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Ballot Bowl '08: Candidates on the Trail

Aired February 23, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon and welcome to a new round of CNN's BALLOT BOWL 08. I'm Jim Acosta in New York. This is your chance to hear the presidential candidates on the campaign trail in their own words. Sometimes live, sometimes on tape, but always unfiltered. And joining me this hour, my co-anchor Suzanne Malveaux is in Akron, Ohio where democratic senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are campaigning hard today. And from what I understand, Suzanne, some heated words out there from Hillary Clinton in Ohio.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Jim, it really is quite amazing when you hear the tone of some of Senator Clinton's comments and her criticism. It really is a war of words. It has certainly heated up between these two candidates in Ohio. Now what it's over, it's about two things. Her health care plan, universal health care plan, some flyers that have been distributed to voters as well as the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA. That was signed under Bill Clinton's administration when she was first lady. There is a lot of back and forth over that because, obviously, there are a lot of union members, a lot of people who feel like their jobs have been lost because of NAFTA. We have heard from both of these candidates in the past complaining about NAFTA saying that it does need to be improved. Now what Senator Clinton is saying today and she has said it in the past but not quite in this tone is that she believes these flyers that are being distributed by Barack Obama's campaign are misleading when it comes to her own views on NAFTA and this is how she put it in Cincinnati.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've been drawing contrasts in this campaign. And I think that's important for voters so that they know where we stand, what our records are. What it is we will do as president. Today in the crowd, I was given two mailings that Senator Obama's campaign is sending out. And I have to express my deep disappointment that he is continuing to send false and discredited mailings with information that is not true to the voters of Ohio. He says one thing in speeches and then he turns around and does this. And we have consistently called him on it. It has been discredited. It is blatantly false and yet he continues to spend millions of dollars perpetuating falsehoods. That is not the new politics that the speeches are about. It is not hopeful. It is destructive. Particularly for a democrat to be discrediting universal health care by waging a false campaign against my plan. To be talking about NAFTA in a way that tries to make him appear to have a plan when he does not. This health care mailing, which is very reminiscent of the health insurance industry's attacks on what we tried to do the last time we went after universal health care is the worst kind of politics. Number one, it is wrong and untrue. And number two, it is exactly the talking points that the health insurance industry and the Republicans use on a daily basis. Senator Obama knows that it is not true that my plan forces people to buy insurance even if they can't afford it. My plan has more financial help. My plan has been evaluated by independent experts as actually achieving universal coverage and providing the financial assistance so everyone can have health care. This mailing about NAFTA saying that I believe NAFTA was, quote, a boon, quotes a newspaper that had corrected the record. We have pointed it out. The newspaper has pointed it out. Time and time again. You hear one thing in speeches and then you see a campaign that has the worst kind of tactics. Reminiscent of the same sort of Republican attacks on Democrats.

Well, I am here to say that it is not only wrong, but it is undermining poor democratic principles. Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal health care? I thought we were trying to realize Harry Truman's dream? I thought this campaign finally gave us an opportunity to put together a coalition to achieve universal health care. That's what Senator Edwards and I fought for and talked about throughout the campaign. Just because Senator Obama chose not to present a universal health care plan does not give him the right to attack me because I did. So let's have a real campaign. Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook. This is wrong. And every Democrat should be outraged because this is the kind of attack that not only undermines poor democratic values, but gives aid and comfort to the very special interests and their allies in the Republican Party who are against doing what we want to do for America. So shame on you, Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That's what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio. Let's have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Clearly, Senator Clinton laying down the gauntlet if you will saying meet me in Ohio. Also saying shame on you Barack Obama for these tactics, these fliers that they say are inaccurate. Well, needless to say, the Obama campaign disagrees. We heard from Bill Burton, the spokesman for the Obama campaign on my blackberry. The response says everything in those mailers is completely accurate, unlike the discredited attacks from Hillary Clinton's negative campaign that has been rejected in South Carolina, Wisconsin and across America. We look forward to having a debate this Tuesday on the facts and the facts are that Senator Clinton was a supporter of NAFTA. And the China permanent trade treaties until this campaign began. She herself has said that under the Clinton health care plan, she would consider going after the wages of Americans who don't purchase health insurance, whether they can afford it or not. That from the Obama campaign. We'd like to bring in our own Mike Roselli, producer who has been following the Clinton campaign throughout all of this. Mike, you heard these comments coming from Senator Clinton today. Can you explain why the tone? What was the sense before this happened, it seemed like she was quite angry and disturbed about these fliers that she was handed. MIKE ROSELLI, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, her tone today was a lot more pointed than it has been when she's been comparing differences between her and Senator Obama. Staffers tell me that she was handed this flier by an audience member after the rally and she was frustrated that this flier continues to come out after they've tried to discredit it since Super Tuesday. And she was just trying to make a point and her tone was a little harsher than it had been when she gives a standard stump speech.

