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'Ballot Bowl '08'

Aired March 13, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

DANA BASH, HOST: Welcome to this special edition of CNN's BALLOT BOWL '08.
I'm Dana Bash, live today on Capitol Hill.

I'm on Capitol Hill because all three candidates for president, the Republican, John McCain, and the two Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are here on Capitol Hill. They're actually participating in their day jobs.

In fact, they're on the Senate floor taking a series of votes that are going to go on pretty much all day relating to the U.S. budget. So we are going to be following that.

And we're also going to be doing what we do every day on BALLOT BOWL, which is give you the candidates as they are on the campaign trail, sometimes live, sometimes on tape, but we always try to give you an unfiltered sense of the kinds of things that they're telling voters in order to get their party's nomination and, of course, to get the vote. And it's going to be a very busy hour today.

Joining me for some help with that is my colleague, Mary Snow, who is in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, today with Rudy Giuliani, who's pinch-hitting, I guess, for John McCain out on the trail while he's here in Washington.

Hi, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's -- hi there, Dana.

That's right, Rudy Giuliani stepping in because Senator McCain is in Washington. He's here at a fundraiser right outside the state's capital of Harrisburg. And he is going to be taking questions from the press once his event is over.

He's sure to be asked about Eliot Spitzer, the New York governor from his home state. But also, he's really here to make the case that Senator McCain is the best candidate to be commander in chief, and how that plays into the race.

Dana, we're going to throw it back to you in Washington for that and a lot more.

BASH: That's right, Mary.

And I guess it's time I think we should explain why these senators decided to come back and participate in their day jobs today. I mean, certainly there are votes nearly every day in the Senate that they have missed -- and they have missed a lot. In fact, John McCain and Barack Obama, they haven't been on the Senate floor for about a month, since February, a series of national security votes. But today there is one particular hot-button issue that -- especially on the presidential campaign trail, and that is the issue of earmarks.

And there is going to be a vote sometime later this afternoon, likely at this point, which would give a moratorium, or at least stop the process of earmarks for one year. That's something that John McCain is a co-sponsor of. He's been very active consistently on the campaign trail talking about his opposition to earmarks. It's actually an amendment that the Democrats are going to vote for, despite the fact that both of them, even in the last year, have gotten a hefty sum of earmarks. Hillary Clinton has gotten about $340 million last year, Barack Obama got $90 million or so.

This has been an issue, again, particularly for John McCain. He talks about it nonstop as he's on the stump, the issue of earmarks. And it's something that he's hoping to use as a contrast between his candidacy and both Democrats, but particularly he has been going after Barack Obama.

Why? Because Obama, at least for the first couple of years he was in the Senate, he has not disclosed who his earmarks have gone to back in his home state of Illinois.

So, this morning when McCain was making his way back here to his office, back here where I am in the Russell building, we caught up with him. And he did not waste any time attacking Barack Obama on that very issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Do you think Senator Clinton and Obama are a little late to the earmarks game?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, of course, since they've requested earmarks and they have used earmarks. And some of them in a manner that I don't think the taxpayers would at all approve of. And both cases it's hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' dollars that are absolutely outrageously wasted.

QUESTION: Would you still like...

MCCAIN: I think they should ask that those earmarks that they asked for and obtained, the money hasn't been spent yet -- ask them to turn that money back to the Treasury.

QUESTION: Do you think that Senator Obama should still reveal what earmarks he has?

MCCAIN: Sure. If he believes in transparency in government, he should certainly ask -- he should certainly make it public, the earmarks that he's asked for and received over the last couple of years.

QUESTION: Does it change anything that he' signed on to your moratorium?

MCCAIN: I think that he should do several things. One, reveal -- he and Senator Clinton reveal the earmarks that they asked for. A lot of those projects, the money has not been spent. Ask that that money not be spent.

