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Inside Politics

Showdown in New Hampshire

Aired January 25, 2004 - 10:00   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, HOST: "INSIDE POLITICS." Today, two days before the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, the candidates are in high gear. So are the CNN reporters following them.
A new CNN poll, and it is clear it will be a tight fight to the finish. But who will win, place and show?

And one candidate has already packed up and moved on from the Granite State. Who and why straight ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live from New Hampshire, this is "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY."

WOODRUFF: Forty-five hours from now voters will begin their trek to polling places. And the first primary will be under way here in New Hampshire. Despite the cold -- and it is cold -- you can feel the heat and the excitement, as the Democratic candidates make last-minute pitches to the people.

I'm Judy Woodruff in Manchester.

Well, politics doesn't take weekends off, and neither do we. We begin with the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Tracking Poll here in New Hampshire.

The numbers are encouraging for front-runner John Kerry, but there's a new move into third place. In the poll of those likely to vote in Tuesday's primary, 38 percent say they support the Senator from Massachusetts. In second place, Howard Dean with 25 percent. Senator Joe Lieberman is now in third place with 12 percent.

This new poll shows the bounce that Kerry has received in the days since his win in Iowa. His support is up more than a dozen percentage points in the last week. Now, Dean (AUDIO GAP). The poll shows Joe Lieberman picking up some support, and Wesley Clark slipping.

Well, humor mixed with political issues as six of the Democrat candidates had dinner with party faithful here in the Granite State. About 1,700 people packed a meeting hall in Nashua last night for the Club 100 dinner. The get-together is held every four years. Nearly all of the candidates railed against special interests and talked about the need for more jobs and reforms in education and health care. But, there were a few lighter moments, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want you to know, I am so excited to be here that I could just scream. But I won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to fell you honestly, I haven't been a member of the Democratic Party for that long. There was only one party that could take this country in the right direction, and that's the Democratic Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's the truth, cynics didn't build this country. Optimists built this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel something happening in this campaign for me. My staff says that in New Hampshire today there is an outbreak of Joementum. I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: You got it, Joementum? Well, the dinner raised about $300,000 for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Part of that money will be used to support the party's nominee.

Well, while the Democrats dined in New Hampshire, President Bush also went out on the town in Washington. He attended the annual Alfalfa Club Dinner. Mr. Bush has been a member since 1997. While the tongue-in-cheek event is held away from the prying eyes of the news media, some details do emerge.

"The Washington Post" says that the president roasted some of his rivals. On Howard Dean he said, "Boy, that speech in Iowa was something else. Talk about shock and awe. Saddam Hussein felt so bad for Governor Dean that he offered him his hole."

And on John Kerry, the president said, "Then we have Senator Kerry. I think Kerry's position on the war in Iraq is politically brilliant. In New Hampshire yesterday he stated he had voted for the war, adding that he was strongly opposed to it.

Well, now to the front-runner here in New Hampshire, Senator John Kerry. He is being considered the man to beat. And he declares "bring it on" from this week's cover of "Newsweek" Magazine. But there are challenges to his new status. How does he maintain the momentum and prevent the rest of the pack from closing the gap?

That story now from CNN's Kelly Wallace, who is covering the man who calls himself "Comeback Kerry."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Politics is a lot like hockey. There's always another player looking to block your shot. And that is why John Kerry's strategy in these final days is to act like an underdog, even though he's now the front-runner.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a race to the finish. There's a lot of work to be done between now and Tuesday.

WALLACE: One Kerry adviser said, "We need to keep the pedal to the metal, and that means twelve-hour days."

KERRY: How are you? That was fun.

WALLACE: Photo-ops to show Kerry's warm and fuzzy side.

KERRY: I think there's a way to have an adequate discussion.

WALLACE: And town meetings where he touts his experience. Gone are comments about his rivals. Now the only target, President Bush.

KERRY: I'm here with you today to mark the beginning of the end of the Bush presidency, because that's what this race is about.

WALLACE: A new national poll has the Kerry team smiling. In a hypothetical match-up, the Massachusetts Senator beats President Bush 49 to 46 percent, according to a "Newsweek" survey. Other post-Iowa polls show the president leading. And Kerry is already looking beyond New Hampshire to the February 3 states, including South Carolina. He was asked by a voter Saturday night if he could win in the South.

KERRY: So I'm going to go down there and talk about the real priorities of our nation. And I want to see the Republican Party starting to move to try to do the old labeling routine and so forth. I'm not worried about it.

WALLACE: He won a key endorsement from the always colorful South Carolina Senator, Fritz Hollings, who mocked General Wesley Clark for appearing to pull rank on Lieutenant Kerry.

SEN. ERNEST HOLLINGS (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: We're going to teach that fell in South Carolina that there are more lieutenants than there are generals. I can tell you that right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And later today, Senator Kerry will be getting some help on the stump from Senator Ted Kennedy. But this time, he'll also be joined by Kennedy's son, Patrick. And Judy, you will recall Patrick Kennedy was something for Dick Gephardt in Iowa, but now that Congressman Gephardt is out of the race, he is throwing his support behind John Kerry -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Kelly, as you know, the Kerry people feeling really pretty confident about what's going to happen here in New Hampshire. They're already starting to focus on what's after New Hampshire.

What are you learning about where they're putting their resources?

WALLACE: Well, I talked to a Kerry campaign adviser this morning who says South Carolina and Missouri will be among the first stops for Senator Kerry after New Hampshire. They are throwing a lot of resources into both states, especially Missouri, because now that Gephardt is out of that race, this state is up for grabs.

The campaign also got a big boost, because Steve Elmendorf, one of Gephardt's top advisers, now the deputy campaign manager for the Kerry campaign. But they're also looking at Arizona, New Mexico and Delaware. They say they're going to have the money and the resources, and they're going to go for all those states on February 3 -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Kelly Wallace, watching the Senator on the ice.

Kelly, thanks very much.

Well, as we reported a minute ago, support for Kerry's closest rival, Howard Dean, is up slightly in the last few days, according to our latest tracking poll. Our Candy Crowley is stopping by to talk about Dean's final bush to Tuesday's primary.

Candy, they've got to feel good about the fact that the dropping, the sliding, has leveled off. But are they feeling that's enough for them at this point?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it clearly isn't. I mean, he's bottomed out, and that's -- you know, that's the good news. The bad news is, you know, 12, 13-point gaps, and it's Sunday. And you know, they're going for a Tuesday vote. So that's a lot of ground to make up.

On the other hand, they're counting on New Hampshire's quirkiness. They're counting on its ability to undo Iowa. And you know, they've had a week of rehab, really, for the campaign.

We've seen Howard Dean's mother. We've seen Howard Dean's wife. We're seeing her again today.

So there's been a lot that they've done to try to soften those edges and try to kind of round out Howard Dean as a person so that it becomes a more personal vote than just a -- you know, that anti-war rebel insurgent vote. They tried to give him some context this week. So they hope that works. But you know, 12 points, again, is a lot to make up.

WOODRUFF: Candy, so much of what it seems to me Dean has been counting on is this army of enthusiastic Deaniacs they call him. But now that he's sort of toned himself down, are they worried at all about being able to keep those people with Howard Dean and also attract new people? How are they going to pull them in?

CROWLEY: You noticed this first in Iowa. He very much seems to be struggling for the right tone. Because you're right, I mean, what Howard Dean was able to do was to take the anger of a portion of the Democratic Party and put it out to them again. Now, particularly after that concession speech, he has to tone it down.

Now, you know the one thing they're counting on, these are very strong supporters of Howard Dean. It's very hard to talk a Deanie off the table. What they're looking for obviously are the swing votes, and the Independents, and the sort of thing where we see Joe Lieberman gaining some ground. So he has toned it down. They do understand -- I wanted to play you one clip that we had from a little earlier this week, which is Dean poking a little fun at himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: May I say, we are going to win in South Carolina. We are going to win in New York. We will win in Ohio. We're going to win in Arizona. And then we're going to win in Massachusetts. And after we get done doing that, we'll win in New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: He finished that off...

WOODRUFF: There was no "Woo?"

CROWLEY: No, no "woo." And he finished that off saying, "Now, was that presidential?"

So they hope they've been able to turn this around with a little humor, a little softness. And they hope that they've reached out to those that might have been a little scared off by both the Iowa loss and then that concession speech.

WOODRUFF: It's clearly a tempered Howard Dean we are watching this week.

CROWLEY: Yes, he's a different guy.

WOODRUFF: Candy Crowley, thanks very much. She's going to be out watching Howard Dean again this week and today.

Well turning now to the Sunday edition of our "Campaign News Daily," Sharpton heads south after getting no traction in the polls here in New Hampshire. Al Sharpton, we've learned, has pulled up stakes and moved his campaign to South Carolina. He has a new radio spot that begins airing this week in the Palmetto State. It compares him to Adam Clayton Powell, Rosa Parks and Robert Kennedy.

Rudy Giuliani shows up in the Granite State campaigning for President Bush. The former New York City mayor worked the crowds here yesterday. Giuliani, who's been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate himself in 2008, attended a fund-raiser and two rallies.

New York Governor George Pataki and Arizona Senator John McCain will visit New Hampshire before Tuesday's election. McCain, you remember, defeated George Bush here four years ago.

Some friends of Bill are now friends of Wes. Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are working for candidate Wesley Clark in New Hampshire. The actors will be joined today at a rally by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins and New York Congressman Charles Rangel. The event in Man Chester is to showcase Clark's electability, they say.

And his supporters can now cook with Kucinich. To raise funds for his campaign, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is asking for your favorite vegetarian recipe. Supporters will planning to put them together in a cookbook.

