Mitt Romney is gone. So, does this mean Mike Huckabee wins the marathon for the Republican nod?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: All this and so much more, coming up on THIS WEEK IN POLITICS. But first: Let's go to Wolf Blitzer at CNN's election headquarters for the latest on tonight's big contest. Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ELECTION CENTER: Thanks very much, Tom. And we do have a winner in Kansas right now. On the Republican side, the former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee winning the Republican caucuses in Kansas decisively crushing John McCain, the all but inevitable Republican nominee, if you believe all the experts, not necessarily in Kansas right now. Take a look at this. Huckabee getting 60 percent of the vote in Kansas, McCain, 24 percent, Ron Paul, 11 percent. Let's take a closer look at the actual numbers to see how this shaped up earlier in the day. Huckabee winning 11,627 votes, among those Republican caucusgoers, McCain, 4,587, Ron Paul, 2,182. In the process, all 36 delegates of Kansas, all of them going to Mike Huckabee. Dana Bash is following this story for us. She's in Washington right now. Dana, this is a major embarrassment for John McCain in the heartland, right in the heart of the United States.
DANA BASH, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT - WASHINGTON: It sure is. John McCain wasn't on the campaign trail today, Wolf, but we're told he was making some calls trying to shore up some conservatives, shore up unity, he calls it, inside the Republican Party, but if you look at the results that you just put out there, he just got absolutely walloped, walloped in the middle of the country in the reddest of red states by conservatives, and, you know, Mike Huckabee said today that he didn't major in math. He majored in miracles. We can let others make a judgment on what that actually was today in Kansas but certainly this does put a hitch in what the McCain campaign is trying to do which is certainly have an air of inevitability and make the case that everybody must get behind him and in order to unite the party and in order to focus on the Democrats from now on, because you see in that vote in Kansas, a lot of conservatives, in fact, the vast majority of conservatives in that state decided that they wanted somebody else, they didn't want John McCain, so, as Mike Huckabee said just a few moments ago, game on. Wolf?
WOLF: All right, Dana, thanks very much. In about an hour from now, we're going to be speaking live with Mike Huckabee, the winner of the Kansas Republican caucuses. There are other contests unfolding tonight in Louisiana, in Nebraska, a big price for the Democrats in -- in Washington state later tonight and we're going to be hearing throughout the course of the night from Hillary Clinton, from Barack Obama, lots more coverage coming up right at the top of the hour. Now back to Tom Foreman in THIS WEEK IN POLITICS.
FOREMAN: Thanks, Wolf. We'll go back to you throughout the show and, of course, you'll take over at the top of the hour as tonight's big results begin to come in, stay around for that. In just a moment, though, what to watch for in tonight's contest, but first: Let's look at where we stand in THIS WEEK IN POLITICS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): Super Tuesday did not live up to expectations. But that didn't stop almost everyone from declaring victory.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am as confident tonight as I have ever been.
ROMNEY: We're going to win this thing and we're going to get in the White House.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race. It is, and we're in it.
FOREMAN: Well, two out of three got it right on the GOP side. The Democrats were way too close to call.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know, our time has come.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're ready for a president who brings your voice, your values and your dreams to your White House.
FOREMAN: But those dreams don't come free.
CLINTON: I loaned the campaign $5 million from my money.
FOREMAN: All the candidates seem to agree on one thing.
RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That we have to change our ways. We have to change our ways.
OBAMA: Our voters are passionate about bringing about change.
HUCKABEE: Huckabee is the guy that's showing real leadership on issues that could change America.
CLINTON: I want to ask you something, are you ready for change?
FOREMAN: But little change in the GOP battle of ideas.
HUCKABEE: Well, I think I'm the conservative, period.
MCCAIN: I am clearly the conservative.
ROMNEY: If I want the conservative, I got to vote for Mitt Romney.
FOREMAN: Well, not all that realistic as it turned out.
ROMNEY: Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: And with me now to walk through this wild week in politics and preview tonight's contest is CNN White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, who is doing hard duty out on the campaign trail and comfortably watching all this from Politico's Virginia headquarters, Jeanne Cummings. Suzanne, let me start with you on the trail, what are the various campaigns making of this? It's entertaining to us but everybody thought this contest would be over by now.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right and this is really going to be a long, hard fight. Both Senator Clinton and as well as Senator Barack Obama are looking beyond this evening, they're looking at Tuesday's contest. They are looking at March 4th and beyond. They believe that this is something that could be weeks, if not months. It could go all the way up to the convention where this is kind of a brokered deal between the two. There are two issues here; it's going to be the fight over the superdelegates when it all comes down to it and whether or not the delegates count for Michigan and Florida. Those are going to be two big battles that you see after all these contests are over.
