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Campbell Brown

Democrats Strive For Unity; Dow Dives; Supreme Court Makes Ruling on Second Amendment

Aired June 26, 2008 - 20:00   ET

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

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot happening right now, people.
That's a live shot you're about to see -- there it is -- of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., where, about an hour ago, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton pulled up for their very first joint fund-raiser.

This is a big deal, because it is a signal that they have gotten past the bitterness of the primary and will now reunite the party. Do you believe that? And what do you think is really happening inside? Well, we are going to take you there coming up in just a minute.

But, first, the story that has so many people worried tonight. The Dow cratered more than 350 points today. It has been the lowest that it has been in nearly two years. In large part, it is because, for the first time ever, the price of oil hit $140 a barrel.

More alarming, the president of OPEC predicts oil could actually hit $170 a barrel before the summer is over. I mean, honestly, it feels like a meltdown.

And, for that reason, we have asked "Fortune" magazine editor Andy Serwer for a briefing.

Andy, what's going on here? Help us out. Is there any end in sight?

ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE": Well, it's kind of scary right now, Campbell, I will tell you. And what we're seeing is a series of economic problems that are rolling into each other.

Of course, first, we had the housing meltdown.

BROWN: Right.

SERWER: Then the situation on Wall Street with those investment banks and bankers getting into a lot trouble, now higher energy prices, inflation and higher food prices all starting to whack the economy.

And these things are interconnected. So, right now, for instance, the Dow cratering 350 points, one reason, GM stock went way down because investors are concerned that Americans aren't going to be buying any SUVs because of high gas prices. So you can see how it's all connected. It gets very tough to get out of these kind of situations. BROWN: And, clearly, people have no confidence that anything is going to be done about this. I was looking today. There's this new poll out from "Consumer Reports" -- 77 percent of Americans blame the government for high gas prices by failing to enact any sort of effective energy policy. And what is Congress doing? They have held something like 40 hearings on the issue. But is there anything they can do? Is there anything they should be doing?

SERWER: Well, I think there is something they can do. And I think that it's really kind of a disgrace, what's been going on so far. They have been blaming what they're calling speculators. These are really just investors in the oil market.

They're not the problem. The problem is, we don't have an energy policy. We need to declare war on high oil prices and the fact that we're spending $700 billion a year importing oil into this country. That is more than we are spending on the war in Iraq. That's what we need to do. We need to raise gas mileage on cars, increase conservation in this country.

And we're starting to see it. We may need to do some offshore drilling right now. I know people don't like to hear that, but as a stopgap measure. We need to really step up to the plate here. And Washington is not doing it.

BROWN: All issues that are going to be talked about a lot during the campaign.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: You wonder if anything is actually going to happen, given it's an election year, until after November.

SERWER: Right.

BROWN: All right, Andy, appreciate it -- Andy Serwer for us tonight.

Moving quickly now back to that scene in Washington, D.C., once again, the Mayflower Hotel, no cameras allowed in that event with Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but they have allowed a reporter inside. And we will have details for you throughout the hour on what is happening there.

Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, has been working the phones on this big meeting, big fund-raiser, all day today.

Candy, what do we know?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, there's some question as to whether it's a fund-raiser.

The campaign says it isn't. It's just a little get-together. She called her fund-raisers and said, come meet Obama. He has got some of his in there. It's a little bit of a kumbaya. You know, here he is. You ought to support him.

I was told, however, if somebody wanted to bring a check, that would be fine. So, this was sort of the beginning of the end of unity week. This is the first these two have been together since she conceded. Tomorrow -- today, they do it in private with fund-raisers, very important, obviously, to fund this campaign, since he's opted out of the public money that was available to him.

And then, tomorrow, they will be out there for the voters. So, it's just kind of a continuation of their wanting to show voters in pictures and in words that there is unity in the party.

BROWN: All right, Candy.

And we're of course going to keep checking back in with you throughout the hour as we get more details on whether it's a fund- raiser or not. I hope we will find out by the end of the night.

Candy, thanks.

And now to a true red-state/blue-state fault line, the politics of guns. And stay with me here, because we're not going to dive into a debate over the pros and cons of gun control. We have done that for years now.

But there was a historic ruling today. The Supreme Court found that Americans do have a right to keep guns at home for self-defense. The court was striking down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns.

And what we're going to talk about is how that ruling may have thrust guns into the middle of the campaign.