They'd like submissions. They'd also like it if you could send them a check. The e-mail address, cooking@kucinich.us. You better hurry, though. The deadline is January 30. You've still got more than a week.

Still to come, three contenders, three different strategies. We're going to talk to the organizers of the New Hampshire campaigns for Kerry, Dean and Clark.

And later, have voters here forgotten Howard Dean's post-Iowa performance? Does it matter in Tuesday's vote? We'll step into the "CROSSFIRE" with Paul Begala and Robert Novak for some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: ... for everybody. Domestic violence, women's issue, an issue for everybody because, clearly, men have to be talking to men about domestic violence. Otherwise we don't get to the bottom of what the causes and the problems really are.

But, I want to first start talking about economics in terms of women. In New Hampshire, there are about 29,000 small businesses owned by women, many of whom are...

WOODRUFF: We're listening to Governor Howard Dean at an event taking place right now in Manchester, New Hampshire. We'll try to give some equal time to the other candidates in this hour and the hours to come this day, as we get so close to the Tuesday primary in New Hampshire.

Well you know, with a surprising second place finish in Iowa under his belt, North Carolina Senator John Edwards is now running hard in New Hampshire. But our latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Tracking Poll has Edwards in a statistical three-way tie for third place. And that is down from yesterday. The question for the candidate is, can he replay his Iowa momentum?

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has been covering all the candidates here, including the Edwards campaign, and she's here with me now. Jeanne, what are the people around Senator Edwards saying?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're pretty much encouraged, because there's no doubt about it, more people in New Hampshire are interested in hearing what John Edwards has to say. He is drawing bigger crowds as the primary draws closer.

Last night, so many people showed up at a Merrimack bowling alley to meet him that the fire department had to ask some people to leave. And earlier in the day, 200 people had to be put in an overflow room at a Rochester middle school because more than 500 people had already packed into the school gym to hear Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: I think people are responding to a positive, uplifting message of hope. And it's clearly catching fire here. It's what you saw happen in Iowa. And the same thing seems to be happening in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Last night, Edwards and five other presidential candidates spoke to the 100 Club Dinner. That's a pre-primary pageant put on by the New Hampshire Democratic Party. The audience had big contingents of John Kerry and Howard Dean supporters. And both those candidates were very well received.

But Edwards, who initially received a rather tepid response, eventually brought the crowd to its feet when he addressed the subject of race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: This is not an African-American issue, not an Hispanic American issue, not an Asian-American issue. This is an American issue. It's what our values are.

What do we believe in? What kind of country would we want our children and grandchildren to grow in? We have to stand up. You and I together have to stand up for equality, for freedom, for civil rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Today, another busy day of campaigning, as Edwards tries to hoist himself further up in the polls. The campaign acknowledges he will not win here, but a better-than-expected finish would give him a good launch into the South Carolina primary the week after New Hampshire -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jeanne Meserve, thank you very much.

Well, Senator Edwards, we want to tell you, is going to be joining Wolf Blitzer on "LATE EDITION" today starting at noon Eastern Time. We want to turn now to three people whose candidates have a lot riding on Tuesday's outcome. Sue Casey is a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. Mo Elleithee is with the Clark campaign. And Karen Hicks is the New Hampshire director for the Dean campaign.

Thank you all for being here on a Sunday morning.

Sue, let me start with you. Can anything knock John Kerry off his perch in New Hampshire? Are you all assuming you ride from victory in New Hampshire on down the road?

SUE CASEY, KERRY NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMPAIGN: Listen, there are no perches in this race. We're all competing very hard. I think it's a very tight race, and all of us are wondering what's going to happen on Tuesday.

If there's one thing we learned in Iowa, and we've learned it year after year, we don't know what the voters are going to do. And so we're all working very hard. And we all hope for something wonderful to happen on Tuesday.

WOODRUFF: Karen Hicks, the evidence is that Governor Dean has stopped the bleeding or the slipping, or whatever you want to call it, from Monday. And if that's the case, what is your goal here in New Hampshire?

KAREN HICKS, DEAN NEW HAMPSHIRE DIRECTOR: Well, our goal is to win. We're working hard for every single vote. Governor Dean is meeting people, as many people as possible face-to-face. We have hundreds of people out knocking on doors or making lots and lots of phone calls. So we're fighting hard for every vote, and we're going to do the best we can.

WOODRUFF: And Mo Elleithee, General Clark, Wesley Clark, thought he was going to be facing, I think by most accounts, Howard Dean alone pretty much. But now he's dealing not only with Mr. Dean, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Edwards, and even Mr. Lieberman. How have you had to adjust your campaign?

MO ELLEITHEE, CLARK NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMPAIGN: Well, I think if there's anything that's certain in New Hampshire politics, it's that nothing is certain. And we always knew that this thing was going to be unpredictable and come down to the wire. Some days we'd be up, other days other people would be up.

Our goal has always been just to finish as strong as we can here in New Hampshire, and use that as a springboard into the February 3 states. We feel pretty good about where we are.

WOODRUFF: Sue Casey, a lot of focus today on Independent voters. We see John Kerry in the CNN tracking poll doing very well with Democrats. Well, but not as well among Independents. Is that a concern for you down the road as you get closer, as you move on to other stares where Independent voters are going to be significant?

CASEY: Just the opposite. I think this race is wide open. Ordinary people are looking hard at these candidates. Ordinary people are going to make their judgment as the candidates come into their states. I don't think there's any vote that John Kerry can't compete for all across this country.

WOODRUFF: So this notion of Massachusetts liberal...

CASEY: It's a label. It's a label. And it's about what people have done in their lives for ordinary people. People all across the South and the West and the North want health care, they want jobs, they want their kids to be taken care of. These aren't issues that are for one part of the country or another.

WOODRUFF: Karen Hicks, can Governor Dean get people to take -- after what happened to him this week, can he get people to take a second, even a third look at him? People who were turned off?

HICKS: Well, one of the things that works to our advantage is the voters of New Hampshire know all these candidates pretty well, with the exception of General Clark, who hasn't been here as long. The people in this state have looked across the river, as Governor Dean has balanced budget, has provided health insurance for kids and seniors in his state, as he's conserved land, as he's created jobs.

And so he's very well-known to people in New Hampshire, both from serving in Vermont as governor, and from campaigning so hard in New Hampshire. We built a very strong foundation. There's no question that the finish in Iowa wasn't what we wanted. But we've been working here and fell like we're really on the move.

WOODRUFF: And Mo Elleithee, what about that point, that Clark did start later and he had a nice lead here, but he's lost some of it as the momentum has come out of Iowa?

ELLEITHEE: Well, we did start later. We have had to play catch- up. We've only been campaigning here in New Hampshire for a couple of months, while other candidates have been campaigning for well over a year.

But I think one thing that we've learned as General Clark has been spending a lot of time here in New Hampshire is that the folks here and across the country are looking for leadership. They don't want just another politician. They want someone with a proven track record of being able to get something done and who can provide a higher standard of leadership in the White House. And we feel that message is connecting with the people of New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Finally, I want to ask the three of you, some of the things that voters that I hear voters saying, and reporters you read in the newspapers this morning, voters are saying they still have doubts about your candidates. Very quickly, Sue Casey, voters saying Senator Kerry not exciting, not inspirational, boring even. What do you say to that?

CASEY: We have a strong, steady man who can lead this country. At the end of the day, that's what people are looking for. We don't need a rock star. We need a president. WOODRUFF: And Karen Hicks, about Governor Dean, maybe not presidential enough. Too likely to explode. And have a temper.

HICKS: Well, again, I think the people in this state have seen Governor Dean. They've met him. They've watched him govern the state of Vermont with a steady hand for nearly a decade.

What's clear coming out of Iowa is the real winner was the message of change. The question is now, who can deliver that change? All of the candidates have adopted that message. There's one candidate in the race who's really provided tough leadership when it wasn't popular.

He took a stand against Iraq, the Iraq war. He took a stand against No Child Left Behind. And took a stand against the tax cuts. That's what voters want. Somebody who can really not just deliver a speech, but deliver results.

WOODRUFF: Mo Elleithee, and on General Clark, he hasn't been a Democrat long enough. You still hear voters saying, I'm not so sure I can trust this to someone who's as new as he is to the Democratic Party.

ELLEITHEE: He's a 34-year public servant who's got a distinguished record of leadership, both in foreign policy and in administrative and executive affairs. After getting out of the Army he joined the Democratic Party because he thought that this was the party that would best serve the needs of America. And he's looking forward to leading this party into the general election.

WOODRUFF: We're going to leave it there. Mo Elleithee, with the Clark campaign; Karen Hicks with the Dean campaign; Sue Casey with the Kerry campaign. All three of you, thank you for making time to come. We appreciate it.

CASEY: Thank you.

HICKS: Thank you.

ELLEITHEE: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: And coming up, the hour's top stories, including new Mars pictures from NASA's new visitor, the rover Opportunity.

And the hosts of "CROSSFIRE" square off on Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire. And they preview the next big contest on February 3.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: So here we go. Top 10 ways I, Howard Dean, can turn things around. Number 10....

DEAN: Switch to decaf.

LETTERMAN: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Howard Dean proves that he can take a joke and deliver one. The week's late night laughs.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF (voice-over): And now a campaign flashback to March 11, 1952. General Dwight Eisenhower wins the New Hampshire primary without ever setting foot in the Granite State. During the primaries, Eisenhower was commanding NATO forces in Europe. He went on to win the nomination and the presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

WOODRUFF: Well, voting time is approaching fast. And there's no one better to help us understand who's up and who's down and what's going on than our "CROSSFIRE" team.

On the left, Paul Begala, and on the right, Robert Novak.