MALVEAUX: Is there anything new about this? What is the context here? Why such the -- I guess the anger behind her words today?

ROSELLI: Well, it's probably a combination of things. They are looking at the polls. They see the polls are tightening up here in Texas and, you know, she has a week to go. A week and a half to go before Ohio votes. And she's trying to make her point as best she can, and she is frustrated that her message isn't getting out, that there are differences between her and Senator Obama on health care, on NAFTA, on other issues.

MALVEAUX: Mike, you have been following the campaign and you've seen her audience members. Why is it so important, this whole issue of NAFTA in Ohio?

ROSELLI: Well, Ohio is pretty much the rust belt. Over the years, quite a few manufacturing jobs have left, quite a few jobs have left the area. I don't want to say it's a depressed area, but it's economically, you know, in worse shape than other parts of the country. When she does talk about the economy, she really emphasizes it. In Columbus, Toledo and other places she talks about health care, she talks about joblessness, foreclosure. It's a very important issue for people here in Ohio.

MALVEAUX: And, Mike, just real quick here, you got a sense of what her demeanor was before and afterwards. Does it seem like it was something that was presented for the cameras, for the reporters, or did it seem like she was going into this and she was genuinely upset about what she'd just been handed or is this something that's been brewing?

ROSELLI: It's probably a combination of a little bit of all of that. Most of her speeches she's very quiet. The tone is very measured. Here it was something totally different. She was using her hands a lot to emphasize a point. And she looked physically frustrated and angry, something that I haven't seen in the year and a half I've been covering her.

MALVEAUX: Ok, Mike Roselli, thank you so much for joining us. I want to throw it back to my colleague Jim Accost in New York who's going to give us a sense of what's happening on the Republican side. Jim?

ACOSTA: Thanks, Suzanne. Actually I just wanted to ask you a quick question about what you just talked about there with Mike. Since you've been covering the Barack Obama campaign for so long, do you think that potentially, based on what Hillary Clinton said today, that perhaps the story of the day might become this shame on you Barack Obama moment because we haven't really heard it get that bad on this campaign up until this point.

MALVEAUX: Well, I certainly think it takes it to a new level here. I think that's not surprising that the rhetoric is really going to get a lot sharper in the days to come. Obviously, leading up to their Ohio debate, following the debate they just had on CNN. This is do or die time as you know, Jim. Texas and Ohio. And what Mike was talking about in particular, the union voters. That really makes a big difference. A lot of the union members feel that NAFTA was a very bad idea. It was a bad deal. It took away jobs from them. So you're going to hear these kind of sharp criticism of NAFTA coming from both of these candidates. So you can understand that Senator Clinton is positioning herself certainly saying that she wants her point of view to be reflected accurately. The Obama folks say that they don't believe that they've been deceptive here. They say that this is kind of the spirit in which she has approached NAFTA. So it is not surprising that this is going to get a lot hotter in the days to come because these votes are critical and it's the union voters who are paying attention to that NAFTA argument. Jim?

