Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Wyoming Caucuses Reviewed; Candidates Speak

Aired March 09, 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 "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Wyoming, site of the democratic caucuses yesterday. This is your chance to hear from the candidates unedited, unfiltered, as they present themselves on the stump. I am joined for this hour by Dan Lothian, my colleague and co-anchor who is in the state of Philadelphia, the site of an upcoming, very big primary. And in a windy city, huh, Dan?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: That's right, very windy. We don't have the rain and wind that we had yesterday but we do have a lot of wind. And by the way, I want to point out, you might be hearing some noise from the background. A free Tibet protest has started, has just materialized behind us. So, from time to time, you might hear a little bit of noise. Just wanted to point out what that is.

This is a crucial battleground state here in Pennsylvania, and the game plan as we take a look at what we'll be looking at throughout the hour, this critical state, 158 delegates up for grabs here in this blue collar state. And we'll take a look at some of the issues that are impacting voters here. It is a big contest. But before that happens, on Tuesday another primary taking place in Mississippi, and 33 democratic delegates up for grabs there. We'll take a look at whether voters there also have on their minds.

But first it was decision day in Wyoming yesterday. And for more on that, we go back to Jessica. Jessica.

YELLIN: It was. And we attended one of the caucuses to watch everybody come out. Record-high turnout in this state. Barack Obama was the winner of the caucuses here. He will walk away with the majority of the state's 12 pledge delegates. But Senator Clinton had a strong showing as well and she will get a bunch, too. Let's look at the total delegate breakdown between these two candidates, Barack Obama picked up seven delegates yesterday. So, now he has 1,527 delegates total. Senator Clinton picked up five delegates making her total 1,428. About 100 delegates -- that's all -- separating these two candidates for one of them to become the automatic winner, they need 2,025.

And again as we've said many times, it does not look like either of them will get that by the time of the national convention, which is why it is so important that each of them does as well as they can in the upcoming contests. One of the latest issues that's really dividing these two candidates is the question of national security and who is best prepared to be commander in chief. Senator Clinton has been throwing the punches on that one, but Barack Obama is hitting back. Let's listen to him talking about this on the stump in Wyoming earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won't hesitate to strike against those who would do us harm, but -- that means that we maintain the best military on earth so that means our troops are properly trained, properly equipped, on proper rotations, and that they are perceiving proper treatment when they come home, getting screened for post traumatic stress disorder, getting mental health services, getting disability payments, making sure the VA is accessible. And it also means using our military wisely.

You know, it means using our military wisely. The war in Iraq was unwise. It was an unwise war. It fanned the flames of anti-American sentiment around the world. It distracted us from Al Qaeda. They're stronger now than at any time since 2001 in Afghanistan. We should have been hunting down Bin Laden and his whole crew. They should have been caught, captured, killed, pinned down, and we didn't do it. Obviously most profoundly it's cost us thousands of lives and thousands of more who have been injured.

Hundreds of billions of dollars. By the time this thing is over, we will have spent well over $1 trillion, closer to $2 trillion. Money that we could have spent to put people back to work, to give them health tear, to send them to college, to strengthen our Homeland Security, strengthening our ports and our chemical plants and our water supplies and our food supplies. We could have done so much. So this war was unwise, which is why I opposed it in 2002. And that is why I will bring this war to an end in 2009.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Barack Obama campaigning in Casper, Wyoming, last week. We heard Obama do this a bit just now, campaigning in essence, against President Bush and his policies, suggesting the war in Iraq was an expenditure of money, excessive expenditure that distracted from domestic concerns. Senator Clinton making a similar point on a different issue in Mississippi earlier this week, claiming that President Bush has had the wrong priorities, not adequately cared for the Gulf area folks, recovering from Katrina and Rita. She says she'll do things differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, the President did not respond and did not tend to the needs of the people here in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. It should not have taken the staff of the president to give him a video of the footage from CNN for him to look at it to find out about the devastation that had swept across our country. And still to this day, we do not yet have the level of response and urgency that natural disaster, which turned into a national disgrace, deserves. I have said that I will do whatever I can to make up for lost time as your president.