FOREMAN: I want to go get back to that in just a moment. Let's look at some of the things that should be watched for here. On the Democratic side: What to watch: The racial divide how that is breaking down in the vote, we also want to look at the Hispanic influence, the caucus effect and the wild card in all of this -- age is everything, the young voters. We're going to have more on that later in the show but then on the Republican side, let's look at this; we're going to have watch words on the Romney effect, Huckabee's southern exposure, how well he's doing in the south and the wild card there, conservative credentials. Jean, when you look at all of these issues out there and you're looking ahead on the Democratic side, what is the big play that we have to consider when you talk about the racial divide?
JEANNE CUMMINGS, POLITICO: Well, certainly that's going to be important in many of the states coming up, the African-American vote has been splitting pretty hard obviously for Barack Obama. That gives him a built-in advantage in some states: Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, but down in Texas, there's a big Hispanic community that could weigh in there and they have been breaking for Hillary Clinton, but Barack Obama has been able to lower her margin in the Hispanic community, he did better in California than he did in Nevada and we'll see what happens by the time Texas rolls around.
FOREMAN: Suzanne, you mentioned a minute ago this question of what about the delegates from Michigan and from Florida. The whole idea was the party said, because they'd move their primaries up their delegates wouldn't count. Now, the Clinton campaign is campaigning to say, oh, you ought to count those people. I can't imagine how the Obama campaign or anybody else could let that happen.
MALVEAUX: Well, here's what the Obama folks are saying: They believe that if there is a real contest, a real competition in Florida and Michigan and they're up for it they'll say, OK, we'll take our advertising there, we'll campaign there. They believe that they'll be strong if they're actually allowed to have the contest all over again, but they basically say that they don't even believe that Florida and Michigan, they weren't even -- on the ballot in Florida, really counted for much of anything, so, they dismiss it outright and say, let's just start all over. If that's what you want to do and make those delegates count, then, we want a real contest, a real competition because they believe that Obama will come out strong.
FOREMAN: Jeanne, I don't think they allow do-overs in national politics, do they?
CUMMINGS: Well, we certainly haven't seen it before but it's been a crazy year, so, why not? Let's extend it even further. But the big question too will be who pays for that? I mean, it costs a lot of money to run campaigns in states those sizes and I'm not sure if the state parties have that kind of cash, would the DNC pay for it? I mean it really opens a whole can of worms, but that is something that's on the table now.
FOREMAN: Jeanne, talk to me about the Romney effect. Where do you think his voters go?
CUMMINGS: It's hard to tell with Romney. I think that they'll break both ways. I think Romney had a base part fiscal conservative, part social conservative. The fiscal conservatives may well go to McCain. They tend to be more traditionalists and establishment Republicans. The social conservatives may well break towards Huckabee.
FOREMAN: And, Suzanne, we have this question about the conservatives and McCain right now, particularly with James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, big-time evangelist saying, he's going to go with Huckabee on all this. Basically, the conservatives on the far right are saying, we'll sit this one out or go with somebody else before we'll back McCain. What are people making of that on the trail? Do they believe it?
MALVEAUX: Well, it's really dangerous for the Republican Party if that happens, if essentially you have a whole group that stays home because they're not that excited about McCain. We saw him before, a group of conservatives this -- just this week. He was booed when he talked about the differences over immigration. He does have some problems when it comes to the tax cut position, immigration, a campaign finance reform. There are a lot of conservatives who just are not happy with their choice here. We even saw President Bush weighing in saying, look, you got to get behind whoever the nominee is going to be, clearly, it's going to be McCain. A lot of talk about this possible dream ticket of McCain and Huckabee together, but it's uncertain whether or not that's really going to satisfy the conservatives. Huckabee is great with the social conservatives, but not so much with the fiscal conservatives. They look at his record and say, look, you raised taxes. You were a liberal when it came to immigration and law enforcement. We're not exactly pleased with you either. So, they may have a potentially a big problem.
FOREMAN: Suzanne and Jeanne, thank you both so much. We got a read on how that all plays out as the evening goes on.
