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American Morning

The Big Question: Can Gary Condit Outrun His Past?

Aired February 15, 2002 - 07:21   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The big question this hour, can Gary Condit outrun his past? With the state's Democratic primary less than a month away, the question being asked in California's 18th Congressional District is can Gary Condit, as we just said, outrun that past?

Condit is trying to resurrect his political career following the Chandra Levy affair. He is running against a former aide for the seta he current holds. And in Sunday's "New York Times" magazine, writer Frank Bruni says this about Condit's improbable reelection campaign. "His poll numbers are abysmal, his fundraising is pathetic and many important people who once linked arms with him have turned their backs. Although he is a long time Democratic incumbent, the party is more or less throwing him overboard, convinced that he is dead in the water."

And Frank Bruni, the author of that article, joins us now from Washington with a preview.

Good morning. Welcome.

FRANK BRUNI, "NEW YORK TIMES" MAGAZINE: Thank you. Good morning.

ZAHN: If you would, describe to our audience what Gary Condit is up against on the campaign trail. You describe in great detail about protesters holding signs saying "Fire the Liar!" "Gary Scary," plus they throw a lot of tough questions at him. Share that with us this morning.

BRUNI: Almost everywhere Gary goes on the campaign trail there are protesters around shouting really horrible and sometimes obscene things at him. And even a bigger problem for him than that is there's always media around. And while Gary might want to talk about, you know, certain issues that confront the 18th Congressional District, these reporters invariably want to still ask questions about Chandra Levy.

ZAHN: Well, you even point out that in one case someone who got really up close to Gary Condit acted like he was going to ask a pertinent question and said, "Where did you hide the body, Gary?"

BRUNI: Yes, that's happened to him more than once. I listened in one morning when I was in Modesto to a radio show, as well. And of the maybe five or six callers who called in, one of them called in and said where'd you bury the body or where'd you hide the body. And that, that kind of stops a guy short when he's out there trying to campaign and talk about more substantive things.

ZAHN: Well, how does he deal with those questions, Frank?

BRUNI: He deals with them pretty coolly. But what he has never done and what a lot of Democrats and constituents in his district believe has really hurt him is he has never talked openly about what his relationship with Chandra Levy was like. He's never given anything that's tantamount to a confession or an act of contrition and a lot of voters told me that that's what really has turned them off.

ZAHN: Well, you also go on to write about this victimization that his family feels and you say, "It is as if the Condits, transfixed by their suffering, have all but forgotten Gary Condit's hand in it all, all but banished any thought that if he had not been involved with Levy, he would have not become the focus of media investigations and speculation about her disappearance."

Is he in denial?