There will be one person in the White House who is responsible every single day to give me a report about the progress we're making in rebuilding, getting people back into their homes, fixing the infrastructure, dealing with the insurance claims. Because I know you can make a lot of speeches about all that's wrong, but what people are looking for are solutions, what is it you're going to do to make my life better to solve these problems, to give us back our sense of pride and progress?

Well, I worked with your leadership here in Mississippi, especially with former Senator Lott, to try to make some of the changes that were need, and I was happy to stand with you and vote to permit more drilling in the gulf so you could get more money to protect the coastline, something that is important if we're going to mitigate against storms that might come in the future. And I will do whatever I can to be your partner and your supporter, because I fear that you won't see very much more progress before the current president leaves office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Senator Clinton vowing to jump start recovery efforts in the Gulf if she were to become president. We will bring you more from Wyoming where I am later in this hour. But right now, I'm going to toss it over to my colleague, Dan Lothian, who is in Philadelphia. Dan.

LOTHIAN: That's right, we're going to be talking later on about why the state of Pennsylvania is so important for their upcoming primary April 22nd. But before we do that I want to shift our focus to Mississippi. As you heard Senator Clinton talking about the Gulf region. It's an area in Mississippi hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. Many folks there still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. I want to turn now to Sean Callebs who has been out talking to voters there as we lead up to Tuesday's primaries, 33 delegates up for grabs. Sean, what is it that voters are concerned about there on the ground?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, Dan. And I really want to make a distinction in this state. Because Mississippi - this is its chance to really get in the national spotlight to grab these presidential candidates by their collars and say, look, here are our concerns. And there are two distinct concerns. First, let's talk about the coast area where I am.

Recovery. That is the issue. Everything else here is atmosphere, education, health care. Now as you move up in the state, Hattiesburg and Jackson, there you have what many would consider the more traditional concerns, the economy is number one, two, three, four and five. That is a very significant issue here in the state.

Education. Health care. And the reason those issues are so important to people in Mississippi, the economic landscape has changed significantly. A lot of jobs at factories or plants, or long-time businesses, jobs that people here considered very good, solid jobs that they had for a long time, or their parents had, that came with the kind of benefits that people grew up expecting, solid health care, pension or good retirement account. Those jobs are really going away here in Mississippi. It is a major concern. Education is always a sore point in Mississippi. You hear other states, Louisiana and Alabama, that may not be known for their public education, saying, thank heavens for Mississippi, because compared to that state they look a little bit better.

Here's the problem, Mississippi pays a good percentage of the tax income it brings in to education. But when the tax base is so low, that is a big concern. So they want to talk to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain and say, what are you going to do for our state, how can we stimulate the economy?

Let's get back to the coast area. Just look at this building here. This used to be a government ports building. This is what a 28-foot- plus storm surge does to an area. Mind you, this is 2 1/2 years -- 2 1/2 years -- after Hurricane Katrina roared through this area. This is just some of the physical damage. Now here in Biloxi, the situation is a little bit different from all the other small towns in Mississippi along the Gulf Coast, Pass Christian, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, those towns have not come back at all, those towns are struggling so badly.

Mississippi, here in Biloxi, a little bit different. And the reason, if you just look over here to my right, that is a huge reason. One of eight casinos that's back up and running now in the aftermath of Katrina. We had a chance to talk with the city's mayor, A.J. Holloway, who had the foresight to actually get business interruption insurance three months before Hurricane Katrina hit. Now, what does that mean? They made a $90,000 investment. And because of that, they got $10 million in what would have been lost revenue. So this city is doing so much better than so many others. Here's what the mayor has to say about the casinos and their importance to this area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR A.J. HOLLOWAY, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: Our community still needs a lot of attention. We still need to maybe have some type of a stimulus, if the government could come in and do some -- put some kind of businesses in here or some kind of -- increase the capacity of Kesla), so to speak, something like that to bring more people in here with more money and bring better jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: It's interesting, the mayor was actually at an event here in Biloxi yesterday where President Clinton was speaking, Hillary Clinton's clearly best surrogate on the campaign trail. Barack Obama is going to be in the state tomorrow. He's going to be in Jackson, Dan. He's going to be in Columbus. And also up a little bit northeast of the state in the town of Greenville. So, people really have a chance to hear what he says just a day before the primary, which were 33 delegates up for stake in this day and age, in this campaign so tightly fought, very significant. Dan.

