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CNN Live Saturday

Analysis of Democratic Showdown

Aired January 31, 2004 - 14:15   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: Three days from now, many Americans will be voting on the biggest day so far of the presidential election season. Seven states hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday. And when it's all over, the race for the Democratic nomination could take some interesting new turns.
With me now to talk about it, Ann Lewis with the Democratic National Committee. She's a former Bill Clinton adviser.

And Matt Keelen, a Republican strategist.

Good to see both of you.

MATT KEELEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to see you too.

ANN LEWIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: Ann, let me begin with you. This race is still very much wide open. How will it be narrowed? How will the focus be narrowed of the potential contenders come Tuesday?

LEWIS: Well, it's going to be narrowed in the old-fashioned way: the voters are going to decide. And I've got to say, I am very excited about watching the process so far.

You know, one week ago in New Hampshire, we saw a record-breaking turnout, historically high levels of people coming to vote in the Democratic primary. In fact, 48 percent of those who came in identified as independents but said they wanted to choose from among the Democratic candidates. We even had several thousand people who voted in the Republican primary where the turnout was much lower and they also wrote in the names of Democratic candidates.

So we've got a situation right now in which Democrats are energized, they're motivated, they're turning out. We've got independents saying, Yes, we agree. We want to change the direction of this country, even a few Republicans. I think that's good news. I can't wait for Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: And Matt, speaking of Republicans, the president is obviously responding to the Democratic race. A day after the Iowa result, he had the State of the Union address. And then shortly after the New Hampshire results he ended up in New Hampshire.

Are we seeing a president who is threatened?

KEELEN: I don't think so at all. In fact, the president is more interested in leading the country than getting mired into partisan politics.

The Democrats, unfortunately for them, will be scrapping this thing out for it looks like at least another three weeks, maybe a month, maybe six weeks. And I think they have a nominee in Howard Dean who is not just going to go away quietly into the night. In fact, we are already hearing rumors he may run as an independent.

WHITFIELD: Well, you know, one of the issues that really is getting a lot of attention right now, especially as the primary focuses on South Carolina -- and we're talking about jobs. Some 50,000 jobs have been lost in South Carolina in just the past three years. A lot of the blame is placed on President Bush.

Might it be rather difficult for him to step up to the plate to be able to say that the economy is going strong when still millions are without work?

LEWIS: Well, I think you're absolutely right, Fredricka. The economy is one of the reasons why people feel so strongly we got to change direction.

Look at the news we've had just this week. We see a budget deficit -- and by the way the president, I think is going to tell us on Monday when he files it -- Whoops, the deficit is now $500 billion. We hear that the Medicare bill is now going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than was previously seen.

And we still have this jobless recovery -- middle class families are really feeling squeezed. There are fewer jobs, incomes are flat. The cost of education and health care keep going up. So, again, you've got hard-working, middle class families saying this policy isn't working. We need to do things differently. It's going to be a very important issue this year.

WHITFIELD: So, Matt, how does the president impress the voters, especially the many undecided?

KEELEN: Well, one of the things that I'm sure he's going to talk about is the recession that he inherited -- and most experts across the country, if you watch CNN Financial News -- talking about a booming economy. The jobs are coming back. If the Democrats are going to pin their hopes on South Carolina, I think we can start the victory party already because we're going to win South Carolina.

And the only thing that Democrats are saying now is, Well, we're going to raise taxes on the rich. Well, I think people are sick and tired of the same old excuses from Democrats. They're going to have to do something other than raise taxes on the rich. Their Medicare plan was a heck of a lot more expensive than the common sense one that President Bush and Republican Congress passed without their help, for the most part.

WHITFIELD: Well, Matt, you talk about jobs are coming back. Meantime an awful lot of out-of-work people are saying the big problem has been outsourcing. There are an awful lot of American companies that have closed down so that countries outside, particularly in Asia and India, are picking up a lot of the slack, doing a lot of the work Americans used to do. So it sounds as though many voters are saying that President Bush has a credibility problem.

KEELEN: Well, I would go back to Ann's president, President Clinton, and one of the few things I agreed with him on was NAFTA and GAT and America being competitive in the global marketplace. I think most American business people and employers and employees feel comfortable competing against foreign corporations and foreign employers.

LEWIS: You know, I just would like to point out that when Bill Clinton was president for eight years, we gained 22 million new jobs in the American economy because we had sensible, fiscally responsible economic policies because we invested in American manufacturing here at home and strengthened it.

So, compare, again, eight years of a Democratic president, 22 million new jobs, three years of a Republican president with George Bush. We have lost almost 3 million jobs in the private sector, and among them, the best, highly paid -- those manufacturing jobs that have really been the backbone of the middle class -- I think Republicans ought to be careful about making that comparison. But if they want to, I'm happy to take it on.

WHITFIELD: But quickly, Ann, Matt brings up a good point about the global marketplace and that the U.S. has fixated itself in maybe a fairly impressive position.

LEWIS: It is true that we live in a global marketplace. But I will say again that unless we start by saying our first priority has to be American workers, American jobs, American products...

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEWIS: We want to be able to export those products, but we also make sure that American workers can make a living.

WHITFIELD: All right.

LEWIS: Those were the priorities in Bill Clinton's administration and they should be again.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ann Lewis, Matt Keelen, thanks very much to both of you for joining us.