And with me now to tell us how that may happen is Jessica Yellin -- Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Campbell, it sounds familiar, Republicans trying to paint the Democratic as an out-of-touch anti-gun elitist. Obama says it won't work this year. Or will it?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN (voice-over): Guns, one of the hottest issues in American politics, a crucial wedge that's rallied Republicans and immobilized Democrats.

That's why Barack Obama was treading so gingerly after today's Supreme Court ruling, telling Bloomberg TV:

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that the Second Amendment means something, that it is an individual right.

YELLIN: But, on the other hand:

OBAMA: There's still room for us to, I think, have some commonsense gun laws that are also compatible with the Second Amendment.

YELLIN: According to the latest CNN poll, 67 percent of all Americans and 70 percent of independents believe the Constitution guarantees a right to own a gun. It matters most to those rural and suburban voters, who make up a key swing bloc in this year's election. They're people Democrats have lost before on the gun issue.

This year, Obama wants to win them back, and John McCain does not want to let them go. Within an hour of today's ruling, McCain fired out a statement, summoning up Obama's infamous comments about bitter working-class people who cling to their guns, saying, "Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right, sacred."

It was deja vu from the anti-Obama rhetoric at the National Rifle Association's convention earlier this spring.

KARL ROVE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BUSH: We cling to our guns and we cling to our faith. Does that make us clingers?

(LAUGHTER)

ROVE: Or does that make us cling-ons? I don't know. I don't get it.

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: I don't know of two things I would rather cling to than God and my gun.

YELLIN: But one Democratic analyst says the party is learning from the past and appealing to a broader group of voters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's look at the reality. There are 280 million guns in private hands in America. That's enough guns for every man, woman and child over the age of five to have a gun. I think it makes sense for anybody, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, to speak to those folks that have a gun in their home.

YELLIN: John McCain had his own share of problems with the gun lobby. He supported laws that would make it harder to buy a gun at a gun show. That angered the NRA, which means this year the Democrat sees a window of opportunity, and he's doing all he can to keep it open.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YELLIN: And the McCain campaign is trying to slam that window shut by charging Obama with flip-flopping on the gun issue.

Last year, the Obama campaign said that he believes the D.C. gun ban is constitutional. But, today, Obama says he supports the Supreme Court's decision. Senator Obama's campaign insists he's had a clear position all along, that he supports the right to own a gun, but believes that local government has the right to pass gun laws -- Campbell.

BROWN: All right. Jessica Yellin for us tonight -- Jessica, Thanks.

A victory for NRA, for gun owners, we want to talk about it right now with our panel.

Tonight, we have got from Portland, Oregon, conservative-leaning radio host Lars Larson. His talk show airs on the Westwood One radio network. In Raleigh, North Carolina, national radio talk show host Warren Ballentine. And he's an attorney, as well as an Obama supporter, and CNN senior analyst Jeff Toobin, who is in Houston, Texas, joining us tonight from there.

Warren, as Jessica just mentioned, Obama choosing his words very carefully today. Has he neutralized this issue?

WARREN BALLENTINE, ATTORNEY AND RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I think he has.

It's kind of hilarious to me when I hear McCain calling Obama elitist, when he's never been poor. He's married to a beer heiress. And then when you look at him talking about flip-flopping, I don't think Obama is flip-flopping here at all. I think he's acting like any rational lawyer would act based on the court's decision.

And I think, honestly, Campbell, I would want somebody in office who is willing to say, well, look, I might have made a mistake here or you changed my mind by what you presented because we have had eight years...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: But he didn't say he made a mistake or changed his mind.

BALLENTINE: Well, I think that he...

LARS LARSON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: He hasn't said that.

BALLENTINE: I don't think he said he made a mistake.

But what I think he did here was look at the court's ruling and say, look, what I may have said earlier with the D.C., they may have overstepped the line or overshot the runway, as he said. And I agree with that as an attorney. I'm from Chicago. We have the same ban in Chicago. And I think this is going to affect Chicago, as well as D.C., and other areas. And I agree.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Lars, the verdict from your listeners, I'm guessing, is a little different.

LARSON: Absolutely, and I think for both sides. This is an important civil right for Americans to be able to own and possess a gun. I carry a gun every day. There's nothing wrong with it. There are millions of people who do that.

Barack Obama a year ago is on tape saying that he believes the D.C. gun ban, not regulation, but a ban is constitutional. Now, all of a sudden, he says he agrees with the Supreme Court that it's not constitutional? That's a flip-flop.