LOTHIA: That's right, Sean. Every delegate counts in this election cycle. And certainly a good illustration there, the two faces of the recovery process from Katrina. We see that up and down the Gulf Coast, some regions that have recovered, others that look like Katrina just hit yesterday. Sean, I do understand you'll be talking to the governor of Kansas after this break and we'll also hear a little bit from Senator John McCain. That's all ahead after this break on CNN "Ballot Bowl." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOTHIAN: Welcome back to CNN "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Dan Lothian in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We've been talking a lot about the democrats. I want to shift now to the republican side. Senator John McCain, who is essentially fund-raising and campaigning across the country, trying to shore up his republican base. He is the presumptive nominee for the republicans. Typically you will hear him out on the campaign trail talking about the war in Iraq. That is really something that he has built his campaign around. But we also caught up with him in New Orleans where he was talking about faith and religion and how important that is to him in his campaign. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is important factor in my life obviously, very important. Let me just tell you a brief story that, when I was in prison in Vietnam, one of the things that the north Vietnamese used to do was take ropes and tie them very tightly around your biceps and pull them back and loop the rope around your head and pull your head down between your legs as can you imagine, it is very uncomfortable. And one night I was in that position in an interrogation room, and about midnight, a guard came in, who I had never talked to before. I'd seen him. He was what we call a gun guard. I never had anything to do with him, he just walked around camp with a gun, with a rifle. And he put his finger to his lips and he loosened the ropes that were tying -- that I was tied up in and about four hours later he came back and he tightened up the ropes again. Obviously it was the end of his watch. And never said a word, obviously.

And that following Christmas day, because it was Christmas day, the Vietnamese allowed us separately -- in these days we were kept in solitary confinement or two or three to a room -- to stand outside of my cell for a few minutes. And so I was standing outside there and it was a dirt courtyard and, who comes walking over, but the same guy, same gun guard. And he stood next to me and with his sandal in the dirt he drew a cross in the dirt. And he stood there for a minute. And then he erased it and walked away.

Moral of that story is very obvious, and he's the one person that I wanted to see again from my experiences. But I believe there is always somebody and somehow that when things are pretty tough that you have to rely on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Senator John McCain talking about faith and religion in New Orleans. This is obviously a message that will resonate with the base. Certainly the conservative evangelical base in the republican party. So, now, what are the other issues that have been so critical in the last few days is what to do with Michigan and Florida. We know that there is so much talk about a do-over there because their delegates will not count, because officials there decided to move up their primary caucus dates there, against democratic rules. So the issue then becomes, how do you do a do-over, and who will pay for it? We'll take a look at all of that after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Wyoming. We bring you on this show sometimes the candidates, but other times their supporters live, something on behalf of their candidate, and that's where we're going -- that's what we're going to do right now. CNN's Sean Callebs is in Mississippi, the site of the next primary on the democratic side with one of Barack Obama's outspoken supporters, a woman who was able to deliver her state to Obama. Got 74% of the vote in Kansas, an effective surrogate. Sean, you're with Kathleen Sebelius.

CALLEBS: Exactly, Jessica. And it's great to have an encyclopedia like you on the other end to kind of bring everybody up to speed but the governor is here Kathleen Sebelius. Thanks very much for joining us. You spent this morning at church here in Mississippi along the coast. What are people telling you about the concerns and what do you think Barack Obama can do for people down here but hasn't been done in the past 2 1/2 years?

GOV. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS (D), KANSAS: Well, I know that he starts with a plan, a specific plan of action that he's proposed in the Senate dealing with everything from insurance coverage to getting people back in their homes. And he's been one of the leaders in Gulf Coast recovery. He knows that there's still 5,000 people living in trailers, trailers that, unfortunately, have been identified as making people sick, made with formaldehyde, trailers that we wouldn't let come into the state of Kansas after Greensburg because we knew that there was already reports out of the Gulf Coast that something was happening to folks.

