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New Hampshire Primary: Last Chance Campaigning

Aired January 26, 2004 - 13:14   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New Hampshire is a Democratic dogfight today with the hours counting down to the nation's first primary vote. Candidates are shaking hands and kissing babies from Lebanon to Londonderry and from Durham to Dover.
Our election express takes Bob Franken to Hanover to cover the 11th hour of campaigning.

Yes, you like our literation there, huh?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I did. I did. But you forgot Dixville Notch where the first votes will be held this evening about midnight before the people there go through their four-year hibernation. Then of course the more serious voting takes place throughout the state tomorrow. And what we don't know is what is going to happen with all those people who are listed as Independent or undecided. That's a huge chunk. So nobody is taking anything for granted.

Nobody, certainly including the leader of the pack, John Kerry, at least if the polls are to be believed he's the leader of the pack. He now has to run against his own expectations, has to have a big showing. He tries every chance he can to say no, I'm not that much of a frontrunner. Please don't look at me that way. But the regrettable thing for him is he has to. It's the dark side of being in the lead, at least according to the polls.

The man now who is down one notch below, different from Dixville Notch, but that would be Howard Dean. Howard Dean is trying to recover from the embarrassment that he suffered in Iowa. On the one hand now, if he does better than expected, he regains credibility. But the danger is that he has a finish that falls below expectations and that could severely, severely hamper the future of his campaign.

Third, fourth and fifth are up for grabs. Wesley Clark is somebody who is yet to run for an election and have the actual vote. He is running this time. It's the first time in New Hampshire. He had started to trend upward in the polls, but every time he makes a move, he trips over his own rhetoric and has to recover from that. He's hoping that now he has recovered enough that he can make a substantial mark here.

He's also running ahead of John Edwards. They are really in a statistical tie, according to many of the polls. John Edwards was the big surprise in Iowa. He'd love a big surprise here. But what he really needs is a credible finish so he can use that to bounce the primaries the following week, which include the featured one in South Carolina, which is his old stomping grounds. He was born there, although he is now, of course, the senator from North Carolina.

Joe Lieberman, he ran a lot, as the vice presidential candidate in 2000, but is not running spectacularly here in New Hampshire. He has managed to break into the double digits. He is hoping that all the Independent voters will be attracted to his version of the Democratic approach and that he will show up better than people are expecting right now. In any case, he says, he will go on.

So that's the lineup. It's anybody's game. New Hampshire is a state where the surprise is the rule. And so we'll just get set and not be so as surprised by the surprises that we encounter tomorrow -- Carol.

LIN: All right. And we'll have a schematic of that last statement from you, Bob, in the next hour of LIVE FROM ... -- just kidding. Thanks very much.

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 26, 2004 - 13:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New Hampshire is a Democratic dogfight today with the hours counting down to the nation's first primary vote. Candidates are shaking hands and kissing babies from Lebanon to Londonderry and from Durham to Dover.
Our election express takes Bob Franken to Hanover to cover the 11th hour of campaigning.

Yes, you like our literation there, huh?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I did. I did. But you forgot Dixville Notch where the first votes will be held this evening about midnight before the people there go through their four-year hibernation. Then of course the more serious voting takes place throughout the state tomorrow. And what we don't know is what is going to happen with all those people who are listed as Independent or undecided. That's a huge chunk. So nobody is taking anything for granted.

Nobody, certainly including the leader of the pack, John Kerry, at least if the polls are to be believed he's the leader of the pack. He now has to run against his own expectations, has to have a big showing. He tries every chance he can to say no, I'm not that much of a frontrunner. Please don't look at me that way. But the regrettable thing for him is he has to. It's the dark side of being in the lead, at least according to the polls.

The man now who is down one notch below, different from Dixville Notch, but that would be Howard Dean. Howard Dean is trying to recover from the embarrassment that he suffered in Iowa. On the one hand now, if he does better than expected, he regains credibility. But the danger is that he has a finish that falls below expectations and that could severely, severely hamper the future of his campaign.

Third, fourth and fifth are up for grabs. Wesley Clark is somebody who is yet to run for an election and have the actual vote. He is running this time. It's the first time in New Hampshire. He had started to trend upward in the polls, but every time he makes a move, he trips over his own rhetoric and has to recover from that. He's hoping that now he has recovered enough that he can make a substantial mark here.

He's also running ahead of John Edwards. They are really in a statistical tie, according to many of the polls. John Edwards was the big surprise in Iowa. He'd love a big surprise here. But what he really needs is a credible finish so he can use that to bounce the primaries the following week, which include the featured one in South Carolina, which is his old stomping grounds. He was born there, although he is now, of course, the senator from North Carolina.

Joe Lieberman, he ran a lot, as the vice presidential candidate in 2000, but is not running spectacularly here in New Hampshire. He has managed to break into the double digits. He is hoping that all the Independent voters will be attracted to his version of the Democratic approach and that he will show up better than people are expecting right now. In any case, he says, he will go on.

So that's the lineup. It's anybody's game. New Hampshire is a state where the surprise is the rule. And so we'll just get set and not be so as surprised by the surprises that we encounter tomorrow -- Carol.

LIN: All right. And we'll have a schematic of that last statement from you, Bob, in the next hour of LIVE FROM ... -- just kidding. Thanks very much.

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