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American Morning
Latest on Democratic Race for Presidential Nomination
Aired January 09, 2004 - 08:05 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: Democratic presidential front runner Howard Dean gets back to the campaign trail today after a short break. And with just 10 days before the Iowa caucuses, he's just in time. The latest poll from Iowa, this one from TV Station KCCI, shows Dean leading Dick Gephardt by just four percentage points. That is within the poll's margin of error. John Kerry is a close third. Wesley Clark is skipping Iowa and he instead is concentrating his resources on New Hampshire.
We're going to have two reports from the campaign trail this morning.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Des Moines, Iowa for us this morning. Dan Lothian comes to us from Manchester, New Hampshire.
Good morning to both of you.
Candy, let's start with you.
In Iowa, we see there that the battle between Dick Gephardt and Dr. Dean is only about four points, as I mentioned, really, the margin of error in that particular survey.
So, give me the latest on this.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, with the caveat that the caucuses are very hard to poll because it's unclear, you know, what the weather will be, you're asking people to spend two or three hours talking politics in a church or a school room, let's say that the polls at this point are pretty much consistent with the fact that Dean and Gephardt have been in quite a struggle out here. We have seen Gephardt ahead. We have seen Dean ahead. Within the margin of error tells us that, in fact, they are both about even at this point.
So quite a struggle between the two of them. What's interesting here, also, is the poll numbers for Kerry, showing the he is coming up. We have heard from other campaigns that Kerry was, indeed, making a move.
Some of this we can come to expect. We are about a week out, a week plus a couple of days. Polls always close at that time. But the three of them are definitely in a struggle. And insofar as Iowa sets up New Hampshire, there are some pretty big stakes here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Some people have said that there's a race for third between Kerry and Edwards. Is that the case? And if it is, why is that so important?
CROWLEY: Well, the key here is to survive through Iowa and New Hampshire so that some of these candidates can get into the South, where they think the territory is less hostile, more hostile to Dean and less hostile to them, because Dean has made such a splash here in very anti-war Iowa and also in New Hampshire, as well, where he, like Kerry, is the next door neighbor. So it's very important with nine of them to kind of stay above that invisible line so that you still look viable, so that when you come out -- the key here is expectations. As you know, if you come out and people are saying wow, he did better than expected. That's enough to get you into the next round, which is New Hampshire, and then on into the South and into the Southwest.
So, that's why it's important, and, you know, Kerry, of course, may be with Gephardt and Dean, since they're all fairly close in there, may all be vying for first, second and third, and second looks a lot better in the papers than third.
O'BRIEN: It always does, doesn't it, Candy?
All right, let's turn now to Wesley Clark.
He's skipping Iowa to concentrate on campaigning in New Hampshire and he is picking up some high profile endorsements. That comes after a poll showed him picking up support nationally, as well, among Democrats.
And as we mentioned, Dan Lothian is in Manchester, New Hampshire this morning -- Dan, give me a sense of what you think is behind the surge of General -- former General Clark. Is it that Howard Dean is losing steam or is it General Clark is finally, in his own words, getting his message out to the people?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, there are a couple of things that we have found happening here in New Hampshire. And we've talked to some of the pollsters. First of all, they believe that some of this attacking that has been taking place against Dean, you know, all of the opponents have been ganging up on Dean for a lot of the statements that he has made over the past couple of weeks, and they believe that now the numbers are starting to reflect that those attacks are having some sort of an impact on Howard Dean.
They also believe that voters in New Hampshire and across the country are starting to look at Clark as perhaps being a good alternative to Dean. And, also, Clark being a better candidate to go on and beat Bush. This has certainly been a very good week for the Clark campaign. I was talking to, I asked him, I was pressing Clark a couple of days ago to find out if anything had changed from his perspective, had he changed the way that he campaigns. And he said no -- he really hasn't changed at all, that it's been about the public finally tuning into this message.
As for his campaign, though, they believe that he is becoming much more comfortable and much more confident out there on the campaign trail.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dan Lothian for us this morning.
