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CNN to Host Democratic Debate

Aired February 26, 2004 - 14:03   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: Four contestants, one stage, five days from Super Tuesday. It's debate Thursday, a CNN/"L.A. Times" invitation for John Edwards, John Kerry, Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich to think outside the box.
Already, of course, Kerry has a corner on the delegate market and on the polls in the super states of California, New York, and Ohio. What's more, "The New York Times" now in Kerry's corner. In an editorial, the "Times" saying -- and we quote them now -- "Mr. Kerry exudes maturity and depth. He can discuss virtually any issue of security or international affairs with authority. What his critics see as an inability to take strong, clear positions seems to us to reflect his appreciation that life is not simple."

And neither is analyzing politics. And that's why we just love Bill Schneider. He comes to us this hour from Los Angeles.

Mr. Schneider, always a pleasure to see you, sir.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Dude.

O'BRIEN: Dude.

All right, first of all, are they paying any attention in California to the presidential race right now? Are they focused on gay marriages and what Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing?

SCHNEIDER: And the movie "The Passion." They're paying attention to all those things and the Oscars, of course, not a lot of attention to the political race for president, because nobody is running any ads. This is a state where television is politics. And neither Kerry nor Edwards nor any of the other candidates is running any ads. So, at the moment, the race is only what they happen to catch on the fly on a news program that happened way far away.

O'BRIEN: So, if you're John Kerry in that environment, you play rope-a-dope, to use a boxing analogy, right?

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: You just kind of ride it out and don't say anything stupid.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Don't make any mistakes. Don't take any chances. Indicate that there are no real differences between himself and his competitors and hope that he can just coast to the nomination. Something big has to happen tonight in this debate, the only major campaign event here in California, to upset Kerry's lead. And that's why Edwards, among others, is going to have to take some chances.

O'BRIEN: So, therefore, that is the hot seat or the hot podium, if you will. And if you're Mr. Edwards, Senator Edwards, how far do you go, what do you say, and how much do you get out of being Mr. Nice Guy? Is this the moment, the pivotal moment, when you decide to go negative and go for the gold ring, or stay nice and go for V.P. status?

SCHNEIDER: Well, look, he could go negative. And that could blow the race wide open. Look, Edwards needs to get headlines. He's got to be in the papers tomorrow morning. He's got to be on the late news here in California tonight. People have to be talking about John Edwards and what he said and what he talked about to try to show California voters that John Kerry is not electable, he's a Massachusetts liberal, do Democrats really want to do that, haven't they tried that before.

That would be tough. It would be aggressive. It could throw the race wide open. And it may not work. And it certainly might hinder John Edwards' possibility of being No. 2 on the ticket.

O'BRIEN: So deep embedded in the calculus here is what his assumption as to whether can he actually get the nomination. And you can do some arithmetic on that one. It might be a tough job.

To what extent could Mr. Kucinich and Mr. Sharpton carry Edwards' water here, in other words, create that kind of sniping on -- against Kerry, and yet allowing Edwards to preserve his nice guy status?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they could do some of the work for Edwards by going negative on Kerry. They haven't really done that yet. And I'm not sure either Kucinich or Sharpton is inclined to do it. If anything, they're to the left of Kerry. So they're not going to call him a Massachusetts liberal, if they're more liberal than he is. So it's not clear they can do it.

But, look, if they start raising questions about Kerry's electability, which is after all why he's in that lead -- you saw that just now, 3-1 here in California because people think he's electable. Kucinich, Sharpton, Edwards, they can all go negative on him and just blow the race wide open. But don't bet on it. My guess is Edwards will try to present himself as the outsider. He hopes to pick up the Wesley Clark, Howard Dean vote, which could have been considerable here in California.

A lots of Democrats here say, hey, why, when it came to us don't we get a chance to vote for Howard Dean or Wesley Clark? They're gone.

O'BRIEN: Ah, interesting. Well, I've got to say, Kucinich is probably one of the few people who can call Kerry a Massachusetts liberal and be saying he's too conservative. SCHNEIDER: That's right. Exactly right.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Bill Schneider, enjoy the debate. Thanks for dropping by. Always a pleasure.

SCHNEIDER: Sure. Pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Don't forget, tonight's debate begins 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 in California. It's right here on CNN. And don't worry about missing "LARRY KING LIVE." It's all about Larry. Larry, he's the moderator.