Paul, to you first. I know you're talking to all the campaigns. What is your sense of what's going on here? You've seen the polls.

PAULA BEGALA, CNN "CROSSFIRE": It's the most exciting thing that can happen, right? We don't know, and they don't know.

First off, they don't know who's going to show up. Since I worked here for Bill Clinton in 1992, they changed the law. Any independent can waltz right up to that voting birth on Election Day, declare herself a Democrat and then undeclare right after she votes. So they don't know who's going to show up.

The more independents there are, the more the campaigns of Joe Lieberman and Wes Clark think they're going to do well. The more Democrat the electorate, the more that guys like Dean and Kerry are going to do well.

WOODRUFF: You mean, Bob, it's true, the more these polls weigh the independent vote, the better certain candidates do, like Joe Lieberman, who's doing well in this CNN poll.

ROBERT NOVAK, CNN "CROSSFIRE": And he does well in our poll. He doesn't do so well in other polls. It's not even clear he's out of single digits yet.

The most remarkable thing in the polls, I think, is the decline of General Clark. He has lost about half his strength in the one week in the state. WOODRUFF: What's happened?

NOVAK: It's very hard to say.

I think -- I think there's two things. I think that he was looked upon by some people as the alternative to Howard Dean. Now, in fact, he isn't just the big alternative to Howard Dean, he's the front- runner, John Kerry or possibly John Edwards.

The second thing is, I think he had a very bad performance in that debate Thursday night. And people in New Hampshire who are going to vote, they've watch debates. I mean, you say debates don't count, people don't watch them. These people watch them.

WOODRUFF: Let's talk about Howard Dean, Paul. You know, we've talked a lot about how he's apparently stemmed the slide and he's stabilized and his campaign virtually acknowledging they can't win. They have to look beyond New Hampshire. Is that how you see it?

BEGALA: Yes. But if he can't win here, where can he win? If he can't get better here -- this is his backyard. It's a state he was, in some polls, 30 points ahead in. So if he can't get better here -- if he loses in his own backyard -- Dick Gephardt lost in the Midwest, a neighboring state, and he got out of the race. If Howard Dean is 30 points ahead and then the best he can do is a very weak second, that doesn't bode very well for the rest of his candidacy.

NOVAK: I agree. This is possibly Howard Dean's very best state except for Vermont. It's not only that it's next door to him. It is a state whose Democrats really have a great affection for Dean, that kind of a candidate. And I think in the national polls -- you find the "Newsweek" poll shows he has really...

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: But we had been led to believe that he had this very enthusiastic organization, support, all over the country, more than any other candidate.

BEGALA: Well, he did. I think the campaign did a great job. But I think in Iowa, at least, the candidate let the campaign down.

A lot of mistakes. That famous speech on election night, which I don't think was unfairly covered. I think he showed the country what he wanted the country to see. The country didn't like it.

NOVAK: And the interesting thing is going to be on February 3, the seven primaries there where probably Kerry's going to go in there with a head of steam.

WOODRUFF: Right.

NOVAK: ...and in states where they haven't campaigned much. Dean is supposed to have all this money, more money than anybody. Some sources tell me that he has really spent an awful lot of money in Iowa and New Hampshire and... WOODRUFF: And not a lot of cash on hand.

NOVAK: And that's right. And he won't have the money to go into those states and -- seven states. Some of those are big states -- Arizona, Missouri. Those are pretty big states.

WOODRUFF: Very quickly, John Edwards. I've been to a couple of his events in New Hampshire. Very enthusiastic crowds, but he stills seems to be near -- not the bottom, but he's not at -- certainly not moving up as much as one might think.

What's going on with him?

BEGALA: They haven't had enough candidate time here. When he's here, when he shows up he gets overflow crowds; he performs very well on the stump. Then he gets on a plane for South Carolina. He's trying to split time. You know, his campaign didn't want to make the tough decision that others have made to pull out of one state and emphasize another, so they're trying to play both, defend their home region in the South, in South Carolina coming up soon, and try to capitalize on the surge here.

NOVAK: He might do a little better than the tracking polls indicate. Just he gets terrific response. I think he has the best response from audiences of anybody, including the great front-runner Kerry.

WOODRUFF: All right. We are going to leave it at that. Bob Novak, Paul Begala. Great to see you. We'll see new the minutes and the hours ahead. Thanks.

Up ahead, down to the wire for New Hampshire's wired vote. Bill Schneider has "The Story Behind the Story."

And see who's laughing now. Comedians cash in on the candidates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Time now for "The Story Behind the Story" with CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Judy, John Kerry refers to himself here in New Hampshire as a Democrat in the Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas tradition. Hart and Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary by appealing to the same type of voters that Kerry is seeking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Never mind the quaint villages and covered bridges. New Hampshire's got a wired economy.

PAUL HOULE, N.H. HIGH TECH COUNCIL: We're top three in the country next to Massachusetts and Colorado with high-tech concentration.

SCHNEIDER: And a large constituency of wired voters. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I use the Internet to get information about everything.

SCHNEIDER: A third of the state's Democratic primary voters have advanced degrees. Call them pro-business liberals.

BILL GWENNIE, QUALITY ASSURANCE ANALYST: I consider myself a fiscal conservative but a social liberal.

SCHNEIDER: Who's their choice in the primary? They're split. John Kerry and Howard Dean are neck and neck among wired voters.

I'm a pro-business liberal, says Kerry.

KERRY: You know, you can't be a Democrat who loves jobs and hates all the people who create them.

SCHNEIDER: Me too, says Dean.

DEAN: There is nothing wrong with business. And this system that we have of capitalism is the greatest system and most productive system that's ever been invented.

SCHNEIDER: One thing we know about New Hampshire's wired Democrats -- they can't stand George W. Bush.

STEPHEN NODYIN, PROFESSOR: I've never seen the environment, public interests more threatened than with the current administration.

SCHNEIDER: Some of them couldn't even watch the president's State of the Union speech last week.

FREDERICK WILLIAMS, TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATOR: I don't like watching George Bush. I can't -- I can't really take it.

SCHNEIDER: Or listen to it.

WILLIAMS: Too distressing, and we had to turn it off.

SCHNEIDER: Another thing we know about New Hampshire's wired Democrats: they're very practical.

PAUL BASSETT, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER: I want to hear him sound like somebody who can beat Bush.

KERRY: And actually creates....

SCHNEIDER: Which leads some of them to Kerry.

NODYIN: I was looking for the person who had the best environmental record and was most electable. And I saw that in Kerry.

SCHNEIDER: And others away from Kerry.

JARED CALLANA, COLLEGE STUDENT: He's a Massachusetts Democrat, former lieutenant governor of Michael Dukakis. He cannot beat George Bush. I think Howard Dean can.

SCHNEIDER: One more thing we know about these super-educated voters: they're super-demanding.

DANA DUNHAN, MIT VISITING SCHOLAR: When I get a chance to address General Clark directly, his answer to a question I directed at him was not accurate. And so that made me really uncomfortable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: (LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: It's a war for the wired vote. And it's going on right now over lattes across the length and breadth of New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Maybe a few drink tea.

SCHNEIDER: Possibly. But I think latte is the drink of choice.

WOODRUFF: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

Bill Schneider, thank you very much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WOODRUFF: All right.

Well, Tuesday's primary gets the campaign up and running. We will look at the lineup of the states to come in this crowded election season. What should we expect from the candidates during the coming campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please do.

WOODRUFF: New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary is, of course, on Tuesday. We all know that. But there's an important group of contests on the horizon now just little more than a week away.

Here's the race card as we might say. It is from CNN's John Mercurio. He's the editor of CNN's "Morning Grind," updated Monday through Friday on our Web site, cnn.com.

All right, John, let's talk about what happens after New Hampshire. We've already heard John Kerry putting out the word that he's going to go to South Carolina and Missouri after here.

What do you see down the road, after New Hampshire?

JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, what's funny is that South Carolina is only one of states that are going to competitive -- or, that are going to be in play on February 3. I think somebody probably decreed from up above that South Carolina was the most important, and it was the only state that we had to watch and everybody sort of followed along.

But really, I mean, you have two states that have more delegates than South Carolina, Arizona and Missouri. Missouri is now in play because Dick Gephardt dropped out. And John Kerry's making a big pitch, making a big push in Missouri. He just hired Steve Ehlmendorf, who was Dick Gephardt's campaign manager. And we know that he's meeting right now -- the Kerry campaign team in Washington is meeting to decide the Missouri and South Carolina teams.

WOODRUFF: And we know....

MERCURIO: As to who they're going to dispatch down there.

WOODRUFF: And we know that Clark, for example, has something going on in Missouri.

MERCURIO: Oh, absolutely. Very competitive -- very -- and just very different from South Carolina. I mean, South Carolina has a large African-American population. It's sort of the first primary in the South. So there's definitely reasons to be paying attention to it. But there's going to be a lot more going on on that day, I think, than....

WOODRUFF: Right. Of course, what happens in New Hampshire is going to affect it, as well.

MERCURIO: Absolutely.

WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about Joe Lieberman. We talked earlier about how he's moved into third place in this CNN/Gallup/USA Today tracking poll. What is -- what's going on with him? And in terms of down the line, what does it say?

MERCURIO: Yes.

His campaign is actually sort of enthusiastic. They're happy about these new numbers. And they look at it as though they started in Iowa -- well, they weren't in Iowa, but the primary season started in Iowa. Very liberal base that he knew he wouldn't play well with.

We're in New Hampshire now. It's an independent base. He thinks he has a better chance to connect here. But we move on February 3 to a more moderate, a more conservative, a more military based electorate. And I think that the new ad that he's running, the ad with Saddam Hussein in it where he really highlights his pro-Iraqi war positions is really aimed more at what happens next week, what happens on February 3 with those -- with those voters.

