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Lesser-Known Dems Hope for "Fiorina" Moment; Interview with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman; LinkedIn to Offer Open-Ended Time Policy. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 12, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:36] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Joining me now is Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Boston's Northeastern University and author of "Presidential Debates: 50 Years of High-Risk TV". Welcome -- Alan. Are you there?

ALAN SCHROEDER, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Yes, I am.

COSTELLO: Oh, good. You scared me for just a moment. There you are.

SCHROEDER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Sally Kohn tells me she thinks this could be one awesome, exciting, substantive debate. What do you say?

SCHROEDER: Well, I hope so. I mean the fact that there is this extra time means that the candidates are in a position to be able to talk about things in a way that when you have 10, 11 people on the stage, you simply do that. So I think it does have the potential to be a very wonky, kind of meaty debate.

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton still leads in most polls and by a long-shot. Wouldn't it be smarter for her just to kind of like stand on the stage and smile and say a few things but not much?

SCHROEDER: Perhaps in an ideal world she might get away with that. But you know, the thing is if you look back at 2008, Hillary was a really good debater in a very tough field. So, I don't think she has anything really to be scared of, other than the fact that she is the front-runner and, therefore, perhaps the target of some of the other candidates.

COSTELLO: Well, Bernie Sanders said he's not going to attack her in any way, but the other candidates must, mustn't they?

SCHRODER: Well, it seems that there might be some good strategy involved in doing that. I mean you have three candidates who really are asterisks or at 1 percent in the polls. And so, you know, this is a platform for them to reach millions of people and to differentiate their candidacies from hers.

But I do think there is some danger in being too negative and, you know, doing anything that's just blatantly an attempt to generate some attention on yourself. COSTELLO: So how do you accomplish that if you're like, let's

say, Martin O'Malley? Because he's come out swinging a few times but hasn't exactly resonated?

SCHROEDER: Well, it is a problem, you know. And the fact is that Martin O'Malley, I think, one of the smartest moves he's made so far is this demand for more debates. And I would think that perhaps during this thing on Tuesday night, he asks for more debates and challenge his opponents to more debates because the more air time he has, the more exposure he has, the better it is for him.

But all of them are going to be looking to generate, you know, those YouTube moments that live on after the debate in a positive way.

COSTELLO: That's a tough thing, though, right? You know, a lot of people say, Senator Jim Webb, we shouldn't underestimate him and his policy positions differ greatly from Hillary Clinton.

SCHROEDER: Yes, they do. And of course Jim Webb is sort of the mystery man in all of this and he really hasn't been out doing a traditional campaign. And so, I think that, you know, he's the big question mark. And you have to wonder if you're the other candidates, how do you prepare for that? How do you prepare for a candidate who doesn't really, you know, isn't out there on the hustings the way the rest of them are. So yes, he could be the wild card in this event, definitely.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Alan Schroeder -- thanks for your insight.

SCHROEDER: Sure, Carol -- thanks.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:37:18] COSTELLO: The debate stage is ready in the great city of Las Vegas. The Democratic candidates doing their last-minute preps to wow the nation. Nevada, by the way, is an important swing state. Obama won the state in 2008 but George W. Bush also registered a win in Nevada.

My next guest is Carolyn Goodman. She is the mayor of Las Vegas. I actually interviewed her in 2011 at the brand new Mob Museum along with her husband and former mayor, Oscar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CAROLYN GOODMAN (I), LAS VEGAS: They call us mayor one or two, and neither of us yet have figured out who's one and who's two.

OSCAR GOODMAN, FORMER MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS: I have no idea.

C. GOODMAN: But the reason I ran only, I mean being a citizen of this wonderful city for the past 47 years, was to continue on the vision and the accomplishments of what has happened during the 12 years and even despite the economy and backslide nationally. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Could you tell she was running for mayor then? That was also a candid, and frankly adorable moment when I told them that many people call them the Bill and Hillary of Vegas except some say they're much, much better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

C. GOODMAN: Don't tell them. I think so, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mayor Goodman, it's so, so nice to have you with me. How's the office so far?

C. GOODMAN: Well, I'm into my second term now. We are so delighted to be having this debate in our entertainment capital of the world. So life is great out here. Our weather is perfect and we are ready for tomorrow.

COSTELLO: You're such a good ambassador for the city of Las Vegas. You're also an Independent. And I just wondered, have you decided to endorse anyone?

C. GOODMAN: Well, I have to tell you, Independent's a party, I'm a nonpartisan. I really believe in working across the aisle because we have Republicans and Democrats in our city council. And that's what I'm looking for.

No, because it's early. I'm really waiting to, you know, hear as we go through the process, really hear, you know, I want to hear some concrete policies and plans and not the bashing that goes on.