ACOSTA: Well, thanks, Suzanne. Yes, I mean, to hear Hillary Clinton compare Barack Obama's campaign tactics to Karl Rove, that's also hitting below the belt on the democratic side of things. But we'll be catching up with you a little bit later on the Democratic side. As Suzanne mentioned, yes, the Republicans are coming up after the break. I should mention that why am I in the big apple? That question should be asked. Well, if you are turning on your television sets tonight at 11:30, it will be live from New York its Mike Huckabee. Mike Huckabee the former Arkansas governor who is still in this race, he's going to be making a guest appearance on "Saturday Night Live" tonight. And so we'll be hearing from him later on today here on BALLOT BOWL. Also John McCain after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Another important issue for voters. Obviously, that is the health care plans of both of these candidates. Senator Clinton saying that she would propose a universal health care system to cover everyone and that it would be mandated. Senator Barack Obama saying that he has a plan as well that would cover everyone but would not be mandated. Certainly a distinction between these two candidates. Senator Barack Obama in Columbus talking about his plan before a group of doctors and patients taking questions, answering their questions. Let's dip in and take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- it's a wonderful, wonderful -- it is a wonderful program. I don't know exactly how many people that we see. I think it's -- it's a lot. I think it's 20,000. I think its 20,000 people, you know, that do receive help from -- it's really good.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Those are extremely important. One of the things we have to ask ourselves is do we want to have this patchwork system --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

OBAMA: -- where people are sort of randomly falling into this place or that place depending on who they happen to meet that day or who they heard from word of mouth as opposed to having a system that works for everybody. So that Claire doesn't have to, you know, worry about stuff while she's taking care of her 9-month-old. Beth is able to make a decision. Maybe I can work at an underserved hospital and still pay back my student loans. And Deborah, if she's unemployed for a certain stretch of time, she's not losing her entire health insurance because COBRA essentially is so expensive that as a practical matter, nobody ever ends up using it at all. Unless you are very wealthy. Then COBRA is very convenient for you. So fixing this health care system is going to be my top domestic priority. It is going to require an enormous amount of work because there are those who profit from the current system. The insurance companies, the drug companies, the HMOs have done very well over the last several years despite this broken system. And they are going to be resistant to making changes. And that's why the issue of how lobbyists operate, how campaigns are funded, how much transparency and accountability there is in Washington is so important. And that's one of the themes that I emphasize a lot during the course of this campaign. Senator Clinton and myself both have good plans, but Senator Clinton had plans back in 1993 that were defeated as well because we didn't build the kind of working majority to bring about change and we hadn't created enough -- shined enough attention on how lobbyists and special interest were blocking reform in order to actually make it happen. That's part of what we're trying to build in this election and hopefully you guys will be a part of that process. So with that, thank you so much. This was wonderful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

OBAMA: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Just dipping in a little bit to hear Barack Obama explaining his health care plan. Health care, obviously, a very hot issue, a contentious issue as well. Senator Clinton saying she would provide universal health care coverage for all Americans and that it would be mandated. Kind of a social contract. Senator Barack Obama saying that he would aim his goals to get everybody covered health insurance but that it would not be mandated. He feels that that would punish people and that ultimately those who couldn't afford it may end up being punished if there are penalties or fees. That's one of the things that both of these candidates have been talking about, fighting over if you will, including in the Austin debate. You're going to have a chance to see that once again, if you didn't catch it before, 8:00 eastern tonight from Austin, Texas. That is when Senator Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton face off and health care really being one of those top issues. A very contentious. But they lay out their plans in great detail so you're not going to want to miss that.