WOODRUFF: Just quickly, John -- I mean, assuming these candidates survive and are enough in the money here in New Hampshire to keep -- stay alive, are there any others who are benefited by the change in the makeup of the electorate and these primaries?

MERCURIO: any other candidates?

WOODRUFF: Yes.

MERCURIO: Oh, definitely. John Edwards is a huge favorite -- not a huge favorite, but he's polling really well in South Carolina.

WOODRUFF: Right.

MERCURIO: I think that -- I think General Clark has been campaigning really strongly in Oklahoma and in Arizona.

WOODRUFF: So for them, if you can get out of New Hampshire, you know, there may be -- there may be fertile (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MERCURIO: I don't know how many tickets there are out of New Hampshire -- three or four. Definitely not five.

WOODRUFF: Yes. Some have said two-and-a-half, but we'll see. I'm not sure what two-and-a-half means.

John Mercurio, CNN political editor, thanks very much.

MERCURIO: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: We'll talk to you later.

For the best daily briefing on politics, as we just told you, log on to "The Morning Grind." You can go to www.cnn.com/grind for the latest political news.

Well, the news media have been chasing the democratic presidential candidates from one end of the Granite State to the other. Our reporter's roundtable has the inside scoop from the campaign trail.

And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS "THE LATE SHOW" HOST: In New Hampshire, Joe Lieberman is not doing very well. Currently he's two points behind the Taliban candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: (LAUGHTER)

No safe haven for candidates when the late-night talk shows get going. The highlights in the late-night laughs.

This is CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: As the candidates push to the finish line here in New Hampshire, there's another group working hard just to keep up: reporters. Three of them have agreed to join us this morning to help handicap the race.

Terry Neal is a chief political correspondent for washingtonpost.com Web Site. Anne Kornblut writes for the Boston Globe.

And Vince Morris is with the New York Post.

Vince, I'm going to start with you. You've spent -- what? -- days with the Dean campaign.

VINCE MORRIS, NEW YORK POST: Weeks.

WOODRUFF: Weeks with the Dean campaign. What are you feeling? What are you hearing inside that campaign right now?

MORRIS: Well, they feel like they've turned a corner. The candidate, Governor Dean, feels a little bit confident that we haven't seen in awhile. His wife is joining him. His mother was with him yesterday. And he thinks he's turned the corner on that terribly embarrassing scream from Monday night.

Whether he can make up enough difference to catch Senator Kerry, who's leading the polls, I think is going to be tough to do.

WOODRUFF: Are they resigned to that at this point, would you say?

MORRIS: Not publicly. But I think they know that's almost impossible. They don't have enough time.

WOODRUFF: Anne Kornblut, you've been with a number of the candidates. Talk about Senator Kerry and some of the others and what you're hearing from their campaigns.

ANNE KORNBLUT, BOSTON GLOBE: Well, I think -- I think that Dean actually could benefit from the lowered expectations at this point. Nobody really thinks he's going to come in first place in New Hampshire. The polls aren't reflecting that right now. So if he comes in a decent second, I think they will have met expectations.

In a sense, Kerry is -- time has slowed down here in such a way that Kerry is once again the front-runner and needs to try and meet his expectations here and then go on and do so in South Carolina.

I think the real race we're going to see is South Carolina, the February 3 states, those seven states across the map. Those are the ones that are going to really matter...

WOODRUFF: Well, and the race here for third, even.

KORNBLUT: And fourth.

WOODRUFF: And fourth. You know, we have Lieberman moving up in our poll, but you've got John Edwards still in place, Wesley Clark.

Terry Neal, what about you? I mean, I also -- I want to talk about the candidates. But you've been out there talking to voters. What kinds of things are you hearing from them?

TERRY NEAL, WASHINGTONPOST.COM: A couple things have struck me about -- in my conversation with voters this week. Two things.

Number one, how undecided people are. We got off the campaign trail and just talked to regular people, and almost everybody we talked to -- I mean, people were saying things -- this was not uncommon -- Oh, you know, I really like Joe Lieberman, and -- but I like Howard Dean, too. I mean, candidates that are on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. That's number one.

Number two, contrary to what the pundits have been saying for a long time, people are actually interested in this race and they like the candidates. They like their choices. They're not undecided because there's nobody good. They're undecided because they feel like they have a lot of good choices.

WOODRUFF: Vince, has this race come down to personality and who can beat George W. Bush? I mean, who's the most electable? I mean, we're just -- we're not hearing about issues in New Hampshire.

MORRIS: No, and it's because in a lot of ways there's some similarities. I mean, I was with Governor Dean yesterday when he was -- he dropped in at one of his phone banks, and he was calling voters who had listed themselves as undecided. He would get into conversations where they would ask him about his position on the environment and I heard him say, Well, there's really not a lot of difference between myself and the other candidates on the environment, so I won't even tell you about that. Let me try to tell you where the differences are.

So they're struggling in that. And it often does come down to personality and charisma and a sense of who do you trust to run the country?

WOODRUFF: And, Anne, as you watch the candidates talk about that, is it harder or easier for some of them to talk about themselves as being, you know, a better opponent in the fall? Or would they rather be talking about the issues? I mean....

KORNBLUT: I think they've all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- well, I think, first of all, I'm not even sure that the voters want to be talking about issues here in New Hampshire. I mean, the ones I talked to -- what we hear most often is, I just want somebody who can beat George Bush. And so there's a lot of focus on the horse race. I think a lot more even than usual.

But they each have a trait that they want -- that they accentuate, that they think would make them electable, more electable than Bush. You know, Edwards talks about being a Southerner. He points out his accent. Kerry talks about his war record. Clark talks about his war record. Dean talks about the excitement that he first had. So I think they all are trying to figure out how to sell themselves as the best opponent to Bush.

WOODRUFF: Talking about the voters, Terry Neal, I was reading this morning a remarkable quote from a voter who said something along the lines of Well, I like so and so, but frankly, I really don't want the contest to end here in New Hampshire. I'd like it to go on and see what voters around the rest of the country are thinking.

I mean, these voters, it seems to me, are calculating and even gaming out this election more so than usual.

NEAL: I think they are, and I think a lot of it has to go -- has to do with what Anne just said about electability.

You know, I think a month ago or two months ago you would have asked people what they wanted, and what they wanted was somebody who was going to stand up to George W. Bush on issues, particularly the war. Now what people are saying is, I want somebody who can beat George W. Bush. As we've gotten closer to the election, they're really interested in finding the best candidate who can stand up to him. And I think a lot of people still aren't sure about who that candidate is.

WOODRUFF: But Vince, do people really know what could beat George W. Bush? I mean, you know, are we all -- any of us sophisticated enough at this point to know what the main issues are going to be in the fall?

MORRIS: You know, everybody had thought that the war would be the main issue, and it may still be, because we don't know next fall how big an issue -- how involved we'll still be at this point. So no one knows for sure how they're going to match up. It's more just a question of, at this point, convincing these voters, because right now, even though they're looking down the road, the contest is Tuesday. And all of the candidates who are here know that if they don't do well on Tuesday, it's going to be real hard for them to pick up momentum in the coming days ahead.

WOODRUFF: Very quickly to Anne and Terry, are we going to be surprised here, do you think?

KORNBLUT: I'm not making any predictions after Iowa.

WOODRUFF: We've all been burned.

NEAL: I don't see a surprise. I mean, I really think that Kerry's got a very strong position, both from looking at the polls and talking to voters. Every -- a lot of people said they were undecided, but almost everybody we talked mentioned Kerry as one of their favorites.

WOODRUFF: Terry Neal, Anne Kornblut, Vince Morris, great to see you both -- all three of you, that is.

NEAL: Thanks for having us.

KORNBLUT: I can't count.

WOODRUFF: Thank you very much.

Well, comedians are mining the Granite State for new material. The best of the week next.

This is CNN, America's campaign headquarters. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF (voice-over): Checking out political history book, tomorrow marks six years since President Bill Clinton denied having an affair with a White House intern.

BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Can't help but notice but Iowa and New Hampshire become fodder for late-night comedians. Jay, Dave and Jon all have been talking comical shots at the Democrats. And, of course, at that now infamous speech by Howard Dean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LETTERMAN: Here we go. Ten -- top 10 ways I, Howard Dean with turn things around.

No. 10.

DEAN: Switch to decaf.

LETTERMAN: OK.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: The last hours before the vote featured all the excitement we've come to expect from Iowa. The signs! The signs! The signs! The bus exiting! Yes!

DEAN: Don't change a thing. It's going great.

LETTERMAN: That's right.

DEAN: We're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma, and Arizona, and North Dakota, and New Mexico. And we're going to California, and Texas, and New York. And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington, and Michigan.

LETTERMAN: No. 5.

DEAN: Go on American Idol and give them a taste of these pipes.

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: And Senator Joe Lieberman -- you know, he skipped Iowa. He's now devoting all his energy to losing in New Hampshire. That's what he's doing.

LETTERMAN: And No. 2.

DEAN: Fire the staffer who suggested that we do this lousy Top 10 list instead of actually campaigning. LETTERMAN: That's right.

LENO: How about Dennis Kucinich? Oh, my god. Huh? He finished behind Martha Stewart.

LETTERMAN: And the No. 1 way I, Howard Dean can turn things around?

DEAN: Oh, I don't know. Maybe fewer crazy red-faced rants?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: What would we do without Letterman, Leno and Stewart?

Well, thanks for coming along for "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY." I'm Judy Woodruff in Manchester.

