Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Power of Endorsements
Aired January 14, 2004 - 07:07 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another long day of campaigning today for the Democratic presidential hopefuls -- this, ahead of the caucus on Monday.
Front-runner Howard Dean will make stops in New Hampshire today before getting back to Iowa. On Sunday, Dean plans to go to Plains, Georgia, where he'll visit with former President Jimmy Carter, who won Iowa back in 1976. Carter has said he will not endorse anyone this year, but it could be a slight endorsement in Georgia over the weekend.
What about all of these endorsements? How much weight do they carry, especially in Iowa?
Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, is back here.
Good morning. Nice to see you.
The "Des Moines Register" goes with John Edwards. Three other newspapers in Iowa go with John Kerry. The impact from the newspaper standpoint on the caucuses is what?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Minimal. The "Register" endorsed Bill Bradley in 2000. He got clobbered by Al Gore. They endorsed Paul Simon in 1988, who finished second.
It was a help for Edwards, because it came right after probably his strongest debate performance, and it convinced people who sort of -- or it might convince people who like Edwards but thought he was (UNINTELLIGIBLE), well, if the largest paper in the state is for him, maybe I'm not throwing my vote away. So, it helped marginally. Well, we'll see Monday. I think it will help marginally.
HEMMER: Yes. Well, also in Iowa, the union vote is very strong, and Dick Dep (ph) -- Gephardt, rather, has gone a long way in recruiting that vote.
GREENFIELD: You've got an interesting split in unions. You've got most of the industrial unions, the people who make things -- the United Auto Workers and stuff -- backing Gephardt, who has been their strongest ally in the Congress. He opposed NAFTA, opposed all of the trade agreements on fair trade grounds.
Howard Dean has two big service unions -- the civil servants, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service International Union, health care workers and stuff. And both of those unions have what power used to have -- manpower, people to man the phones, get people to the caucuses.
And remember, Bill -- and remember, folks out there -- it's not a secret ballot at the caucus. So, if a union shop steward gets a lot of his people to the caucus, he's also there and he can see how they vote. So, it tends to increase, say, oh, labor unity -- let's put it delicately.
HEMMER: Labor unity, I like that.
GREENFIELD: Those endorsements, I think, are really significant, because they bring power with them.
HEMMER: I want to get back to Carter in a moment. Zell Miller has been a crossover really in support of the president. You believe this is probably the most key, when you get somebody from the other party to come to your side.
GREENFIELD: Yes. When we used to play ball in New York, we never played organized ball. We always got into fights. And when the other team said you were right, that ended the argument. Your own man says so.
I think one of the few places where endorsements matter, as cues to voters, is when a Republican says I can't back the Republican, or a Democrat says I can't back the Democrat. Zell Miller has already said he's backing Bush. He's the outgoing senator from Georgia, a former governor, very popular, a conservative Democrat.
So, for instance, if the Democrats were to get moderate liberal Republicans to say you know what? Bush is too far to the right, or the Democratic nominee sees lots of defections to the president in the fall, I think those kinds of endorsements say to a voter, hmm, something may be wrong with my team.
HEMMER: Five days and counting. It's getting good. Thank you, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: Talk to 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 January 14, 2004 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another long day of campaigning today for the Democratic presidential hopefuls -- this, ahead of the caucus on Monday.
Front-runner Howard Dean will make stops in New Hampshire today before getting back to Iowa. On Sunday, Dean plans to go to Plains, Georgia, where he'll visit with former President Jimmy Carter, who won Iowa back in 1976. Carter has said he will not endorse anyone this year, but it could be a slight endorsement in Georgia over the weekend.
What about all of these endorsements? How much weight do they carry, especially in Iowa?
Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, is back here.
Good morning. Nice to see you.
The "Des Moines Register" goes with John Edwards. Three other newspapers in Iowa go with John Kerry. The impact from the newspaper standpoint on the caucuses is what?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Minimal. The "Register" endorsed Bill Bradley in 2000. He got clobbered by Al Gore. They endorsed Paul Simon in 1988, who finished second.
It was a help for Edwards, because it came right after probably his strongest debate performance, and it convinced people who sort of -- or it might convince people who like Edwards but thought he was (UNINTELLIGIBLE), well, if the largest paper in the state is for him, maybe I'm not throwing my vote away. So, it helped marginally. Well, we'll see Monday. I think it will help marginally.
HEMMER: Yes. Well, also in Iowa, the union vote is very strong, and Dick Dep (ph) -- Gephardt, rather, has gone a long way in recruiting that vote.
GREENFIELD: You've got an interesting split in unions. You've got most of the industrial unions, the people who make things -- the United Auto Workers and stuff -- backing Gephardt, who has been their strongest ally in the Congress. He opposed NAFTA, opposed all of the trade agreements on fair trade grounds.
Howard Dean has two big service unions -- the civil servants, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service International Union, health care workers and stuff. And both of those unions have what power used to have -- manpower, people to man the phones, get people to the caucuses.
And remember, Bill -- and remember, folks out there -- it's not a secret ballot at the caucus. So, if a union shop steward gets a lot of his people to the caucus, he's also there and he can see how they vote. So, it tends to increase, say, oh, labor unity -- let's put it delicately.
HEMMER: Labor unity, I like that.
GREENFIELD: Those endorsements, I think, are really significant, because they bring power with them.
HEMMER: I want to get back to Carter in a moment. Zell Miller has been a crossover really in support of the president. You believe this is probably the most key, when you get somebody from the other party to come to your side.
GREENFIELD: Yes. When we used to play ball in New York, we never played organized ball. We always got into fights. And when the other team said you were right, that ended the argument. Your own man says so.
I think one of the few places where endorsements matter, as cues to voters, is when a Republican says I can't back the Republican, or a Democrat says I can't back the Democrat. Zell Miller has already said he's backing Bush. He's the outgoing senator from Georgia, a former governor, very popular, a conservative Democrat.
So, for instance, if the Democrats were to get moderate liberal Republicans to say you know what? Bush is too far to the right, or the Democratic nominee sees lots of defections to the president in the fall, I think those kinds of endorsements say to a voter, hmm, something may be wrong with my team.
HEMMER: Five days and counting. It's getting good. Thank you, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
HEMMER: Talk to 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.
