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More Reporting on Campaign Happenings

Aired March 02, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to a new edition of CNN's "Ballot Bowl" where we bring you all the presidential candidates in their own words, sometimes live, sometimes on tape, but always unedited so you can make your own judgments about what they're promising. With 370 delegates at stake in Tuesday's primary on the democratic side and a tough race for John McCain that continues on the republican side, you'll want to check in and hear what they have to say and we are covering this from all angles, with CNN's Candy Crowley in Cleveland, Mary Snow in Houston, and Jim Acosta in New York. We're going to start off our coverage with Candy Crowley who is in Cleveland. I got to ask Candy, how's the weather there?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You had to ask. You know, there's a weather forecast here and it's perpetual snow as far as I can see. Although I'm told tomorrow night it will be ice. So, you know, they're going to change it up a little bit. Nonetheless, the candidates are here braving the elements. We had sort of a confluence of events earlier today in Westerville, that is a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Both candidates were there. Hillary Clinton first, Barack Obama second. Just about two miles apart, their venues. But the same subject matter. In the final days of this campaign leading up to Tuesday in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island, there has been a renewed conversation, if you will, between the two candidates about who is best able, as Hillary Clinton said in an advertisement, who do you want picking up that phone at 3:00 a.m. in the morning for a crisis in the world. Barack Obama immediately responded in an ad with the two are also talking about it on the campaign trail in Westerville, Ohio. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think about this as a hiring decision. Because when the cameras are gone and the lights are out, the president of the United States, as I know very well, is in that White House and, yes, there are advisers, there's all kinds of people who are saying do this and do that. But the president has to decide. When those calls come at 3:00 a.m. it might be a national security crisis. You know, it could be an economic crisis. The economy is facing some really troubled waters. Think about what could happen if there were unrest in Nigeria or a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, oil would shoot to $150 a barrel. And because we as a nation would rather hold hands with the Saudis than stand up to them, we are dependent on foreign oil in a way that is dangerous for our future.

So we need a president with both the ability to make those immediate decisions but also the vision and the plan and how to execute what we need to achieve for a clean energy future, to enhance our security, to take on this debt which is shackling us. We went from a balanced budget and a surplus to an increasing deficit and a debt. We borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. We need a president who says enough. We are better than this. We are smarter than this. We are stronger than this. We're going to chart our own force.

Now, now, you can tell I get a little - I get a little worked up. Because I know how hard this job is, but I am confident and optimistic we can do it together. I know we can turn our country around, get back on the right track. And here's how I judge what would be successful, because I think about this office of the presidency from two points, what you do on day one to start repairing the damage, to begin to put forth a positive agenda for change, and what you would have accomplished on your last day.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton continues to insists that we provide speeches and she provides solutions. I don't know how -- and the press has sort of bought into this, I think because they, you know she want to keep the contest interesting and I understand that. It's defied by the facts because we've been very specific on every issue under the sun. And now in the last few days Senator Clinton's been running around telling people that our entire campaign, according to her, is only based on the fact that I gave a speech in opposition to the war in Iraq from the start. That is the only basis of my campaign and that, on the other hand, she has supposedly all this vast foreign policy experience.

Now, I have to say, when it came to making the most important foreign policy decision of our generation, the decision to invade Iraq, Senator Clinton got it wrong. She didn't read the national intelligence estimates, Jay Rockefeller read it but she didn't read it. I don't know what all that experience got her because I have enough experience to know if you have a national intelligence estimate and the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says you should read this, this is why I am voting against the war that you should probably read it. I don't know how much experience you need for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: So there you've pretty much have heard their arguments in sum. Hillary Clinton saying I know all these foreign leaders, I've had experience in foreign policy and you heard Barack Obama saying, yes, but it's really about judgment and I'm the one that knew that the Iraq war was going to be a disaster from the very start. Again, this cropping up late in this campaign as they march toward those all- important primaries on Tuesday. I want to bring in our Jessica Yellin now because obviously Texas is a big part of this mix, Jessica, on Tuesday. And Barack Obama got what seemed like a pretty big endorsement today.