American history is of course filled with stories about political operatives like Boss Tweed here. Look at that beard. Fabulous. Old Tammy Hall guy, part of the Democratic machine back then. They chose candidates without even consulting the voters. That was bad enough. In the old days of smoke-filled rooms. Now smoking is banned in a lot of places, but are we still looking at an undemocratic/Democratic convention? We'll look at that tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: The eternal comic book hero, "Superman" could do a lot of things -- catch bullet, stop locomotives, see through walls and jump buildings too. What even the "Man of Steel" could not do was alter the outcome of a presidential primary. But in the Democratic Party, superdelegates can do just that and if Clinton and Obama keep running neck and neck, they might. No matter how you vote, if the race is close enough, these folks can lay a trump card on the table that could render millions of your votes effectively worthless. So, who are these shadowy figures with thousands of times the power of you? A mere voter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice over): Super delegates are the offspring of political discord. Decades ago, Democratic Party leaders became worried that rank and file or merely mortal delegates to the convention were too often choosing nominees who could not win or who could, but like Jimmy Carter where the Democratic elite did not really like. So the Dems created superdelegates who can attend the convention and vote for whomever they choose. Superdelegates include distinguished party leaders like Bill Clinton, Democratic members of Congress and governors, too. There are almost 800 superdelegates in all, about a fifth of the people directly involved in the picking of the Democratic nominee, and they do not have to answer to or even consider what you want.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Up in New York, Mark Halperin, editor of TIME.com's "The Page" and the senior political analyst for the magazine joins us now, and in Washington, Democratic strategists and CNN political contributor, Donna Brazile who is also a superdelegate.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: No shadow.
FOREMAN: Why are you a superdelegate?
BRAZILE: Because I'm a party activist. I don't wear a cape. I'm not faster than a speeding bullet.
FOREMAN: No secret handshakes?
BRAZILE: No secret handshakes. I don't drive a Batmobile and you don't want to see me in Spandex so what makes me super?
FOREMAN: Yes. Should you exist? Should -
BRAZILE: Yes.
FOREMAN: Is this Democratic to have you.
BRAZILE: Yes. Look, we are party officials, party activists, we are teachers, we're steelworkers, we're carpenter, yes, we're Nancy Pelosi, we're Barack Obama, we're Hillary Clinton, we're Bill Clinton, we're Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, you get the picture. We're a little bit of everything, there's 796 superdelegates. Many of us have been elected at the state and local levels. Some us, like myself, I was appointed in 1998 by Bill Clinton and Al Gore and Dick Gephardt and, yes, our role is to help build the party, not to decide elections. I get two votes. I get a vote on Tuesday in the Democratic primary here in the District of Columbia. That vote is mine. But as a superdelegate, I believe that vote belongs to the American people and, therefore, I will withhold committing to either candidate until the voters decide.
FOREMAN: Well, OK. Hold on. We'll come back to that second vote of yours in just a moment here. Mark Halperin, same question to you, when we talk about this, it's the Democratic party. A lot of voters seem to look at the superdelegates and say, this ain't very Democratic. Why not just let the rank and file Democrats of the country decide?
MARK HALPERIN, TIME MAGAZINE: Tom, you know what I'm into, I'm into what is rather than what might, maybe ought to be, the superdelegates exist and Donna and others can say, oh, this could be unfortunate, they shouldn't decide it. I think two things are true, one is: All this will be fine if the superdelegates take their responsibility seriously. They pick the person they think would be the best president rather than who's stronger arm twister when the people are trying to get their votes from the Obama and Clinton camps. The other thing is: What's dangerous for the Democratic Party, if this is decided by the superdelegates and at this point, I think mathematically that's more likely than not, the loser is going to have to deal with the implications of that and if the loser wants to take up the battlecry that you're suggesting, then this is undemocratic, the Democratic Party is going to have a hideous convention in Denver.
FOREMAN: Wow, it's amazing to say, you think it's more likely than not right now. Listen to what Howard Dean, the DNC chairman, said about this because he clearly fears exactly what you're talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: I think we will have a nominee sometime in the middle of March or April but if we don't, then we will have to -- we're going to have to have -- make some kind of -- get the candidates to get together and make some kind of an arrangement because I don't think we can afford to have a brokered convention. That would not be good news for either party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, Donna, this is -- the chairman here saying, superdelegates are a bad idea essentially, because if they really make the decision, they shouldn't be making the decision. So, why don't you get rid of them?
BRAZILE: We should not get rid of superdelegates. We should wait until voters in Nebraska and Louisiana and Washington State and West Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio. We should wait until they vote. Let's listen to the voters in Pennsylvania, give them an opportunity to speak and at the end of the day, after all of the voters have spoken, if we don't have a clear nominee then superdelegates should -
FOREMAN: But how can you possibly not have a clear nominee? In the end, somebody gets more votes than somebody else, end of story. All the superdelegates get on board with the more popular one, why not?
