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Inside Politics

Ventura, Others Express Disdain With Tone of Wellstone Memorial

Aired October 30, 2002 - 16:00   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN HOST: I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington. An angry Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura is threatening to make the state's political scene even more complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JESSE VENTURA (I), MINNESOTA: I feel violated and duped. The Democrats should hang their head in shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Karl in Minneapolis. Like Jesse Ventura, Republicans are accusing the Democrats of turning Paul Wellstone's memorial into a political rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will carry on the pride. We will carry on the struggle and we'll carry on the legacy. And we will do it for Paul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Also ahead, nasty ads. Sometimes they toy around with humor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbie, I need to talk to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why Ken? What did I do this time?

Oh, no. Who will vote for me now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington this is INSIDE POLITICS with Judy Woodruff.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us. Former Vice President Walter Mondale confirmed today that he will carry on the late Paul Wellstone's Senate campaign. Minnesota's Democratic party is expected to nominate Mondale tonight.

A new poll taken Monday night shows Mondale leading Republican Norm Coleman by 8 points. Now that's about where the Wellstone- Coleman race stood two weeks ago before the senator died in a plane crash.

The dynamic could change after last night's politically charged memorial service for Wellstone and the fallout from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JESSE VENTURA (I), MINNESOTA: I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally, and like in the case of Senator Lott flying all the way up here and being booed when he's supposed to be going to a memorial service. I think the Democrats should hang their head in shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Governor Ventura is so upset, he has threatened to appoint an independent to fill Wellstone's Democratic seat until next Tuesday's election results are certified. He had been expected to appoint a Democrat.

We have more now from our Jonathan Karl in Minneapolis.

Jonathan, it's been a day like no other.

KARL: It really hasn't. And I'll tell you, Republicans are saying that Jesse Ventura has now said something that they agree with. They're echoing his sentiments and Norm Coleman is not looking back. He started to campaigning, Judy, this morning at 6:00 in the morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL (voice-over): As Republican Norm Coleman jump starts his campaign, he's running against the ghost of Paul Wellstone as much as he's running against Walter Mondale.

Wellstone's Tuesday night memorial turned into a full-fledged political rally, setting the tone for the Democratic campaign to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you not hear your friends calling you one last time to step forward on his behalf to keep his legacy alive and help us win this election for Paul Wellstone?

KARL: The most emotional appeal from Wellstone's youngest son, Mark.

MARK WELLSTONE, PAUL WELLSTONE'S SON: Mom, you're right. We will win! We will win! We will win! We will win!

KARL: Republican Trent Lott attended, only to be booed by the crowd and the event left some Republicans angry, demanding equal time from the local stations that carried the three and a half hour event live.

Former Congressman Vin Webber (ph) said of the Democrats, "What a complete, total, absolute sham. The DFL clearly intends to exploit Wellstone's memory, totally, completely and shamelessly for political gain. To them, Wellstone's death apparently was just another campaign event."

MIKE ERLANDSON, MINNESOTA DEM. CHAIRMAN: We had a very large celebration of -- of as passionate a leader of the state of Minnesota has ever known. I don't know how anybody can find offense in that.

KARL: For their part, officials of the former Wellstone campaign acknowledge that speakers got carried away in the emotion of the moment and apologized for the political nature of the event.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson represented the White House at the memorial.

TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: It wasn't uncomfortable for me. I, you know, I've been in partisan politics my whole life, and my whole adult life. And you got to realize that partisan politics is going to come into this memorial service somewhere. And I was not offended by it. But some other people might be.

KARL: With the memorial now over, Walter Mondale formally notified Democratic officials that he will accept their nomination.

Still unclear is whether he will accept an invitation issued by local media outlets to host a debate between Mondale and Republican Norm Coleman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: I caught up with Norm Coleman just about an hour ago and he said that it was unfortunate that the Democrats went to such political lengths at the memorial last night. But he was also looking forward -- I asked him about an invitation from the "Minneapolis Star- Tribune", the local paper here in Minneapolis, and a local television station to hold a debate on Friday night.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORM COLEMAN (R), MINN SENATE CANDIDATE: There are a number of folks said they'll host a debate. And we're certainly prepared to debate. We're ready to debate. I think he has to. I just think you have to. Again, you don't get things by entitlement in this state. You don't get it handed to you. I think the voters will say, Hey who is this guy in the year 2002?

This race is about the future. It's not about what was. It's about the future and I think the people require that.

KARL: In an echo of what he -- what Ronald Reagan said to Walter Mondale, Will you exploit the youth and inexperience in your opponent?

COLEMAN: No. I just may say, Where's the beef? You know? Where it is today, it's a post 9/11 world. I've been out there working, I've been out there leading and I've been out there governing and I think people will look at that and in the end, this is not about age. This is about vision. This is about the future. This is about, you know, how are you going to lead us to a tomorrow. And that's what the people of Minnesota will have to decide.

KARL: But, I mean, isn't Walter Mondale something of a legend here? He's, you know, been elected -- people voted him for president in the state, vice president, senator, attorney general.

COLEMAN: Absolutely. That's why this is an uphill battle. You know, I'm like -- it's like running against Mount Rushmore.

But on the other hand, again, the problems, the challenges, the hopes, the opportunities are real. People want those delivered. It's not about -- this is not standing still. People travel around with me. No one wants to stand still. They want to move forward.

And I think I have a better shot of moving people forward in this state whether it's jobs, whether it's education, whether it's health care than the other guy.

KARL: Aren't you really running against not only Walter Mondale but also against the memory of Paul Wellstone, the ghost of Paul Wellstone? I mean, his campaign workers are talking about keeping his legacy alive by supporting Mondale.

COLEMAN: And is there -- is there an element of that emotion? Have we all been touched? Absolutely.

But in the end, it is Walter Mondale. I mean, it's not Paul Wellstone. And again, people in this state, they -- Paul Wellstone was out there working and he was out touching the people, and he was out there firing them up. And I've been doing that.

In the end, I will bring both the passion and the ability to do it and get it done and have laid out a vision of where we're going tomorrow. I've governed in a post-9/11 world. I understand that. I think people are looking for that today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: A few hours from now, Democratic activists from around the state of Minnesota will meet in the theater behind me and formally nominate Walter Mondale to be their candidate. Mondale make his first speech at that nomination convention. His first speech as a political candidate, Judy, since 1984.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jon Karl, thanks very much from Minneapolis.

Well, Paul Wellstone's former spokesman Jim Farrell is with us now from Minneapolis as well.

Jim Farrell, about this memorial service last night, that had the overtones of a political rally, did some people there -- did the event end up just crossing the line? You had Trent Lott booed.

JIM FARRELL, FMR. WELLSTONE SPOKESMAN: Right. Well the fact is this -- you know, this first of all, it's not as some have suggested. This event was not scripted.

The way this memorial service occurred was the family members of those who died on that plane asked selected people to come and speak on behalf of those who died, and they did so from the heart. Emotions ran very high because emotions ran very high about Paul Wellstone, Marsha, Shelia, the other three on the plane and the fact is we apologize to anybody who may have been offended by what became some too political -- some comments that were seen as too political.

We understand that some people were offended by it. We apologized to anybody -- but I think that 95 percent of that were -- of that program were beautiful speeches done in very loving memory of Paul Wellstone and the others...

WOODRUFF: So when...

FARRELL: ...memorialized last night.

WOODRUFF: So when Governor Ventura said Democrats should hold their heads in shame, that he felt duped, how do you answer that?

FARRELL: Well, you know, the governor may feel that way. Again, we've said that, you know we're sorry if some of the comments got -- went too far in a political direction.

But, you know, the fact is, Paul Wellstone has endured a year of vicious, false, negative attacks from Norm Coleman and the Republican party here and some of those speakers for them caught up in the last days of a campaign, a very tough one that we were going to win.

We're going on to win the campaign for them. It's probably part of the grieving process.

WOODRUFF: Do you believe that the local stations, local television stations, should do what the Republicans are asking, those that aired the service and, in essence, give the Coleman campaign equal time?

FARRELL: Well, President Bush is going to be here campaigning once again, I think for the fifth time for Norm Coleman and if, you know, if they're suggesting that they should get equal time that way, it's a good idea.

WOODRUFF: And finally, we just heard in Jon Karl's interview with Mr. Coleman that he's saying running against Walter Mondale is like running against Mount Rushmore, and he talked about how this campaign is about the future. And he said, I've been out there on the campaign trail.