YELLIN: He did, Candy. He was endorsed by the "Dallas Morning News." Now, they also endorsed Mike Huckabee. So who knows if they're definitely betting on the person most likely to win but they say that they are backing Barack Obama and their endorsement was rather pointed and surprisingly critical of Hillary Clinton. Many of these endorsements have said, oh, it's a tough choice and we like them both. This one says, it's not even a close call. They say, on questions of substance and leadership style, Obama is a better choice. He is, has shown that it's possible to have both hope and intellectual past. They call her out for flip-flopping on NAFTA and they actually say they prefer his health care reform to hers.

Now, it would seem that they're arguing from a central position since more liberal end of the democratic party do prefer her health care plan but this was a rather pointed criticism of Hillary Clinton wrapped into this endorsement for Barack Obama. And as you know, he can use all the help he can get. Polls show them in a dead heat but she's been much traditionally better known in this state. He has been saturating the airwaves with his advertisement. You cannot flip the channels without seeing one after the other Obama ad here in Texas. But he really needs to get himself out as much as possible. He is doing it. The "Dallas Morning News" certainly helped today, Candy.

CROWLEY: You know, Jessica, I wonder, as we're looking at this endorsement, how much Texas will follow what we've seen so far, which is the huge numbers of new voters or disaffected voters come out in droves. Is there any sense of that in Texas? I mean, do you get any sense on the ground that once again Obama is bringing in new voters?

YELLIN: Absolutely. There are articles in the paper. We've been here about five days in the state. And every day there's an article about the numbers of people who have early voted, have already reached record levels. People can vote before election day here. And not only that, but there is a great deal of concern that there won't even be enough space in the primary in the election site. They've ordered new machines, extra paper. I mean, they're even concerned the caucus sites on the night of the election will be too small to accommodate everyone coming out. Of course we don't know who all these early voter are. But in other states they've tended to favor Barack Obama. So, we'll have to wait and see. And I think we have to go to a break now, you but we can continue this discussion about the primary here in Texas after the break because we'll talk a little bit about this weird hybrid they have in this state, the prima caucus. The only thing you can legally basically vote twice. That's on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Well welcome back to "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Houston, Texas. This is one of the four states that will be voting on Tuesday. This state has what can only be called a very weird system of voting on the democratic side of the aisle, it's a prima- caucus. Primary and caucus. And Hillary Clinton herself said it's so confusing that she has grown men on her campaign team who are crying over the caucus system here. I'm going to bring in one man who doesn't cry, that is our own Bill Schneider who is in Rhode Island. I know you've got -- you've got the big-sized hat on so we can talk Texas. Bill, I described this as the only state in which you can vote twice legally. Is that fair?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That is quite fair. You know they have a unique system in Texas. You could call it the Tex-Mex plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Tex-mex restaurants have these things called combination plates where you bet 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 P-L-E-Os, 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 U.S. PRESIDENT: 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 your precinct election was held and vote for your candidate and it may be a long evening.

SCHNEIDER: Who runs the caucuses, the guy 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 b, part 1, paragraph 3, item a of the Texas delegate selection plan, it says, "participation in Texas' delegate selection process is open to all voters who wish to participate as democrats. Now, that includes independents who have in previous primaries tended to like Obama and republicans who may want to vote to stop Hillary Clinton. Jessica.

YELLIN: Bill, I wonder if this could delay result on primary night or add to confusion.

SCHNEIDER: It certainly could. Because you could have one winner of the primary, the people who vote during the day in Texas and who have voted before primary day and you could have a different winner of the delegates, many of whom -- a third of whom are selected in the caucuses. SO, you could have different candidates claiming to have won the Texas prima-caucus.

YELLIN: And they said in the "Houston Chronicle" today, and I'm quoting, this isn't me, "why do we have to do everything different in Texas." But I guess that's how hey roll here. Thank you, Bill. Stay warm. I know your hat is helping keep you warm.

On the other side of this break, we're going to hear some from the republican candidates. So, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl 08." I'm Jim Acosta in New York covering the republican side of the race for the White House. And specifically John McCain who is resting this weekend at his home in Arizona. He is holding a barbecue today on behalf of his campaign, inviting in members of the media and some lawmakers there in Arizona as he catches up on his rest and gets ready for these big contests coming up on Tuesday. Some are calling it crucial Tuesday, turning point Tuesday, tipping point Tuesday. But let's take a look at the map. We are looking at the map right now. 256 delegates at stake for the republicans, Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

