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American Morning
Interview with Dick Gephardt
Aired November 06, 2002 - 07:11 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: As we've been talking about mostly through the middle of the night, no good news for the Democrats this morning in the race for control of the House of Representatives. The Republicans held onto their majority, and actually picked up a few seats.
Let's get some reaction now from House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who joins us now from St. Louis, Missouri.
Representative Gephardt, as always, good to see you -- thanks for joining us this morning.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you.
ZAHN: You probably heard what Jonathan Karl reported about Senator Daschle's response to these results. He said he was very disappointed by them, and he assumed some responsibility for these results, and said it's time for see (ph) change.
Do you bear any responsibility for what happened?
GEPHARDT: Well, obviously we're all responsible. We ran as good a campaign as we knew how and could. We had great candidates, and they were running on the right economic issues.
I really also though think this was a unique election. You had the backdrop of 9/11, a lot of patriotism, legitimate patriotism and concern about national security and safety. And the president's popularity is very high, and that undoubtedly was a factor in some of these elections as well.
But I think our candidates were out there on the right economic issues -- prescription drugs, social security, jobs, pension security. And I think people in the days ahead are going to really wonder what's happened on those issues.
But we've been operating under their economic plan for two years. Things haven't gone well. And I think it's important now for us to assert the economic plans that we've been talking about for the last six months.
ZAHN: Let me ask you this. You say that your candidates were out there on the right economic issues, and yet, Tony Blinkley (ph), who is a former GOP strategist, had this to say yesterday. When talking about the vulnerability of the Republicans on that issue, he said, "It's lucky there's not a lynch mob with pitchforks at the gates of the White House." You know, when you talk about the consumer confidence numbers being at a nine-year low, when you talk about 51 percent of Americans going to bed at night worried they're not going to have a job the next morning, why weren't you better able to take advantage of those statistics?
GEPHARDT: Again, I think this was a very unusual situation, because of 9/11, because of concerns over national security. I think those issues in a way trumped the economic issues.
And I think the president's popularity played into this as well. He went to the road, and he talked about bringing these campaigns home. So, I think that had an impact as well.
It's an unusual time. It's -- you know, this was the worst attack on American soil in our history, and I think people are still reacting to that.
I also think the Republicans had tremendous amounts of special interest money. The pharmaceutical companies spent probably $50 million or $60 million supporting all of the Republican candidates, and that blurred a lot of the issue on prescription drugs, which is a very important issue in our campaigns as well.
ZAHN: Are you saying this special interest money on the Democrats' behalf didn't come into play here?
GEPHARDT: We all had monies that we had raised, but I don't know of any groups that went on television with $50 million and $60 million running ads for just Republican candidates all over the country. This was a new circumstance that we've never seen before, and obviously, Republicans always raise more money than we do. But when you add those special interest contributions, it really in some races became I think overwhelming.
ZAHN: Representative Gephardt, coming back to this post- September 11 environment, what do you say to the critics out there who say that the Democrats ducked controversial issues in this campaign, because you didn't want to offend centrists?
GEPHARDT: Well, I think that when you talk about life and death, you talk about national security, saving people's lives, keeping people secure, it is important for all of us to do what we think is right, and to be bipartisan if we can, and to try to solve issues that face the country.
Again, we lost 3,000 or so people on 9/11. It was a horrible tragedy in this country, and we just felt that we had to try to address it in the best way possible. You can't play politics with those kinds of issues. You've got to do what you think is right, and that's what we did. And probably, you know, politically, it wasn't the best thing to do, but from a responsibility and a substantive point of view, it was the right thing to do.
ZAHN: Well, it's pretty clear I guess from polling that the electorate wasn't willing to blame the Republican Party for the trillions of dollars of losses in the stock market (UNINTELLIGIBLE) some saw the downturn as being simply cyclical; others blaming 9/11 on this, of course.
Are you saying that that allowed the president in a way to be the Teflon president, to be invulnerable to these economic downswings?
GEPHARDT: Well, it is significant when you have a president at 65 percent rating; that is unusual. I think some of it is related to 9/11 and the people's reaction, the people's desire to be united with the president in fighting against these issues and trying to solve these issues. I think all of that had a big impact in this.
I think they're worried about the economy, and I think those issues are not going to go away. And as I said, people are going to wake up and say, where is the prescription drug program, and what is going to happen to social security?
But I think we were in a period where there was a tremendous continuing reaction to this tragedy, and I think that had a big impact on the outcome.
ZAHN: Finally this morning, what impact will these gains in the House on the Republican Party's part have on your future? What happens to you next year, do you know?
GEPHARDT: Well, I haven't figured that out. That's an issue that gets decided in the future. There are decisions you've got to look at, and I will do that with my family and figure it all out.
But today, I'm still trying to see if we can prevail in a few more House seats. We've got about five out there that are still in some play. And hopefully, we can cut our losses.
ZAHN: Would you like to remain House minority leader, given the chance?
GEPHARDT: I haven't figured that out at this point. That's a decision that gets made in the future, and I'll address it at the right time.
ZAHN: Representative Dick Gephardt, thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning -- always appreciate your dropping by.