Is -- you know, is Walter Mondale at a disadvantage because he hasn't been out there campaigning? FARRELL: Well, we're going to have a short but very vigorous five day campaign and I will tell you that the people of Minnesota love Walter Mondale. He shares the values of Paul Wellstone. He is someone with a lot of experience. A statesman, he's an ambassador, a former vice president. He's someone who has always been there for this state. Like Paul Wellstone, he always stands up and says just what he believes. He's not just a politician out there, ambitious climbing.

This is somebody who will carry on the legacy and I think we're going to win this race.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jim Farrell was press secretary for the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Jim Farrell, thank you very much.

FARRELL: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: And with us now here in Washington, former Clinton White House Joe Lockhart and Republican strategist Scott Reed.

Scott, could this end up backfiring on the Democrats, this memorial last night that some are saying went overboard?

SCOTT REED, GOP STRATEGIST: I don't know if it's going to backfire. Obviously, it was a very emotional evening. This was an evening for the Wellstone family and all those involved that were in this tragedy. But the fact is, if that's the way they wanted it, that's the way they can have it. and I don't think Republicans carping about the evening is really the point here.

It's now over. It's now done. Mondale's now the candidate. We have five days. Focus on that. And I don't think it's going to backfire, no.

WOODRUFF: Joe?

JOE LOCKHART, FMR. CLINTON PRESS SECY.: I don't think it is. I think, you know, Governor Ventura and some of the others, I mean, who I have respect for, to make a comment to say that somehow the family doesn't have the right to celebrate someone they've lost in the way they choose, that's just -- I mean, I think if anything, that will backfire on the Republicans.

You know, they need to move on. It's a difficult situation. I think there's been a series of missteps as far as, you know, the Republicans are concerned about, you know, not waiting the time that you should wait and what the family do this and I think they'll probably pay a price for that.

WOODRUFF: Scott, right now, we've got a news -- A "Minneapolis Star-Tribune" newspaper poll showing Mondale ahead 47 to 39.

How tough is he going to be to beat for Norm Coleman?

REED: This is a tough race because, as Jonathan mentioned in his earlier piece, I mean, in a way, Coleman is running against two people. He's running against Wellstone and all the emotions you've seen in the state about him and against Fritz Mondale, who's a giant in politics. He served his country, his party with great distinction.

But the good news is Coleman's the right kind of candidate for this campaign. He's an independent. He used to be a Democrat. He switched parties. He governs from the middle. He's not a rigid ideologue on either end. And he's a fighter, as we've seen for the last year of this campaign.

So I think the fact that President Bush is going back in there this weekend to give him a nice boost. There will be a debate.

WOODRUFF: So, Joe -- Joe -- this is -- do you agree this is not going to be a walk for Fritz Mondale?

LOCKHART: No, I don't think any elections are a walk and any time you think they are, you tend to get walked in the wrong direction and off the political stage. But I think we have to remember that, you know, Minnesota really is a special place. There is a political legacy there unlike any other state in the country, the DFL, the Democratic and Farm Labor Party, from Freeman to Humphrey to Mondale to Wellstone. You know, there wouldn't have been a Mondale without a Humphrey. And there wouldn't have been a Paul Wellstone without a Mondale.

So there's really something here about a legacy, about the way people want to be -- the way that people want to be governed, standing up for the little guy, a populism and that's -- I think that's very hard to take on. And I think, you know, Coleman will suffer a little bit from having spent the first nine months of this year running essentially a negative campaign.

It's -- this is now about something larger than the back and forth in politics and I think that benefits Mr. Mondale.

WOODRUFF: Let's quickly broaden out to the entire Senate.

What are you thinking? I mean, we've got an election next Tuesday. The Senate is literally up for grabs.

Scott, what do you think?

REED: Incredibly close. The amazing thing is, if we had done this four months ago, we would be the saying the same thing. It's down to these six or seven races that will be very close.

Republicans have to worry about Arkansas. They have to worry about Colorado. They have to worry about New Hampshire. But they think there are opportunities in Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri, which looks like a very -- probably the strongest one Republicans have. So it looks like it'd be close. You have Louisiana out there hanging where it doesn't look like the incumbent Democrat will get the 50 percent, so this whole election may not be decided until December.

LOCKHART: Republicans are smart to recruit another candidate down there. WOODRUFF: You agree with his calls on where the Republicans -- where Democrats have to worry, Joe?

LOCKHART: Well I think Democrats and Republicans have to worry in all of them because I think I agree with Scott that, you know, this election feels like there's one turn left in it, and we just haven't seen it yet. And maybe there won't be. And maybe it'll come down to fighting in every single one.

I think the thing that we'll be talking about the day after Election Day is that an enormous amount of political capital was expended from the White House. Every thing they have -- time, money -- was spent on this and it's looking like it's going to be a defeat for the president.

REED: I disagree with that. I disagree with that totally. We maintain House and do well in the Senate. Republicans recognize how important it is to control the agenda and that's why this president is putting 110 percent into these last five days.

LOCKHART: Well, he's putting everything he has and if he doesn't win, I think you'll see the beginning of a huge Democratic comeback and a big problem for Bush going into 2004.

WOODRUFF: We've got five days and we'll know which one of you is right. Joe Lockhart, Scott Reed, great to see you both.

LOCKHART: Thanks.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for coming by. We appreciate it.

Well you may have noticed that as Election Day gets closer and closer, many campaign ads seem to get meaner and meaner.

Our ad zapper Brooks Jackson has been watching the airwaves and been watching the mud fly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The TV air war is getting brutal.

Just listen.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He sold out.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Big, fat lie.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Protects greedy executives.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's willing to sell his soul.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's just not honest.

JACKSON: Some say this year's ads have hit a new low in nastiness. so, here are some of the worst we've seen. You be the judge.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Arrested for driving on a suspended license. Arrested with his lookout for shoplifting. Arrested for disorderly conduct. Arrested for leaving the scene of an accident he caused.

JACKSON: That's not "America's Most Wanted" you're watching. IT's the rap sheet of Democratic House candidate Champ Walker, made into a Republican attack ad.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: It's not his time for Congress.

JACKSON: The ad is not only mean, it's also misleading, failing to mention that Walker was not convicted of anything. Charges were dismissed after all four arrests.

Texas may be the meanest, there's dashboard police video of Governor Rick Perry getting during a speeding stop.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: Why don't you let us get on down the road?

JACKSON: Then there's Governor Perry's ad, linking challenger Ton Sanchez to the kidnap, torture and murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent in Mexico 17 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tony Sanchez's bank fought to help the drug dealers get their money back.

JACKSON: That's a reach, but it's mean all over.

This Alabama governor's ad packs a lot of negativity into a very few words.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Bob Riley. He doesn't tell the truth and he doesn't pay his taxes.

JACKSON: Aside from that, Riley's OK, I guess.

This Arkansas ad employs juvenile humor to demean an opponent while calling him a liar.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Ross loves to tell the really tall tales.

JACKSON: Next, we have one which in which Elizabeth Dole attacks here Senate race opponent over his wife's business.

Dole didn't want CNN's viewers to see it. We had to get this scratchy copy from elsewhere.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: But his $2 million family textile company was laying off North Carolina workers and buying textile facilities in Mexico and China.

Erskine Bowles' family company is exporting our jobs to Mexico and china. JACKSON: Exporting jobs? A nasty exaggeration.

The Bowles company has laid off workers but still employs 16,000 in the U.S., compared to about 200 in Mexico, and 30 in china.

For pure character assassination, check this.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: A political chameleon.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER; A flim-flam man.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's mean as a junkyard dog and everybody knows it.

JACKSON: An ad that's mainly just a string of unflattering old quotes read by actors about Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He ants to hold office so bad, he's willing to sell his soul.

JACKSON: Who's selling their soul? Maybe the political media consultants who put this stuff on the air.

No wonder experts are predicting another low turnout for Tuesday's election.

Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Some of this is hard to believe.

Well, sometimes campaign ad makers try to make attack less offensive to voters by making it funny. Which brings us to a spot from Oklahoma which features a real doll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody elected Barbie Switten (ph). She was appointed special district judge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Barbie and I'm special.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbie, I need to talk to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why Ken? What did I do this time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your ruling allowed children to be abducted out of Oklahoma and into the Middle East.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the lawyers contribute to my campaign. Not the children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled your judgment unjust and inequitable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ooops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep. You were reversed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh now. Who will vote for me now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: We've seen everything.

Well, when America, votes next Tuesday, should we count on seeing a replay of the Florida fiasco? That story's next.

Plus:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came to ask you if you would call your brother and ask him to call ins to release the Haitians out of institutions.

WOODRUFF: Governor Jeb Bush gets an earful on the campaign trail about the fate of Haitians who ran ashore near Miami.