BRAZILE: Well, that's conventional wisdom but this is an unconventional year. We have two historic candidates. They are drawing large crowds, they're enthusiastic, people are coming out of the woods to see Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Why should we shut down a debate right now because of some fear of a brokered convention? This process will work its way out. I think at the end of the day, we will have a clear nominee sometime in May.
HALPERIN: Tom - FOREMAN: Mark Halperin, this is what I want to ask you about: The Democrats are the very people who have been screaming about what happened to Al gore because of the electoral college and because of the courts. I don't see how the party is going to possibly say to their followers all across the country, now we've picked a candidate who didn't win the popular vote.
HALPERIN: Here's the problem for these superdelegates. You say the popular vote but maybe the judgment should be, well, we'll be for the one who has the most delegates. That may not be the same person, all like (ph) what happened in 2000. The other thing is - one guy that some people recommend for superdelegates and some superdelegates have adopted this is: I'll be for the person who wins my state or in Donna's case, the District of Columbia. That's an interesting role or maybe a member of the House, the person who wins my Congressional district. If everybody follows that rule, maybe it's a simpler thing, but the point is: not everybody will. You've already got superdelegates who are committed, who are already for the person in primaries and caucuses have been held that doesn't match up with what their voters said. So, all the superdelegates as I said before, I think they're not going to go away. It's an interesting theoretical question for future elections should the DNC reform their system. But for this cycle, I think they should all just focus on a simple thing: Who they think the best president would be. If they do that, they can have a clear conscience and the candidates can feel good about it and not think it's based on back room deals.
FOREMAN: Mark, what do you think happens if it goes down to the superdelegates and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are essentially tied? Who's Donna pick?
HALPERIN: Donna Brazile gets to be secretary of state or whatever else she wants. You don't tug on Donna Brazile's cape. That's the most important lesson for anybody trying to court her vote. Look, I think if it's essentially tied, remember, there's another myth going on here which is that the delegates who have been elected in the normal process are pledged. They are not. They're supposed to vote who they were elected to vote for in the first ballot but they don't have to and so, I think if it goes to the convention and this thing is not settled, no one has a mathematical majority which again at this point looks more likely than not, it's not just going to be the superdelegates, the whole thing will be a big mess and then, I think, something which I ruled out previously absolutely I think comes into play, the only solution for Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, everyone else may be a coin flip and they become a ticket.
FOREMAN: And, Donna, I leave the last word up to you. You always shoot straight on this. You suggested that you will quit if you have to pick the winner.
BRAZILE: I believe that if this process is prematurely shut down because we want to rush to get a nominee to take on John McCain, meaning we will not hear from the voters in some of the upcoming primaries and caucuses, I will vacate my position on the Democratic National Committee. I will always be a Democrat. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I love my party. But I will not support a party that shut the vote down. And on that note, we have to do something about Florida and Michigan. Those two states did not comply with the rules but we should find a way to ensure that the voters in those two states have a voice in this process.
HALPERIN: Oh, man, that's a can of worms that have to go to another day.
BRAZILE: Not a can of worms.
HALPERIN: A whole other segment.
FOREMAN: Thanks so much for joining us. We'll get to that segment later on, maybe next week.
So much for the theory, at the top of the hour, Wolf and the best political team on television will be getting the first real results from tonight's contest in Louisiana, Washington State, Nebraska and Kansas. Stay with us for that and we're going to hit the streets for an early peek at the voters' mood right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did vote for Governor Huckabee. He just lines up with my basic principles. I like his integrity. It just rings true with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sort of tired of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton legacy. I'm ready for a change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bringing our troops home and making sure the war ends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I had to vote Republican, I'd know what my decision would be there and that would be John McCain, but if it comes down to that, he's an easy choice, but if it was my democratic choice, I'm not sure yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think experience does not count nearly as much as character, and I really think character still counts for something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Yes, character counts, but cold cash doesn't hurt. Hey, candidates, what's in your wallet? We'll have that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: There's an old saying that goes when they say it's not about the money, it's always about the money. So, let's forget about issues and character for a moment and follow the money trail with Evan Tracey, CEO of the Campaign Media Analysis Group and CNN political contributor. So, in the beginning we talked all about the money in this race and what a big issue it was going to be. Has it played out as expected?