I'd call him to say, hey, don't spend that money because they are earmarks, they didn't go through a proper process, and taxpayers can't afford it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, as I said, as we speak there are votes going on. And the Senate floor -- look, the Senate in general, even though they all fight each other on a host of issues, especially when you're talking about the presidential candidates, it's kind of a club. And there you see a picture of people milling around.

And we have a little bit of color for your from our Senate producer, Ted Barrett, who was talking about the fact that earlier he definitely saw both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the floor, and John McCain as well. He even said that he saw some of the senators from the states that are having big problems, Michigan and Florida, approach Barack Obama.

Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Bill Nelson approached Barack Obama. He said he couldn't necessarily read the lips, but it was pretty clear they were talking about trying to figure out a way to deal with the problems of those states' delegates not being counted. That is one of the big issue right now inside the Democratic Party.

So it's interesting that there is some business, presidential business, being done, or at least attempted to be done there on the floor. And Barack Obama, in fact, had a moment -- or excuse me, Hillary Clinton had a moment with John McCain on the floor.

We're going to try to get some of that, some information about that to you as well. But it's interesting to watch the interaction and the dynamic between all of these senators, particularly the presidential candidates, as they come back for the first time in a very, very long time to do their day job.

And as we monitor the Senate floor and talk about the impact of these votes, particularly the fact that we just heard that this issue of earmarks probably won't be voted on until later today, and that could impact John McCain because he's supposed to be at a fundraiser -- that's another kind of interesting wrinkle in what happens when you try to do your day job and run for president at the same time. But we'll get back to that in just a little while.

But we want to turn to the Democratic side, and I want to bring in my colleague Suzanne Malveaux, who has been following this fascinating story and this controversy about Geraldine Ferraro and the remarks that she made last week, but really came to light this past week about Barack Obama, suggesting that he is only where he is because he's black. And of course, the subsequent -- what happened yesterday with Ferraro stepping down from her position on the Clinton campaign.

What's the latest on that, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, I spoke with Geraldine Ferraro yesterday, and she says she has no apologies, she has no regrets for her comments. She went on to say, "I am who I am, and I'm going to continue to speak out and speak up."

She said yesterday essentially that she felt the Obama campaign was putting this out here, accusing her of being racist to hurt the Clinton campaign. Now, the Obama campaign never called her racist, never said those comments were racist, but they certainly said that they were offensive comments, and it really escalated here.

We heard the Obama campaign talking about this, and then there was a conference call regarding it. And then following up with that, the chief strategist, David Axlerod, calling for her, Ferraro, to be essentially eliminated from this campaign, removed from the campaign. She's in a finance committee, and that is exactly what Ferraro did.

She decided that this just wasn't worth it, that it was damaging to Hillary Clinton. And she sent a letter yesterday -- I'm going to read part of that letter.

It said, "Dear Hillary, I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what's at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you, and I won't let that happen."

Now, Ferraro said that she was quite upset about this because she felt that her comments were taken out of context. She said that she was expressing something that was more historic, the fact that he was in this position, that -- because he was black. A lot of people took offense to those comments, and Hillary Clinton was put in a position where she was asked to repudiate the comments, distance herself from them.

She did initially, but a lot of people did not think it was strong enough. Well, it was just last night, once again, she was asked about the situation before a group of black journalists, and here's how she responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I rejected what she said, and I certainly do repudiate it, and regret deeply that, you know, it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign. She doesn't speak for any of my positions. And she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Dana, in fact, it is a very large finance committee. There are thousands of people that make up this committee. Essentially, those are people who raise funds for Hillary Clinton. So Ferraro really felt that that was being exaggerated, her whole role in the campaign. But clearly, Hillary Clinton and her camp realized that this was a political liability. They removed themselves, stepped away from these comments.

I asked Ferraro if she had any resentment or regrets about the comments. She said no. She understood why it was that Hillary Clinton distanced herself. She said she thought that was completely fine. She understood this was all politics.