Now I would like to go back to Jim Acosta in New York to give us a sense of what's happening on the Republican side after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL 08. I'm Jim Acosta in New York where I am following the Republican side of the presidential race. And you might wonder, well, why aren't we covering one of the candidates out in Texas and Ohio? That's because neither candidate is campaigning in Texas or Ohio. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, he is in New York today. He will be appearing on "Saturday Night Live" tonight testing out those one-liners that he's well known for out on the campaign stump. Whereas Mike -- excuse me, John McCain, he's going to be down in Washington tonight. He has a speech in front of a group of governors. And, obviously, we'll be all ears to see what John McCain says this evening. So in the meantime, while we are covering the Republican side, we want to refer back to a couple of speeches that these two candidates made over the last several days. And John McCain and Mike Huckabee, because they are gunning for conservative voters out there, the big subject that often comes up with both of these candidates is taxes. John McCain has had a tough time wooing and winning over conservatives because of his previous stance against the Bush tax cuts. Now he says he wants to make those tax cuts permanent, whereas Mike Huckabee, one of his big applause lines for Republicans is his proposal for a fair tax. And so we want to get to some sound from both of these candidates on the subject of taxes as we know that that is a paramount issue for Republicans as they decide who they want to be the next president or at least who they want to be their nominee coming up here in Texas and Ohio. So let's hear from Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to cut your taxes. We can't raise your taxes in these difficult times. Anybody here says they want to have their taxes raised, please see me afterwards. But the point is, that we need to have tax cuts so that people will be able to keep and invest more of their money. We need to have the corporate tax rate reduced. The United States of America pays the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. Japan the only one that's higher. There's a thing called the alternate minimum tax. A lot of Americans don't even know about it. It was designed for the wealthiest -- very wealthiest few Americans. Now it's creeping down into being -- having the likelihood of affecting 25 million American families. We have to do a lot of things that makes our tax code simpler, fairer and understandable. Americans have lost all faith in their tax code, as we all know. Americans had to pay $14 billion last year just to pay somebody to prepare their tax returns and then they had no confidence that it was correct. There's no living American that I have met that understands all of our tax code in America. So we need to do that. And the other thing we need to do is eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending. It is out of control in Washington. It's got to stop. And it has dispirited our Republican base because we let spending get out of control. But most importantly, we wasted your tax dollars and bred waste and even corruption in Washington, D.C. And I want to assure you -- [ applause ] and I want to assure you right now, if the first earmark bill that comes across my desk as president of the United States, I will veto it and make the people that are responsible for it famous. We will not have it anymore. I won't have it. And we will save your tax dollars. There's a number of lines that I've stolen from Ronald Reagan. One of them is, he used to say congress spends money like a drunken sailor, only he never knew a sailor drunk or sober with the imagination of congress. And that's a pretty good line that gets a laugh. And I use it so often, I got an e-mail from a guy. I'm not making this up. I got an e-mail from a guy about six months ago and he said, as a former drunken sailor, I resent being compared to members of congress. You can't blame him. You can't blame him at all. So we're going to stop it. And, my friends, it makes you laugh and it makes you cry. We spent $3 million of your tax dollars a few years ago, Mitch remembers it, to study the DNA of bears in Montana. I don't know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue. But, obviously, we can't do those things. It's your money. It's your money. It's not our money. And we in Washington begin to believe that it's our money and not yours. And how hard you work. The president signed into law two massive spending bills in the last two years. Both of them combined there was $35 billion. Billion in earmark projects. $35 billion. So instead of having a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, a $233 million bridge to an island with 50 people on it, we could have had $1,000 tax credit for every child in America. Just think of that. Every child in America could have had a $1,000 tax credit if we hadn't done all that pork barrel and wasteful spending. That's when people begin to get it. When you tell them what we could have been with that money rather than wasteful. By the way, I don't judge those projects, I don't know if they're good or bad. I just want them to compete with every other project in America and the success or failure of it not to be dependent on the power and influence of their elected representative and seniority of their elected representatives. That's all I'm asking.