CALLEBS: Are you hearing frustration from the voters that they would have liked to have seen the senator, and even Senator Hillary Clinton, do more for people down here? There is a sense of hopelessness for a lot of people down here 2 1/2 years after the storm. They don't see yet a bend in the turn, light at the end of the tunnel, if you will.

SEBELIUS: Well, I think they're all eager for a new president. And I think they feel they were forgotten by the federal agencies often, and that whatever monies there hasn't gotten into the hands of the people. I think they're hopeful that a new president, a president like Barack Obama will make a real difference, who will really have new leaders at FEMA, new leaders in Homeland Security. We'll have transparency of that money and we'll make sure that people are back in their homes, that we rebuild schools and hospitals and that we have insurance once again. People are very concerned about that.

CALLEBS: It's been such an interesting political season. Everybody's watching this campaign so closely. Every delegate means so much. What is it that attracted to you Barack Obama and what is it like, I mean, a state like Mississippi, that's often overlooked in the campaign season, get so much attention ahead of its primary?

SEBELIUS: Well, I think I like a person who comes to the table saying I can put people back together, I can put republicans and democrats and independents back as a United States of America and help us move ahead. That's the way I work in Kansas. I am a democratic governor in a very republican state and we get things done. Day after day. What people are looking for is results.

CALLEBS: An obvious question - and excuse me for having to ask but some people may have said, why didn't you support Hillary Clinton? Knowing the struggles that you probably had to overcome to get to the governor's post in Kansas. She is a woman overcoming the same things as a senate candidate, and now as a presidential candidate. Was it perhaps, was it more pro Obama less against Hillary that attracted you to Barack Obama?

SEBELIUS: Absolutely. I have enormous respect for Senator Clinton. But I think this is really about the future. There is no better face for the future than Barack Obama. I like somebody who, in our state, could really put the state back in play. I think in -- across the south there are states in play, if Barack Obama is the nominee, there are lots of states around the country who right now say Barack would be the much stronger candidate against John McCain. I'm interested in electing a democratic president, and to me, there's no choice that Barack Obama is the person who can win the day at the end and talk about the future and not about the past.

CALLEBS: OK, thanks you. Governor, thanks very much for joining us out here today. I'm sure that it's great for the electorate to hear from you as well. Again just a number of the surrogates out doing what they can for the campaigns out here in Mississippi. Hillary Clinton had her most powerful surrogate, Bill Clinton, making four stops in the state last night. He talked about the differences between the two candidates and went on to say, Jessica, that he really believes that Hillary Clinton did as much as anybody in the Senate to bring funding down to this area of the state that really needs an economic boost right now. Jessica, back to you in Wyoming.

YELLIN: Thanks, Sean.

They're crisscrossing the state and keeping you busy. Thanks for bringing that to us. Kathleen Sebelius there looking to turn her red state blue this season. So many democrats talking about electability as the number one concern they have in choosing their nominee. A new "Newsweek" poll out now shows that democrats are considering this -- having a hard time choosing which one is their real strongest candidate. It shows Barack Obama at 45% support. Senator Clinton has 44%. And it is a very close contest once again. We see these numbers contract and expand at different times with different ones in the lead, but this is about as close as it's gotten.

And we want to talk about that a bit further, the state of the race with the Ken Rudin who is the political editor for "NPR" and a real pleasure to be on with you, Ken. You've got some great people on your team, (Dan Gionet)and David Greene. And I see them all over the country, criss crossing, you keep them working hard. KEN RUDIN, "NPR" POLITICAL EDITOR: You see them on the radio or -- oh, I see what you're saying.

YELLIN: No, on the campaign stops, campaign planes and they are...

RUDIN: No, I was kidding.

YELLIN: ... working hard.

RUDIN: They're doing a great job.

YELLIN: They are. Let's talk about this issue. With the race so close between Obama and Clinton, one of the questions now is, if Florida and Michigan reenter this, they could ultimately decide the nominee. And there seems to be a lot of confusion about what it would take for Florida and Michigan to reenter. Do you think the real hold-up here is money, or the campaigns just disagreeing on just how a re-do should happen?