The man said in 1996, when he was in the Illinois legislature, that he supported state regulations to ban the possession or manufacture or sale of guns in Illinois. Now, this is a flip-flop. The guy is going to lose the support of Americans who, as you point out, by a majority, support the right of Americans to own guns. This guy is on the wrong side of this, not that John McCain is perfect, by the way.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Well, that was the point I was also going to make. John McCain, as Jessica pointed out in her piece, has had his own problems.

But, Jeff, Obama has been wobbly on this issue, hasn't he?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: He has definitely changed his emphasis. Whether he has precisely changed the issue, I can't say.

But this is definitely an evolving position on Obama's part. But he's learned a lesson the Democrats have learned since the '80s, which is simply to give up on gun control. This is not an issue that he's going to succeed. And it succeeded only in alienating millions of voters from the Democrats. Republicans have made tremendous progress on this.

I think the best Obama can hope for is a wash on this issue. And I think that's probably the best he's going to do.

BALLENTINE: You know, Campbell, I disagree here, because I think what he actually did today was say, look, I agree with this ruling, but we have to have commonsense laws in urban areas where there are high crime rates.

I think that's a reasonable position to take for any American. He's not saying that hunters and sportsmen and things like that shouldn't carry guns.

(CROSSTALK)

BALLENTINE: He's saying that, look, if you're in a high-crime area, and it's an urban area, we have got to have commonsense laws attached to the Second Amendment, as well, like you don't want a criminal being able to get a gun.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Right.

OK. Go ahead, Lars.

LARSON: Campbell, listen, do you think it is common sense to say to the people of Washington, D.C., there are criminals all around you, and the only people who can't legally have a gun is you?

The honest law-abiding citizen is denied a gun, while criminals have guns, that's what he thinks is common sense?

And, by the way, Jeffrey Toobin, you're saying he's changed his emphasis? He's gone from, it is constitutional to ban guns outright for an entire city, to, it's not constitutional. That's not a change of emphasis. That's 180 degrees.

BROWN: Jeff, defend yourself and then we will take a break.

(LAUGHTER)

TOOBIN: Well, I think you're more right than wrong.

I think Obama has changed. He has a complicated explanation about how he was saying he wasn't for it, but he thought it was constitutional. Look, Obama is fleeing from this issue. I think, fortunately for the Democrats, this issue is likely to go away. There is no gun control proposal on the table. He's not advocating one.

It's going to be hard to sustain this criticism when Obama is not talking about doing anything different about guns than what the country is doing right now.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: All right, guys, hold on. Hold on right there, because I think Jeff is right. The issue may go away.

But today's ruling does bring up another huge issue in this election. And, next, the Supreme Court itself. Today's decision, like many this term, was 5-4, basically an even split. But one or more justices are expected to retire soon. And the next president will get to pick their replacements, and that could have a dramatic impact on any big decisions.

Also, later, remember the axis of evil, North Korea? Well, Christiane Amanpour is there to brief us on this huge turnabout in U.S.-North Korean relations. Are we safer now?

And you're going to want to stay for this. John McCain faced some really tough questioners today. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the president like being the king?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is the president like being the king? I think there have been some presidents who...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We are going to have McCain's answer for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: When the Supreme Court struck down D.C.'s handgun ban today, the vote was 5-4. It was also 5-4 when the court threw out Louisiana's death penalty for child rape, the same thing when the court granted terrorist detainees more legal rights.

The odds are, the next president will get to name new members to the court. And that could affect all of us for a very long time.

So, back with me now to talk about that, talk show radio hosts Lars Larson, Warren Ballentine, plus CNN senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin.

And we should mention that Jeffrey is also the author of a recent book about the Supreme Court. It is called "The Nine."

So, Jeff, death penalty, gun control, two huge rulings this week decided by these 5-4 razor-thin margins. Next president likely to fill several seats on the court, big issues like same-sex marriage, abortion hanging in the balance. Break it down for us.

TOOBIN: Well, there are four liberals on the court, Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter. There are four very conservative justices, Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas, Justice Kennedy in the middle, the swing vote time after time.

But three of the four liberals, starting with Justice Stevens, who is 88 years old, are likely to leave. Those appointments are likely to be one of the biggest legacies of the next president.

