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Will Dems Attack Each Other or Bush Tonight?
Aired September 25, 2003 - 14:44 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If last night's debate in California was the super bowl of debates, I guess this is probably the preseason. All ten Democratic presidential candidates are prepped for yet another debate. This time in New York. It's scheduled to get under way, 4:00 Eastern this afternoon on another cable network. It's Wesley Clark's first time in the fray there.
We've invited a couple of people to prep us on strategies we might see from the candidates. Robert Zimmerman is a Democratic strategist and is already there at Pace University. He's in the spin room, he's probably getting some pre-spin already and...
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I could use some Dramamine.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: And then Kellyanne Conway, Republican pollster, joining us from D.C. Good to have you both with us.
ZIMMERMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Let's run through this alphabetically, shall we? Clark comes first, coincidentally. Wesley Clark, what is his strategy on this evening? Who does he need to focus on, who does he need to go after? Kellyanne, you go first.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: Wesley Clark is the front-runner right now because nobody knows who he is. And it seems that every time somebody new enters the race, they become the Democratic front-runner because they allegedly are the none of the above candidate.
If I'm Wesley Clark, I come out tonight with a very muscular, very unapologetic, crisp and clear domestic agenda. Here's a man who has never created a single job in his life.
It's going to very be difficult for him long term to attack the president's positions on the economy, attack the president's jobs performance and affordability plans and tax cuts moving forward unless he himself can say here is my four point memorable plan, maybe put it in an acronym, have a couple punch lines. Because unless he's talking about domestics the stars and stripes are going to start to fade.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to out little tote board. There's Wesley Clark, we'll highlight him, upper right hand portion. Robert, who does he go after first? Does he go right for John Kerry, Gephardt or maybe do Dean?
ZIMMERMAN: Let me just point out regarding Wesley Clark, while Kellyanne and I can debate whether he's created jobs, the good news is he hasn't lost three million jobs like the Bush administration and the economic policy have done to this country.
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: ... his focus has got to be conveying a very sharp, strong leadership position. And likewise, he also has got to try to enhance the status as a front-runner by showing the mastery of domestic policy and highlighting leadership in foreign affairs.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: So he doesn't pick on anybody, then? He plays himself as the front-runner?
ZIMMERMAN: He keeps focusing on his role keeps -- he keeps his focus and fire on the Bush administration and the Bush foreign policies in particular.
O'BRIEN: All right, Kellyanne, you were disagreeing on something about that. What were your thoughts?
CONWAY: That's just boring. Why call it a debate? Why don't we just have them write it in or e-mail us all with a message? String together with sound bites?
This is why I think some of these folks are better off with a strategy of not being a front-runner and not being regarded in the first tier. The first tier is really just jumbled with people none of whom can crack 20 or 25 percent consistently.
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: ... couple months from now when it counts can you catapult...
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: ... important to point out that based upon the recent polling that's come in we seen a number of candidates emerging as very strong opponents to Bush...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the debate for just a moment...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: If you were advising Mr. Dean, what would you tell him to do, Robert? Go after Wes Clark or go after Kerry or is Gephardt -- given Gephardt's traditional constituency and labor, should he go after him? ZIMMERMAN: I think Howard Dean has a very important challenge before him in this debate. Governor Dean has got to be able to withstand the hits he's going face from Gephardt and from Kerry and not lose his cool.
He has faced some very serious challenges to his credibility because of the flip-flops and misstatements on a number of past issues. So for Governor Dean to maintain his front-runner status in New Hampshire and maintain strong momentum in Iowa he's got to position himself as the only anti-war candidate and attack the credibility of others trying to diffuse that.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... the tote board here, he says Kerry and Gephardt will pick on Dean. What do you say?
CONWAY: I like your special teams analysis there. It's great. John Madden and Miles O'Brien.
Here's what I would do if I'm Howard Dean. I would ignore all of the people on the stage...
O'BRIEN: Ignore them?
CONWAY: Ignore them because I'm the front-runner. And I would start to try to reach out to folks who should be my natural allies and constituents but are not. In other words the governors with whom I served when I was governor, very few of whom if any have endorse him in a serious manner.
And No. 2, I'd start making nice with Terry McAuliffe and the Democratic apparatus, because McAuliffe right now is not going to let Dean have the nomination. He needs to prove himself a little bit more like an insider. His outsider schtick has worked to raise money and create a buzz, but he's not going to get the nomination unless he starts thinking and speaking like a true Democrat.
O'BRIEN: He's outside, he's got to move in. Quickly, are they both going to go after President Bush more than each other...
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: .. and they think President Bush is a ready-made bogeyman. But Robert's wrong for one reason. The only person who's...
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: ... is an unnamed Democrat, is a generic Democrat. Eventually you're...
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: Very quickly let me point out the most important mission for each of these Democratic presidential candidates is to show that they have the ability to beat George Bush. That's the focus of Democrats from every wing of the Democratic Party.
This is not a therapy session to analyze the soul of the Democratic Party. Democrats are looking for the strongest candidate because Democrats are focused on winning in November of 2004.
CONWAY: Why are there 11 of them? It's difficult to say the party is a sum of all its parts. We're not...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: That's it. I think we got our first little dose of spin from the spin room from Mr. Zimmerman. Pass the Dramamine. Thank you very much, Robert Zimmerman. And Kellyanne, gosh, I can't remember your married name!
CONWAY: Conway!
O'BRIEN: Conway. Thanks. Congratulations about that, too. Good to have you both with us.