And John McCain is expected to win handedly in Texas and Ohio, these two big states there on Tuesday. And those states, if you add up all of those states on Tuesday, he comes very close to capturing that crucial delegate count of 1,091. That would enable him to clinch the nomination. He has all but done that at this point. But there is another man looming in John McCain's rearview mirror. And if you listen to Mike Huckabee, it's one of those side view mirrors where it says objects in mirror may be closer than they appear. Mike Huckabee is trying to pull off that miracle he keeps talking about. My colleague, Mary Snow, she is down in Texas, in the lone star state, down in Houston, and she is taking a look at the former Arkansas governor who picked up an endorsement, not necessarily picked up an endorsement today but saw an endorsement reiterated in the "Dallas Morning News." Isn't that right, Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN, CORRESPODENT: Yes, it is, Jim. That certainly is a boost for Mike Huckabee. He is welcoming it. The "Dallas Morning News" had endorsed Mike Huckabee back in December and today they reiterated that endorsement saying it's all but inevitable -- all but guaranteed that Senator John McCain is going to win the party's nomination but the "Dallas Morning News" is also saying that they believe a vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote for the republican party's future. And stresses that it believes that Mike Huckabee really has a place in the republican party going forward.

Now, here in Houston this morning, Mike Huckabee attended a church service at Grace Church, and then he spoke with reporters. Let's take a little bit of a listen to what she had to say. He was asked obviously about this endorsement and here is Mike Huckabee earlier this morning in Houston. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the "Dallas Morning News" is probably the greatest newspaper in America. And everybody ought to get a lifetime subscription. Obviously I'm very pleased, extremely grateful, not only for impact of the endorsement and the timing of it but I was especially grateful for what they represented in that editorial. And that is that I represent the future of the party. And I really appreciate that they recognize that our party has certainly got to begin looking at its long-term future and that we have to begin attracting not only younger voters but voters who are interested in a broad array of issues. The issues I've been trying to talk about throughout the entire campaign, not only lower taxes and the issues of sanctity of life but issues of poverty, disease, environment, education, health care, issues that touch families every single day in this country and they recognized that. And I'm deeply grateful for their endorsement today. And I hope everybody pays careful attention to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, they also recognize that it was probably unlikely that you'll get the nomination. So did you represent the party or do your values and beliefs represent the future of the party?

HUCKABEE: Well, I don't know. We'll see. I think certainly the views and values do, but somebody has to articulate those views and values. Somebody has to be willing to lead them and what I feel like that is important is that republicans begin to recognize that we have to start talking to voters who are 18 years old and we can't just assume that because the republican party of our grandfathers was good enough for them that it's going to be good enough for the students that we've seen on these campuses not just here in Texas but across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So whether or not you get the nomination or not you will have a role in the party for a while to come?

HUCKABEE: I have no idea. That won't be my decision to make. I will certainly have every reason to continue my efforts within the party. That's why I rejected any talk of a third party, you know, independent effort, absolutely unattractive to me and unappealing. I don't think that's a realistic way for us to really change the political realm of America. And got a lot invested in the republican party since my teenage years. Spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, worked for a lot of candidates, campaigned for a lot of people, raised a lot of money for the republican party and its candidates. I would hate to walk away from it because I think we're a long way from being done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, before you go, would you hope that this would be another Georgia, or other places in the southeast who galvanized the evangelical supporters but polls though, you're still badly trailing McCain, what do you think happened? An inevitability about McCain or what/

HUCKABEE: You know what, I don't know what will happen until Tuesday night so I'm not going to buy in on the inevitability issue. I have not bought that yet. If I bought it I wouldn't have won Iowa, and I would have won Kansas or Louisiana or Tennessee or West Virginia and a lot of other states that did win because just about in every one of those somebody had indicated already that it is inevitable that I wouldn't win. So, I'm not ready to concede Texas yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The polls showed you were ahead in Iowa, but here the nod --

HUCKABEE: You know, the polls have been all over board and they've been so consistently wrong in several contests, both in the democratic and republican side that I would hate to base my own position over the next 48 to 72 hours on what they are today. And you know, again, I'm still moving forward with optimism, not pessimism. If Tuesday night they don't come in well, then we'll talk about them. I'm not going to say today what it's an inevitable thing. I've had to fight that sort of air of inevitability that many people have put forward and I think it's quite false.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, what happens next if you lose Texas?

