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American Morning
What is Political Future for Gore?
Aired December 16, 2002 - 07:34 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: Back to the political bombshell dropped last night. Al Gore's decision not to run for president in 2004 is opening doors for others. But what about the political future for the former V.P.?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I personally have the energy and the drive and the ambition to make another campaign. But I don't think it's the right thing for me to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Gore's decision not to run in 2004 surprised many Democrats, including his own campaign spokesman, Doug Hattaway, who joins us now from Boston.
Good morning, Doug.
Good to see you again.
Welcome.
DOUG HATTAWAY, GORE CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Doug, I wanted to start off by replaying a very small part of an interview I did with the former vice president just last week.
Here's what he had to say about a potential presidential bid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: I know you say that you're about three weeks away from making a decision of whether you're going to run or not. If you decide to run, why would you want to be president?
GORE: Oh, to take our country in the right direction. I think that we've got some very serious problems facing us and I think we can do better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: He very much sounded like a man that was running to all of us.
Were you surprised by his announcement last night?
HATTAWAY: I was floored, actually. I think we all should have known when he jumped into the hot tub on "Saturday Night Live," but...
ZAHN: We actually have pictures of that, Doug, and...
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We do.
ZAHN: And we will continue to talk about that as you clear out your thought here.
HATTAWAY: Yes, you don't normally do that sort of thing if you're actually planning to run for president. It's too much fodder for the other side. But I was surprised. Just recently I had been talking to friends and former colleagues who still work closely with him. They said on some days they were certain he was going to run, on other days they just didn't see it in the cards. So I think a lot of people, even people fairly close to him, were surprised by this. He clearly played it close to the chest.
ZAHN: I know David Gergen was a guest in our last half hour and he says he thinks there are a number of reasons why Al Gore made this decision. The most daunting one, of course, was having to raise some $15 million, for starters, to make a presidential bid. And then the whole notion that the "Washington Post" talks about this morning, that perhaps in history he wants to be remembered as the guy who should have been president and if he got trounced in a rematch with George Bush that's not the way he would have been viewed.
What do you make of all that?
HATTAWAY: It makes sense. I think on one level the rematch itself, he did mention that. The 2000 campaign was a long, hard slog for everybody involved. And I could see him not really relishing a repeat of that. I think at this level he's really got a good platform to make his views known, which he's done quite well recently and gotten a lot of interest because of it. And he was certainly taking the pulse. I think there are two schools of thought in the Democratic Party among activists, particularly, whether he should run and whether he should not. There were people in both schools.
You hear a lot about the people telling him he shouldn't run and they were certainly out there. But there was support for him, as well. He was certainly the front runner of those in the field right now and was in a good position. It would not have been a cake walk for him. There's a lot of room for other people and we have a lot of other strong candidates.
ZAHN: Let's talk about some of those most obvious candidates now. Who does this help the most?
HATTAWAY: Well, I think first and foremost Joe Lieberman. This is the freest reign he's had to make it clear that he's running. I think a lot of attention will go to him right now. A lot of people are waiting to hear what Tom Daschle is going to do. He's been considering it. Of course, John Kerry has made a really strong start in announcing his exploratory committee and positioning himself in the media. Governor Howard Dean of Vermont has gotten a lot of interest, particularly up here in New England. Dick Gephardt is still out there and actively talking to people.
So there's a lot of people for people to be interested in. I think it was good of Al Gore, since he made the decision, to go ahead and announce it promptly. That helps the others get organized.
ZAHN: Can any of them do as well as Al Gore did in 2000?
HATTAWAY: I think so. I think the challenge for any of the Democratic candidates is to state some clear alternatives to the direction Bush is taking the country, both on the economy, as Al Gore said, but also, I think, on security. Terrorism, national security are foremost in people's minds and the Democratic candidates have to have some clear alternatives to the direction Bush is going with that. I think that's a challenge, but it is highly possible and I think we've got really strong candidates for that.
So, yes, I think others could do very well.
ZAHN: Pretty much, very much appreciate your dropping by, Doug Hattaway.