EVAN TRACEY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I don't think anything in this race has played out as expected. I mean, you look at the candidates right now. You know, Barack Obama is raising over $30 million a month at this point. Hillary Clinton's lending money to her campaign. You know, the big money candidate on the Republican side is out of the race, and the candidate that was essentially out of the race is now the nominee.
FOREMAN: Lets look at some statistics here and we'll come back to that question of Hillary loaning money to herself. If you look at the campaign commercials they bought so far, at one point not too long ago, Barack Obama had spent 31 million, Hillary Clinton spent 24.6 million. On the Republican side, we have Mitt Romney who is now out of it, spent $30 million on ads. McCain, 8.5 million and Huckabee here down at 2.9 million. Now, if you look at the Republican side, it's very easy to say, Mitt Romney for all his wealth could not buy the election which people always say, oh, they just buy the election.
TRACEY: Yes, that's always a charge when you have self-funding candidates. I mean, Romney also raised more money than I think any other Republican to date. But the bottom line is, he was only able to take that money and pull himself from the low single digits in the polls up to essentially what will be third place in the history books. Whether he can use that to launch a bid, you know, in 2012, time will tell, but, you know, right now the jury is out as far as return on investment.
FOREMAN: And Huckabee got real big bank for his block.
TRACEY: Right, well, Huckabee, a lot like McCain, too, have been able to parlay victories in some of these early states like Iowa for Huckabee and New Hampshire for McCain, basically down to where they are in the race.
FOREMAN: Let's look at the Democrats where they're duking it out so much. Hillary Clinton is now writing a check to herself for $5 million. Is this a serious problem or a temporary cash flow problem?
TRACEY: Well, the problem is her opponent is raising so much money. I mean, look, this is the point in the race where money is driving the message. There's too many states, too much ground to cover with just doing personal appearances. So, that's why they need the money to do the advertising. Obama's been consistently outspending her of late. Obviously, the money he's got in the bank has allowed him to extend the field to where he's buying as far to the calendar as the end of next week's primaries and you're going to these some states with some pretty expensive media markets.
FOREMAN: And you'll see part of the trick for Obama was that he early on, we kept reporting on how he had a broad base of donors who had not donated the maximum amount.
TRACEY: Right.
FOREMAN: Now, he's able to go back to all of those people and say, hey, stay with me and give me a little more money.
TRACEY: Yes, very reminiscent of Howard Dean four years ago, he was able to engage the small donors and you can basically start to slow walk them up to maxing out. You know, the problem with the Clinton campaign is likely that she's got a lot of already maxed out donors, so, she's got to find a new pond to fish in.
FOREMAN: Same thing though, a few months ago, we're looking at John McCain, who has having people sort of work on loan and go without pay and everybody said his money is out, he is finished. I look at the Clinton campaign and think, should you really be - say, this is so serious when obviously, it wasn't that serious to him in the long run?
TRACEY: Right, I mean look, both the Democratic candidates have the wind at their back, which means, they'll be able to raise money and they'll be able to carry this race as far as it needs to go, whether that's the convention or someplace before. It's the difference in the Republican Party is where it was essentially the political equivalent of whack-a-mole. Somebody was up, somebody was down, somebody was up, somebody was down, ultimately, McCain was able to stay on his feet long enough to sustain fund-raising, sustain advertising. But really was a momentum driven strategy.
FOREMAN: Evan, thanks so for your time. Before we take off, take a look at the personal wealth of these guys. Unbelievable, Mitt Romney, again out now, $202 million. John McCain, $40.4 million. Hillary Clinton, 34.9 million, Barack Obama, 1.3 million and huckabee down here is a virtual pauper because he's only worth $700,000. But, look, they're not like your neighbor when it comes to income, none of them.
In just a moment, Wolf Blitzer will report the latest developments as we count down to poll closing and caucus results in today's presidential contest. The best political team on television brings you the results as no one else can. Stick around. Coming up at the top of the hour we'll have that and when "This Week in Politics" continues, why are these conservatives so angry at Senator John McCain?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN, ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer here in the CNN Election Center her New York. Tom Foreman and "This week in Politics" coming right up. But first an update on what is happening right now. In Kansas, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has won the republican caucuses in Kansas taking all 36 of those delegates. There are 39 delegates at play including 3 superdelegates. He got 60% of the vote in Kansas to John McCain's 24%. Ron Paul, 11%. This is a huge win for him in the state of Kansas as it's been described. The reddest of red states. Let's take a look at the actual numbers, how it unfolded in Kansas today. 11,600 for Huckabee, 4,500 for McCain. Ron Paul, 2,100 or so votes in Kansas.