HUCKABEE: Listen, right now we don't talk about losing Texas. That's the while point. It would be very difficult for me to say if I lose Texas because I'm not planning to. If I do, it will be a fair question to ask. But today, since, I'm not planning on losing I don't have plans if because I don't plan to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas speaking earlier this morning to reporters in Houston where he is continuing to fight on for the republican nomination and you just heard him saying he's continuing to fight the scent that there's an air of inevitability to Senator John McCain winning the nomination for the republican party. The "Dallas Morning News" I should point out also had some very strong words of support for Senator McCain when it re-endorsed if you will, Mike Huckabee in today's edition but it said it had paused for two reasons. One, McCain's age. One he is 71. Huckabee is 52. And also it brought up McCain's temperament, saying that that was another reason why the "Dallas Morning News" felt that Mike Huckabee should get their endorsement and support from voters in Texas.

But clearly, Jim, Mike Huckabee feels that he has a strong shot in Texas. You know, he's been asked time and time again, despite the fact that he is really trailing John McCain by double digits at this point. He looks at the numbers a different way. Saying that when he first started out, the idea of running for president, he was a mere asterisk and it was in Texas he says where he felt a ground swell of support that really helped launch his campaign. He is hoping to reignite that once again and cause an upset here that will keep him in the race.

ACOSTA: Mary, you're right about that. And the fact that Mike Huckabee is in this race and that re-endorsement in the "Dallas Morning News" only underscores this fact that the republicans have just not found their comfort zone with John McCain if you look at the campaign that John McCain waged this week, there were some bumps along the way. Starting back on Monday, when he had that strange incident at one of his campaign events in Ohio, where the conservative talk show host Bill Cunningham came out and referred to Barack Obama as Barack Hussein Obama repeatedly. McCain had to come out and essentially apologized for Bill Cunningham who essentially fired up those folks on the far right, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity. All of those folks attacked John McCain for saying those things about Bill Cunningham.

And then later on the week, he picks up the endorsement of a guy who is not too far away from where you, Mary, John Hagee, the evangelist in San Antonio, picks up his endorsement. John Hagee is controversial about his comments about the end of times and about the Catholic Church, about his support of the state of Israel. And all of those things, you know, raise questions about whether John McCain should be accepting that kind of endorsement.

And once he started saying, well, you know, I do - I don't always agree with John Hagee but I like his endorsement, that again shows how republicans and John McCain simply haven't found their stride yet as this campaign moves forward and Mike Huckabee's presence in this race only underscores that. But we'll have to see what happens after Tuesday. Mary, thanks very much. And we'll be talking to you in just a moment. Now we want to switch gears over to the democratic side and back to my colleague Jessica Yellin who is following the democrats down there in Texas. I understand that the former president is in College Station not too close, I guess, not too terribly close to the former President Bush's presidential library, but nonetheless campaigning for his wife there in the lone star state.

YELLIN: Hey, Jim. Thanks. That's right Bill Clinton has been in the state campaigning all day. He started early with a church service and now he is speaking live at College Station in Texas. Let's listen in.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: ... while the cost of health care is double the cost of a college education, up 75 percent, the cost of gasoline, utilities, even food now is going up twice the right of inflation because of energy costs. So you have more squeeze. All of this is more complicated by the home mortgage melt down. But the fact that we've had manufacturing job losses in every year in this decade after any manufacturing jobs in the six or eight years that I had the honor to serve.

The new jobs -- wait a minute. Wait a minute. The new jobs created on average 20 percent pay on average, 20 percent less than the old jobs. Finally, we went from balanced budget and four years of surplus for the first time in seven years to adding $4 trillion to the national debt. Now, this is not rocket science. You have to figure out how to turn this around.

Hillary's plan is as I said first, we have to create jobs and the best way to create new jobs, in her plan and I believe this is right. Is from clean energy and energy efficiency and energy independence, if we add more wind energy, more solar energy, if we close every landfill in Texas and use all that stuff to make bio fuels or generate electricity, if we had a program in every city in Texas on every university campus, on every community college campus, every public school system, make out the buildings as energy efficient as possible, it would create millions of dollars jobs, yes for college graduates, and architects and engineers but also for high school dropouts who can be trained in green collar jobs to do it in America.

This is the key to your future and you should support her. The second thing -- the second thing if you follow any of these debates you've seen them debate this in great detail, but Hillary strongly believes we cannot restore this economy until we become competitive again in health care costs. The only way you can get health care costs down so it doesn't increase as much as it has been is to do the morally right thing, to provide affordable health care to all our citizens.