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm the only candidate left in this race who believes that the tax code is choking the life out of many small business operators and that we need more than a twist of the screwdriver and a tap of the hammer to fix it. Now in your neighboring state where I come from, we have a saying in Arkansas that if you can't fix it with WD-40 and duct tape, then, partner, it can't be fixed.

Let me tell you something. We can't fix the 67,000 pages of internal revenue tax code if we had a whole bunch of WD-40 and duct tape. It's beyond repair. Many small business owners today struggle to stay in business because they spend more time filling out paperwork for their own government than they get to spend taking care of their customers. It's no small wonder that a lot of our jobs have gone to China and elsewhere because we have people who are competing not just against the Chinese, they're competing against their own government finding it incredibly hard to stay in business.

I say let's kill the IRS before it kills the last American business. Imagine what would happen if we replaced our current tax code which penalizes productivity and instead replaced it with a fair tax which means everybody would be a part of the economy. Every illegal person, every drug dealer, every prostitute, every pimp, every gambler. You know, the folks you sit in church with every Sunday. You know, those folks. Your pastor doesn't care as long as they tithe. But you know what? Most of them aren't paying the same tax as you are so you are paying yours and theirs. Under the fair tax, everybody pays the same at the consumption level. But here's why that's important. Folks right now, we've got to recognize its common sense. What you reward you get more of. What you penalize, you get less of.

Now our tax system penalizes work and productivity because if you work one shift, there's a certain tax rate. If you work two shifts, you are in a new tax bracket and the government gets most of what you worked for the second shift. So you are penalized for working harder. Guess what happens when you penalize something? You get less of it. So, we end up finding that it's less advantageous to work harder. In fact, the harder you work, the more the government wants out of you.

By the way if you work two shifts, you are in a different tax bracket. If you save the money, we tax the savings. If you invest it, we tax the dividends. If you buy and sell something, we tax the capital gain. By the way, if you die, we tax your death. I mean, we get you every which way.

But here's the way we can fix it. By the way if you want to not be under that experience and you would like the government to help you, stay home and watch ESPN all day. Then you can get a government subsidy because that's the way the system works.

Now nobody can look me in the eye and tell me that makes sense. But, folks, that's where we're going to be headed if we don't have conservative principles governing our economy. And I know there are some wonderful rhetoric floating out there from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. But you need to ask yourself. Do you want your taxes to go up or to go down?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And so there's Mike Huckabee talking to a crowd of supporters down in Texas about taxes. And, obviously, Mike Huckabee quick with the one-liner, which should serve him well on "Saturday Night Live" this evening talking about the tax code saying it's often stitched together at times with WD-40 and duct tape, which coincidentally is how he's had to run his campaign at times with the scrappy former governor from Arkansas and former pastor is still in this race.

And he's still in it to win it, he says it. And he's going to hang on until after the Texas primary. Speaking of the Lone Star State, coming up after the break, we'll be checking back in with Suzanne Malveaux who is looking at how that contest will be waged down in Texas. Very interesting, she's going to be looking at how voters can vote twice down there. It's not the old phrase vote early and vote often. This is quite different and, of course, they do things different down in Texas. We'll hear from Suzanne after the break.

Later on BALLOT BOWL, we'll also hear from the Republican candidates again and we'll be listening to their takes on the issue of health care. So all of that, much more, after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A rare light moment on the campaign trail. That was Thursday after the debate in Austin, Texas. I'm told that is the boogie back to Texas song that is being played. Barack Obama there having a great time of it, whopping it up if you will. One of those light moments that you just got to catch.

Well, March 4th is going to be a big day for both of these candidates as they criss-cross the country and some very important races up ahead. The states involved clearly Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island. All those states very much in play and very important for both of these candidates, particularly Senator Hillary Clinton. Her own campaign saying she needs to win Texas and Ohio to move on and to be successful here.