This is only the first of several contests that are coming up. Later tonight, Louisiana, there's a democratic primary. The polls will be closing 9:00 p.m. Eastern. In Nebraska there is a democratic caucus. There is a republican primary in Louisiana, as well. In Washington state, there are democratic and republican caucuses. We'll be getting numbers from there shortly. There have been exit polls that we're getting, Bill Schneider is taking a look at what we're learning right now. Bill, what are we seeing on those exit polls?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, we have an exit poll of both republicans and democrats in louisiana. For republicans, this is a real test for John McCain because the question is, now that he is being treated as the presumptive nominee, how is he doing with the republican party's base? That base is very strong in Louisiana. Take a look. Among Louisiana republican voters, 71%, 71 described themselves as conservative, a majority of them are born again or evangelical voters and three-quarters approve of the Bush administration. How does McCain do in those groups? We'll be looking at that tonight, whether they're rallying to his support.
Now, for the democrats, we're seeing some evidence of real division in the democratic party. These are Clinton voters, and we asked them would you be satisfied only if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination? 63% said, yes, or if either wins, only 29%. Now, we asked the same question of the Obama voters, very different answer, satisfied only if Obama win, just 44%. If either wins, 47%. So the Obama voters are divided on whether they'd be satisfied if either wins or if only their man wins, the Hillary voters, a little more bitterness, they'd be happy only if Clinton wins.
BLITZER: All right, Bill. Thanks very much, Much more coming up in the top of the hour when the polls will be closing. I'm Wolf Blitzer, at the CNN Election Center now back to "This Week in Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH: You establishment republicans are going to be responsible for the election of a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama. It will not be us who are responsible. It will not be talk radio. It will be you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: That was Rush Limbaugh this week continuing to slam the GOP and he's not alone. Many conservatives feel Senator John McCain is anything but their choice for president. But what options do they have? Columnist Ann Coulter says she'll vote for Hillary Clinton but I wouldn't bet the bank on that happening. Rich Galen is a proud conservative and was until recently advising the campaign of former Senator Fred Thompson. Are these folks really going to do this or just a big bluff? RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, we see what happens. I mean, The danger for any party is that your -- the base, not that they're going to vote for the other person. Ann's not going to do that or if she does, she'll just do it for the publicity but the base stays home, that's always the danger for any party. Will the base stay home here? Probably not. When it gets down to the crunch assuming Hillary Clinton is the nominee. Hillary Clinton is the Newt Gingrich of the democratic party. Half the people just love her. Half the people can't stand her.
FOREMAN: What about Barack Obama if he's the candidate?
GALEN: A little more problematic I think for the republican side. But there's a difference between conservatives who are ideological conservatives and conservatives and conservatives who are republican conservatives. Most conservatives are republican conservatives, and the choice that they will have is are they willing to lose on --
FOREMAN: Explain for our viewers the difference a little bit more.
GALEN: OK. I'm going to. The difference is that movement conservatives who may or may not be republicans, they may vote for the libertarian, they're perfectly willing to lose on the point of an ideological sword. Republican conservatives likely are not. They may not think that John McCain is the perfect candidate, but unfortunately the perfect candidate didn't show up this year. So he is the candidate, and the choice is John McCain or whomever and it's not just four years of Hillary or Barack, it's 25 years of liberal activist federal judges that Hillary or Barack will appoint and which Harry Reid will ram through the Senate and that's when people come to grips with those sorts of things it's a fairly easy call.
FOREMAN: It is a fairly difficult thing though, I would think, when you have someone like James Dobson from Focus on the Family saying I'm going to go for Huckabee, it is a values vote.
GALEN: Yes.
FOREMAN: And you can't compromise your values.
GALEN: But how is Huckabee going? What's that meant to Huckabee? He has 152 electoral votes, 150 delegates, 151 more than Rudy Giuliani but nowhere near John McCain.
FOREMAN: But the argument has been if you're a values voter, it's harder to compromise value. You can compromise on where the new highway goes.
GALEN: Yes. But again perfection is a religious concept not a political one. So when it comes down to it, you're left with a choice. If either you vote for the republicans -- in America we have two parties, basically, republicans and democrat. Now there are other parties. You can vote for Ralph Nader I guess or maybe Mike Bloomberg will be on the ballot although I doubt it. But when it comes down to it for the vast number of Americans, you will either vote on the republican side or the democratic side and though you may not think that this is the best possible choice, in John McCain, in Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, depending upon who ends up on the top, it is the only choice you've got and it's better than the other guy's choice and when republicans as we go through this process John McCain will have five, six, seven months to consolidate his position.