RUDIN: Well, it's everything. First of all, as you know, not to go through the whole story again, but Michigan and Florida were warned that if they moved their primaries up to January they would lose all their delegates. They did so anyway and they lost their delegates. Had they stayed where they were, they could have been king makers or queen makers and made a big difference. OK. That's in the past. The point, one, money is a big deal to have a re-do, a red-do primary. It would be very expensive. Charlie Crist, the republican governor of Florida, said absolutely no way that the state is going to pay for it. There's also talked about caucuses.

Now, The Hillary Clinton campaign does not like caucuses. They've lost 10 out of 13, 13 out of 16 caucuses and they would rather have a primary. Obviously a primary does Hillary Clinton better, more good than it does the Barack Obama campaign. The latest thing out there is perhaps a mail-in primary where every voter gets a ballot by mail, whether they're in Florida, Michigan or overseas, in the military. And that's a possibility as well. But who will monitor that? That's another question that has to be answered.

YELLIN: It's just so complicated when you think about all the permutations that have, that could happen in any of these instances. Does it seem likely that there will be a nominee before the convention? What are the chances this becomes a deadlocked convention?

RUDIN: Well, the word "likely" is a word that I'd rather not use in 2008. I Think we all agree it could be likely that in 2007 that Hillary Clinton was inevitable. It was likely by super Tuesday that we would have an answer by then. Who knows what "likely" is anymore? But, look, the longer this goes on, the more John McCain seems to be happier. But, you know, let the voters say. You had that thing on the screen showing what the national numbers are between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton but actually those numbers don't mean that much because more than half the country has already voted.

Over 26, over 30 states, I believe, over maybe 35 states, have already voted. So, it's really the next 12 states that need to vote. Obviously Pennsylvania on April 22nd is crucial. Then you have North Carolina and Indiana on May 11th. So we still have 12, 13 states to go, plus Florida, plus Michigan. A lot of things could be decided before then. It may go to the convention. But as we saw, this is all one sentence -- as we saw in 1980, if it goes to the convention we saw between Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, bad blood among democratic candidates can only help the republicans in November.

YELLIN: Ken, I know you have expertise in calling congressional races so I want to ask you, Bill Foster won Dennis Hastert's seat, a Democrat snatching another seat from the Republicans in a Republican stronghold. Does this bode well overall for the general election season and can folks in the Democratic Party rest assured that there this is definitely a change election? Can you read anything from the Foster -- from the Foster victory into the general election math?

RUDIN: Obviously it is great news for the Democratic Party they can win the seat of Dennis Hastert, a Republican seat as long as I can remember. That's great news. In fairness, the Republican candidate was not a good candidate. He lost twice for the senate, twice for -- once for governor. What's not the most popular guy but he had a lot of money and perhaps that's why he won the Republican nomination.

Still any headline that says Republican seat goes to the Democrats is great news for November, but look -- the Republicans will argue a few months ago the seat in Massachusetts, where Paul Tsongas' widow won, but she only won by a narrow margin. You can spin every special election you want. But if the headlines say Dennis Hastert's seat goes Democratic, that's good news for Democrats that are hoping to increase their lead in November.

YELLIN: And the Democrats picked up another super delegate, too, as a result of that.

RUDIN: There is a new super delegate. Exactly.

YELLN: Ken, I wish we had more time but I've got to go to break. Thank you so much for joining us. NPR's Ken Rudin.

On the other side of this break we're going to check in on other news, including that big winter storm hitting the northeast. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELAM: I'm Stephanie Elam live at World Headquarters in Atlanta. More on BALLOT BOWL but first a look at what's happening in the news.

New heartbreak in the murder of Auburn University student Lauren Burk. The mother of the accused killer says her son just hasn't been the same since he returned from the war in Iraq. Nevertheless, Catherine Williams is apologizing on behalf of her 23-year-old son, Courtney Lockhart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE WILLIAMS, SUSPECT'S MOTHER: I'm sorry for that family. I'm sorry. I'm just sorry. That's all. I have nothing else to say. I'm just sorry for the loss of that family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Funeral services for the 18-year-old victim Lauren Burk are set for next hour in a suburban Atlanta synagogue.

