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American Morning

Analysis of Democratic Presidential Debate

Aired September 05, 2003 - 07:15   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Actions, of course, speak louder than words, but Democratic presidential hopefuls launched a verbal assault at President Bush last night during a debate in Albuquerque. Eight of the nine candidates shared the stage. They blasted the president for his handling of Iraq and the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president is a miserable failure. He is a miserable failure. This president doesn't get it.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there are several levels of failure of leadership here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times" was following the action from Florida last night, and he joins us from Tallahassee this morning.

Nice to see you. Good morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANAYYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Did it surprise you at all that the candidates sort of stayed away from criticizing each other, but came out really strongly against President Bush? Was that a shock to you at all?

BROWNSTEIN: Not that much of a surprise. You know, they had one earlier debate in South Carolina this year, and they went after other pretty hard and got a lot of backlash from Democratic voters and leaders, who said they wanted them to focus on President Bush.

Right now, Soledad, the driving force in the Democratic primary, without doubt, is the antipathy and the anger the Democratic activists feel toward President Bush. They don't like him. His approval rating among Democrats is under 30. It's over 60 among the country at-large.

And what you saw last night, what I saw when I watched the debate with a bunch of Democrats down here, is that they reacted very strongly every time one of the candidates launched one of these zingers at President Bush.

I mean, the real question is whether this would play as well in the general election with swing voters. But right now, this is what Democratic primary voters want to hear, and you can see the candidates are giving it to them.

O'BRIEN: But at the same time, that kind of makes it a problem when you think of the candidates individually, because they sort of all are sounding the same message, right? So, does anyone...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Do you think anyone emerged last night?

BROWNSTEIN: A very good point. I don't think anyone did emerge last night. I think no one really stood out from the field with the audience that I was watching or in my own sort of assessment of it.

If you look at the structure of the race, sooner or later the Democrats -- the other Democrats in the field have to engage Howard Dean, who has really separated himself from the field somewhat this summer, moving to the front of the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first to contests, taking the lead in fund-raising and really generating a lot of momentum.

John Kerry in particular with a lot at stake in New Hampshire has a great incentive to delineate some clear differences with Dean. But they weren't quite ready to do that last night. We're going to see it sooner or later, just not yet.

O'BRIEN: so, you're saying that Howard and Dean (sic) didn't really do anything with their message to move themselves forward as frontrunners, but nobody else did either, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the one candidate who had a clear strategy last night of delineation and differentiation was Joe Lieberman on four different issues: sending more troops to Iraq, the wisdom of the war itself, tax cuts for the middle class and so forth. Joe Lieberman went to the right or the center. He made some clear distinctions. He said Howard Dean's trade policies would lead to a "Dean depression."

O'BRIEN: I'm going to stop you right there, because we actually have that sound byte. And it's pretty strong.

BROWNSTEIN: OK.

O'BRIEN: And I want to play it for everybody. Let's go ahead and play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush recession would be followed by the Dean depression. We cannot put a wall around America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: But you hear not wild cheering behind him...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. O'BRIEN: ... but sort of ooh, people saying.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

O'BRIEN: So, is that a statement that's going to be strong enough to really knock Howard Dean out of the frontrunner spot, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: No, no. No single argument is going to be, and I think sooner or later that the other Democrats are going to have to challenge him on his core strength, which is his opposition to the war.

But what you saw from Lieberman was at least a strategy. He wants to be the centrist alternative in the race. The problem is the party seems to be leaning to the left this year. And as you heard in those groans, you know, he may be camping out positions that have a lot of appeal in the general election, perhaps somewhat less so in the primary.

I do think it was striking that Howard Dean last night never managed to mention explicitly that he opposed the war, and John Kerry never managed to mention explicitly that he supported it. They were both sort of positioning themselves more broadly, trying to reach out to a broader segment of the electorate. But I do think on that fundamental issue the other candidates do have to engage Dean sooner later, because that is the driving engine of his strength more than anything else.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned -- and we only have a couple of seconds left. But you mentioned that you watched the debate with a number -- I think 60 or so --Democrats.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how they felt at the end of the debate. Did they say, well, all of the issues were covered for me, I feel good about what came out of here? Or did they say, you know, still the wrong message for me as a voter?

BROWNSTEIN: No, they liked -- these Democratic activists liked what they heard. They thought the issues were covered well, and they really liked, as I said, the zingers at President Bush. No one really emerged, and I think there was a consensus that Dean and Kerry, who really are sort of the consensus frontrunners in the race, weren't as vivid as Gephardt, and in particular they loved that "miserable failure." Lieberman, and to some extent Edwards.

O'BRIEN: Ron Brownstein, as always, nice to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Soledad.