GEPHARDT: Thank you.
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 November 6, 2002 - 07:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: As we've been talking about mostly through the middle of the night, no good news for the Democrats this morning in the race for control of the House of Representatives. The Republicans held onto their majority, and actually picked up a few seats.
Let's get some reaction now from House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who joins us now from St. Louis, Missouri.
Representative Gephardt, as always, good to see you -- thanks for joining us this morning.
REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: Thank you.
ZAHN: You probably heard what Jonathan Karl reported about Senator Daschle's response to these results. He said he was very disappointed by them, and he assumed some responsibility for these results, and said it's time for see (ph) change.
Do you bear any responsibility for what happened?
GEPHARDT: Well, obviously we're all responsible. We ran as good a campaign as we knew how and could. We had great candidates, and they were running on the right economic issues.
I really also though think this was a unique election. You had the backdrop of 9/11, a lot of patriotism, legitimate patriotism and concern about national security and safety. And the president's popularity is very high, and that undoubtedly was a factor in some of these elections as well.
But I think our candidates were out there on the right economic issues -- prescription drugs, social security, jobs, pension security. And I think people in the days ahead are going to really wonder what's happened on those issues.
But we've been operating under their economic plan for two years. Things haven't gone well. And I think it's important now for us to assert the economic plans that we've been talking about for the last six months.
ZAHN: Let me ask you this. You say that your candidates were out there on the right economic issues, and yet, Tony Blinkley (ph), who is a former GOP strategist, had this to say yesterday. When talking about the vulnerability of the Republicans on that issue, he said, "It's lucky there's not a lynch mob with pitchforks at the gates of the White House." You know, when you talk about the consumer confidence numbers being at a nine-year low, when you talk about 51 percent of Americans going to bed at night worried they're not going to have a job the next morning, why weren't you better able to take advantage of those statistics?
GEPHARDT: Again, I think this was a very unusual situation, because of 9/11, because of concerns over national security. I think those issues in a way trumped the economic issues.
And I think the president's popularity played into this as well. He went to the road, and he talked about bringing these campaigns home. So, I think that had an impact as well.
It's an unusual time. It's -- you know, this was the worst attack on American soil in our history, and I think people are still reacting to that.
I also think the Republicans had tremendous amounts of special interest money. The pharmaceutical companies spent probably $50 million or $60 million supporting all of the Republican candidates, and that blurred a lot of the issue on prescription drugs, which is a very important issue in our campaigns as well.
ZAHN: Are you saying this special interest money on the Democrats' behalf didn't come into play here?
GEPHARDT: We all had monies that we had raised, but I don't know of any groups that went on television with $50 million and $60 million running ads for just Republican candidates all over the country. This was a new circumstance that we've never seen before, and obviously, Republicans always raise more money than we do. But when you add those special interest contributions, it really in some races became I think overwhelming.
ZAHN: Representative Gephardt, coming back to this post- September 11 environment, what do you say to the critics out there who say that the Democrats ducked controversial issues in this campaign, because you didn't want to offend centrists?
GEPHARDT: Well, I think that when you talk about life and death, you talk about national security, saving people's lives, keeping people secure, it is important for all of us to do what we think is right, and to be bipartisan if we can, and to try to solve issues that face the country.
Again, we lost 3,000 or so people on 9/11. It was a horrible tragedy in this country, and we just felt that we had to try to address it in the best way possible. You can't play politics with those kinds of issues. You've got to do what you think is right, and that's what we did. And probably, you know, politically, it wasn't the best thing to do, but from a responsibility and a substantive point of view, it was the right thing to do.
ZAHN: Well, it's pretty clear I guess from polling that the electorate wasn't willing to blame the Republican Party for the trillions of dollars of losses in the stock market (UNINTELLIGIBLE) some saw the downturn as being simply cyclical; others blaming 9/11 on this, of course.
Are you saying that that allowed the president in a way to be the Teflon president, to be invulnerable to these economic downswings?
GEPHARDT: Well, it is significant when you have a president at 65 percent rating; that is unusual. I think some of it is related to 9/11 and the people's reaction, the people's desire to be united with the president in fighting against these issues and trying to solve these issues. I think all of that had a big impact in this.
I think they're worried about the economy, and I think those issues are not going to go away. And as I said, people are going to wake up and say, where is the prescription drug program, and what is going to happen to social security?
But I think we were in a period where there was a tremendous continuing reaction to this tragedy, and I think that had a big impact on the outcome.
ZAHN: Finally this morning, what impact will these gains in the House on the Republican Party's part have on your future? What happens to you next year, do you know?
GEPHARDT: Well, I haven't figured that out. That's an issue that gets decided in the future. There are decisions you've got to look at, and I will do that with my family and figure it all out.
But today, I'm still trying to see if we can prevail in a few more House seats. We've got about five out there that are still in some play. And hopefully, we can cut our losses.
ZAHN: Would you like to remain House minority leader, given the chance?
GEPHARDT: I haven't figured that out at this point. That's a decision that gets made in the future, and I'll address it at the right time.
ZAHN: Representative Dick Gephardt, thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning -- always appreciate your dropping by.
GEPHARDT: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