She says it's time to stop making excuses. Now, it's very important -- understand, this is a pivotal moment to the Democratic Party because, are we going to nominate somebody who says it are OK if 15 million people aren't insured as long as in theory they can afford it?

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): No!

CLINTON: Now, it's just not a matter of whether your heart bleeds in. He said, we don't want people to buy insurance. If you don't have kids, you don't have to buy it. Here's the issue, you can't get control of costs if you don't cover everybody. This is not -- look, all around the world. We don't do enough. We're a university here. We ought to be able to do comparative studies. Right? Raise your hand if you know somebody without insurance.

SNOW: Talking there about Senator Clinton's health care plan one of the most striking between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama is this question of universal health care. Senator Clinton promising healthcare for all through a mandate. Barack Obama opting for a different plan. That the Clinton's say a failed or could fail to ensure up to 15 million people. Obama folks taking issue with that characterization and a lot of back and forth over that.

Bill Clinton has been active right now on the stump. He's been busy all day. This morning he was speaking at a church, the largest church in America. And he turned up there and turned out quite a big crowd for a Sunday morning here in Texas. There's some pictures there. He was seated in the front row with Chelsea Clinton who also has been making a number of appearances and traveling and speaking on behalf of her mom.

She's also been turning out large crowds. The Clinton campaign said turning around the votes. A lot of the districts she goes to turning out for Senator Clinton.

I want to make one point right now because earlier this hour I was talking about early voting and record number of people who have already turned out to vote here in Texas, we certainly don't know who these people are voting for yet, but in the past I had said that some of these voters turned out the new voters had turned out for Barack Obama. The Clinton campaign is taking strong exception to that.

They are saying if you look at the numbers in California and this is true, new voters went for Senator Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama and they also point to -- I should say early voters, went to Senator Clinton over Barack Obama. And the same is true they are saying in south Texas, local officials there are saying there's enormous turnout of voters in south Texas along the border towns. That would tend to favor Senator Clinton. Of course, the perception in this state is Latino vote is largely along the border and that Latino vote tends to break for Senator Clinton.

The more voters you have, it doesn't matter. The urban center is a different scenario. We'll have to watch and see more evidence of how closely contestant this state is and how vital those votes are on Tuesday here in the state of Texas.

We will continue to cover this throughout the next few hours, and to keep you honest and to keep us honest. On the other side of the break we'll hear from the other side of the isle John McCain. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL 08, our Sunday edition huge, huge primaries coming up on Tuesday. Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, and also Texas. I'm Candy Crowley in Cleveland where we are awaiting a Hillary Clinton arrival, but it won't be until much later in the day.

A lot of things affect these elections, but nothing so much as the weather, which is why we want to go to the CNN's Weather Center in Atlanta and Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui give it to me, anything that's going to discourage voters from going to the polls on Tuesday?

JERAS: Yeah, unfortunately. This is a huge storm we're watching. The biggest impact state we think will be Ohio. The storm will already have moved through Texas by Tuesday. We are looking at rain moving in to Rhode Island and Vermont likely won't see this until late and a wintry mix and snow.

But our biggest concern is about the northwestern half of the state. There's still a little bit of uncertainty here. Looks like we could see significant freezing rain and ice pellets. Right are you are, Candy, in Cleveland would be one of the worst cities hit. So there is a potential for wide spread power outages and damages because of the ice and extremely slick roadways.

The storm system right now is across the nation's mid midsection. We do have a severe storm watch in effect for Kansas and Oklahoma and tornado watch to the south of there including Oklahoma City and northern parts of Texas. We just had reports of grapefruit size hail in Buffalo, Oklahoma. So some nasty weather with this storm right now, it is even going to be a bigger deal, we think, tomorrow and into Tuesday. Candy.

CROWLEY: Thanks so much, Jacqui Jeras. Obviously we're going to have to leave Cleveland here soon if it's going get that kind of ice. But more importantly for voters, what tends to happen if it's bad weather is you get out regular voters, people who would vote no matter what and you also bring out the passionate, those who have been engaged in this campaign, whether for Hillary Clinton, the first woman with a real shot at the White House, or Barack Obama, the first African-American with the chance at the oval office. There are passionate voters on both sides.

