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American Morning
America Votes 2004
Aired January 15, 2004 - 07:08 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: No matter how cold it is elsewhere in the country, the political heat is increasing in Iowa ahead of Monday's caucuses. Recent poll numbers show that John Kerry is picking up steam, and the field of Democratic candidates will thin to eight today when former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun drops out of the race. She's set to endorse Howard Dean in an Iowa event this afternoon.
National correspondent Bob Franken has got more for us. He's in Cedar Rapids this morning.
Hey -- Bob. Good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, it is a little known fact that Carol Moseley-Braun was a presidential candidate -- at least if the polls are any indication. She was always very low in the single digits, but she's going to take her single digits now and try and help Howard Dean with them. Of course, he's in the battle at the very top of the race.
She has decided that she's going to pull out. There is going to be a news conference that's going to occur later today, where she's going to announce that she is, in fact, going to support Governor Dean.
Now, looking back in retrospect, we can see when this was all beginning to develop. And apparently it was on Sunday night. She apparently talked to Dean after the debate, after Dean had been roundly criticized by Reverend Al Sharpton, who, of course, was charging that Dean did not really, in fact, employ enough minorities in the administration when he was governor of Vermont. Later, Carol Moseley-Braun defended Dean.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to Reverend Sharpton, the fact of the matter is you can always blow up a racial debate and make people mad at each other. But I think it's time for us to talk about what are you going to do to bring people together, because this country cannot afford a racial screaming match.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, Dean has put out a statement saying that he felt that the former senator conducted a very, very dignified campaign. Now, she's going to throw her support to him. I should point out that in Iowa, there are few minorities, but, of course, there are going to be more minority populations in the Democratic Party primaries to come, and she could possibly be a help to Governor Dean further down the line -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: So, Bob, new poll numbers out are basically saying that when you consider how much John Edwards is gaining and how the other candidates, to some degree, are gaining or losing, it could be a four- way statistical heat at this point, as you head into the caucuses. What have you heard about that?
FRANKEN: Well, it could be, and there are some indications from a variety of polls that John Kerry has started to make a move. However, we are being warned by the experts that the circumstances of the caucus here are really so unusual, and there are so many variables involved -- such as turnout, such as who provides the turnout -- that it's really hard to come up with a statistical sample. So, everybody who is putting out the poll says that's what we think is going to happen, but we can't be that sure.
O'BRIEN: Once again, we're all just guessing to some degree, right, Bob?
FRANKEN: That's right.
O'BRIEN: I guess we'll see on Monday. Thanks a lot, Bob. 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 15, 2004 - 07:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: No matter how cold it is elsewhere in the country, the political heat is increasing in Iowa ahead of Monday's caucuses. Recent poll numbers show that John Kerry is picking up steam, and the field of Democratic candidates will thin to eight today when former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun drops out of the race. She's set to endorse Howard Dean in an Iowa event this afternoon.
National correspondent Bob Franken has got more for us. He's in Cedar Rapids this morning.
Hey -- Bob. Good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, it is a little known fact that Carol Moseley-Braun was a presidential candidate -- at least if the polls are any indication. She was always very low in the single digits, but she's going to take her single digits now and try and help Howard Dean with them. Of course, he's in the battle at the very top of the race.
She has decided that she's going to pull out. There is going to be a news conference that's going to occur later today, where she's going to announce that she is, in fact, going to support Governor Dean.
Now, looking back in retrospect, we can see when this was all beginning to develop. And apparently it was on Sunday night. She apparently talked to Dean after the debate, after Dean had been roundly criticized by Reverend Al Sharpton, who, of course, was charging that Dean did not really, in fact, employ enough minorities in the administration when he was governor of Vermont. Later, Carol Moseley-Braun defended Dean.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to Reverend Sharpton, the fact of the matter is you can always blow up a racial debate and make people mad at each other. But I think it's time for us to talk about what are you going to do to bring people together, because this country cannot afford a racial screaming match.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, Dean has put out a statement saying that he felt that the former senator conducted a very, very dignified campaign. Now, she's going to throw her support to him. I should point out that in Iowa, there are few minorities, but, of course, there are going to be more minority populations in the Democratic Party primaries to come, and she could possibly be a help to Governor Dean further down the line -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: So, Bob, new poll numbers out are basically saying that when you consider how much John Edwards is gaining and how the other candidates, to some degree, are gaining or losing, it could be a four- way statistical heat at this point, as you head into the caucuses. What have you heard about that?
FRANKEN: Well, it could be, and there are some indications from a variety of polls that John Kerry has started to make a move. However, we are being warned by the experts that the circumstances of the caucus here are really so unusual, and there are so many variables involved -- such as turnout, such as who provides the turnout -- that it's really hard to come up with a statistical sample. So, everybody who is putting out the poll says that's what we think is going to happen, but we can't be that sure.
O'BRIEN: Once again, we're all just guessing to some degree, right, Bob?
FRANKEN: That's right.
O'BRIEN: I guess we'll see on Monday. Thanks a lot, Bob. 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.