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 February 26, 2004 - 14:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Four contestants, one stage, five days from Super Tuesday. It's debate Thursday, a CNN/"L.A. Times" invitation for John Edwards, John Kerry, Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich to think outside the box.
Already, of course, Kerry has a corner on the delegate market and on the polls in the super states of California, New York, and Ohio. What's more, "The New York Times" now in Kerry's corner. In an editorial, the "Times" saying -- and we quote them now -- "Mr. Kerry exudes maturity and depth. He can discuss virtually any issue of security or international affairs with authority. What his critics see as an inability to take strong, clear positions seems to us to reflect his appreciation that life is not simple."

And neither is analyzing politics. And that's why we just love Bill Schneider. He comes to us this hour from Los Angeles.

Mr. Schneider, always a pleasure to see you, sir.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Dude.

O'BRIEN: Dude.

All right, first of all, are they paying any attention in California to the presidential race right now? Are they focused on gay marriages and what Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing?

SCHNEIDER: And the movie "The Passion." They're paying attention to all those things and the Oscars, of course, not a lot of attention to the political race for president, because nobody is running any ads. This is a state where television is politics. And neither Kerry nor Edwards nor any of the other candidates is running any ads. So, at the moment, the race is only what they happen to catch on the fly on a news program that happened way far away.

O'BRIEN: So, if you're John Kerry in that environment, you play rope-a-dope, to use a boxing analogy, right?

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: You just kind of ride it out and don't say anything stupid.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Don't make any mistakes. Don't take any chances. Indicate that there are no real differences between himself and his competitors and hope that he can just coast to the nomination. Something big has to happen tonight in this debate, the only major campaign event here in California, to upset Kerry's lead. And that's why Edwards, among others, is going to have to take some chances.

O'BRIEN: So, therefore, that is the hot seat or the hot podium, if you will. And if you're Mr. Edwards, Senator Edwards, how far do you go, what do you say, and how much do you get out of being Mr. Nice Guy? Is this the moment, the pivotal moment, when you decide to go negative and go for the gold ring, or stay nice and go for V.P. status?

SCHNEIDER: Well, look, he could go negative. And that could blow the race wide open. Look, Edwards needs to get headlines. He's got to be in the papers tomorrow morning. He's got to be on the late news here in California tonight. People have to be talking about John Edwards and what he said and what he talked about to try to show California voters that John Kerry is not electable, he's a Massachusetts liberal, do Democrats really want to do that, haven't they tried that before.

That would be tough. It would be aggressive. It could throw the race wide open. And it may not work. And it certainly might hinder John Edwards' possibility of being No. 2 on the ticket.

O'BRIEN: So deep embedded in the calculus here is what his assumption as to whether can he actually get the nomination. And you can do some arithmetic on that one. It might be a tough job.

To what extent could Mr. Kucinich and Mr. Sharpton carry Edwards' water here, in other words, create that kind of sniping on -- against Kerry, and yet allowing Edwards to preserve his nice guy status?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they could do some of the work for Edwards by going negative on Kerry. They haven't really done that yet. And I'm not sure either Kucinich or Sharpton is inclined to do it. If anything, they're to the left of Kerry. So they're not going to call him a Massachusetts liberal, if they're more liberal than he is. So it's not clear they can do it.

But, look, if they start raising questions about Kerry's electability, which is after all why he's in that lead -- you saw that just now, 3-1 here in California because people think he's electable. Kucinich, Sharpton, Edwards, they can all go negative on him and just blow the race wide open. But don't bet on it. My guess is Edwards will try to present himself as the outsider. He hopes to pick up the Wesley Clark, Howard Dean vote, which could have been considerable here in California.

A lots of Democrats here say, hey, why, when it came to us don't we get a chance to vote for Howard Dean or Wesley Clark? They're gone.

O'BRIEN: Ah, interesting. Well, I've got to say, Kucinich is probably one of the few people who can call Kerry a Massachusetts liberal and be saying he's too conservative. SCHNEIDER: That's right. Exactly right.

O'BRIEN: All right.

Bill Schneider, enjoy the debate. Thanks for dropping by. Always a pleasure.

SCHNEIDER: Sure. Pleasure.

O'BRIEN: Don't forget, tonight's debate begins 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 in California. It's right here on CNN. And don't worry about missing "LARRY KING LIVE." It's all about Larry. Larry, he's the moderator.

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