The big picture, as you know, since this comes following last week's flap -- you had Samantha Power, who was an Obama adviser, calling Hillary Clinton a monster, and a lot of pressure for her to step down. She in fact did step down. So you had the Obama campaign weighing in this week over these controversial comments.

Ferraro simply saying that she disagreed with Barack Obama that she was slicing and dicing the Democratic Party, that she was splitting them in some way, that this wasn't productive. She said, if anything, it was the Obama campaign that was doing this. But this really does reflect the height in sensitivity here for both of these campaigns in terms of their surrogates, their supporters, what they say, and what the fallout -- the potential fallout is for the voters -- Dana.

BASH: Exactly, Suzanne. And you know, what I want to ask you about specifically though is what you're hearing on this whole issue of race.

You've been covering this story, particularly within the Democratic Party. But look, as you know, one of the big points of heartburn inside the Clinton campaign about all this is that it played right into the narrative from back in South Carolina, that the Clinton campaign, whether overtly or just, you know -- just having some kind of subtle comments, that they are playing the race card.

What are you hearing about how much this played into that narrative from your sources inside the Clinton campaign and how much concern there was about that?

MALVEAUX: Well, sure. I mean, definitely, the Obama supporters contend that this is something that the Clinton campaign has used as some sort of strategy, that somebody comes out, says something rather explosive, that it deals with race or brings up his race, and then they pull back.

The Clinton campaign says there is no such thing that is happening, but, you know, we've heard from former president Bill Clinton in South Carolina, a lot of comments that some people took offense to, they felt it was racially insensitive, those in the black community. And so you do have kind of this back-and-forth of what has happened here.

We heard from Barack Obama yesterday, who did say he did not think there was some sort of directive inside of the Clinton campaign to bring race to the forefront here. But there certainly is a perception that this is being used as a political football.

And I have to tell you, I was at the Black Press of America, that forum, just yesterday. These are folks who represent some 200 black newspapers, and they are saying that their readers are becoming increasingly a bit suspicious of Hillary Clinton because not necessarily of her comments, but because of Ferraro's comments, because of Bill Clinton's comments, that there is a certain unease here that they're dealing with.

So there are a lot of questions, a lot of issues that they put that out there to Hillary Clinton that she did respond to. She was apologizing for Ferraro's comments, she's apologized for her husband's comments as well, if they were taken as being offensive. But it does create perhaps a real problem for her looking forward.

She's already losing the African-American vote to Obama. She is trying to make up for that -- make up some ground in the states to come, but it is going to be a real challenge for her -- Dana.

BASH: Absolutely, very interesting. Especially about that meeting of black journalists you went to yesterday and what they are learning.

Suzanne, thank you very much for that.

Now I want to turn it over to my colleague Mary Snow, who is following Rudy Giuliani, pinch-hitting for John McCain in Pennsylvania.

Hey, Mary.

SNOW: Hey there, Dana.

We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back we'll take a look at Rudy Giuliani, the former Republican presidential hopeful, reemerging on the campaign trail.

Plus, on the Democrat side, we're going to take a look at a possible do-over in Florida and Michigan.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to this edition of BALLOT BOWL '08.

I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill today, where three presidential candidates are doing their day job there on the Senate floor, voting on a series of budget-related measures. And they're actually taking some time, we understand, doing some business on the floor, some political busy.

In fact, the senator from Michigan, the Democrat, Debbie Stabenow, was seen talking to Barack Obama, what appeared to be clearly a conversation about the mess that her home state, Michigan, is in because their delegates are not being counted right now because they broke the rules of the Democratic National Committee and moved their primary up.

And on that note, I want to bring in my colleague, Mary Snow, who's got some more information about what's going on in the state of Michigan.

And whether or not they're any closer, Mary, to having any kind of resolution on whether or not they can count those delegates.

SNOW: Well, you know, Dana, in Florida particularly we could hear some more details on what the Democratic Party there is proposing to do in terms of a do-over. They are holding a press conference later this afternoon where there could be more on that.