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







Aired January 25, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST: "INSIDE POLITICS." Today, two days before the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, the candidates are in high gear. So are the CNN reporters following them.
A new CNN poll, and it is clear it will be a tight fight to the finish. But who will win, place and show?

And one candidate has already packed up and moved on from the Granite State. Who and why straight ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live from New Hampshire, this is "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY."

WOODRUFF: Forty-five hours from now voters will begin their trek to polling places. And the first primary will be under way here in New Hampshire. Despite the cold -- and it is cold -- you can feel the heat and the excitement, as the Democratic candidates make last-minute pitches to the people.

I'm Judy Woodruff in Manchester.

Well, politics doesn't take weekends off, and neither do we. We begin with the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Tracking Poll here in New Hampshire.

The numbers are encouraging for front-runner John Kerry, but there's a new move into third place. In the poll of those likely to vote in Tuesday's primary, 38 percent say they support the Senator from Massachusetts. In second place, Howard Dean with 25 percent. Senator Joe Lieberman is now in third place with 12 percent.

This new poll shows the bounce that Kerry has received in the days since his win in Iowa. His support is up more than a dozen percentage points in the last week. Now, Dean (AUDIO GAP). The poll shows Joe Lieberman picking up some support, and Wesley Clark slipping.

Well, humor mixed with political issues as six of the Democrat candidates had dinner with party faithful here in the Granite State. About 1,700 people packed a meeting hall in Nashua last night for the Club 100 dinner. The get-together is held every four years. Nearly all of the candidates railed against special interests and talked about the need for more jobs and reforms in education and health care. But, there were a few lighter moments, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want you to know, I am so excited to be here that I could just scream. But I won't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to fell you honestly, I haven't been a member of the Democratic Party for that long. There was only one party that could take this country in the right direction, and that's the Democratic Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's the truth, cynics didn't build this country. Optimists built this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel something happening in this campaign for me. My staff says that in New Hampshire today there is an outbreak of Joementum. I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: You got it, Joementum? Well, the dinner raised about $300,000 for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Part of that money will be used to support the party's nominee.

Well, while the Democrats dined in New Hampshire, President Bush also went out on the town in Washington. He attended the annual Alfalfa Club Dinner. Mr. Bush has been a member since 1997. While the tongue-in-cheek event is held away from the prying eyes of the news media, some details do emerge.

"The Washington Post" says that the president roasted some of his rivals. On Howard Dean he said, "Boy, that speech in Iowa was something else. Talk about shock and awe. Saddam Hussein felt so bad for Governor Dean that he offered him his hole."

And on John Kerry, the president said, "Then we have Senator Kerry. I think Kerry's position on the war in Iraq is politically brilliant. In New Hampshire yesterday he stated he had voted for the war, adding that he was strongly opposed to it.

Well, now to the front-runner here in New Hampshire, Senator John Kerry. He is being considered the man to beat. And he declares "bring it on" from this week's cover of "Newsweek" Magazine. But there are challenges to his new status. How does he maintain the momentum and prevent the rest of the pack from closing the gap?

That story now from CNN's Kelly Wallace, who is covering the man who calls himself "Comeback Kerry."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Politics is a lot like hockey. There's always another player looking to block your shot. And that is why John Kerry's strategy in these final days is to act like an underdog, even though he's now the front-runner.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a race to the finish. There's a lot of work to be done between now and Tuesday.

WALLACE: One Kerry adviser said, "We need to keep the pedal to the metal, and that means twelve-hour days."

KERRY: How are you? That was fun.

WALLACE: Photo-ops to show Kerry's warm and fuzzy side.

KERRY: I think there's a way to have an adequate discussion.

WALLACE: And town meetings where he touts his experience. Gone are comments about his rivals. Now the only target, President Bush.

KERRY: I'm here with you today to mark the beginning of the end of the Bush presidency, because that's what this race is about.

WALLACE: A new national poll has the Kerry team smiling. In a hypothetical match-up, the Massachusetts Senator beats President Bush 49 to 46 percent, according to a "Newsweek" survey. Other post-Iowa polls show the president leading. And Kerry is already looking beyond New Hampshire to the February 3 states, including South Carolina. He was asked by a voter Saturday night if he could win in the South.

KERRY: So I'm going to go down there and talk about the real priorities of our nation. And I want to see the Republican Party starting to move to try to do the old labeling routine and so forth. I'm not worried about it.

WALLACE: He won a key endorsement from the always colorful South Carolina Senator, Fritz Hollings, who mocked General Wesley Clark for appearing to pull rank on Lieutenant Kerry.

SEN. ERNEST HOLLINGS (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: We're going to teach that fell in South Carolina that there are more lieutenants than there are generals. I can tell you that right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And later today, Senator Kerry will be getting some help on the stump from Senator Ted Kennedy. But this time, he'll also be joined by Kennedy's son, Patrick. And Judy, you will recall Patrick Kennedy was something for Dick Gephardt in Iowa, but now that Congressman Gephardt is out of the race, he is throwing his support behind John Kerry -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Kelly, as you know, the Kerry people feeling really pretty confident about what's going to happen here in New Hampshire. They're already starting to focus on what's after New Hampshire.

What are you learning about where they're putting their resources?

WALLACE: Well, I talked to a Kerry campaign adviser this morning who says South Carolina and Missouri will be among the first stops for Senator Kerry after New Hampshire. They are throwing a lot of resources into both states, especially Missouri, because now that Gephardt is out of that race, this state is up for grabs.

The campaign also got a big boost, because Steve Elmendorf, one of Gephardt's top advisers, now the deputy campaign manager for the Kerry campaign. But they're also looking at Arizona, New Mexico and Delaware. They say they're going to have the money and the resources, and they're going to go for all those states on February 3 -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Kelly Wallace, watching the Senator on the ice.

Kelly, thanks very much.

Well, as we reported a minute ago, support for Kerry's closest rival, Howard Dean, is up slightly in the last few days, according to our latest tracking poll. Our Candy Crowley is stopping by to talk about Dean's final bush to Tuesday's primary.

Candy, they've got to feel good about the fact that the dropping, the sliding, has leveled off. But are they feeling that's enough for them at this point?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it clearly isn't. I mean, he's bottomed out, and that's -- you know, that's the good news. The bad news is, you know, 12, 13-point gaps, and it's Sunday. And you know, they're going for a Tuesday vote. So that's a lot of ground to make up.

On the other hand, they're counting on New Hampshire's quirkiness. They're counting on its ability to undo Iowa. And you know, they've had a week of rehab, really, for the campaign.

We've seen Howard Dean's mother. We've seen Howard Dean's wife. We're seeing her again today.

So there's been a lot that they've done to try to soften those edges and try to kind of round out Howard Dean as a person so that it becomes a more personal vote than just a -- you know, that anti-war rebel insurgent vote. They tried to give him some context this week. So they hope that works. But you know, 12 points, again, is a lot to make up.

WOODRUFF: Candy, so much of what it seems to me Dean has been counting on is this army of enthusiastic Deaniacs they call him. But now that he's sort of toned himself down, are they worried at all about being able to keep those people with Howard Dean and also attract new people? How are they going to pull them in?

CROWLEY: You noticed this first in Iowa. He very much seems to be struggling for the right tone. Because you're right, I mean, what Howard Dean was able to do was to take the anger of a portion of the Democratic Party and put it out to them again. Now, particularly after that concession speech, he has to tone it down.

Now, you know the one thing they're counting on, these are very strong supporters of Howard Dean. It's very hard to talk a Deanie off the table. What they're looking for obviously are the swing votes, and the Independents, and the sort of thing where we see Joe Lieberman gaining some ground. So he has toned it down. They do understand -- I wanted to play you one clip that we had from a little earlier this week, which is Dean poking a little fun at himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: May I say, we are going to win in South Carolina. We are going to win in New York. We will win in Ohio. We're going to win in Arizona. And then we're going to win in Massachusetts. And after we get done doing that, we'll win in New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: He finished that off...

WOODRUFF: There was no "Woo?"

CROWLEY: No, no "woo." And he finished that off saying, "Now, was that presidential?"

So they hope they've been able to turn this around with a little humor, a little softness. And they hope that they've reached out to those that might have been a little scared off by both the Iowa loss and then that concession speech.

WOODRUFF: It's clearly a tempered Howard Dean we are watching this week.

CROWLEY: Yes, he's a different guy.

WOODRUFF: Candy Crowley, thanks very much. She's going to be out watching Howard Dean again this week and today.

Well turning now to the Sunday edition of our "Campaign News Daily," Sharpton heads south after getting no traction in the polls here in New Hampshire. Al Sharpton, we've learned, has pulled up stakes and moved his campaign to South Carolina. He has a new radio spot that begins airing this week in the Palmetto State. It compares him to Adam Clayton Powell, Rosa Parks and Robert Kennedy.

Rudy Giuliani shows up in the Granite State campaigning for President Bush. The former New York City mayor worked the crowds here yesterday. Giuliani, who's been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate himself in 2008, attended a fund-raiser and two rallies.

New York Governor George Pataki and Arizona Senator John McCain will visit New Hampshire before Tuesday's election. McCain, you remember, defeated George Bush here four years ago.

Some friends of Bill are now friends of Wes. Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are working for candidate Wesley Clark in New Hampshire. The actors will be joined today at a rally by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins and New York Congressman Charles Rangel. The event in Man Chester is to showcase Clark's electability, they say.

And his supporters can now cook with Kucinich. To raise funds for his campaign, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is asking for your favorite vegetarian recipe. Supporters will planning to put them together in a cookbook.

They'd like submissions. They'd also like it if you could send them a check. The e-mail address, cooking@kucinich.us. You better hurry, though. The deadline is January 30. You've still got more than a week.