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 25, 2003 - 14:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: If last night's debate in California was the super bowl of debates, I guess this is probably the preseason. All ten Democratic presidential candidates are prepped for yet another debate. This time in New York. It's scheduled to get under way, 4:00 Eastern this afternoon on another cable network. It's Wesley Clark's first time in the fray there.
We've invited a couple of people to prep us on strategies we might see from the candidates. Robert Zimmerman is a Democratic strategist and is already there at Pace University. He's in the spin room, he's probably getting some pre-spin already and...
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I could use some Dramamine.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: And then Kellyanne Conway, Republican pollster, joining us from D.C. Good to have you both with us.
ZIMMERMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Let's run through this alphabetically, shall we? Clark comes first, coincidentally. Wesley Clark, what is his strategy on this evening? Who does he need to focus on, who does he need to go after? Kellyanne, you go first.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: Wesley Clark is the front-runner right now because nobody knows who he is. And it seems that every time somebody new enters the race, they become the Democratic front-runner because they allegedly are the none of the above candidate.
If I'm Wesley Clark, I come out tonight with a very muscular, very unapologetic, crisp and clear domestic agenda. Here's a man who has never created a single job in his life.
It's going to very be difficult for him long term to attack the president's positions on the economy, attack the president's jobs performance and affordability plans and tax cuts moving forward unless he himself can say here is my four point memorable plan, maybe put it in an acronym, have a couple punch lines. Because unless he's talking about domestics the stars and stripes are going to start to fade.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to out little tote board. There's Wesley Clark, we'll highlight him, upper right hand portion. Robert, who does he go after first? Does he go right for John Kerry, Gephardt or maybe do Dean?
ZIMMERMAN: Let me just point out regarding Wesley Clark, while Kellyanne and I can debate whether he's created jobs, the good news is he hasn't lost three million jobs like the Bush administration and the economic policy have done to this country.
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: ... his focus has got to be conveying a very sharp, strong leadership position. And likewise, he also has got to try to enhance the status as a front-runner by showing the mastery of domestic policy and highlighting leadership in foreign affairs.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: So he doesn't pick on anybody, then? He plays himself as the front-runner?
ZIMMERMAN: He keeps focusing on his role keeps -- he keeps his focus and fire on the Bush administration and the Bush foreign policies in particular.
O'BRIEN: All right, Kellyanne, you were disagreeing on something about that. What were your thoughts?
CONWAY: That's just boring. Why call it a debate? Why don't we just have them write it in or e-mail us all with a message? String together with sound bites?
This is why I think some of these folks are better off with a strategy of not being a front-runner and not being regarded in the first tier. The first tier is really just jumbled with people none of whom can crack 20 or 25 percent consistently.
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: ... couple months from now when it counts can you catapult...
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: ... important to point out that based upon the recent polling that's come in we seen a number of candidates emerging as very strong opponents to Bush...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the debate for just a moment...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: If you were advising Mr. Dean, what would you tell him to do, Robert? Go after Wes Clark or go after Kerry or is Gephardt -- given Gephardt's traditional constituency and labor, should he go after him? ZIMMERMAN: I think Howard Dean has a very important challenge before him in this debate. Governor Dean has got to be able to withstand the hits he's going face from Gephardt and from Kerry and not lose his cool.
He has faced some very serious challenges to his credibility because of the flip-flops and misstatements on a number of past issues. So for Governor Dean to maintain his front-runner status in New Hampshire and maintain strong momentum in Iowa he's got to position himself as the only anti-war candidate and attack the credibility of others trying to diffuse that.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... the tote board here, he says Kerry and Gephardt will pick on Dean. What do you say?
CONWAY: I like your special teams analysis there. It's great. John Madden and Miles O'Brien.
Here's what I would do if I'm Howard Dean. I would ignore all of the people on the stage...
O'BRIEN: Ignore them?
CONWAY: Ignore them because I'm the front-runner. And I would start to try to reach out to folks who should be my natural allies and constituents but are not. In other words the governors with whom I served when I was governor, very few of whom if any have endorse him in a serious manner.
And No. 2, I'd start making nice with Terry McAuliffe and the Democratic apparatus, because McAuliffe right now is not going to let Dean have the nomination. He needs to prove himself a little bit more like an insider. His outsider schtick has worked to raise money and create a buzz, but he's not going to get the nomination unless he starts thinking and speaking like a true Democrat.
O'BRIEN: He's outside, he's got to move in. Quickly, are they both going to go after President Bush more than each other...
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: .. and they think President Bush is a ready-made bogeyman. But Robert's wrong for one reason. The only person who's...
(CROSSTALK)
CONWAY: ... is an unnamed Democrat, is a generic Democrat. Eventually you're...
(CROSSTALK)
ZIMMERMAN: Very quickly let me point out the most important mission for each of these Democratic presidential candidates is to show that they have the ability to beat George Bush. That's the focus of Democrats from every wing of the Democratic Party.
This is not a therapy session to analyze the soul of the Democratic Party. Democrats are looking for the strongest candidate because Democrats are focused on winning in November of 2004.
CONWAY: Why are there 11 of them? It's difficult to say the party is a sum of all its parts. We're not...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: That's it. I think we got our first little dose of spin from the spin room from Mr. Zimmerman. Pass the Dramamine. Thank you very much, Robert Zimmerman. And Kellyanne, gosh, I can't remember your married name!
CONWAY: Conway!
O'BRIEN: Conway. Thanks. Congratulations about that, too. Good to have you both with us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