Bill Clinton still is playing political rock star. Candy Crowley has been watching him in action.

And later, treat Tom Daschle to a Halloween trick.

This is INSIDE POLITICS, the place for campaign news

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: President Bush often makes the argument that he wants Republicans to retake control of the Senate in to the end the gridlock over his judicial nominees. Today Mr. Bush also offered another remedy proposing a new process for selecting and confirming nominees to the federal bench.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The judicial confirmation process does not work as it should. Nominees are too often mistreated. Votes are delayed. Hearings are denied. And dozens of federal judgeships sit empty. And this endangers the quality of justice in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our senior White House correspondent John King with us now. John, how much of this is an effort to rally the Republican base?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Judy, I can't believe you would ask that question just a few days from the election. Would the president do something like that? White House officials say, Not at all. And they say that if the president was playing politics, why would he put forward a proposal that would need bipartisan support in the Congress? But make no bones about it. They know here that among the Republican conservative base, judicial nominees is a critical issue and you will note also in the remarks, the president did mention three of his judicial nominees who have been held up in the Senate, one of them from his home state of Texas, a woman by the name of Priscilla Owen. Her nomination has a key issue, a debating point in the Senate race between Democrat Ron Kirk and Republican John Cornyn.

Not the only event around here raising some eyebrows today, the White House also announcing new assistance to small businesses. Small businesses another key GOP constituency. Again they tell us, Judy, just a coincidence.

WOODRUFF: And another thing going on at the White House today, John. They had radio day? A lot of radio talk show hosts there?

KING: Radio talk show hosts, radio interviews from around the country, getting the star treatment from the White House today. This was something done once also during the Clinton administration but Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, there you see Dan Bartlett, the communications director, Mary Matalin out there, Karl Rove out there.

Several people in this administration very reluctant to do television interviews right now, suddenly available to do interviews around the country on radio stations. Some of the questions about Iraq. Many questions, of course, about the upcoming elections.

Again, the administration getting array of people on the radio today, on the road over the next several days, make no mistake about it. The president, the vice president, the first lady, Mrs. Cheney, much of the cabinet. And, Judy, even what they call the "Thelma and Louise" tour around here, Mary Matalin and Karen Hughes heading out together for a handful of key congressional races to try to help the Republican candidates.

WOODRUFF: Thelma and Louise in the best sense of the word. All right, John King. I saw even some faces there we'd like to have an interview with. Thanks a lot, John.

A little later on INSIDE POLITICS, we continue our look at the fresh faces on the ballot in year's election.

But first, let's turn to Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange for a market update.

Rhonda, what's going on?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. MARKET CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Judy. Stocks closer higher on Wall Street. Investors treading somewhat cautiously though ahead of a couple of economic reports coming out tomorrow and Friday.

At the closing bell, though, the Dow muscles higher by 58 points. Nasdaq surges 26 or 2 percent. Tech stocks got a boost from IBM. The computer giant's CEO said he believes the economy has bottomed out based on customer feedback.

Another tech winner, Activision, the second biggest video game publisher quarterly profits quadrupled. They cited strong sales of its extreme sports titles and other hit like "Spider-Man."

Well, Wal-Mart, a drag on the market. Shares fell of the world's biggest retailer fell more than $2.50 to about 54 a share. Goldman Sachs cut its rating on Wal-Mart saying the stock is too expensive.

That is the very latest from Wall Street. More INSIDE POLITICS after the break, including campaign updates on three key governors' races.

(COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER)

WOODRUFF: Florida Governor Jeb Bush today made a campaign stop in Miamai just a day after those 200 or so mostly Haitian immigrants were taken into custody when their ship ran aground. Democratic Congressman Carrie Meek met the governor at today's campaign appearance and called on him to help the Haitians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CARRIE MEEK (D), FLORIDA: I came to ask you if you would call your brother and ask him to call INS to release the Haitians out of detention. They don't need a new policy. All they have to is call. The wet-foot/dry-foot policy will take effect. Those Haitians are standing on dry land.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Congresswoman, I appreciate -- I respect your position.

MEEK: Call him, Governor, and ask him to please...

J. BUSH: Thank you.

MEEK: You can do it. We can't do it. The Congress can't do it. We tried our best. We can't do it. If you call him, tell him to call INS.

J. BUSH: Carrie, you know that we worked together in 1998 to change the immigration laws with your leadership. That occurred to provide for more just treatment of Haitians. My position is as I stated. If people have a well-founded fear of persecution, they should be allowed into the community out of Krome. And they should be able to pursue those remedies through administrative course.

MEEK: Tell your brother they can be released right now. They can.

J. BUSH: OK. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Jeb Bush at a campaign stop today. And we know, unlike Cuban immigrants who are able to reach U.S. soil, Haitian immigrants are usually denied asylum by the U.S. government.

After the Florida election meltdown two years ago, lawmakers in both parties vowed to reform voting procedures nationwide. But Congress managed to pass an election reform bill only recently. And the potential for more problems remains very real.

Here now: CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Florida 2000, what a mess: hanging chads, dimpled ballots, an election in the balance. Brace yourselves. Next Tuesday could be a rerun, though not necessarily in Florida.

DOUG CHAPIN, ELECTION REFORM INFORMATION PROJECT: There is a potential for chaos. We can't predict where it will be, but there's definitely a potential.

DAN GWADOSKY, NATIONAL ASSN. SECYS. OF STATE: States are going to work very hard to avoid the types of issues that people experienced two years ago. But I think it's fair to say that there are going to some problems. There are going to be some issues.

SNOW: With close races nationwide, control of Congress at stake and a lot more scrutiny on election procedures, questionable votes could lead to a Florida-like swarm of lawyers and reporters.

(on camera): Part of what makes it so hard to predict is, there's no one system of voting nationwide. Every color on this map represents a different voting method. And despite the outcry after Florida, most Americans will still vote the same way they always have.

(voice-over): Pulling levers, cards read by optical scanners, pencil-and-paper ballots, and, yes, even punch cards.

CHAPIN: Punch cards, which were clearly sort of the pariah technology after the 2000 election, still have their defenders and their adherents around the country. And, if used properly, they work very well, but they have to be used properly.

SNOW: In the Chicago area, public service announcements tell voters to beware of dimples and chads. Problems with old machines are one concern, but new electronic machines are no guarantee of a smooth vote either. In Georgia, a key Senate race is getting tighter as the state rolls out new ATM-style machines, with their first big test on Election Day.

GWADOSKY: No matter what you do with technology, no matter what your procedures are, if you don't have adequately trained people helping and assisting to conduct the elections, you're still likely to have problems.

SNOW: September's primary in Florida proved that. Some poll workers didn't know how to run their new electronic machines, same thing in Montgomery County, Maryland. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and press start.

SNOW: The county has gone to great pains to make things better for Election Day, running training sessions for poll workers. One challenge nationwide is finding people willing to work a 16-hour day for little or no pay.

Many are seniors, who may find new computerized systems baffling. And their every action will be under the microscope. Both parties have mobilized an army of lawyers ready to jump into legal disputes, from technical problems to accusations of voter fraud and intimidation, thousands of lawyers deployed to polling places, one of the legacies of Florida. This election night could be another long one.

Kate Snow, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And you should know that, tomorrow on INSIDE POLITICS, we'll have a live demonstration of some of those new voting machines. That's tomorrow.

Meantime, an update on the call by the Republican Party of Minnesota to get equal time from the television stations in Minnesota who carried the Paul Wellstone memorial service last night, a service that turned into a fairly boisterous event with political overtones.

This is the comment from the WCCO television station, their news director, who said -- quote -- "Legally, equal time is not an issue in last night's case, because the political candidate running for office did not speak." She went on to say: "Our station was caught off guard by the change in tone in last night's memorial service. It was a memorial for the six lives lost." That's the news director at WCCO.

We're told that KARE Television in Minneapolis is still thinking about it, that is the request from the Republicans for equal time.

Still ahead: Bill Clinton back on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lending his flame to charisma-challenged candidates, which, when standing next to Bill Clinton, is pretty much everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our Candy Crowley shares her take on the life of the Democratic Party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Most people from the mainland go to Hawaii to vacation. Well, Bill Clinton is there today to do what he most enjoys, campaigning. It's part of his preelection swing on behalf of Democratic candidates.

As our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, explains, it is mostly a Clinton love fest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): At the base of the Democratic Party, where the true believers live, they can't stop thinking about yesterday. And when yesterday shows up, they go nuts.

CARL MCCALL (D), NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It's just been incredible. People really believe in him. And people really come out just to see him. And a lot of that gets transferred to other people.