Still to come, three contenders, three different strategies. We're going to talk to the organizers of the New Hampshire campaigns for Kerry, Dean and Clark.

And later, have voters here forgotten Howard Dean's post-Iowa performance? Does it matter in Tuesday's vote? We'll step into the "CROSSFIRE" with Paul Begala and Robert Novak for some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: ... for everybody. Domestic violence, women's issue, an issue for everybody because, clearly, men have to be talking to men about domestic violence. Otherwise we don't get to the bottom of what the causes and the problems really are.

But, I want to first start talking about economics in terms of women. In New Hampshire, there are about 29,000 small businesses owned by women, many of whom are...

WOODRUFF: We're listening to Governor Howard Dean at an event taking place right now in Manchester, New Hampshire. We'll try to give some equal time to the other candidates in this hour and the hours to come this day, as we get so close to the Tuesday primary in New Hampshire.

Well you know, with a surprising second place finish in Iowa under his belt, North Carolina Senator John Edwards is now running hard in New Hampshire. But our latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Tracking Poll has Edwards in a statistical three-way tie for third place. And that is down from yesterday. The question for the candidate is, can he replay his Iowa momentum?

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has been covering all the candidates here, including the Edwards campaign, and she's here with me now. Jeanne, what are the people around Senator Edwards saying?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're pretty much encouraged, because there's no doubt about it, more people in New Hampshire are interested in hearing what John Edwards has to say. He is drawing bigger crowds as the primary draws closer.

Last night, so many people showed up at a Merrimack bowling alley to meet him that the fire department had to ask some people to leave. And earlier in the day, 200 people had to be put in an overflow room at a Rochester middle school because more than 500 people had already packed into the school gym to hear Edwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: I think people are responding to a positive, uplifting message of hope. And it's clearly catching fire here. It's what you saw happen in Iowa. And the same thing seems to be happening in New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Last night, Edwards and five other presidential candidates spoke to the 100 Club Dinner. That's a pre-primary pageant put on by the New Hampshire Democratic Party. The audience had big contingents of John Kerry and Howard Dean supporters. And both those candidates were very well received.

But Edwards, who initially received a rather tepid response, eventually brought the crowd to its feet when he addressed the subject of race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: This is not an African-American issue, not an Hispanic American issue, not an Asian-American issue. This is an American issue. It's what our values are.

What do we believe in? What kind of country would we want our children and grandchildren to grow in? We have to stand up. You and I together have to stand up for equality, for freedom, for civil rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Today, another busy day of campaigning, as Edwards tries to hoist himself further up in the polls. The campaign acknowledges he will not win here, but a better-than-expected finish would give him a good launch into the South Carolina primary the week after New Hampshire -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right. Jeanne Meserve, thank you very much.

Well, Senator Edwards, we want to tell you, is going to be joining Wolf Blitzer on "LATE EDITION" today starting at noon Eastern Time. We want to turn now to three people whose candidates have a lot riding on Tuesday's outcome. Sue Casey is a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. Mo Elleithee is with the Clark campaign. And Karen Hicks is the New Hampshire director for the Dean campaign.

Thank you all for being here on a Sunday morning.

Sue, let me start with you. Can anything knock John Kerry off his perch in New Hampshire? Are you all assuming you ride from victory in New Hampshire on down the road?

SUE CASEY, KERRY NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMPAIGN: Listen, there are no perches in this race. We're all competing very hard. I think it's a very tight race, and all of us are wondering what's going to happen on Tuesday.

If there's one thing we learned in Iowa, and we've learned it year after year, we don't know what the voters are going to do. And so we're all working very hard. And we all hope for something wonderful to happen on Tuesday.

WOODRUFF: Karen Hicks, the evidence is that Governor Dean has stopped the bleeding or the slipping, or whatever you want to call it, from Monday. And if that's the case, what is your goal here in New Hampshire?

KAREN HICKS, DEAN NEW HAMPSHIRE DIRECTOR: Well, our goal is to win. We're working hard for every single vote. Governor Dean is meeting people, as many people as possible face-to-face. We have hundreds of people out knocking on doors or making lots and lots of phone calls. So we're fighting hard for every vote, and we're going to do the best we can.

WOODRUFF: And Mo Elleithee, General Clark, Wesley Clark, thought he was going to be facing, I think by most accounts, Howard Dean alone pretty much. But now he's dealing not only with Mr. Dean, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Edwards, and even Mr. Lieberman. How have you had to adjust your campaign?

MO ELLEITHEE, CLARK NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMPAIGN: Well, I think if there's anything that's certain in New Hampshire politics, it's that nothing is certain. And we always knew that this thing was going to be unpredictable and come down to the wire. Some days we'd be up, other days other people would be up.

Our goal has always been just to finish as strong as we can here in New Hampshire, and use that as a springboard into the February 3 states. We feel pretty good about where we are.

WOODRUFF: Sue Casey, a lot of focus today on Independent voters. We see John Kerry in the CNN tracking poll doing very well with Democrats. Well, but not as well among Independents. Is that a concern for you down the road as you get closer, as you move on to other stares where Independent voters are going to be significant?

CASEY: Just the opposite. I think this race is wide open. Ordinary people are looking hard at these candidates. Ordinary people are going to make their judgment as the candidates come into their states. I don't think there's any vote that John Kerry can't compete for all across this country.

WOODRUFF: So this notion of Massachusetts liberal...

CASEY: It's a label. It's a label. And it's about what people have done in their lives for ordinary people. People all across the South and the West and the North want health care, they want jobs, they want their kids to be taken care of. These aren't issues that are for one part of the country or another.

WOODRUFF: Karen Hicks, can Governor Dean get people to take -- after what happened to him this week, can he get people to take a second, even a third look at him? People who were turned off?

HICKS: Well, one of the things that works to our advantage is the voters of New Hampshire know all these candidates pretty well, with the exception of General Clark, who hasn't been here as long. The people in this state have looked across the river, as Governor Dean has balanced budget, has provided health insurance for kids and seniors in his state, as he's conserved land, as he's created jobs.

And so he's very well-known to people in New Hampshire, both from serving in Vermont as governor, and from campaigning so hard in New Hampshire. We built a very strong foundation. There's no question that the finish in Iowa wasn't what we wanted. But we've been working here and fell like we're really on the move.

WOODRUFF: And Mo Elleithee, what about that point, that Clark did start later and he had a nice lead here, but he's lost some of it as the momentum has come out of Iowa?

ELLEITHEE: Well, we did start later. We have had to play catch- up. We've only been campaigning here in New Hampshire for a couple of months, while other candidates have been campaigning for well over a year.

But I think one thing that we've learned as General Clark has been spending a lot of time here in New Hampshire is that the folks here and across the country are looking for leadership. They don't want just another politician. They want someone with a proven track record of being able to get something done and who can provide a higher standard of leadership in the White House. And we feel that message is connecting with the people of New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Finally, I want to ask the three of you, some of the things that voters that I hear voters saying, and reporters you read in the newspapers this morning, voters are saying they still have doubts about your candidates. Very quickly, Sue Casey, voters saying Senator Kerry not exciting, not inspirational, boring even. What do you say to that?

CASEY: We have a strong, steady man who can lead this country. At the end of the day, that's what people are looking for. We don't need a rock star. We need a president. WOODRUFF: And Karen Hicks, about Governor Dean, maybe not presidential enough. Too likely to explode. And have a temper.

HICKS: Well, again, I think the people in this state have seen Governor Dean. They've met him. They've watched him govern the state of Vermont with a steady hand for nearly a decade.

What's clear coming out of Iowa is the real winner was the message of change. The question is now, who can deliver that change? All of the candidates have adopted that message. There's one candidate in the race who's really provided tough leadership when it wasn't popular.

He took a stand against Iraq, the Iraq war. He took a stand against No Child Left Behind. And took a stand against the tax cuts. That's what voters want. Somebody who can really not just deliver a speech, but deliver results.

WOODRUFF: Mo Elleithee, and on General Clark, he hasn't been a Democrat long enough. You still hear voters saying, I'm not so sure I can trust this to someone who's as new as he is to the Democratic Party.

ELLEITHEE: He's a 34-year public servant who's got a distinguished record of leadership, both in foreign policy and in administrative and executive affairs. After getting out of the Army he joined the Democratic Party because he thought that this was the party that would best serve the needs of America. And he's looking forward to leading this party into the general election.

WOODRUFF: We're going to leave it there. Mo Elleithee, with the Clark campaign; Karen Hicks with the Dean campaign; Sue Casey with the Kerry campaign. All three of you, thank you for making time to come. We appreciate it.

CASEY: Thank you.

HICKS: Thank you.

ELLEITHEE: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: And coming up, the hour's top stories, including new Mars pictures from NASA's new visitor, the rover Opportunity.

And the hosts of "CROSSFIRE" square off on Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire. And they preview the next big contest on February 3.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: So here we go. Top 10 ways I, Howard Dean, can turn things around. Number 10....

DEAN: Switch to decaf.

LETTERMAN: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Howard Dean proves that he can take a joke and deliver one. The week's late night laughs.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF (voice-over): And now a campaign flashback to March 11, 1952. General Dwight Eisenhower wins the New Hampshire primary without ever setting foot in the Granite State. During the primaries, Eisenhower was commanding NATO forces in Europe. He went on to win the nomination and the presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

WOODRUFF: Well, voting time is approaching fast. And there's no one better to help us understand who's up and who's down and what's going on than our "CROSSFIRE" team.

On the left, Paul Begala, and on the right, Robert Novak.

Paul, to you first. I know you're talking to all the campaigns. What is your sense of what's going on here? You've seen the polls.