BROWN: And, Lars, McCain has been struggling to rally the conservative base, as you know. We have talked about it before. Is this renewed focus on the Supreme Court enough of a reminder to maybe help him unify the party?

LARSON: It's one of the things that's actually bringing conservatives back, because they have said to me, look, I know we have got to hold our nose and vote for this guy, but, on judges, it's a very important issue.

And, by the way, if Barack Obama gets in, Toobin's next book will probably be called, 'What Would Europe Do?" because that's what all these liberal justices seem to want to say. They want to say, why don't we make our Supreme Court make America more like Europe? We don't need that. We need to look at the Constitution and decide what the Constitution says about how American laws should be interpreted.

BROWN: Warren, there's brand-new polls that are out today that show Obama leading in four battleground states, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Is this evidence that maybe he's been able to successfully neutralize some of these wedge cultural issues that have driven campaigns in the past?

BALLENTINE: Well, I think it is evidence.

But we have to be wary of polls. Polls change so quickly and so much between now and November. But I will say this. Lars is right and Jeffrey is right. This is the biggest voting bloc we have ever had, because whoever becomes the president, they hold our future constitutionally in their hands with who they select to be in the Supreme Court.

BROWN: And, for that reason, it's something we're probably going to be talking a lot more about in the coming months.

Lars, Warren, and Jeff, thanks to everybody. Appreciate it, guys.

BALLENTINE: Thank you, Campbell.

LARSON: Thanks, Campbell.

BROWN: When we check back live for the latest from tonight's Obama/Clinton get-together, who needs more from this awkward relationship between the two? We will talk about that with Candy Crowley.

Then, later, the real story behind glamorous movie star Scarlett Johansson's e-mail relationship with Barack Obama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We are going to shift gears a little bit at this moment, because we want to take you to North Korea, where Christiane Amanpour is standing by.

It's very difficult to get communications from there, because it's such a secretive place, but we're getting her now.

There is news out of the country today. President Bush branded it, as you know, the axis of evil, and this news could be a step toward diffusing the country's nuclear weapons program.

As I mentioned, chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is live in Pyongyang with the very latest for us tonight.

And, Christiane, we should say we almost never see reports live from North Korea, because it's such an isolated place. Explain to us where you are and what you expect to witness there in just a few hours.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right.

We're here at KRT, which is North Korean television station, standing outside. It's quite early in the morning. And we are expecting to -- as a small handful of journalists who have been asked to come here to witness a dramatic step that North Korea is about to take, and that will be this afternoon, North Korea time, imploding their cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

This is a very important move. A North Korean official who I have spoken to has said that it's a courageous move on the part of North Korea. And, indeed, they are moving up this process, the blowing up of this tower. It should have happened maybe later in the process of negotiations. But as a demonstration of their intent, they are imploding this tower to show that they're committed to these nuclear negotiations and that they want to move this process forward.

Of course, this comes just a day after they have handed over their long-awaited declaration on plutonium production to China, which chairs these negotiations. But, in short, what a difference some painstaking negotiations have made, from the axis of evil back in 2002, to now being removed from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism, and they say here, to show their intent to continue with the disarmament process -- Campbell.

BROWN: And, Christiane, do you think most people believe them, that this is real, that ultimately it could mean the end of their nuclear program, or is there still game-playing possibly going on?

AMANPOUR: Well, Campbell, there are of course a lot of cynics. There are a lot of skeptics. There are a lot of people who worry about this, because they have seen what has happened in the past.

On the other hand -- and, as you know, President Bush and even Secretary Rice, when she announced that this was going to happen, had to do it before the Heritage Foundation, to try to convince some of the deepest, sincerest critics on the right of their party.

What this is, is a good deal, according to the administration and according to experts, not a perfect deal. What they want is to continue this and to be able to get all of their questions answered on any potential uranium enrichment program that they have, although there are very little, very few details, and very scant evidence of that. On proliferation, has North Korea helped, for instance, Syria, Iran or other countries in their nuclear programs?

But the experts say -- and there are U.S. experts monitoring the Yongbyon facility -- there are IAEA experts -- that what's happening at Yongbyon -- in other words, the plutonium production is shut down. They're not reprocessing plutonium. They are not making any more weapons. They have come clean with this declaration, six months late, but, nonetheless, they have come clean with this declaration, and they believe that they are committed to this.

Of course, it can all be restarted, but they believe that their intent here in North Korea is to continue with this process.