KEELEN: Thank you. Have a great weekend.

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 31, 2004 - 14:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Three days from now, many Americans will be voting on the biggest day so far of the presidential election season. Seven states hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday. And when it's all over, the race for the Democratic nomination could take some interesting new turns.
With me now to talk about it, Ann Lewis with the Democratic National Committee. She's a former Bill Clinton adviser.

And Matt Keelen, a Republican strategist.

Good to see both of you.

MATT KEELEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to see you too.

ANN LEWIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: Ann, let me begin with you. This race is still very much wide open. How will it be narrowed? How will the focus be narrowed of the potential contenders come Tuesday?

LEWIS: Well, it's going to be narrowed in the old-fashioned way: the voters are going to decide. And I've got to say, I am very excited about watching the process so far.

You know, one week ago in New Hampshire, we saw a record-breaking turnout, historically high levels of people coming to vote in the Democratic primary. In fact, 48 percent of those who came in identified as independents but said they wanted to choose from among the Democratic candidates. We even had several thousand people who voted in the Republican primary where the turnout was much lower and they also wrote in the names of Democratic candidates.

So we've got a situation right now in which Democrats are energized, they're motivated, they're turning out. We've got independents saying, Yes, we agree. We want to change the direction of this country, even a few Republicans. I think that's good news. I can't wait for Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: And Matt, speaking of Republicans, the president is obviously responding to the Democratic race. A day after the Iowa result, he had the State of the Union address. And then shortly after the New Hampshire results he ended up in New Hampshire.

Are we seeing a president who is threatened?

KEELEN: I don't think so at all. In fact, the president is more interested in leading the country than getting mired into partisan politics.

The Democrats, unfortunately for them, will be scrapping this thing out for it looks like at least another three weeks, maybe a month, maybe six weeks. And I think they have a nominee in Howard Dean who is not just going to go away quietly into the night. In fact, we are already hearing rumors he may run as an independent.

WHITFIELD: Well, you know, one of the issues that really is getting a lot of attention right now, especially as the primary focuses on South Carolina -- and we're talking about jobs. Some 50,000 jobs have been lost in South Carolina in just the past three years. A lot of the blame is placed on President Bush.

Might it be rather difficult for him to step up to the plate to be able to say that the economy is going strong when still millions are without work?

LEWIS: Well, I think you're absolutely right, Fredricka. The economy is one of the reasons why people feel so strongly we got to change direction.

Look at the news we've had just this week. We see a budget deficit -- and by the way the president, I think is going to tell us on Monday when he files it -- Whoops, the deficit is now $500 billion. We hear that the Medicare bill is now going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than was previously seen.

And we still have this jobless recovery -- middle class families are really feeling squeezed. There are fewer jobs, incomes are flat. The cost of education and health care keep going up. So, again, you've got hard-working, middle class families saying this policy isn't working. We need to do things differently. It's going to be a very important issue this year.

WHITFIELD: So, Matt, how does the president impress the voters, especially the many undecided?

KEELEN: Well, one of the things that I'm sure he's going to talk about is the recession that he inherited -- and most experts across the country, if you watch CNN Financial News -- talking about a booming economy. The jobs are coming back. If the Democrats are going to pin their hopes on South Carolina, I think we can start the victory party already because we're going to win South Carolina.

And the only thing that Democrats are saying now is, Well, we're going to raise taxes on the rich. Well, I think people are sick and tired of the same old excuses from Democrats. They're going to have to do something other than raise taxes on the rich. Their Medicare plan was a heck of a lot more expensive than the common sense one that President Bush and Republican Congress passed without their help, for the most part.

WHITFIELD: Well, Matt, you talk about jobs are coming back. Meantime an awful lot of out-of-work people are saying the big problem has been outsourcing. There are an awful lot of American companies that have closed down so that countries outside, particularly in Asia and India, are picking up a lot of the slack, doing a lot of the work Americans used to do. So it sounds as though many voters are saying that President Bush has a credibility problem.

KEELEN: Well, I would go back to Ann's president, President Clinton, and one of the few things I agreed with him on was NAFTA and GAT and America being competitive in the global marketplace. I think most American business people and employers and employees feel comfortable competing against foreign corporations and foreign employers.

LEWIS: You know, I just would like to point out that when Bill Clinton was president for eight years, we gained 22 million new jobs in the American economy because we had sensible, fiscally responsible economic policies because we invested in American manufacturing here at home and strengthened it.

So, compare, again, eight years of a Democratic president, 22 million new jobs, three years of a Republican president with George Bush. We have lost almost 3 million jobs in the private sector, and among them, the best, highly paid -- those manufacturing jobs that have really been the backbone of the middle class -- I think Republicans ought to be careful about making that comparison. But if they want to, I'm happy to take it on.

WHITFIELD: But quickly, Ann, Matt brings up a good point about the global marketplace and that the U.S. has fixated itself in maybe a fairly impressive position.

LEWIS: It is true that we live in a global marketplace. But I will say again that unless we start by saying our first priority has to be American workers, American jobs, American products...

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEWIS: We want to be able to export those products, but we also make sure that American workers can make a living.

WHITFIELD: All right.

LEWIS: Those were the priorities in Bill Clinton's administration and they should be again.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ann Lewis, Matt Keelen, thanks very much to both of you for joining us.

KEELEN: Thank you. Have a great weekend.

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