We really need someone who can unlock the gridlock. I mean that's what I think it's all about. As a nonpartisan, I'm particularly passionate about that and work with people from both parties.

COSTELLO: The last time I talked to you, the Republicans were debating and you were critical that no one had a good jobs plan. Does anyone on the Democratic side, in your mind, have a good jobs plan?

C. GOODMAN: Well, you know, I'm not sure we have the whole lineups of candidates yet. As we know what's coming up for the first debate, I think we're going to hear some things there. Obviously, the economy is extremely important to every community in this entire country.

[10:40:08] But we have so many issues that are similar to those around the nation. We really want to see some specifics here, you know, the national safety issues. Those concern everybody in every community, especially when you see what happened in Turkey yesterday, the problems that we have with immigration.

We want to see positives. We want to see pathway to citizenship. We're really tired out here. We're a melting pot of people. We're really tired of all the negativism. We want to hear some positive plans. We want to hear and see better action for our veterans. I mean so many of them really have been the forgotten people and it's just -- it's outrageous.

But the biggest thing, too, is the national infrastructure. It's a D-minus in rating by (inaudible). We've been hearing that because we worry about transporting the radioactive materials across this country with failing bridges, failing roadways, rails that are in a mess. There's so much to be done.

So, no, I haven't endorsed anybody. I'm just waiting to hear. Parts of me are very Republican. Parts of me are very, very Democratic. And I just want to make sure we have a leader who can collectively get people with them who are bright, who are knowledgeable, who are experienced and really can turn this country around.

COSTELLO: I'm just curious, since you are nonpartisan is anybody on the Republican side doing it for you? Namely, oh, Donald Trump?

C. GOODMAN: Well, you know, he's exciting. Oscar and I went to visit him back several years ago when we were working on developing the Symphony Park area here, big area. And my gosh between my husband and Donald Trump, I just asked Aaron (inaudible), I felt I was in a ping pong tournament between the two of them, who could one up?

But, you know, as far as the Republicans, I did have some thoughts and I was leaning but now I'm having little changes of mind there as I see how they act and what their concerns are. I'm very concerned about entertainment being the focus of so many and how do we get the attention of people?

Really, this is critical. This is a very, very challenging time. We really need to select the right leader who has dignity and can walk on all paths across the country. I mean I think the problems we have with water in the West, I look at the flooding in the East. I mean the things we should be doing and putting the public dollars to the common good in the right places. That's what I want to hear about.

I'm a very big believer in 14th amendment. Want to see the states deal with the issues they need to be dealing with. And I want to see better use of the public dollars. And of course, we have so much to do, whether it's what we're doing with the global economy, what we're doing with the criminal justice system here.

Our foreign policy in the Middle East affects all of us now. Everything affects all of us now because all together since we can connect so quickly in seconds.

And then, of course, the mental health issues are so critical especially as they affect all this gun control. When I was a little girl growing up, there were sanitariums for those who at least made a modicum of effort to get some help.

And today unfortunately, there are no places. We have so many people with mental problems out there and creating such havoc and slaughtering people. There's just so much to do. And I want to hear from these candidates, both sides of the aisle, what are you doing?

Most importantly, why can't both sides of the aisle, for instance, just work specifically on veterans' issues and infrastructure, just for starters?

COSTELLO: I'm sure many, many people agree with you. I'm sure. Mayor Goodman, thank you so much for being with me this morning.

CNN will be the only place you can watch tomorrow night's Democratic debate on air or online. It starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Please join us.

[10:44:32] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, unlike their GOP counterparts, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been playing nice so far, but will that change when they take the stage in Las Vegas?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For many Americans, tomorrow's CNN debate will be first time seeing most if not all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls really talk policy. And the night will give some unknowns like Webb, Chafee and O'Malley time to talk and also give everyone more time to make mistakes.

Hugh Hewitt joins me now from Las Vegas. He's the host of the Hugh Hewitt show and helped asked the questions last month during CNN's Republican debate. Welcome.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: Hey Carol -- good morning.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. Any advice for the underdogs?

HEWITT: You know, I thought that if I were Jim Webb or O'Malley or Lincoln Chafee, I would study very closely Carly Fiorina and how she surprised. They could actually throw spanners into this debate that no one is expecting from the left or right side of the stage and make the Sanders/Clinton main event go in a direction no one is anticipating.

COSTELLO: I know that you're a Republican, but do you see any of those three candidates doing that, having that Carly Fiorina moment?

[10:50:00] HEWITT: Oh, yes, Jim Webb has been very impressive for a lot of years. He's not only very practiced. He had a lot of very good debates with George Al when he ran for Senate. But he's a very skilled screenwriter and novelist and he has a flare for the dramatic.