BROWN: And, Christiane, you have been there now a couple of times, I know one of the few journalists allowed in. If you could briefly tell us, are you able to get any kind of sense of what the North Korean people think about this, or are they even aware?

AMANPOUR: Well, that's a very good question.

No is the short answer. We have looked and scanned the newspapers. There's nothing in the newspapers so far about this. So, I cannot tell you what they actually think. I can tell you what the people who I'm talking to think, the officials that we meet, the people who we will see at the Yongbyon nuclear facility. And I can tell you that since we were here last night with the New York Philharmonic, there is a desire to emerge from this state of isolation. There is a desire to get rid of this moniker, that they know very well they're called the hermit kingdom. They are proud people.

They don't want to be dictated to, like virtually any people around the world. But they do want to move forward. And this -- if you remember the Philharmonic's performance here was a dramatic move towards creating a level of sort of trust, a level of great sort of involvement between these two countries, which, coincidentally, has helped push the nuclear negotiations along to this culmination of this phase two right now -- Campbell.

BROWN: All right, Christiane, thank you -- Christiane Amanpour tonight for us from Pyongyang. As always, thanks.

And still ahead tonight, we are going to go back live to the Obama/Clinton uniter fund-raiser/meeting, whatever it is. It should be winding up soon.

And then later, Hollywood's latest Obama girl. Is Scarlett Johansson his new BFF? Well, don't believe everything you read. We have the real story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The small town of Unity, New Hampshire, will be under siege tomorrow. That's when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the national press roll in for the first day of the unity tour.

Meanwhile, back to Washington, where our unity cam outside the Mayflower Hotel, where several hundred of Senator Clinton's biggest givers are hearing from Senator Obama, asking for their support tonight.

But there's a whole lot going on behind the scenes.

And, for that, we turn again to CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, who has got more details.

And, Candy, I know there was a lot of discussion about the backroom negotiations. And, in fact, they are still under way, trying to bring these camps together. It's a level of choreography that seems to be unprecedented.

CROWLEY: It is. Somebody said, it's kind of like couples therapy here, as they try to say, well, where does she speak at the convention? What's her role? Who's going to pay for the plane when goes out and campaigns for him. How often should she do it? That kind of thing. There is also the debt out there.

So, that's going on at the same time, you do still have disgruntled Clintonites, chief among them, Bill Clinton. But you also have some of her major fundraisers, mostly women, most who came of age during the late '60s and the early '70s feminist movement who say no way, no how, I'm not doing this. There still are tough feelings but honestly what really matters here is what they're doing in public, how they're doing it and so far they have been pretty much there both of them.

He -- complimenting her all the time. She's been going around to various -- the House caucus and Senate lunches saying we have to get on board, we got to elect Barack Obama. We have to elect a lot of senators, a lot of congressmen. So on the surface, you have them moving forward. There are behind the scenes, some details here they haven't worked out.

BROWN: And Candy, quickly, who do you think needs more? Which one of them needs more from this fairly awkward relationship?

CROWLEY: I really have come to believe that she needs it more. He's got -- he's already raised over a quarter of a billion dollars so far. Certainly he can raise money without her. He's already done so. His poll numbers among females and among Latinos are way, way up. Far above those of John McCain, on par with Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry before him.

So, he's doing fine without her. I think she needs to be and wants to be a party leader and in order to do that, she has got to be seen as fully on board because if he should lose and people should look at her and say she didn't help him enough, the party won't forgive her.

BROWN: All right, Candy. We are going to check back with you a little later on tonight. Thanks very much.

We should mention tomorrow night in ELECTION CENTER, we will be covering all of the angles of the most anticipated events of the campaign so far. At least one of them. The Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton unity rally coming up in New Hampshire.

Next, John McCain meets some people who aren't exactly saying hallelujah about his winning the nomination. And then later, kids say the darndest things and they ask the most unusual questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In past election years, Republican presidential candidates counted on conservative Christian voters. They have been loyal to the GOP and they have taken their views from church to the polls. But the polls show John McCain does not have evangelical support locked up.

CNN's Dana Bash reports on McCain's challenges among the conservative faithful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take it as an article of faith. John McCain has a big problem so he went to Ohio for a kind of come to Jesus. In a closed door meeting he met with a handful of Ohio's evangelical leaders to try to convince them he really does hear them on their issues.

