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American Morning
Dick Gephardt Getting Out as Leader of Democrats in House
Aired November 07, 2002 - 09:04 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: Just two days after his party got slammed, Dick Gephardt is getting out as leader of the Democrats in the House. This morning, there's plenty of speculation about who might succeed him, and what the Missouri rep might do next.
Kate Snow is standing by live from Capitol Hill.
Good morning, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Let's start with Dick Gephardt's plans. I just talked to an aide in his office, who said, he will not make any on-camera statement today. We thought he might do a press conference, take some questions, but instead, he's going to keep a low profile. He will relieve a paper statement sometime today, and will spend the day in his office here at the capital talking with other members. He'll also do some media interviews, certainly CNN is trying to be among those interviews that he does.
Mr. Gephardt deciding yesterday not to run for the position of House minority, House Democratic leader. Ultimately, advisers said he didn't think he could both run the House, the day-to-day operations here, and keep control of a caucus that's now pretty upset about the election losses the other day, and also potentially run for president in 2004, simply didn't think he could do both things.
Mr. Gephardt has not announced that he will run for president, but it's certainly one of the worst kept secrets in Washington, that he has every intention at this point of doing that. In fact, he's already raised some $2.5 million. He's traveled extensively around the country, four times to the state of Iowa just in the last year, two times to many of the other states that are early primary states. So he is definitely positioning himself.
Quickly, let's take a look at who might replace Dick Gephardt. These are names you may not know, but you will know one of them. Whoever is victorious will probably become at least one of the top Democratic leaders here in Washington. The two people running, Nancy Pelosi, who is right now, the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives. She's from San Francisco. She's House Democratic whip. She won that position less than a year ago, and is already the highest ranking woman ever to hold office in the House. She is a liberal Democrat, which some say hurts the chances.
On the other hand, you have Martin Frost about to announce his run. About an hour from now, he'll announce that. He's from Fort Worth, Texas. He's the number three position in the House right now. He says that he's more of a centrist, and that's help unify the party. So you have got a real battle shaping up, and it's going to be a quick battle, Paula. The election internally for the House Democratic leader happens next Thursday, a week from today.
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 7, 2002 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Just two days after his party got slammed, Dick Gephardt is getting out as leader of the Democrats in the House. This morning, there's plenty of speculation about who might succeed him, and what the Missouri rep might do next.
Kate Snow is standing by live from Capitol Hill.
Good morning, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Let's start with Dick Gephardt's plans. I just talked to an aide in his office, who said, he will not make any on-camera statement today. We thought he might do a press conference, take some questions, but instead, he's going to keep a low profile. He will relieve a paper statement sometime today, and will spend the day in his office here at the capital talking with other members. He'll also do some media interviews, certainly CNN is trying to be among those interviews that he does.
Mr. Gephardt deciding yesterday not to run for the position of House minority, House Democratic leader. Ultimately, advisers said he didn't think he could both run the House, the day-to-day operations here, and keep control of a caucus that's now pretty upset about the election losses the other day, and also potentially run for president in 2004, simply didn't think he could do both things.
Mr. Gephardt has not announced that he will run for president, but it's certainly one of the worst kept secrets in Washington, that he has every intention at this point of doing that. In fact, he's already raised some $2.5 million. He's traveled extensively around the country, four times to the state of Iowa just in the last year, two times to many of the other states that are early primary states. So he is definitely positioning himself.
Quickly, let's take a look at who might replace Dick Gephardt. These are names you may not know, but you will know one of them. Whoever is victorious will probably become at least one of the top Democratic leaders here in Washington. The two people running, Nancy Pelosi, who is right now, the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives. She's from San Francisco. She's House Democratic whip. She won that position less than a year ago, and is already the highest ranking woman ever to hold office in the House. She is a liberal Democrat, which some say hurts the chances.
On the other hand, you have Martin Frost about to announce his run. About an hour from now, he'll announce that. He's from Fort Worth, Texas. He's the number three position in the House right now. He says that he's more of a centrist, and that's help unify the party. So you have got a real battle shaping up, and it's going to be a quick battle, Paula. The election internally for the House Democratic leader happens next Thursday, a week from today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