Well, boogying back to Texas, our own Bill Schneider is in Austin, Texas. And that is where he's going to explain somehow, Bill, everything is done differently and big in Texas. And somehow there is an opportunity for voters to vote twice here I understand. And, obviously, their votes are going to count but there's a very unique procedure that happens down there. Bill, what's going on?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, howdy, ma'am. Here in Texas, they have a unique system. You might call it the Tex-Mex plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Tex-Mex restaurants have these things called combination plates, where you get a little of this and a little of that. Same way Democrats pick delegates in Texas.

PAUL BURKA, "TEXAS MONTHLY": We have 126 by election, 67 by caucus, and 35 more are what they call PLEOs, which are party leaders and elected officials.

SCHNEIDER: The 37 page menu officially called the Texas Delegate Selection Plan explains how it works. First, there's a primary. The results are determined by state Senate district. Simple? Not so much.

BURKA: The senatorial districts do not all have the same number of delegates chosen. The ones with big Democratic turnouts get up to eight. And the small ones can be as low as two.

SCHNEIDER: Hillary Clinton is expected to do well in low-turnout Latino districts. Those districts elect fewer delegates than high- turnout African-American districts, where Barack Obama is likely to be strong. But the primary is only the first step.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Texas is the only place in America where you can vote twice in the same election without going to jail.

SCHNEIDER: On primary night, voters are supposed to go to precinct caucuses, where they can vote again to select more delegates. BURKA: You vote in the primary, but then you have to have the motivation to go back at 7:15 to the site of the primary where the -- your precinct election was held and vote for your candidate. And it may be a long evening.

SCHNEIDER: Who runs the caucuses? The guide says, if no precinct captain shows up, it's whoever gets there first. Imagine Clinton and Obama voters rushing to grab control. It's enough to give you the same thing you could get from a combination plate: heartburn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And one more thing: In section one, part B, paragraph three, item A of the Texas Delegate Selection Plan, it says -- quote -- "Participation in Texas's delegate selection process is open to all voters who wish to participate as Democrats." Now that would include Independents who tend to like Barack Obama and maybe some Republicans who want to vote to stop Hillary Clinton. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Bill, I love the boogie back to Texas hat there. I want to get a sense of what you are seeing with voters and maybe some of the polls, if it's not too early, two weeks away. How does it look in Texas in terms of Clinton and Obama? Is there anybody who is surging ahead? Is it an even match?

SCHNEIDER: It looks, in a word, close. There have been two polls that came out in the last week. One done by CNN and the Opinion Research Center which shows Clinton 50, Obama 48, too close to call. Another one came out a few days later by "The Washington Post" and ABC News and showed Clinton 48, Obama 47. Close. Everything is tied up here in Texas. And in Ohio, Clinton is ahead but just by a small margin. Clinton 50, Obama 43. So both races look like they could go down the wire with less than two weeks to go.

MALVEAUX: All right. Bill, thank you so much. We'll be keeping a close eye on all of that. Enjoy there in Austin, Texas. And upcoming next, Jim Acosta in New York. He's going to be taking a look on the GOP side, particularly looking at the campaign of Mike Huckabee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL on CNN. I'm Jim Acosta live in New York. And speaking of live in New York, Mike Huckabee will be live in New York tonight on "Saturday Night Live." And it will be a chance for the former governor of Arkansas to test out those one-liners. His famous wit and wisdom as his supporters often like to hear out on the campaign trail. We'll be hearing more about the Mike Huckabee campaign coming up in just a moment by talking to somebody who has gotten to know this campaign intimately, one of our CNN who has been with the Huckabee campaign for some time now. And he can get us clued in here on some of though wit and wisdom, if you'll allow of Mike Huckabee coming up after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL on CNN. I'm Jim Acosta. And he fried squirrels when he was in college. Yes, we're talking about Mike Huckabee. And tonight, he is going to be on "Saturday Night Live." And perhaps he might fry up some squirrels on "Saturday Night Live." That actually might be a good little skit to see from the former governor of Arkansas. We'll leave the writing, I should say, to the writers down there since they've been itching to get back to work down there at NBC.