PHIL BURRESS, OHIO CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE: John McCain needs to talk about life more often. He needs to talk about marriage. If the senator thinks he's going to run the campaign appealing to the middle by avoiding to talk about the social issues, he's going to lose Ohio.

BASH: Phil Burress is an influential Christian conservative in Ohio was at that private meeting with McCain.

BURRESS: He didn't make us any promises. He did take detailed notes. And he was very sincere about telling us that he heard us loud and clear.

BASH: With reporters, McCain downplayed the meeting with evangelicals.

MCCAIN: I think it's just a normal thing to do. We all know that Ohio is a very crucial state.

BASH: But James Dobson, one of the most powerful evangelicals in the country said again just yesterday McCain does not respect their issues and a new "L.A. Times" poll finds one in nearly five self- described members of the religious rite that they will vote for someone other than McCain. Another one in five are undecided. In that same poll, more voters who attend weekly religious services said they would vote for Obama over McCain.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm ready to lead for four more years.

BASH: Ohio is a critical swing state and remember George W. Bush won it in 2000 and 2004 largely thanks to social conservatives. McCain is out of step with his conservative base on some issues like stem cell research but on many conservative issues they do agree. But some say like his views on his own faith, McCain has difficulty communicating about values. Burress told us he told McCain he needs to get over it.

BURRESS: We can't deliver that message completely by ourselves. Senator McCain has got to put his hand on the wheel of the ship.

BASH: And conservative activists told us they warned McCain about another thing. Who he picks as a running mate matters to them a lot. They told McCain if he chooses someone with well known conservative position it will help if not it will reinforce doubts that many social conservatives have about whether President McCain would push their issues or avoid them.

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And we are just getting word that that meeting in Washington has wrapped up. This unity meeting between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and a whole lot of top fundraisers. We're going to go back to Candy Crowley for the latest on what happened and some video we're getting in right now about what's going on in Washington right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: It was the making of a political bombshell. A presidential candidate, a hot Hollywood actress linked. Actress Scarlett Johansson claimed to have no secret of it. She claims to have an e-mail connections to Barack Obama but Obama says don't believe it.

CNN's David Mattingly get the scoop.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's always on that blackberry. Barack Obama likes giving his thumb a workout, constantly e-mailing on the go. Family, supporters and maybe even potential running mates. They all want to hear from the man they want to be president, even it seems A-list movie star Scarlett Johansson.

DAVID CAPLAN, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: She's bringing a little bit of Hollywood glamour, a little bit of Hollywood glitz to the campaign and of course she's definitely a magnet for younger voters who really are influenced by a lot of these figures you see in pop culture.

MATTINGLY: Johansson is a big-time Obama volunteer. She appeared in a yes, we can YouTube video seen by millions. She even made this taped phone message for the campaign.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: This is Scarlett Johansson urging you to join me and thousands of other independent voters in supporting Barack Obama.

MATTINGLY: But it wasn't until an interview with politico.com that Johansson was called Obama's go to Hollywood hottie. "A starlet who trades frequent e-mails with the presumptive Democratic nominee." That unleashed an instant tabloid like a demand for e-mail dirt and a scramble for late-night punch lines.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE NIGHT SHOW": For example, John McCain frequently consults with General David Petraeus. That's John McCain. Barack Obama frequently consults with Scarlett Johansson.

CAPLAN: Politics isn't always perceived as a very sexy genre. All of a sudden you add Scarlet Johansson and it almost becomes a titillating story really. People want to know what in the world could Barack Obama and Scarlett Johansson have in common. What could they be possibly be talking about?

MATTINGLY (on-camera): It caused such a murmur that Obama had to actually put down his blackberry and explain to reporters that his personal assistant did forward him one Johansson e-mail which got one reply. Obama said "I write saying 'thank you, Scarlett, for doing what you do,' and suddenly we have this e-mail relationship." CNN received no comment from Johansson's people but she has long made clear her confidence in Obama.

She almost gushed in this YouTube video from the campaign trail.

JOHANSSON: I was so star struck. This is somebody that I've been following like for four years and someone who I think is such an incredible thinker and mind.

MATTINGLY: But in the end she's just one vote and apparently just one e-mail. Not nearly enough yet to become an unexpected campaign problem.

David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still to come, the latest from our unity cam outside the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Candy Crowley has news from inside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Hi, tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," Hillary Clinton is on the Barack Obama bandwagon. She just asked her big money people in Washington to donate to his campaign. What about Bill? Is there genuine enthusiasm behind the former president's support of the presumptive Democratic nominee?

