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American Morning

Race for California

Aired September 10, 2003 - 09:32   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: Let's turn to talk about the California governor's race. It seems like you can't tell the players without a scorecard in that race. Peter Ueberroth is out, Tom McClintock still in, Arnold Schwarzenegger going public with his education policy.
Bob Franken is in Los Angeles for us this morning with the very latest on that.

Bob, I guess we should start with Ueberroth's departure. How is everyone saying that's going to affect this race?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, interesting, there's an updated poll that came out. You know, we had one yesterday, and what they do with the field poll is have a question which is, so, who's your second choice? And what they've done is they've found out quoting from the release that the Ueberroth departure does not alter the preference standings of the candidates remaining in the race.

What happened was that of those who were voting for Ueberroth, two percent of them go for Bustamante, two percent of them vote for Schwarzenegger, and one percent of them go to McClintock.

So you still have the same spread. Bustamante is ahead of Schwarzenegger now by that same two percent margin, and -- excuse me, that same 5 percent margin. And what's his name, McClintock, what's his name, the conservative Republican, and the Republicans know quite well who he is, because he's considered the spoiler in this race, the one who is keeping the Republican from going into the lead. He now has 14 percent, and there's a lot of pressure on him to pull out, a lot of pressure that he's steadfastly is resisting. He came under some very persistent questioning from CNN's Judy Woodruff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM MCCLINTOCK (R), CALF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I'm in this race right to the finish line, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you say that and yet peter Ueberroth was saying right up until the moment he got out, he was saying he's in the race till the end. How do you know for sure what you're going to do?

MCCLINTOCK: Judy, what is it about the word no that you guys don't understand? If you can come up with a more unequivocal line for me, I'll be happy to use it. I'm in this race to the finish line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And everybody, as far as Tom McClintock is concerned, is going to know his name by the time this race is over. He is insisting that Schwarzenegger debate him at a weekend GOP convention. Schwarzenegger is insisting he's going to do one debate on September 24th -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: But the question for you, do the Davis camp have any comment at all on the Ueberroth's departure from the race?

FRANKEN: Well, one of the comments was that there was a hope that some of the people who supported Ueberroth would now oppose the recall. Others say that that's ridiculous, because Ueberroth, by running, was explicitly supporting the recall.

O'BRIEN: All right. Bob Franken, thanks so much for that update for us. And it is. I feel like I should get my scorecard out. We can keep track of what's going on. And you know what, we've got a long way to go yet.

FRANKEN: Yes, indeed.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bob, as always. We'll check in with you later.

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 10, 2003 - 09:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn to talk about the California governor's race. It seems like you can't tell the players without a scorecard in that race. Peter Ueberroth is out, Tom McClintock still in, Arnold Schwarzenegger going public with his education policy.
Bob Franken is in Los Angeles for us this morning with the very latest on that.

Bob, I guess we should start with Ueberroth's departure. How is everyone saying that's going to affect this race?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, interesting, there's an updated poll that came out. You know, we had one yesterday, and what they do with the field poll is have a question which is, so, who's your second choice? And what they've done is they've found out quoting from the release that the Ueberroth departure does not alter the preference standings of the candidates remaining in the race.

What happened was that of those who were voting for Ueberroth, two percent of them go for Bustamante, two percent of them vote for Schwarzenegger, and one percent of them go to McClintock.

So you still have the same spread. Bustamante is ahead of Schwarzenegger now by that same two percent margin, and -- excuse me, that same 5 percent margin. And what's his name, McClintock, what's his name, the conservative Republican, and the Republicans know quite well who he is, because he's considered the spoiler in this race, the one who is keeping the Republican from going into the lead. He now has 14 percent, and there's a lot of pressure on him to pull out, a lot of pressure that he's steadfastly is resisting. He came under some very persistent questioning from CNN's Judy Woodruff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM MCCLINTOCK (R), CALF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I'm in this race right to the finish line, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you say that and yet peter Ueberroth was saying right up until the moment he got out, he was saying he's in the race till the end. How do you know for sure what you're going to do?

MCCLINTOCK: Judy, what is it about the word no that you guys don't understand? If you can come up with a more unequivocal line for me, I'll be happy to use it. I'm in this race to the finish line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And everybody, as far as Tom McClintock is concerned, is going to know his name by the time this race is over. He is insisting that Schwarzenegger debate him at a weekend GOP convention. Schwarzenegger is insisting he's going to do one debate on September 24th -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: But the question for you, do the Davis camp have any comment at all on the Ueberroth's departure from the race?

FRANKEN: Well, one of the comments was that there was a hope that some of the people who supported Ueberroth would now oppose the recall. Others say that that's ridiculous, because Ueberroth, by running, was explicitly supporting the recall.

O'BRIEN: All right. Bob Franken, thanks so much for that update for us. And it is. I feel like I should get my scorecard out. We can keep track of what's going on. And you know what, we've got a long way to go yet.

FRANKEN: Yes, indeed.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bob, as always. We'll check in with you later.

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