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CNN Live Saturday
Run-Up to Midterm Elections Heats Up
Aired January 19, 2002 - 20:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In Austin, Texas, the Republican National Committee has just wrapped up its winter meeting. Now that both political parties have laid out their agendas, the run up to this year's crucial midterm elections is heating up.
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ready or not, here it comes.
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: 2002 is going to be a Democratic year for all of us to remember for a long time.
MARC RACICOT, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: ... that we work diligently to take back the Senate, expand our majority in the House of Representatives, and elect Republican governors all across the nation.
CROWLEY: Democrats and Republicans held their delayed winter meetings this weekend, opening up a political year that will decide 36 governorships, control of the Senate and control of the House. The stakes are high, but the betting is risky.
Begin with this baseline: President Bush is a wildly popular war president, and the economy is weak, which means Democrats must proceed with caution, supporting him on the war, pounding him on domestic policy.
MCAULIFFE: President Bush must explain how he will stop spending the Medicare and Social Security trust funds and put us back on a path of fiscally responsible and head us toward a balanced budget. Just when we thought we had cleared the nation's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it turns out deficits are now back.
CROWLEY: Republicans have their own balancing act: Use the president's war-born popularity without seeming to exploit the war.
RACICOT: This circumstance has revealed an extraordinary man in an extraordinary time. All of us would have just as soon avoided that incredible tragedy. Nonetheless, the people of this country understand the depth of his leadership capability and potential. We also need to make sure that they understand that he's focusing those same energies on the domestic agenda.
CROWLEY: The truth is, nobody knows for sure what will matter most to voters this year. The elections are more likely to be decided on local issues than national ones. Not to mention, that there are 289 days until the election.
(on camera): In that time, the war could be won or go sour; the economy could get better or worse. The president could become more or less popular. The only certainty is that elections in the midst of the war are a delicate dance of hardball.
KARL ROVE, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: And we can also go to the country on this issue, because the trust the Republican party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and, thereby, protecting America.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: It is a shameful statement. It has no place in this time and place. I hope the president will set the record straight. We've got to stand together against terrorism. This is not a partisan issue.
CROWLEY (voice-over): Two hundred eighty-nine unpredictable days to go.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Austin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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