"LARRY KING LIVE" at the top of the hour.

ELECTION CENTER with Campbell Brown returns after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And you're looking at pictures now. This is Senator Clinton. Senator Barack Obama leaving that joint meeting they have with top fundraisers in Washington, D.C. tonight. We want to get an update right now on what happened at that meeting with Candy Crowley who is in Washington with us.

And Candy, the goal, for us rather -- the goal of this meeting was try to unite the two teams of fundraisers. Were they able to do that?

CROWLEY: Well, yes. I've been talking to sources all day long about the fundraising issue and by and large in varying degrees, Hillary Clinton's fundraisers are going to be on board here and say yes, we'll raise money for him. There is a cadre of fundraisers, some of them top fundraisers, many of them female. And there you see Hillary Clinton just a little while ago, leaving that fundraiser.

So, there's a small cadre of people who have been very supportive of her throughout the years who were described to me as females who in fact grew up in the 70s and they're sort of in the know how, no way, weren't going to come tonight. So, there's going to be some but by and large, Campbell, they are on board.

BROWN: All right. Candy Crowley for us tonight. Candy, as always, thanks.

And we're going to talk a little bit more about this. Coming up next, will Hillary Clinton's die-hard supporters, in addition to the fundraisers, come over to Barack Obama. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: So, continuing our conversation now. What do Obama and Clinton have to do to bring unity to the Democratic Party? How much damage has been done by those Clinton supporters who want no part of Obama?

We're going to bring in now two of the savviest political observers on television. We've got Tara Wall, deputy editorial page editor at the "Washington Times" and the former Senior adviser to the Republican National Committee. And here in New York, Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of the "Huffington Post" and the author of the book, "Right is Wrong." Joining us as well.

Welcome to everybody.

Tara, let me start with you. There's a very vocal minority of Clinton supporters who want no part of Barack Obama. This is according to a "Financial Times" piece. They said there are more than 100 anti-Obama Web sites in the last 20 days with names like just say no deal, and done, which stands for Democrats Over Nominating Elitist. And they're making a lot of noise. How damaging is this?

TARA WALL, DEP. EDITORIAL PG. ED., "WASHINGTON TIMES": Well, I think it is a small cadre but I think it should give Democrats pause that these cadre of women have not moved over and shifted over to Barack Obama. I think that's due in some part to quite frankly Senator Clinton's lack of enthusiasm in endorsing him and so I think that in the long run we all know that majority of women do vote Democrat.

I think he doesn't have anything to worry about in that regard although John McCain does have a slight lead as it relates to white women. But in the long run, Barack Obama probably will get most of the women's vote. He will have to heal some wounds though apparently.

BROWN: But that's about to change from what Tara said.

Arianna, as we know, this unity tour sort of begins tomorrow. She is going to be out there at least she says she is campaigning on his behalf very aggressively. Is this issue going to go away as soon as this happens?

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, "THE HUFFINGTONPOST": I really think it is. First of all, it's a question of time. A lot of Democratic women who supported Hillary Clinton are still in the grieving stage. And as Howard Dean said in this "Financial Times" piece that you quoted. It took two months for many of his own supporters to switch over to John Kerry in 2004. So, time is the first thing.

The second thing is educating women about John McCain's record on women's rights. Many women still believe it or not do not know that John McCain is not pro-choice. Planned Parenthood did a very interesting poll in battle ground states and half of the women who supported John McCain thought he was pro choice. So that pro-choice education and he's saying on his Web site even that he wants to overthrow Roe versus Wade. It's also going to have a big impact.

BROWN: And Tara, that's a good point, does the McCain campaign honestly think that they're going to get these women? These are die- hard Democrats especially on issues like choice.

WALL: Well, there are some actually -- there are some women who are moderate to conservative that were supporting Hillary Clinton but were actually McCain supporters to begin with. So I would not discount them. And even among the choice -- remember there are a large cadre of women who are also pro life and those women will support McCain and even the pro-choice women though probably do not realize how much to the left Barack Obama is on the issue of abortion like his stance on partial birth abortion, the fact that he supports it even though most Democrats opposed it.

He would allow for a minor to go across state lines without consent to get an abortion. So, some of these women aren't aware of his very liberal views on abortion. That doesn't square with them.

BROWN: An issue?