CROWLEY: He's still the one, the life of the party, en fuego, lending his flame to charisma-challenged candidates, which, when standing next to Bill Clinton, is pretty much everybody, even this seasoned Democratic "it" girl, Michigan's gubernatorial candidate, Jennifer Granholm.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, our friends in the other party, they know that Jennifer's going to win if the Democrats are united and you show up.

CROWLEY: In a midterm election, where victory belongs to the party that shows up, that's the strength of the former president, getting them to show up. Clintonites want you to know, the bulk of the former president's time out of office has been spent on charitable works and causes. But, honestly, when the political season comes rolling around, this is a man who can't help himself.

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: He certainly loves the political arena. He has his entire life, every bone in his body. He loves being out there. He loves being with people.

CROWLEY: By next week, he will have politicked in 20 states and the District of Columbia. You may notice an imbalance of geography. Travel is light below the Mason-Dixon Line. Some Democrats and independents, particularly in the South, remain unhappy with the steamier side of the Clinton administration.

Politically, the former president can be as toxic as he is magic. One-time Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, running for the Senate against Elizabeth Dole, doesn't talk much about his former boss. Republicans do, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

NARRATOR: Where did Erskine Bowles learn his negative tactics? Bill Clinton's White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Still, there's more than one way to help a campaign. Clinton advises candidates looking to learn the magic. There are phone calls and radio spots and direct mail.

MCCALL: And he can raise money, too. We did very well tonight.

CROWLEY: Clintonites estimate about 60 percent of his political events this year have been fund-raisers. There is nobody else out there like him. Nobody. OK, maybe somebody.

B. CLINTON: Increasingly, Hillary has become the target of the right-wing hate mail, instead of me. I don't know whether to be offended or relieved.

CROWLEY: She has some of his toxicity and some of his magic.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I am overwhelmed by this kind of turnout so close to the election.

CROWLEY: Her office says Senator Clinton has offered an assist to nearly 90 candidates this year. Still, he remains the star. "There's such a vacuum out there," sighed one true believer. They miss him so much.

And he seems a little wistful himself.

B. CLINTON: I'm more grateful than you'll ever know for the support you gave to me. But politics is always about tomorrow and not yesterday.

CROWLEY: His days as the comeback kid are over. But he's still the natural.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: So I guess Candy's saying he's not going to run again.

Well, new poll results and debate highlights from three key governor's races straight ahead.

Also:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Republicans went looking for homegrown talent. And they found it, where else, on the farm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our Bill Schneider with another of the fresh faces on the ballot next Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: We update three major gubernatorial races in today's "Campaign News Daily." New York Governor George Pataki is holding a strong lead over his two leading challengers. A new Marist College poll gives Pataki a 20- point lead over Democrat Carl McCall, 47 percent to 27 percent. Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano trails Pataki by 30 points.

The final debate for Massachusetts governor last night included several sharp exchanges between Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Shannon O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON O'BRIEN (D), MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I refuse to take a no-new-taxes pledge, just like Mitt Romney, because that would be the last choice that I would make.

QUESTION: But if you had to make a choice?

O'BRIEN: That would be the last choice I would make.

MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It'd be really great if I got to speak for what I believe and she got to believe for she believes. So please don't keep characterizing what I believe.

O'BRIEN: But you don't tell the truth about what you support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Romney later told O'Brien that her accusations him were -- quote -- "just not becoming."

In Maryland, Republican Bob Ehrlich has forged a small lead over Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in that state's race for governor. The Maryland poll gives Ehrlich 48 percent to Townsend's 44 percent. Now, that's a 6-point shift in Ehrlich's favor since the last Maryland poll was taken one month ago.

Political party leaders are always on the lookout for new talent. And Tuesday's election will be the moment of truth for some of these new party recruits.

Our Bill Schneider has another look at one of the fresh faces appearing on the midterm ballot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): California gets a brand new congressional district this year. And this is it, Tulare County, the most productive agricultural district in the country. They get a brand new candidate, too, locally grown and professionally cultivated.

Meet Devin Nunes, the anointed newcomer in California's new district. Republicans went looking for homegrown talent. And they found it, where else, on the farm.

DEVIN NUNES (R), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Just growing up on the farm, my grandparents, hearing about where they came from, and it was a lot different there. They had two cows and lots of kids. And it was very difficult to make a living.

SCHNEIDER: Someone with deep roots in the district.

NUNES: This is the oak tree that was here when my family came here. And this was the first house that they built.

This is my great grandfather and grandmother. This was probably taken in probably the '30s.

SCHNEIDER: Preferably ethnic.

NUNES: You should always vote for the Portuguese candidate, Portuguese-descended candidate, which I'm the only one here that you can vote for, so...

SCHNEIDER: As an elected local college board trustee, Nunes caught the attention of a powerful political mentor, Representative Bill Thomas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. With Thomas' support, the PAC money and the endorsements rolled in. Nunes beat two seasoned pros in the GOP primary last March and is leading his Democratic opponent.

DAVE LAPERE (D), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: He has Bill Thomas as a mentor, which has gained him a lot of access to probably funding that we normally wouldn't get.

SCHNEIDER: He's got high-level endorsements. He's got an issue.

NUNES: The issue that I talk most about is water, because I think water is the lifeblood to this area and to our economy.

SCHNEIDER: His opponent calls it a special interest issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

LAPERE: While my opponent fiddles with water issues, the rest of our district burns with the concerns that we really need to solve, high double-digit unemployment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: This young candidate is just finding his legs. But, in a district designed to be safe for a Republican, his political future seems pretty well-assured.

(on camera): What do Republicans need to survive in California? Designer districts like this, rural, small-town, conservative, and designer candidates like Devin Nunes, young, ethnic, Republican.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Clovis, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And tomorrow, Bill will profile Maryland Democratic Chris Van Hollen. He defeated a Kennedy cousin for the party nomination. Now he's in a tight race against longtime Republican Congresswoman Connie Morella.

Many big-name politicians are out stumping for their fellow Democrats, but what's in it for them? Up next: presidential hopefuls laying groundwork in this election for the vote in 2004.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Al Gore is expected an exclusive dinner in Washington tonight, a thank you for the Democratic Party's top 25 donors. Our Candy Crowley reports that Gore is spreading a little bit of wealth himself. He's handing out $200,000 left in his Florida recount fund to political groups in four states that will be key if he decides to run for president again.

Our Bruce Morton has more on all the Democrats who are gearing up for '04.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator John Edwards.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Thank you. Thank you.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democratic senator and possible presidential candidate John Edwards at a dinner in Manchester. It's not his first visit.

EDWARDS: It is great to be back in New Hampshire.

MORTON: He's not alone. John Kerry has been. Joe Lieberman has been. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt has been. Vermont Governor Howard Dean has been. Why? One reason: to recruit the activists, the party regulars who come to these dinners.

JEFF WOODBURN, FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN: It's to build the grassroots effort, to build the relationships with key people who can work for free and be good sages in terms of the politics of New Hampshire.

TOM RATH, REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST: There is a core group of people who get involved very early, a sort of inner circle. And they pick and choose way before the rest of the electorate does. And there's a primary, if you will, to win that primary, to try and get as many good workers on your side.

MORTON: People like these, maybe 2,000 or 3,000 in each party, and one other group.

WOODBURN: There's always a group of people who come into the process who have never been involved. They meet a candidate. They get a piece of literature and they become the first true believers. And they're the best people. They're the most idealistic people.

MORTON: There's one other reason. Rath says New Hampshire is like the New Haven tryout for a Broadway-bound show.

RATH: We're a place where somebody can come and try out a message and see if that message resonates.

MORTON: A message? Right.

EDWARDS: We're going to say to this president, ignoring your responsibilities at home because you're focused overseas isn't good enough for America. Your job description actually requires you to do two things at the same time.

RATH: You need a place where people pay attention, where they take it seriously, and where they show up. And New Hampshire is that place. I think we understand that, if we're going to have the first primary, we have to pay attention earlier than anyplace else. And we give these people a chance to come up here and not laugh at the idea that one of them might be president.