Also, Michigan has a plan. How far it will go, now the question. We'll take a closer look right now from Deb Feyerick, who filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: The nearly two and a half-million Americans in those two states who participated in the primary elections are in danger of being excluded from our Democratic process. And I think that's wrong.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The two states broke National Democratic Party rules by moving up their primaries to January. The contests took place, but none of the major candidates campaigned in Florida and Michigan. And the states' delegations are banned from the party's convention this summer.

CLINTON: The results of those primaries were fair and they should be honored.

FEYERICK: Clinton won both primaries, but the idea of counting the January results doesn't fly with the Obama campaign.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, and I didn't campaign at all in Florida.

FEYERICK: With the battle for the Democratic nomination so close, and with November victories in both states crucial for the Democrats to retake the White House, there is a drive for Florida and Michigan to vote again.

OBAMA: There should be some way of arriving at a fair settlement that respects the fact that there were rules in place, but also makes sure that the Michigan and Florida voters are seated.

FEYERICK: But getting the states, the national party and the campaigns to agree on what kind of contests to hold won't be easy. The Obama campaign says it will follow the national party's lead, but camp Clinton wants the two campaigns to try to figure it out.

CLINTON: And I hope that Senator Obama's campaign will join me in working to make that happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And that was Deb Feyerick reporting.

So, in Florida, the idea being floated around is a combination of a possible re-do on the vote on June 3rd, and a mail-in election. In Michigan, the idea being proposed is to have another election, but not for the state to pay for it.

And of course, money is a very big question. It's estimated that in each state it will cost more than $10 million to have another primary. So who is going to pay for it? That is something that Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, was talking about this morning on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN, CHAIRMAN, DNC: The leaders are pretty much divided among partisan lines. I was in Florida yesterday, I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with some of the members of the congressional delegation, Senator Nelson. So there's lots of division about this., and this is the fun part of my job. I get to -- get to bring these sides together.

Here's the bottom line. We'd like to find a way to seat Florida and Michigan. We'd like to do it in a way that's fair, that both sides believe is fair. Fair to the voters, but also fair to the campaigns, because when you change the rules in the middle of the game -- which is what's being proposed here -- you've got to do it in a way that both campaigns agree is fair.

I think the best option is whatever we can get the candidates to agree with, which puts a vote back in the hands of the people of Florida and Michigan. And that's going to be not so easy to do.

Once you've had the -- once you're halfway or three-quarters of the way down the track, as we are in this race, to go back and change something, that is a big deal. So this is going to be -- require some delicacy, some diplomacy.

But look, the issue here is, do we want to be united in the convention? If he want to be united in the convention, we ought to try to fix this problem now and not wait until the convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And talking about diplomacy, congressional Democrats from Florida are still divided over exactly how to go about the vote in Florida for -- on the Democratic side. So a lot of questions still need to be answered. Again, we're going to be hearing from the Florida Democratic Party later this afternoon, perhaps with more details on how they plan to go forward.

We're also going to check in -- Rudy Giuliani back on the campaign trail. He's out here in Pennsylvania campaigning for Senator John McCain.

But also, we're going to take a look at other news, including a security incident at London's Heathrow Airport.

We'll be right back.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARY SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. This is a chance for you to hear directly from the presidential candidates. This is kind of a rare day on the campaign trail. I'm Mary Snow. I'm in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where we see a former Republican presidential hopeful back on the campaign trail. Rudy Giuliani coming in to really be a substitute for Senator John McCain. And that's because Senator McCain is back in D.C. at his day job, has some earmark legislation that is coming up and that is where Dana Bash is.

And, Dana, I'm assuming that Senator McCain wants this vote to come sooner than later, right, because he has places to be here in Pennsylvania.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: He does. He's got an important place to be, and that's a fund-raiser. He is trying very hard this week to raise as much money as he can. He's pretty much on a fund-raising blitz. That's planned for this afternoon.