PAULA BEGALA, CNN "CROSSFIRE": It's the most exciting thing that can happen, right? We don't know, and they don't know.

First off, they don't know who's going to show up. Since I worked here for Bill Clinton in 1992, they changed the law. Any independent can waltz right up to that voting birth on Election Day, declare herself a Democrat and then undeclare right after she votes. So they don't know who's going to show up.

The more independents there are, the more the campaigns of Joe Lieberman and Wes Clark think they're going to do well. The more Democrat the electorate, the more that guys like Dean and Kerry are going to do well.

WOODRUFF: You mean, Bob, it's true, the more these polls weigh the independent vote, the better certain candidates do, like Joe Lieberman, who's doing well in this CNN poll.

ROBERT NOVAK, CNN "CROSSFIRE": And he does well in our poll. He doesn't do so well in other polls. It's not even clear he's out of single digits yet.

The most remarkable thing in the polls, I think, is the decline of General Clark. He has lost about half his strength in the one week in the state. WOODRUFF: What's happened?

NOVAK: It's very hard to say.

I think -- I think there's two things. I think that he was looked upon by some people as the alternative to Howard Dean. Now, in fact, he isn't just the big alternative to Howard Dean, he's the front- runner, John Kerry or possibly John Edwards.

The second thing is, I think he had a very bad performance in that debate Thursday night. And people in New Hampshire who are going to vote, they've watch debates. I mean, you say debates don't count, people don't watch them. These people watch them.

WOODRUFF: Let's talk about Howard Dean, Paul. You know, we've talked a lot about how he's apparently stemmed the slide and he's stabilized and his campaign virtually acknowledging they can't win. They have to look beyond New Hampshire. Is that how you see it?

BEGALA: Yes. But if he can't win here, where can he win? If he can't get better here -- this is his backyard. It's a state he was, in some polls, 30 points ahead in. So if he can't get better here -- if he loses in his own backyard -- Dick Gephardt lost in the Midwest, a neighboring state, and he got out of the race. If Howard Dean is 30 points ahead and then the best he can do is a very weak second, that doesn't bode very well for the rest of his candidacy.

NOVAK: I agree. This is possibly Howard Dean's very best state except for Vermont. It's not only that it's next door to him. It is a state whose Democrats really have a great affection for Dean, that kind of a candidate. And I think in the national polls -- you find the "Newsweek" poll shows he has really...

(CROSSTALK)

WOODRUFF: But we had been led to believe that he had this very enthusiastic organization, support, all over the country, more than any other candidate.

BEGALA: Well, he did. I think the campaign did a great job. But I think in Iowa, at least, the candidate let the campaign down.

A lot of mistakes. That famous speech on election night, which I don't think was unfairly covered. I think he showed the country what he wanted the country to see. The country didn't like it.

NOVAK: And the interesting thing is going to be on February 3, the seven primaries there where probably Kerry's going to go in there with a head of steam.

WOODRUFF: Right.

NOVAK: ...and in states where they haven't campaigned much. Dean is supposed to have all this money, more money than anybody. Some sources tell me that he has really spent an awful lot of money in Iowa and New Hampshire and... WOODRUFF: And not a lot of cash on hand.

NOVAK: And that's right. And he won't have the money to go into those states and -- seven states. Some of those are big states -- Arizona, Missouri. Those are pretty big states.

WOODRUFF: Very quickly, John Edwards. I've been to a couple of his events in New Hampshire. Very enthusiastic crowds, but he stills seems to be near -- not the bottom, but he's not at -- certainly not moving up as much as one might think.

What's going on with him?

BEGALA: They haven't had enough candidate time here. When he's here, when he shows up he gets overflow crowds; he performs very well on the stump. Then he gets on a plane for South Carolina. He's trying to split time. You know, his campaign didn't want to make the tough decision that others have made to pull out of one state and emphasize another, so they're trying to play both, defend their home region in the South, in South Carolina coming up soon, and try to capitalize on the surge here.

NOVAK: He might do a little better than the tracking polls indicate. Just he gets terrific response. I think he has the best response from audiences of anybody, including the great front-runner Kerry.

WOODRUFF: All right. We are going to leave it at that. Bob Novak, Paul Begala. Great to see you. We'll see new the minutes and the hours ahead. Thanks.

Up ahead, down to the wire for New Hampshire's wired vote. Bill Schneider has "The Story Behind the Story."

And see who's laughing now. Comedians cash in on the candidates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Time now for "The Story Behind the Story" with CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Judy, John Kerry refers to himself here in New Hampshire as a Democrat in the Gary Hart, Paul Tsongas tradition. Hart and Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary by appealing to the same type of voters that Kerry is seeking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Never mind the quaint villages and covered bridges. New Hampshire's got a wired economy.

PAUL HOULE, N.H. HIGH TECH COUNCIL: We're top three in the country next to Massachusetts and Colorado with high-tech concentration.

SCHNEIDER: And a large constituency of wired voters. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I use the Internet to get information about everything.

SCHNEIDER: A third of the state's Democratic primary voters have advanced degrees. Call them pro-business liberals.

BILL GWENNIE, QUALITY ASSURANCE ANALYST: I consider myself a fiscal conservative but a social liberal.

SCHNEIDER: Who's their choice in the primary? They're split. John Kerry and Howard Dean are neck and neck among wired voters.

I'm a pro-business liberal, says Kerry.

KERRY: You know, you can't be a Democrat who loves jobs and hates all the people who create them.

SCHNEIDER: Me too, says Dean.

DEAN: There is nothing wrong with business. And this system that we have of capitalism is the greatest system and most productive system that's ever been invented.

SCHNEIDER: One thing we know about New Hampshire's wired Democrats -- they can't stand George W. Bush.

STEPHEN NODYIN, PROFESSOR: I've never seen the environment, public interests more threatened than with the current administration.

SCHNEIDER: Some of them couldn't even watch the president's State of the Union speech last week.

FREDERICK WILLIAMS, TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATOR: I don't like watching George Bush. I can't -- I can't really take it.

SCHNEIDER: Or listen to it.

WILLIAMS: Too distressing, and we had to turn it off.

SCHNEIDER: Another thing we know about New Hampshire's wired Democrats: they're very practical.

PAUL BASSETT, COMPUTER PROGRAMMER: I want to hear him sound like somebody who can beat Bush.

KERRY: And actually creates....

SCHNEIDER: Which leads some of them to Kerry.

NODYIN: I was looking for the person who had the best environmental record and was most electable. And I saw that in Kerry.

SCHNEIDER: And others away from Kerry.

JARED CALLANA, COLLEGE STUDENT: He's a Massachusetts Democrat, former lieutenant governor of Michael Dukakis. He cannot beat George Bush. I think Howard Dean can.

SCHNEIDER: One more thing we know about these super-educated voters: they're super-demanding.

DANA DUNHAN, MIT VISITING SCHOLAR: When I get a chance to address General Clark directly, his answer to a question I directed at him was not accurate. And so that made me really uncomfortable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: (LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: It's a war for the wired vote. And it's going on right now over lattes across the length and breadth of New Hampshire.

WOODRUFF: Maybe a few drink tea.

SCHNEIDER: Possibly. But I think latte is the drink of choice.

WOODRUFF: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

Bill Schneider, thank you very much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WOODRUFF: All right.

Well, Tuesday's primary gets the campaign up and running. We will look at the lineup of the states to come in this crowded election season. What should we expect from the candidates during the coming campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please do.

WOODRUFF: New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary is, of course, on Tuesday. We all know that. But there's an important group of contests on the horizon now just little more than a week away.

Here's the race card as we might say. It is from CNN's John Mercurio. He's the editor of CNN's "Morning Grind," updated Monday through Friday on our Web site, cnn.com.

All right, John, let's talk about what happens after New Hampshire. We've already heard John Kerry putting out the word that he's going to go to South Carolina and Missouri after here.

What do you see down the road, after New Hampshire?

JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, what's funny is that South Carolina is only one of states that are going to competitive -- or, that are going to be in play on February 3. I think somebody probably decreed from up above that South Carolina was the most important, and it was the only state that we had to watch and everybody sort of followed along.

But really, I mean, you have two states that have more delegates than South Carolina, Arizona and Missouri. Missouri is now in play because Dick Gephardt dropped out. And John Kerry's making a big pitch, making a big push in Missouri. He just hired Steve Ehlmendorf, who was Dick Gephardt's campaign manager. And we know that he's meeting right now -- the Kerry campaign team in Washington is meeting to decide the Missouri and South Carolina teams.

WOODRUFF: And we know....

MERCURIO: As to who they're going to dispatch down there.

WOODRUFF: And we know that Clark, for example, has something going on in Missouri.

MERCURIO: Oh, absolutely. Very competitive -- very -- and just very different from South Carolina. I mean, South Carolina has a large African-American population. It's sort of the first primary in the South. So there's definitely reasons to be paying attention to it. But there's going to be a lot more going on on that day, I think, than....

WOODRUFF: Right. Of course, what happens in New Hampshire is going to affect it, as well.

MERCURIO: Absolutely.

WOODRUFF: Let me ask you about Joe Lieberman. We talked earlier about how he's moved into third place in this CNN/Gallup/USA Today tracking poll. What is -- what's going on with him? And in terms of down the line, what does it say?

MERCURIO: Yes.

His campaign is actually sort of enthusiastic. They're happy about these new numbers. And they look at it as though they started in Iowa -- well, they weren't in Iowa, but the primary season started in Iowa. Very liberal base that he knew he wouldn't play well with.