MORTON: If you build it, they will come. New Hampshire has. And they do.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: We're talking about '04, but, right now, this is Halloween Eve. And we're going to look beyond the kid's stuff at some hardball, holiday-themed politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Well, Republicans apparently are getting into the Halloween spirit. In an ad on the GOP's Web site, the party charges that continued Democratic control of the Senate will have scary consequences. Take a look. I think that was Tom Daschle.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Thanks for joining us. Tomorrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger joins me to talk about California politics.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

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 October 30, 2002 - 16:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN HOST: I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington. An angry Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura is threatening to make the state's political scene even more complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JESSE VENTURA (I), MINNESOTA: I feel violated and duped. The Democrats should hang their head in shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Karl in Minneapolis. Like Jesse Ventura, Republicans are accusing the Democrats of turning Paul Wellstone's memorial into a political rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will carry on the pride. We will carry on the struggle and we'll carry on the legacy. And we will do it for Paul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Also ahead, nasty ads. Sometimes they toy around with humor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbie, I need to talk to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why Ken? What did I do this time?

Oh, no. Who will vote for me now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Live from Washington this is INSIDE POLITICS with Judy Woodruff.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us. Former Vice President Walter Mondale confirmed today that he will carry on the late Paul Wellstone's Senate campaign. Minnesota's Democratic party is expected to nominate Mondale tonight.

A new poll taken Monday night shows Mondale leading Republican Norm Coleman by 8 points. Now that's about where the Wellstone- Coleman race stood two weeks ago before the senator died in a plane crash.

The dynamic could change after last night's politically charged memorial service for Wellstone and the fallout from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JESSE VENTURA (I), MINNESOTA: I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally, and like in the case of Senator Lott flying all the way up here and being booed when he's supposed to be going to a memorial service. I think the Democrats should hang their head in shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Governor Ventura is so upset, he has threatened to appoint an independent to fill Wellstone's Democratic seat until next Tuesday's election results are certified. He had been expected to appoint a Democrat.

We have more now from our Jonathan Karl in Minneapolis.

Jonathan, it's been a day like no other.

KARL: It really hasn't. And I'll tell you, Republicans are saying that Jesse Ventura has now said something that they agree with. They're echoing his sentiments and Norm Coleman is not looking back. He started to campaigning, Judy, this morning at 6:00 in the morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL (voice-over): As Republican Norm Coleman jump starts his campaign, he's running against the ghost of Paul Wellstone as much as he's running against Walter Mondale.

Wellstone's Tuesday night memorial turned into a full-fledged political rally, setting the tone for the Democratic campaign to come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you not hear your friends calling you one last time to step forward on his behalf to keep his legacy alive and help us win this election for Paul Wellstone?

KARL: The most emotional appeal from Wellstone's youngest son, Mark.

MARK WELLSTONE, PAUL WELLSTONE'S SON: Mom, you're right. We will win! We will win! We will win! We will win!

KARL: Republican Trent Lott attended, only to be booed by the crowd and the event left some Republicans angry, demanding equal time from the local stations that carried the three and a half hour event live.

Former Congressman Vin Webber (ph) said of the Democrats, "What a complete, total, absolute sham. The DFL clearly intends to exploit Wellstone's memory, totally, completely and shamelessly for political gain. To them, Wellstone's death apparently was just another campaign event."

MIKE ERLANDSON, MINNESOTA DEM. CHAIRMAN: We had a very large celebration of -- of as passionate a leader of the state of Minnesota has ever known. I don't know how anybody can find offense in that.

KARL: For their part, officials of the former Wellstone campaign acknowledge that speakers got carried away in the emotion of the moment and apologized for the political nature of the event.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson represented the White House at the memorial.

TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: It wasn't uncomfortable for me. I, you know, I've been in partisan politics my whole life, and my whole adult life. And you got to realize that partisan politics is going to come into this memorial service somewhere. And I was not offended by it. But some other people might be.

KARL: With the memorial now over, Walter Mondale formally notified Democratic officials that he will accept their nomination.

Still unclear is whether he will accept an invitation issued by local media outlets to host a debate between Mondale and Republican Norm Coleman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: I caught up with Norm Coleman just about an hour ago and he said that it was unfortunate that the Democrats went to such political lengths at the memorial last night. But he was also looking forward -- I asked him about an invitation from the "Minneapolis Star- Tribune", the local paper here in Minneapolis, and a local television station to hold a debate on Friday night.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORM COLEMAN (R), MINN SENATE CANDIDATE: There are a number of folks said they'll host a debate. And we're certainly prepared to debate. We're ready to debate. I think he has to. I just think you have to. Again, you don't get things by entitlement in this state. You don't get it handed to you. I think the voters will say, Hey who is this guy in the year 2002?

This race is about the future. It's not about what was. It's about the future and I think the people require that.

KARL: In an echo of what he -- what Ronald Reagan said to Walter Mondale, Will you exploit the youth and inexperience in your opponent?

COLEMAN: No. I just may say, Where's the beef? You know? Where it is today, it's a post 9/11 world. I've been out there working, I've been out there leading and I've been out there governing and I think people will look at that and in the end, this is not about age. This is about vision. This is about the future. This is about, you know, how are you going to lead us to a tomorrow. And that's what the people of Minnesota will have to decide.

KARL: But, I mean, isn't Walter Mondale something of a legend here? He's, you know, been elected -- people voted him for president in the state, vice president, senator, attorney general.

COLEMAN: Absolutely. That's why this is an uphill battle. You know, I'm like -- it's like running against Mount Rushmore.

But on the other hand, again, the problems, the challenges, the hopes, the opportunities are real. People want those delivered. It's not about -- this is not standing still. People travel around with me. No one wants to stand still. They want to move forward.

And I think I have a better shot of moving people forward in this state whether it's jobs, whether it's education, whether it's health care than the other guy.

KARL: Aren't you really running against not only Walter Mondale but also against the memory of Paul Wellstone, the ghost of Paul Wellstone? I mean, his campaign workers are talking about keeping his legacy alive by supporting Mondale.

COLEMAN: And is there -- is there an element of that emotion? Have we all been touched? Absolutely.

But in the end, it is Walter Mondale. I mean, it's not Paul Wellstone. And again, people in this state, they -- Paul Wellstone was out there working and he was out touching the people, and he was out there firing them up. And I've been doing that.

In the end, I will bring both the passion and the ability to do it and get it done and have laid out a vision of where we're going tomorrow. I've governed in a post-9/11 world. I understand that. I think people are looking for that today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: A few hours from now, Democratic activists from around the state of Minnesota will meet in the theater behind me and formally nominate Walter Mondale to be their candidate. Mondale make his first speech at that nomination convention. His first speech as a political candidate, Judy, since 1984.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jon Karl, thanks very much from Minneapolis.

Well, Paul Wellstone's former spokesman Jim Farrell is with us now from Minneapolis as well.

Jim Farrell, about this memorial service last night, that had the overtones of a political rally, did some people there -- did the event end up just crossing the line? You had Trent Lott booed.

JIM FARRELL, FMR. WELLSTONE SPOKESMAN: Right. Well the fact is this -- you know, this first of all, it's not as some have suggested. This event was not scripted.

The way this memorial service occurred was the family members of those who died on that plane asked selected people to come and speak on behalf of those who died, and they did so from the heart. Emotions ran very high because emotions ran very high about Paul Wellstone, Marsha, Shelia, the other three on the plane and the fact is we apologize to anybody who may have been offended by what became some too political -- some comments that were seen as too political.

We understand that some people were offended by it. We apologized to anybody -- but I think that 95 percent of that were -- of that program were beautiful speeches done in very loving memory of Paul Wellstone and the others...

WOODRUFF: So when...

FARRELL: ...memorialized last night.

WOODRUFF: So when Governor Ventura said Democrats should hold their heads in shame, that he felt duped, how do you answer that?

FARRELL: Well, you know, the governor may feel that way. Again, we've said that, you know we're sorry if some of the comments got -- went too far in a political direction.

But, you know, the fact is, Paul Wellstone has endured a year of vicious, false, negative attacks from Norm Coleman and the Republican party here and some of those speakers for them caught up in the last days of a campaign, a very tough one that we were going to win.

We're going on to win the campaign for them. It's probably part of the grieving process.

WOODRUFF: Do you believe that the local stations, local television stations, should do what the Republicans are asking, those that aired the service and, in essence, give the Coleman campaign equal time?

FARRELL: Well, President Bush is going to be here campaigning once again, I think for the fifth time for Norm Coleman and if, you know, if they're suggesting that they should get equal time that way, it's a good idea.

WOODRUFF: And finally, we just heard in Jon Karl's interview with Mr. Coleman that he's saying running against Walter Mondale is like running against Mount Rushmore, and he talked about how this campaign is about the future. And he said, I've been out there on the campaign trail.

Is -- you know, is Walter Mondale at a disadvantage because he hasn't been out there campaigning? FARRELL: Well, we're going to have a short but very vigorous five day campaign and I will tell you that the people of Minnesota love Walter Mondale. He shares the values of Paul Wellstone. He is someone with a lot of experience. A statesman, he's an ambassador, a former vice president. He's someone who has always been there for this state. Like Paul Wellstone, he always stands up and says just what he believes. He's not just a politician out there, ambitious climbing.