But you know what? He's getting a reminder here of what it's like to work on Senate time. Not only that, Mary, but what it's like to work on Senate time when his party doesn't control the chamber. The Democrats do.

They had thought -- Senator McCain and his staff had thought that they would be able to come in and have this vote on earmarks. And this vote is to have a moratorium or a stop to earmarks for one year. Pretty much about now or at least even maybe an hour or so ago so he could get back on the road and get up to Pennsylvania for a fund- raiser. We're told that he and the co-sponsor of that measure, Senator Jim DeMint, are trying to get the Democratic leader to push that vote forward, to make it earlier so he can get back on the campaign trail. But he's coming up against some resistance.

Now this is complicated in terms of how these arrangements are made. But what is going on, on the Senate floor is not just that, but there's a series of votes all day long and they had planned the order in which they were going to come and this was not apparently planned to happen until much later.

So again, Senator McCain and his colleague on this, they're trying to push to make it earlier. And a spokesman for Senator DeMint told our Senate produce who has been following this very closely, Ted Barrett, he said, "this is so shameless. Support of the status quo -- this is the support of the status quo and they're trying to do this in the dark of night."

So there's a lot of politicking going on right here, even over the timing of this vote, when it's going to happen, because the Democratic leader actually is not supportive of this idea of stopping earmarks for a year. So Senator McCain is trying to figure out how he's going to deal with that versus his schedule today.

But while that's going on, there's also some interesting color on the Senate floor. I mean this is a reminder today that no matter who is going to be the next president of the United States, they're going to come for the first time since John F. Kennedy from where I am, from the United States Senate, and they've been doing a little bit of business on the Senate floor. We understand that Senator McCain and Hillary Clinton had a moment together. Senator Obama has been approached by some of his colleagues talking about some of the hot- button issues on the campaign trail, like the issue of the delegate mess really in the state of Florida and also the state of Michigan.

So it's interesting to watch them milling about all the time on the Senate floor. Also a reminder that no matter how much they really battle it out, out on the campaign trail, the Senate, at the end of the day, is a bit of a club. But again, back on that issue of when this timing of this earmark vote is going to be is also a reminder that things pretty much are sour between the Democrats and the Republicans here when it comes to even things like process and structure on these votes on the Senate floor. It really has been quite a sour time here.

But, you know, on this issue of Barack Obama and all the Democrats and Republicans coming back from the campaign trail, Obama actually spoke to some of the reporters who follow him on the plane and talked about what he expects with these budget votes when he got here. Let's listen to what he said to reporters on his plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, let's talk about what we're going to be voting on. We now have another effort to extend the Bush tax cuts, another effort to eliminate or drastically reduce the estate tax. These are all steps that John McCain rightly said were irresponsible when they first came up. That certainly were unprecedented at a time of war. He made a decision to reverse himself on that. That was how I guess you got your ticket punched to be the Republican nominee.

But he was right then and he's wrong now. You know, the notion that we would pile up more mountains of debt, literally borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for tax breaks to people who don't need them and weren't even asking for them I think is unfortunate. And it's an example of the kinds of flawed fiscal policies that have gotten us in such a hole under this administration and a Republican Congress.

Now, you know, we have identified the cuts that we think are available or the changes in our tax code that are available to pay for our middle class tax cuts, as well as our proposals to fund higher education and so on. We've also talked about having a cabin (ph) trade system that generates billions of dollars to pay for many of the proposals that we've talked about. "The Wall Street Journal" did an article several weeks ago evaluating our claims and saying that if I was able to move my agenda forward, I could, in fact, pay for all the proposals that I've made. Now do I think it will be easy? No. The problem is not whether or not the money is there. The problem is that there will be a lot of special interests and lobbyists that resist the kinds of changes that I've proposed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That's Democrat Barack Obama speaking to reporters as he made his way here, which is where he is right now, in the United States Senate, voting on a series of proposals related to the budget. We've been talking about this whole idea of a year-long moratorium on earmarks but he was talking about another issue, and that is tax cuts. Specifically the president's tax cuts. Really going after Senator McCain on the idea that he now wants to extend the president's tax cuts. Not just that but Senator McCain wants to make them permanent. The tax cuts are one of the many, many issues that will be voted on during the day today, budget-related issues.