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 September 5, 2003 - 07:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Actions, of course, speak louder than words, but Democratic presidential hopefuls launched a verbal assault at President Bush last night during a debate in Albuquerque. Eight of the nine candidates shared the stage. They blasted the president for his handling of Iraq and the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president is a miserable failure. He is a miserable failure. This president doesn't get it.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there are several levels of failure of leadership here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times" was following the action from Florida last night, and he joins us from Tallahassee this morning.

Nice to see you. Good morning.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANAYYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Did it surprise you at all that the candidates sort of stayed away from criticizing each other, but came out really strongly against President Bush? Was that a shock to you at all?

BROWNSTEIN: Not that much of a surprise. You know, they had one earlier debate in South Carolina this year, and they went after other pretty hard and got a lot of backlash from Democratic voters and leaders, who said they wanted them to focus on President Bush.

Right now, Soledad, the driving force in the Democratic primary, without doubt, is the antipathy and the anger the Democratic activists feel toward President Bush. They don't like him. His approval rating among Democrats is under 30. It's over 60 among the country at-large.

And what you saw last night, what I saw when I watched the debate with a bunch of Democrats down here, is that they reacted very strongly every time one of the candidates launched one of these zingers at President Bush.

I mean, the real question is whether this would play as well in the general election with swing voters. But right now, this is what Democratic primary voters want to hear, and you can see the candidates are giving it to them.

O'BRIEN: But at the same time, that kind of makes it a problem when you think of the candidates individually, because they sort of all are sounding the same message, right? So, does anyone...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Do you think anyone emerged last night?

BROWNSTEIN: A very good point. I don't think anyone did emerge last night. I think no one really stood out from the field with the audience that I was watching or in my own sort of assessment of it.

If you look at the structure of the race, sooner or later the Democrats -- the other Democrats in the field have to engage Howard Dean, who has really separated himself from the field somewhat this summer, moving to the front of the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first to contests, taking the lead in fund-raising and really generating a lot of momentum.

John Kerry in particular with a lot at stake in New Hampshire has a great incentive to delineate some clear differences with Dean. But they weren't quite ready to do that last night. We're going to see it sooner or later, just not yet.

O'BRIEN: so, you're saying that Howard and Dean (sic) didn't really do anything with their message to move themselves forward as frontrunners, but nobody else did either, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think the one candidate who had a clear strategy last night of delineation and differentiation was Joe Lieberman on four different issues: sending more troops to Iraq, the wisdom of the war itself, tax cuts for the middle class and so forth. Joe Lieberman went to the right or the center. He made some clear distinctions. He said Howard Dean's trade policies would lead to a "Dean depression."

O'BRIEN: I'm going to stop you right there, because we actually have that sound byte. And it's pretty strong.

BROWNSTEIN: OK.

O'BRIEN: And I want to play it for everybody. Let's go ahead and play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush recession would be followed by the Dean depression. We cannot put a wall around America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: But you hear not wild cheering behind him...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. O'BRIEN: ... but sort of ooh, people saying.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

O'BRIEN: So, is that a statement that's going to be strong enough to really knock Howard Dean out of the frontrunner spot, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: No, no. No single argument is going to be, and I think sooner or later that the other Democrats are going to have to challenge him on his core strength, which is his opposition to the war.

But what you saw from Lieberman was at least a strategy. He wants to be the centrist alternative in the race. The problem is the party seems to be leaning to the left this year. And as you heard in those groans, you know, he may be camping out positions that have a lot of appeal in the general election, perhaps somewhat less so in the primary.

I do think it was striking that Howard Dean last night never managed to mention explicitly that he opposed the war, and John Kerry never managed to mention explicitly that he supported it. They were both sort of positioning themselves more broadly, trying to reach out to a broader segment of the electorate. But I do think on that fundamental issue the other candidates do have to engage Dean sooner later, because that is the driving engine of his strength more than anything else.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned -- and we only have a couple of seconds left. But you mentioned that you watched the debate with a number -- I think 60 or so --Democrats.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how they felt at the end of the debate. Did they say, well, all of the issues were covered for me, I feel good about what came out of here? Or did they say, you know, still the wrong message for me as a voter?

BROWNSTEIN: No, they liked -- these Democratic activists liked what they heard. They thought the issues were covered well, and they really liked, as I said, the zingers at President Bush. No one really emerged, and I think there was a consensus that Dean and Kerry, who really are sort of the consensus frontrunners in the race, weren't as vivid as Gephardt, and in particular they loved that "miserable failure." Lieberman, and to some extent Edwards.

O'BRIEN: Ron Brownstein, as always, nice to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Soledad.

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