HUFFINGTON: Not an issue at all.

The idea that Democratic women who are pro choice and would vote for a candidate who has the powers to decide who gets in the Supreme Court and who can overturn Roe versus Wade, no choice at all.

BROWN: And especially given our conversation earlier tonight. The close 5-4 court right now. OK, guys, hold on right there. We're going to come back after a quick break. I do want you to know that - we want to talk about what you think about Bill Clinton. Will he climb on the Obama bandwagon. We also just have a little bit of news to report. I was told that Barack Obama wrote Hillary Clinton a check tonight for $2,300, which is the maximum he could give to help her pay down her campaign debt. We'll have a little bit more coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK. We've got a little more news tonight.

I just want to tell you what Hillary Clinton just told reporters after leaving that meeting. She said "I know my supporters have extremely hard feelings. I know Barack's do as well but we are family and we have an opportunity now." We're going to bring back our guests to talk about this. Tara Wall of the "Washington Post" and Arianna Huffington of the "HuffingtonPost."

And Arianna, it sounds like Hillary Clinton is moving on. That she is going to engage and help in this campaign. What about Bill Clinton? HUFFINGTON: Well, that's what's so interesting, Campbell. He's not moving on. I hear from people close to him that he's really angry and that he's angry especially about two things, one that he's not yet gotten a call from Barack Obama apparently.

BROWN: He hasn't been called by Obama?

HUFFINGTON: He has not been asked to campaign for him. He says himself, as a sort of leader of the party, until Barack Obama came along and therefore that he is owed some respect and also he is still really angry at the way that he believes that the Obama campaign acted as though he had used the race card going back remember to South Carolina and Bill Clinton saying that Jesse Jackson has also won South Carolina. He felt he got a bad rap about that.

That's not what he really meant. He didn't mean to diss Obama. So there's a lot of anger there. And so the two of them are in very different places. Hillary Clinton has moved on. She has a whole career ahead of her. And he's still rattled about the fact that the Clinton legacy has gotten a real beating in this campaign.

BROWN: And Tara, let me just get your thoughts on that.

WALL: I think that there are obviously some bitter feelings there and Bill Clinton was playing the race card and he was being racially divisive and I think there's bitter feelings all around between he and Obama and still even Hillary Clinton and Obama. I mean, remember, she said that he wasn't really fit to lead if you will and Barack Obama said she was likable enough.

So I think there is a lot more -- there are a lot more hurt feelings there than people want to admit. They have to put on a good face so they can move forward, so they can move this country forward. But she still has not -- unity or not -- she hasn't really shown the enthusiasm that she could for Barack Obama in a way that would really be unifying. It's going to take a while.

BROWN: We're almost out of time. Just 15 seconds. Does it matter that Bill Clinton is not going to be maybe as engaged if he's feeling the way he's feeling now?

HUFFINGTON: I don't think that. I think this is now Barack Obama's party. The shift has happened. There's a passing of the torch.

WALL: It's over.

BROWN: Arianna Huffington for us and Tara Wall down in Washington. Thanks so much.

WALL: Thank you.

BROWN: And one more quick thing before we go. John McCain got hit with some pretty unusual questions today. Here's the story behind it. In Cincinnati, Ohio, a first grade boy raised more than $4,000 for our troops by selling yellow ribbons for a dollar a piece. As a thank you, he and his little sister got to ask McCain questions on camera. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you ever in a tank?

MCCAIN: In a what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a tank?

MCCAIN: I have sat in a tank but I certainly am not qualified to drive one. In fact, I think it would be very dangerous to anyone around if I were ever allowed to drive a tank.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the president like being a king?

MCCAIN: Is the president like being a king? I think there have been some presidents who thought that. We won't mention any names.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does the president do all day?

MCCAIN: What's that again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does the president do all day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does the president do all day?

MCCAIN: Oh, well I have not spent a lot of time in the White House but it's my understanding that the president is depending on what their agenda is a lot of times they spend times in meetings. Sometimes they go on foreign travel and meet with the heads of other countries. But his major job is to work with the Congress and to shape legislation on issues that are important to the country. To make everybody's lives better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: You think they found that as fascinating as we did?

I don't know. John McCain in Ohio tonight.

That's it from the ELECTION CENTER. Tune in tomorrow for our coverage of the Obama-Clinton tour in New Hampshire. That's it for us.

"LARRY KING LIVE" right now.