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Interview With Arianna Huffington
Aired September 09, 2003 - 15:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Peter Ueberroth may have stolen the headlines this hour, but the remaining California recall candidates, including Arianna Huffington, are busy in search of votes. Later tonight, Huffington will attend the Stand Up For Arianna fund-raiser, featuring comedians Bill Maher and Rob Schneider, among others.
Huffington is also in the middle of her four-day bus tour of college campuses, a trip she's calling the Independence Streak. Last hour, she joined two other recall candidates in a debate sponsored by the Green Lining Institute.
Arianna Huffington is with me now from Los Angeles.
Thank you so much for taking a little time out from your hectic schedule.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: I want to talk to you first about Peter Ueberroth's getting out of the race. Do you see that as affecting much?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's affecting the independent voters, because he was perceived as an independent. And so those independent voters are going to be joining the large numbers of undecided. And they are not going to be going to Republicans. The question is, will they be going to me or to Cruz Bustamante?
CROWLEY: Now, let me ask you something. You are in the single digits. You have been at this for a while. I think people that are outside California look and say, why are you doing this? It doesn't seem that there's much chance that you could win this. Why are you doing it?
HUFFINGTON: Candy, this is such a volatile race. Nobody knows what's going to be happening four weeks from now.
And, as I'm going around registering young voters, appealing to the 13 million disaffected who didn't even vote in the last election, I see the impact my campaign is having. And look at Cruz Bustamante. If it were not for me taking him on in the first debate and calling his receipt of over $3 million of money from the Indian gaming industry legalized bribery, do you think he would have given that money to fight Prop 54, as he had to do because of the political heat?
And today, during the debate that just ended, he used his entire closing statement scrambling to explain something that he cannot really explain, why he is in the pocket of such a major special interest in Sacramento.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you something. I don't know if you heard, but Governor Davis is putting out a new commercial. It's entitled "Circus." It talks about all the craziness in California. Do you worry that, should Gray Davis survive this recall effort, that you will sort of be lumped into sort of part of a farce and not be seen as a serious politician in the future?
HUFFINGTON: That hasn't happened at all, actually.
There is a clear demarcation line between what used to be the six candidates that are viable, that are running real campaigns and participating in the debates -- and now with Ueberroth, it's down to five -- and the rest of the candidates, who are there for the fun of it. I don't think that has been a problem at all, Candy. In fact, it's been an amazing opportunity for me to go out and there and speak about the things that I have been writing about in hundreds of columns and two books, especially the dominance of special interest money in Sacramento.
And on Tuesday morning, I am going to be filing an initiative for public financing of campaigns in California. There is huge public support for that. And people know that, unless we do that, we are going to be driven by the same screwed-up policy priorities, whether it's Cruz Bustamante or Arnold Schwarzenegger who become governor.
CROWLEY: We just have a few seconds left. I want to ask you whether you are in politics to stay or do you prefer the political observer mode?
HUFFINGTON: I am not going to make that decision until after October 7. Right now, I am operating on three hours sleep. I am loving every minute of it. I'm going up and down the state. And I do not see beyond October 7.
CROWLEY: OK. Thanks so much, Arianna Huffington, independent candidate in the recall.
HUFFINGTON: Thank you.
CROWLEY: We appreciate it.
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 September 9, 2003 - 15:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Peter Ueberroth may have stolen the headlines this hour, but the remaining California recall candidates, including Arianna Huffington, are busy in search of votes. Later tonight, Huffington will attend the Stand Up For Arianna fund-raiser, featuring comedians Bill Maher and Rob Schneider, among others.
Huffington is also in the middle of her four-day bus tour of college campuses, a trip she's calling the Independence Streak. Last hour, she joined two other recall candidates in a debate sponsored by the Green Lining Institute.
Arianna Huffington is with me now from Los Angeles.
Thank you so much for taking a little time out from your hectic schedule.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: I want to talk to you first about Peter Ueberroth's getting out of the race. Do you see that as affecting much?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON (I), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's affecting the independent voters, because he was perceived as an independent. And so those independent voters are going to be joining the large numbers of undecided. And they are not going to be going to Republicans. The question is, will they be going to me or to Cruz Bustamante?
CROWLEY: Now, let me ask you something. You are in the single digits. You have been at this for a while. I think people that are outside California look and say, why are you doing this? It doesn't seem that there's much chance that you could win this. Why are you doing it?
HUFFINGTON: Candy, this is such a volatile race. Nobody knows what's going to be happening four weeks from now.
And, as I'm going around registering young voters, appealing to the 13 million disaffected who didn't even vote in the last election, I see the impact my campaign is having. And look at Cruz Bustamante. If it were not for me taking him on in the first debate and calling his receipt of over $3 million of money from the Indian gaming industry legalized bribery, do you think he would have given that money to fight Prop 54, as he had to do because of the political heat?
And today, during the debate that just ended, he used his entire closing statement scrambling to explain something that he cannot really explain, why he is in the pocket of such a major special interest in Sacramento.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you something. I don't know if you heard, but Governor Davis is putting out a new commercial. It's entitled "Circus." It talks about all the craziness in California. Do you worry that, should Gray Davis survive this recall effort, that you will sort of be lumped into sort of part of a farce and not be seen as a serious politician in the future?
HUFFINGTON: That hasn't happened at all, actually.
There is a clear demarcation line between what used to be the six candidates that are viable, that are running real campaigns and participating in the debates -- and now with Ueberroth, it's down to five -- and the rest of the candidates, who are there for the fun of it. I don't think that has been a problem at all, Candy. In fact, it's been an amazing opportunity for me to go out and there and speak about the things that I have been writing about in hundreds of columns and two books, especially the dominance of special interest money in Sacramento.
And on Tuesday morning, I am going to be filing an initiative for public financing of campaigns in California. There is huge public support for that. And people know that, unless we do that, we are going to be driven by the same screwed-up policy priorities, whether it's Cruz Bustamante or Arnold Schwarzenegger who become governor.
CROWLEY: We just have a few seconds left. I want to ask you whether you are in politics to stay or do you prefer the political observer mode?
HUFFINGTON: I am not going to make that decision until after October 7. Right now, I am operating on three hours sleep. I am loving every minute of it. I'm going up and down the state. And I do not see beyond October 7.
CROWLEY: OK. Thanks so much, Arianna Huffington, independent candidate in the recall.
HUFFINGTON: Thank you.
CROWLEY: We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