This is somebody who will carry on the legacy and I think we're going to win this race.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jim Farrell was press secretary for the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Jim Farrell, thank you very much.

FARRELL: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: And with us now here in Washington, former Clinton White House Joe Lockhart and Republican strategist Scott Reed.

Scott, could this end up backfiring on the Democrats, this memorial last night that some are saying went overboard?

SCOTT REED, GOP STRATEGIST: I don't know if it's going to backfire. Obviously, it was a very emotional evening. This was an evening for the Wellstone family and all those involved that were in this tragedy. But the fact is, if that's the way they wanted it, that's the way they can have it. and I don't think Republicans carping about the evening is really the point here.

It's now over. It's now done. Mondale's now the candidate. We have five days. Focus on that. And I don't think it's going to backfire, no.

WOODRUFF: Joe?

JOE LOCKHART, FMR. CLINTON PRESS SECY.: I don't think it is. I think, you know, Governor Ventura and some of the others, I mean, who I have respect for, to make a comment to say that somehow the family doesn't have the right to celebrate someone they've lost in the way they choose, that's just -- I mean, I think if anything, that will backfire on the Republicans.

You know, they need to move on. It's a difficult situation. I think there's been a series of missteps as far as, you know, the Republicans are concerned about, you know, not waiting the time that you should wait and what the family do this and I think they'll probably pay a price for that.

WOODRUFF: Scott, right now, we've got a news -- A "Minneapolis Star-Tribune" newspaper poll showing Mondale ahead 47 to 39.

How tough is he going to be to beat for Norm Coleman?

REED: This is a tough race because, as Jonathan mentioned in his earlier piece, I mean, in a way, Coleman is running against two people. He's running against Wellstone and all the emotions you've seen in the state about him and against Fritz Mondale, who's a giant in politics. He served his country, his party with great distinction.

But the good news is Coleman's the right kind of candidate for this campaign. He's an independent. He used to be a Democrat. He switched parties. He governs from the middle. He's not a rigid ideologue on either end. And he's a fighter, as we've seen for the last year of this campaign.

So I think the fact that President Bush is going back in there this weekend to give him a nice boost. There will be a debate.

WOODRUFF: So, Joe -- Joe -- this is -- do you agree this is not going to be a walk for Fritz Mondale?

LOCKHART: No, I don't think any elections are a walk and any time you think they are, you tend to get walked in the wrong direction and off the political stage. But I think we have to remember that, you know, Minnesota really is a special place. There is a political legacy there unlike any other state in the country, the DFL, the Democratic and Farm Labor Party, from Freeman to Humphrey to Mondale to Wellstone. You know, there wouldn't have been a Mondale without a Humphrey. And there wouldn't have been a Paul Wellstone without a Mondale.

So there's really something here about a legacy, about the way people want to be -- the way that people want to be governed, standing up for the little guy, a populism and that's -- I think that's very hard to take on. And I think, you know, Coleman will suffer a little bit from having spent the first nine months of this year running essentially a negative campaign.

It's -- this is now about something larger than the back and forth in politics and I think that benefits Mr. Mondale.

WOODRUFF: Let's quickly broaden out to the entire Senate.

What are you thinking? I mean, we've got an election next Tuesday. The Senate is literally up for grabs.

Scott, what do you think?

REED: Incredibly close. The amazing thing is, if we had done this four months ago, we would be the saying the same thing. It's down to these six or seven races that will be very close.

Republicans have to worry about Arkansas. They have to worry about Colorado. They have to worry about New Hampshire. But they think there are opportunities in Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri, which looks like a very -- probably the strongest one Republicans have. So it looks like it'd be close. You have Louisiana out there hanging where it doesn't look like the incumbent Democrat will get the 50 percent, so this whole election may not be decided until December.

LOCKHART: Republicans are smart to recruit another candidate down there. WOODRUFF: You agree with his calls on where the Republicans -- where Democrats have to worry, Joe?

LOCKHART: Well I think Democrats and Republicans have to worry in all of them because I think I agree with Scott that, you know, this election feels like there's one turn left in it, and we just haven't seen it yet. And maybe there won't be. And maybe it'll come down to fighting in every single one.

I think the thing that we'll be talking about the day after Election Day is that an enormous amount of political capital was expended from the White House. Every thing they have -- time, money -- was spent on this and it's looking like it's going to be a defeat for the president.

REED: I disagree with that. I disagree with that totally. We maintain House and do well in the Senate. Republicans recognize how important it is to control the agenda and that's why this president is putting 110 percent into these last five days.

LOCKHART: Well, he's putting everything he has and if he doesn't win, I think you'll see the beginning of a huge Democratic comeback and a big problem for Bush going into 2004.

WOODRUFF: We've got five days and we'll know which one of you is right. Joe Lockhart, Scott Reed, great to see you both.

LOCKHART: Thanks.

WOODRUFF: Thank you for coming by. We appreciate it.

Well you may have noticed that as Election Day gets closer and closer, many campaign ads seem to get meaner and meaner.

Our ad zapper Brooks Jackson has been watching the airwaves and been watching the mud fly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The TV air war is getting brutal.

Just listen.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He sold out.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Big, fat lie.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Protects greedy executives.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's willing to sell his soul.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's just not honest.

JACKSON: Some say this year's ads have hit a new low in nastiness. so, here are some of the worst we've seen. You be the judge.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Arrested for driving on a suspended license. Arrested with his lookout for shoplifting. Arrested for disorderly conduct. Arrested for leaving the scene of an accident he caused.

JACKSON: That's not "America's Most Wanted" you're watching. IT's the rap sheet of Democratic House candidate Champ Walker, made into a Republican attack ad.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: It's not his time for Congress.

JACKSON: The ad is not only mean, it's also misleading, failing to mention that Walker was not convicted of anything. Charges were dismissed after all four arrests.

Texas may be the meanest, there's dashboard police video of Governor Rick Perry getting during a speeding stop.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: Why don't you let us get on down the road?

JACKSON: Then there's Governor Perry's ad, linking challenger Ton Sanchez to the kidnap, torture and murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent in Mexico 17 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tony Sanchez's bank fought to help the drug dealers get their money back.

JACKSON: That's a reach, but it's mean all over.

This Alabama governor's ad packs a lot of negativity into a very few words.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Bob Riley. He doesn't tell the truth and he doesn't pay his taxes.

JACKSON: Aside from that, Riley's OK, I guess.

This Arkansas ad employs juvenile humor to demean an opponent while calling him a liar.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Ross loves to tell the really tall tales.

JACKSON: Next, we have one which in which Elizabeth Dole attacks here Senate race opponent over his wife's business.

Dole didn't want CNN's viewers to see it. We had to get this scratchy copy from elsewhere.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: But his $2 million family textile company was laying off North Carolina workers and buying textile facilities in Mexico and China.

Erskine Bowles' family company is exporting our jobs to Mexico and china. JACKSON: Exporting jobs? A nasty exaggeration.

The Bowles company has laid off workers but still employs 16,000 in the U.S., compared to about 200 in Mexico, and 30 in china.

For pure character assassination, check this.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: A political chameleon.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER; A flim-flam man.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: He's mean as a junkyard dog and everybody knows it.

JACKSON: An ad that's mainly just a string of unflattering old quotes read by actors about Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He ants to hold office so bad, he's willing to sell his soul.

JACKSON: Who's selling their soul? Maybe the political media consultants who put this stuff on the air.

No wonder experts are predicting another low turnout for Tuesday's election.

Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Some of this is hard to believe.

Well, sometimes campaign ad makers try to make attack less offensive to voters by making it funny. Which brings us to a spot from Oklahoma which features a real doll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody elected Barbie Switten (ph). She was appointed special district judge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Barbie and I'm special.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barbie, I need to talk to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why Ken? What did I do this time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your ruling allowed children to be abducted out of Oklahoma and into the Middle East.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the lawyers contribute to my campaign. Not the children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled your judgment unjust and inequitable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ooops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep. You were reversed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh now. Who will vote for me now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: We've seen everything.

Well, when America, votes next Tuesday, should we count on seeing a replay of the Florida fiasco? That story's next.

Plus:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came to ask you if you would call your brother and ask him to call ins to release the Haitians out of institutions.

WOODRUFF: Governor Jeb Bush gets an earful on the campaign trail about the fate of Haitians who ran ashore near Miami.

Bill Clinton still is playing political rock star. Candy Crowley has been watching him in action.