I've had him on my radio show before. I've interviewed them a lot actually. So I would look for him. And I had for Martin O'Malley come in from left field as well and make some very strong statements.

Of course, the main event is former secretary of state Clinton and Senator Sanders. But I wouldn't count them out. And you know, Webb is legendary for a 12-round boxing match with Oliver North at the Naval Academy in the 60s. If he decides to get into it, it could get very interesting tomorrow night.

COSTELLO: I like that bit of trivia. Thank you -- Hugh Hewitt. OK, so Hillary Clinton she still leads commandingly in some polls out there. Wouldn't it be smart for her to just to kind of play it safe? I mean her biggest mistake would be to --

HEWITT: Oh, absolutely.

COSTELLO: -- to misspeak, right?

HEWITT: Absolutely. She is also the most practiced of them all. I don't know how many debates they did in 2000 and '08, but there were a lot of them. Plus she ran for senate twice. So she's going to be very controlled.

She and Sanders are polar opposites. He's completely authentic, she's completely constructed. He's completely transparent, she's completely calculated. When they collide and I'll give you an example.

Yesterday Chuck Todd asked Bernie Sanders, are you a capitalist? Bernie Sanders said, no. I thought, oh, my gosh, no. Not a capitalist. If that happens on the stage and they ask Hillary Clinton to comment on Bernie Sanders' not being a capitalist, that puts her in a position where she has to be very cautious and I expect she will. She's done so many press conferences. It will be hard to shake her absent a complete out of left field question that she just isn't expecting.

COSTELLO: You don't think she'll come right out and say, Bernie Sanders, you're a socialist?

HEWITT: No. She will not attack Bernie Sanders. She will not say --

COSTELLO: He says he's a socialist.

He said He said it, but she'll straighten his tie. She's not going to do anything to get Bernie Sanders' people upset with her. She saw those crowds in Boston. She remembers 2008 the last thing she needs to do is underestimate an opponent who can't win. She's done that before. She's a learning machine. She's not going to do that again.

Only if Benghazi comes up and she has to start thinking about her October 22nd hearing, which is coming up before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, May she get flustered because she has to make sure that any answers that she gives on Benghazi or e-mails in her server, match that which has been sent to the committee by Sheryl Mills and Huma Abedin and others and what she's preparing by her lawyers, to say to the committee under oath in two weeks. So, that's the only time it gets tricky for her.

COSTELLO: I see Senator Webb going there. We'll see. Hugh Hewitt, thanks so much.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the newsroom, imagine your boss telling you to take all the vacation days you want, as long as you get your work done. Sounds incredible, right? Well, another major company is making that a reality.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:57:36] COSTELLO: Counting down the days, hours, minutes until your vacation can be grueling, so how does open-ended time off sound? That's right. No set minimum or maximum for vacation time. Networking site LinkedIn is the latest company offering discretionary time off, also known as DTO. Christine Romans is with me now to talk about DTO, which sounds fantastic.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is, if you take it, right? The whole point here, other companies have done this, too, Carol, the point here is this is about your results at work, not about how many hours or days you're putting at work.

The idea here is you sit down with your manager, and you say I'm going to take the week off and I've got my work done and let's go. And then six months later, you take another week off not counting the days, and instead, taking the time off you think you need.

Now, they'll no longer offer the set number of days, you know. That bothers some people because they want to, after five years service, get another week's vacation. They want to feel like they earned it and they want to be able to do it. Managers will work with employees with take vacation time.

What LinkedIn says is there's this there's a growing movement out there to recognize what you accomplish not how many hours you're sitting in the chair. It's important to keep employees recharged and keep engaged.

Now Carol some other companies have done this and then turned around quickly and undone it -- undid it because it causes confusion at work. Some people like to bank their vacation time. They like to carry it over for the next year or they like to be paid be paid for it if they don't use it. So it can cause some consternation. It's why human resource consultants have been spending so much time working with companies helping them do this smoothly.

COSTELLO: Yes. And I would still have it in my mind that my boss would notice that I'm not taking as much vacation as my fellow employees.

ROMANS: Well, you know, the other risk is that if you take all the time you think you deserve and other people around you are not taking as much time, do you look like a slacker then, you know? So, I mean, that's a problem, too. Do you not take much time off because you want to, you know, be a brown-noser? I don't know. I don't know.

What we do know is Americans in general don't take off the time that they are allotted already. So you wonder if it's part of the game. That companies know, maybe they're going to get more out of you and fewer costs if they have discretionary time off.

COSTELLO: I just like to think that we're hard workers, Christine.

ROMANS: We are. I think -- Carol I think we should take some time off in 14 seconds.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's have lunch.

ROMANS: Discretionary time off with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: Love it. Christine Romans -- thanks so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hello I'm John Berman --