Those who knew and loved Eve Carson are saying good-bye today. A funeral for the 22-year-old University of North Carolina student body president is being held in Athens, Georgia. Carson was found shot to death Wednesday in Chapel Hill. Police are searching for a suspect, a man seen in surveillance photos using Carson's bank card at a North Carolina ATM.

Switching gears to the weather, snowplows out in force in Ohio today. The state is trying to dig out from a massive winter storm. More than 20 inches of snow fell in Columbus this weekend. That shatters a 100- year-old record. Blizzard conditions shut down roads and closed the Cleveland Airport stranding thousands of travelers.

That same system now hit the northeast and several southern states. Fierce winds took down trees and power lines leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

And then there was ice. Scary, scary shot coming in there. These frightening pictures were taken in Charleston, West Virginia. Nine accidents happened on this one bridge. One person had to go to the hospital. In other states, ten deaths are being blamed on the storm. Keeping an eye on all of the trouble spots. CNN's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is live in the CNN Weather Center. That just looks so scary.

JAQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don't you just cringe a little bit?

ELAM: Every single time.

JERAS: That's why we tell you, bridges and overpasses always ice up first when you talk about a freezing rain event. We always tell you, things could be fine on the regular roadway, then you hit the bridge and overpass, and, zoom, there you go, the ice develops and you get really hazardous conditions.

The brunt of the storm has really pulled out of the northeastern corridor. That's good news but we still have heavy snow coming off of Lake Ontario. You see it north of Syracuse. Here in Oswego County, Lewis County, Jefferson County. This heavy band is putting down probably a good inch per hour. You already have a foot of snow on the ground. It just keeps on coming. We think this will start to taper down a little bit later on tonight and the winds are going to weaken a bit.

While the rain is out of the northeast, many of the smaller rivers and streams are still plump. Some are out of their banks. We have flood warnings in effect throughout much of the northeastern corridor. Use a lot of caution if you have to be traveling around today. Heavy flooding due to all the rainfall amounts in the last 24-plus hours, 2 1/2 inches at Norwich. Two feet of snowfall in Richfield, Ohio. Columbus a record at 20 inches. One of the things we are concerned about in the upcoming days, behind this front we are dealing with this cold, blustery weather. Things are going to warm up gradually. By midweek when we talk about nine to 20 inches of snow we have to melt on down, we'll worry about that happening very rapidly, we could have a big flood event midweek.

Stephanie.

ELAM: No break for the weary in the Midwest. Huh? All right, thanks a lot.

We want to take a moment now to say, thank you, to all of our viewers who rushed donations to help save a little Iraqi boy. This is Youssif as he looks today. This 5-year-old was set on fire by a group of Iraqis. His mother reached out to you through CNN. He's running into the school there. You, our viewers, and the Children's Burn Institute brought the little boy to America where he's had several reconstructive surgeries. One of the doctors helping Youssif is Dr. Peter Grossman who is donating his medical expertise and time. He spoke to CNN yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PETER GROSSMAN, PLASTIC SURGEON: It's been a very rewarding experience to see this. This little boy who was so trapped, both physically and emotionally, within his scar tissue, seeing him come out and be a little kid again and have fun, and to respond to the people who have been trying to help him, his family members, people with the Children's Burn Foundation and CNN who have been along with him this entire road for him, it is really remarkable to see how he's come out. And just being able to be a little kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Of course, you can follow Youssif's progress online. Type in CNN.com/impact.

I'm Stephanie Elam. We will have more news next hour. Right now, more BALLOT BOWL after a quick time-out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOTHIAN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Dan Lothian in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, standing in front of beautiful Independence Hall. Now Pennsylvania getting a lot of attention because there is a crucial primary coming up, more than a month, April 22nd, here. But a lot of delegates up for grabs. In fact, 158 delegates up for grabs for the Democrats.