FOREMAN: What does he need to do in that time?
GALEN: Great question. You need Mitt Romney out there campaigning for him. Mike Huckabee will get out probably fairly soon after he goes through at least one round of unfetterred elections next Tuesday. And my guess is - and Huckabee and McCain like each other. Fred Thompson likes McCain. My guess is you get all of these recognized conservatives on the stump campaigning for John McCain and a lot of this begins to fall away.
FOREMAN: So, the less of John McCain's personal appeal as well as intermediaries saying to people, you trust me, I trust him. You ought to trust him.
GALEN: Which is the nature of endorsements whether it's newspaper endorsements or Governor Crist in Florida - or Ted Kennedy endorsing Obama. That's the nature...
FOREMAN: And there's still a lot of time between now and the election.
GALEN: Oh, yes. That's the advantage that the republicans have, that we've got essentially you know between now and November 4th to do this consolidation. The democrats look like they're going to be duking this out all the way to Denver.
FOREMAN: Well, excellent of you to come in and talk with us. Good luck as we watch the campaign go on.
GALEN: My pleasure.
FOREMAN: Here is a quick quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN (voice-over): All right. Watch the video and ask yourself, how many of these people other than Barack Obama do you recognize? And if you're drawing a blank, it's because to be honest, you're too old. The lowdown on the youth vote is coming up on the flip side and for you young votes we'll tell you what the flip side means. Stay around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: The last time large numbers of young Americans got deeply involved in national politics, it didn't go so smoothly for better or for worse, of course, back then in the '60s, a lot of things got a little bumpy, but now young people are once again storming the castle of national politics. This time, however, not with bull horns and blazing bras, but with ballots, millions of them, enough to tip this election and if you're a candidate they like, well, like the who said back in the day, the kids are all right. Otherwise, you might be asking like the Black Eyed Peas, "where is the love"?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): They're coming in waves in oceans, a tsunami of young voters are flooding into this election energized by a trifecta, candidates who speak their language, new media technology to grab their attention and issues that strike home.
And no one is benefiting more than the youngest candidate of them all, Barack Obama, who has courted the kids from the start.
It began in Iowa where record numbers of young voters turned out shocking political pros and giving Obama, 57% of their votes. Clinton took only 11% and that trend has continued state after state but why?
At the University of Maryland, Professor Sherry Parks studies American culture. And she says Obama is simply speaking the language of youth and speaking it very, very well.
(AUDIO BREAK)
PROF. SHERRY PARKS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: They can pick out someone who's giving them the same canned speech over and over again because they can go on youtube and see. They do go on youtube and see you've given them the same speech you gave someone else and don't like it very much.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can for justice and equality.
FOREMAN: The second part of this equation, the technology. From viral videos to online headquarters and social networking sites like Facebook to campaigning an online world like Second Life, the internet and technology have allowed young people to create their own commercials, meet up with others and even start their own campaigns and it's working. For young democrats -
(no audio) Yes, it's working. My classmates are constantly showing me the latest youtube advertisement coming out from the candidates, so they are -- they're really stimulating people and motivating them.
FOREMAN: And for young republicans too.
(no audio)
I think that a lot of people tend to be apathetic or at least very busy and have other commitments, but i think that people -- it might be under the surface but people want to get involved, but they just need a little more encouragement.
Yes.
FOREMAN: In every election, some candidate says the youth vote will come through and it never does. Not like it has this time at least. And it may come down to issues. The war, the economy, security, the fight over social values, all of these directly touched the lives of the young.
(no audio)
They are already the generation that has heard that they will not live as well as their parents. They are terrified of the economy and the workplace because they're about to go out in it, and the idea that that can be turned around, that they too can live in the city on the hill is a message that they respond to if it also sounds like it could actually work.
FOREMAN: And this time, just because it does not look like a riot does not make it any less revolutionary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: And joining me now to talk about this game of youth vote Kino is a man in touch with all generations. Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst here.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Who used to be a youth voter but things changed.
FOREMAN: Is this a rising tide lifting everyone's boat except Barack Obama?
SCHNEIDER: Well, there are some evidence that young people in the republican party are voting for Mike Huckabee because he's a different kind of politician. He doesn't speak in the language of other politicians. He's kind of refreshing when he is in a debate and so there's been some younger support for him too.
FOREMAN: But does anything rival Obama's or is he really winning the lottery here?
SCHNEIDER: Obama is clearly bringing people out in large numbers to vote who have never voted before.