Bad weather generally is left to the passionate. Hillary Clinton, there are many, many ways to campaign, as you know. New York is not on the Tuesday primary list. It's already had its primary. But I want to take it back to Jim Acosta because there are ways to campaign in Ohio and Texas even if you're in New York, Jim.

ACOSTA: That's right, Candy. And we saw that just last week when Mike Huckabee was here in New York campaigning, if you will, on that show "Saturday Night Live." Perhaps you've heard of it, Candy. And Hillary Clinton tried her best to see what she could do on the program last night. Let's set this up for just a few moments here.

Apparently, I don't know if you saw it, but a couple of weeks ago there was this -- there was this debate down in Texas held here on CNN between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and "Saturday Night Live" last week decided to poke a little fun at that debate. And somehow accuse us in the media of giving Barack Obama a pass and perhaps not being as tough on Barack Obama as we are on Hillary Clinton.

Of course, you know, we take exception with that. But understand that there's always room for a good joke even when it's pointed at us. Hillary Clinton apparently last night took the stage on "Saturday Night Live." Apparently she liked the sketch so much that she mentioned it in another debate that won in Ohio. Last night it was billed as essentially equal time moment for Hillary Clinton, and it was her moment to come on and essentially say what she didn't get to say in that debate because of all the softball questions -- alleged softball questions directed at Barack Obama. With nothing further ado here, let's get to Hillary Clinton last night on "SNL."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I still enjoyed that sketch a great deal because I simply adore Amy's impression of me.

AMY: Oh, well, my ears are ringing.

CLINTON: How are you?

AMY: Good. Thank you.

CLINTON: Well, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

AMY: Yeah, thank you for coming. I love you're out fit.

CLINTON: I love you're outfit.

AMY: Thank you.

CLINTON: I do want the earrings back.

AMY: Oh, OK.

CLINTON: Do I really laugh like that?

AMY: Well, well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And so there was the impersonation of Hillary Clinton's laughs as well that getting the attention of the first lady. I'll send it back to Candy in Cleveland. I'm guessing you heard that laugh from time to time yourself.

CROWLEY: I have, Jim, although it's not the cackle that it's been sort of portrayed as. The fact of the matter is she does seem to have a really good sense of humor, those around her say that she does and she has a very, very sharp sense of humor and that, in fact, she loves to laugh. Certainly they've seen some of that on the campaign plane.

As you know, these kinds of appearances tend to soften a candidate up and Hillary Clinton obviously has had some problems as we can see in the poll, convincing people that she is a nice candidate. Obviously Barack Obama scores much higher on that score.

ACOSTA: Softer is good for her.

CROWLEY: They've been trying since -- absolutely. Absolutely. So, in fact, since January, they've been trying to show that other side of Hillary Clinton. So that's what "Saturday Night Live" is all about for all of them. Thanks, Jim.

We are going to come back after this. Ali Velshi, as many of you may know, has pretty much set up camp in Texas talking to people about the economy. So when we come back, we'll talk to Ali.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: Hi, welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. This is the Sunday edition. One of the things that we learn as we talk to candidates, whether it's here in Ohio or in Texas, that they want to talk about the economy because that's what's on voters' minds. It was interesting that even back in January when the war in Iraq was a huge matter of discussion on the campaign trail, particularly for Democrats, there never was a town hall meeting or any place where voters could ask questions.

There wasn't a number of questions on somebody portion of the economy, whether it was health care or jobs or trade agreements that have effected jobs. It always came up. Now when we look at the polling the economy is the number one issue generally in most of these states. So if the economy is the issue then why don't we have our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi out, which we do. He is with the CNN Election Bus. Ali, I'm told you're in Texas which you have described as the front porch of west Texas. What are they say to think front porch?

VELSHI: Well, listen; they call it the front porch. Still in a little bit of hilly country. This is hunting country, in fact, we're out of season right now but this town of Junction has about 2500 people in it. It's a little bit quiet right now except for the election. Everybody knows what's going on here. There was a rally the other day with a representative of Barack Obama; Hillary Clinton's representative apparently wasn't here.

But we went down the main street and we started talking to people. Here's a little bit of what they told us about Junction.

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LUCAS LUMLEY, BBQ CHEF: We're fairly local Republican town, I guess. Everyone, you know, pretty conservative.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): I really like what Obama was saying, but I haven't really paid as much attention to Hillary as I should have.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): People saying go out and vote for Barack, they don't want Hillary in it and stuff like that. Small town politics, I guess.