Here in this state, voters are focusing on many different issues, but certainly in a state where they have high unemployment and there's been a lot of job loss, that issue, as well as the economy, important for voters here. I want to bring in Jim O'Toole, who is a politics editor for the "Pittsburgh Gazelle," covered every presidential candidate since 1984. Jim thanks for joining us.

JIM O'TOOLE, POLITICS EDITOR, "PITTSBURGH GAZELLE:" My pleasure. How are you?

LOTHIAN: Pretty good. I keep reading in the newspapers and hearing on radio and on television that this comparison between Pennsylvania and Ohio in terms of the electorate, the landscape here. Is that a legitimate comparison with the two states?

O'TOOLE: It is to a certain extent. It is in demographics. Pennsylvania's an older state, even older than Ohio. Older voters have tended to like Senator Clinton. Both states have been hurt by loss of manufacturing jobs, so I would say Ohio proportionately worse than Pennsylvania.

Ohio, one place the comparison does limp a little bit is on the sub prime crises. I mean credit crisis is hurting the economy all over the country, but the sub prime aspect of it, the home foreclosure aspects of it, were worse in Ohio than in Pennsylvania.

LOTHIAN: Is that because we didn't see the run-up in this state like we saw in other places, sort of the property values going up so quickly like they did in other states?

O'TOOLE: That's absolutely part of it when you compare us with a state like New York or southern Florida. But part of it I think is if you look at the Cleveland and Akron areas which did not have those kind of run-ups, they were hit hard by predatory lending. I think part of it is very local factors.

LOTHIAN: When you have parts of the state, sort of the eastern part of the state hard-hit by manufacturing losses and so forth, NAFTA obviously becomes a big issue. It was a big issue in Ohio, and it is perhaps that issue that helped Hillary Clinton pounding away on that issue, help her win in Ohio. Do you expect to see NAFTA the center of the campaigns here in this state?

O'TOOLE: Well, I think they won't be able to avoid talking about it, particularly in the west group such as the united steel workers are very intent on making trade a big issue. It is an issue that Mrs. Clinton might have been vulnerable on, but the way that the information about the economic advisor to the Obama campaign came out, it really ended up shooting themselves in the foot on that one.

LOTHIAN: I want to go back to something you were talking about earlier about older voters and this being one of the oldest; I guess in terms of the older Americans, this is what? The second oldest state.

O'TOOLE: Second oldest state in the country, yeah. And you see --

LOTHIAN: And how -- go ahead.

O'TOOLE: I was going to just say there is a difference within the state, the western part of the state is -- tends to be older than where you are right now, the southeast, Philadelphia and its suburbs and the Lehigh Valley have had a little bit more economic growth. Their economic profile is different from the west of the state, which is more like Ohio, as we were discussing. LOTHIAN: OK. Jim O'Toole, thank you very much for joining us and shedding a little bit of light on some of the critical issues impacting the state of Pennsylvania as we lead up to the critical primary here that will be taking place on April 2nd.

After this break, we will take a look at the campaign online. Stay with us on CNN BALLOT BOWL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

YELLIN: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the site of the latest Democratic contest. Barack Obama coming out ahead of the caucuses here, but Senator Clinton walking away with her own share of a good number of the state's delegates. Both the candidates are down today but their campaigns are in overdrive. Not just with surrogates on the stump but also online.

CNN's Josh Levs, as always, is searching the Web. We know that that's what you do day and night, Josh. I know that this weekend we're hearing Barack Obama and Senator Clinton spinning reporters through their Websites. What are you finding they're telling voters?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right about day and night. That is in my case. You're also right about spinning through this. You know, back in the day, candidates were able to fight on the stump without also having to worry about this thing called cyberspace. Now they have to worry about it and use it as a tool.

I have a camera facing this behind me. On the campaign Websites today, really interesting, starting off with this, this is from Hillary Clinton's Website. She calls it the fact hub. She uses it often to respond to news reports and respond to attacks from Obama. Today she is responding to his remarks about her allegedly flip-flopping on the issue of torture. He, meanwhile, has his own fact check Website. At the top of his Website is response to this front and center "New York Times" article today, as you can read-right there, he's saying that that story minimizes his senate accomplishments.