But what I want to do right now is on a lighter note, bring in our campaign embed with the Huckabee campaign, Alex Marquardt. Alex, you've spent time with Mike Huckabee over these last several months, I guess it is. And, you know, obviously, you know, it's going to be a miracle as he likes to put it if he can win this nomination. He's almost mathematically out of it. But yet he's hanging in there.

But, you know, Mike Huckabee is almost sort of like everybody's favorite political candidate who is running for office because he's so much fun and engaging to be around. What's it been like covering his campaign up until to this point? Obviously, on the issues you have to be a tough journalist and so forth and get to the facts. But in terms of the likeability factor, and what it's like covering Mike Huckabee, how has it been out there?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, there's no doubt that he has a good relationship with the press, with the reporters that cover him. He's gotten to know a lot of us, especially the others. I've been on and off his campaign for a week here, a week there.

But those of them that have been on his campaign for a while, he gets along with very well. And unlike the other campaigns that I've covered, the other buses I've been on that have included Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and most recently Mitt Romney, the difference is that he provides a lot of access. He is a very accessible candidate. We can ask him questions several times a day. He holds what are called media availabilities several times a day. So there's always an opportunity to get a question in to him if we have one.

And the planes are smaller. The buses are smaller because of perhaps his lower numbers than the other candidates. So we do get a lot more access then one might -- than an embed might on another campaign.

ACOSTA: And does that not work for him? This is a guy who really wasn't given a chance to get to this point and now he's sort of on the verge of what is sort of like the icing on the cake here. He gets to host "Saturday Night Live" before what appears to be a graceful exit from this campaign after Ohio and Texas, barring anything unforeseen, any sort of minor miracles out there on the campaign trail.

But hasn't this worked for him, this sort of affable, open, accessible style where he brings the campaign reporters to the back of the bus and you guys can just shoot the stuff for a while. That works, does it not? MARQUARDT: It does. He likes to remind us that he and McCain are the only ones left in the race. Technically Ron Paul is still in the race. But he and McCain are the ones that have the biggest numbers. They are the ones that have run, according to him, the cleanest campaigns.

And you've got to understand that Mike Huckabee is running a campaign on a relatively small budget. It really is on a shoestring. So he can't afford the same advertising that another candidate might. What he's got to do is use what we call free media or basically talking to reporters as much as possible.

So at every stop along the way, and he does four or five rallies every single day and at every single stop he'll stop and talk to reporters. Now after -- once he kicks off these avails he'll say, why don't we give the local reporters a chance to ask me questions first because you guys get to travel with me and ask me questions all the time. So it really does go to show that he's banking a lot of his campaign on local coverage.

Now his affability and his sense of humor certainly comes across and people love him. He's always got an original line. He always gets a rise out of the crowd, even those who have covered him for weeks hear something new almost every day. So the fact that he's going to be on "Saturday Night Live" tonight comes as little surprise because he's got great comic timing and it really is a great way, A, for him to use the free media to get his message out. And, B, to show what kind of guy he is, which really is a funny guy.

ACOSTA: And if you look at the delegate numbers right now, it is not a pretty picture for Mike Huckabee. John McCain has a commanding lead in terms of delegates at this point, 870 pledged, 48 super delegate for a total of 918 versus 214 and three for Mike Huckabee, with a total of 217. Mathematically, he basically out of the race barring a miracle, which is what he's been saying. You know, he's in the business of miracles. So anything can happen.

But he has had an effect on this campaign, has he not? And he seems to be doing something kind of interesting here in that he is saying that he's not getting out of this race. There is some talk or suggestion of, well, maybe I'll take it all the way to the convention. What is it do you think that he thinks he's up to here and what can he get out of this if he stays in this much longer?