FOREMAN: Big question is will they stick around though if he doesn't get the nomination? Will these kids stay in the game or get out?
SCHNEIDER: If he's on the ticket, that's a big question, if he is on the ticket or at the top or second place they probably will come out to vote for him. If he's not on the ticket that will be a problem.
FOREMAN: And it's pretty much not a third place on the ticket, is there?
SCHNEIDER: There is not. FOREMAN: And what president did you first vote for?
SCHNEIDER: I'm not going to tell you.
FOREMAN: It's been a while back. Bill Schneider, thanks so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
FOREMAN: By the way, the flip side we talked about earlier refers to a 45 rpm single record. If you don't know that, you're just the kind of voter we were talking about. At the top of the hour, Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television with the latest from today's primaries and caucuses, you've got to stick around for that and coming up on "This Week in Politics," a look at the campaigns from the inside. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Remember Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state, Kansas, the results are coming in right now and the best political team on television will have it all for you in just a few minutes, all the rip roaring action, but there's more to CNN's political coverage than all of our faces you see on tv. The simple truth is we have a lot of writers, editors, photojournalists and producers who are out covering these campaigns 24 hours a day and two of our producers are embedded with the democratic candidates where the race is so hot and they're bringing us the inside stories tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SASHA JOHNSON, CNN, POLITICAL PRODUCER (voice-over): I'm Sasha Johnson with the Hillary clinton campaign in Arlington, Virginia. Senator Clinton began her first two-day campaign swing laying out why she will fare better against presumption GOP nominee Senator John McCain. Camp Clinton is digging in for a long tense fight for delegates looking to victories in March when voters in Ohio and Texas will head to the polls. It's going to take a lot of money between now and then. Senator Clinton admitted this week she loaned her campaign $5 million. But following super Tuesday her campaign says they have raised millions of dollars online. Even with this cash infusion, Clinton expects to be outspent by Senator Barack Obama. Clinton aides say Obama is running an establishment campaign, and lots of money and lots of high-profile endorsements.
Some find that spin a bit hard to swallow given the fact this candidates that the last name Clinton and has raised well over $100 million to date. Between now and Tuesday, we can expect to see Senator Clinton crisscrossing the country, Virginia, Washington state, Maine, then back east.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS WELSCH, CNN, POLITICAL PRODUCER (voice-over): Hi, I'm Chris Welch with the Barack Obama campaign in Omaha, Nebraska where much like his rival Senator Hillary Clinton, the Illinois senator is also focusing on the fight ahead. When asked if he needs to rack up a few more big states to counter Clinton's wins in California and New York, Obama told reporters, it's all about who nabs "more voters, more states and more delegates." in what has become quite common over the past week Obama held another one of his press conferences on the plane midflight. Somewhere over the midwest he told reporters, "there's no doubt that she has not generated the kind of grassroots enthusiasm that we have." This weekend, Obama plans to stump in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Voices from two more members of the best political team on television. Well, we've been serious long enough here. This week was also a great week for material for all of those late night talk shows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(FROM NBC)
JAY LENO, "TONIGHT SHOW," HOST: There's a new movie out called "over my dead body." It's the story of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. You don't want to miss it.
(FROM CBS/WORLDWIDE PANTS)
DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE LATE SHOW," HOST: Did you hear that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race? Mitt Romney -- don't worry about Mitt because he's going to go back to playing Stewart Chandler on "All my Children." He'll be fine.
(FROM COMEDY CENTRAL)
STEPHEN COLBERT, "COMEDY CENTRAL," HOST: Thank you so much for stopping by.
MIKE HUCKABEE (), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I have to defend myself. I mean, you're already giving the election away.
COLBET: Well, that's what all the pundits are saying. They're saying that now it's just John McCain's. Are you still in this race?
HUCKABEE: Yes. Hello.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: There was so much said about Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy this week, you'd think they were running in this election. Now they are genuine political icons and pundits and politicians alike are trying to put the piece of their electoral magic into this race but here's a reality check. Kennedy was a bare knuckled political brawler and a well funded campaign machine master and his folks knew, in the political parlance, where the bodies were buried. It wasn't all just a matter of personal charisma, charm and Ronald Reagan's conservative credentials have been burnished by time. When he was in office, republican true believers were often in rage as his political pragmatism and his willingness to compromise.
So, here's a radical suggestion. Get out there and decide between the candidates. We really have and let's not worry so much about the match-up of the ghost from elections past. That's "This week in politics." Now it's time to turn it over to Wolf Blitzer at CNN's election headquarters in New York. Wolf.
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