I'll show you quickly what that story is. This is from the "New York Times.com, Obama's senate star power, minor role. John McCain's Website he has very prominently news and media. Johnmccain.com. He updates stories about him and offers this area to cover his responses. We also follow videos presented on these campaign Websites. And these are really interesting. You can see what the candidates are doing to try to position themselves.

Right now we're going to show this to you unfiltered. We start off with a look at the Democratic side. As we know, women have been really key to Clinton's success, especially lately in Ohio and Texas. Both she and Barack Obama are pursuing female voters. They have videos very prominent on their Website reaching out directly to women. Let's take a look right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): What I really like about Barack Obama is that I feel like I can trust him and I haven't felt that way about government or politics in a long time.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): He has a new attitude and Obama represents that change and the new attitude.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Obama could be someone who honors the values of caring for all.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): I think he has a very good understanding of what is just and what's not, of what's right and what's wrong.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): She kind of took my hand and said, you're not one mother. You're a mother, too, and I want to help you. She was just so engaging and so compassionate and so warm. She said, she goes I could be sitting in your chair. She's like but for the grace of god my child is healthy.

And she then followed up; week after week with phone calls and putting me in touch with people that could maybe help me and she kept true to her word. It wasn't something for the media; this wasn't something to posture about and whatnot. She did it because she cared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now there is a lot more where those come from. You can't miss them if you go to these campaign Websites. The Democrats have been saying often, John McCain is likely to make this race largely about national security. He certainly has taken steps in that direction, and now he has a new video front and center on his Website. Let's take a look at a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the hills and on the streets, and we shall never surrender.

JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong. Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. We're Americans. We're Americans and we'll never surrender. They will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: It is fascinating to see the kinds of choices that they make, first of all which videos they even create in a lot of cases. And also which videos they choose to put front and center and make very clear to any visitor to that comes along.

Jessica, I'll keep making sure that I spend the necessary time in cyberspace, see what else pops up along the way. You keep chasing them all over the country. I think I got the better end of that deal.

YELLIN: Let me ask you a question, Josh. First, I can't tell you how many times I have called somebody an advisor to Senator Clinton and they say well actually, we have an answer to that on Hillary Hub. Go to Hillary Hub. You have to press them a little bit more to give you a little bit beyond what's on the Web.

My question for you is this. This race has taken a turn in the last two weeks just before Ohio with a lot sharper attacks on one another between Clinton and Obama. Obama's characterized it as going negative on Clinton's part. I wonder if you've seen their Websites change in tone in the last two weeks as this race has become slightly nastier.

LEVS: I'm glad you asked that. One thing I like to point out when I get the chance is that the Websites have been nastier for a long time. I've visited -- this campaign major sites, used to be more than a dozen candidates, I used to visit every single one every day. July, August, September, and back when Clinton was leading the polls on the Democratic side, so often you had Barack Obama and John Edwards, and others, going after her. So there's been a lot of negativity on the sites in general.

When they felt they could get away with it, they are a limit more, make that viral, supporters e-mail each other. Clinton doing it, too, Republicans doing it as well. In recent weeks I haven't seen that overall messages online is harsher, there is just more of it, more posts, more responses, more intensity, more frequently, but not necessarily meaner. How's that?

YELLIN: Interesting. That's fascinating. Josh keeping it real on the Web.

OK, we'll check back in with Josh at some point later in the day. For now we are taking a commercial break. On the other side we'll have more BALLOT BOWL so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOTHIAN: Welcome back to CNN BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Dan Lothian in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And I'm joined by my colleague, Jessica Yellin, who's out in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jessica, an important win for Barack Obama yesterday.

YELLIN: It was. Barack Obama walked away with the state of Wyoming after their caucus. Barack Obama picked up seven delegates in this state. Senator Hillary Clinton picked up a healthy five in her campaign is calling it almost a delicate tie but that's not quite right, because Barack Obama does have the lead number of delegates coming out of this state. This race is about as close as it can get, as we know. Barack Obama has taken a bit of a hit this past week with some bad news coming out, working against him and his campaign message.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxantshop.com