And very interesting, Mary, from my perspective, to be listening to the Democrats hit John McCain on the fact that he is for keeping these tax cuts permanent when all through the last several months what we've heard is from Republicans who were very angry at John McCain because he voted against the president's tax cuts in the first place. So it just shows you what a different campaign he's obviously going to have to run, clearly, as he's opposing the Democrats versus what he's been dealing with for the past several months.

SNOW: Yes, very, very different.

And, you know, one other interesting point on the plane, reporters were kind of joking when they asked him this, but, you know, when you were talking about the fact that these senators were really going to be so closely watched in the Senate right now, one of the questions was, are we going to have to watch how you and Senator Clinton greet each other? Because you remember the whole dust-up over the State of the Union when people said that he snubbed Senator Clinton and he gave an answer saying, yes, we're going to be sure to greet each other and shake hands. But just showing you like every little move is under the microscope.

BASH: It definitely is.

In fact, I know our Senate producer, Ted Barrett, our other producer here, Evan Glass (ph), they've been watching like hawks to see if that happens. Apparently they haven't interacted yet. At least Senators Obama and Clinton haven't. But McCain and Clinton have. So there definitely is some, I know, rivalry going -- rivalry at least left at the door of the Senate chamber today, at least through McCain and Clinton. And we're sure that the two of them are going to see each other. If it's not happening on the Senate floor, behind the scenes in the Democratic cloak room, I'm sure it is happening. And also to be a fly on the wall there and also to be one of their colleagues kind of watching and listening in private there would be pretty fascinating. Too bad we don't have access there, Mary.

SNOW: You know, the photographers will be snapping away and their interaction will be shot.

But a very different story here. We're at a country club in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, right outside Harrisburg. And Rudy Giuliani was called in to duty because Senator McCain is in Washington today at his day job.

Rudy Giuliani right now is inside holding a fund-raiser, gaining support for Senator McCain. And this is the first time we have seen him on the campaign trail since Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the race after the Florida primary on January 29th and immediately went to California with Senator McCain to endorse him. And here's Rudy Giuliani back then at the end of January when he threw his support behind his former rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States. He is an American hero and America could use heroes in the White House. He's a man of honor and integrity and you can underline both, honor and integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Rudy Giuliani back at the end of January endorsing Senator John McCain. Now he is out on the campaign trail trying to raise money for his former rival. But he had always said that he was a big supporter of his friend, Senator McCain.

BASH: We just lost Mary Snow's audio there. Gremlins of live television. We'll definitely get Mary back in a minute.

But as Mary was just discussing, Rudy Giuliani is pinch-hitting for John McCain as McCain is here. It's a reminder of the fact that they are clearly friends and also a reminder of the fact that Rudy Giuliani, you know, wow, what a difference a couple of months make because Rudy Giuliani, at least a few months ago, was thought to be riding high, was thought to be on his way, potentially if you looked at the national polls, towards getting the nomination. But then a whole lot of things happened, particularly the fact that his strategy to have -- to avoid basically the early states and focus on Florida simply did not work.

But he is out there traveling and campaigning for Senator John McCain. And the one issue -- one of the many issues that the two really do agree on is the war in Iraq. And here on BALLOT BOWL we want to not just tell you about what's going on, but here, as we speak, which is that the senators are voting all day long here, the candidates who are also senators, are voting all day long here on budget-related matters.