And later, treat Tom Daschle to a Halloween trick.

This is INSIDE POLITICS, the place for campaign news

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: President Bush often makes the argument that he wants Republicans to retake control of the Senate in to the end the gridlock over his judicial nominees. Today Mr. Bush also offered another remedy proposing a new process for selecting and confirming nominees to the federal bench.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The judicial confirmation process does not work as it should. Nominees are too often mistreated. Votes are delayed. Hearings are denied. And dozens of federal judgeships sit empty. And this endangers the quality of justice in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our senior White House correspondent John King with us now. John, how much of this is an effort to rally the Republican base?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Judy, I can't believe you would ask that question just a few days from the election. Would the president do something like that? White House officials say, Not at all. And they say that if the president was playing politics, why would he put forward a proposal that would need bipartisan support in the Congress? But make no bones about it. They know here that among the Republican conservative base, judicial nominees is a critical issue and you will note also in the remarks, the president did mention three of his judicial nominees who have been held up in the Senate, one of them from his home state of Texas, a woman by the name of Priscilla Owen. Her nomination has a key issue, a debating point in the Senate race between Democrat Ron Kirk and Republican John Cornyn.

Not the only event around here raising some eyebrows today, the White House also announcing new assistance to small businesses. Small businesses another key GOP constituency. Again they tell us, Judy, just a coincidence.

WOODRUFF: And another thing going on at the White House today, John. They had radio day? A lot of radio talk show hosts there?

KING: Radio talk show hosts, radio interviews from around the country, getting the star treatment from the White House today. This was something done once also during the Clinton administration but Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, there you see Dan Bartlett, the communications director, Mary Matalin out there, Karl Rove out there.

Several people in this administration very reluctant to do television interviews right now, suddenly available to do interviews around the country on radio stations. Some of the questions about Iraq. Many questions, of course, about the upcoming elections.

Again, the administration getting array of people on the radio today, on the road over the next several days, make no mistake about it. The president, the vice president, the first lady, Mrs. Cheney, much of the cabinet. And, Judy, even what they call the "Thelma and Louise" tour around here, Mary Matalin and Karen Hughes heading out together for a handful of key congressional races to try to help the Republican candidates.

WOODRUFF: Thelma and Louise in the best sense of the word. All right, John King. I saw even some faces there we'd like to have an interview with. Thanks a lot, John.

A little later on INSIDE POLITICS, we continue our look at the fresh faces on the ballot in year's election.

But first, let's turn to Rhonda Schaffler at the New York Stock Exchange for a market update.

Rhonda, what's going on?

RHONDA SCHAFFLER, CNN SR. MARKET CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Judy. Stocks closer higher on Wall Street. Investors treading somewhat cautiously though ahead of a couple of economic reports coming out tomorrow and Friday.

At the closing bell, though, the Dow muscles higher by 58 points. Nasdaq surges 26 or 2 percent. Tech stocks got a boost from IBM. The computer giant's CEO said he believes the economy has bottomed out based on customer feedback.

Another tech winner, Activision, the second biggest video game publisher quarterly profits quadrupled. They cited strong sales of its extreme sports titles and other hit like "Spider-Man."

Well, Wal-Mart, a drag on the market. Shares fell of the world's biggest retailer fell more than $2.50 to about 54 a share. Goldman Sachs cut its rating on Wal-Mart saying the stock is too expensive.

That is the very latest from Wall Street. More INSIDE POLITICS after the break, including campaign updates on three key governors' races.

(COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER)

WOODRUFF: Florida Governor Jeb Bush today made a campaign stop in Miamai just a day after those 200 or so mostly Haitian immigrants were taken into custody when their ship ran aground. Democratic Congressman Carrie Meek met the governor at today's campaign appearance and called on him to help the Haitians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CARRIE MEEK (D), FLORIDA: I came to ask you if you would call your brother and ask him to call INS to release the Haitians out of detention. They don't need a new policy. All they have to is call. The wet-foot/dry-foot policy will take effect. Those Haitians are standing on dry land.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Congresswoman, I appreciate -- I respect your position.

MEEK: Call him, Governor, and ask him to please...

J. BUSH: Thank you.

MEEK: You can do it. We can't do it. The Congress can't do it. We tried our best. We can't do it. If you call him, tell him to call INS.

J. BUSH: Carrie, you know that we worked together in 1998 to change the immigration laws with your leadership. That occurred to provide for more just treatment of Haitians. My position is as I stated. If people have a well-founded fear of persecution, they should be allowed into the community out of Krome. And they should be able to pursue those remedies through administrative course.

MEEK: Tell your brother they can be released right now. They can.

J. BUSH: OK. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Jeb Bush at a campaign stop today. And we know, unlike Cuban immigrants who are able to reach U.S. soil, Haitian immigrants are usually denied asylum by the U.S. government.

After the Florida election meltdown two years ago, lawmakers in both parties vowed to reform voting procedures nationwide. But Congress managed to pass an election reform bill only recently. And the potential for more problems remains very real.

Here now: CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Florida 2000, what a mess: hanging chads, dimpled ballots, an election in the balance. Brace yourselves. Next Tuesday could be a rerun, though not necessarily in Florida.

DOUG CHAPIN, ELECTION REFORM INFORMATION PROJECT: There is a potential for chaos. We can't predict where it will be, but there's definitely a potential.

DAN GWADOSKY, NATIONAL ASSN. SECYS. OF STATE: States are going to work very hard to avoid the types of issues that people experienced two years ago. But I think it's fair to say that there are going to some problems. There are going to be some issues.

SNOW: With close races nationwide, control of Congress at stake and a lot more scrutiny on election procedures, questionable votes could lead to a Florida-like swarm of lawyers and reporters.

(on camera): Part of what makes it so hard to predict is, there's no one system of voting nationwide. Every color on this map represents a different voting method. And despite the outcry after Florida, most Americans will still vote the same way they always have.

(voice-over): Pulling levers, cards read by optical scanners, pencil-and-paper ballots, and, yes, even punch cards.

CHAPIN: Punch cards, which were clearly sort of the pariah technology after the 2000 election, still have their defenders and their adherents around the country. And, if used properly, they work very well, but they have to be used properly.

SNOW: In the Chicago area, public service announcements tell voters to beware of dimples and chads. Problems with old machines are one concern, but new electronic machines are no guarantee of a smooth vote either. In Georgia, a key Senate race is getting tighter as the state rolls out new ATM-style machines, with their first big test on Election Day.

GWADOSKY: No matter what you do with technology, no matter what your procedures are, if you don't have adequately trained people helping and assisting to conduct the elections, you're still likely to have problems.

SNOW: September's primary in Florida proved that. Some poll workers didn't know how to run their new electronic machines, same thing in Montgomery County, Maryland. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and press start.

SNOW: The county has gone to great pains to make things better for Election Day, running training sessions for poll workers. One challenge nationwide is finding people willing to work a 16-hour day for little or no pay.

Many are seniors, who may find new computerized systems baffling. And their every action will be under the microscope. Both parties have mobilized an army of lawyers ready to jump into legal disputes, from technical problems to accusations of voter fraud and intimidation, thousands of lawyers deployed to polling places, one of the legacies of Florida. This election night could be another long one.

Kate Snow, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And you should know that, tomorrow on INSIDE POLITICS, we'll have a live demonstration of some of those new voting machines. That's tomorrow.

Meantime, an update on the call by the Republican Party of Minnesota to get equal time from the television stations in Minnesota who carried the Paul Wellstone memorial service last night, a service that turned into a fairly boisterous event with political overtones.

This is the comment from the WCCO television station, their news director, who said -- quote -- "Legally, equal time is not an issue in last night's case, because the political candidate running for office did not speak." She went on to say: "Our station was caught off guard by the change in tone in last night's memorial service. It was a memorial for the six lives lost." That's the news director at WCCO.

We're told that KARE Television in Minneapolis is still thinking about it, that is the request from the Republicans for equal time.

Still ahead: Bill Clinton back on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lending his flame to charisma-challenged candidates, which, when standing next to Bill Clinton, is pretty much everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our Candy Crowley shares her take on the life of the Democratic Party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Most people from the mainland go to Hawaii to vacation. Well, Bill Clinton is there today to do what he most enjoys, campaigning. It's part of his preelection swing on behalf of Democratic candidates.

As our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, explains, it is mostly a Clinton love fest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): At the base of the Democratic Party, where the true believers live, they can't stop thinking about yesterday. And when yesterday shows up, they go nuts.

CARL MCCALL (D), NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It's just been incredible. People really believe in him. And people really come out just to see him. And a lot of that gets transferred to other people.