JOSEPHINE YOUNGDOFF, HEALTHCARE WORKER: I do like John McCain. I do. I'm trying to -- I'll still undecided, like I said. I just am not sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: A little earlier when we filled up the Election Express, it runs on diesel, we paid $3.77 for a gallon of diesel. It was selling gasoline for $3.30. That's unusually high. Diesel is $3.50. If you're in hunting country if people are feel that pinch from gasoline that's going to affect them. So there are a lot of concerns around here around inflation and gasoline.

Also, by the way, when you think of feed and the ranchers around here, the cost of feed is affected by the cost of commodities that we've seen increase. That's generally the feeling around here. The people we spoke to in this town give us the sense initially that it's overwhelmingly more Republican than Democrat. We have been hearing across the state including an oil country yesterday that people who have been lifelong Republican so concerned about the economy that they're thinking of switching, whether it's energy or health care or even how the war is being managed in terms of the money that it is taking out of the economy.

But absolutely right, Candy, the number one concern of people everywhere, we've been in Texas the last week and a half, has been the economy. Candy.

CROWLEY: Thanks so much Ali Velshi.

If you're putting $3.70 plus a gallon of diesel in the bus, I'm not going to ask you how much because they would make us all come home.

VELSHI: Exactly.

CROWLEY: There is, of course, other news happening in the country and across the world, in particular there are elections in Russia today. We're going to have an update of news around the world right after this.

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WHITFIELD: I'm Frederick Whitfield more of the BALLOT BOWL in a moment but first these headlines.

History made in Baghdad today with the long-awaited visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iraqi leader rolled out the red carpet for the vocal critic of Washington. Iraq's Shiite-led government wants stronger ties with Tehran, even amid charges of Iranian support for Iraqi insurgents. The two neighboring nations fought a disastrous war in the '80s.

Medvedev is cruising toward a landslide election; 42-year-old is assured of an easy victory as the hand-picked successor of the out- going Vladimir Putin. Medvedev had hinted that he will restore some of the freedoms that Putin curved but also said he would keep Putin on as prime minister.

Story now from Iraq where a lot of needed goods and services are in short supply. Arwa Damon says the country has a wheelchair shortage.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Every day he says he wonders why god is testing him like this. His eldest child, 7-year-old can barely move. Five-year-old Jana (ph) can't walk but still showers her parents with a stunning smile. Three-year-old Ina (ph) can't walk either. All have varying degrees of polio.

KHALID HANASH, FATHER (via Translator): I thought I would have kid who would support me when you grow up.

DAMON: Khalid and his wife have one more little one, Mohammed, not yet 3 but his parents fear his fate will be the same as his siblings.

IBTISAM ABDULWAHED, MOTHER (via Translator): They used to crawl and try to stand on their feet. But they would always fall to the ground. When they reached 3 years, they just start falling to the ground. DAMON: For all the hardships this family faces financial and emotional, a few weeks ago life became slightly easier. They bought wheelchairs.

HANASH: They look happy at them before. Before they got the wheelchair, they used to lie on the ground all day.

DAMON: It was largely thanks to the efforts of this man Brad Blouser, founder of wheelchairs for kids, with help from the U.S. military and an Iraqi group. So far Blouser has delivered nearly 250 chairs across Iraq. Prior to that, a simple trip like this was out of the question. Khalid had to carry his children everywhere but it's still bittersweet.

ABDULWAHED: Yesterday when I was passing by a shoe shop I said to myself, god, why did you deprive me of watching my kids dressing up, to take them out on a walk with me?

DAMON: Conservative estimates that one in seven children in Iraq between the ages of 2 and 14 have at least one disability. The country's institution still largely in shambles is of little help.

ABDULWAHED: I call on the government to help the kids, not just ours. When we went out to get the wheelchairs, there were many other kids like ours. The government did not help us. The doctors couldn't provide us with medicine.

DAMON: Iraqis have been deprived of a lot. This family considered lucky. Beneficiaries of the kindness of strangers.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And CNN provides you with ways to impact your world. CNN.com provides lists of organizations that accept volunteers and donations. Among them, wheelchairs for kids. The group you just saw in action. The web link is CNN.com/impact.

And we'll return with more BALLOT BOWL right after this.

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