But we want to take you to some interesting and perhaps key moments on the campaign trail. And one of those moments did happen relating to the war in Iraq with John McCain yesterday. He went back to the state that really is very near and dear to his heart. It's the state of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a primary that he won back in 2000 and it is the state that really helped resurrect -- it was responsible for resurrecting his campaign this time around because he won the New Hampshire primary, and more importantly, because he had a relationship with the New Hampshire voters, he was able to go back and, in his words, live off the land at a time where he had very, very little money, very little resources, but just went around from town hall to town hall, had about 101 town halls. That really helped him bring his campaign from being dead to being very much alive and where he is today.

One of the things that McCain talks about over and over pretty much at every campaign stop now is a moment during those times where he met the mother of a man named -- of a soldier named Matthew Stanley. Matthew Stanley was killed in Iraq. And the moment that he talks about is when his mother stood up at one of those town halls back in the summer in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and said that she wants him to wear the bracelet of Matthew Stanley, which John McCain still does to this day, wears that bracelet, and talks about that as what he considers a turning point in his campaign and a decision that despite at the time it was strong, strong opposition, even more than now, to the Iraq War, that he wanted to -- decided it was important to stay the course.

So that mother was actually at the event with John McCain yesterday, when he went back for the first time to New Hampshire. And there was a bit of a moment there when John McCain recognized her. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I could just mention, there are a couple people here today that I just want to especially thank so much because both families have made a great sacrifice. And Tom Gibson (ph). Tom is here. And Jim and Lynn Savidge (ph) are here. Jim and Lynn, I believe, are here today. Jim and Lynn. Both these families lost a son in Iraq. They are my inspiration and I'm very, very grateful that you're here. Thank you. And thank you for the service and sacrifice that you have made.

And I am committed, Lynn, to doing, as you charged me back last August. And I promise you, I will continue that charge and that obligation. That solemn obligation.

So, my friends, we have made enormous sacrifice and Americans are frustrated because this war has gone on so long. But I am glad that no American is divided in our support of these brave young Americans who are serving in the military today. You're proud of them and I am proud of them, too.

So let me recount to you again what I say all over this country, because it was one of the most moving experiences that I've ever had. It took place in Wolfeboro last August in the town hall meeting when Lynn stood up and said, would you do me the honor of wearing a bracelet with my son's name on it, Matthew Stanley. And she told me that Matthew was killed in combat outside of Baghdad. He -- just before Christmas. He was 22 years old.

I told her I would be honored to wear this bracelet and I have ever since. And she also said that she wanted me to do everything in my power to make sure that her son's death was not in vain. My friends, Matthew Stanley's bracelet will remain with me. But more importantly, the brave young Americans who are serving will remain with me always.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John McCain there talking about his commitment to staying in Iraq. A reminder now at this point as we move towards the general election that no matter who he is going to be running against, either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, that issue of the Iraq War is going to be one of the biggest dividing lines between John McCain and either of them because they have such incredibly stark different positions on the way to go forward with the war.

And, in fact, talking about the Democrats, we're going to talk more about them, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, right after a break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to this Thursday edition of CNN's BALLOT BOWL. A chance for you to hear directly from the presidential candidates, sometimes live, sometimes on tape, always unfiltered. Today we have comment on tape and that's because it's a very rare day on the campaign trail. All three of the presidential candidates on the Republican side, Senator John McCain, and on the Democratic side Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama, are all in Washington, D.C., going back to their day jobs in the Senate and focusing on their work there for a number of bills that are coming up this afternoon.

But they were on the campaign trail yesterday. And, of course, they'll be heading back soon after their work is done in D.C. And we want to start with Senator Hillary Clinton who was in Washington yesterday speaking to the Hispanic chamber of commerce. She talked about a number of issues, but particularly we wanted to take a listen to what she had to say about some of her economic proposals and about her reaching out to the Hispanic community. Here's Senator Hillary Clinton in her own words yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every day you stand for a core American ideal, that it doesn't matter where you were born, or how much money you were born into. What matters strongly is whether you believe in your dreams and whether you are willing to work for those dreams. And hard work and entrepreneurship have always been central to the Hispanic community here in the United States.