We're in New Hampshire now. It's an independent base. He thinks he has a better chance to connect here. But we move on February 3 to a more moderate, a more conservative, a more military based electorate. And I think that the new ad that he's running, the ad with Saddam Hussein in it where he really highlights his pro-Iraqi war positions is really aimed more at what happens next week, what happens on February 3 with those -- with those voters.

WOODRUFF: Just quickly, John -- I mean, assuming these candidates survive and are enough in the money here in New Hampshire to keep -- stay alive, are there any others who are benefited by the change in the makeup of the electorate and these primaries?

MERCURIO: any other candidates?

WOODRUFF: Yes.

MERCURIO: Oh, definitely. John Edwards is a huge favorite -- not a huge favorite, but he's polling really well in South Carolina.

WOODRUFF: Right.

MERCURIO: I think that -- I think General Clark has been campaigning really strongly in Oklahoma and in Arizona.

WOODRUFF: So for them, if you can get out of New Hampshire, you know, there may be -- there may be fertile (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MERCURIO: I don't know how many tickets there are out of New Hampshire -- three or four. Definitely not five.

WOODRUFF: Yes. Some have said two-and-a-half, but we'll see. I'm not sure what two-and-a-half means.

John Mercurio, CNN political editor, thanks very much.

MERCURIO: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: We'll talk to you later.

For the best daily briefing on politics, as we just told you, log on to "The Morning Grind." You can go to www.cnn.com/grind for the latest political news.

Well, the news media have been chasing the democratic presidential candidates from one end of the Granite State to the other. Our reporter's roundtable has the inside scoop from the campaign trail.

And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS "THE LATE SHOW" HOST: In New Hampshire, Joe Lieberman is not doing very well. Currently he's two points behind the Taliban candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: (LAUGHTER)

No safe haven for candidates when the late-night talk shows get going. The highlights in the late-night laughs.

This is CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: As the candidates push to the finish line here in New Hampshire, there's another group working hard just to keep up: reporters. Three of them have agreed to join us this morning to help handicap the race.

Terry Neal is a chief political correspondent for washingtonpost.com Web Site. Anne Kornblut writes for the Boston Globe.

And Vince Morris is with the New York Post.

Vince, I'm going to start with you. You've spent -- what? -- days with the Dean campaign.

VINCE MORRIS, NEW YORK POST: Weeks.

WOODRUFF: Weeks with the Dean campaign. What are you feeling? What are you hearing inside that campaign right now?

MORRIS: Well, they feel like they've turned a corner. The candidate, Governor Dean, feels a little bit confident that we haven't seen in awhile. His wife is joining him. His mother was with him yesterday. And he thinks he's turned the corner on that terribly embarrassing scream from Monday night.

Whether he can make up enough difference to catch Senator Kerry, who's leading the polls, I think is going to be tough to do.

WOODRUFF: Are they resigned to that at this point, would you say?

MORRIS: Not publicly. But I think they know that's almost impossible. They don't have enough time.

WOODRUFF: Anne Kornblut, you've been with a number of the candidates. Talk about Senator Kerry and some of the others and what you're hearing from their campaigns.

ANNE KORNBLUT, BOSTON GLOBE: Well, I think -- I think that Dean actually could benefit from the lowered expectations at this point. Nobody really thinks he's going to come in first place in New Hampshire. The polls aren't reflecting that right now. So if he comes in a decent second, I think they will have met expectations.

In a sense, Kerry is -- time has slowed down here in such a way that Kerry is once again the front-runner and needs to try and meet his expectations here and then go on and do so in South Carolina.

I think the real race we're going to see is South Carolina, the February 3 states, those seven states across the map. Those are the ones that are going to really matter...

WOODRUFF: Well, and the race here for third, even.

KORNBLUT: And fourth.

WOODRUFF: And fourth. You know, we have Lieberman moving up in our poll, but you've got John Edwards still in place, Wesley Clark.

Terry Neal, what about you? I mean, I also -- I want to talk about the candidates. But you've been out there talking to voters. What kinds of things are you hearing from them?

TERRY NEAL, WASHINGTONPOST.COM: A couple things have struck me about -- in my conversation with voters this week. Two things.

Number one, how undecided people are. We got off the campaign trail and just talked to regular people, and almost everybody we talked to -- I mean, people were saying things -- this was not uncommon -- Oh, you know, I really like Joe Lieberman, and -- but I like Howard Dean, too. I mean, candidates that are on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. That's number one.

Number two, contrary to what the pundits have been saying for a long time, people are actually interested in this race and they like the candidates. They like their choices. They're not undecided because there's nobody good. They're undecided because they feel like they have a lot of good choices.

WOODRUFF: Vince, has this race come down to personality and who can beat George W. Bush? I mean, who's the most electable? I mean, we're just -- we're not hearing about issues in New Hampshire.

MORRIS: No, and it's because in a lot of ways there's some similarities. I mean, I was with Governor Dean yesterday when he was -- he dropped in at one of his phone banks, and he was calling voters who had listed themselves as undecided. He would get into conversations where they would ask him about his position on the environment and I heard him say, Well, there's really not a lot of difference between myself and the other candidates on the environment, so I won't even tell you about that. Let me try to tell you where the differences are.

So they're struggling in that. And it often does come down to personality and charisma and a sense of who do you trust to run the country?

WOODRUFF: And, Anne, as you watch the candidates talk about that, is it harder or easier for some of them to talk about themselves as being, you know, a better opponent in the fall? Or would they rather be talking about the issues? I mean....

KORNBLUT: I think they've all (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- well, I think, first of all, I'm not even sure that the voters want to be talking about issues here in New Hampshire. I mean, the ones I talked to -- what we hear most often is, I just want somebody who can beat George Bush. And so there's a lot of focus on the horse race. I think a lot more even than usual.

But they each have a trait that they want -- that they accentuate, that they think would make them electable, more electable than Bush. You know, Edwards talks about being a Southerner. He points out his accent. Kerry talks about his war record. Clark talks about his war record. Dean talks about the excitement that he first had. So I think they all are trying to figure out how to sell themselves as the best opponent to Bush.

WOODRUFF: Talking about the voters, Terry Neal, I was reading this morning a remarkable quote from a voter who said something along the lines of Well, I like so and so, but frankly, I really don't want the contest to end here in New Hampshire. I'd like it to go on and see what voters around the rest of the country are thinking.

I mean, these voters, it seems to me, are calculating and even gaming out this election more so than usual.

NEAL: I think they are, and I think a lot of it has to go -- has to do with what Anne just said about electability.

You know, I think a month ago or two months ago you would have asked people what they wanted, and what they wanted was somebody who was going to stand up to George W. Bush on issues, particularly the war. Now what people are saying is, I want somebody who can beat George W. Bush. As we've gotten closer to the election, they're really interested in finding the best candidate who can stand up to him. And I think a lot of people still aren't sure about who that candidate is.

WOODRUFF: But Vince, do people really know what could beat George W. Bush? I mean, you know, are we all -- any of us sophisticated enough at this point to know what the main issues are going to be in the fall?

MORRIS: You know, everybody had thought that the war would be the main issue, and it may still be, because we don't know next fall how big an issue -- how involved we'll still be at this point. So no one knows for sure how they're going to match up. It's more just a question of, at this point, convincing these voters, because right now, even though they're looking down the road, the contest is Tuesday. And all of the candidates who are here know that if they don't do well on Tuesday, it's going to be real hard for them to pick up momentum in the coming days ahead.

WOODRUFF: Very quickly to Anne and Terry, are we going to be surprised here, do you think?

KORNBLUT: I'm not making any predictions after Iowa.

WOODRUFF: We've all been burned.

NEAL: I don't see a surprise. I mean, I really think that Kerry's got a very strong position, both from looking at the polls and talking to voters. Every -- a lot of people said they were undecided, but almost everybody we talked mentioned Kerry as one of their favorites.

WOODRUFF: Terry Neal, Anne Kornblut, Vince Morris, great to see you both -- all three of you, that is.

NEAL: Thanks for having us.

KORNBLUT: I can't count.

WOODRUFF: Thank you very much.

Well, comedians are mining the Granite State for new material. The best of the week next.

This is CNN, America's campaign headquarters. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF (voice-over): Checking out political history book, tomorrow marks six years since President Bill Clinton denied having an affair with a White House intern.

BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Can't help but notice but Iowa and New Hampshire become fodder for late-night comedians. Jay, Dave and Jon all have been talking comical shots at the Democrats. And, of course, at that now infamous speech by Howard Dean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LETTERMAN: Here we go. Ten -- top 10 ways I, Howard Dean with turn things around.

No. 10.

DEAN: Switch to decaf.

LETTERMAN: OK.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: The last hours before the vote featured all the excitement we've come to expect from Iowa. The signs! The signs! The signs! The bus exiting! Yes!

DEAN: Don't change a thing. It's going great.

LETTERMAN: That's right.

DEAN: We're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma, and Arizona, and North Dakota, and New Mexico. And we're going to California, and Texas, and New York. And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington, and Michigan.

LETTERMAN: No. 5.

DEAN: Go on American Idol and give them a taste of these pipes.

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: And Senator Joe Lieberman -- you know, he skipped Iowa. He's now devoting all his energy to losing in New Hampshire. That's what he's doing.

LETTERMAN: And No. 2.

DEAN: Fire the staffer who suggested that we do this lousy Top 10 list instead of actually campaigning. LETTERMAN: That's right.

LENO: How about Dennis Kucinich? Oh, my god. Huh? He finished behind Martha Stewart.

LETTERMAN: And the No. 1 way I, Howard Dean can turn things around?

DEAN: Oh, I don't know. Maybe fewer crazy red-faced rants?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: What would we do without Letterman, Leno and Stewart?

Well, thanks for coming along for "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY." I'm Judy Woodruff in Manchester.

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