MARQUARDT: What you really have to understand about Mike Huckabee is that he's extremely adamant. He doesn't seem to care he's got this insurmountable -- that McCain has this insurmountable delegate count. He's in it until McCain has 1,191 delegates, the amount needed to clinch the nomination.

And I don't think he's going anywhere before Texas. Now he has laid it all on the line. He said he has said that Texas can make it or break it for him. But at the same time, if McCain doesn't clinch enough delegates out of Texas, I think you can expect to see Huckabee in the race a little bit longer.

Now what he's trying to do, it looks like, is just draw attention to the issues that matter the most to him, that really differentiate him and John McCain. He said there are a lot of issues that they agree upon. But at the same time, a lot of issues that they don't agree on. And he lists them at every step along the way.

They include embryonic stem cell research, a human life amendment and illegal immigration are really the big ones that separate him from John McCain. And so what he says when he's going around the country is that we still need to give voters a choice. We need to give voters especially in states like Texas that are so big, the most Republican state in the country, states like Ohio that haven't voted yet, need to give them a choice. Need to give them a chance to vote for a candidate who believes in the issues that he or Senator John McCain believe in.

If they only had to vote -- if they only got to vote for one candidate, for McCain, he feels they would be misrepresented because there are a lot of voters out there and we've seen it most recently in Texas -- a lot of people turn out because they do believe in the same core issues that Mike Huckabee does.

ACOSTA: Alex Marquardt, thank you very much for that analysis. And we'll see how Mike Huckabee does tonight. I suppose, technically, he could be in any of the skits that are on tonight. He could also perhaps play an instrument. You know, technically, he could be part of the musical number tonight. We'll have to wait and see how Mike Huckabee does this evening.

But coming up after the break, we'll have more BALLOT BOWL here on CNN. But first we want to go to Fredricka Whitfield down in Atlanta, who has the latest headlines. Hi, Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right Jim, thanks so much, hello to you. Well the U.S. Air Force is investigating its second crash in the last three days now. A B-2 stealth bomber went down early Saturday on the island of Guam. Take a look at the video of the aftermath. The plane crashing shortly after takeoff from Anderson Air Force Base. The air force base says that both pilots did eject safely. One is already out of the hospital. The other is reported in stable condition. Air force officials say it's the first ever crash of a B-2.

NATO troops trying to keep the peace in newly independent Kosovo. In a town in the north, troops patrolled a bridge that divides ethnic Serbs from the majority ethnic Albanians. Several thousand Serbs took to the streets of the town today to protest secession from Serbia. The Serbian government and its ally Russia continue to seethe at the West for recognizing Kosovo's independence.

Turkish troops on the hunt for Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Turkish officials say 35 rebels were killed in fighting today. They put their own losses at two. It's the first significant Turkish ground offensive in northern Iraq in nearly a decade.

President Bush today using his weekly radio address to urge Congress to approve FISA and protect telecom communications companies to allow them to keep work with the government to wiretap without warrant.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Congress reconvenes on Monday, members of the House have a choice to make. They can empower the trial bar or they can empower the intelligence community. They can help class action trial lawyers sue for billions of dollars or they can help our intelligence officials protect millions of lives. They can put our national security in the hands of plaintiffs' lawyers or they can entrust it to the men and women of our government who work day and night to keep us safe.

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WHITFIELD: Michigan Congressman John Conyers says Democrats want a strong intelligence law that also preserves the civil liberties of all Americans. The FISA surveillance law expired last weekend.

And Japan has just launched a satellite which it says could deliver Internet service faster than residential cable or DSL. The experiment satellite is a joint venture between the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Backers say they want to bring high-speed Internet to remote places that can't currently get it and provide a backup for ground based networks.

And Hollywood is abuzz with Oscar preparations. The stars pretty anxious to hit the red carpet tomorrow. Their biggest night was saved at the 11th hour when writers ended their strike. Dark dramas "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" lead the field with eight nominations each.

Stay with us. More BALLOT BOWL coming up right after this.

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