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CNN Live Saturday
Democrats on tje Stump in New Hampshire
Aired January 24, 2004 - 14:06 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic presidential candidates are chiseling away in the Granite State. They're courting voters before the primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll tracks likely primary voters. The top three candidates? John Kerry with 35 percent of the vote; Howard Dean with 23 percent; and Wesley Clark with 14 percent of voter support.
CNN's Bob Franken is also tracking the candidates one-on-one, personally there, crisscrossing the state along with them. He joins us from Manchester -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, crisscrossing the state is no big deal here. Wait until we get to Texas and California.
But the candidates are doing that very thing. What is not really moving as much the candidates is the poll result. Iowa, of course, things were very volatile. But here they seem to have settled down. And that means that John Kerry can play the -- the game of not making any mistakes -- playing it safe is what I'm trying to say.
And he's been doing just that, holding a number of events to try and show that he is concerned for the people that he is right on the issues, spending all his time attacking the president, the Republican president, who he would like to make his opponent in a general election.
Meanwhile, Howard Dean has a dilemma. How does he on the one hand be aggressive enough to make the numbers move a little bit, but on the other hand not get caught in the trap that almost resulted in his downfall after Iowa. So he is walking a very thin line as he tries to make sure that he is provocative enough to get attention without being so provocative that he gets the wrong kind of attention.
Wesley Clark was the man who hoped to make a run for this. This is his first election ever. the first time that he has ever run against candidates. And, of course, he picked the presidential election. He is not moving as he hoped to in the polls, primarily because he has spent a lot of his time trying to backpedal and clear up some missteps in the campaign. So, he has been having a bit of a problem.
Also having something of a problem is John Edwards. He would argue that all he has to do is to have a respectable showing here, and that will be enough to give him credibility as he goes into South Carolina next week. Of course, he was born in South Carolina, as the senator now from North Carolina.
The man who is having great difficulty is Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman, of course, was the vice presidential candidate on the Al Gore ticket in 2000. He had hoped to have a lot more success here in New Hampshire, where he is beginning his run -- avoided Iowa. So far he has not shown up well in the polls, as you just saw. There's a lot of talk around now that he has to have a credible showing here. He says that no matter what happens here, it's on to the rest of the primaries. Of course, that's what he would say.
So it is a race where there is not a lot of movement so far, not a lot of volatility. It's going to be interesting to see if these poll numbers hold up on Tuesday and how each candidate spins it -- Fredricka.
WHITIFIELD: And, Bob, describe for us how a lot of these candidates are spending their time. I understand some of the candidates are conducting or leading or dropping in on a lot of town hall-type meetings. Some are actually knocking on doors.
FRANKEN: They're dropping in wherever there is more than one person standing around, so far one person. They are going to restaurants; they are going to meetings, as you said; they are walking the streets; they're going to fruit stands; they're going wherever you can.
Again, New Hampshire is one of those states where there's a lot of retail politics practiced, which is exactly that. Wholesale politics being more the stuff that's done on television and over the air, which, of course, they're doing too. This is an interesting market, of course. It's New England. The Boston television market takes up an awful lot of their ad time and their revenue. But, New Hampshire is one that is still old fashion in that way. It's small enough that it can be.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bob Franken from Manchester, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 24, 2004 - 14:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The Democratic presidential candidates are chiseling away in the Granite State. They're courting voters before the primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll tracks likely primary voters. The top three candidates? John Kerry with 35 percent of the vote; Howard Dean with 23 percent; and Wesley Clark with 14 percent of voter support.
CNN's Bob Franken is also tracking the candidates one-on-one, personally there, crisscrossing the state along with them. He joins us from Manchester -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, crisscrossing the state is no big deal here. Wait until we get to Texas and California.
But the candidates are doing that very thing. What is not really moving as much the candidates is the poll result. Iowa, of course, things were very volatile. But here they seem to have settled down. And that means that John Kerry can play the -- the game of not making any mistakes -- playing it safe is what I'm trying to say.
And he's been doing just that, holding a number of events to try and show that he is concerned for the people that he is right on the issues, spending all his time attacking the president, the Republican president, who he would like to make his opponent in a general election.
Meanwhile, Howard Dean has a dilemma. How does he on the one hand be aggressive enough to make the numbers move a little bit, but on the other hand not get caught in the trap that almost resulted in his downfall after Iowa. So he is walking a very thin line as he tries to make sure that he is provocative enough to get attention without being so provocative that he gets the wrong kind of attention.
Wesley Clark was the man who hoped to make a run for this. This is his first election ever. the first time that he has ever run against candidates. And, of course, he picked the presidential election. He is not moving as he hoped to in the polls, primarily because he has spent a lot of his time trying to backpedal and clear up some missteps in the campaign. So, he has been having a bit of a problem.
Also having something of a problem is John Edwards. He would argue that all he has to do is to have a respectable showing here, and that will be enough to give him credibility as he goes into South Carolina next week. Of course, he was born in South Carolina, as the senator now from North Carolina.
The man who is having great difficulty is Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman, of course, was the vice presidential candidate on the Al Gore ticket in 2000. He had hoped to have a lot more success here in New Hampshire, where he is beginning his run -- avoided Iowa. So far he has not shown up well in the polls, as you just saw. There's a lot of talk around now that he has to have a credible showing here. He says that no matter what happens here, it's on to the rest of the primaries. Of course, that's what he would say.
So it is a race where there is not a lot of movement so far, not a lot of volatility. It's going to be interesting to see if these poll numbers hold up on Tuesday and how each candidate spins it -- Fredricka.
WHITIFIELD: And, Bob, describe for us how a lot of these candidates are spending their time. I understand some of the candidates are conducting or leading or dropping in on a lot of town hall-type meetings. Some are actually knocking on doors.
FRANKEN: They're dropping in wherever there is more than one person standing around, so far one person. They are going to restaurants; they are going to meetings, as you said; they are walking the streets; they're going to fruit stands; they're going wherever you can.
Again, New Hampshire is one of those states where there's a lot of retail politics practiced, which is exactly that. Wholesale politics being more the stuff that's done on television and over the air, which, of course, they're doing too. This is an interesting market, of course. It's New England. The Boston television market takes up an awful lot of their ad time and their revenue. But, New Hampshire is one that is still old fashion in that way. It's small enough that it can be.
WHITFIELD: All right. Bob Franken from Manchester, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