Just think, in a country with 30 million Hispanic adults, we have more than two and a half million Hispanic-owned businesses. That's an extraordinary accomplishment. And these are businesses that lift people into the middle class, revitalize neighborhoods and affirm that the American dream is alive and well.

You know, I am a beneficiary of the American dream and the role small business plays in that dream. Now after serving in . . .

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Senator Hillary Clinton yesterday speaking to the Hispanic chamber of commerce in Washington, D.C. And, of course, the big headline yesterday is the issue of race has come up because Geraldine Ferraro, former vice presidential candidate back in 1984, had made remarks about Senator Barack Obama, suggesting that he wouldn't have gotten this far had he been a white man. And, of course, there's a lot of controversy about it. Geraldine Ferraro did not apologize for her comments. She stood by them, but did resign from the finance committee of Senator Clinton's campaign saying that she felt that she was being made out to be a racist and that it was hurting Senator Clinton's campaign. Senator Clinton has apologized for Geraldine Ferraro's comment.

But yesterday, Senator Barack Obama, while he was in Chicago, was asked about the issue of race coming up once again in the presidential campaign. Here's Senator Barack Obama yesterday speaking to reporters in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There has been a running thread throughout this campaign of both pundits and prognosticators asking, first, was I black enough, then am I too black. I don't know what exactly the margin of black vote is that is the optimal, not too black but black enough, but that's not the approach that we've taken in this campaign. Our approach throughout the campaign has been to say that the divisions of race, of gender, of region are precisely what have inhibited us from moving effectively forward to solve big problems like health care, energy, the war on terror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama yesterday being asked about the issue of race and how it is playing out in the presidential campaign. Senator Obama's campaign never had said that Geraldine Ferraro's comments were racist, but they did say that they were ridiculous when she made them.

That is a look at what the candidates had to say on the campaign trail. As we've been telling you, they are in Washington today. We're going to take a quick trip back to Washington before we head out for the day. We're going to take a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to this edition of BALLOT BOWL '08." I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

And here just a few minutes ago the highest ranking Democrat in the land, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, just jumped back into that whole issue of whether or not there could, or should, be a dream ticket. A so-called dream ticket with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the same ticket. And she just said just moments ago, she said, take it from me, that won't be the ticket. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: I do think we will have a dream team, it just won't be those two names. Whoever our nominee is, and whoever he or she is and whoever he or she chooses will be a dream team as the democrats go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So there you see Nancy Pelosi there jumping back into this whole issue.

Now our House producer, Deirdre Walsh, who was there said that she was asked a number of times, why? Why are you saying this? Why do you think that? And she wouldn't answer the question, just saying that she's not going to get into her years of experience and understanding of the way politics works.

But the way politics works usually is people as sophisticated as Nancy Pelosi don't say things unless they want to try to influence it. And clearly she is trying to make the case that she, for whatever reason, does not think that that ticket is going to happen. Perhaps doesn't think that the whole idea of the Clintons making that point in a very controversial way last week was the best idea.

So here on Capitol Hill, not just Nancy Pelosi is talking it -- she's not just talking about the presidential candidates, the presidential candidates are actually here. All of them. Senator John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton. Just to remind you, they have been voting all day and they will continue to vote all day on a series of budget-related measures. There is some chance for them to interact on the Senate floor, but also, in particular, with regard to the issue at hand, they are all going to vote for a year moratorium on the issue of earmarks. That will happen later today.

And now I want to toss it back to my colleague, Mary Snow, in Pennsylvania.

SNOW: And, Dana, we're going to be watching Rudy Giuliani out on the campaign trail for Senator John McCain. That's coming up on "Newsroom." And "Newsroom" continues right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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