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American Morning

Making a Run

Aired January 03, 2003 - 09:11   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: He is giving up part of one job, and now he's looking for a much bigger one. Outgoing House minority leader Richard Gephardt planning to form a presidential exploratory committee.
Candy Crowley is in Washington with a look at how this will affect a growing Democratic field.

Candy, we have you on every time a Democrat announces, and because of that, you've been a busy lady lately.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and stay tuned, because we are expecting a couple more, and probably all this month. Part of the problem, Daryn, is the money chase, and this is about money. In order to get the federal matching funds, you know, on your income tax returns. It says do you want to give a political -- a dollar political contribution, you check off yes and no? Those are the matching funds. And they go to candidates who raise certain amount of money from the private sector, and so in order to start raising that money and have it count, they have got to open the exploratory committees and file the papers, without doing that kind of official, okay, I'm running, the balloon has dropped, and I'm on the front porch that kind of thing. That comes later when voters are more accustomed to the fact that another presidential race is coming.

KAGAN: Let's do a little bit of exploring for Dick Gephardt. He's been here before, and then started out very strong and he faded. What more does he need to know?

CROWLEY: Well, you know, he ran in 1988 for the first time as a presidential candidate. He sure looked at it in '92. He looked at it again in 2000. This is a man who has long wanted to be in the White House. So this is probably one of the fewest -- one of the least mysteries, if that is such a phrase, in Washington. Dick Gephardt, his staff have openly talked about another run for him in 2004. He's a Midwesterner, a man of impeccable reputation. He started out as a cofounding member of the Democratic Leadership Council, which is a moderate group of Democrats. He later sort of broke off over issues, primarily, trade.

Gephardt has been a liberal on trade. His backing is largely union, and that helps a lot in places like Iowa, where the first caucus is. In fact, he's a very popular man in Iowa. They have seen him a lot in recent months, in many years past, and sometimes he's called the "King of Iowa." They know him there, and that's important, to have a lot of foot soldiers in Iowa. He's more on the liberal side now in the voting. Part of the problem here is that when Dick Gephardt has for the last four elections, House elections, tried to get the Democrats back into the majority and has failed at doing that, it is partially why he left his majority leadership post in the House, and the other part was that he wanted to run for president.

KAGAN: All right, Candy Crowley, giving us a look at the field as it grows. And as you said, it's getting bigger, so we'll be seeing you in the days ahead.

Thank you so much.

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 January 3, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: He is giving up part of one job, and now he's looking for a much bigger one. Outgoing House minority leader Richard Gephardt planning to form a presidential exploratory committee.
Candy Crowley is in Washington with a look at how this will affect a growing Democratic field.

Candy, we have you on every time a Democrat announces, and because of that, you've been a busy lady lately.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and stay tuned, because we are expecting a couple more, and probably all this month. Part of the problem, Daryn, is the money chase, and this is about money. In order to get the federal matching funds, you know, on your income tax returns. It says do you want to give a political -- a dollar political contribution, you check off yes and no? Those are the matching funds. And they go to candidates who raise certain amount of money from the private sector, and so in order to start raising that money and have it count, they have got to open the exploratory committees and file the papers, without doing that kind of official, okay, I'm running, the balloon has dropped, and I'm on the front porch that kind of thing. That comes later when voters are more accustomed to the fact that another presidential race is coming.

KAGAN: Let's do a little bit of exploring for Dick Gephardt. He's been here before, and then started out very strong and he faded. What more does he need to know?

CROWLEY: Well, you know, he ran in 1988 for the first time as a presidential candidate. He sure looked at it in '92. He looked at it again in 2000. This is a man who has long wanted to be in the White House. So this is probably one of the fewest -- one of the least mysteries, if that is such a phrase, in Washington. Dick Gephardt, his staff have openly talked about another run for him in 2004. He's a Midwesterner, a man of impeccable reputation. He started out as a cofounding member of the Democratic Leadership Council, which is a moderate group of Democrats. He later sort of broke off over issues, primarily, trade.

Gephardt has been a liberal on trade. His backing is largely union, and that helps a lot in places like Iowa, where the first caucus is. In fact, he's a very popular man in Iowa. They have seen him a lot in recent months, in many years past, and sometimes he's called the "King of Iowa." They know him there, and that's important, to have a lot of foot soldiers in Iowa. He's more on the liberal side now in the voting. Part of the problem here is that when Dick Gephardt has for the last four elections, House elections, tried to get the Democrats back into the majority and has failed at doing that, it is partially why he left his majority leadership post in the House, and the other part was that he wanted to run for president.

KAGAN: All right, Candy Crowley, giving us a look at the field as it grows. And as you said, it's getting bigger, so we'll be seeing you in the days ahead.

Thank you so much.

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