CROWLEY: He's still the one, the life of the party, en fuego, lending his flame to charisma-challenged candidates, which, when standing next to Bill Clinton, is pretty much everybody, even this seasoned Democratic "it" girl, Michigan's gubernatorial candidate, Jennifer Granholm.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, our friends in the other party, they know that Jennifer's going to win if the Democrats are united and you show up.

CROWLEY: In a midterm election, where victory belongs to the party that shows up, that's the strength of the former president, getting them to show up. Clintonites want you to know, the bulk of the former president's time out of office has been spent on charitable works and causes. But, honestly, when the political season comes rolling around, this is a man who can't help himself.

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: He certainly loves the political arena. He has his entire life, every bone in his body. He loves being out there. He loves being with people.

CROWLEY: By next week, he will have politicked in 20 states and the District of Columbia. You may notice an imbalance of geography. Travel is light below the Mason-Dixon Line. Some Democrats and independents, particularly in the South, remain unhappy with the steamier side of the Clinton administration.

Politically, the former president can be as toxic as he is magic. One-time Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, running for the Senate against Elizabeth Dole, doesn't talk much about his former boss. Republicans do, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

NARRATOR: Where did Erskine Bowles learn his negative tactics? Bill Clinton's White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Still, there's more than one way to help a campaign. Clinton advises candidates looking to learn the magic. There are phone calls and radio spots and direct mail.

MCCALL: And he can raise money, too. We did very well tonight.

CROWLEY: Clintonites estimate about 60 percent of his political events this year have been fund-raisers. There is nobody else out there like him. Nobody. OK, maybe somebody.

B. CLINTON: Increasingly, Hillary has become the target of the right-wing hate mail, instead of me. I don't know whether to be offended or relieved.

CROWLEY: She has some of his toxicity and some of his magic.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I am overwhelmed by this kind of turnout so close to the election.

CROWLEY: Her office says Senator Clinton has offered an assist to nearly 90 candidates this year. Still, he remains the star. "There's such a vacuum out there," sighed one true believer. They miss him so much.

And he seems a little wistful himself.

B. CLINTON: I'm more grateful than you'll ever know for the support you gave to me. But politics is always about tomorrow and not yesterday.

CROWLEY: His days as the comeback kid are over. But he's still the natural.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: So I guess Candy's saying he's not going to run again.

Well, new poll results and debate highlights from three key governor's races straight ahead.

Also:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Republicans went looking for homegrown talent. And they found it, where else, on the farm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Our Bill Schneider with another of the fresh faces on the ballot next Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: We update three major gubernatorial races in today's "Campaign News Daily." New York Governor George Pataki is holding a strong lead over his two leading challengers. A new Marist College poll gives Pataki a 20- point lead over Democrat Carl McCall, 47 percent to 27 percent. Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano trails Pataki by 30 points.

The final debate for Massachusetts governor last night included several sharp exchanges between Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Shannon O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON O'BRIEN (D), MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I refuse to take a no-new-taxes pledge, just like Mitt Romney, because that would be the last choice that I would make.

QUESTION: But if you had to make a choice?

O'BRIEN: That would be the last choice I would make.

MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It'd be really great if I got to speak for what I believe and she got to believe for she believes. So please don't keep characterizing what I believe.

O'BRIEN: But you don't tell the truth about what you support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Romney later told O'Brien that her accusations him were -- quote -- "just not becoming."

In Maryland, Republican Bob Ehrlich has forged a small lead over Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in that state's race for governor. The Maryland poll gives Ehrlich 48 percent to Townsend's 44 percent. Now, that's a 6-point shift in Ehrlich's favor since the last Maryland poll was taken one month ago.

Political party leaders are always on the lookout for new talent. And Tuesday's election will be the moment of truth for some of these new party recruits.

Our Bill Schneider has another look at one of the fresh faces appearing on the midterm ballot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): California gets a brand new congressional district this year. And this is it, Tulare County, the most productive agricultural district in the country. They get a brand new candidate, too, locally grown and professionally cultivated.

Meet Devin Nunes, the anointed newcomer in California's new district. Republicans went looking for homegrown talent. And they found it, where else, on the farm.

DEVIN NUNES (R), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Just growing up on the farm, my grandparents, hearing about where they came from, and it was a lot different there. They had two cows and lots of kids. And it was very difficult to make a living.

SCHNEIDER: Someone with deep roots in the district.

NUNES: This is the oak tree that was here when my family came here. And this was the first house that they built.

This is my great grandfather and grandmother. This was probably taken in probably the '30s.

SCHNEIDER: Preferably ethnic.

NUNES: You should always vote for the Portuguese candidate, Portuguese-descended candidate, which I'm the only one here that you can vote for, so...

SCHNEIDER: As an elected local college board trustee, Nunes caught the attention of a powerful political mentor, Representative Bill Thomas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. With Thomas' support, the PAC money and the endorsements rolled in. Nunes beat two seasoned pros in the GOP primary last March and is leading his Democratic opponent.

DAVE LAPERE (D), CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: He has Bill Thomas as a mentor, which has gained him a lot of access to probably funding that we normally wouldn't get.

SCHNEIDER: He's got high-level endorsements. He's got an issue.

NUNES: The issue that I talk most about is water, because I think water is the lifeblood to this area and to our economy.

SCHNEIDER: His opponent calls it a special interest issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

LAPERE: While my opponent fiddles with water issues, the rest of our district burns with the concerns that we really need to solve, high double-digit unemployment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: This young candidate is just finding his legs. But, in a district designed to be safe for a Republican, his political future seems pretty well-assured.

(on camera): What do Republicans need to survive in California? Designer districts like this, rural, small-town, conservative, and designer candidates like Devin Nunes, young, ethnic, Republican.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Clovis, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And tomorrow, Bill will profile Maryland Democratic Chris Van Hollen. He defeated a Kennedy cousin for the party nomination. Now he's in a tight race against longtime Republican Congresswoman Connie Morella.

Many big-name politicians are out stumping for their fellow Democrats, but what's in it for them? Up next: presidential hopefuls laying groundwork in this election for the vote in 2004.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Al Gore is expected an exclusive dinner in Washington tonight, a thank you for the Democratic Party's top 25 donors. Our Candy Crowley reports that Gore is spreading a little bit of wealth himself. He's handing out $200,000 left in his Florida recount fund to political groups in four states that will be key if he decides to run for president again.

Our Bruce Morton has more on all the Democrats who are gearing up for '04.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator John Edwards.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Thank you. Thank you.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democratic senator and possible presidential candidate John Edwards at a dinner in Manchester. It's not his first visit.

EDWARDS: It is great to be back in New Hampshire.

MORTON: He's not alone. John Kerry has been. Joe Lieberman has been. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt has been. Vermont Governor Howard Dean has been. Why? One reason: to recruit the activists, the party regulars who come to these dinners.

JEFF WOODBURN, FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN: It's to build the grassroots effort, to build the relationships with key people who can work for free and be good sages in terms of the politics of New Hampshire.

TOM RATH, REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST: There is a core group of people who get involved very early, a sort of inner circle. And they pick and choose way before the rest of the electorate does. And there's a primary, if you will, to win that primary, to try and get as many good workers on your side.

MORTON: People like these, maybe 2,000 or 3,000 in each party, and one other group.

WOODBURN: There's always a group of people who come into the process who have never been involved. They meet a candidate. They get a piece of literature and they become the first true believers. And they're the best people. They're the most idealistic people.

MORTON: There's one other reason. Rath says New Hampshire is like the New Haven tryout for a Broadway-bound show.

RATH: We're a place where somebody can come and try out a message and see if that message resonates.

MORTON: A message? Right.

EDWARDS: We're going to say to this president, ignoring your responsibilities at home because you're focused overseas isn't good enough for America. Your job description actually requires you to do two things at the same time.

RATH: You need a place where people pay attention, where they take it seriously, and where they show up. And New Hampshire is that place. I think we understand that, if we're going to have the first primary, we have to pay attention earlier than anyplace else. And we give these people a chance to come up here and not laugh at the idea that one of them might be president.

MORTON: If you build it, they will come. New Hampshire has. And they do.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: We're talking about '04, but, right now, this is Halloween Eve. And we're going to look beyond the kid's stuff at some hardball, holiday-themed politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Well, Republicans apparently are getting into the Halloween spirit. In an ad on the GOP's Web site, the party charges that continued Democratic control of the Senate will have scary consequences. Take a look. I think that was Tom Daschle.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS. Thanks for joining us. Tomorrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger joins me to talk about California politics.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

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