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American Morning
Dueling Political Messages
Aired January 19, 2004 - 08:12 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: Throughout the day you will hear some dueling political messages, and as the president was getting ready for his speech on Tuesday night, some high profile Republicans, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as top Republicans in both Houses of Congress, reminding Iowa voters that there is another candidate this year, namely, the president sitting right now in the White House.
Let's talk with the Bush campaign advisor, Mary Matalin, also here in Des Moines, Iowa.
Nice to see you here.
MARY MATALIN, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Do you consider this enemy territory or what is this right now?
MATALIN: No, no. Lots of friendly Republicans here.
HEMMER: What are you doing here?
MATALIN: The Republicans are having their caucuses tonight, so I'm predicting George W. Bush will win in those caucuses. We are not here to be in any way involved in the Democratic process. We're here recruiting team leaders for Bush, getting ready for the general election. We lost by 4,144 votes last time around.
HEMMER: In a general sense, knowing this race is as close as it is -- first of all, do you believe the polling? Is it really that close, do you think?
MATALIN: It's, there's no way to tell in a process like this. I don't know how they could poll the new people. But this is as exciting as anybody's ever seen it.
HEMMER: Do you have a preference then for a candidate next November who you think is more beatable than others?
MATALIN: No, would don't. It doesn't matter. They all come out of the -- well, we don't know what the -- their alternative they're going to offer. They've all been in the primaries attacking the president and we're going to run on his record. I see them attacking the president on the economy, which is the fastest growth in 20 years. Manufacturing is up. Real disposable income is up. Housing is up. Inflation and interest rates are down. I don't know how they could attack the economic record that the president's achieved in three years.
We're going to talk about national security and homeland security and all of his accomplishments.
So it doesn't matter who is the opponent, we have the record to run on that will probably...
HEMMER: Let me lob one over the middle of the plate for you.
What does it say right now about the state of the Democratic Party knowing that this race is as close as it is?
MATALIN: They're a very divided party. Somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of Republicans support the president. And about 40 percent of the Democrats support the president. So they're a very divided party. I don't know who these candidates are representing. They're kind of out of the mainstream for the moment. Maybe they'll tack back. But it's hard to know what kind of alternative they're going to officer.
HEMMER: As a campaign advisor to the White House, how much attention is the president paying to this?
MATALIN: He's paying attention to being the president. There's a lot at stake. There's a lot going on right now. We're at war...
HEMMER: Isn't there one eye, though, on D.C. and one eye on the politics of what we'll see for 10 months?
MATALIN: I'm sure he's paying some attention. He's a good pol. He knows what's going on. But he -- there really is a lot to do over there. It's a pretty full-time job being the president and the commander-in-chief in war time.
HEMMER: So they say.
Thank you, Mary.
Nice to see you here in Des Moines.
MATALIN: Thanks, Bill.
Thanks for having us.
HEMMER: You got it.
Much more from Des Moines in a few moments here.
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 19, 2004 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Throughout the day you will hear some dueling political messages, and as the president was getting ready for his speech on Tuesday night, some high profile Republicans, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as top Republicans in both Houses of Congress, reminding Iowa voters that there is another candidate this year, namely, the president sitting right now in the White House.
Let's talk with the Bush campaign advisor, Mary Matalin, also here in Des Moines, Iowa.
Nice to see you here.
MARY MATALIN, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Do you consider this enemy territory or what is this right now?
MATALIN: No, no. Lots of friendly Republicans here.
HEMMER: What are you doing here?
MATALIN: The Republicans are having their caucuses tonight, so I'm predicting George W. Bush will win in those caucuses. We are not here to be in any way involved in the Democratic process. We're here recruiting team leaders for Bush, getting ready for the general election. We lost by 4,144 votes last time around.
HEMMER: In a general sense, knowing this race is as close as it is -- first of all, do you believe the polling? Is it really that close, do you think?
MATALIN: It's, there's no way to tell in a process like this. I don't know how they could poll the new people. But this is as exciting as anybody's ever seen it.
HEMMER: Do you have a preference then for a candidate next November who you think is more beatable than others?
MATALIN: No, would don't. It doesn't matter. They all come out of the -- well, we don't know what the -- their alternative they're going to offer. They've all been in the primaries attacking the president and we're going to run on his record. I see them attacking the president on the economy, which is the fastest growth in 20 years. Manufacturing is up. Real disposable income is up. Housing is up. Inflation and interest rates are down. I don't know how they could attack the economic record that the president's achieved in three years.
We're going to talk about national security and homeland security and all of his accomplishments.
So it doesn't matter who is the opponent, we have the record to run on that will probably...
HEMMER: Let me lob one over the middle of the plate for you.
What does it say right now about the state of the Democratic Party knowing that this race is as close as it is?
MATALIN: They're a very divided party. Somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of Republicans support the president. And about 40 percent of the Democrats support the president. So they're a very divided party. I don't know who these candidates are representing. They're kind of out of the mainstream for the moment. Maybe they'll tack back. But it's hard to know what kind of alternative they're going to officer.
HEMMER: As a campaign advisor to the White House, how much attention is the president paying to this?
MATALIN: He's paying attention to being the president. There's a lot at stake. There's a lot going on right now. We're at war...
HEMMER: Isn't there one eye, though, on D.C. and one eye on the politics of what we'll see for 10 months?
MATALIN: I'm sure he's paying some attention. He's a good pol. He knows what's going on. But he -- there really is a lot to do over there. It's a pretty full-time job being the president and the commander-in-chief in war time.
HEMMER: So they say.
Thank you, Mary.
Nice to see you here in Des Moines.
MATALIN: Thanks, Bill.
Thanks for having us.
HEMMER: You got it.
Much more from Des Moines in a few moments here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