Also, Candy Crowley with those two political updates.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Appreciate it.
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 9, 2004 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic presidential front runner Howard Dean gets back to the campaign trail today after a short break. And with just 10 days before the Iowa caucuses, he's just in time. The latest poll from Iowa, this one from TV Station KCCI, shows Dean leading Dick Gephardt by just four percentage points. That is within the poll's margin of error. John Kerry is a close third. Wesley Clark is skipping Iowa and he instead is concentrating his resources on New Hampshire.
We're going to have two reports from the campaign trail this morning.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is in Des Moines, Iowa for us this morning. Dan Lothian comes to us from Manchester, New Hampshire.
Good morning to both of you.
Candy, let's start with you.
In Iowa, we see there that the battle between Dick Gephardt and Dr. Dean is only about four points, as I mentioned, really, the margin of error in that particular survey.
So, give me the latest on this.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, with the caveat that the caucuses are very hard to poll because it's unclear, you know, what the weather will be, you're asking people to spend two or three hours talking politics in a church or a school room, let's say that the polls at this point are pretty much consistent with the fact that Dean and Gephardt have been in quite a struggle out here. We have seen Gephardt ahead. We have seen Dean ahead. Within the margin of error tells us that, in fact, they are both about even at this point.
So quite a struggle between the two of them. What's interesting here, also, is the poll numbers for Kerry, showing the he is coming up. We have heard from other campaigns that Kerry was, indeed, making a move.
Some of this we can come to expect. We are about a week out, a week plus a couple of days. Polls always close at that time. But the three of them are definitely in a struggle. And insofar as Iowa sets up New Hampshire, there are some pretty big stakes here -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Some people have said that there's a race for third between Kerry and Edwards. Is that the case? And if it is, why is that so important?
CROWLEY: Well, the key here is to survive through Iowa and New Hampshire so that some of these candidates can get into the South, where they think the territory is less hostile, more hostile to Dean and less hostile to them, because Dean has made such a splash here in very anti-war Iowa and also in New Hampshire, as well, where he, like Kerry, is the next door neighbor. So it's very important with nine of them to kind of stay above that invisible line so that you still look viable, so that when you come out -- the key here is expectations. As you know, if you come out and people are saying wow, he did better than expected. That's enough to get you into the next round, which is New Hampshire, and then on into the South and into the Southwest.
So, that's why it's important, and, you know, Kerry, of course, may be with Gephardt and Dean, since they're all fairly close in there, may all be vying for first, second and third, and second looks a lot better in the papers than third.
O'BRIEN: It always does, doesn't it, Candy?
All right, let's turn now to Wesley Clark.
He's skipping Iowa to concentrate on campaigning in New Hampshire and he is picking up some high profile endorsements. That comes after a poll showed him picking up support nationally, as well, among Democrats.
And as we mentioned, Dan Lothian is in Manchester, New Hampshire this morning -- Dan, give me a sense of what you think is behind the surge of General -- former General Clark. Is it that Howard Dean is losing steam or is it General Clark is finally, in his own words, getting his message out to the people?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, there are a couple of things that we have found happening here in New Hampshire. And we've talked to some of the pollsters. First of all, they believe that some of this attacking that has been taking place against Dean, you know, all of the opponents have been ganging up on Dean for a lot of the statements that he has made over the past couple of weeks, and they believe that now the numbers are starting to reflect that those attacks are having some sort of an impact on Howard Dean.
They also believe that voters in New Hampshire and across the country are starting to look at Clark as perhaps being a good alternative to Dean. And, also, Clark being a better candidate to go on and beat Bush. This has certainly been a very good week for the Clark campaign. I was talking to, I asked him, I was pressing Clark a couple of days ago to find out if anything had changed from his perspective, had he changed the way that he campaigns. And he said no -- he really hasn't changed at all, that it's been about the public finally tuning into this message.
As for his campaign, though, they believe that he is becoming much more comfortable and much more confident out there on the campaign trail.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dan Lothian for us this morning.
Also, Candy Crowley with those two political updates.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