HATTAWAY: Good to see you again.
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 December 16, 2002 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the political bombshell dropped last night. Al Gore's decision not to run for president in 2004 is opening doors for others. But what about the political future for the former V.P.?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I personally have the energy and the drive and the ambition to make another campaign. But I don't think it's the right thing for me to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Gore's decision not to run in 2004 surprised many Democrats, including his own campaign spokesman, Doug Hattaway, who joins us now from Boston.
Good morning, Doug.
Good to see you again.
Welcome.
DOUG HATTAWAY, GORE CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: Doug, I wanted to start off by replaying a very small part of an interview I did with the former vice president just last week.
Here's what he had to say about a potential presidential bid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: I know you say that you're about three weeks away from making a decision of whether you're going to run or not. If you decide to run, why would you want to be president?
GORE: Oh, to take our country in the right direction. I think that we've got some very serious problems facing us and I think we can do better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: He very much sounded like a man that was running to all of us.
Were you surprised by his announcement last night?
HATTAWAY: I was floored, actually. I think we all should have known when he jumped into the hot tub on "Saturday Night Live," but...
ZAHN: We actually have pictures of that, Doug, and...
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We do.
ZAHN: And we will continue to talk about that as you clear out your thought here.
HATTAWAY: Yes, you don't normally do that sort of thing if you're actually planning to run for president. It's too much fodder for the other side. But I was surprised. Just recently I had been talking to friends and former colleagues who still work closely with him. They said on some days they were certain he was going to run, on other days they just didn't see it in the cards. So I think a lot of people, even people fairly close to him, were surprised by this. He clearly played it close to the chest.
ZAHN: I know David Gergen was a guest in our last half hour and he says he thinks there are a number of reasons why Al Gore made this decision. The most daunting one, of course, was having to raise some $15 million, for starters, to make a presidential bid. And then the whole notion that the "Washington Post" talks about this morning, that perhaps in history he wants to be remembered as the guy who should have been president and if he got trounced in a rematch with George Bush that's not the way he would have been viewed.
What do you make of all that?
HATTAWAY: It makes sense. I think on one level the rematch itself, he did mention that. The 2000 campaign was a long, hard slog for everybody involved. And I could see him not really relishing a repeat of that. I think at this level he's really got a good platform to make his views known, which he's done quite well recently and gotten a lot of interest because of it. And he was certainly taking the pulse. I think there are two schools of thought in the Democratic Party among activists, particularly, whether he should run and whether he should not. There were people in both schools.
You hear a lot about the people telling him he shouldn't run and they were certainly out there. But there was support for him, as well. He was certainly the front runner of those in the field right now and was in a good position. It would not have been a cake walk for him. There's a lot of room for other people and we have a lot of other strong candidates.
ZAHN: Let's talk about some of those most obvious candidates now. Who does this help the most?
HATTAWAY: Well, I think first and foremost Joe Lieberman. This is the freest reign he's had to make it clear that he's running. I think a lot of attention will go to him right now. A lot of people are waiting to hear what Tom Daschle is going to do. He's been considering it. Of course, John Kerry has made a really strong start in announcing his exploratory committee and positioning himself in the media. Governor Howard Dean of Vermont has gotten a lot of interest, particularly up here in New England. Dick Gephardt is still out there and actively talking to people.
So there's a lot of people for people to be interested in. I think it was good of Al Gore, since he made the decision, to go ahead and announce it promptly. That helps the others get organized.
ZAHN: Can any of them do as well as Al Gore did in 2000?
HATTAWAY: I think so. I think the challenge for any of the Democratic candidates is to state some clear alternatives to the direction Bush is taking the country, both on the economy, as Al Gore said, but also, I think, on security. Terrorism, national security are foremost in people's minds and the Democratic candidates have to have some clear alternatives to the direction Bush is going with that. I think that's a challenge, but it is highly possible and I think we've got really strong candidates for that.
So, yes, I think others could do very well.
ZAHN: Pretty much, very much appreciate your dropping by, Doug Hattaway.
HATTAWAY: Good to see you again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
