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American Morning

When in Iowa

Aired November 25, 2003 - 08:36   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: Politically speaking now, taking aim at President Bush and at one other, what else could it be, except broader (ph) debate among the Democratic presidential hopefuls? Well, all but one of the nine candidates took part in yesterday's forum in Iowa. Two of them took center stage. So which of the Democratic candidates made the most of the debate in Iowa?
Joining us this morning from Washington is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We heard from John Edwards, kind of at the get-go. Here's what he said as he tried to set the tone for the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are tired of listening to politicians yell at each other. What they want from us and what we have to offer in order to win is something other than anger and something other than criticism. They want to know what we are going to do for their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It sounds like the high road, Bill. Did everybody take it?

SCHNEIDER: Not everyone took it. A lot of this debate -- they're getting rough out there. A lot of this debate was Dick Gephardt and John Kerry going after Howard Dean, and exposing some real Dean vulnerabilities.

What the rule in politics is if A attacks B, the advantage often goes to C. What John Edwards was saying, is I'm C, I'm the guy whose above it all. He's the one who's saying they're all attacking each other, we have to have a positive message, and he was particularly critical of the tone of anger which a lot of people hear in Howard Dean's attacks, not just on the other Democrats, but also on President Bush. He's saying, Americans really want a happy warrior.

O'BRIEN: So Dean was the focus of the attacks. But at the end of the day, who do you think did best by taking part in the debates? SCHNEIDER: Well, I think John Edwards, we just heard, and Wesley Clark both stood above the debates a bit. Clark called attention to his stature, having served, and I think Dean really saw some of his vulnerabilities exposed, and that was serious, particularly when the question came up about his draft record. It came up, not from another Democrat, but from the moderator Tom Brokaw, who called attention to the fact that Dean received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War and spent a lot of time during that period skiing in Colorado. That's not an issue that's likely to have a lot of traction among Democrats, but it could mean a lot if dean becomes the nominee and he's running against President Bush.

O'BRIEN: Senator Lieberman was a no-show, and there was some controversy there because he decided not to take part in the debate, then he tried to take part in the debate after he heard that some of his colleagues would be able to do it by satellite.

Do you think that not taking part in this particular debate hurt him?

SCHNEIDER: Well, this is a debate for Iowa, and he's not competing in Iowa. Lieberman expects to make a showing principally in South Carolina and in Arizona, and the idea is, he wants to be the candidate to stop Howard Dean. Look, this race is beginning to take shape, it's going to be Dean versus someone named stop Dean. We just don't know who stop Dean is. It could be Dick Gephardt if he wins Iowa, it could be Joe Lieberman, if he wins Arizona or South Carolina. It could be John Edwards, who has a good chance as a Southerner in South Carolina. It could be a lot of different candidates. There's going to be one candidate versus Howard Dean in the end, and they're all auditioning for that role.

O'BRIEN: We will see who presidential hopeful stop Dean ends up being.

Bill Schneider, nice to see you. Thanks, Bill.

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 25, 2003 - 08:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Politically speaking now, taking aim at President Bush and at one other, what else could it be, except broader (ph) debate among the Democratic presidential hopefuls? Well, all but one of the nine candidates took part in yesterday's forum in Iowa. Two of them took center stage. So which of the Democratic candidates made the most of the debate in Iowa?
Joining us this morning from Washington is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We heard from John Edwards, kind of at the get-go. Here's what he said as he tried to set the tone for the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are tired of listening to politicians yell at each other. What they want from us and what we have to offer in order to win is something other than anger and something other than criticism. They want to know what we are going to do for their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It sounds like the high road, Bill. Did everybody take it?

SCHNEIDER: Not everyone took it. A lot of this debate -- they're getting rough out there. A lot of this debate was Dick Gephardt and John Kerry going after Howard Dean, and exposing some real Dean vulnerabilities.

What the rule in politics is if A attacks B, the advantage often goes to C. What John Edwards was saying, is I'm C, I'm the guy whose above it all. He's the one who's saying they're all attacking each other, we have to have a positive message, and he was particularly critical of the tone of anger which a lot of people hear in Howard Dean's attacks, not just on the other Democrats, but also on President Bush. He's saying, Americans really want a happy warrior.

O'BRIEN: So Dean was the focus of the attacks. But at the end of the day, who do you think did best by taking part in the debates? SCHNEIDER: Well, I think John Edwards, we just heard, and Wesley Clark both stood above the debates a bit. Clark called attention to his stature, having served, and I think Dean really saw some of his vulnerabilities exposed, and that was serious, particularly when the question came up about his draft record. It came up, not from another Democrat, but from the moderator Tom Brokaw, who called attention to the fact that Dean received a medical deferment during the Vietnam War and spent a lot of time during that period skiing in Colorado. That's not an issue that's likely to have a lot of traction among Democrats, but it could mean a lot if dean becomes the nominee and he's running against President Bush.

O'BRIEN: Senator Lieberman was a no-show, and there was some controversy there because he decided not to take part in the debate, then he tried to take part in the debate after he heard that some of his colleagues would be able to do it by satellite.

Do you think that not taking part in this particular debate hurt him?

SCHNEIDER: Well, this is a debate for Iowa, and he's not competing in Iowa. Lieberman expects to make a showing principally in South Carolina and in Arizona, and the idea is, he wants to be the candidate to stop Howard Dean. Look, this race is beginning to take shape, it's going to be Dean versus someone named stop Dean. We just don't know who stop Dean is. It could be Dick Gephardt if he wins Iowa, it could be Joe Lieberman, if he wins Arizona or South Carolina. It could be John Edwards, who has a good chance as a Southerner in South Carolina. It could be a lot of different candidates. There's going to be one candidate versus Howard Dean in the end, and they're all auditioning for that role.

O'BRIEN: We will see who presidential hopeful stop Dean ends up being.

Bill Schneider, nice to see you. Thanks, Bill.

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